Who's that girl? Singer

This is an odd one. In one of the earliest posts on this blog I talked about Gravis Slipknot, a human rarespawn found in the Alterac Mountains. Just like Gravis, the rare in this entry wears the garb of the Syndicate, the band of thugs and robbers created by dispossessed Alterac nobility. And just like Gravis, this rare has some... quirks concerning her status with the group. Read on and you'll see.

This post is about Singer.



Who is Singer and where can I find her?

Singer is a rare mob human found in the Arathi Highlands in the Eastern Kingdoms.



Northfold Manor is the main base of the Syndicate in Arathi, and true enough Singer can be found there. She spawns in a few different locations, all inside the buildings. The small shack on the edge of the central field is a possibility, as is the barn. She may also appear inside the small buildings, though I have personally never seen her there. Singer does not wander at all, just moving around her spawn point a few steps this way and that. She also has a rather distinctive appearance as she is the only mob around the area to wear a dress. Her respawn time is fairly short (I have observed her spawning more than one time per day) and will thus often be found alive.



As a side note, I never quite got why Northfold is called a "manor" when it is quite obviously just a farm. Sarcasm? Boasting?

Fighting Singer

Singer is an odd mob to fight. She has very little health, and her standard ability is just a warrior-like demoralizing shout. She then wades in swinging a blade in each hand. For any character high in level this is all there is to her, a mob with a name who dies very very fast. However, for characters of level 25 or lower, Singer can be a very different fight.



Singer possesses an ability called Dominate Mind which is effective only on enemies level 25 or lower (although there are some differing accounts on the exact level range, this is the value given by wowhead and I'll believe that) which mind controls the character. For characters trying to defeat Singer solo, this means she will most likely de-aggro and go out of combat. For characters with pets, being mind controlled while your pet kills Singer, this will make it impossible for you to loot her afterwards. This ability is pretty much the only real threat Singer poses, so be careful if you are of a level able to be affected by it.



Interestingly, while Singer does wear the orange bandana of a Syndicate member, Singer does not change your Syndicate reputation when slain. Neither does she drop the Mark of the Syndicate trash item. However, Singer has two unique drops to her, neither of which fit her at all. Her cloak and amulet are both items heavy in spirit, something which makes no sense considering her abilities as a melee-heavy enemy. Maybe her mind-dominating ability indicates that she's a priest of some kind?

Her cloak is actually quite pretty with very bold colors. If Singer spawns inside the small hut, there is also quite frequently a treasure chest right beside her as well. This may cause LoS issues, and even make her bug out, so be careful!

Singer's story

As noted, Singer wears the bandana of a Syndicate member but this is not supported by anything else in-game. Singer remains hostile even to those crazy enough to grind themselves up to Neutral with the Syndicate faction. This makes her a bit of an enigma. Who is she? Is she just some crazy person who's holed up here and dresses like the Syndicate for fun?



My explanation for this would be that Singer is, for lack of a better word, nuts. She's a somewhat deranged and violent young woman recruited by the Syndicate for her terrifying ability to control the minds of others. The source of this ability, be it corrupted divine magic or an arcane version, remains mysterious. Still, Singer seems quite happy to just carve people up with her blades, and thus if her mind control fails to impress an enemy, the Syndicate can always rely on her to go in with flashing steel as a backup plan. However, maybe she's just a bit too nutty to recognize friend from foe, which is why her affiliation is with the Syndicate is tenuous at best?



And hey, while I'm speculating, I like to think that her name comes from the fact that her song is the means by which she mind controls someone. Singing a mesmerizing song like a siren would be an interesting twist on it...

Singer is a pretty cool rare, with her own drops and a cool look. She's well worth seeking out for those interested!

Until next time, put cotton wads in your ears.

~Dragonshade

Not worth killing: Ruul Onestone

There are a lot of ogre rarespawns in World of Warcraft. That alone is not very surprising, given how ogres tend to pop up everywhere. What is surprising is that there are also a lot of people named "Ruul". There's a tauren questmaster in Mulgore, another tauren quest NPC in Ashenvale, and a nasty elite blood elf in Shadowmoon Valley who is part of the Cipher of Damnation questline. And then... there's this guy.

This post is about Ruul Onestone, or as I'd like to call him "More trouble than he's worth"



Who is Ruul Onestone, and where do I find him?

This particular Ruul is a rare elite ogre located inside the ruined city of Stromgarde in the Arathi Highlands, in the Eastern Kingdoms.



Ruul is an odd rarespawn in that he only ever spawns in one spot. He will always spawn on the top floor of the tower in the south-west part of Stormgarde, the same tower where Alliance players do the quests involving the archgame Trelane. As a result, if you are doing this quest and Ruul is alive, you -will- have to fight him to complete it. And that can be a headache.

Ogre terror

To put it mildly, Ruul is a nuisance.

He is a level 39 elite in an area of only normal mobs. He is also an elite standing right on top of a quest objective. He attacks using a lightning bolt, and can also cast a bloodlust ability on any ally, which means that adds that join the fight can become very dangerous. Also, he has a lot of health compared to the normal ogres.



Some classes have an easier time dealing with elite mobs like this than others. And if you are of sufficient level, he will probably not be a problem. The issue is that you pretty much -have- to kill him, and may not even be aware that he's there (or that he's an elite!) before running into him. Blizzard do this on occasion, depositing a nasty rarespawn in a zone where many people go. I suppose even game developers need to indulge their Gygaxian tendencies sometimes.



