Where to go at every level. This is a clean, single-path route from level 1 to the cap — pick the zone for your band, grind it out, and move on. Alternatives and the fastest-XP tricks are noted along the way.
Your starting overworld. Kill low-level wildlife and undead near the city, and knock out the early gnoll-fang and animal-hide armor quests for a first gear set.
Tip: stick near the city and avoid the open bear/wolf fields where high-level rangers patrol.
Your first real dungeon — dense gnoll camps and named drops. Faydwer-side characters run Crushbone (5–20) instead, which serves the same purpose.
Tip: pull singles from the entrance and kill low-health runners fast so they don't drag in packs.
Grind crocodiles and caimans along the water for safe, steady XP as you climb into the low 20s.
Tip: watch the horizon for wandering sand giants, and skip the Orc Highway until you're grouped.
Tiered dungeon camps that carry you through the 20s. Splitpaw is the quieter grind; Runnyeye has better loot but dangerous Evil Eyes.
Tip: bring crowd control (Enchanter) for Runnyeye's charming Evil Eyes.
Your mid-level dungeon rotation. Any of these is a solid group grind toward 40; Castle Mistmoore (25–45) is the Faydwer alternative.
Tip: these have heavy social aggro — a full, balanced group with CC clears far faster than pickup soloing.
The workhorse of the 30s and 40s and the single most important leveling zone in this range. Pick a camp (the Frenzied Ghoul or the Ghoul Lord on the Dead Side) and settle in.
Tip: claim one camp rather than roaming — wandering mobs cause the trains that wipe groups here.
Cross to Kunark via the portal in the Oasis (level 35+) and push into Karnor's for some of the best non-raid group gear in its range.
Tip: pull singles from the moat and courtyard and keep an escape route — this zone is infamous for deadly trains.
Endgame. Sebilis is the top group dungeon for best-in-slot gear as you finish leveling; once you're capping out, organized groups farm Plane of Hate (46–60) for motes and planar armor.
Tip: an Enchanter for crowd control is effectively mandatory in Sebilis, and Plane of Hate is a full raid.
The lowest-stress fast-leveling trio is Magician / Cleric / Wizard — your summoned elemental tanks while you heal it and nuke from safety. Try it in the Build Forge.
Fit a Druid or Wizard into your trio at some point — map-wide teleports save an enormous amount of travel time between these zones.
Higher difficulty and clearing rares/bosses speeds XP and improves your mote drops. But the real engine is throughput — kill as many mobs as fast as you can, ideally in a group.
Motes of Potential drop the whole way up. Pour most of them into your spells and songs early — they can only be raised with motes, while gear can be combined.