Top 5 Favorite Zones

[Stupendous]

I'm curious as to other peoples lists. Limit the zones to Alkabor available content.

1) Temple of Veeshan
2) Lower Guk
3) Sebilis
4) Veeshan's Peak
5) Kael

One reason I think I like these is nostalgia. I spent days upon days in these zones in my eqpc time. I think Veeshan's Peak and TOV are both great visually.

Nothing beats NTOV during velious hey-day. The perfect raid zone/atmosphere.

Edit: Interestingly enough, my first raid ever with Temerity was North Temple of Veeshan in May 2009 when we cleared the dragons on Friday, and killed the Vulak Ring the following Monday.

[Burrito]

For me its...

1. LGuk
2. Seb
3. Original CT
4. ToV
5. Unrest

Lower Guk was awesome back in vanilla. Always had groups there; but was still very challenging. The risk vs reward for the time was very good.

Seb was the LGuk of Kurnak. Just a great dungeon; that was very challenging and also very rewarding loot wise. Grinding exp wasn't that bad when you could also get some great upgrades or items for trading for upgrades.

CT was just pure nostalgia. My grind group used to kill Oggok guards til late night. Then we would run into CT when it was empty and farm the AoF.

I agree ToV was pure awesomeness at the peak of Velious. Each wing had something to do. North was just so much fun to raid.

Unrest, I had never been so scared of a zone. That place was brutal pre expansions. But, it was also so much fun! Not to mention DWBs were a gold mine.

[Cabot]

It's hard to compare raid and non-raid zones really. For raiding I agree with ToV as the top zone ever. It was really brutal, and in some light you could fault it for being overly brutal (think of all the man hours spent on corpse runs there), but the brutality is really what drove the sense of fear and respect for the zone too, and the sense of accomplishment from conquering it (even only part of it).

Sebilis gets a special mention as being both a top raid and top non-raid zone to me. I think Seb was an even better grouping zone than its predecessor LGuk, but I think it was also an excellent raid zone when taking a guild in there for Trakanon back when that was harder content, and it wasn't as frustrating and demanding as ToV, so it was open to experience by a lot more casual guilds.

Even now it's fun to blitz through there for Trak. Sebilis just has a lot of depth to it. You could divide Seb into several distinct areas (the left and right upper sides, the crypt, the shrooms area, the juggs/trak area) and even then each area is competitive with most other whole dungeons.

Rounding out the non-raid zone list, my favorites that drew me back in for the most hours, or were the most compelling and fun areas back when they were new and/or level appropriate and need no further explanation really: Najena, Lower Guk.

My final one is a bit off the beaten path for these lists: the Qeynos Aqueducts. I'm putting this in there for the crazy maze-like quality and false walls, getting lost in there as a lowbie, trying to survive entering/exiting the place on low swim skill with no EB, etc. It was so directly accessible to brand-new noob toons at single-digit levels, and claimed so many lives and so many long nights of adventuring in people's first-ever EQ experiences, when well-geared meant getting the little earring from the jello cube.

It's not the kind of place you return to much later in EQ life, but it still holds a special place imho

So my overall list, putting raid over non-raid arbitrarily, would be:

1) ToV
2) Sebilis
3) Najena
4) Lower Guk
5) Qeynos Aqueducts

[Ravenwing]

Hrm, I wrote a novel ... nostalgic much, Ravenface?

My five favorite zones would probably be a list of original and Kunark-era dungeons, but I've varied it up a little by picking the best examples of different kinds of zones from different eras. In general, I tend to like dungeon zones with a pretty consistent set of qualities: they need atmosphere, areas that feel distinct from one another and interesting, challenge that's *fun* instead of annoying (hello Velious dispel traps), and good itemization (loot!).

I didn't pick any outdoor zones because none particularly stand out, but I also *love* the outdoor EQ world, especially Antonica and Faydwer. Leveling up Gfay/CB with trips to Steamfont, Butcherblock and Kaladim (to turn in orc belts!) before finally venturing into Unrest for the first time ... the variety of the whole Nektulos/Neriak/Lavastorm/Commons/FP/Ro/Oasis area ... Rivervale, Misty Thicket, and the run across the Karanas to Qeynos or Lake Rathe ... exploring the Ocean of Tears ... all serious fun! Subsequent expansions had outdoor charm, too, of course, but while Kunark's gigantic, forested zones do a great impression of getting the undiscovered wilderness theme across, they're just too big and too empty to have the appeal of the original continents. Ditto Velious.

Anyways, favorite zones:

1) Sebilis / Lower Guk

Okay, I'm cheating, but these two high level frog houses played the same role in subsequent expansions for me. Seems like they're getting a lot of attention in this thread, and they deserve it! I loved the dungeons of EQ's first two expansions, and probably had more fun in them as an enchanter than anywhere else in game. There were a lot of good ones, but these two were the best. Lower Guk was unrivaled in original EQ (Sol B was okay, but not in the same league!), but Kunark does have a close runner up in Howling Stones.

