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.



You can reach this public instance area via the NPC Sailor Calatin, found on the docks in the north end of 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.

Overview
This event is loosely called "Crystal Cove" (although, technically, that is the name of the challenge itself), and basically consists of three parts. For full details, see below, but this is the basic layout:


 * 1) Run the wilderness part to collect compasses, which are what your character needs to enter the challenge part. During this part you will also collect doubloons (gold, silver and copper), which can be used to buy/upgrade basic items, which include hats that make coin-farming faster and can be upgraded to help in the challenge (see #2, below). Doubloons can also be bartered for other rewards, including compasses (if you have too many coins and no time to farm more compasses).
 * During this part, most spawns will scale to your level. However, rare red-named spawns will always be highest-level.
 * You will also, occasionally, be rewarded with maps to lost treasure hoards. Optionally, click these (one at a time) and follow the arrow on your map for a level-appropriate chest.


 * 2) Run the challenge itself. The challenge gives "Stolen Gems" as rewards. Be aware that gems come in tiers that are level-based, depending what level the challenge is run, so only high-level characters will get the highest level Stolen Gems. Gems can be traded down, but cannot be traded up, so high-level characters are needed for higher-level gems, which are needed for higher-level items (see rewards list).


 * 3) Trade Stolen Gems for named items. This is the "reward" part. It may require you to trade in higher-tier Stolen Gems for lower-tier ones. Most items are bound-to-account, but some are bound-to-character.

Smuggler's Rest wilderness
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
 * named treasure maps
 * Treasure Compasses
 * Pirate's Grog
 * Guild Renown
 * 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 of 2022, Crystal Cove is now open permanently while the event is active. You will, however, need a Treasure Compass to enter.

The challenge
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 37. 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.



Collectables


The following items can be collected while wandering through Smuggler's Rest or in the Crystal Cove challenge. You can then exchange them for Treasure of Crystal Cove loot.


 * 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)
 * Stolen Gems (from killing rare named monsters in Smuggler's Rest, or any monster in Crystal Cove challenge)
 * Stolen Pyrite (monster CR1-4)
 * Stolen Obsidian (monster CR5-8)
 * Stolen Amethyst (monster CR9-12)
 * Stolen Ruby (monster CR13-16)
 * Stolen Emerald (monster CR17-20)
 * Stolen Opal (monster CR21-24)
 * Stolen Jasper (monster CR25+)
 * Legacy Stolen Gems (from gem trades in Euphonia's Barter Box)
 * Stolen Alabaster
 * Stolen Amber
 * Stolen Topaz
 * Stolen Sapphire
 * Stolen Diamond
 * Stolen Star Ruby
 * Stolen Star Sapphire
 * Stolen Malachite


 * Named Treasure Map (BtC): 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.


 * Treasure Compass (BtC): Needed to get access into the Crystal Cove


 * Treasure Map Pieces no longer drop, although they may be turned in for Doubloons

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 Sources for Compasses & Doubloons
The fastest way to get doubloons is to kill high-level monsters in the Crystal Cove and turn in the gems for doubloons. However, there other ways to look for 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.
 * 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)
 * Pirates within Crystal Cove and in the wilderness also drop coins while the Grog is active.

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.

Pirate's Grog can also rarely spawn compasses, but a better way is to seek out special event-exclusive Champions in quests of appropriate level for the character. These drop a chest when slain, which contains a small number of Doubloons and has a high chance to drop a Compass.
 * Ghost of Crystal Cove champions become transparent, gain a boost to damage and become Incorporeal.

Item list
The following items are available from Euphonia's Barter Box, Euphonia's Hat Box, or Dusty Old Treasure of Crystal Cove crafting devices. You also use Conversions of Crystal Cove to convert legacy versions to new stats.

Event History

 * Cove open from September 14, 2023 to September 26, 2023.
 * Cove open from September 14, 2022 to October 2, 2022.
 * New content for levels 31-32; new level 32 items, new augments and some cosmetics
 * Major changes making event much more accessible, including permanent availability of Crystal Cove


 * Cove open from September 16th, 2021 to September 26th, 2021.
 * Cove open from May 27th, 2021 to June 13th, 2021.
 * Cove open from September 17th, 2020 to September 25th, 2020.
 * Cove open from August 8, 2019 to August 18, 2019.
 * Cove open from August 2, 2018 to August 16, 2018. (Official Announcement)
 * Trinkets (except for the Spyglass) and the Bottomless Flask of Rum are available in Dusty Old Treasure of Crystal Cove.
 * To convert pre-2018 versions of CC loot to newer version, use Conversions of Crystal Cove.


 * Cove open from September 14, 2017 to September 19, 2017.
 * Cove open from August 3, 2016 to August 13, 2017
 * Cove open from September 15, 2016 to September 19, 2016
 * 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 .  The 5th birthday party patch (February 22nd, 2011) modified the Smuggler's Rest that once was the training area in earlier DDO modules.
 * Special preview ran on February 22, 2011.