Definition of terms:
By 'hunting' or 'bashing', what is meant is combat with denizens (also known as mobs or NPCs) as opposed to combat with adventurers (other players). The word 'bashing' is usually regarded as OOC, and the term 'hunting' is preferred as the IC alternative, but people generally use them interchangeably.

Below is a list of recommended areas for different levels of experience.

Note that these are general suggestions only. Someone who is well equipped, knowledgeable, and of a race with higher constitution than average may be able to tackle areas higher than recommended for his or her level. Conversely, someone who is poorly equipped with a low-constitution race, etc, may barely be able to survive the areas recommended for his or her level. It is up to each adventurer to be self-aware of his or her own hunting capabilities and tailor the recommendations below for him or herself accordingly.

Furthermore, there may well be some denizens within an area that are far below or above the capabilities of the levels for which that area is recommended. Some of these are noted, others are not; it is up to you to be careful and to use common sense. If you killed the spiders in the upper level of Azdun with relative ease, it doesn't necessarily follow that you'll be able to take on Lachesis, the Spider Queen as well.

An asterisk * following the area name means that many of the denizens in that area do afflictions (such as breaking limbs, setting on fire, paralysing, etc) as well as straight damage, and that has been taken into consideration in its minimum level suggestion. Just because an area does not have a * after its name does not mean there are NO denizens there that afflict, however, only that less than half do.

Also taken under consideration in the level recommendations is whether the denizens in the area defend each other (i.e., if you attack one, do the others in the room all attack you back in defense?) or whether the denizens auto-attack you on sight (are "aggressive" or "aggro"). If so, then the higher concentration of denizens there tend to be, the higher the level recommendation. 2 denizens that auto-attack or defend each other in one room is one thing, but if an area tends to have much higher concentrations of denizens that do those things, it will raise the difficulty level quite a bit.

This guide is under expansion. Feel free to add constructive comments on whether you believe an area is misplaced in its recommended level, or on any areas not listed below you believe should be added. Make suggestions based on what a human adventurer with intermediate hunting knowledge (let's say has a health vial or two, helpful tattoos, knows the basics of hit and running, but may not have huge supplies of herbs or knowledge on how to use them all) could handle. If you're a Horkval monk with a Shield of Absorption and 5 years of experience hunting in IRE games, you don't need to say "But I could handle the Great Rock at level 10 with hit and run and I had no problems!"

Levels 1+
-----------
Minia - pixies, imps, hellcats, firesprites
Lodi - all except guard pigs, wildcat queen and soldiers
All major cities except Eleusis - baby, young, and normal rats.

Levels 10+
------------
Minia - kobolds and pygmies
Lodi - guard pigs, wildcat queen and soldiers
All major cities except Eleusis - old and black rats.

Levels 20+
------------
The Great Rock (ophidians, especially warrior ophidians, afflict and team - reserve for higher levels)
Bopalopia
Tasur'ke (avoid sharks till much higher levels)
Actar Valley
Hounds in bog near Ashtan

Levels 30+
------------
Manara Burrow
Petra (you can be enemied to the city of Ashtan for hunting here)
The Underground Lake by Blackrock
Jaru (you can be enemied to the city of Shallam for hunting here)

Levels 35+
------------
Rheodad
Enverren Marsh
Manusha
Cavemen village in Dun Valley
Garnok and Thalagor, the orc and ogre villages at the foot of Dun Fortress
Sangre Plains
Fores-ch* and buckawns in Northern Ithmia (avoid bottom half of Fores-ch till higher levels)

Levels 40+
------------
Green Lake
Ulangi
The Aeraithian Falls
Mhojave Desert (hyenas, rattlesnakes, sidewinders, foxes, monitor lizards)
El'Jazira
Genji
Polyargos (harpies, lepers - lepers cripple you)
Dwarf and orc camps within Siroccian Mountains
Western Vashnars
Shala-Khulia
Riparium
Aran'riod
Kamleikan
Inbhir Ness

Levels 50+
-------------
Dun Fortress (not topmost level till higher levels)
Manticore Caverns (not queen manticore or ferocious manticores)
Maze beneath Maim's mansion*
Scorpion pit*
Azdun (except the graveyard, Lachesis, vampires)
Goblin village
Arcadia
Thugs in sewers of Ashtan, Shallam, Hashan. Bloodleeches in Cyrene's sewers (may be more difficult than thugs).
Black Forest (do not attack Treekins unless you want to be enemied to Oakstone)