The real kick-in-the-pants only occurs when you manage to kill Ruul. Yes, this is also a rarespawn who drops poor loot. In fact, very poor loot. His chances of dropping even an uncommon ("green") magic item is about the same as a regular mob. So after all that trouble, you don't even get anything for your efforts, except getting to possibly complete a quest. I have no idea what possesses a designer to situate an elite in such a spot and then also give it a really crappy loot table, but that's just how it is.

Ruul's lore

I'm not even sure what I can say that can top the sheer sadism of the above section. Ruul is a two-headed ogre mage, but does not have the blue skintone which is often claimed to signify arcane corruption. I suppose he is more of a normal shaman type, which is well supplemented by him using shaman spells. I should probably say that ogres with two heads seem to have some form of generic aptitude for spellcasting, be it mage or shaman magic.



Ruul is interestingly only one of several rare mobs in Stromgarde (there's actually another rare ogre here too, whom we will get to in some time). In his role as the one elite ogre in the area, I will have to assume that he is the most powerful of them, and thus the defacto leader. We can guess that he is of the Boulderfist clan, and is probably a servant of the local ogre warlord, Kor'gresh Coldrage (who is incidentally also involved in the Trelane questline). Interestingly, since Kor'gresh is also an ogre mage, it's possible Ruul is an apprentice, pupil of colleague of him.



In closing, Ruul is an interesting rarespawn. He's a huge bother for the unprepared, and can be an annoyance. But that kind of makes him notable as well, although I think giving him such a poor loot table is just rude. All in all, he's certainly made his mark in the annals of rarespawns!

Until next time, just wait until a high-level character kills him. Then get the quest object.

~Dragonshade

Stupidly rare: Zalas Witherbark

As I have mentioned before, rare mobs in World of Warcraft can spawn at different speeds. Some will reappear in 15-20 minutes, some will literally take days to respawn. Today we will be looking at a rarespawn with a very long respawn timer, who is quite difficult to find.

This post is about Zalas Witherbark.



Finding the rarest of the rare

This is a bit of an exaggeration, of course. Zalas Witherbark is not -the- rarest mob you can find in World of Warcraft. Zalas appears inside the cave south of Witherbark Village in the Arathi Highlands, in the Eastern Kingdoms.



Witherbark Village can be found directly south of the horde outpost of Hammerfall, and south-east of the alliance flight point Refuge Point. The cavern is not very large, but has a large number of hostile trolls inside it. Zalas can be found inside, near a small area containing a gong and a campfire. He does not appear to ever leave his spawn point, just wandering back and forth leisurely.



As I mentioned, not only does Zalas have a very long respawn timer (WoWhead reports it being as high as 72 hours, among the longest for any rarespawns), but the cavern is frequently visited by horde and alliance players who have quests within. These two factors combine to ensure that Zalas is very tricky to find.

Forest trolls in the World of Warcraft

Forest trolls are common in the Eastern Kingdoms. Once, the great Amani empire covered large parts of the northern continent, and trolls ruled the lands now claimed by high elves and humans. Forest trolls have a green skin tone and tend to be a lot more bulky than their jungle troll cousins, while sharing all their ferocity and savage combat skills.



The Witherbark tribe are one of the many forest troll tribes which allied with the Orcish Horde during the Second War. Led by the great chieftain Zul'jin, the forest trolls allied with the Horde with the promise that the orcs would help them retake their crumbled empire, driving the High Elves from Quel'thalas. This was not to be, as the orcs were unable or unwilling to fulfill that promise, and the alliance between forest trolls and orcs crumbled as well.



Much later, the young warchief Thrall regarded forest trolls with contempt, and the forest trolls return the favor. Today, the only forest troll tribe still allied with the Horde are the Revantusk of the Hinterlands. The rest have returned to worshipping their bloodthirsty loa gods, cannibalism and other acts of savagery in the hopes of one day reclaiming their lands. The Witherbark thus reside in the Hinterlands and Arathi, where they compete with humans, dwarves and orcs for territory.

Zalas and his tribe

Given that he carries the Witherbark name, it seems Zalas Witherbark would be one of the most important trolls in his tribe. His title of "Warband Leader" marks him as quite a respected figure, possibly even the chieftain or high shaman of his entire tribe. However, there are several other noteable Witherbark trolls, some of which will feature in this blog in the future.



In combat, Zalas displays the abilities of an arcane caster, controlling enemies with ice chains and polymorph spells while attacking with shadowbolts. Now, as the other rare mob Witherbark troll (Nimar the Slayer, we will get to him eventually) uses warrior-type abilities, it seems safe to assume that Zalas is the arcane authority of the warband. Oddly, he appears to be wielding dual handaxes and wear leather armor, not very fitting for a spellcaster.



Sadly, the rarity and interesting background for Zalas do not mean he provides anything useful. His drop table is the regular uncommon quality items, with nothing special at all. Given that he may only appear once every few days, this seems very unfair.



Finally, it is worth noting that the forest trolls underwent a visual upgrade with the release of patch 2.3, The Gods of Zul'Aman. To make them more unique, a new bulky troll model was developed for the Amani trolls, and this was also applied to forest trolls all over the old world. Thus, Zalas and his trolls suddenly became quite a bit beefier, although his equipment remains the same as before. Sadly I do not have a screenshot of his original model, as it was long before I started collecting rarespawn pictures, but wowwiki has one for those interested. I have to say I like the "bulky" forest troll look for these NPC's, and Zalas looks suitably savage.



In closing, Zalas Witherbark is an interesting rare, both in the context of what he is and in his extreme rarity.

Until next time, remember that the Amani never die!
~Dragonshade