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Comment by cj628

The soul gem has a horrible drop rate.
I skipped this quest.

Comment by Supakiffa

Leads to http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=973

Comment by Pherias

Drop rate on these are ridiculous

Comment by Gambrin

A click-through on the quest item above will reveal the statistics: approx. 4% drop rate over 6.000 recorded kills.

Comment by woman

And where are they????

Comment by Nautica

They are in the Ruins of Ordil ' Aran, around 31,31 if u have coords..

Comment by fsoares

estas coordenadas estão certas(31,31)

Comment by Houndofcullan

Wow I'm going on 74 kills here and still no drop. Can you believe that??? I have the worst of luck... :(

Comment by Kenyiro

guys plz next time check http://www.thottbot.com/q970

Comment by Bleehum

I killed 140 of these guys before the quest item dropped. The quest left me quite frustrated.

Comment by ElCid2000

3rd kill, it was a Dark Strand Cultist at 30,30.

Comment by nook2k5

Either they increased the drop rate on this or I got damn lucky because I got it off the first Dark Strand that I killed

Comment by Xxshadow

The drop rate is still awful because, I've killed well over 200 and no gem... =

Comment by skullzbh

I cleared the camp a few time (but i didnt enter the tower) and couldnt get the gem..... dont know what to do?

Comment by Cailen

It only took me about 10 kills to get the orb, however I was doing it on a level 22 priest and the mobs with the void walkers were impossible for me to take down. I ignored them and only killed the mobs with the imps and the excavators. I recommend that if you're having problems with the quest you do the same. It may take a tad longer, but totally worth it in the end (because you won't be dying constantly).

Comment by Adrid

Extremely low drop rate...but wiping this camp is a good way to upgrade your gear...

Edit: Also about 3 camp wipes later..the orb dropped.

Comment by Surprincess

Got lucky and the soul gem dropped at the 3rd kill. The drop rate might depend on your lvl, though...

Comment by shexna

we was two players, both level 22. we got four greens before we got the gem. so prepare to grind a while.
and 31,31 is the right spot, are enough to grind for two and they spawn again pretty quickly.
most of them are warlocks, and have a pet, voidwalker or imp, we simple took one each, and if we took deferent targets we took the imp out first, then lock.

Comment by ambientarsenal

Going on 8 camp clears now... Still no gem... /sad

Comment by cryptoengineer

Got it on the second mob. Took the advice and stuck to imps - much easier than
the voidwalkers.

Comment by EliteLeader

I got it when I wiped the camp for about 85% not too bad.

Comment by brasshopper

I soloed this with an untwinked 19 priest. It was all I could do to take down a lock-pet pair (I could get the lock-void walker pairs, but they were tough, low health and mana at the end of the fight. 15 DPS wand. Start with a shield, DD spell, dot, dot, and wand. When the shield comes down, stop, shield, renew, dot, wand, ignoring the pet. When the master died, shield, dot, heal, wand. I finally managed to clean the warlock free area at 31,31 and then got the next several pops - and then one popped while I was killing another and I died - could not keep a shield up.

Lather, rinse, repeat. Died about 4 rimes. Finally approached it from the other direction to no real difference except that I was working in to the excavators and enforcers on my left, not my right, and the void walkers seemed popular (but they have a low aggro radius as compared to the other mobs) and as I was clearing the 31,31 camp from the edge of the field that I'd already cleared, I killed an enforcer and looted and there was the orb. I finished clearing the excavators just for experience, but then I split - first time I left the camp without dying.

I finally finished BFD with a good party and got a 30 dps wand, and had I had that through this, it would have been a lot easier.

Comment by 12of13

I cleared both camps 2 times (also at 31,31) and 1 time the complete tower with help from a lvl40 but still no gem...

Comment by Apocowlypse

As of today I can confirm that the drop rate remains ridiculously low for the quest item.

I had no problem at all farming for it as a 22 hunter (I got here a bit late), but it was utterly boring. A few notes on my last 30 minutes of gaming.

First of all, the "ruins" where you'll find the Dark Strand mobs are located right around 32, 31...just head northeast from Maestra's Post and you'll run right into them. There are four mobs that drop the quest item: Dark Strand Cultists (with imp pets), Dark Strand Adepts (with VW pets), Dark Strand Excavators, and Dark Strand Enforcers. Despite what other posters may have noted, the drop rate of the quest item is the same for all of the mobs: 4 percent. As I noted earlier, it took me around 30 minutes to drop...just long enough for me to start considering going elsewhere.

While I managed to garner a tiny little bit of coin, some wool cloth, and a green or two, I'm still not entirely sure the effort put into this quest was worth the reward.

If you have other quests to do, don't really need to grind for experience, or simply don't like to grind then this quest isn't for you. If you need the experience, enjoy grinding, and have 30 minutes to a couple of hours to blow, get to it. :-)

Comment by HalfBlack619

Very low drop rate. Level 23 Hunter w/ pet. Sicc'd my cat on the adepts focused my fire on them. Minions were easily killed. Don't have coords so I found it in North eastern Ordil' Aran.