I think my favorite areas in these zones were the Savant/Sage/Exe/Cav complex in Guk and Chef/Bartender wing in Seb, though 4d/the crypt sure had ambiance!

2) Castle Mistmoore

Any list of EQ's best zones would be incomplete without one of the original mid-level dungeons on it.

Mistmoore was flawed, and kind of evil. The level spread was too large, mobs were very dense in some areas of the castle, and there were geometry problems that could lead to killer trains from upstairs in the castle. A lot of people flat-out avoided the place as a death trap, but I loved the atmosphere and sense of place. The trains were legendary, and Bristlebane had an infamous high-level ranger tool named Boneman who would train half the castle out to the zone line periodically (although probably not on purpose).

The zone is a big castle full of dark elves who spawn as vampires at night! You start out in a manicured courtyard and work your way up through the graveyard (with secret passage into the scary back of the castle/tower area), the pits, and into the castle.

Inside, you've got everything a castle should have: ball room with werewolf gypsies, indoor garden/peristyle with cloaked dhampyre spawning at the fountain, kitchens (in the back, of course!) with tiny, cramped quarters for the named butler and maid behind them. Upstairs you find a library, a court room with Princess Cherista, baths with Lasna Cheroon, and, through some tunnels, an elevated tower with Garton Viswin.

Itemization is also an important part of drawing people to a dungeon and making it exciting, I think, and Mistmoore named dropped some very desirable stuff.

I thought about picking the original CT for this spot, which rocked and really taught people how to play well in groups, but Nydi already mentioned it. Sol A is also pretty good.

3) Chardok

I'm counting this as my favorite Velious zone, since it was revamped and itemized during SoV. Funny but not really surprising that Velious' best dungeon is actually a Kunark zone.

The itemized Chardok, like Mistmoore (and unlike SG, DN, and to a lesser degree Velks), had some really great swag in it, which I've already said I think is important for a dungeon. A group prepared to tackle the dangerous lower areas could come out of Chardok with some seriously nice stuff.

The sole respect in which Velious dungeons improved on Kunark dungeons was that most of them offered challenging, all blue-con camps/crawls for a full group of level 60's or high 50's. With areas like lower foreman/underboss, kennels, and bank, Chardok did it best, imo.

Velks gets honorable mention for the pit/castle areas. SG and DN don't make the cut - for single-group crawls, they just brought Chardok-style difficulty without the fun. DN in particular was full of punishing traps and annoying gating (often low-level) roamers, and lacked differentiation between areas (or groupable named with loot worth mentioning!). SG just kind of felt unitemized and unfinished in the way Chardok was before its Velious revamp.

4) Plane of Fear

I loved the pre-expansion raid game in EQ. Although content was limited and somewhat flawed, I don't think the developers managed to improve on the experience, at least for me, until PoP.

It's hard to beat ToV, which I see everyone else picking, for atmosphere, but a raid zone - a whole raid expansion, really - in which *everything* is immune to mez and charm and in short *all* the stuff you've learned to do with your hard-won skills learned in dungeons groups leveling up, flat out sucks. Although Velious was in many ways a big step forward for the raiding game in EQ, I think the original planes of Fear and Hate were more fun at level 50 than just about any Velious raid at level 60.

Fear and Hate (also the usually-two-group, at least on the break-in, Efreeti Lord Djarn camp at level 50) were like multiple-group dungeon crawls with the difficulty, the risk, and the reward all ratcheted way the hell up. You could do all the things you could do to a frog in Lower Guk to a PoF mob, but these mobs were deadly hard - remember that a good piece of gear at this point in EQ is a piece of gear with +5 int on it; people are wearing armor made out of cardboard and trying to bludgeon these mobs to death with feather dusters - and aggro'd at range and in numbers. And, of course, they come with a range of nasty little abilities like shadowstep and fear procs.

The armor was also easily identifiable and a very cool status symbol. Rangers in green plate!

I picked Fear over Hate, though I liked both, for the atmosphere (hate is a little bit all-the-same) and because it was a bit less broken - it sucked to wipe to a geometry bug in hate.

The one thing I could have done without in fear (besides those @#?*@ dispelling tentacle terrors...) was the combination of deathtouch with telephone aggro. Though even that had its entertainment value! Remember the serial-trainer named Boneman I mentioned above?





5) Plane of Air (PoP, not sky)

I know this zone isn't popular with everyone, but I love it. Really challenging crawls through an interesting zone on a tight timer - Air Rings are fun for me. I didn't like them at all the first time I did PoP (on PC), weirdly, but they've grown on me, I guess, and I probably have the most fun with these out of any of the EP farming we do, with the possible exception of the Doomfire Ring.

