My first time in Crystal Cove. What in the world is going on? :)

I went there last night with my 9 (now 10) monk. What exactly am I trying to accomplish here? I read the wiki, and spoke to some AI folks, but I'm still confused.

As best I can tell, everyone is building up treasure maps and stuff to go on the quest itself. Once enough are amassed, the game announces that we can go to Crystal Cove. I went there one time and had very little idea what was going on and what I was supposed to do, other than protect Kobold workers.

Also, how do I know the strength of a pirate enemy on the world map before I attack it? I was doing fine fighting some guys who were in the CR 6-10 range, and then suddenly found myself fighting a CR 22! I got killed pretty quickly. Why can't we ascertain their strength beforehand?

So what should my monk be trying to get from this place, and how do I do it? What about my 21 Artificer?

Thanks for your help.

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Originally Posted by stefferweffer

I went there last night with my 9 (now 10) monk. What exactly am I trying to accomplish here? I read the wiki, and spoke to some AI folks, but I'm still confused.

As best I can tell, everyone is building up treasure maps and stuff to go on the quest itself. Once enough are amassed, the game announces that we can go to Crystal Cove. I went there one time and had very little idea what was going on and what I was supposed to do, other than protect Kobold workers.

Also, how do I know the strength of a pirate enemy on the world map before I attack it? I was doing fine fighting some guys who were in the CR 6-10 range, and then suddenly found myself fighting a CR 22! I got killed pretty quickly. Why can't we ascertain their strength beforehand?

So what should my monk be trying to get from this place, and how do I do it? What about my 21 Artificer?

Thanks for your help.

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You basically pick up the torches and make a line of torches from the forman to an area near green or purple crystals. The kobolds will follow the torches to the crystals and bring them back to the forman. Goal is to collect atleast 100 crystals.

As to what you should try to get....there is a barter box on the boat near the quest entrance. Click on that box and you will see the items that are available and their cost.

When fighting the pirates in the public area, target the pirates and it will show you their CR level in the ORB box.


If you have run any of the Lava Caves or Extra Planar Palace challenges in House Cannith, Crystal Cove works very similar to them.

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Originally Posted by stefferweffer

I went there last night with my 9 (now 10) monk. What exactly am I trying to accomplish here? I read the wiki, and spoke to some AI folks, but I'm still confused.

As best I can tell, everyone is building up treasure maps and stuff to go on the quest itself. Once enough are amassed, the game announces that we can go to Crystal Cove.

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Correct, turn in map pieces to open the Crystal Mine.

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Originally Posted by stefferweffer

I went there one time and had very little idea what was going on and what I was supposed to do, other than protect Kobold workers.

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Yeah, it is confusing. Basically, lay torches to guide the Kobolds to the Crystals.
Protect the Kobolds.
Kill Pirates to get Gems
You use the Crystals and gems to Buy/Upgrade items from Euphonia.
If you run with a group, you will have 1 person laying torches, a couple guarding the Kobolds. The rest scouting for Purple Crystals (worth more than Green) and killing any Pirates they find.

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Originally Posted by stefferweffer

Also, how do I know the strength of a pirate enemy on the world map before I attack it? I was doing fine fighting some guys who were in the CR 6-10 range, and then suddenly found myself fighting a CR 22! I got killed pretty quickly. Why can't we ascertain their strength beforehand?

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Until the mob is aggro'd, you can't - except by experience.
Mobs spawn according to the level of nearby players, if you see lots of high level toons nearby, try switching to a different instance.
At your level, avoid Minotaurs

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Originally Posted by stefferweffer

So what should my monk be trying to get from this place, and how do I do it? What about my 21 Artificer?

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The Greater Bold_Trinket or Greater Nimble_Trinket and Brawling Gloves may suit your Monk. I don't play Monk though so I don't know really.

For your Arti you might like the Glass Cannon and if your Dex is high enough, the Duelist's Leathers may we worth a look.

For that I direct you to the wiki so you can evaluate the equipment. http://ddowiki.com/page/Treasure_of_...Cove#Item_List

The official guide has not yet been updated to include Epic, but does over a nice overview for folks looking to get a basic idea of how the event works: http://compendium.ddo.com/wiki/Treas...tal_Cove_Guide

One other way to judge the level of a mob before you attack is the race/appearance of the mob. For example, minotaurs seem to always be level 18+. I don't attack them on my lower-level chars. Orcs are apparently 20+, from my limited testing yesterday. Drow are lower level, and Bugbears are lower-mid level, say from 12-15.

Takes a bit of learning, but you'll catch on I think.

Repeating the island runs and Crystal Cove runs a few times will help a lot. One can figure out the maps in Crystal Cove runs, the spawns, and so on quickly, I believe.

Remember, the Crystal Cove runs are designed for groups rather than individuals. Yes, some really good individuals can run solo, but for the most part people are better off in a good group, imo.

My advice is to find a quiet corner of the cove to fight the spawns. That way you know its you that has spawned them, and that they ar eof the right level.