Levels 60+
----------------
Kasmarkin*
New Thera (you can be enemied to the city of Ashtan for hunting here)
Darkenwood
Aalen forest (including Tsol'aa village and grizzly bears if careful)
Moghedu (not keepers, knights, bodyguards, or Great Mhunna till higher levels)
Shastaan
Harae*
Southern Vashnars
Sea Lion Cove
Mysia
Tomacula
Parts of Belladona's Keep*
Shala'jen Monastery*
Confusia

Levels 70+
------------
You're big enough to explore and find hunting spots for yourself!

Well I think whether or not you can tank the denizens is more Dependant on your health and defenses then on your level.

I miss the mannash swamp and darkenwoodin the list I would say they are suited for level 40 people, because comparable areas are listed there too. I think as a siren I hunted these areas at level 60.

Edit oopsie, darkenwood was listed

Edit2 This is a nice initiative.

Edit3 spelling

This is great, thank you.

Although, we just had a guy in the CIJ work his butt off to find this out for himself and put it in a hhelp scroll.. all he had to do was wait a week

Thanks for this guide!

I think Harae should be moved up a little, at least to the 50's, possibly to the 60's, due to the stunning they do. Also, the wasps all afflict AND they hurt. I was still dying there well into the 60's. That is as a mage Atavian with only tattoos and skins. I was also hitting and running a lot.

Inbhir Ness, I believe should be moved up a bit. Yes goats and all are easy, but many of the dwarves still pose a challenge to me.

I was thinking of saying to add in mhun scounts in Mhaldorian sewers, but remembered we got a law where non-Mhaldorians aren't allowed in the sewers .

Edit to:

Moghedu (not bodyguards, knights, Keepers or Great Mhunna till higher levels)

Also move it to level 60+ since Keepers have a tendency to wander in while you're hitting something else, even if you avoid them.

Add:

Level 40+ Eastern Ithmia (stags)
Level 60+ Northern Ithmia (elks and lamassu)

I'd move fores-ch to level 35+ or 40+, it's become much harder with village feelings and defending, and the buckawns can often be found in groups of 3-5 in a room. Also call it 'Fores-ch and buckawns in Northern Ithmia', I used to hunt them as one group back in the day.

Also include the Dun valley itself and the nomad camp in the desert (no idea as to level).

Edit: I don't see the Black Forest in there, either. Maybe include it with a warning not to bash treekin.

Allow me to be the voice of dissent! (You can't please everyone after all!)

With the incredible groans and moans of lack of RP... isn't making all in-game stuff available OOC just going to add to this? I'm actually kinda sad this is around Why are we even pretending this is a role playing game when everything is becoming available through OOC means?

Though Eadyth's kills anything she thinks worth the effort, it would probably be good to have alignments in there as well. Just a thought.

I agree. Not to mention most houses/cities have something similar. If people want this information, they can join one If you _choose_ to be independent, then they should have to figure this type of thing out on their own.

If not, then why not start allowing people tell how to start quests and where they are? I got warned over it and I see it as basically the same type of information.

The other pearling spots (Peshwar Delta, Polyargos, and Ulangi) should be listed along with Tasur'ke, I think.

-Azor

I believe Moghedu should be at least 60+. Also, perhaps add the Sangre Plains to level 35+?

Also agreed.

I think it is a great guide. Keep up all the good work.

(Regarding the one who thinks it is bad) When I was new I didn't have much time to actually play. I had my tremendous addiction fits which led me to search all over the internet for anything I could find about Achaea. I loved Perseon's Guide to Achaea and the other web sites that I could find because it allowed me to understand more of what was going on.

Not everyone will know automatically where to go and not all houses/cities are very fast with helping the new people. Sometimes you get busy or you aren't around to help and with all the new people coming in I think the more help they get, the better. Also, I hear some people are afraid to keep asking a ton of questions. The more they can read on their own, the better.

edit - oops I think it was Oswald's site I liked for bashing but I think they all helped.

