Leveling

Leveling is not nearly as important in AC as many other RPGs because AC is a skill-based game.  As you earn experience, you can allocate it to whatever specialized or trained skill you want, regardless of level.  That means you can customize your character to a far greater degree than in the typical level-based game.  Each time you raise a skill, the cost of the next point increases by about 10% for attributes and around 5% for specialized skills.  There is an ultimate cap, but it is incredibly high (2^32 XP, or about 4.3 Billion XP) and most people never reach it.  The cost of your next level also increases by about 10% each time.

Leveling does reward you in one very important way, however.  At certain levels, you are awarded an extra skill point.  Collect enough and you can learn a new skill.  These are gained at levels 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 23, 26, 29, 32, 35, and then every five levels until level 130.  After that, you earn credits at 140, 150, 160, 180, 200, 225, 250, and 275.  The level cap is 275, but you can continue earning experience after that - it's just that your level does not change.  Aside from earning skill credits, your level determines which dungeons you can enter, which items you can equip, and who can become your vassal.  Your level, in relation to the level of the monster you are fighting, determines how much experience you will earn from defeating your foe.  For best results, you will want to fight monsters around a good number of levels above you.  Olthoi and other swarming monsters are a bit of an exception, since you can kill a lot of them quickly for good experience.

Choosing a place to level can be very difficult, especially if you have little experience with AC.  Marauding about the countryside killing everything in your path is always one option.  Refer to the Dereth and Transportation section for Turbine's monster difficulty map to find a good region of the world.  If you do fight overland, you have to be prepared for pretty much anything, so your buffing time might be a good deal longer than it would be if you decided on a dungeon.  Dungeons offer static spawns of a smaller number of monster types, allowing you to focus your preparation on one main weapon and a couple types of damage you will take, meaning less buffing time.  You can also use the dungeon itself to your advantage, forcing monsters into narrow corridors or using closed doors to shield yourself from war magic.  In general, Melees usually do better in dungeons than archers or mages, but there are plenty of dungeons that an archer or mage can successfully hunt.

Popular Hunting Spots

1+ - Aphus Lassel

Aphus Lassel (or Tusker Isle) is filled with monkeys, ranging from the lowly Male Tusker up to Bobo the Tusker King and his horrible horrible minions.  Any level can find a nice patch of tuskers to fight, but until you are level 80, you won't be able to freely travel here.  You either need a Tusker Island recall gem, get lucky and find a Tusker Shrine on the landscape, or fight your way through the Tusker Temple of your level.

1+ - Phyntos Menace - 68N 20W

Phyntos Menace is a maze-style dungeon filled with swarms of White Phyntos Wasps.  These guys have very low health and are worth a lot of experience, although they do chain-cast war spells and attack quickly.  This place is very popular with people hoping to power-level.

15+ - Lugian Citadel - 56.5S, 66.9E; 70.2S, 24.2E; 67.9S, 62.6E

As the name implies, these 3 dungeons are filled with Lugians!  The dungeons have an identical layout, but as of late, the spawns were altered and I am not entirely sure the level restrictions are still the same.  The first dungeon listed still has the same types of monsters, at least - Lugians ranging from level 15 to about 70.  Some of them carry hollow weapons, which cut through item and life magic.  You'll want to protect and bane against physical attacks anyway and use lightning as your main attack.

15+ - Halls of Metos - 4.4S, 0.6W; 56S, 89.2W; 61.3S, 46.7W

Metos is filled with magic casting Undead and Golems, ranging from Liches through Revenants and Iron through Obsidian Golems.  If you fight here, you will probably want to pick one room (and hence, one monster type) and stick with them.  Metos is a good place for Life Archers to level because you won't take a whole lot of physical damage, but you will take a lot of war spells.  The three copies of this dungeon are identical.

20+ - Black Spawn Den - 13.6N, 79.8W; 60S, 57.7W; 56.7S, 86W

Black Spawn Den used to be really really busy, but not so much anymore.  It is filled with mostly Tusker Slaves and Guards, as well as a few Virindi and a large pack of Drudges (which most people avoid).  This dungeon used to be THE place for mages to level, but with the changes to life magic and Tusker magic resistance, things have changed.  All in all though, not a bad place to level.

20+ - Claw Raider Dungeons - Various

The Claw Raider dungeons are Drudge dungeons, ranging from Lurkers to Raveners, and again great places for Mages or Life Archers to fight.  The problem is that you need to find either the Northern or Southern Claw Raiders on the landscape (and kill them) and  enter the portal they summon to fight here.  You can portal recall back to the entrance, but it's still a matter of finding the monster.  Once you do though, you can have the dungeon to yourself more often than not.  You can also pick up half of the Quiddity Orb here, which is a decent item for the no-creature Melee.

20+ - Matron Hive South - 15.9N, 73.7E

There are 4 dungeons laid out like this one, and this is the lowest.  It's filled with Swarm Olthoi up to Nymphs and is a great spot for a tank melee to level.  There is also a Brood Matron here who drops an item that can be traded in for Asheron's Rainment.  The 3 other versions of this dungeon are also great tank leveling places.

