Leveling as a noob...Follow

I would like to say for the record that Xanther's strong-arm techniques to whip me into mentoring are very...effective. :)

The best trick I have learned is to know when to leave a zone and move on to the next tier.

Early on, I stuck it out till the meanest critters in T1 were barely still green to me. This was a bad idea... XP slowed down to a crawl and I hated leveling from 9-11. What's worse, when I finally did pluck up my courage and head into Antonica, many of the new critters around the zoneline were already green to me.

By the time I was ready to leave Antonica and try my luck in Thundering Steppes, it was almost too late again! I left T2 right at lvl 20. and the grind between 19 & 20 took a long time. But I learned from those mistakes and left T-Steppes for EL at lvl 28.

I made it from there to 30 in a heart beat! And since then I have never looked back. In fact, my warden is nearing 46 and T5 has not been my favorite tier so far, so I plan on testing the waters and trying to survive in Sinking Sands before I hit 47.

The moral of the story is don't be afraid to move on... know when to hold em and know when to fold em...

Leaving a tier around the 8 level (8, 18, 28, 38 etc.) will get you into the new tier when the wussiest mobs are still yellow to you. And the XP against yellow con mobs is smokin'!!! Don't worry if you don't get off the beach for a while... it will be a short while!

Best way to level - be in a group.
Best way to get loot - be in a group in a dungeon.
Best way to survive while doing all this - keep your gear and spells upgraded.

Beginning: get and do as many quests as you can find. You'll get coin, loot, and exp. Find your under-city dungeons and get the good loot from there.

20-25: Stormhold in Antonica - Great and dangerous dungeon plus many quests. Did I mention that all dungeons had their loot tables bumped up? :)

20-27: Thundering Steppes has many centaur related quests. Many people didn't like killing centaurs and making them Kill On Sight (KOS, not KoS) and agro. But I feel that since there are so many benefits from zapping them, why not just do it? They will eventually turn grey anyway and become non-agro and worth no exp.

20-27: Ruins of Varsoon (in Thundering Steppes) - great place for exp and loot. There are several named that spawn regularly and drop good items. That also makes them a magnet for farmers. :(

20-50: Splitpaw Saga - adventure pack in TS. Worth the $8 for the dungeons that scale to your level. Many good, fun, and challenging quests inside the caverns. The 3+ flaming boar heads in our guild house speaks to that.

Hey SOE! Make more beginning overland zones! I'm tired of starting in Antonica/Commonlands all the time!

You need to go see the Bank of Kindle. :)

Your pet must be Adept 3 at all times, accept nothing less. If you can only afford Adept 1, then make it so until you can afford an upgrade.

You will most likely use the Mage (fire) pet infrequently, so Adept 1 is fine for the time being. Tank pet must be the big choice for upgrading.

Yes, get the Adept III. It will be your only pet until level 20 (when you get a Mage/Fire pet), and you don't get another Rock/Tank pet until 24.

Lyd is correct. Try harvesting the rare for yourself. You can either use coral or a silver cluster from the sandwashed stones. The only thing I would add is that at level 10-19, you are looking for a Scholar or a sage. Scholars are the subclass of sage at that Tier. Just my 2c!