Piffle, all of my characters have only bashed a max of 7 areas out of the 30 listed for level 20-40 and I never felt like I was missing out.
On one hand, I agree with those rallying to not make everything available OOC. When Alaiea was a young'un, she was ratting at level 26 for lack of better ideas, and someone eventually came along and said, "Level 26? Ratting? You've gotta be kidding me. Lemme give you a tour of how it's done." Finding out IC through interaction with all that good stuff.
On the other hand, I find myself digging frantically through the Imperian forums or various people's websites trying to find something like this for Imperian because while the mainland is essentially a copy of Achaea, I am pretty lost everywhere else, and people keep mentioning bashing stuff I've never heard of. (And Dun valley, which is one of my favorites on Achaea for midbie chars, is flooded and turned into a lake there). So I can relate to the true newbie's plight, too.
There's lots of Achaea sites with bashing guides though, not sure if that is an argument for or against this one

Basically, Houses distribute this information, so those that aren't in Houses have a hard time getting it. This could lead to frustration, and more people quitting, so this is following the trend of auto-class, with the admins providing what newbies need to enjoy the game without joining a House. It's certainly a good idea from a business perspective, but the same arguments against auto-class apply to this, I think.

Of course, there's also the class channel, but everyone that I know has that turned off.

Lachesis and Azdun Graveyard at level 60? I must be one untanky Priest since I have to do hit and run constantly in the Graveyard and against Lachesis with her guardian spidey.

-Septerra

P.S.- Upgrade Priest plz! kthnxbai

I don't disagree that this is a valuable resource. My comment is that if we are going to 'pretend' that there is even the slightest little bit of roleplay left in the realms, how is this going to help keep it there? All it's going to do is reinforce the perception that RP is not at all required, and spread confusion when the rules say to stay IC on channel. Why? Everything is available through OOC means, why shouldn't I ask for web addresses to them on channel?

Edit: Overpowered fast typing.

I think the problem is that with the Azdun graveyard feelings villages don't help against certain denizens down there. There are times when I end up with 15 or 16 things all hitting me at once because some of the denizens are set to auto attack and some are set based on feelings villages.

Dude. Alaiea (level 83) doesn't bash the graveyard, not only because it's hugely herb consuming, but also because there's a very real chance of dying. The village feelings alone would be okay, but the place is so chock-full of wandering aggros that I have to keep hitting and running. Which the xp of the mobs there isn't worth in the slightest.

Edit: Riashain, I'm not quite sure where the connection is between information being available OOC and being talked about OOC IG. You could argue that with pesky recurrent questions such as "where do I bash plz kthx" taken care of OOCly, people have more time and space to actually RP meaningful stuff. Yeah, I don't buy it either. But...yeah. I mean, what's better RP?

(Novices): Noobie says, "wer do i bash plz kthx?"
You tell Noobie, "http://get.to/asaraeslofe. Kthxbai."

or

(Novices): *dead silence because people know where to bash*



Again, I'm playing devil's advocate here. I get your point. If everyone was to learn about bashing and whatnot via their Houses, I'd completely agree. But people just refer others to websites a lot of the time as it is. Might as well even the playing field. Also, I guess the same argument people brought up with autoclass ("If your guild had nothing to offer people besides the class, it deserves to die") could come into play here ("If your House does nothing but tell people where to bash, it's superfluous.")
*shrug* *slinks off*

Kamleikan is 20+... I only started hunting it in my high sixties (partly due to not knowing about the place) and I'm a troll (15 con at the time, 16 later after icon, occasional runes but not often) and I managed to die to the reindeer, of course that's because i'd have five hitting + 400ish bleeding at once.. and at 78, i still pulled.. meh, 7% ish. The reindeer team and make you bleed somethin' awful, even with a moss. I know a couple Tsol'aa friends who hunt the reindeer by number, since they leave the room (females at least) .. When I say team, I don't mean in the sense of attacking when you do together. I mean, the females leave the room, and if they're in a room with one that you've peeved, they'll hit together. I don't think the level is right, that's all.

What I find interesting about this list is that it readily acknowledges two things.

First, that if this is the intended area breakdown by the Powers-That-Be, there are numerous, numerous unbalanced areas. That is, experience given is way off versus difficulty level.

Second, that certain race/class combos are inherently badly unbalanced.

I'm pretty disappointed about the latter, since it implies nothing will be done about it. Hope I'm wrong.

