I hunt alone (except i do double-box with an SE lvl 58). I've been hunting in the Forsaken Plains (mostly the shamans)...but after hitting 60...the leveling is much slower. Are there any better places to hunt at my level(s)?
I was in that same boat myself (though now I"m having trouble finding a safe and rewarding area to go from 62 to 63 in), and found the area with best risk vs reward and time was the area right around Disciples Necropolis(next to Devastated Castle and off of the blazing swamp teleport). In this area are skeletons, big maggots, and trees, all of which are aggro but not social, though there are several places where you can rest that are absolutelty safe for going afk in. The skeletons give items for the quest "For Sleepless Deadmen", and I believe that the maggots gave out stolen infernium ore (which isn't worth much anymore, but it was then).
While the mobs in Devastated Castle yield about 1000 to 2000 more experience, they are higher level so they will take more spells to kill, and they are more clumped together and very social. The mobs in this area also use a stun attack, increasing the chance of dying, and the need to use sleep more often. Overall, this area is about 33% to 66% more risky than the aforementioned area. For quests, the main one is the "Enhance That Weapon", where you can level up a soul crystal to about level 10 on the doom lords in this area.
As far as the Forbiddne Gateway is concerned, I haven't spent much time there, though I do believe that the mobs reward less experience overall than the ones at Devastated Castle, and there are fewer if any quests available for that area.
Concerning Valley of the Saints, its a funny little place. Scenery wise, its similar to the Wasteland, and has nothing more than recolored Oel'Mahums (which make an apperance in one form or another in almost every part of the map, even in areas where it makes no sense for them to be[i.e. in the mid levels of the Tower of Insolence]). Most of the Oel'Mahums here use magic, though are not themselves resistant to magic. Some of the mobs summon other mobs to them upon being either hit or killed, others randomly teleport aounrd, and others transform upon reaching a certain hp loss. There are several quests available in this area, 2 or 3 of which require no hunting and yield only exp, and 2 which require you to collect 300 quest items by killing mobs for either a 100,000 adena reward or a 100,000 exp + proportional amount of sp reward (geez could NC spare it?). Exp wise, the lower level mobs yield a good amount of exp versus the risk in killing them (though the "Miracle of Splendor"s use a fire based dot spell which will always take your hp down to 0 if you are a mage, which is very, very, very pointless and unfun). The only real big problem in this area is that every mob is social from every other mob, and the randomly teleporting blades of splendors. On the other hand, if you are a high m defense class, its pretty good hunting and relatively safe if you can find a good area to hunt in (minus the fire dot).
Edit: but do the Valley of the Saints at your own risk. Personally I died 5 times in under 2 hours when I was last there just in trying to learn what mob does what.
I hunt alone (except i do double-box with an SE lvl 58). I've been hunting in the Forsaken Plains (mostly the shamans)...but after hitting 60...the leveling is much slower. Are there any better places to hunt at my level(s)?