Dancing Troll Village
Difficulty Rating: *** / **** (out of 4)
2.0.3 Status:
Open but new route needs to be discovered.
Here I was all set to do another update for "easy" locations for casual explorers to go...
The method certainly was still relatively easy last week when I first sat down to write this. It involved a gentle hop up the Winterspring hill, a bit of riding between the gullies and then a long and glorious jump into the village with slow fall for two stars of difficulty.
Sadly, that has changed with patch 2.0.3. The nerf to Noggenfogger was implemented on Wednesday with the patch update and the slow fall effect has gone from lasting two minutes to fifteen seconds, which is not enough time to get from the top of the hills to the bottom of the chasm. In addition, a cooldown has been slapped on it, so you can only drink one Noggenfogger each two minutes.
So, instead of doing a free fall to the village, the process will be more difficult, as well as more time consuming. Keep in mind that, when you are lucky, slow fall appears roughly once in each five tries. If you are unlucky, it will take ten to twenty tries to get the effect. It might now take two or three slow falls to reach the bottom, with pauses on the slope as you travel down. However, it may still be possible to get far enough out over the water before the effect runs out. But regardless of the new method chosen, the Troll Village will remain open for those who wish to take up the challenge.
Since the Village itself is not nerfed, let's set aside our sadness for a moment and get down to the good stuff...
So, the Dancing Troll Village. Where exactly is it? You will find it sheltered in the mountains north-east of Auberdine, in what is still technically Darkshore. If you take the gryphon flight from Auberdine to Moonglade, you will pass right over it, hence, like Elwynn Falls, it is classified as flight scenery. However, this little village is incredibly detailed for something that you will see only for a few seconds while in flight.
The area is nestled in a cozy bowl, embraced by mountains in all directions. The mountains rise up to the met the clouds to the east and drop down in the west as they taper off towards sea-level. Inside the bowl, you will find small lake, several troll buildings, a high cascading waterfall on the eastern cliff, a small cave, and of course, the Troll dancers and drummers, who shake their groovy thing in an eternal dance of celebration under the festive lights. The area is divided into two by a stream that runs from the waterfall to the lake and over which there is a bridge.
The Troll dancers belong to the Shatterspear clan (hence this area is sometimes called the Shatterspear Village). They do not appear anywhere else in the game other than their little village. Rumour has it that they were once part of the Zul'Guru clans but broke away to found their own village and live in peace and harmony, neither encouraging nor discouraging visitors. The Shatterspear have their own special song, so if you'd like to hear something you've not heard before elsewhere in the game then all the more reasons to make the trip. When you are down there with the trolls and grooving along to their beat, don't miss your chance to jump into the action and dance the night away with them under the starry sky.
While everyone there is happy to dance with you and they're all glad you came, the trolls are yellow mobs and attacking one is akin to pulling a Leeroy Jenkins in the Bar in Blackrock Depths ... fight one and you'll have to fight them all. And as a reminder, these mobs should not be farmed, as profiting is against the ethics of exploring.
Curiously, while the dancers and other hangers-abouts are yellow, there are four trolls in the area which are named and marked for PVP but yet are green to Alliance characters. The first of these is in a small tower above the dancers. The next two are on a small landing at another house on the northern side. The final troll is inside the larger house to the north-west. Their names are Jory Zaga, Krah'ranik, Una Ji'ro, and Voriya. Since these trolls are inside and can't be seen from the air, the question remains, what purpose do they serve? And if they are PVP, then why are they green to the alliance? It's unlikely we will find answers to these questions anytime soon and the true purpose of the Shatterspear trolls will remain a mystery.
So, now that I have your interest, I bet you are ready to head out to see for yourself, right? Well, pack up some Noggenfogger, explorer, and make the journey to Winterspring, just outside the Timbermaw tunnel. Go off the road to the north a little bit and begin your journey up the hills from there. Once you get to the top, weave your way through the gullies to the west until you get to the edge of the chasm. However, from there you will be on your own.
The Dancing Troll Village is a refreshing change for explorers who typically look at empty buildings or half-completed scenery. I consider it a must-see for anyone who loves the fun side of Warcraft!
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Other pages for this series:
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Exploration Update:
- Finished exploring the eastern mountains of STV, which also wraps around above the Blasted Lands, past the Dark Portal and over to Netherguard Keep. As previously mentioned, I have unexpectantly found some unreleased content behind the scenes that was left over from the construction of STV. The first part consists of a small valley with a twin waterfall which drains into an invisible pool that is dotted with hovering lily pads. Further down the valley, you will find an Ogre camp, complete with Ogre totems, scattered equipment, and a torch-lit path that leads up to and past a small Ogre cave. However, the Ogres are nowhere to be seen. The rest of the mountains feature strangely carved rock and enormous floating trees.
- An area that I had consisted impossible before has been conquered. I have been able to access the lake that is above Elwynn Falls, as well as reach the mysterious house that is on top of the cliff. What's inside? Mmm, that's for another time.
- I have also gained access to above the Arena in STV, however, getting underneath it and into the gladiator tunnels appears to have been nerfed.
- I have found my way up to the peaks of Dagger Hills, which lie between Westfall and STV.
- I have gained access to the "Grand Canyon" of Azeroth, which lies between Northern Silithus and Feralas.
- Completed a re-assessment of Karazhan Tower for 2.0. The two balconies are still accessible, as is underneath the tower, but the Karkzhan Crypt has been nerfed and can no longer be accessed. In addition, the Unliving Residents in the area have been boosted to level 70! When I entered combat with one, 9 out of every 10 of my swings was either dodged, blocked, parried or resulted in a miss.
Upcoming Exploits:
As TBC draws near, I am winding down my exploration and will soon focus on pure-leveling and questing again.
It is probably a good time to go into semi-retirement. My wall-climbing abilities have transcended to a higher level in the past few weeks. I have discovered that I have the ability, given enough time and effort, to scale ANY wall in the game, as long as it is not completely vertical. While this has opened many areas which were inaccessible to me before, it has also taken a little bit of the challenge away, so gaining access to areas now seems a little less rewarding. I will not be teaching this method of climbing to anyone. I do not wish it to become common-knowledge and exploited. I have never seen the technique used in any exploration video, even though I am sure the "uber" explorers on each server are aware of it, so I take keeping it a secret seriously.
However, this does not mean the end of the Exploration Series. I still have many areas that I want to showcase, most of which will still be accessible in TBC. And of course, I'm sure I will find some new content in the Outlands which will rouse my curiosity and give me the itch to put on my explorer's hat again.
Elsheindra
Nice one Kalak...
It's being fun reading about your adverntures - please dont retire... your the Alan Wicker of Wow...
Thanks for the fun...
Speedy
Thanks for the comments, Trips.
Being a North American, I had no idea who you were referring to at first but a quick trip to Wikipedia cleared that up...
And don't worry about retirement, I'm still going to be quite active. In fact, I still have a trip to southern Silithus finish before I install TBC later this evening. Once TBC is up, I'm planning trips to Hyjal and Quel'Thalas to see what's there when the expansion is installed, as well as a side trip to the Troll Village to look at the new route.
I've got a back-log of about a dozen areas I'd like to showcase that I've already visited and taken screenshots of, plus another dozen or so that I could add if I felt like it, so you'll be seeing more of this series in the months to come.