I've been leveling my 51 phantom summoner around Ivory Tower. While the exp is pretty good and I did find a sweet spot that has only one bugbear warrior (and NO bots) the money drops kinda suck. Right now, I'm earning anywhere from 75-85k an hour in cash and vendor junk and usually get anywhere from 6 to 10 cursed bones. While I'm saving all the craft materials I get, I just checked my warehouse and I really don't see much there yet. As for common items, pffft, they're rarer than hen's teeth (so far, all I've managed to get is a katana, which I shipped off to mare arbalester as a backup weapon.)
I remember that back in the 40s, sea of spores was pretty good (I could get around 120-150k per hour from the mushrooms, eyes and wyrms) but it went blue on me a while ago. I'd like to find another place like that. The exp doesn't have to be any good (I'm going to be using Silhouette anyhow).
Maybe give dragon valley a try? Not the entrance, but go in and up the the right or left side on the Cave Servant Captains and Warriors and the Knights that are there.
Just a little followup. I gave Dragon Valley a shot and it's a little better than the bugbears and fromors (I could earn between 95-100k an hour.) The problem is that the cave servant types die slow and like to stun, probably because undead are more resistant to dark based attacks. However, I did find a reason to stay in the valley for a while. First, I'm finally back in a range where manor farming is profitable (Chilly Codrains return iron ore and Blues return coal.) The second is I found something unique about the Hunter Gargoyles. The gargs drop herbs AND they have a "Short-Range Physical Attack Weakness" which means my Silhouette cuts through them faster than hot butter through a knife (3-5 hits with beast SS spam).
Neddless to say, I grabbed a few packets of seeds, a couple bags of SS and proceeded to farm to my heart's content.