Project 1999 - Your favorite newbie area?

Playing a Barbarian in 1999 is one of the most immersive experiences you could ask for. Everfrost is completely terrifying - it's a maze with close quarters for the most part + trains are very frequent + higher level undead wander the lowest level areas + you don't have night vision here as a Barbarian. Working as a team with fellow players was super important.

Everfrost is massive too. When you eventually level up some and find your way out of the frozen mountain maze and out into the expansive tundra, it's just an amazing sight and feeling. I played a Shaman back then, so it was at Level 5 that I was already fighting out in the Tundra against wayyyy higher level monsters. Teams of Level 7/8 Warriors would take me because you gotta have one healer and it didn't really matter what level you are. A lot of Shaman didn't realize back then that Inner Fire was actually a very efficient heal, so I was able to do great work. Of course I also didn't learn Meditate from the skill trainer until I was level 8...haha. After I figured that out it was such a huge power rush.

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I'll also always love Steamfont. It's a very, very unique zone and you can easily get into your teens there. The kobold camp nearest to the city was HOTLY contested back in the day...it was the only one near the city (way later they added a bunch more kobold camps in that area and those camps are still here on p1999...and while they shouldn't be, it's a good idea to have at least one more there). I have fond memories of playing there with my Gnome Magician and learning how to hold down that whole kobold camp down by myself with a Water pet, during one of the rare times I had it to myself.

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Butcherblock is pretty amazing too. Tons of content and the maze-like setup gives you a lot of adventures. It's probably the overall "best" newbie zone in terms of being able to make cash and having plenty of content to support a lot of players. I also really like Misty Thicket a lot; it has a cool setup and its a GREAT starter area. Greater Faydark is obviously a definitive Everquest zone as well, and I'll always appreciate it a ton, although it's a bit lacking in terms of actual content if you take out Kelethin from the equation.

I'd say the worst newbie areas are Nektulos Forest and Toxxulia Forest. Nektulos actually has a well-designed atmosphere, but it just doesn't have enough content. It's not enough to a support a significant lower-level playerbase. Toxxulia is simply shit.

Overall ranking, a mixture between how memorable and how "good" (but mostly the former):

01. Everfrost
02. Butcherblock
03. Steamfont
04. Greater Faydark
05. Misty Thicket
06. Commonlands
07. Qeynos Hills
08. Feerrott
09. Innothule Swamp
10. Nektulos Forest
11. Toxxulia Forest

I never played an Iksar, so I can't really comment on those newbie areas. They seem to have been well designed from everything I hear, though.