crypt of dalnir
howling stones

honorable mention to city of mist

Misty thicket. It was for a long time the center of the world in vanilla EQ that was the premier porting place because of how close the bank is to the ring. And i always just like the zone/halflings/lord of the rings vibe. But most of all, It's a really clever double entendre. The little deputies also remind me of Tattoo in a Zorro costume. De plane, boss, de plane!

misty thicket was never the center of anything, especially considering the majority of players hate halflings

you could in theory say kelethin was the center of the world or commonlands / freeport but most people preferred one trade hub over the other

That's probably cause you spent the majority of your time in vanilla jerking off to wood elves. For the rest of us, misty thicket was ideal for banking.

I love how misty was like the highway for good guys, I always played evils and I remember when I first went to misty as a 45 necro to kill some halflings I was blown away at the zone, teaming with good guys, I didnt even know people used that bank back then haha.

I remember what DMN speaks of. It always has a steady flow of druids and after green with all the manastones I bet youll see popping in and out frequently to stone up once kunark comes haha the're will probably always be someone popping in, stoning up and gating out 24/7 haha

South Karana and Kedge obv

I would love to love kedge, but I cant figure out how to not get owned down there.

For leveling up evil toons, The Warrens. Good exp for high teens thru to mid 20s then you get a great place to bank with a ring near by. You can run out to the merch at the ring to sell your good loots.

Blackburrow - first dungeon

Kelethin for me, probably. Love the music, love the tree top aesthetic even though it is an absolute pain in the ass to navigate. And nostalgia since that was the first city I saw (after Felwithe, but Felwithe is meh). I also think fondly of Plane of Knowledge for some reason.

Also, for some weird reason I've retained this one distinct memory of just doing a regular group grinding out in the plains of Dreadlands but I just remember feeling so serene and relaxed, enjoying the group.