First hunting in Shadeweavers (Levels 2 - 3)
Objectives: Scavengers Pack, Ghulam gloves (, Bloodling Shield)
Out in Shadeweavers, you will see a path leading between a few tents and buildings; all of this area is mostly safe, as far as the sentry at the crossroads; the best newbie hunting is to the left as you leave the city; the bank and two merchants are on the right.
Before doing anything else, find Faer Shahar and talk to him - if you collect four items of garbage, which appear throughout the zone, including on the path and in the newbie area, and give them to him, you will get a Scavengers Bag in return. Make this a priority if you don't have any other containers yet. The garbage looks like small sacks on the ground, and seem to take on the background coloration rather more than normal dropped items do. The garbage is no rent, which means that you must collect and hand in all four pieces in a single playing session, otherwise it will disappear when you log out.
The basic hunting strategy is to select a target and autoattack - no subtlety required. Guards will protect you from anything in the zone apart from Loda Kai poachers (apparently this was fixed in a patch, and the guards no longer have a non aggression pact with poachers). When you get your kick skill (at level 5 - it should appear automatically) put it on a hot key, and use it in combat every time it becomes available. It won't make much difference at the level you get it, but it is a valuable additional attack every three or four combat tics. Don't be afraid to die - below level 6, you lose nothing and respawn with all your items, and can often rush back into the fray and kill off whatever killed you.
Kill hoppers, worms and bloodlings, saving everything that they drop. You will need shadeling silk and hopperhides for tailoring, which is essential for your beastlord quest; needle claws are also useful for tailoring, and bloodling carapaces will be used for the shield quest. Rarely the bloodlings will also drop mandibles, of which you will need four. If you run short of room, put excess baggage into the bank, which is conveniently located in the zone. When you have enough mandibles, talk to Kaza Raj, close to the Shar Vahl entrance - he is the contact point for all of the Ghulam armor quests. If you stay longer in Shadeweavers and have magic weapons, you can also kill nuisances here; they drop cloth armor (usually just a cap) and a small amount of cash.
See the trade skills page for advice on how to tailor armor as an upgrade for you, using damaged rockhopper hides.
Turn in needle claws from the hoppers to the tailoring merchant, Tiamon Aroo; he will return you a single stackable needle for each set of four claws. He also will give you the best prices to sell your loot of the two in zone merchants. You can also discover how to make Shadowed Hopperhide armor from him - this is easy, fun, and looks cool; but is nowhere near as good as Ghulam armor, although it is a step up from basic tattered hopperhide armor.
Bloodling carapaces can be collected and combined in a special container, a shield frame, that you can buy from Master Barkhem, in the smith merchant in the NW of the merchant area; do not combine your collection of carapaces just yet, until you have completed the whisperling quest in the pit later, which gives you a slightly better shield.
Without money, you still have a free source of food and drink: you can forage payala berries under the trees by the merchants, and turn them in to one of the merchants for drink - which is also saleable for small amounts, and is an excellent source of faction for non-vah shir who wish to do Shar Vahl quests.
By now, you may have some things to sell; compare prices with the different merchants, as they vary considerably. The best price in Shadeweavers will be offered by Tiamon Aroo (of the two merchants); in Shar Vahl, Chiale at the city end of the south bridge is always good, and Gherik Alarhun in the pottery merchant in the inner area may have even better prices for some items.