The Darkened Sea

The Darkened Sea (TDS) is EverQuest's 21st expansion. It was released for All Access members on October 28, 2014 and for Free to play accounts on November 11, 2014. Purchase of either the Standard or the Collector's edition is required to access TDS.

Editions
The Darkened Sea comes in two editions, Standard and Collector's.
 * SOE forum announcement: Dive into The Darkened Sea with these Bonus Items!

All Access discount
If you’re an All-Access member, you can purchase and play this expansion two weeks early (starting on Tuesday, October 28) and you can take 10% off your purchase of either the Standard or Collector’s Edition of The Darkened Sea!

Standard Edition
The Standard Edition of The Darkened Sea will be available for $39.99. It will include (in addition to access to The Darkened Sea):


 * Four paintings for your house or guild hall:
 * Painting: Coastal Brigand
 * Painting: Forgetful Strike
 * Painting: Speed of Faith
 * Painting: The Darkened Sea


 * Contract of the Lizardman - Lizardman mercenary (for each character on your account)
 * Metamorph Totem: Ankylosaurus - Summon an Ankylosaurus dinosaur pet or transform your current pet into an Ankylosaurus dinosaur (for each character on your account).

Collector’s Edition
The Collector’s Edition of The Darkened Sea will be available for $89.99. If you already own the Standard Edition, you can upgrade it to the Collector's Edition for $50.00. It includes all of the items from the Standard Edition, plus the following:


 * Heroic Character - Players will be able to claim a single Heroic Character.


 * The Heroic Character will come with:
 * 15,000 Platinum
 * Jungle Raptor Mount
 * Two 24-Slot Bags
 * Spells
 * Thousands of Auto-Granted Alternative Advancement Abilities (AA’s)
 * Full Set of Equipment, including weapons, armor, Power Source and Charm
 * Food, Drink, and Ammo
 * 100 Bayle Marks


 * The Wayward Lady House - You will receive one sailing ship house.
 * Contract of the Arc Worker - Arc worker mercenary. Each character on your account will be able to obtain a Contract of the Arc Worker.

The December 2014 game update added the following items to the Colllector's Edition:


 * Brother Island Parrot Whistle - This item transports you directly to Brother Island using a VERY large parrot. This item has a 1 hour recast on it.
 * The choice of one of three colors of armored mounts:
 * Bronze Armor Battle Cat Saddle
 * Cerulean Armor Battle Cat Saddle
 * Crimson Armor Battle Cat Saddle

This mount grants the Mount Blessing Dena Buff (400 mana, 500 health, 120 armor).

In addition, if you want additional Armor Battle Cat colors, they’ll be available in the Marketplace for 2995 SC, only for players that own The Darkened Sea Collector’s Edition.

Those who already own the Collector's Edition are able to /claim these items after the game update.

Features

 * Level Cap Increase to 105
 * New Spells, AAs, and Items for Level 105
 * Mount Key Ring
 * New Tradeskills, new cultural gear.
 * New Spells
 * New AAs
 * Auto-Granted AAs from House of Thule to All Access characters (if auto-grant enabled).
 * New Hero's Forge armor sets.

Level 101+ Pre-CotF XP nerf
Once you hit level 101, content released prior to Call of the Forsaken will grant less experience. This includes tasks, rewards, and farming NPCs.

Mob hit points
It's worth noting that there are two different tables of NPC tuning that were used in the expansion. The first is a "normal" HP table that was an increase over past expansions, but it should be about what you're used to for normal difficulty increased between expansions. Eye balling it, it's about 20% up from CotF for tier 2 (Caverns of Endless Song, Brother Island), and another 20% for Tier 3 (Thulliasaur and Arx Mentis). The second table has double the normal HP and double the XP mod. As mentioned by other ins in the thread there many classes that have abilities that are better suited to longer fights, and wanted to make those more widely useful. Most zones have a majority of the normal monsters you're used to, with a sprinkling of the higher HP monsters usually distinguished by unique names or appearances.

Tier 2 normal monsters have about 2.8M for base population with rares having about 10M.

Tier 3 normal monsters have about 3.3M for base population with rares having about 14M.

If you see something dramatically out of bounds from that then its probably an error.

I should have also mentioned they do about 80% of the damage of a normal mob to somewhat mitigate the downsides of a longer fight.

Zones
Higher tier zones are locked until you complete certain missions.

