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THINGS I WISH I'D KNOWN EARLIER - Out and About in the World

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* If the zone you are in is overcrowded, try zoning out and back into another instance. If there are 3 or more instances, choose one that is not the first or last instance, as these often tend to be less crowded.

* If you see a "lair" object in the world such as a rats nest, snakes den, gnoll tent, etc... with the appropriate type of mob around it, this is probably a dynamic adventure camp. If you kill everything in the camp, the next time it spawns it may spawn harder creatures, named monsters, etc...

* Distressed merchants are NPCs who are sometimes found at a dynamic adventure camp. If you kill all the creatures around them, they will turn into gratified merchants, and you can then buy/sell with them. They offer good prices, and sometimes carry items you can't find elsewhere. Also note that gratified merchants are usable by all players in the area for a short time before they disappear, not only the players who freed them. If you see someone freeing a distressed merchant, hang around until it becomes gratified and then use it.

* Once you leave the starting Isle for Qeynos or Freeport, you can't return. If you're a questaholic, make sure you've completed all the quests before you leave because you will not have a chance to come back and finish them later. The Isle is also a good place to work up your harvesting skills, as the newbie zones tend to be more crowded. The starting area for other cities are part of larger zones and are always available.

* Do not forget to use the "Call of [Home City]" ability to teleport yourself back to your bind point. You can use this once per hour. If you are out in the wilderness, you can save yourself a long run back to town this way. When you first gain citizenship to a city, you will also be given a "Set Recall Point" ability that lets you set your bind point to anywhere in the city.

* It is possible to sneak into some cities! For a good or exiled character sneaking into Freeport, I suggest Commonlands > Graveyard > Longshadow Alley > Thieves Way > Freeport zone of choice. For an evil or exiled character sneaking into Qeynos, try Antonica > Peat Bog > Vermin's Snye > Down Below > Qeynos. If you are high enough level to grey out the guards in the starting hamlets, you can walk through those areas without concern. When you are in the opposition city, most NPCs and merchants will not speak to you, however, a few will (typically Black Market Fences and merchants in the sewers). Guards WILL attack you unless they are grey. Most guards can be snuck past if they are not red. Kelethin and Gorowyn do not restrict visitors to most areas based on city alignment, though the merchants reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. As for Neriak... well, good luck with that.

* The bells on the docks are the primary means of travel between Old World (pre-expansion) zones.  Those in Freeport, Qeynos, and the newbie areas surrounding them take you to other city zones and newbie areas connected by the bell network.  Those on the TS and Nek docks take you to higher level adventuring zones (Zek, Enchanted Lands, Lavastorm, etc) and Mara if you have The Fallen Dynasty Adventure Pack.

* The Harbormaster in East Freeport and Qeynos Harbor sells tickets directly to the Nek and TS docks - one bell on these docks will only work if you have a ticket.  The tickets are 60s, single-use, and no-zone - if you buy it, then remember you need something from your house in the Willow Wood and go there instead, the ticket will disappear.  Sea Gate portals on the Neriak Dockside Market dock will take you to the Nek and TS docks at no cost, while a griffin within Gorowyn will transport people to a landing area near the Butcherblock docks for free.  Sorry, Kelethinians, you have to travel to the Butcherblock docks the long way.

* If you are entering Antonica, the Commonlands, or Timorous Deep for the first time, you can ride the griffins between stations to clear out large patches of black. As long as you do not leave the griffin towers, you should be relatively safe. It is worth flying the routes both ways (clockwise and counter-clockwise) as the griffins generally take different paths in each direction.

* Griffins in the Thundering Steppes, Nektulos Forest, and Butcherblock Mountains must be unlocked by an access quest before you can ride them. Speak to the griffin trainer in the tower to get the quest in each zone.

