I have an Iksar shaman that I leveled mostly on Antonica.
I don't mind excluding myself from good cities and having to revisit Cabilis every now and then via the Oasis -> TD firepots shortcut. You can always gate right back to where you were after you resupply. With Velious out, we now have Thurgadin for banking, vendors, alchemy, etc. That evens things out quite a bit if you want to actually spend a lot of time out there. In your 40s and 50s you'll have to focus on your epic a lot in Kunark. Being able to use Cabilis is actually quite convenient then.
I will say that not getting invisibility until level 29 is brutal as an Iksar. I had many failed attempts at getting to HHK without it. If you have the plat, invis potions are about 10pp / charge from a vendor. Usually if you need something from a city very, very badly you can find someone who would be willing to go grab it for you at least.
If you're totally new to EQ, I would say that getting to see the world as a good race is pretty important for the immersion. To me, it's weird to think of someone who has a high level character but knows nothing about Freeport, Rivervale, Kelethin, Felwithe, Halas, Kaladim, Qeynos, etc. But if you have an alt that you play often maybe you can get that exposure on that toon instead.
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