NPC Spawn Issue: Blackburrow zone in - a gnoll shaman

[omgmo]

There is "a gnoll shaman" in Blackburrow that paths between the zone lines (qeynos hills and everfrost), who is con red to a level 8 and hits for 24. I think he may have been added in August based on the p1999 wiki entry I found for it. I do not ever remember such a powerful mob at the entrance of Blackburrow, at any point in classic. It basically makes the place unplayable for anyone level appropriate.

http://wiki.project1999.com/A_gnoll_..._(Blackburrow)

[omgmo]

Incase it matters - this was on the Green beta server. But given the date of the wiki entry I'd assume it is also on Blue.

[Izmael]

It's on Blue as well. I was passing by BB yesterday and was surprised to see that mob at the zone in, but figured maybe my memories are fading.

[omgmo]

Earlier it wiped out a full group that thought they were gonna have fun in BB, as soon as they zoned in. I can't recall if that specific mob belongs at the zone in or not, but if so it is definitely higher level than it should be.

[Izmael]

It hits for 24 max.

I don't think he should be there (on Green or Blue). I'm not sure ANYTHING should patrol the zone in spot in BB.

I think something like a large higher level dubious Rat has been added there on live, but that was way past P99 timeline. That Rat may share a spawn with the shaman but again, I think it's not relevant to P99.

[Telin]

The Shaman will be a much rarer placeholder; however, it appears there was a patrolling mob with several placeholders since at least May 2000. If you can find evidence this was patched in after launch, please post!

[Izmael]

My only evidence is that I started playing EQ, in Qeynos, in the fall 2000, couple months before Velious hit, and I don't think I've seen the "gnoll high shaman" (or any high level BB mob) patrolling the zone in before. I don't think ANYTHING should patrol the zone in area close enough to aggro players who just zoned in. At level 1 you should be safe at the zone in if you don't move / aren't trained.

That ground floor patrolling spawn which is/can be "the gnoll high shaman", shouldn't be there at all, in shaman form or otherwise. However, "the gnoll high shaman" should be a rare (I think) spawn somewhere on the bottom floor, probably the room with a bunch of elites in it (close to the commander room). Maybe it already is.

The ground floor patrolling spawn appeared later, probably past P99 timeline, and became a non-KoS big rat (at least as common spawn) at this point, or maybe some point later.

[loramin]

Originally Posted by Telin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The Shaman will be a much rarer placeholder; however, it appears there was a patrolling mob with several placeholders since at least May 2000. If you can find evidence this was patched in after launch, please post!

Only sort of useful evidence from 02-16-00, 09:48 AM

Originally Posted by https://thesafehouse.org/forums/forum/everquest-wing/library-read-only/2966-book-of-knowledge-guide-to-blackburrow

Guardsmen/ Shaman 11-15

If you follow the link you'll see lots of other reference to Shaman in BB, but when it mentions where they are it's inside BB, never above ground. Eg.

Upon entering the room, there are 3 regular gnolls and a spawn point for one "special" that rotates between a commander, an elite and a shaman

I know it's hard to prove negatives, but I'd vote that the complete lack of mention of any high level shaman up top should be taken as a vote against it existing prior to February 2000.

Hopefully you'll consider the "it's hard to prove a negative" part when evaluating evidence, as it's not super likely that anyone would have even mentioned "yeah they added a new unnamed sub-20 mob to some newbie dungeon" ... nearly a year after launch.

[Telin]

Okay found out the current version of Gnoll Shaman is too high at level 11. Going forward it will be a level 7 version and will be much weaker. This should make it less dangerous.



As far as when the patrol was added general:

I'm going to continue to look for the earlier mentions of a patrolling mob on the top floor before May 2000 before considering the change.

I don't know why they would add a gnoll shaman along with the other placeholders after the initial addition considering there was already a plague rat, grizzly bear, and not to mention Tranixx Darkpaw that was higher level. So my guess is all of the placeholders were added at once. Let's narrow down when that was.


Related info:

Jun 20 2002
for Trannix to spawn, you have to kill 3 things, not 2. first you must take down the grizzly bear, no sweat. then you must defeat the plague rat, easy. THEN you have to kill the gnoll shaman that walks around the top of the zone. He WILL NOT spawn until the shaman has been killed, trust me, ive spent long hours in BB with many of my chars

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/n...02461462376159

Sep 07 2001
Trannix will spawn if you continually kill anything that 'roams' around in the zone to zone area upstairs
Note: zone to zone= QH to everfrost
if it walks around up there, it's one of the 7 PH's that he has..

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/n...99990984925952

Nov 21 2000
I used to use the little cubby behind the tree trap to rest figuring it is safer than the zone area due to trains i was wrong, I have seen everything from a Gnoll Pup to a burly Gnoll spawn in here and have killed them all, it does however 95% of the time seem that when you kill one of the gnolls that pop here the grizzlyt will pop next, kill the grizzly then the giant plague rat pops kill it then trannix pops, he hits hard and fast barely took him down solo with a 17 at the time SK and i used harm touch it took about a 3rd of his life! 171 points being about a 3rd i would guess he has around 500 hit points! (Note: the giant plague rat and Grizzly may be reversed it has been awhile)

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/n...97484818410588

May 20 2000
You have to kill the giant plague rat (I've heard) to get him to spawn.

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/n...3594&p=2#m9490

May 13 2000
How do i make this guy spawn?? i heard that you kill the Grizley bear, but i have done that several times and he didnt spawn

http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/n...3594&p=2#m9972

Aug 30 2000
Tranixx spawns at the wheelbarrow in the cave to the left as you're coming out of the QH zone entrance. His placeholders include bears (brown or grizzly), the giant plague rat, and pretty much any gnoll from scrawny through guardsman.

One easy way to tell if a placeholder is wondering around is that this is the only spawn that wanders in and out of the cave and the QH zone area. He just keeps circling the top level until an attack (his or yours ;-). He's the toughest gnoll in the zone aside from the gnoll high shaman (who may be lower level than Tranixx, but deals out more damage).

I've killed Tranixx a few times, and never looted anything interesting, though it is satisfying to shut him up. :-)

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[omgmo]

I also found it strange that he would aggro through the perimeter zone walls. I've had him aggro without even being able to see him, from both zone lines. I realize aggro can happen through some types of geometry, but this seemed unusual.