* If you duo often with someone (friend, spouse, etc) make sure you both have a follow macro:

   /follow [name]

   but be careful if the person you are following is a scout that likes to practice safe-fall :)

* Flying carpets in Qeynos Harbor, East Freeport, the Wanderlust Fair in Darklight Woods, and the Butcherblock Mountains and Gorowyn docks will take you to Sinking Sands, the entry zone for Desert of Flames. A carpet at Sinking Sands will carry you to Maj'Dul or back to your starting city.

* Many Desert of Flames zones have flying carpets at various points around them. These carpets can take you back to the docks in Sinking Sands, or to other carpets you have already found in the same zone. Right-click on the carpet to see where it can take you.

* To get to the Overrealm (Kingdom of Sky or later expansion required), speak to a Gate Caller scion by the Ulterian Spires in Antonica, the Commonlands, Thundering Steppes, Nektulos Forest, the Enchanted Lands, or the Feerrot. They will give you a Spire Teleportation Shard. Then just stand in the middle of the spire and wait for the teleport.

* Travel between different sky-islands in the Overrealm is usually done by cloud. Look for a stone platform with a bit of fog hovering over it, and right-click the cloud to see where it can take you.

* Boats transport players from the Nektulos or Thundering Steppes docks to Butcherblock Mountains (Echoes of Faydwer or later expansion required). These are actual boats that pull up to the end of the dock, NOT bells. The boat will wait at the dock for one minute, and the journey itself takes about the same amount of time, so the round trip is less than 5 minutes.

* Boats from the Commonlands and Antonica docks will transport players to the Kylong Plains in Kunark (Rise of Kunark expansion required).  These are also actual boats, not dock bells.

* Stable masters in the Lesser Faydark will let you borrow a horse for a quick trip to another stable in the zone. You must have spoken with the stable master at a stable before you can ride there from another stable.

* Horses may also be borrowed from stable masters in Greater Faydark, once unlocked by an access quest.  Speak to any stable master to get the quest!

* You can jump off some zone specific mounts (old-world griffins, stable horses in EoF, carpets in DoF, clouds in KoS) at any time by jumping (default: space bar).  Falling damage does apply, so be careful if you're not fae and don't have safe fall.  Horses are safe enough since it's not a long drop, but jumping off a cloud between sky islands in KoS is almost always fatal!  The Sarnak, being more safety-conscious than most, have installed seatbelts on griffins in Timorous Deep so you cannot leap to your death.

* Sokokar mounts can be earned in Kylong Plains; these are personal pets that follow you around and carry you between mounting posts in Kunark.  You must visit a mounting post on foot before your sokokar will fly you to it from another nearby post.

* Druids (furies and wardens) can create portals through which characters can travel to druid rings in Antonica, the Commonlands, Greater Faydark, the Butcherblock Mountains, the Steamfont Mountains, and Kylong Plains. Before a character can use one of those portals, though, he or she must first have traveled at some point to the destination ring and harvested a leaf from the "Blessing of Tunare" bush growing within it.

* Sorcerers (warlocks and wizards) can teleport themselves and/or group members to wizard spires in Antonica, the Commonlands, the Greater Faydark, and Kylong Plains. Casting the teleport spell requires a planar symbol, which is destroyed in the casting; the symbols are sold by teleport trainers (and likely other NPC vendors) for 30s each.

* Some walls are climbable!  In cities (Maj'Dul, specifically) look for wall areas that are textured or have a latticework rather than plain stone.  Forest areas (read - Gfay) have small trees that looks like the top was cut off and one side was planed flat.  In rocky areas, look for narrow bands of cliff-face that are a clean 90-degree angle to the ground, and have a darkened or smudged-looking streak going down the middle.  Often these also have torches or metal fixtures intermittently to either side of the climbing area.  Kunark climbable walls are often marked by rope ladders.  NOTE: If you jump off the wall or move too far to the side while climbing, you will fall and falling damage does apply.  However, this can work to your advantage getting down.  Climb off the top onto the wall, turn your view so you are facing the wall, jump and *immediately* move forward - you will catch the wall again partway down rather than falling to your death.  Rappel to the bottom!

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