Zul'Aman (BC Classic)

Animal Bosses
Nalorakk Akil'zon Jan'alai Halazzi	(lore) (lore) (lore) (lore)
Final Bosses
Hex Lord Malacrass Daakara	(lore) (lore)
Zul'Aman loot
Timed Event

Zul'Aman is a raid dungeon located in the Ghostlands intended to be a 10 man instance that players can go to after Karazhan. It requires no attunement.

The instance will involve players fighting 4 avatars of the forest troll gods the dragonhawk, lynx, bear and finally a god of eagle that have been put into the bodies of 4 troll warriors. After the 4 gods, players will face off against the witch doctor that called out the gods, and finally Zul'jin himself.

The instance will also have multiple quest givers outside the instance for events that occur inside such as rescue missions that give better rewards based on how quick you accomplish the task.

Summary

File:Zul'aman load.JPG

Possible Zul'Aman graphic

An Amani troll

• ETA: Will be implemented in Patch 2.3.
• Location: Southeastern Ghostlands.
• Level: 70.
• Number of Players: 10.
• Monsters: Inhabited by forest trolls.
• Attunement: None.
• Bosses: 4 Loas - Bear lord Nalorakk; Lynx lord Halazzi; Dragonhawk lord Jan'Alai; and Eagle lord Akil'Zon.
• Pre-end boss: a Witch Doctor - Hexxlord Jin'Zakk.
• Final boss: Leader of the Amani, Warlord Zul'jin.

Blizzard's announcement

Zul'aman from lands of conflict

Zul'Aman is a smaller raid dungeon that's better suited for 10-character parties than the full-on 25-character raids that some of the game's larger dungeons demand. Because the dungeon will not require any keys or attunements to enter, the dungeon seems intended to be more accessible to players on tight schedules. Much of the layout will call for methodical clearing of troll enemies who may call for help by beating on nearby war drums, which summon additional troll warriors to fight. Each of the four avatars, which have respectively been infused with the spirits of a bear god, a dragonhawk god, a lynx god, and finally an eagle god, may also summon help, as well as assume different forms over the course of battle. Once players have defeated each avatar, they'll eventually take on the witch doctor that started the whole mess and finally do battle with Zul'Jin himself. The final troll boss will not only be a powerful foe; he'll also be able to draw upon the ghostly spirits of each of the four liberated animal gods and change his own shape to assume their powers.

In addition to offering challenging encounters against these mighty foes, Zul'Aman is apparently intended to encourage players to tackle it repeatedly to master its content. There will be several characters hanging around just outside the dungeon to give out quests that take place within the dungeon, including hunting for treasure and liberating four different hostages who have been taken captive by the armies of each of the four avatars. The rescue missions will apparently be timed and will yield better rewards if completed early. [1]

E3 information from GameSpy

Concept art of Zul'Aman

The first four bosses in the zone will have "hostage" NPCs that will dole out material rewards when rescued, on top of the loot that the bosses themselves will drop. After defeating the first boss, a timer starts ticking, and any hostages the raid rescues before it elapses will garner extra reward loot. The Blizzard producer conducting the demo compared it to the infamous 45-minute Stratholme clear in vanilla WoW, but with higher stakes. The aim is to encourage raids to get better at the encounters by providing these tangible rewards. Players will have some leeway in regards to how they tackle the instance, too; the first four bosses are paired in groups of two, and raid leaders will have the option of which pair to tackle first, depending on their competencies and group make up.

Apparently, the Amani forest trolls have been messing around with some pretty strong voodoo, which has enabled them to capture and subjugate the spirits of some powerful animal gods. By means of this magic, Zul'Jin, the infamous Amani chief, has managed to imbue his servants with the physical characteristics of these forest deities. In game terms, this means you're going to be fighting some crazy-looking troll/animal hybrids.

The first one we got to see was Nalorakk, the Bear Lord, a fierce creature the size of a Zul'Gurub berserker that had the head of a bear. His encounter is pretty complex: As the raid makes its way up to his tier, he'll send waves of trash mobs to attack your party, the last of which consists of trolls mounted on bears (can you say droppable bear mount?). You get to fight him and his twin pet bears after the last wave. As you may have guessed, he himself turns into an enormous bear when his health gets low. Compared to some of what was shown later, Nalorakk's encounter looked pretty straightforward.

Case in point: Jan'Alai, the Dragonhawk hybrid. He has a mean fire-based breath weapon, and to either side of his tier lie collections of dragonhawk eggs that he periodically summons hatchers to smash. Though raids will be tempted to kill the hatchers as soon as they spawn, they may be well advised to pace themselves; once Jan'Alai gets sufficiently wounded, he'll blow up all the remaining eggs, releasing a veritable swarm of (non-elite) dragonhawks onto the raid.

The last two hybrid bosses weren't fully implemented yet, unfortunately, but their models were on display, and they looked very cool. The eagle-headed Akil'Zon looked quite majestic in his festive headdress, and Halazzi the Lynx Lord was as menacing as you'd expect. The latter two comprise one of the aforementioned pairs, while Nalorakk and Jan'Alai make up another.

After defeating this brutal quartet, you gain access to the innermost reaches of Zul'Aman, home to Hexxlord Jin'Zakk, and the big man himself, Zul'Jin. Jin'Zakk earned his lofty title by weaving the dark magic that enslaved the animal gods, but alas, his in-game representation was as inert as the lynx and eagle lords'. We got a brief taste of Zul'Jin, however. Having access to all of the animal aspects held in bondage by his tribe, he changes shapes periodically during his encounter. Once he's taken down, the captured spirits are released, and the raid, presumably, earns some phat quest rewards.

History

Template:Raid Dungeons Once, the forest trolls controlled a large section of northern Lordaeron called Zul'Aman. A small region in the northeast of the continent is all that remains after the humans and high elves banded together to push back the savage trolls. The trolls have never been content with the situation, and have never forgiven the humans or elves for the trolls' near genocide. Now that the Scourge has ravaged much of the continent, the trolls of Zul'Aman have been pressing forward once again to reclaim their former kingdom. Though the forest trolls dominate Zul'Aman (led by the grizzled old troll, Jin'zakk), there are other inhabitants in this region, such as small bands of high elves, who fled from Quel'Thalas when the Undead attacked their land. Scourge patrols, hunting the high elven refugees, also stalk the region.

Geography

Zul'Aman, east of Quel'Thalas

Zul'Aman is a giant temperate forest located in northeastern Lordaeron, though a hilly region dominates the Quel'Thalas border. The mighty Greenrush River begins in Zul'Aman's Lake Abassi and flows out of the region into Darrowmere Lake to the southwest.

Landmarks

The mighty gate to the capital of the Amani trolls.

Lake Abassi

In the centre of Zul'Aman is Lake Abassi. Troll huts dot the edge of the great lake, and crude piers extend towards the middle. Trolls fish in the lake with nets and spears, though large threshadons also inhabit Lake Abassi.

Maisara Hills

The Maisara Hills, located in northeastern Zul'Aman are considered sacred to the forest trolls. Witch doctors visit the site frequently, holding strange rituals by moonlight.

The Shrine of Ula-tek

The Shrine of Ula-tek is a huge ziggurat in the middle of Zul'Aman and the capital of the forest troll empire. The area is heavily populated, (largely because the trolls keep their treasure in the ziggurat) and few non-trolls are able to get close enough to the great settlement. The shrine is named after an ancient serpent goddess.

The gates of Zul'Aman are now closed, but people state that there is something behind it already, like all dungeons have something behind the entrance portal.