I think being closer to where the server is hosted has its advantages that being said their has been known programmes used to 'speed up your RPG' i would be lying if i said i hadn't tested one briefly in the past which worked and i was running around killing mobs 10x the speed as normal (on my screen) my dura was also going down 10x the rate so I'm not sure exactly what other people were seeing on their screens.
You cant beat the legendary mir lander

fubu's favourite trick in the old 1.4 days.
Another old one is port 6k i believe i was one of the first UK mir players to have tested this, a nice Chinese guy i met on WeOwn who offered to level my char for me if i gave him my details, first i thought hang on this is stupid a noob just logged in and is asking me for my details to level me instantly haha!! i refused he explained he wanted a friend to hunt with ect, he then went on to explain he would be back in 10 minutes at level 220, after 10 minutes he returned and asif by magic he was 220 i passed him a high level item to put on which he did, so from level 7 to 220 in a matter of 10 minutes!! i thought he was a GM at first winding me up, he went ahead and took my details and i was told to log off for 10 minutes, when i logged back in i was the max level on the server! amazed by this i was very intrigued how to go about it (as anyone would) for a few days he would log onto my char and give me gifts, eventually he introduced me to how to go about it, Game masters were puzzled how i was levelling so fast and getting kit without no server logs of me doing so :/ this soon leaked and port 6k was blocked. (I may as well explain how this was achieved as no one has port 6k open anymore unless they use dial up or an ADSL modem with no firewall and i also doubt this even applies with SQL databases)
[Step1]
Download and make an offline mir server
[Step2]
Keep all the IP's as 127.0.0.1 (offline)
[Step3]
Change the ip address in the DBServer config to the servers IP address in which your trying to 'reach'
[Step4]
Start your server and your mir client as you would a normal offline server
[Step5]
Create an account with the exact same details as you used on the server your trying to reach
[Step6]
Create the same character name and login.
Once you log in you will basically be connecting to said servers database meaning whatever level you @level yourself to changes the level on the actual server, also the same goes with items and gold. (with items you would first have to create them in your offline servers database!)
I wouldn't advise anyone to attempt this though as you will be wasting your time because it will not work!! all servers are behind a firewall these days therefore port 6000 is not open to connect into and as said most/if not all servers run SQL for the database now.
I thought i would share this with you as some people will find this interesting. i hope this doesn't breach the forums rules i figured everyone else is talking about previous outdated tweaks so it shouldn't matter too much (maybe to a jobs worth)
Moral of the story: being a SZ noob does have its advantages!!
Whats your 'best bits' from back in the days?
BBFN