EQ2Wire’s Terrors of Thalumbra Frequently Asked Questions

Written by Feldon on . Posted in Art, Appearance, Housing, EQ2, Expansion News, Grouping, Itemization, Raiding, Tradeskill

terrors-of-thalumbra-faq

Table of Contents



Q: So what’s new in the expansion?

  • A sprawling new Subterranean Underland zone for level 100 characters
  • 13 Heroic dungeons (6 are event heroics) for level 100 characters
  • 6 Advanced Solo dungeons for level 100
  • 1 Contested Heroic dungeon for level 100
  • 5 Level Agnostic dungeons for level 20-95 characters
  • Three x4 raid zones
  • One x2 raid zone
  • Over 80 quests including new Signature quests for level 100 Adventurers and Tradeskillers
  • New Collection quests
  • 31 new Guild Achievements
  • 124 new Personal Achievements
  • Three new Lore & Legend quests — Cepholex, Fathomlurker, and Poxfiend
  • Upgrade your Items through the new Infusion system — dropped, crafted, and coin upgrades for your gear
  • New Deity miracles purchaseable with Tithe, which is earned from gaining excess XP


Q: How do I get started with the new expansion content?

Adventurers should start the Signature quest “Underdepths Saga: Into Darkness“. This is acquired from either Dangle Springbolt in Kelethin ( 323, 109, 158 ) or Virun D’Xyafin in Neriak ( -284, 29, 184 ). EQ2 Wikia has a writeup on the Terrors of Thalumbra Signature quest line as well as writeups of the various zones.

Crafters should pick up the quest “What Lies Beneath” from Ethan Dariani in the Far Seas tavern in the Isle of Mara ( -89, -2, 105 ). You should also receive a letter notifying you of his desire to give you work. Niami Denmother has delivered an extensive Terrors of Thalumbra Crafting Guide for her EQ2Traders site.


Q: What do I get for completing ALL the quests in the expansion not just the Signature line?

Less than half of the quests in the Terrors of Thalumbra expansion are required by or part of the Signature quest line. Completing ALL of the Terrors of Thalumbra quests grants the “Quest Over-Achiever in Terrors of Thalumbra” Achievement and this rather nice necklace: [eq2u]Crystallized Cosgrove Pendant[/eq2u].


Q: What is there to know about Tradeskills in the expansion?

Emily “Domino” Taylor has chipped in on the last three expansions, but crafters will be happy to know that she is now working full time back on the EverQuest II team. For Terrors of Thalumbra, she has added a pile of new quests, including a Signature quest, new recipes, house decorations, and more, as well as going back and fixing a few imbalances in crafting writs and recipe books.

Your best source of information for crafting knowledge is going to be Niami Denmother who has delivered another expansion explosion on her popular all things crafting website EQ2Traders!

eq2traders

Q: What’s up with the new Harvesting materials/rares?

Even though the level cap didn’t go up with Terrors of Thalumbra, a new harvest tier has been added. The new rares are:

  • ore: [eq2u]glittervein ore[/eq2u]
  • soft metal: [eq2u]arcannium[/eq2u]
  • gem: [eq2u]lumicite[/eq2u]
  • leather: [eq2u]umbral pelt[/eq2u]
  • root: [eq2u]deepstone root[/eq2u]
  • wood: [eq2u]petrified lumber[/eq2u]


Q: Help! There was some really important information on the Terrors of Thalumbra beta forums but they’ve disappeared!

Have no fear — EQ2Wire is here! We have preserved a backup of the Terrors of Thalumbra beta forums.

NOTE: The EQ2 designers and developers need to feel comfortable posting their opinions and best guesses in Beta forums without the fear that they will be crucified years later because they go down a different path. PLEASE do not use this archive to yell at the devs and say “You promised X”. They are preserved for informational purposes only and anything posted in them is subject to change!


Q: What itemization changes have there been in the ToT expansion?

The “token grind” of gemmed armor from Tears of Veeshan and Altar of Malice has been eliminated in favor of more “dropped upgrades”. From Caith on the EQ2 beta forums:

First and foremost, base itemization is much more focused on treasure drops. Meaning if you want a specific piece of gear, in most cases that item is going to be dropped from a specific encounter, so someone has to go beat that specific encounter to receive that item. This means almost no encounters should drop the same piece of gear that another encounter does, some exceptions exist with this in the contested or overland bosses.

