Leveling in LFG: The Problem With Uldaman

I’ve been using the random dungeon feature on the new Looking For Group system pretty frequently on my alts recently, and I’ve noticed a problem cropping up in 95% of the Uldaman groups I’ve run. It’s time to get the word out about this problem so I don’t have to keep bouncing my head off my desk every time someone screws it up.

Loot the Medallion AFTER You Loot the Shaft

I’m pretty happy with the new Looking For Group system. Even on my low-level DPS alts, I get groups quickly and easily and work through content (and levels) at a pretty decent rate. There has been one blight on this otherwise idyllic experience: Uldaman.

It’s unclear whether this is a bug Blizzard intends to fix or if things are actually “working as intended”, but this is a problem none-the-less and the more people who know about it and the solution to it, the higher the likelihood that I’ll be able to maintain some shred of sanity.

Here’s the skinny.

The Staff of Prehistoria

In order to summon Ironaya, you have to loot the Gni’kiv Medallion from Baelog’s Chest, shown below:

And then you have to loot The Shaft of Tsol from Revelosh. Once you’ve looted the two items, you combine them to create the Staff of Prehistoria, which you then use in the Map Chamber pictured below to summon Ironaya.

The Problem

Players don’t seem to have any issues understanding that you need to acquire and combine these two items in order to summon Ironaya. What players do, however, seem to have a problem understanding is how looting and trading works.

1. Only one person in your party will be allowed to loot The Shaft of Tsol from Revelosh
2. Anyone can loot the Gni’kiv Medallion
3. You cannot trade either of these items across servers

The Solution

Kill Revelosh first to see who is able to loot the shaft, and then have that person go and loot the medallion.

I repeat: KILL REVELOSH FIRST, THEN LOOT THE MEDALLION.

That way the same person ends up with both the medallion and the shaft, they can create the Staff of Prehistoria, and then you can summon Ironaya.

Why?

Why does it need to be done this way? The short answer is: because the shaft is a loot drop from a mob, just like any other.

Just like Silk Cloth that drops on normal mobs can’t be picked up by any old group member whenever they want–each mob is assigned to one player to loot–the same goes for bosses. When loot that isn’t “shared” (universal quest items) or disputed (uncommon/rare/epic drops) drops from any mob, it’s assigned to a group member as their share of the booty for taking part in the instance. And, because the shaft isn’t considered a quest item and it isn’t disputed loot, it is therefore assigned to a party member as their share of loot for running the instance.

The medallion differs in that it is looted from an object, like a treasure chest, that any player can access whenever they want. And because it’s a “common” item, it isn’t disputed (i.e., rolled for).

So, because one of the two items will be restricted to one player having access to it and the other is something anyone can grab, you should always go for the restricted item first to guarantee that the same player ends up with both.

Why is it important that the same player loot both items? Because, even though you’re able to form groups across servers, you’re not able to trade these items across servers. Therefore, if two different people end up with a piece of the Staff, you’re stuck and can’t summon Ironaya.

Kill Revelosh first, loot the shaft, and then have that person go loot the medallion.

Get the word out. I’m begging you.

Happy Hunting!