Tier 5 is where things seem to slow down again but to be honest there is not a whole lot of solo content here in this tier. You are approaching the end game content of the original Everquest II release. In the beginning of this tier you will most likely still be adventuring in Steamfont Mountains.  The Feerrott is also still relevant here until level 45. You will probably start to get tired of these zones and that’s ok since you will now be able to head out to a couple of new zones as well as some new heroic or group content. For more on zones that were covered prior Click Here. Let’s take a look at the core zones of tier 5.

Everfrost

Everfrost (40-50) was the homeland of the Barbarians. The city of Hallas use to reside in this winter wonderland. The city is said to have been lost since the shattering but some feel the city is still here somewhere in Everfrost’s icy waters. This is a really nice looking zone and is the only zone overland zone that resides in an arctic or snow environment, unless Vellious is the next expansion pack. This is a nice change of pace from the look and feel of other zones in Everquest. Everfrost was revamp recently in a game update. Much of the heroic content was removed and scaled back to be soloable. This update also added many new quest and quest hubs as well as making the zone easier to travel. There are 5 main valleys that are all connected by a series of tunnels. There are over 70 quests that can be completed in this zone by using the quest hubs that are located on the docks and 3 other major hubs throughout the zones various valleys. There are also several dropped items that give quests along with clickable items all through the zone that gives quests as well. There is on Heritage quest that involves Everfrost. Be sure to pick up An Eye for Power from Master T’Lys whom spawns on the docks facing north during the night time hours of Norrath. While you are hanging out in Everfrost you can check out a cool solo instance called The Forbidden Sepulcher (38-42).

Lavastorm

If Everfrost is a little too cold for you then Lavastorm (40-50) may be right up your alley. This zone is the extreme opposite from the icy winter wonderland. Here you have an active volcano that resides in the center of the zone. Lavastorm was revamp recently as well. New quest lines were added for charters level 40-55 as well as high-end solo content for levels 77-80. Also added were mount stations similar to those found in Looping Plains. There are no quests needed to access these mounts. They make travel around this hostel land much easier and safer. The zone works its way counter clockwise in almost an upward spiral all the way to the center volcano and the heroic shared dungeon of Solusek’s Eye (45-50) where the infamous dragon Nagafen resides. There are also new teleportation pads located on the docks in the Shrine of Thunder and to the far north halfway into the zone just west of the Temple of Solusek Ro, one in the far west in Solusek’s Valley and one more pad located at the entrance to Solusek’s Eye . You need to visit each pad once and bind to it. Lavastorm has some key heritage quests and a very important language quest called To Speak as a Dragon where you will speak with the Dragon Lord Nagafen and learn the language of the dragons which will be vital to many Deity and Epic Weapon quest lines later on.  Even with the revamp there are not as many quests here as there are in Everfrost. There are barley 50 solo quests for levels 40-57 here. The rest of them are intended for 77-80. Most of the quests take place on the docks and with the goblins located in the south and east of the zone. Very little quests exist on the west side of the zone. Two heritage quests can also be started here, The Lost Legend of Lavastorm (48) and Saving Soles (49). Oh and I almost forgot to mention that thisis where you pickup the Lore and Legend updates for the Efreeti.

The Sinking Sands

Once you hit about level 45 you can go out to The Sinking Sands (45-55) and the content of the 1st expansion pack. I love this zone and if you go and listen to Show #3 where I walk you through this zone. I know some veteran players do not like this zone but to me this is a good change to the normal lush green zones in the game. Now I agree I would not want to see much more desert zones from this point forward. There is a lot of good content here and should easily get you to level 50. You can make you way to the City of Maj’Dul and do a series of quest here. Also if you want to live in the city you can work on you factions with one of the courts of Maj’Dul. This will allow you live in the city and be able to purchase the advanced combat recipes for your tier 6 Expert Spells (formally called Adept III). With roughly 40 soloable quests here most of the quest will be found on the docks and in two camps along the beach. Travel in this desert is made easier by flying carpets located all over the zone. You will have to visit each of these carpets and attune to them much like you had to with the mounts in Lavastorm. The Cyclops Lore and Legend book can be found here in the zone near the giant spiders.

