========================================

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

========================================

* 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 useable 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 (Queen's Colony or Outpost of the Overlord), 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 Kelethin characters is part of the Greater Faydark and always available.

* Do not forget to use the "Call of Qeynos/Kelethin/the Overlord" ability to teleport yourself back to your bind point (default in starting hamlet). 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. There are NPCs near the Lighthouse in Antonica and in the Commonlands who give a quest that allows you to change your bind point.

* It is possible to sneak into the opposition city! For a Qeynosian or Kelethinian sneaking into Freeport, I recommend going Commonlands > Sprawl > Serpent Sewers > Thieves Way > Freeport. For a Freeportian sneaking into Qeynos, I recommend going 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. Guards WILL attack you unless they are grey. Most guards can be snuck past if they are not red, though they will still wave their weapons at you. If you are a Qeynosian or Kelethinian looking for Fallen Gate access (but are too high to kill Kizdean Gix), you can sneak into North Freeport and the access quest giver will speak to you. Kelethin does not restrict visitors based on city alignment, though the merchants reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.

* If you are entering Antonica or Commonlands for the first time, you can ride the griffins in a circle 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 circle both ways (clockwise and counter-clockwise) as the griffins generally take different paths in each direction.

* Griffins in the Thundering Steppes and Nektulos Forest must be unlocked by an access quest before you can ride them. Speak to the griffon trainer in the tower to get the quest.

* 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, and at the Butcherblock Mountains dock 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 to be found 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 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 Feerrott. 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.

* Druids (furies and wardens) can create portals through which characters can travel to druid rings in Antonica, the Commonlands, Greater Faydark, the Butcherblock Mountains and the Steamfont Mountains. 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 and Greater Faydark. 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.

* Boats transport players from the Nektulos or Thundering Steppes docks to Butcherblock Mountains. 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.

* 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.

========================================