Gear Desirability and Progression – Obviously every piece of gear in the expansion will not be equally desirable, however every single playstyle should have at least a single item that very desirable at all levels of play, what is commonly referred to as a best in slot item. Yes, that means those that raid and quest will have access to gear that is better than is available to those that just raid or quest without partaking in both. Progression of gear outside of these special items should be handcrafted, quest rewards, solo dungeons, early heroic dungeons, mastercrafted, [challenging] heroic dungeons, raids.


Q: What are RELIC and PRESTIGE items?

A player may only equip a single RELIC item at a time. This allows the EQ2 team to create really exceptional items without trivializing all future drops of that slot. Note that not all Relic items are “best-in-slot”. We have been told that a few early Raid drops (specifically Shoulders) are more powerful than would be expected for their place in progression, so they are marked RELIC.

PRESTIGE items require an All Access subscription to equip. We are working on getting the necessary data in Census to display RELIC, PRESTIGE, and INFUSABLE flags on items on EQ2U.


Q: What’s up with Weapon Delays this expansion?

A: In the past, the EQ2 team had to produce hundreds of weapons with different delays and damage types. With ToT, all weapons start with a 4 second delay. You can then customize the damage type and delay by applying damage and delay changers which drop in various zones.

A: Weapons with a 1.6 or 2 second delay have been changed to 4 seconds. This is to help server stability. Keep in mind that with 200% Attack Speed (Haste), a 4 second weapon has an actual weapon swing speed of 1.8 seconds.


Q: What is the new Deity window in Terrors of Thalumbra? Are there any new Deities we can worship?

A: The Deity window has been explained in Caith‘s Deity and Infusion Systems article. In short, there are new Deity miracles you can buy with Tithe points which are earned from gaining adventure XP (even if you are level capped). If you are Good-aligned, you can buy Good and Neutral miracles. If you are Evil-aligned, you can buy Evil and Neutral Miracles. To open the new Deity window, type /toggledeity or choose “Deity” from the EQ2 menu.

P.S. Erollisi Marr became worshipable this summer.


Q: What’s Infusing?

Terrors of Thalumbra introduces a new method to improve items called Infusing. The EQ2 team wanted to continue to allow players to extensively customize their characters, however creating thousands of slightly different items to appeal to all classes and gameplay styles is not realistic.

Infusing is another way of adding stats to items that builds on current systems of Adorning, Reforging, Experimentation, and Refining. It’s such an innate part of the Terrors of Thalumbra expansion that in fact ALL quested and dropped items are ALREADY infused to a small degree. Yes, this means that the same item you and a friend get will have slightly different stats.

Infusing exists in three separate layers which do not conflict or interact with each other. Unfortunately there has been some confusion about the names of these layers so we provide both versions below:

  • Base/Deity — Most items come pre-Infused to some degree. Continuing to Infuse this layer is done in the Deity window by spending increasing amounts of Platinum. You may also boost this layer by buying Infusers from the Loyalty merchant. You do not have control over which stats are boosted.
  • Drop/Physical — These infusers drop in Advanced Solo zones, Dungeons, and Raids, as well as being Crafted by players. Some infusers are able to add stats to an item that aren’t already present on the item.
  • Bonus — This is a reserved layer for very special never-fail infusers awarded from Achievements or the Premium edition of the expansion.

The official Deity & Infusion Systems post by EQ2 Designer Robert “Caith” Fouts explains the new Infusing system. Emily “Domino” Taylor also wrote an Infusing Guide for Crafters. However for a super-detailed “omg math” version which really digs deep into this new system, look no further than Konofo’s Infusion Guide.

To open the infusing window, type /toggleinfusion or choose “Equipment Infusion” from the EQ2 menu.


Q: Can you really spend 500,000 Platinum to Infuse one character’s items?

A: Yes. The expenditure of Platinum to upgrade items has been a topic of frenzied debate on the EQ2 forums and in our own #EQ2Wire chatroom. It is no exaggeration to say that fully Infusing the Deity layer on one item could cost up to 60,000 platinum. On its face, this seems ridiculously unfair and insane. However my perspective is that rather than putting an annoyingly low ceiling on how far an item can be Infused, the EQ2 developers set a high ceiling and put a steep diminishing returns curve.