Rivervale

Rivervale was once the home to the Halflings but has now been over run by evil creatures like many of the old world homes have since the shatering. Even though Rivervale (35-45) has a lot of Heroic mobs and encounters you still have a nice little quest hub located in The Fools Gold which is the large build in the center when you zone in. There are about 6 discovery location and roughly 40 quests. Some of which can be heroic. The heritage quest By Hook or By… starts here in addition to the Lore and Legend book for the Nightbloods. These are found in the buildings located in the zone. Again this zone has a lot of heroic mobs so it may be a poor choice for soloers. I think 3 players well equipped should have little problem with this zone.

Group Content

Obelisk of Lost Souls

For the group content you can still work your way through Rivervale (40-45) until your mid 40’s as well as The Obelisk of Lost Souls (35-50). This dungeon has many ways to enter it. The easiest way is to go to the Feerrott and enter via the Tower of Vul in the middle of the zone. This bypasses the Cavern zone, but if you die you will respwan in the cavern and will be locked out unless you do the access quest. The other way to enter this is by killing groups of shadowmen in Antonica west of the druid rings, Commonlands, Nektulos Forest in the far northwest of the zone, Thunderring Steppes, and Zek. This is a very confusing zone that still requires you to unlock each of its four levels. The zone is very maze like and will require you to run from one end to the next to camp mobs to unlock the next level. Still a good zone to quest in if you can find a group. There are a bout 12 named mobs in here for those whom need that AA.

Permafrost

Another good dungeon to venture into and plenty of pick up groups will form is Permafrost (40-50). This zone is located once again at the back end of Everfrost. This is bar none one of the more exciting Dungeons’s and yields very good XP for those in the mid 40’s.  Even though there are less that 20 quest that originate here and less than 10 named mobs it is still a fun zone. Be careful sometimes the epic mob Vision of Vox can be up.

The Temple of Cazic-Thule

Another excellent Dungeon is found in the far deeps of The Feerrott. The Temple of Cazic-Thule (42-48) with roughly 20 quests and 13 named mobs which is pretty standard for content in the old EverQuest release is still a nice change of pace. The only thing that stinks is this zone is very deep in the Feerrott and there just is not an easy way to get there. you can also get the Lore and Legend book for Lizzardman here are well.

Klak’Anon

Let’s not forget Klak’Anon (45-55) former home city of the Gnomes and is now over ran with Clockworks. This dungeon is located in Steamfont Mountains. This is a really fun dungeon and you will usually always see a pick up group in the chat Channels. There is one raid zone here and one group instance called Court of Innovation which has a few named npcs to kill for AA.

 The Tower of the Drafling

Located in the center of Rivervale is The Tower of the Drafling (40-46) is another nice dungeon that is very rarely enters unless you are on the heritage quest By Hook or By… or the Ranger Epic. There are not many quests that are started for here but there is some good AA to be had and the Lore and Legend book for the Bixies. You don’t need to go here to get the book since you can get this in Greater Faydark as well. Examine a lamp on a wall at to get 5 quests. There are only 3 named mobs and one discovery but still worth checking out.

Solusek’s Eye

Last but not least you can quest in the large dungeon in Lavastorm called Solusek’s Eye (45-50). There are over 7 levels to this massive zone. Home to many important quest lines. This was the end game dungeon before any expansion packs were released. Only about 15 quest start In this zone and moist of them are item triggered throughout the zone. Not a very efficient zone for questing and not a whole lot of pick up groups are ever formed. Most people will hit this dungeon up if the need updates to quest such as Speak as a Dragon and Sol Ro deity devotion quest updates which require you to visit Lord Nagafen deep in the bottom of the zone. Also one of the only places to complete the Lore and Legend updates for the Efreeti. There are however over 20 named mobs here which is great for AA