In the July 2005 Content Patch released, a new game feature was introduced called Hotzones. A Hotzone 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 Hotzone lasts for four (4) hours and then, on the hour, will change to a new one. Every non-safe zone has the chance to be the Hotzone, but they're randomly chosen -- one of the battlegrounds on Maelstrom might be the Hotzone this afternoon, and the Amazon jungle might be the Hotzone this evening.

When a player logs in, a system message will appear and tell players which zone is currently "hot". If a player does not know where the area is by it's name, they simply have to open up the World Map and look for the blue icon.

Once a player arrives, all monsters they kill will grant more experience than they would elsewhere. They also have 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.