WARNING TO NEW PLAYERS: Temple of Elemental Evil 2

[Svanlaug]

To all new players considering the Temple of Elemental Evil 2 quest...

If you value your time, do NOT attempt to solo this quest, even on Normal, if you have never done it before. The End Boss fight (Zuggtmoy) takes 2-3 hours to reach, and the uninitiated will die within the first few minutes of that battle. And even with the experience of the first run, you will likely die the second time as well, after another 90 minute investment.

NOT WORTH IT.

Though nowhere in the game do they warn you about this quest, mainly because getting to the end fight is so relatively easy (aside from the major time investment), succeeding in the boss battle is only possible either via multiple attempts, or via an accomplished party.

New players should avoid TOEE2 altogether until you are part of an experienced, balanced party with at least one member who has completed the quest before. This will save you hours of time and absurd levels of frustration.

[Nebless]

2 to 3 hours? It's only listed as a LONG quest. 2 to 2 1/2 hours for an Extra Long I could see, but I've never seen one listed as Long that took that much time.

What level were you when you ran it?

[Svanlaug]

2 to 3 hours? It's only listed as a LONG quest. 2 to 2 1/2 hours for an Extra Long I could see, but I've never seen one listed as Long that took that much time.

What level were you when you ran it?

First time on Heroic I was level 10. The end result was so maddening I logged out and didn't log back on to the game for over a year..

Today I did it on Epic at level 30. Same result.

You can do it in under 2 hours if you choose not to get the audio journal entries or optional portal gems.

[TitusOvid]

While I agree that this can be a long quest, it doesn't have to be. You only need to do 1 elemental cave. Then you can do the endfight already.
To find the right way is kind of tricky though. If you don't know the way it takes some time to figure everything out.

Some people like this kind of dungeon crawling.

Cheers,
Titus

[Svanlaug]

Some people like this kind of dungeon crawling.

I love the crawl, one of my favorite dungeons in the whole game.

And then it is ruined by the absurd end fight after a couple hours of crawling. Which is just stupid (for first-life toons).

[TitusOvid]

You are right. It was one of the sure suggestions for a nerf in Flimsy's thread a while back. Read here. If something will come of this, a change in ToEE should be one of the 1st priorities.

Cheers,
Titus

[Sir_Noob]

You are right. It was one of the sure suggestions for a nerf in Flimsy's thread a while back. Read here. If something will come of this, a change in ToEE should be one of the 1st priorities.

Cheers,
Titus

In my honest Opinion, that chain could easily be broken up into 6 quests, and still be tough which is what they want.

[Dulcimerist]

It has even been proposed in the past that the end fight be converted into a raid, with the previous parts converted into separate quests as flagging for the raid.

[Kielbasa]

A few simple changes would make it less aggravating. No acid dot until after zuggy's shield drops to start the fight. More shrines throughout to buff your character I have had way too many runs where not a single buff shrine spawns and this has happened on full clears as well. A guaranteed defensive shrine before the fight on anything less than Elite difficulty to help newer players.

[janave]

New players without DD running harder than normal/casual are likely getting stuck on part1 on the bugged Cube (water key)

[Phemt81]

Part 1 too.

I just had the first huge fail with my 4th lifer in temple of elemental evil. Very long quest full of monsters and then there's the living pool for which I couldn't find anything to work against. Reentered the quest something like 5 times and got instant killed as soon as I entered the room.

I mean, is it considered good design to put a monster 3x3 meters big in a 4x4 room?

It's really a shame to waste 4 hours in a quest poorly designed...

[AstorPotamus]

I farmed the manure out of heroic ToEE for the sweet, sweet fully upgraded elemental long swords and armor I wear from levels 7 thru 10. I did that as a capped toon zerging thru both quests while killing absolutely everything on the map.

That said, the only reason ToEE2 should take that long is if you’re running that quest at level on high reaper.

[Alrik_Fassbauer]

I once gave up going through Part I with 3 or 4 hours, exploring everything in my very first run. That was far too much for me.

I have never touched it since then anymore.

I know now that it is possible to make it shorter, but the very first run should NOT be about zerging !