The former might actually lead to something. I'll start with a couple examples. Fores-ch at level 30 may what the area was designed for (I was around for the opening, and I have a vague recollection that's what Tyer bashed in his 40s 3 RL years ago - but in reality I see 60-70ish people bashing it now after village feelings and afflictions were added. It's gotten that much harder. Mysia has level 60 and 70 mobs yet is a level 40 area. Either downgrade the experience or upgrade the mobs.

And I'd agree on the OOC issue. A lot of us spent a whole lot of time gathering this information IC for organizations. A kick to the teeth to many of us for many, many hours of work, and if it was intended for newbies, cutting off at level 40 would have been sufficient. There's a difference between autoclass and no class, implications intended.

Tasur'ke is actually pretty good exp at level 60+...

I've updated the first post with the recommended level tweaking and additions. Thanks all! I didn't add specific information about pearling spots because this isn't a pearling guide, and I don't want to mislead a newbie into heading off to the Peshwar Delta thinking it's a bashing area just to find a few rooms scattered with a few oysters. I didn't add the Mannaseh because aside from Kasmarkin (which is listed separately if that's what was meant) there is only Apollonia.

As for whether this is detrimental to IC interaction: I'm not interested in turning this thread into a debate about it, and if you really wish to debate with others I welcome you to open another topic, but I will respond briefly.

You'll note that this guide offers very little information in fact: names of areas to levels accompanied by few, if any, hints. This is the bare minimum of information not to make it utterly frustrating for someone new (you can easily make levels 1-60 in a week or two, so you can easily still be 'new' at level 60) to figure out what direction to head next. It also makes things more interesting. I remember gaining levels 1-50 doing nothing but rats and the Mhojave (before there were scorpion pits) and the Great Rock cultists over and over simply because I had no idea there WAS anything else. (Well, not that there was all that much else at that time! No Dun, no Bop, no Fores-ch... oh yes, the old days were SO much better as everyone says.)

This guide does not tell you, for instance, how to get to Bopalopia or how you enter Maim's mazes or that you need to go through the wilderness to reach Inbhir Ness. It does not give you a list of the denizens in X area that hit you afflictions and list each affliction with what their cures are. It does not tell you not to kill denizen A because you can't complete the area quest without A. It points new players to a direction; that is all.

For those players who enjoy gathering their information socially or by trial and experimentation, there is still plenty of both to be had. Thinking that a simple list of areas by general level recommendation is handing things to people on a silver platter misses the mark IMO. I guarantee you that newbies will still be asking questions and learning by trial and error. But rather than "Where do I go to bash at level 30?" you might perhaps hear instead "How do I get to Actar?" or "I read that Inbhir Ness is a decent place for my level, does anyone else around level 40 want to explore it with me?" And instead of wandering around aimlessly and finding nothing to hunt and quitting in frustration, they might wander into an area suited for their level and explore there instead.

Cyrene's leeches always seemed to be harder than thugs for me, just because they chase, are aggro, and when you kill more than one giant one at the same time on accident they hurt

Also, the forest of Ulangi and the Grooks/Horkvals of Ulangi should be separated... I don't know anyone that can clear the Ulangi horks at level 40.

simply put, leeches don't have hammer tattoos but thugs do. shielding works wonders vs leeches.

also, I'd like to see Confusia added to the list. My estimation would put it around level 60+ but I can't remember if I started bashing there at 60 or at 70.

One last thing. I noticed thera and petra on the list but not jaru. jaru seems easy enough to bash.

Yeah, Jaru should be added in, probably in the 35+ range, possibly 30+ range. Also, Jaru and Petra should have warnings of possibly being enemied to Shallam and Ashtan respectively.

How recent was that addition? I haven't bashed thugs in forever but the last time I did they didn't have shield tats.

Yeah, and I heavily despise village feeling. Whenever I bash in Azdun I get 5+ mobs going after me at the same time. One time I had up to 8 undeads chasing me at once all over the crypt. It's frustrating as well as insane.

-Septerra

magi can attack then reflect before the horks get balance back

The Ashtan bog hounds might be good to add. I think they're probably 20+.

I must respond to this, even if off topic. Trolls are not inherintly magically talented, and thus make poor mages compared to grooks or tsol'aa. A weak grook won't be able to fight physically as a monk nearly as well as a strong troll or horkval. Each class naturally has races better suited to it, races that are survivable, and races that shouldn't even attempt it.