Tier 1:
 * Katta Castrum: Deluge
 * Tempest Temple - Hub zone. Worshipers of Karana seeking to create the perfect storm.

Tier 2:
 * Brother Island
 * Caverns of Endless Song - Siren queen. Some swimming but most fighting out of water.

Tier 3:
 * Arx Mentis - Final zone. This zone is a floating fortress of the Combine Empire.
 * Combine Dredge - Mining platforms to harvest from the bottom of the ocean. Raised from the ocean by magic.
 * Degmar, the Lost Castle - Insane dwarves. Magical barrier keeps out the sea.
 * Thuliasaur Island - Dinosaurs and lizardmen. And Drogmor.  Temple to Cazic-Thule.

Getting to TDS

 * Characters will be able to zone from The Buried Sea (Monkey Island) to Tempest Temple (hub zone).
 * The guild portal item "Drowned Katta Castrum Powerstone" takes you to Katta Castrum: Deluge.
 * Druid teleport spells to Tempest Temple (Ring, Circle, Zephyr) sold for about 14k platinum each by Marcas Hanrahan (Druid Teleportation Spells) in Tempest Temple.
 * Wizard teleport spells to Tempest Temple (Gate, Portal, Translocate) sold for about 14k platinum each by Researcher Adrastea (Wizard Teleportation Spells) in Katta Castrum: Deluge.

Binding
It is believed that all classes can bind in Katta Castrum: Deluge. Casters and priests can also bind in Brother Island, Tempest Temple and Thuliasaur Island.

Progression
Some zones will be locked until you complete certain missions.

Here is the zone order to unlock (Katta Castrum: Deluge, Tempest Temple, and Brother Island unlocked just by owning TDS):
 * Caverns of Endless Song
 * Degmar, the Lost Castle
 * Thuliasaur Island
 * Combine Dredge
 * Arx Mentis

Zone unlocking
Completing the following missions will grant you access to Caverns of Endless Song:
 * A Rising Storm - Given by Mate Rominald in Tempest Temple.
 * Gathering Clouds - Given by Krinoch Jal in Tempest Temple.
 * Clearer Skies - Given by Ognit Eznertob in Tempest Temple.
 * The Pellarus Sanctum - Given by Head Mage Antius in Katta Castrum: Deluge.
 * The Edge of Balance - Given by Firiona Vie in Katta Castrum: Deluge.
 * The Absent Scholar - Given by Firiona Vie in Katta Castrum: Deluge.

Completing the following missions will grant you access to Degmar, the Lost Castle:
 * Just Recompense - Given by Jameswell Dagmire in Brother Island.
 * The Cover of Night - Given by Quigley Barnables in Brother Island.
 * Loyal is the Heart - Given by Brother Dilgen in Caverns of Endless Song.
 * Leave No Brother Behind - Given by Brother Dilgen in Caverns of Endless Song.
 * Two Sides of the Shield - Given by Brother Visius in Caverns of Endless Song.

Completing the following missions will grant you access to Thuliasaur Island:
 * The Sacred Profaned - Given by Thubr Axebringer in Degmar, the Lost Castle.
 * Castle Relic - Given by Priestess Gli'helin in Degmar, the Lost Castle.
 * Crying for the Dead - Given by Thubr Axebringer in Degmar, the Lost Castle.
 * Burden of the Past - Given by Thubr Axebringer in Degmar, the Lost Castle.

Completing the following missions will grant you access to Combine Dredge:
 * An Endless Cycle - Given by Lyirae Oakynd in Thuliasaur Island.
 * To Remake Eden - Given by Galeth Veredeth in Thuliasaur Island.
 * Fit for the New World - Given by Galeth Veredeth in Thuliasaur Island.

Completing the following missions will grant you access to Arx Mentis:
 * A Fickle Wind Blows - Given by Firiona Vie in Combine Dredge.
 * What Hate Begets - Given by Firiona Vie in Combine Dredge.
 * Deep Lies the Snow - Given by Firiona Vie in Combine Dredge.

Raid progression
New to TDS are "One Off" raids. These raids will give participants a 4.5 day lockout upon requesting the raid. The lockout remains even if you fail. Both One Off raids spawn when you beat Defense of the City. However, Praetor Vitio spawns in the Tier 2 part of the zone and not accessible without flagging.

All seven raids take place in the same instance of Arx Mentis. You can request the raids from Firiona Vie in both Katta Castrum: Deluge and Arx Mentis.

Campfires do not work inside raid instance. Guild banners do work inside instance.

