The five-year glitch: Lord Maldazzar

Most people who play World of Warcraft have experienced glitches, those annoying bugs in the game that can ruin your plans completely. Sometimes it's unexpected server shutdowns, sometimes you fall through the world, or get stuck, or get a bugged mob. Today's rarespawn appears to have been continuously buggy since the release of the game, even up to the very day I write this. This is something of an accomplishment, considering how many people say they have reported this over five years.

Today's post is about Lord Maldazzar.



Chasing invisible mobs

Lord Maldazzar is a rare mob human found in the Western Plaguelands in the Eastern Kingdoms.



More specifically, Maldazzar spawns in Sorrow Hill, just east of Chillwind Point, the alliance flight point. Now actually finding Maldazzar in Sorrow Hill is something of a bother. You see, he often spawns underground.

Very often.



If it is not entirely clear from this picture, my hunter is standing right where Maldazzar is on my minimap. However, while I can target him, I cannot reach him or find line of sight to him. My pet can't find a path to him. There's no underground tunnel here at all, the Sorrow Hill crypt has no tunnels extending this far. This means that Maldazzar spawns under the ground for some reason.



Under normal conditions, I have seen Maldazzar stand by one of the open graves in the area. I believe that this is how he is "supposed" to spawn. However, sometimes this appears to bug out, placing him underground. The unfortunate thing is that while you cannot attack him, he may still aggro you if you are of a sufficiently low level, and will start spamming shadowbolts at you. This has been reported to cause the death of unprepared characters many times over the years, begging the question as to why this has not yet been fixed.

I took the screenshot of Maldazzar underground the same day this post is written, meaning that Lord Maldazzar has been spawning underground and sniping passing players for over five years now. Quite remarkable.

If you CAN find him...

Now, while the bug aspect of this mob is quite frustrating for those trying to kill, photograph or avoid him, sometimes Maldazzar does spawn correctly. When he fights fair, he is not a terribly dangerous foe.



He will primarily spam shadowbolts, as well as summon up to 3 rather weak skeletons to fight for him. Occasionally he will use drain life to try to recover health. He does, however, not hit that hard and does not have too much health, so downing him should be easy if you get to this point.



If defeated, Maldazzar yields the standard uncommon quality drop, as well as the possibility for an Invader's Scourgestone and a bonus of 50 reputation with the Argent Dawn. A nice little package if it hadn't been for the sheer buggyness of the mob.

Servant of the Scourge

Lord Maldazzar is a human, and as he still registers as a humanoid he has not yet transitioned to become an undead of the Scourge. His abilities and attire point to him being a necromancer or warlock, and his ostentatious title may indicate that he has some form of command position within the Scourge or the Cult of the Damned. Possibly he is an overseer of some form, or sent out from the nearby Scholomance. As he always seems to stand near an open grave or tomb, it always makes me think that he's busy examining the body within for reanimation, or possibly searching for something that was buried with a certain person.



His odd manner of dress, with a stylish black robe paired with a flamboyant red helmet makes him stick out visually. He also carries a black crystal staff resembling the classic Illusionary Rod design common in the old world. Sadly he does not drop any of these items as unique drops. His outfit is very similar to that of Maleki the Pallid and other necromancers in the Plaguelands, indicating a strong connection.



As a final note, the name "Lord Maldazzar" actually originates from Warcraft 3, where it was the name of a randomly generated Death Knight hero. As the World of Warcraft mob seems to be more of a necromancer (a caster at least), has no horse or runeblade, this may be pure coincidence. I also doubt a Death Knight of the Scourge would be overseeing minor grave robberies in the Plaguelands.

Lord Maldazzar is very memorable, unfortunately mostly due to his erratic spawn behavior. Still, he does look cool and has that air of mystery I like in a raremob, and for that I can forgive him the occasional ganking. Now if only Blizzard could fix him...

Until next time;
~Dragonshade