24+ - Singular Pyreal Repository - 4.2S, 8.9E

Another Drudge dungeon, this time all Raveners with a few Dolls mixed in for good measure.  The final room of the dungeon has a very fast spawn and can be very good experience.  Additionally, you can pick up a Doll Leader's Charm and some Singular Pyreal here, which are halfway useful items.

30+ - Olthoi Horde Nest - 48.9N, 12.9W; 55.8N, 43.5E; 64.3N, 52.8E

Another great place for a tank melee to level.  Olthoi from Workers up to Swarm Nobles in the deepest depths.  There are also portals at the deepest parts of these dungeons into Deeper Catacombs and ultimately to the Catacombs of Oppression.

20+, 40+, 60+, 80+ - Matron Hives - Nanto, Khayyaban, Uziz, Baishi

Great places for melees heavy on melee defense.  Nothing but swarm Olthoi at various levels.  The highest level hive is home to huge populations of Swarm Warriors, Guardians, and Mutilators.  A good fellowship can pull in 20+ Million an hour in the highest level hive.  Mages and pretty much anyone else without melee defense would be wise to look elsewhere.

45+ - Aerlinthe

Aerlinthe is a volcanic island off the northern coast of Dereth.  It's home to lots and lots of Wasps, Golems, Banderlings, Drudges, Undead, and Fire Elementals.  The spawns are dense and the XP is decent if you know what you are doing.  Unless you have the Recall Scroll, you will have to pay each time you want to visit the Island.

50+ - Ayabar's Laboratory (92.1N, 46.4W)

Ayabar's Lab (AKA Fiuns) is a dungeon filled with large numbers of Fiuns on a very fast spawn.  The XP is the best in here for anyone between level 50 and 110.  Further inside is Ayabar's Study, which is 90+ and has even better XP production rates.  A good solo archer or mage can pump out 35M or more in the Lab and even more in the Study.

60+ - Valley of Death (Centered at 37S 63W)

The Valley of Death is filled with very high level monsters, all of which have lots of health, very high defenses, and lots of armor.  Most toss VII level magic and hit very hard.  Lower levels and especially melees have limited use here, although having a dedicated healer, especially with a Healers' Heart, can be useful.

90+ - Singularity Caul

Singularity Caul is a Virindi-altered island off the southwest shores of the Direlands.  It is a very high level place, filled with lots of dangerous critters.  Unless you have the Recall scroll (90+!), you will have to run through Singularity Bore, a dangerous dungeon, to visit this island.  There are lots of Boss monsters on this island, if you like hunting those kinds of enemies.

90+, 110+, and 125+ - Eater Vaults.  (92.8N, 48.9W  and 97.6N, 48.0W)

The highest level Eater Vaults on the Halaetan Islands are great places to level for anyone with melee defense.  Probably the best XP per hour until you can enter the 140+ dungeons.

130+ - Vissidal Isle (portal near 70N 65E)

Great loot and 100M+ an hour solo.  You will die a lot though, especially if you don't have melee defense.  Good leveling ground for melees with a Regal Runed Weapon or Spec'd Life.

140+ - Path of the Blind (91.1N, 48.0W)

This dungeon and Egg Orchard on the Halaetan Islands are the most popular places to level if you are level 140+.  A good fellowship can produce upwards of 200 Million XP an hour!  PotB is filled with high level Lugians with lots of health.  Fortunately, they are very susceptible to Imperils - once Imperilled, an archer can take a Lugian out with one shot and a melee can do the same deed in a couple swings.  A balanced team can pump out serious XP.  Watch out for Ninjas!

140+ - Egg Orchard (96.2N 48.1W)

Egg Orchard is basically one giant macro haven.  Combat is against big nasty Olthoi who are impervious to life magic, so rending weapons are the way to go.  PotB pumps out better XP if you have live players, but EO offers more steady XP given that the place is constantly occupied.  Watch out for the Ninjas!

150+ - Dark Isle (portal on Vissidal, at 75.8N, 70.2E)

Dark Isle is brutal, but a savvy character can pound out more XP per hour here than anywhere else in Dereth.  The spawns are clusters of 4 monsters, one of which will summon a Boss monster and another friend or two when it dies.  Each boss drops a trophy similar to Vissidal's Gold monsters and practically all the XP you will earn will come from the trophies, so patron pass-up is practically nil.

150+ - Graveyard (Centered at 65S, 44W)

The Graveyard is a scary place for even the strongest warriors.  During the day, it is plagued by rats and Pyre Skeletons, but at night, the place comes alive (so to speak) with hordes of nasty undead.  The XP is generally pretty lousy, but the real point in hunting here is to find Ancient Mhoire Coins, a special currency used to buy various useful items from the Undead Smith.  Only those creatures that never see the light of day can drop these coins (so no rats, no Pyre Skeletons).  There are also quests here that pay Mhoire Coins upon completion.