It didn't feel right to me to play a cleric of any other race, except maybe Dwarf, and I'm definitely not a Dwarf type. I've always loved elves. My first character started in Surefire Glade because I wanted a druid and my friends I was playing with were around Qeynos, but once I realized I was a crappy druid and that all I ever did was heal anyway -- that that was what gave me identity in the game -- it was time to start a cleric. It seemed only right to play a High Elf.
And speaking of vision around Surefire Glade, my first experience in the game? I drowned. I walked into the pool of water in the glade and couldn't figure out how to swim up before I slowly sunk under the water and died. My spawn point was outside in Qeynos Hills; I had no idea how I got there or how to get back to SFG. And I had no light source. I eventually got Wolf Form, but that was for outdoors only, and was prohibitive of doing anything else, so vision was always an irksome matter for me -- one that tied up your off-hand for a pisspoor light source when it seemed like everybody else had infravision.
I did pretty much the same thing. Not sure if I was a Human Druid or a Half Elf Druid, but that's where Is tarted off, and I definitely drowned in the massive network of caves. That respawn into Qeynos Hills was hilarious. Absolutely maddening. It goes from dark, dark, dark, and more dark with some random caves and cabins to "Holy crap it's bright and there is sky! Where is everything?" Managed to get in a group of other cast-out Human and Half Elf Druid/Rangers and hang out on that mountain at x4200, y200.
http://www.eqmacwiki.com/eqatlas/qeynoshillsmap.html
Also, it's kind of scary to me how perfect a rectangle Qeynos Hills is. I just remember all these winding paths and different topographies that it never feels like a solid zone. In fact, despite practically living there with a lot of early characters, I can barely remember what maybe 10% of the zone holds. 90% I know like the back of my hand, by the two far corners by Qeynos Hills are presumably just empty, empty spaces filled with rats, snakes, and wisps that lead into the Qeynos zone, and the portion between the lake and the left-side corner was just nothing except a L10 or so guy who you avoid at low levels and only drops beads. He also has a pet snake?
Anyway, yeah, Qeynos Hills was awesome. Surefall Glade sucked and I only made one other character truly start there (Human Ranger, spent twenty-plus hours in Qeynos Hills farming stupid Giant Field Rat Whiskers for post-Planes newbie armor; worst newbie quest in the game), but I loved it enough that most of my characters came from Halas (best place ever) and Qeynos.
And while I rag on Felwithe mostly because I never really got into Faydwer (except for the Stonebrunt Mountains, Dagnor's Cauldron, Crushbone, and the Estate of Unrest; excellent, excellent places), it's nothing compared to the terribleness of Freeport and the Commonlands. The Karanas may suck, but at least they aren't the main lowbie area. And poor guys have Befallen over Blackburrow, the Desert of Ro over Everfrost/Karanas, and a terrible, horribly mapped hometown.
ELITE TRAIN TO PEAKS ENTRANCE! 20+ COMING UP NOW! RUN!
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“So we’ve cornered Andy and Kyle in the Swarts stairwell and then this guy comes out of NO WHERE like ****ing Batman or something.” ; ExTha is the man