This is a really rough comb-over of the low-to-mid level areas to improve the experience for brand new players and make the dungeons equal to the current most popular leveling zones instead of abandoned/only bot worthy loot zones. Mostly it's a comparison of how close or far away enemies are to the average exp-per-HP ratio. While I find many mid-high level areas and new fields to be fair in their exp distribution, older maps are decidedly imbalanced and have been neglected for far too long. Especially the lower level undead, as the game developers were pretty cruel to solo support acolytes...
I'm going to call this...
SAMIAS'S LOW LEVEL OVERHAUL
TRAINING GROUNDS
I think right now this place is in a good spot. It had to be changed to prevent bot exploits generating risk-free zeny so we can't exactly change what gear comes out of here from the NPCs.
NOVICE HUNTS
Leave porings and drops alone. They have a turn-in inside the training grounds and aren't necessarily "exp" monsters to hunt. Lunatics are also fine as-is, or the rate of their consumable drops could be bumped up.
Pupa: Guard drop rates have already been increased. Slightly bump up phracon drops to match peco peco eggs?
Roda frogs, chon chons and willows: Double the exp and jexp these give. Increase the drop rate on all trunks willows drop by about 5-10% to make it easier for new archers to complete their test. Also, bring back roda frogs and chon chons to South Pront!
Picky: had their drops changed already, but I think mastela fruit is overkill and is going to cause issues. If we want a strong consumable to drop from an easy monster, why not consider hinalle or aloe leaflets instead?
Peco Peco Egg: Possibly increase density or add to more fields? Have guard drop rate similar to pupa.
Rockers, baby desert wolf, condor, savage babe: Double exp and jexp gained.
DUNGEONS:
There are lots of great dungeons to explore in this game. Too bad so many of them are not worth the effort! We don't need any special dungeons for new players, but I suggest that many of the first class suitable dungeons get overhauled heavily to compete with the popular maps and item turn-ins.
CULVERTS
Thief bug: Bump up exp gained per kill to 25 base, 10 job. Remove non-slotted jacket drop and replace with meat drops at a high rate.
Familiar: Increase 1s ribbon drop to about 0.6%. Change exp given to about 35 base and 20 job.
Tarou: Bump up exp to 64 base, 32 job. Greatly improve density on culverts 1, as currently the dungeon's first floor feels very sparse with its wide open spaces.
Plankton: Double base exp, triple job exp gained. Increase alcohol drop rate to 0.1%.
Female thief bug: +10 exp to both values. Increase 4s blade drop rate slightly.
Male thief bug: Increase yellow herb drops significantly. Maybe a slight increase in job exp gained but actually they're pretty balanced as far as exp gains anywaygo. Increase density on level 4.
Poporings: Fine as-is. Low rate apple has already been changed to drop more frequently.
Drainliars: Fine as-is. They're just kind of there to be disruptive anyway.
Cramps: Reduce to 2 from 5 spawns.
PAYON DUNGEON
Mind the bots and make this place pleasant for actual players!
Zombies: Double their exp. They drop meat now, yay! Also consider increasing the drop rate of horrendous mouths to something like 2% to improve zeny output but not too dramatically. Increase density by about 10.
Skeletons: Double their exp. Chance to also drop skull ring [1] near card rates?
Boa: Fine as-is, especially with katana drop rate change.
See above: Familiars, poporings.
Eggyra: +100 job exp. Leave drops as-is.
Archer Skeleton: +100 exp base exp, +50 job exp. Bump up fire arrow drop to 50%.
Skeleton Soldier: +150 base exp, +50 job exp. Replace stiletto [2] with stiletto [3] and switch drop rates with dagger [3], making the stiletto the rarer of two drops. Replace knife drop with monster's feed drop.
Bongun: +300 base, +200 job exp. Replace one yellow herb drop with shoes [1] at a rate similar to munak.
Munak: Replace adventurer's suit with adventurer's suit [1].
Hydra: Bump up exp values by +20 each.
Magnolia: +150 to both exp values. Increase zargon drop rate to 12%. Increase scell drop rate to 15%. Increase garlet drop rate to 20%. Improve professional cooking kit drop rate to 1%.
Mandragora: Fine as-is.
Whisper (immobile): Leave exp as-is. Add white herb drop at maybe a 5% rate? Add fine grit drop at a 5% rate, giving thiefs an alternative monster to hunt to pick up their quest skill. Double silver robe drop rate.
Sohee: +200 base exp, +250 job exp. Increase drop rate of muffler [1], nurse cap, and stiletto slightly. Increase density of spawns on Payon 4 by another 20 or so (which I think puts it in line with what the classic DB already says).