That said, the only reason ToEE2 should take that long is if you’re running that quest at level on high reaper.

This thread is about NEWBIES and you are writing abour "farming" and "Reaper" ???

Your Curse Of Knowledge makes you unable to see the problems of NEWBIES.

[AstorPotamus]

Your Curse Of Knowledge makes you unable to see the problems of NEWBIES.

Your vain attempt at snark has been noted, and filed in the appropriate waste basket.

[kmoustakas]

I solo it every life on r1 at level 11 though cause I need that dimension door hireling. I just wish I didn't always end up being electricity based every single time but I can't be bothered to respec just for her.

[Enkidu]

ToEE can be done fast, but it's easy to wander all over if you don't check the wiki. Of course, I liked wandering all over the first time just to find out nobody wanted to play D&D with Will Wheaton when he was a teen.

[SirValentine]

The end fight of part 2 is more difficult than the rest of part 2 or part 1, or other quests of that level. I don't want to see it made a lot easier, but I think it would be reasonable if they attached the "Extreme Challenge Dungeon" warning for the quest.

[CritKitteh]

Just got finished running it solo on Elite today, and even with a Lv. 22 GXB mechanic rogue, with a Lv. 20 hireling, I still managed to die three times- twice in the Water Node (freaking Nodeborn Water Spirits and their magical multi-hit magic attacks that make them dangerous in a swarm) and once against Zuggtmoy (hirelings ate it on the kill-everything AoE she does, got swarmed).

My final minion killcount was somewhere near 1900 mobs- I must have burned through over 2k crossbow bolts.

It's easily a six or seven-hour mission to tackle both Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 one after the other, and the sheer amount of work that it takes to fully clean everything out is just... ugh.

Now, yes, I know you can head for the Zuggtmoy fight as soon as you find one portal stone, but honestly, that's just writing off some three-quarters of the dungeon, and honestly... I understand why some might. But here's the thing- you could split this up into four or five individual quests and not make it so got-dang frustrating or hard on the old pocketbook.

I mean, think of it this way:

Split the two floors of Pt 1 into two quests- environs and first floor/earth temple, then air/fire/water temples and boss battle.

Split the elemental nodes into two quests- do two in one, then two in the other, then the Zuggtmoy fight in a short quest at the end. Craft it as a saga, and there you go.

Two quests shouldn't take some seven freaking hours to sweep clean, and honestly, it shouldn't be so hard for an epic character to solo. Even if you don't split them, Zuggtmoy and many parts of Pt. 2 need some good whacks with the nerf bat. Also, 1900 mobs in one quest? Especially when it's freaking easy to pull some 24-30 mobs at once and get swarmed to death? The density of the mobs also needs to be toned down- they're freaking everywhere, and it seems like a few steps is all it takes to pull half the floor.

I mean, this is one of the questlines I don't look forward to doing, but there's favor to be gotten, and well... I just wish they could be modified into something a player could more easily get down in hunks rather than having to devote an entire weekend afternoon of gaming to.

[Enkidu]

ToEE will teach you not to leave IPS on all the time.

[Igognito]

Dear all,

I beg to differ! I'm a noob, I had the frustrating experience too (did toee pt2) in 1.5+2h through the water node only to die at end fight horribly :-/

But, I think that is the actual point of that dungeon.
I have DMed the p&p ToEE and it is a mega dungeon with some of the hardest fights and tpks ever.

In the p&p you will die and die over and over bringing new characters until you reach the goddess to only die once more!
Yes, it was a hard to impossible dungeon and it could take a year to complete.

In terms of transferring ToEE in ddo they have done an excellent work. Now is ToEE suitable for DDO? As a tribute yes. As a DDO style dungeon no!
I would though warm the players before entering. I think that they did that wrong. Old school p&p rpg players might know where they are heading too... But DDO players don't and it can get frustrating, so warnings for extreme challenge and extra long quest are in place here. Also I would consider after first completion to allow entrance to any node in order to be able to mine the ingredients easier.

@devs: put a warning at ToEE dungeons.

Cheers