If you're interested in getting better at it (I think it's a useful skill, so far as DDO is concerned) you can practice your kobold management in the Extraplanar Palace and Lava Caves House Cannith challenges.

A series of answers:

While running around the cove beating on Pirates you can tell the rough level of the mobs by their appearance and race. The link Cordovan provided tells about most of the mobs. The new higher level ones seem to be mostly Half-Orcs. A small crew of level 10's can take down one of them at a time, perhaps 2, if they are the right kind, but more than that you are looking to be soulstone material. Spawns are based on local levels of the characters in that area. So some of them should suit your character. With only a small amount of practice you will quickly learn what works.

That being said, hunting CC for pirates only gets you a few things. Compasses for entering the Quest. Maps to turn in for opening the quest and sometimes treasure maps to various chests scattered about the zone. Read the map, find the check mark on the map and the go and loot the chest. They have added in some Reknown more often now as I saw that processing fairly often last night to help ones guild and offset (or more) any losses that might have otherwise occurred.

Once the door to the Quest is opened there is a kobold/torch/crystal quest that is very much like the Extra Planar quest in the House C challenges. You can get more torches and kobolds from the foreman by using up some of the crystal points from early turn ins. You will need more torches. I pretty much always pick up a teleporter (or 2) as well since that helps speed up the collection and prevents loss of crystal bearing kobolds on the way home to wandering mobs. When the Foreman calls out, "Incoming" someone needs to get back to the middle to kill the intruder or all your collecting kobolds will stand around and eventually be killed. This is why running this solo can be a real challenge to many builds. Dimension Door brings you back the foreman area, as does the Port drink. You need to get 100 net crystals to "win" the quest each time. You get more winnings (greenies) the more you get over the base 100. If you hit various STAR awards you get more EXP points too.

You can also just buy a compass if you are having bad luck getting drops in the Cove. Many players just buy them once they get going and don't spend time running around, while others love it. Many of the same attractions that make some people love Mabar and other despise it, however the quest here is very tailorable for level and can be soloed if you want. It also scales very well. It was almost easier to do well with my geared up level 4 fighter (with a few hams or a stack of pots) than a high teens cleric.

Minotaurs tend to be CR 16 and up. Half Orcs are 22 and up, the ones I have seen.

You want to look for elves and humans at your level. Maybe some hobgoblins.

What I have done when on a low level, I have written into general chat and trade chat that I am XYZ level and I am in instance 123 trying to get a compass and not die. It does reduce the amount of high levels, but some players just think it is funny that they will come around on purpose and only give you high levels.

Me personally, if someone types that in general and trade chat I would not go to that instance.

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Originally Posted by moomooprincess

Minotaurs tend to be CR 16 and up. Half Orcs are 22 and up, the ones I have seen.

You want to look for elves and humans at your level. Maybe some hobgoblins.

What I have done when on a low level, I have written into general chat and trade chat that I am XYZ level and I am in instance 123 trying to get a compass and not die. It does reduce the amount of high levels, but some players just think it is funny that they will come around on purpose and only give you high levels.

Me personally, if someone types that in general and trade chat I would not go to that instance.

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Half-orcs are lvl 22?

Really.

I was getting them interspersed with Minotaurs for some reason.

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Originally Posted by squishwizzy

Half-orcs are lvl 22?

Really.

I was getting them interspersed with Minotaurs for some reason.

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actually if you examine some of the half orcs you will notice they are dwarves.

That is all.

I >think< the CR progression (low to high) is:

Kobolds
Drow (possibly humans as well)
Hobgoblins
Bugbears
Minotaurs
Half Orcs

I don't have a character presently less than level 13, so I can't speak to the CRs of either Drow/Humans, Hobgoblins or Kobolds. Bugbears seem to be 11-14, Minotaurs 14-20 and Half Orcs 21+.

Your best bet is to, as bartharok said, find a sparsely populated instance and try to find a nice, quiet spot all to yourself (or your group). Spawns, when they occur, will be tied to the player level in the immediate area, and they absolutely can be affected by a higher level character running through or fighting nearby, so you want to try to avoid that as much as possible. The solo spawn rate is pretty slow, so a group is your best bet if you can find one. If things go bad, don't be afraid to RUN AWAY- the mobs will rubberband back and despawn after a brief chase.

This is actually a great event but there is a ton to it. I have written a bunch of guides on DDM's Realm that should give you a good idea of what to do and how to do it. Check them out here:

• Crystal Cove Walkthrough: http://www.ddmsrealm.com/index.php/2...st-walkthrough
• Video How to Master the Torches in Crystal Cove: http://www.ddmsrealm.com/2011/10/mas...special-event/
• Crystal Cove Crafting: http://www.ddmsrealm.com/index.php/2...ng-and-recipes
• Crystal Cove Items: http://www.ddmsrealm.com/index.php/2...-crafted-items
• Crystal Cove Pirate Hat Crafting: http://www.ddmsrealm.com/index.php/2...ary-live-event

Those should get you rocking it in no time. :)

Monsters inside the Cove not counting toward Monster Manual
Yet the one outside in smugglers rest are