EverQuest 2 Wiki (http://eq2.wikia.com) coined the phrase timelines. There vision of a timeline is a series of quest that tie other quests together within a given tier of EQ2. Sometimes these are a series of quest within a zone and sometimes it is just a series of quests such as the Claymore quest line that spans multiple tiers and zones. This is a great way to determine what content you should be working on in a given adventuring level. I highly recommend you check the site out for detailed timeline breakdown.

I highly recommend that you first explore the zone you plan on questing in for a given tier. While you explore you will gain discovery XP and AA points (Tier 2 and above). You should make a mental note of the names of the places that flash on your screen as you explore. Also it is a good idea to take notice on the mobs and their location within the zone. This will be beneficial later when you go back to take up the quests for the zone. Now it may not always be possible to explore the entire zone at times since most zones progressively get more difficult as you make your way to the end or far side of the zone. Some mobs just roam a lot or can see through stealth and invisibly spell’s.

From all of my prior experience and research involving leveling it seems it is best to do a combination of solo XP grinding, collection/adventuring quests, discovery as well as some pick up group content such as a dungeon or a raid. Not only does this help to minimize boredom it also helps you develop you character by gaining the ever so important alternate achievement points (AA). These points are used to specialize your character by spending the points earned from quests, named mobs and discovery experience.

If you want to maximize your leveling experience you should always follow these important notes:

• Make sure you have level appropriate food and drink. Food and drink are used to regenerate your Health and Power pools. The faster these recharge the less downtime between encounters. Buying food and drink of higher tier will do little good since all of it scales down according to your adventuring level. See the chart below:

From: http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Drink

• You Gear should be at minimum level appropriate. I mean that if you are level 15 you should be wearing level 10 – 19 equipment. The mobs will eat through your equipment if it is not at the very least within the same tier as the mobs are.

• Make sure all of your Combat arts and Spells are upgraded as high as you can afford. Its beyond the scope of this guide to discuss the combat system but the following chart can give you an idea of the types of upgrade you can expect to see:

From: http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Spells_and_Combat_Arts

• If you are lucky to have veteran rewards you can use some of your XP potions for a boost during a dedicated leveling session.

The Level Bar as shown here is divided into ten sections. The light blue bar on the bottom indicates the small increments of xp. When the blue bar fills up you will have gained 10% XP towards the next level. This is indicated by the gold bar on the top half. It is divided into 10 increments that represent 10% each. When this bar fills up you gain a level.

When leveling you should pick up as many quests as you can. Most zones have a central place for quests unofficially called hubs. These quest hubs generally have more than one quest giver. Once you complete the final quest task you will usually be sent off to the next quest hub or quest giver in the zone. In some cases they can send you out to the next zone all together.

Gathering all of the shinny’s or (collections) from the ground in each zone will also give great XP and AA when you complete the collection and turn it in. It is also very profitable to collect these and sell them on the broker. You could then use the profit from the ones you don’t need to buy the ones you do need form the broker.

The other great way to level fast is to group and venture into the Heroic content such as Blackburrow or a similar dungeon. This is just simply because you can kill bigger and better content that rewards you more XP than you can get while soloing. Also as a group you are able to kill the mobs faster meaning you get more XP faster. Pick up Groups form all the time on most servers. You will have to make sure you level appropriate chat channel is turned on or you will miss the pickup group request. The most efficient group configurations are groups of 3 or groups of 6. There is a bonus to XP when you are in a group with one of those setups.

Everquest uses a tier system that affects everything from Items, gear, Tradeskill, adventuring, zones, etc… The tiers are organized as such:

01-09 (tier 1)
10-19 (tier 2)
21-29 (tier 3)
31-39 (tier 4)
41-49 (tier 5)
51-59 (tier 6)
61-69 (tier 7)
71-80 (tier

See EQ-IQ Show#5 for more on this topic!