You have to flag for access to Tier 2 and Tier 3 raid instance areas. Unflagged players entering the higher tier areas get kicked to the entrance area.

Spells
Rank I

Rank I are purchased from vendors in Katta Castrum: Deluge. They can be found using the Find window (Ctrl-F).

 Rank II

Rank II spell essences drop from any random mob, more often from named mobs. Right clicking on the essence will pop-up a reward window, no need to turn them in.


 * Minor Briny Essence - Level 101
 * Lesser Briny Essence - Level 102
 * Median Briny Essence - Level 103
 * Greater Briny Essence - Level 104
 * Glowing Briny Essence - Level 105

Rank III

Rank III spell essences are gotten from raid chests. Right clicking on the essence will pop-up a reward window, no need to turn them in.


 * Minor Essence of the Citadel - Level 101
 * Lesser Essence of the Citadel - Level 102
 * Median Essence of the Citadel - Level 103
 * Greater Essence of the Citadel - Level 104
 * Glowing Essence of the Citadel - Level 105

Teleport spells
 * See: Getting to TDS

Armor

 * Allakhazam: The Darkened Sea Armor Guide
 * EQ Resource: Creating TDS Armor

There are three tiers of group gear and one tier of raid gear.

The armor system remains like that of the past few expansions. Group armor templates drop from named mobs. Raid armor templates come from raid chests.

Armor templates are combined inside a Synthesis Chamber. The Synthesis Chamber is not used up in the process. For tier 2 and tier 3 group armor, if you have the lower level armor piece, you place it in the Synthesis Chamber with the template and hit combine. If you do not have the lower level armor piece, you need to combine the template with a Combine Armor Matrix.

Seersmith Caius (Armor Templates) in Katta Castrum: Deluge sells Synthesis Chamber for about 13k pp and Combine Armor Matrix for about 15k pp.

Group

 * Tier 1 dropped item is "Castaway " It makes "Castaway of "
 * Tier 2 dropped item is "Tideworn " It makes "Tideworn of "
 * Tier 3 dropped item is "Highwater " It makes "Highwater of "

Raid

 * Dropped item is "Darkwater " It makes "Darkwater of "

Alternate currency
TDS introduces two new alternate currency types.
 * Arx Energy Crystal - This currency is earned by completing raids.
 * Piece of Eight - This currency is earned by doing TDS Heroic Adventures.

Faction

 * Main article: The Darkened Sea factions

For TDS, faction matters once more. In order to get some quests, you need good faction with various groups. See the main article for details.

Quest reward chests
Most quests and instanced missions in TDS do not have rewards chests for completing them. Some do. Here's a list of missions / instanced quests with chests at the end:

Tempest Temple - Clear Skies

Katta Castrum: Deluge - The Edge of Balance

Brother Island - The Cover of Night

Degmar - Burden of the Past

Thuliasaur - Fit for the New World

Dredge - Deep Lies the Snow

Arx Mentis - All Rivers Lead to the Sea

Arx Mentis - Confronting Calix

Lore
Firiona Vie has been traveling the world on a mission from the goddess Tunare to bring the realm back into balance. Her latest efforts have brought her to the Buried Sea, seeking to heal the ruler of the Combine Empire, Tsaph Katta.

Now it’s time for you to travel to the domed city of Katta Castrum and find Firiona! After Firiona came here with her allies to heal Tsaph, the city was attacked by Lanys T`vyl and a corrupt splinter faction of the Combine. In the chaos, Tsaph was kidnapped. Now it’s up to Norrath’s heroes to find and rescue Tsaph, foil the nefarious plans Lanys has, and acquire amazing loot along the way!

SOE Live Keynote
SOE Live 2014: EverQuest - The Darkened Sea Expansion Keynote

Preview videos
Preview videos below released by SOE. Note that they are all without sound except for the robes video:

(Videos open in new tab)

All are welcome to use them for fan websites or personal use. Videos copyright Sony Online Entertainment LLC.

Pre-order
As announced at SOE Live, The Darkened Sea will be our 21st Expansion and it will be launched in a slightly different way than in years past. We do not plan on having a Pre-Order period this year before the launch date. However, if you are an All-Access Member, you will be able to buy and get into the expansion on October 28, two weeks earlier than our full release on November 11, 2014. We are also working on an easy way for players to purchase the expansion plus a monthly subscription to get in quickly and avoid getting left behind. Stay tuned for those details very soon.