In the end, there will be far more profitable means to improve one’s EQ2 character than dumping thousands of platinum on one item.  After all, there is nothing stopping players from adding 1,500 DPS or 3,000 Multiattack to a character — just that nobody does it because the return on investment is so small vs. other character choices.

Players have been scrambling for ways to spend Status, Platinum, etc. and now we have a way to spend millions of each for a very small increase. For 99.9% of players, it will just not be logical to click the Infuse button using Plat more than a dozen or so times for each item they equip. Beyond that, they may find more luck with the Gigglegibber Goblin Lottery!


Q: Are there any new Adornments in Terrors of Thalumbra?

There are no new White adornments. There are new Purple adornments in the expansion which can be crafted or dropped in group and raid zones. You can find them on EQ2U Item Search. The biggest upgrade in the expansion on the adornment front would be the the Green adornments or Spirit Stones. There are three sets of three Spirit Stones which drop in Solo, Group, and Raid quality. These drop as “Damaged” materials with a similar name which can be repaired by a skilled crafter. The solo and group ones drop rather frequently in Advanced Solo and Heroic zones and no player is complete without them!

Solo

Heroic

Raid


Q: Have you got a list of Heroic Dungeons arranged by Difficulty?

And now our famous difficulty chart for Heroic dungeons in Terrors of Thalumbra. We’d already been told in one of the livecasts that dungeons would be more accessible dungeons this time around, hoping to avoid the punishing difficulty of Altar of Malice zones. Here’s the difficulty chart I’ve put together so far. Of course I’m certainly open to feedback and adjustments on these…

Kralet Penumbra: Rise to Power [Heroic]
Kralet Penumbra: Temple of the Ill-Seen [Heroic]
Kralet Penumbra: Submerged Lair [Event Heroic]
Stygian Threshold [Heroic]
Stygian Threshold: The Toxic Pools [Event Heroic]
Maldura: District of Ash [Heroic]
Maldura: Bar Brawl [Event Heroic]
Stygian Threshold: The Howling Gateway [Event Heroic]
Kralet Penumbra: Tepid Depths [Heroic]
Kralet Penumbra: Uzulu Deep [Event Heroic]
Maldura: Algorithm For Destruction [Heroic]
Maldura: Palace Foray [Event Heroic]
Kralet Penumbra: The Master’s Chosen [Heroic]

NOTE: If you can suggest the required Resists or Health for these zones, e-mail me and I’d be happy to add them!


Q: Is there a Contested Heroic Zone? What’s the best way to level?

Although there is no level cap raise this time around — we’ll probably stay at level 100 for a while this time — there is a new Contested zone called Kralet Penumbra which is considered a medium difficulty zone. Considering the importance of XP even if you are at the level cap due to the new Deity Tithe system, I can see this zone being visited quite often.

By the way, remember that restriction on leveling in older content? With Altar of Malice, a limit was put in so that once you dinged level 95, you could no longer gain XP from older zones even if they were green to you. This change proved unpopular and didn’t have much benefit for players, so this change was reverted sometime this spring. You are now welcome to level in ANY zone that is still relevant for your level.


Q: How do I get to Terrors of Thalumbra Zones?

  • Thalumbra is accessible via teleporters in Kelethin, Mara, and Neriak.
  • Kralet Penumbra dungeons exist as Advanced Solo, Heroic, Event Heroic, Contested, and Level Agnostic, and can be accessed from the aberrant area of Thalumbra.
  • Maldura dungeons exist in Advanced Solo, Heroic, Event Heroic, and Level Agnostic versions and are accessible from various locations within the city of Maldura.
  • Stygian Threshold dungeons exist in Advanced Solo, Heroic, Event Heroic, and Level-Agnostic versions and is accessible from a cave at coordinates {-676.53, 173.30, 200.36} in Thalumbra.
  • The Level Agnostic versions of these dungeons can be played by characters of levels 20-95 and are accessed from the Dungeon Finder window by pressing Alt-Z.


Q: Is there a labeled Zone Map for Thalumbra?