Er, should Mhojave Desert really be 40+? A character of mine has been bashing the snakes/foxes/hyenas from level 20 upwards, and only really needs help against the Monitor Lizards. He's an Atavian using Hyena Claw.

A couple of other Sorcerers and I made a similar scroll some decades ago. Ours didn't include all spots and went only up to level 40+, since you really should get along on your own after that and the credits buyer/non-credit buyer really have an immense difference in durability after level 40, i.e. StaffCast and DiamondSkin. It was basically dedicated to the younger ones and had a little descriptions for each spot as well, but you can check that yourself anyway.

It's nice though. Now I can explore the places I haven't seen yet. Thanks.

I think the Dun Fortress (Ogres and Orcs) should be for 50+. I mean im a horkval monk lvl 52 and bash there, but I don't see how anything under 50 could manage well there...

I'm a level 76 Satyr Druid and I still bash there...yay for level 52 Horkies.

Eh right, well Arcadian is pretty safe at level 50+ but Chenubis is a bit TO mighty for a level 50-60 fellow, so don't try to kill him. Also the toymaker makes you blind, the sentries make you bleed hard and the philospher and the king can break your bones.

Every time I've walked into that room while hated, Chenubis has (i think -- its been a while) one hitted me. That's was at level 70+ as a hork druid. I always assumed he was a trap and have just avoided the room. Is he fightable?

He's no trap, just another denizen.

Nah, I lasted two hits as a Sylvan (with blessings and runes). Fear me!

About degregation of RP because you know about an area OOCly.

If you know more about the backgrounds and history of a land you can then choose how much you act your character knows. When you have lived a life in a land you are bound to have heard many tales about the strange areas in your continent.

Think about it, how much do you know about places you never visited because you read about it somewhere or a friend went on a holiday there.

So I believe that increasing the knowledge of history and geography, including the flora and fauna (read monsters and animals) to find in an area can help you RP.

Just because you know something OOC doesn't mean you can RP less, knowing more about Achaea OOC helps you to RP. You can create more interesting backgrounds, get into character while you talk about an area in a realistic way (consistent with the history of the area)

So there, a different perspective on RP and OOC info. Now go read www.achaea.com/lore

In response to this I'd like to point to pen and paper games. I used to play a lot of AD&D and owned a lot of the manuals. I rarely played the position of DM so this was basically game information I knew through OOC methods. Despite that, I would still consider AD&D a role playing game. I suppose what I'm basically doing is agreeing with Worlo. No matter how obtained, the more in depth your knowledge of the game, the better your subsequent RP will be if you choose to participate.

Umm, anyone notice Rheodad as 35+? When I was doing the Shala Khulia quest, there were some fricken hard things in there. There was that mean aggrodude. He did a TON of damage, and was super hard to solo even when I was a level 70+ 4000+ hp dwarf pally. There was also this thing down in a cave by the cliff that was moderately difficult.

Other thing is, it's pretty hard to get to Rheodad too. O.o

Just complementing on the fact that Manara is level 30+ Geez really? Wow im a level 64 and level there not really hard at all , I guess thats cause there is like a hundred denizens in there or something.

Level 30 plus because that's when you start bashing there.

After all, you don't usually start taking on the gnoll soldiers solo at level 30

As for Mhojave, there's a big range going from snakes, foxes and small lizards (level 20) up to things and scorpions, which are considerably nastier. And afflict.

i just started im only level 5, I see that you recommend fighting things in Minia. but how do I get there? Can you get there from the portals?

Minia, is Southeast from the portals, then you can head, NE, or SE to find bashing creatures.

So...for a druid that's lvl 21 hunting at Great Rock, proves hard for my character. I get my ass kicked around. Anywhere easy that I can hunt my character?

Level to 21 in minia, then head to the valley of Actor(which is a landmark, so easy to find). Stay there till you are around level 30, then go directly to Manara(also a landmark). You can hunt in Manara up to level 60ish fairly easily.

You're the best.

Be careful in Manara when you're that low a level, though. I've died there a couple of times between 30 and 40 from things repopping in my room and such. If you're near Manara you may as well bash stags and forest buckawns, which live in the East and North Ithmias respectively. Might want to wait until you're over 35 for those though, and you may need to hit and run.