Treasure of Crystal Cove

The Treasure of Crystal Cove aka Euphonia's Challenge is a recurring special event that runs 1-3 times per year and lasts a few weeks. During this event, players can access a pirate island, kill pirates, collect doubloons, gems, and dragonshards and exchange them for special loot.

Pirate hats purchased via the barter interface are Bound to Character; almost all other gear is Bound to Account. The collectables are also bound to account. A few items like Pirate's Grog or Pirate Port are unbound.

Smuggler's Rest
The birthday party patch modified the Smuggler's Rest that once was the training area in earlier DDO modules. You can reach this public instance area via the NPC Sailor Calatin from the Harbor, directly in front of the entrance to Arachnophobia. Note however that Sailor Calatin is only there as long as the event is up.

This island is now populated by many types of respawning pirates, according to the level of players in the area when they spawn (for a list, see here). Dealing damage to any pirate (regardless of CR) provides a chance for an item drop upon its death. Each pirate killed has a chance to drop:
 * Doubloons
 * Treasure Map Pieces
 * named treasure maps
 * Treasure Compasses
 * Pirate's Grog
 * Guild Renown
 * stolen diamonds (rare red-named captains and crew members only)
 * stolen emeralds (rare red-named captains and crew members only)
 * possibly other stolen gems (rare red-named captains and crew members only)

When a named treasure map is dropped, each member of the group will get an identical copy. Using the map will bestow a quest that reveals a chest on the map. Each named map is a specific quest with a specific location. If you already have a specific quest active, don't read another map of the same name until you collect the current chest. If you have several maps of the same name, you can go to that chest, collect it, read the next of copy of that one, collect again, and repeat for any other copies of that same map. Opening a named chest will draw aggro from some of the monsters in the area.

As soon as 2000 (1000 for the September, 2015 event) treasure map pieces are collected and turned in at Euphonia's Barter Box, the Crystal Cove will be open for access for 40 minutes. A World Event message will go out to all instances of Smuggler's Rest (the message is not viewable anywhere else, including in the Rook's Gambit tavern).

The challenge
Usually, players complete 2 runs of the timed 20-minute Crystal Cove challenge while the door is open for 40 minutes. Alternatively, players may make many "gem-only" runs by entering the Crystal Cove, killing monsters for stolen gems, and recalling when the monsters are killed (ignoring the Kobolds and Green Dragonshards). Within the 40-minute window, you can complete 2 full Green Dragonshard completions and 19 minutes of "gem-only" runs before/between the completions.

If you have a friend that doesn't need to run the event (or an alt on another computer), you can complete 3 full runs of the Crystal Cove within the 40-minute window:
 * 1) 00min: Door opens, 40-minute timer starts. Party A starts a run of the Crystal Cove.
 * 2) 18min: Player B starts another instance of the Crystal Cove. Party A has 2 minutes left on their Crystal Cove. There are 22 minutes left on the door.
 * 3) 20min: Party A completes their original run of the Crystal Cove. They drop group and join Player B's party and enter his Crystal Cove instance 2 minutes late. After they enter, Player B recalls and drops group to make room for the rest of Party A.
 * 4) 38min: Party A completes Player B's run of the Crystal Cove. They have 2 minutes to start a 3rd run of the Crystal Cove before the door closes.

Each player will require a Treasure Compass to enter the Crystal Cove challenge. As of U17, the compass will be consumed when you open the Quest dialog box. Once you do so, you get a buff in your buff bar of 6 min where you can enter the challenge. If you haven't collected at least one Treasure Compass from killing monsters, you can buy one on the DDO Store or trade for one in Euphonia's Barter Box (note that a few Stolen Emeralds or Diamonds will trade for enough Doubloons to buy a Compass).

There are difficulties going all the way up to 30. Max allowed people per instance is a regular 6 man group. Higher level instances will reward more shards (up to +50% Green Dragonshard bonus for playing 5 levels above the highest player), while entering an instance below player level will result in a penalty to both shards and XP (even if just one level higher, unlike dungeons). If the character is 5 levels or more above the instance level, no shards, XP or gems will be rewarded at all. Even if in a group the higher level player left the instance, the penalty on this instance will be kept.

