Monday, May 17, 2010

Straight to the heart: Heartrazor

If you have a Horde character, chances are you've flewn on the back of a wyvern at some point. Ever since the Horde came to Kalimdor, they have shared a special bond with these majestic flying creatures, and indeed one form of basic flying mount available to a Horde character is a wyvern. Therefore, it's not terribly surprising to find that there are wyvern rarespawns as well.

This post is about one such rarespawn, Heartrazor.



To find a wyvern

Heartrazor is a rare elite wyvern who can be found in Highperch, a small area located atop the high canyons of Thousand Needles. Located deep in the heart of Kalimdor, Highperch can be accessed by climbing a small path up the southern cliff walls of the Needles marked by a large tauren totem.



Heartrazor will be found slowly flying in a long path around the eastern edge of Highperch. He is most commonly found in the elevated area to the east (near Pao'ka Swiftmountain, a tauren questgiver for Horde players) and will slowly circle this part, reaching the edge of the slope leading down to the rest of Highperch as he does.



Heartrazor is quite easily spotted even at a casual glance. He has a pale coat of fur with a slight green-blue tint, and a purple mane. The regular wyverns in the area are all a mottled brown. Heartrazor is also the only elite among them as well, and always has been (that is, the regular wyverns were not once elite and later downgraded to "regular" mobs). He also seems to be a bit larger than the average wyvern.

What is his story?

Highperch is a wyvern breeding ground where these majestic predators lay and care for their eggs. The tauren have evidently known of this place for a long time and guided their new-found orc and troll allies here, where the bold may try to tame a wyvern. The less scrupulous may try to steal an egg or a young cub.



While wyverns are quite intelligent and very faithful once tamed, wild wyverns are still predators, and will fiercely defend their territory and young. Furthermore, some hunt the wyverns, making them even more reclusive and wary of outsiders. As a result, the wyverns of Highperch, including Heartrazor, are quite aggressive towards outsiders, something which can cause complications when escorting Pao'ka to safety.



Heartrazor is quite powerful and has a good amount of health, also injecting opponents with a strong venom through his stinger. He is in other words quite dangerous, doubly so because due to his patrol path a novice adventurer here may be surprised by him. Wyverns are disturbingly silent when flying, which no doubt helps them to stalk prey. Unfortunately, for all that trouble Heartrazor has no unique loot, nor can wyverns be tamed by hunters.



I should probably say that I have no idea what gender Heartrazor is. It might as well be a female, but calling it an it throughout this entry looked rather dumb, so I picked male pronouns and went with them.

That being said, I would bet that due to the odd fur color and the sheer power of this creature that Heartrazor is either the matriarch or patriarch of the Highperch wyverns. The pale fur could indicate age, and the strength could be the result of many years of competition and hunting. Maybe Heartrazor is the alpha male or female of all the wyverns there, and thus the one that gets to pick mates, gets the best kills and leads the pride in hunting.



Heartrazor is a nice-looking creature which can unfortunately cause a big headache due to his aggressiveness for those doing quests in the area. Nonetheless, he is a nice addition to the little zone, which is quite beautiful in itself and well worth a visit (especially with Thousand Needles scheduled to undergo dramatic change in Cataclysm).

Until next time.
~Dragonshade

6 comments:

Skulda said...

I love Heartrazor. I'm sad by the factthat he might not be around in the xpac. :(

Samskeyti said...

I faintly remember him when I levelled my horde hunter there. I remember the elite, and I think he even killed me, which resultd in a long run back. Oh long time ago that was. I hope the wyverns have chosen a high enough breeding ground to survive the flooding of the area!!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I think i remeber this one too, from back when i leveled my first character, and i vaguely remeber killing him togeher with a guildie. I agree that he looks really good too, id like to see that skin on a mount.

Samskeyti said...

I think there is a non-epic horde flying mount that uses his skin,
the Green Windrider.

Unknown said...

You are right, when i checked screenies to see the wyvern mount colors, the light on the pics was greenish, so it looked different from heartrazor. A better screenie showed the colors as being the same tho.