Hot Zone

A Hot Zone is a special modification to any one of the game's existing macrozones. There may only be one hot zone at a time. Every four hours, a new one is chosen at random. The purpose of the hotzone is to provide players with a place to find additional player versus player conflict over the use of the zone.

Where to Find

Hotzones are denoted by a blue macrozone (usually white) icon in a player's world map. Additionally, each time a new hot zone is chosen or a player first logs in to the world, notification of the current hotzone and time remaining in it will be given via the system channel.

Benefits

A hot zone has many incentives:

• Double experience gain from mobs and players.
• Accelerated and improved item drops from mobs.
• Accelerated resource drops from mobs.
• Accelerated hireling contract drops from mobs.
• Increased chance to find statistic or mastery runes.
• Increased gold per mob.
• Chance to drop glass weapons.

Official Posting

In the July 2005 Content Patch released, a new game feature was introduced called hot zones. A hot zone is an adventuring area randomly chosen that yields a greater experience gain when a creature is killed there and a chance to drop additional treasure. A hot zone lasts for three (3) hours and then, on the hour, will change to a new one. Every non-safe zone has the chance to be the Hot zone, but they're randomly chosen-- one of the battlegrounds on Maelstrom might be the hot zone this afternoon, and the Amazon jungle might be the hot zone this evening.

When a player logs in, a system message will appear and tell him which zone is currently "hot". If a player does not know where the area is by its name, he simply has to open up the World Map and look for the blue icon.

Once a player arrives, all monsters he kills will grant more experience than they would elsewhere. He also has a good chance to roll for additional loot ranging from resources needed for crafting items to Favor used to give buffs and enhancements from Shrines.

Found here.

Additional Information

• Statistic runes that are dropped as a result of a zone being hot are not announced through the system channel as natural drops are.
• Hotzone drops are generated after a mob has been killed, and therefore cannot be stolen from mobs by thieves.
• "Newbie Island" or starter area zones may not become hot zones.