If you run with people 5 levels higher than you, you won't get any shards (unlike the xp report says), the kobold union will tell you after you finish the run. Power-leveling experience penalties apply to Crystal Cove, so any players 4 levels lower than the highest-level party member will receive -50% XP.

For example: You could run the Crystal Cove at instance level 25 with a party of 5 level 20 characters and a level 16 character and everyone would get maximum Dragonshard bonus (+50%). If the level 16 was replaced with a level 15, that character would get gems and XP but no Green Dragonshards.

Update 17 reward ratio:



Collectables
Following Items can be collected and turned in at Euphonia's Barter Box:


 * Map pieces (trade in for Doubloons, the basic "currency" to purchase special event items. Map pieces also count towards the 5,000 total turn-ins needed to open the Crystal Cove) - BtA
 * Treasure Map Piece (generate between 1-11 Doubloons)
 * Collectables, the basic "currency" to purchase special event items. - BtA
 * Doubloons (Randomly from killing monsters)
 * Copper Doubloon (higher chance than silver or gold)
 * Silver Doubloon (higher chance than gold)
 * Gold Doubloon (has the lowest chance to drop of the 3)
 * Green Dragonshard (from completing the Crystal Cove with excess shards collected)
 * Gems (from killing rare named monsters in the Rest, or any monster in the cove)
 * Stolen Alabaster (in the cove - CR1-4)
 * Stolen Pyrite (in the cove - CR1-4)
 * Stolen Amber (in the cove - CR5-8)
 * Stolen Obsidian (in the cove - CR5-8)
 * Stolen Amethyst (in the cove - CR9-12)
 * Stolen Topaz (in the cove - CR9-12)
 * Stolen Ruby (in the cove - CR13-16)
 * Stolen Sapphire (in the cove - CR13-16)
 * Stolen Diamond (in the cove - CR17-CR20)
 * Stolen Emerald (in the cove - CR17-CR20)
 * Stolen Star Ruby (in the cove - CR21-24/Crystal Cove CR 20-23)
 * Stolen Star Sapphire (in the cove - CR21-24/Crystal Cove CR 20-23)
 * Stolen Opal (in the cove - CR25+/Crystal Cove CR 24+)
 * Stolen Malachite (in the cove - CR25+/Crystal Cove CR 24+)
 * Other - BtC
 * Named Treasure Map: When used, bestows a quest that marks a point on the map with a chest that drops random loot, only for the player that used the map. However, when in a group, everyone in the group and in the same instance gets that map whenever one person from the group obtains one. Note that these chests can still be collected when the Smuggler's Rest event has ended, as long as you have a way to get to the Smuggler's Rest area (bound in the Rook's Gambit tavern, or Bracelet of Friends teleport to a character on the map).
 * Any enemy near you when you open the chest will aggro on you, as if you had attacked them.
 * Treasure Compass: Needed to get access into the Crystal Cove

Exactly which gems you get depends on the CR level of the monster killed, and therefor the level selected for the challenge. Level ??+ CRs will only drop Star Rubies and Star Sapphires; lower level CRs will mainly drop gems of the appropriate level plus a few higher-level gems (from tougher monsters with higher CR). For example: running the Crystal Cove at challenge level 16 mostly drops Stolen Sapphires and Rubies, since most monsters are CR16; the CR17 monsters (zombies, named monsters, etc.) will drop Stolen Emeralds and Diamonds.

If you run Crystal Cove at a level 5 or more levels below your character level, you won't get any gems from monster kills or green Dragonshards. Since the lower-level gems are required for the lower-level versions of items, it used to be required to run the Smuggler's Rest or Cove with a lower level character to acquire lower level version. However, with U17 gem "trade-down" was introduced, allowing you to convert higher level gems to lower level gems at the barter box. Note that you do NOT need to create the lower-level items and upgrade them to get higher-level items; you can create the higher-level items directly. The exception to this is the Bottomless Flask of Rum.