Greatest general: Leave exp as-is. Replace club [3] drop with another trunk drop at 10% (so now they drop trunks twice).
Horong: Exp fine as-is. Double alcohol drop.
Nine Tail: Double job exp earned, making these a good jexp monster to hunt as they are already pretty difficult.
Dokebi: Leave as-is due to turn-in.
Overall I think a reevaluation of Payon dungeon 5 could be in order, to make it sort of a Payon guild dungeon "lite". Right now the mobs are kinda all over the place.
GEFFEN DUNGEON
With the proposed changes, I again highly suggest GMs keep an eye on the state of this dungeon. This used to be one of the most populated dungeons in the game for low level players and it should be worth it instead of devolving into a bot haven. Also, for the lower levels I assume this is going by Classic pre-Amatsu like spawns and not Pre-renewal spawns.
Poison spores: +30 exp base exp, +80 job exp (why should they have less job exp than regular spores?). Increase density in Geffen 1 so it really feels mobby. Change zargon drop rate to about 2%. Increased karvo drop rate?
Dustiness: +50 exp to both values.
Argos: Exp fine as-is. Increase yellow herb drop rate.
Jakk: +500 jexp, making this dungeon overall a strong jexp leveling spot.
Whisper: See notes on Whisper (immobile), except make the fabric drop rate 100%.
Nightmare, deviruchi, marionette, bathory: Fine as-is. Potentially look at increasing brooch drop rate on marionettes? Maybe make level 3 Geffen dungeon even mobbier?
BYALAN ISLAND/UNDERSEA TUNNEL
Again, this place has a lot of bots so tread carefully...
See previously: Hydra, plankton changes.
Increased density on all floors.I noticed this was already done. Ignore this! It's pretty good right now actually.
Double exp gained from kukre, increase vadon, cornutus, marina, thara frog, marse, obeaune, marine sphere, and phen exp by 50%. Increase swordfish and marc exp gains by 30%. Leave exp values of mermen, strouf, and penomena as-is. Drops are pretty good as-is.
Increase drop rate of ancient lips from mermen to 30%. Increase merman and strouf density of Undersea tunnel 5 to encourage parties as these monsters are a little tougher than average to solo and make this dungeon a bigger challenge for mid-tier players.
SUNKEN SHIP
Mostly covered by other dungeons, but...
Pirate skeletons: Double exp. Replace falchion [3] drop with a rarer Scimiter [2] or [3] drop. Consider replacing the regular bandana drop with the pirate bandana (lowering the drop rate slightly) and then replacing the original pirate bandana drop with a pirate bandana [1] (again, might want to shift the drop rate down). Yarr!
ORC VILLAGE/DUNGEON
Orc warriors and orc lady in the outside field: +100 exp to base and job exp each.
Orc zombie: Double exp earned per kill. Add consumable drops (monster's feed?). Orcish axe drop?
Orc skeleton: +50% exp.
Steel chonchon: Exp fine as-is. Improve drops of all metals and solid shell by some amount.
Zenorc: Fine as-is.
Orc archer and high orcs: Fine as-is. Maybe increase high orc density on Geffen 14?
GOBLIN VILLAGE
Bump up goblin exp all around by about +50 exp and make them very dense in spawns.
ANT HELL
Ant eggs: Fine as-is.
+30% exp to all the ants. +30% exp to the giearths.
MJOLNIR DEAD PIT
Higher density of smokie and martin on floor 1.
+50% exp increase on smokies and martins. See: giearth, tarou, familiar changes.
More skel workers and giearth on floor 2.
+200 base/job exp from skel workers. Bump iron drop rate up to 10%.
Myst: Bump up exp by about 20%. Increase trunk drop rate to about 30%.
TOY FACTORY
Have chepet, angeling and mastering spawn twice as often.
Chepet: Leave exp as-is. Increase matchstick drop?
Marin: Leave as-is. Adorable window dressing like the other poring family members.
Mastering: Replace some apple drops with something a little more impressive?
Angeling: Already had apple drop changed. Probably fine by now but maybe could have some drop rate increases overall.
Cookie (green): Leave as-is.
Cookie (red): Increase exp earned by about 30%. Increase density on level 1. Increase pearl drop rate slightly.
Myst case: Increase density on both floors. Increase exp earned by about 15%.
Cruiser: 50% more job exp.
Santa goblin: Increase exp by about 30%. Actually have them spawn here as a normal mob. The iRO Classic DB lists them as a normal mob here but I don't actually think that's true.
