NPC's around you make no difference in my experience. Here's what I did.
Put on a set of GM studded leather armor, and a GM close helm. Make sure none of it is marked mage armor, otherwise it won't work right. Then if you have a house, set yourself up a treadmill.
Customize the house so you have a teleporter on the east side of the house, and one directly in line from it on the west side of the house with a clear path in between. Hide, and start walking towards one of the teleporters. When you hit it, it will teleport you across the room to the start of the treadmill again. Now, while holding down your right mouse button to walk, left click your mouse. This will cause you to follow your cursor. So now you don't need need to sit there holding down your mouse button, but you won't be able to move your mouse, otherwise your character will walk off the treadmill path. Now, just get comfortable at your desk with a magazine and keep an eye open for failures so you can hit your hide macro when necessary. A few hours of this and you should be set. If you don't have a house, ask around, I'm sure someone on your shard would have one set up that they'd be willing to let you use.
I used this method to take my stealther from mid 80's to 105 this way. Just as long as you stay attended at all times you're not doing anything illegal. Good luck.