The fastest way to get doubloons is to kill monsters in the Crystal Cove and turn in the gems for doubloons. The Pirate's Grog, which gives you a fairly high chance for doubloons for killing any humanoid monsters in the game, works in the Cove as well. If you fail the challenge (don't collect at least 100 shards), you don't lose your compass; a good team ignoring the kobolds should be able to do 5+ gem-only runs, if they clear the undead and then recall out; even solo, 3-4 runs is easily doable.

All of the gems/doubloons/map pieces Bind to Account. The Named Treasure Maps and Treasure Compasses Bind to Character.

The crafting/upgrading uses the same Barter interface used in the Mabar Endless Night Festival and Cauldron of Sora Katra crafting, by placing the requested amount of Collectables (and base item to upgrade) into the Barter interface, picking the desired recipe from the list, and choosing 'trade'.



Alternate Map & Doubloon Sources
Use a Pirate's Grog and go do a Harbor quest with a lot of humanoid creatures, such as Durk's Got A Secret, Kobold Assault, etc. Note that compasses will NOT drop outside of Smuggler's Rest.
 * The Butcher's Path is a good choice for both casters and 2h melees, with ~100 kobolds in groups of 4-8, and can be run in less than 5 minutes (just take a slow walk with Death Aura active), earning about 30-50 map pieces per run; averages out to ~350 map pieces per Grog. Doing the chest ambush is recommended; the hidden passage ambush is not
 * Kobold Assault works well also, after the first 100 kobolds the spawn rate seems to drop steeply. 60-75 map pieces a run. ~15 minutes per run. 350-400 per Grog.
 * The Tear of Dhakaan 217 kills, 17 minutes, 60-100 map pieces. too wide spread, and the village seems to have a spawn rate around 1 creature per second after you clean it.
 * Kobold Island Challenges: kill the Kobolds on the island which gets the parts needed for the challenge and the items for the Crystal Cove.
 * In the Belly of the Beast: talk to Feryl Cay'Vorym, don't drop onto the pit and keep killing respawing drow army on the stand. 800 or more map pieces per hour. (YouTube)

Difficulty doesn't matter so run them on Casual for the quests, and for the challenges just run those at the lowest level allowed.

Pirate's Grog can be bought in Euphonia's Barter Box or the DDO Store, and be freely traded so probably the Auction House too.

Another option, particularly rewarding for higher level players, is to exchange stolen gems (e.g. emeralds or diamonds) for doubloons in the barter box. You get hundreds of doubloons for a single top level stolen gem. If you kill all monsters in a level 17 cove, you will get approximately 60-70 such gems. However, you cannot gain maps using this method.

Upgrade of Items
There is a vast selection of items that can be purchased via doubloons and upgraded in several steps. The higher levels of the initial version need more doubloons and gems, and the tier upgrades require green dragonshards and finally the highest tier needs a trinket as well. The minimum level of the item increases by steps, 4-8-12-16-20.

For example the initial level 20 version of the Brigand's Cutlass requires:
 * 1200 copper doubloons
 * 600 silver doubloons
 * 35 emeralds

Each item (Weapon, Armor, ...) then has additional tiers to upgrade. Each of these tier upgrades adds additional abilities while staying at the same level. For example, the second tier of the Level 20 Brigand's Cutlass adds +1 damage and attack and 5% more incite, the third tier adds absolute chaos and a red augment slot.

While it is not possible to go directly to Tier III of a weapon, it is however possible to directly buy the initial version of a specific level, which is in the end cheaper than upgrading the level afterward.

Below is shown the full upgrade matrix with the requirements to upgrade a Brigand's Cutlass. From left to right are the costs to upgrade the tier of a level, while the different levels are listed from top to bottom. The initial item can be upgraded to Tier II via Upgrade I and to Tier III via Upgrade II. As one can see it is even possible to upgrade a level 4 weapon to a level 8 weapon and further. However the level upgrade will only result in the base version of the item, and it is much cheaper to just buy they level you want instead of crafting a lower level and upgrading it. Also visible in this matrix is that for Tier II of the weapon a fully upgraded Trinket is needed as well, which is the reason to put the requirements for the trinket in the matrix as well. Note that the requirements for the other weapons nearly look the same. The only difference is that another Trinket is used and that for example the Dagger has different Gem types for the initial buy, but the cost and structure remain the same.

