Why go lake of ill omen?!

[Malloy]

Hello friends!!

I have been so curious why so many people go to lake of ill omen to group on this server in the 20's. The interents list this zone has having one of the worst ZEM (zone experience modifiers) around. Where zones like upper guk that have insanely high ZEM's rarely have a full group. Just curious.. wondering what i'm missing.. is it perhaps for teh fat loots that come outa that zone? Anyway.. imput appreciated. Thank you kind sirs.


Malloy

[Kevlar]

Because the listed ZEMs don't match the actual P1999 ZEMs. It is an awesome zone, sort of a lower level Overthere. You want a bad ZEM go to frontier mts.

[burkemi5]

i like it because it's very open. i can't fear kite in upper guk! also, as an iksar, it is convenient to have cabilis so close.

[achtung]

I spent way too much time in this zone back in the day on Live and am making a point to only level in dungeons this time around on P99. That said, I understand why people like it; it's got a great range of mobs, outdoors, close to FV, easy to put unconventional groups together, low risk, etc. Also a good introduction to Kunark in general.

[Handull]

I've been in LOIO for a bit with my monk. Soloing on my monk has been VERY easy in this zone. There are two nice areas with tons of mobs at slightly different levels that can be single pulled. These are also nice areas to group and get tons more kills. I'm loving the exp solo and in groups here.

[Hamahakki]

LOIO sucks. Low ZEM, lots of mobs which undercon (shamans, monks) and lots of mobs that don't flee.

The only big plus is that it is popular, so it's easier to find a group there. Also, it is close to Cabilis for Iksar.

The Overthere is MUCH better for 16-25. The northeast quadrant has unlimited easy mobs, a merchant who sells to everyone, and a zoneline near by if you need.

[Yukahwa]

Malloy you honestly aren't missing anything. The old world zones sol a and b and upper and lower guk and befallen are a lot better at those levels.

[citizen1080]

It's where all the hot college girls spend their spring break...at least that is what I was told...I have never been able to find them yet.

[valkabo]

Hi Malloy! We discussed this in a group a few days back.. I ended up spending a few levels there. Got a 5k item drop. Thats why I go :P

[pickled_heretic]

loio sucks, i have only ever got raped by adds there. after giving loio a try i ended up back in guktop for my 20-29 run. i gained a level every 3 hours or faster sometimes soloing (with an occasional duo or group) in guktop even with an occasional death, but that was with charming. most classes can't solo that fast. however you can group effectively in guk from low teens to high 20's if you move your group around.

most groups only ever camp scryer or zoneline with the ocassional lord group but there are sooo many mobs in that zone it's a damn shame there aren't more people there. for instance you can move toward AC from the ZL with a 25+ group and still level very quickly.

after i hit 29 i went to SK and started doing paw. dangerous zone, but once again it's great exp.

[Ephirith]

Unfortunately I've kind of had to follow where the groups are, and it seems like people on this server have wacky notions of where to go. I find Oasis about equally as horrible as LOIO, but you can reliably get a group there, as you can in LOIO. People stay in Oasis waaaaay too late, often dinging 20 there, long after the exp is unbearably slow.

I tried going to Unrest several times in the late teens and only got one or two true groups, but when I did the exp flew about twice as fast as it did in Oasis. It's kind of a negative feedback loop imo, where people don't go because there aren't reliable grouping opportunities, and there aren't groups because people don't show up.

That said, LOIO has always been my favorite outdoor zone. I've gone 19-22 pretty quickly... but I have been poopsocking

Finistere

[FaranCleric]

Malloy, just come to Uguk so I can PL you.

Jeeeez.

[Atmas]

Unfortunately I've kind of had to follow where the groups are, and it seems like people on this server have wacky notions of where to go. I find Oasis about equally as horrible as LOIO, but you can reliably get a group there, as you can in LOIO. People stay in Oasis waaaaay too late, often dinging 20 there, long after the exp is unbearably slow.

I tried going to Unrest several times in the late teens and only got one or two true groups, but when I did the exp flew about twice as fast as it did in Oasis. It's kind of a negative feedback loop imo, where people don't go because there aren't reliable grouping opportunities, and there aren't groups because people don't show up.

That said, LOIO has always been my favorite outdoor zone. I've gone 19-22 pretty quickly... but I have been poopsocking

Finistere

Dungeons have a nice xp bonus. You can try to move groups there or form them yourself if you want to get away from outdoor zones. Another place you could try is Mistmoore, always a favorite of mine and usually has a couple of players whenever I swing by.

[sacrilegium]

More people going there (for whatever reason) mean better chance of actually finding a group, and the number of monsters there means fast pulls, which will negate the horrible ZEM (the OT one is almost as bad from what I read).

[aresprophet]

Pretty sure the LOIO ZEM is significantly higher than listed on the wiki. I was getting a lot more per pull there than I was in OT at comparable levels, killing undead on my necro. Wide open spaces + undead mobs = easy necro soloing.

[gprater]

Ive wondered about the ZEM's as well. There have been plenty of posts about how they dont match with live, but I was wondering if the p99 developers kept the same relative rankings but just made the values different. LoIO has the worst ZEM on live like an above poster said. I recall its only 66%. So does that mean that LoIO on p99 also has the worst but just a different value>?

[Kevlar]

I was getting the same 3% killing grimalkins in loio as I was killing crocs in guk and I was killing hags in unrest. The only difference being I could kill the grimalkins a lot faster and safer.

[doacleric]

Guk is dangerous. Very dangerous, especially if you don't know what you are doing. There are many frogs in close proximity to each other making it difficult to single pull, and there are plenty of casters. One wrong pull can easily wipe the entire party. Most people tend to prefer the ease offered by wide open zones such as OT and LOIO.

Of course, you don't get the benefit of the increased XP and potential for yummy loot like you would in a dungeon :)

[Silentone]

Nonstop pulls, no real trains, Easy CR's ...good chance of Rez in zone from a high lvl camping stuff. In the end exp per mob is not as important as exp per hour. And making sure you always have a full group and people to replace is more imprtant then a few extra % per kill