PYRAMIDS
Floor 1, ease back a smidge on familiars to make it easier to access the thief guild, or have some NPC for novices to shortcut to the guild.
Floor 2 seems fine?
Floor 3, axe the mimic spawn. Increase mummy spawn.
Mummy: Increase exp gained by about +300 base/job. Slightly increase glove drop rate?
Ghoul: Some slight improvement in exp gained.
Matyr: Fine as-is. Maybe add a skel bone drop to make regular zeny drops better (ha ha ha)
Isis: Exp fine as-is. Slight increase in necklace drop rate?
Minorous: Exp fine as-is. Increase density slightly? Replace axe [3] with axe [4] and lower drop rate?
Verit: Exp fine as-is, not really an exp monster anyway. Increase density?
Ancient mummy: Make worse than anubis in exp but not THIS much worse, since these guys are not as fast and are easier to hit, and drop the extremely valuable glove [1]. Maybe a 150% increase in exp is fair?
SPHINX
Bleh, this place is so heavily botted on the upper floors... Without GM intervention this place kinda sucks for humans!
Most monsters: Fine as-is.
Marduk: Double job exp to make him stand out as a great job exp monster, being a caster and all...
FIELDS
I'm only going to briefly cover some of the worst offenders of field monsters out there.
Prontera area:
Mostly covered already by culverts and rocker changes. Overall density increases would be nice to make hunting as good as Payon and Geffen.
Savages on Prontera field 10 should stay but elder willows should come back too. Improve their exp by about 25%.
Creamy: Fine as-is thanks to turn-in and great drops for their level.
Payon forest area:
See previous: Smokies.
Elder willow: Increase density of where to find them. Improve exp by about +50 base/job. Higher trunk drop rate. Have them return to Prontera field 10 as well! Also their maps need better bot sweeps.
Bigfoot: Make them give slightly more exp than wolves considering they're similar in difficulty.
Wormtail: Double exp.
Mt. Mjolnir area:
GENERALLY SPEAKING I have no idea about the spawns here. It's such a toss-up of Classic vs pre-Renewal spawns.
Coco and caramel: Slight, slight increase in exp per kill. Move the turn-in NPCs or change the map with the NPCs present so they actually reflect a good hunting map.
Horns: Improved exp. At least give them better job exp than regular spores.
Hornets: Make more common across the world. Exp leave as-is as their drops are pretty above average.
Ambernite: Double exp. Bump up solid shell drop rate to 1%.
Argiope: Leave exp as-is. Improve density on Mjol 05 and 10 by a large amount. Maybe add a turn-in NPC on Mjol 10 to simulate the popularity of this map in days long past?
Petites (ground and sky): Exp fine as-is. Have their spawns as represented in the classic DB.
Sograt desert:
Again I can't tell you about the spawns specifically here because they are split between old and new spawns. According to the Classic DB there are even some maps that don't even have spawns... Wish we had better info to refer to here.
Also, in general, the desert doesn't have the kind of mob density its big field maps need compared to Geffen or Payon.
Hodes: They have a turn-in but they're so heavily botted. Needs some more proactive sweeping.
Scorpion: Slight exp improvement. Needs better density. Fine grit drop rate needs improvement.
Sandman: Slight exp improvement. Make Sograt desert 16 nice and mobby.
Golem, frilldora and peco peco: They all have turn-ins but need to be easier to find with their respective NPCs.
Anacondaq: Leave exp as is. Increase drop rate of yellow herbs significantly and slightly increase in emveretarcon drops.
Metaller: Make on par with wolf exp as their stats and behaviour are quite samey.
Desert wolf: Slight exp improvement. Improve mink coat [1] drop. Increase meat drop.
Comodo fields:
GATOR BOTS ARE HORRENDOUS.
Megalodon: Yeah yeah I know this is beach dungeon.... Increase exp gain by about 30%.
Aster: Double exp gain. Improve drops overall.
Shellfish, Crab: Triple exp gain. Absolutely no damn reason for these guys to suck so bad compared to the average.
Raggler: Double exp gain.
Alligator: Leave as-is, but clean up the bots who are clogging up the turn-in.
Seals, sea otters, galapagos: Slightly improve job exp.
And one last thing...
Make mimics give actual not-garbage exp. By design, they are trash that only gets in your way. They are the universal supremely annoying enemy that's hard to hit, gives non-phen mages aneurysms with their speed, low drops of mostly poor quality, and they show up everywhere. At least give them exp closer to a rideword as they rarely show up en masse! That is all.
Going to try to tackle at least some of this for next week.