[Quirk]

1. The Hole
2. Lguk
3. Seb
4. Kael
5. Fear

[Slouch]

Inside, you've got everything a castle should have: ball room with werewolf gypsies, ...

i lolled

[hemper]

I'll prob edit this post with more nostalgia a-la-Ryokuwing, but fave zones IMHO:

1) SolA (and to a lesser extent, SolB)
2) (Original) Cazic Thule
3) Sebilis
4) Ssra
5) Blackburrow

Honorable mention for worst zone ever - West Karana

[Pane]

1) Unrest - it was my first true "dungeon" experience and i just love that zone, and here i solo'd Pane there from about 14 - 30

2) Najena - i remember being a broke total noob on PC and saw someone selling a FBR for like 400pp (which was way more money then i could ever dream of) so i hit up my SK friend (i played a druid) and told him about it and our plan to get rich quick turned into hours of learning about trap doors and keys and figuring out how the hell you get to najena, we eventually each got one and we went and sold them and were happy.. this was pre-alla and neither of us had a clue about the zone, it was so much fun

3) The Hole - i never got to this zone till the progression server, i spent my late 40's exping there cause the server was so over populated but it was great. I often returned there on alts for exp (especially when it became a hotzone even though others avoided it) I've taken a few return trips here on al'kabor (boxing Saen) and crawled around looking for random stuff, really fun zone... i'd love to get a full group and just obliterate it one day

4) Rivervale - best city ever, both of my previous two "mains" were halflings and i always spent my downtime just running around in circles, and attempting to get ontop of the bank

5) Kaesora - That zone strikes fear into my heart to this day and thats why i love it... i think even now i'd be semi reluctant to go there by myself

[Stupendous]

I love old school screenshots!

[wemsler]

1) Kael
2) BoT
3) Lguk
4) ToV
5) Seb

Honorable mentions: VL, CT and Tactics. My favorite outdoor zone is either wakening lands or one of the karanas maybe south karana or maybe kithicor. All of Velious is amazing.

[Cabot]

There are far too many good zones. I forgot about Kaesora when I was thinking up my list, but I love that place too. As a 65 cleric you should be fine soloing in there btw. Just keep Gate handy, if things get out of hand run to the nearest corner and channel it off before you die

[Pane]

There are far too many good zones. I forgot about Kaesora when I was thinking up my list, but I love that place too. As a 65 cleric you should be fine soloing in there btw. Just keep Gate handy, if things get out of hand run to the nearest corner and channel it off before you die

oh i'm sure i'd be ok but seriously omg that zone was sooooo scary

[Tyrionn]

1) Lguk - spent countless hours in 1999 in this zone, troll warrior getting his first ykesha and fbss was a memory I still cherish.
2) old CT - both on warrior and then pulling on monk in 2000 so much fun, avatar of fear wipes, and finally besting him for bladed thulian claws, crafted armor, and rubicite bp!
3) NToV - pulling with my monk.
4) Sebilis - great dungeon, first trakanon kill was exhilirating.
5) Plane of time - cracking this zone open and pulling phase 1 for the first time what a rush!

[Jerumiah]

Ok I'm gonna list mine before I read the thread so my list is not "tainted" by what others post:

1. High Pass Hold (the outdoor zone, not the keep with nobles in it)

2. Ak'anon (Mnts of Rathe if cities are not allowed)

3. Ocean of Tears

4. Crystal Caverns

5. Stoneburnt Mnts

All my favorite zones are heavy on atmosphere, with different nooks and cranys to explore. All of them have different areas, but still mesh together and make sense. Great zones.

[Judah]

I've been studying this thread since its beginning. I've been trying to come up with the perfect list. As a side note, I love that 90% of the entries are Verant-made.

All of the PoP and Luclin...it has no "feel" to it. To me at least. When I think of some of these zones, I think of some of the songs that Winamp might have been playing at the time. I still get those impressions that I first got when I was a level 8 Human Druid with all my points in STR. It was a time when I thought Bards had to be the coolest class because they ran around real fast in that blue armor.

Anyways...

1. Original Plane of Mischief - http://www.planeofmischief.com - What other zone has a website dedicated to it?

2. Old Sebilis - Though Lower Guk is my true first dungeon experience, this zone is just SO cool. Bunch of differnt types of mobs, a raid boss, both really easy and really tough 1 groupable content. GREAT loot, GREAT exp. AE group, when this is the hardest dungeon in game? Craziness all around.

3. Temple of Veeshan - Mostly North, I never cared much for HoT. But still, how badass is it that you have that option?

4. Western Karana - This is sort of a strange one. Again, I started way back in 1999 as a Human Druid. I putzed around Qeynos and Qeynos Hills for weeks, likely. Then, around level 12 or so, I got brave and zoned out of the Hills. Upon entering WK, I still remember being smacked with the feeling of "Oh...so the world is fucking massive." It was pretty much that moment when I realized that I would not be satisfied until I saw every single thing the game has to offer. Here I am 11 or so years later.

Edit: I just re-read Hemper's thread. Fuck you.

5. GFay - I was a GFay auction server. In retrospect, GFay is stupid. EC tunnel is the perfect place. But I still wasted countless hours here, and in my earlier years it was a great way to see the gear possible. In the beginning, I rarely used allakhazam (perhaps back then I was using more EverLore), so the best way to see cool gear was to run around looking at all the people higher level than I.