Shattered Kingdoms

Is it typical to have the discovery (of areas) to drop to familiar so quickly? Or is this based on your toons intelligence? I've done a few tests and have noticed that I've been barely getting a single level before it reaches familiar while in the starting areas, then I get totally lost.

Probably not the best person to be answering this, so you may want to wait for others to chime in. But basically the familiarity you gain in a place is based on how much exp you gain there. All the starting grounds, so your zakami fields or kytar or the hives in Ayamao. They will cap out at familiar and not go anywhere from there. But at lower levels your gain EXP super fast so they will get to familiar way fast.

Other leveling grounds will move at a slower pace. It also depends on a couple things, charisma, number of PC's in your group for example that will help you gain more exp, so you level faster and you reach levels of familiarity faster.

I hope that helps some and if I made a glaring mistake, someone fix me please!

You shouldn't worry about starting areas, they are capped at being familiar, without going into more extreme levels of familiarity. Which means you should be getting good exp even though your familiarity isn't at the "You have only recently discovered this area".

You should not leave the starting areas until you advance to the next rank, level 6. I forget what it's called.

Some of the newer areas offer you tips on where to go afterwards.

I've heard that the level range of an area influences how much base experience you can gain before you become more familiar. Of course, charisma is factor. I haven't seen it written down anywhere I can recall, but I'm quite convinced race influences this as well.

A tip: the output of the area command contains a lot of useful information, if you know how to interpret it.

For example, on logs from an old character of mine at Expert status:

Areas within range of your level:
[Nov to Exp] Grahme Village in Ayamaoan Alliance
[Ini to Exp] The Encampment of Ebor in Northern Wastes
[App to Exp] The Village Drukyul in Land of Zhenshi
[App to Exp] Village of Chibunei in Land of Zhenshi (15^N, 19^W)
[Jou to Exp] Bakemono Caves in Deep Realms
[Jou to Exp] The Wandering Legion in Unclaimed Territory
[Nov to Men] Gloom Caverns in City of Ch'zzrym
[Ini to Men] Paladin Camp in Domain of Uxmal (30^N, 3^W)
[App to Men] Tower of Dundalis in Unclaimed Territory
[App to Men] Dashre Monastery in Northern Wastes
...
[Jou to Men] Pirate Galleon in Unclaimed Territory (^N, ^E)
[Men to Mas] The Valley of Ashes in Domain of Uxmal

The ranges represent the status levels you can expect to find NPCs that will give you Experience points in the area. However, think of it like a pyramid. Even though the "boss" of an area might give you experience for a good long time, there's only one of it in the whole place. The wider a range the area has, the more diverse its monsters will be in terms of experience they will award you (and challenge they will present you.) The kingdoms given in areas can give you a lot of help in knowing where to explore and where, potentially, to avoid. The colors represent your familiarity levels, of course. White means undiscovered. In this example, we can see that I've kind of worn out Chibunei a bit, and that at this level, it really isn't going to give me that huge, satisfying XP experience. In short, Chibunei has become a major grind for my character. The Pirate Galleon is the same way, but it might still be a little okay for me because it can be expected to have more challenging monsters than Chibunei. If I wanted a more dynamic experience, I could explore some of the other areas that might allow more promise. The Valley of Ashes would be a bit over my head, and it looks like it is designed to take me from Mentor to Master... it would be better to save it for later.

You want to look for something with a lower range that's as close to your level as possible, and the narrower the band, in THEORY, the faster you're going to wear it out and the better off you'll be for bringing friends with you. To their credit, though, areas with narrow bands are usually designed with leveling in mind and offer interesting challenges, quests, and rewards. There are also some areas that are traditionally saved by players for the higher end of their worthiness, simply because there are alternatives that make it worth keeping them fresh for the higher end.

It is worth mentioning that grouping with people not only increases XP, it also can potentially alleviate your familiarity penalty. Look for people who are less familiar with the area than you who will be doing a comparable amount of damage compared to you. If they do all the damage, they will pretty much get all the XP. The XP from healing is dismal at best, unless something changed recently, you're always better off doing something other than healing. Beware of characters who seem experienced and want to group with you and seem to be doing tons of damage beyond what you are doing; they're milking your familiarity bonus for their own, uneven gain.

To expand on what grep said, this is a repost of an answer I've given before. Do try to stay on the lower end of the experience range, for this reason:

Think I just got hit with a stupid stick cause now I'm just confused.

Grep just likes to complicate things.

TL;DR: It is only XP gained that makes you become familiar, and the middle of the leveling range of an area seems to determine how quickly you become familiar.

e.g. At Master, leveling in a place that is listed under areas as Novice to GrandMaster will make you familiar with the place before you even gain one level. However, a place that is listed as mentor to grandmaster will not make you familiar as quickly.

I almost always stay in an area until I've redded my familiarity with the area. Of course, as has been said, you can't even yellow the starting areas, so I just go till I have a certain amount of money, usually 5 plat or an obsidian, depending on the economy of the country I started in.

Also, your experience gains are tied to your unmodified CHA stat. INT will not affect your experience gains directly. Anything below sociable, you suffer experience penalties. Influential and higher grants bonuses to experience gains.

What was said earlier about gaining tons of XP at low levels is correct. You may only fight and kill 4-6 NPCs before you're already at familiar. The general rule of thumb for area familiarity is 1-2 levels will make you familiar, 1-2 levels will make you know it like the back of your hand, and 2-4 levels will make it so you need to get out and explore new areas. Your best bet is to level in an area until you're 1 level or so into the yellow and explore for new areas.

Discovering new areas at low levels grants a TON of xp. If you do a scavenger hunt on the area list appropriate to your level, you can gain 5-10 super easy levels without causing any area familiarity for NPC grinding.

Quests also give huge XP if you do them at their appropriate level, sometimes sooner. If you do some quests too late, you won't get any XP, however. Most quests at low levels will give at least half to full levels per quest, depending on the quest. Some even grant potions and money, or other useful items. Focus on exploring major cities and try to pay attention to NPC interaction for quest initiation. Ask veterans if they might know of any 'tasks' for an adventurer of your status.