Upgrade requirement matrix for Brigand's Cutlass

Pirate Hat
Additional to the items crafted from the collectibles, each player can benefit from a Pirate Hat. Any characters created prior to the 5th Birthday patch received a for a free pirate hat while the 5th Birthday event was running. The invitation can be redeemed in Smugglers Rest for a fancy hat. Hat colors will vary but can be bartered for a different color.

Character gift list, based on the amount of time a character has played DDO:
 * Tier 1: Swabby’s Kerchief - a simple Bandana
 * Tier 2: Freebooter’s Bandana - a Striped Bandana
 * Tier 3: Corsair’s Skullcap - a Striped Bandana with Skull Brooch
 * Tier 4: Captain’s Chapeau - a Feathered Hat
 * Tier 5: Admiral’s Tricorne - an Admiral’s Hat
 * Tier 6: Dread Admiral’s Tricorne - an Admiral’s Hat with Skull Brooch

Each Character's gift will be elevated one “tier” for each of the following conditions:
 * Character has True Reincarnated one or more times: +1 Tier
 * Active VIP Subscription: +1 Tier
 * Founder Account: +1 Tier

The looks of the hats vary by tier, and the base Scallawag's Luck bonus varies by tier (for example, the Tier 6 Dread Admiral's Tricorne comes with "Scallawag's Luck VI: While in Smuggler's Rest, you gain 35% additional doubloons when fighting pirates.") Besides looks and the level of doubloon luck bonus, the hats are all upgradable in the same way, and to the same values.

All the hats can also be bought in the event if you didn't like your free one. Each hat can have three different upgrades installed at once (in addition to the inherent doubloon luck bonus). The doubloon bonus can be upgraded too if you like a certain look and don't want to upgrade the hat. Each upgrade belongs to a certain category. The ones listed below are the final tiers of each upgrade:


 * General: seeker 6, superior potency 6, Archmagi, heavy fortification, +6 stats, natural armor +5, sneak attack +5, Superior False life...
 * Skills: +15 skill bonus, for any skill but UMD
 * Kobold buffs: These are buffs that only work inside the Crystal Cove event challenge and other Kobold Mining Union challenges:
 * Extraplanar Mining: The Dragon's Hoard
 * Extraplanar Mining: Buying Time
 * Extraplanar Mining: Labor Shortage
 * Lava Caves: Circles of Power
 * Lava Caves: Colossal Crystals
 * Lava Caves: Time is Money.

To get to these final stats requires starting with lower-level stats. For instance, to get to 'Heavy Fortification' you first need to add 'Light Fortification' then upgrade to 'Moderate Fortification' then upgrade to 'Heavy Fortification'. All those upgrades are again bought with doubloons, green dragonshards, and jewels.

Example of a fully-upgraded pirate hat: Heavy Fortification, Intimidate +15, and haste aura IV (Kobolds around you move 35% faster).

Event History

 * Cove open from July 1, 2016 to July 10, 2016
 * Cove open from September 18, 2015 to September 20, 2015
 * Cove open from July 1, 2015 to July 12, 2015
 * Cove open from Oct 16, 2014 to Nov 2.
 * New Level 24 tier of loot was added.
 * Cove open from Jun 26, 2014 to Jul 6.
 * Cove open from May 8, 2014 to May 14.
 * Cove open from July 25, 2013 to August 11.
 * The 2013 edition had a preview on February 21, 2013 and ran from March 1–10, 2013.
 * The Bottomless Flask of Rum and Glass Cannon items were introduced;
 * epic versions of the Cove, monsters, and gems were added; and the ability to "trade down" gems was added.
 * The 2012 edition began 26 April 2012 and ran through 7 May 2012.
 * A "Talk like a Pirate" event ran 28 September - 9 October 2011. Originally, the event was scheduled to start on September 19, but was shut down due to bugs, then reopened on 28th after a hotfix.
 * The event ran again March 17–27, 2011.
 * First round ran February 24 - March 1, 2011.
 * Special preview ran on February 22, 2011.