A: Yes! Thanks to an enterprising EQ2 player who goes by Amaitae on the EQ2 forums, we have a highly detailed, fully labeled map of the expansion’s new underland area:

thalumbra_map

EQ2 Wikia has their own map:

Thalumbra,_the_Ever_Deep

Q: Is it true that Quest Regions of Interest no longer marked on the map?

A: Other than timed quests, the quests in Terrors of Thalumbra do not light up the map in blue for the area needed to update that quest. This was explained in the Beta forums.

Q: Which UI Modifications are still compatible with Terrors of Thalumbra?

  • EQ2MAP has been updated to include maps for Maldura and Thalumbra. After running the EQ2MAP updater, players should start seeing player-submitted waypoints on their maps.
  • DarqUI has been updated for ToT.
  • Fetish Nightfall has also been updated for ToT.
  • DrumsUI receives sporadic updates. Its author, Drumstix42, is working on updating it for ToT but indicates that this will “probably be one of the last updates I personally provide”. Perhaps an IndieGogo or Gofundme should be considered.
  • Several users are posting fixes to keep ProfitUI running with the expansion in the EQ2Interface forums.


Q: How do I see what expansions or account features I’ve got on my account?

Type /show_account_features in-game or visit this secret URL at the DaybreakGames website. It is normal that all of your items will display twice.


Q: Where can I download a high resolution version of the Terrors of Thalumbra poster art?

A: You can download the Terrors of Thalumbra artwork as a 3800 x 1500 image here:

ToT_Keyart

What about last year’s expansion? Yes we have that too!

EQ2-AltarofMaliceFinal_wSMLOGO

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Comments (38)

  • Wirewhisker

    |

    Pretty ‘meh’ of the team to rig it up this way…if you weren’t in the beta and don’t social-network in EQ2, you don’t even know the expac has started other than the long downtime. No mail other than the tradeskill bit from Ethan, nothing in Thalumbra when you land (once you find Thalumbra), aggro guards at Maldura…a very user-unfriendly setup.

    Reply

    • Feldon

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      I got an email about the expansion.

      Reply

      • Wirewhisker

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        Really? On none of my three accounts did any toon get anything but a mail from Ethan.

        Reply

        • Feldon

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          This is the e-mail I got:

          Note that I didn’t get ANY of the StationCash discount coupons last year on either of my two e-mail accounts. Daybreak has major problems with their e-mails.

          Reply

          • Wirewhisker

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            I’m talking about in-game.

            Reply

      • 7rlsy

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        Funny, I never got one for my account, either. Maybe I changed a setting at some…year.

        Anyway, I always come here, so…/shrug

        Reply

  • Brax

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    [quote]How do I get to Terrors of Thalumbra Zones?

    Thalumbra is accessible via a teleporter in Kelethin.[/quote]

    Add Neriak and Isle of Mara

    Reply

  • Elunihea

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    Any Idea on the eq2 ui map updater? Just asking if anyone has heard or knows if the UI map with get an update?
    Thank you

    Reply

    • Feldon

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      Never heard of eq2 ui map updater. EQ2MAP is updated constantly.

      Reply

      • Elunihea

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        Yeah I knew the eq2 map itself did. I have used the ui from the days of bazar server and I am use to it. Was hoping someone knew or heard of the update and when it was coming.
        Thank you Feldon

        Reply

        • Elunihea

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          It has updated today sorry for everyones time.

          Reply

          • Feldon

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            I didn’t realize only one person can add maps. They added the for map yesterday.

            Reply

    • Sigrdrifa

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      The EQ2Maps folks just put up all the AOM maps (yes, a little late). I think there’s only one person left (jnils) who can add maps (maybe knowledgeable people should volunteer to help out?)

      My impression from the most recent EQ2Maps post was that jnils was about to start work on the ToT maps, so probably “coming soon”. Once the base maps are up, a bunch of people have lists of waypoints ready to be entered.

      Meanwhile, EQ2i had many volunteers working hard to document waypoints in the individual quest writeups. Just put in the name of your quest in the search box and hit Enter, or see the timeline at http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Terrors_of_Thalumbra_Timeline

      There’s a good “general region” map of Thalumbra at http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Thalumbra,_the_Ever_Deep#Map

      There’s also a regional map for Maldura at http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Maldura#Map

      Reply

      • Feldon

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        This is even scarier because eq2map is part of eq2interface which is owned by zam which is now effectively a dead company.

        Reply

  • Caela

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    DarqUI is awesome – was updated and painless on launch day. I highly recommend it.

    Reply

  • Tom

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    Truly excellent article Feldon. You really excel at this kind of thing.

    I had one email about the launch, but I do agree with other commentators, it would be good to get an in game mail, or some kind of amazing cut scene giving you “Previously, on EverQuest2…” when you first log in after an expac launch! However, I’m sure they don’t have the staff for that kind of thing, sadly 🙁

    Reply

  • Mizgamer62

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    Thanks for the information Feldon. Great job as usual!!! 🙂

    Reply

  • Claviarm

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    So, wait… free to play launches and some items are subscriber only with the option to unlock with station cash, then they decide that’s a bad idea and make it so everyone can equip everything… then decide to go right back to some items being subscriber only, but now without the option to use SC?

    Reply

    • Feldon

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      Making everything free was a Georgeson thing.

      Reply

      • 7rlsy

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        Yyyeeaahh…. and don’t get us started on the latest statements by Smed, either, huh? heh

        Is it me, or do things seem less chaotic this year? Just sayin’…

        Reply

        • Feldon

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          Yeah it’s amazing what you can get done without all the roadblocking.

          Reply

          • 7rlsy

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            Roadblocking? Butbutbut there were so many Awesome Features and Exciting Stuff Coming Up and other Initiatives and things all the time…

            Micromanagement versus hype — nobody wins. Even if this smaller staff got a lot less done, the atmosphere is so much more…what?…stable and pleasant. But, yeah, better than that, they’re steadily kickin’ ass.

            Reply

          • Feldon

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            You hit the nail on the head. I wish we had the huge team of the Kunark days but the team runs so much smoother and drama free now.

            Reply

  • Karsten

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    We don’t know the current state of ProfitUI.

    As of now, ProfitUI has not yet been updated for ToT. That said, it still works fine in its previous state. The new Deity and Infusion windows are a little wonky (no backgrounds) but mostly functional.

    I have no idea whether someone is still updating Profit or not…

    Reply

  • Katz

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    Choice of Armor Bundle, Prestige Home, or Mount

    Anyone know what that is/was? I saw it in the list when I went to see what my account features are.

    Reply

  • Katz

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    Q: How do I see what expansions or account features I’ve got on my account?

    Type /show_account_features in-game or visit this secret URL at the DaybreakGames website. It is normal that all of your items will display twice.

    Feldon! All my items were listed only once for the first time ever!

    Reply

  • Fran

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    Just a note that agnostics are for 20-94, level 95 players cannot join.

    Reply

  • Therendil

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    With regard to ProfitUI…

    I don’t know if anyone is officially maintaining Profit, but I am doing what I can to maintain it unofficially. As of now, I have made some fixes and other users have cleaned up display issues and have gotten the Deity window integrated.

    I am currently trying to determine how to push the new files to Profit’s updater. In the meantime, the updated files can be downloaded from the forums.

    -= Therendil =-

    Reply

    • Feldon

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      Any particular forums?

      Reply

      • Loendar

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        The EQ2Interface forums – ProfitUI section, to be exact

        Reply

    • Feldon

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      Thank you for the update. I’ll add it to the article.

      Reply

    • Feldon

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      IF you are feeling up to it, I’d create a new thread “ProfitUI Release for Terrors of Thalumbra” and just say hey I am not the creator of ProfitUI but here’s a ZIP file download with a full version of what currently works for ToT.

      Reply

      • Therendil

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        Yes, that’s a good idea. I had already thought about starting a tracking topic to gather ToT fixes in one thread. In the absence of any ability to push fixes to th updater. That would let devoted Profit users keep using the UI with the least effort.

        -= Therendil =-

        Reply

  • eric

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    your location for Virun D’Xyafin isn’t even close. the real location is -284.28 29.20 184.45 295.58

    Reply

    • Feldon

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      Thanks for the coordinates to find her in the 4th dimension should the need arise.

      Reply

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