Comment by stylewalker

Sick droprate on this quest. Cleared the camp over and over with no luck. Got from 25% XP on level 18 to level 19 only on killing theese Dark Strand scums.

Comment by strole

~31 kills... gotta just tough it out

Comment by psxchelly

2 kills, got it.

Comment by suicidechilde

I got lucky. I got it in about 6 kills.

Comment by Scotty

Wow 4%? I must of got lucky got 1 within 10 kills.

Coords: 31.31 confirmed.

Comment by cana

6% today. Dark Strand Excavator. Took an hour and a half.

Comment by Dialunande

Dear Blizz,

When I take this quest at 18, I'd like to get the item before I'm 22.

Seriously. Co-ords are above, drop rate is hell, took me 3+ levels to get this. The only good part is I got about 25 greens to shard.

Probably better just to skip the quest.

Comment by rolfe333

I was aware that there was a lot of killing on this quest before the drop was made, however it took me 2 hours to kill 300 Dark Strand bods and still no drop. I'll give it another hour and then go to bed. Maybe I'll stop at 500.

Comment by spleebie

Got it after about 30-40 kills. Found a trick to beat the voidwalkers: Once you kill the master, run. Let the void hit you a couple times but when you get out of range and they turn back, they will despawn.

Comment by MephistoVI

So far spent 3 days, cleared the camp 10 times, and still no gem. Blizzard needs to up the drop rate a significant amount.

Comment by Wiksell

Got it after 15-20 kills, from a Dark Strand Adept.

Comment by Hoies

HAHAHA i got a 100% drop rate, hehe lolage i pwn :P

Comment by TomL

First kill and I got it. Had done the quest previously with a higher level character, took clearing the camp several times before obtaining the quest item.

Comment by Editcross

Mages, this is an easy one for you minus the drop rate.

Comment by Zerathul

I had to clear the camp at least 8 times before this dropped for me.

Comment by getback2nature

Friend and I had quest with level 21 Night Elves. Killed mobs for about an hour and a half without Glowing Soulgem dropping. We brought our higher level characters to area, lvl 65 Warlock and lvl 58 Rogue, teamed one high level character with lower level one, grouped them and set loot to free for all. Used higher lvl character to kill mobs while lower lvl one just looted. Were able to get item for both Night Elves in about 15 minutes.

Comment by johnpm

OMG 2 hours it took me to get the drop item!!!

Has to be the worst quest I ever done

I was in agony by the end of it

Comment by Antheia

i made 16kills and the !@#$s nothing...why this? what i must do to drop the damned beast the gem?

Comment by hammerbeck

Drop rate was awful, took about a half hour of solid killing to get the gem. Did this with another level 18 warrior ( I am a 18 hunter) suggest grouping if you are below level 20, died a few times due to void walkers and magic users. Good luck! :)

Comment by Symaco

I soloed as a 21 Druid and used stealth to get over by the Enforcers loc: 32.1,31.5. It took 3 sets of illiminating them and waiting for them to re-spawn. It only took around 7-10mins and I was able to get the Orb.

Comment by beefbrunstan

Yep, lame quest. Dropped it myself after about 45 minutes of futile killing. Good luck if you keep with it, you'll need it.

Comment by Zurr

spent over an hour trying to get the soul gem.

completely not worth the time

Comment by asorble

Got this with my 24 Shaman on 2nd kill. Guess I got lucky.

Comment by Ashtongue

As a mage, it was very easy to kill these. Just be sure to be atleast level 20.

Enforcers and Excavators are easy enough. Just spam your main spell and they fall.

Cultists are quite easy, but they do have an imp pet with them. I used blizzard to aoe on both imp and cultist. Even thought they hit you, the blizzard should be just enough to kill the imp and leave the cultist with 55-60% hp.

Adepts were extremely easy. Just sheep master and one fireball / frostbolt at vw, then frost nova and blink and take vw down. Then simply kill adept.

I used these tactics and I never died as a 22 mage.

Comment by Tsad

It's a simple quest, Though for some classes may have more trouble than others killing two mobs at once. The only bad thing about it is the drop rate. Took me around 30 minutes, while other, maybe 5. Good luck!

Comment by Spade32

Since the XP increase rates, I've gotten several bars while pre-occupying myself with this quest. I'd say about 4-5 bars, in addition to some cloth, coin, and a couple greens, so it was fairly worth the time, but overall it's not too overly difficult. :)

Comment by Cujo3209

This quest made me want to maim small animals.

Not many things make me want to do that.

Comment by Jeffautrain

Got it on my second kill

Comment by Irenor

LOL dropped at my first kill!...........

Comment by Airslash

I think they might have increased the droprate since 2.4 as on all my characters so far I had it only after a few kills unlike on my older characters I remember killing these mobs for hours to get that soulstone

Comment by shockwaver

This quest is an utter waste of time!

Comment by abcassel

I just did this (solo lvl 23 rogue) and got the orb on the first drop - no need to wade into the field of warlocks and vw. easy.

Comment by Naith1

Drop rates must be changed. I got it off my first kill just now

Comment by Maddog17

ffs Ive tried this 5 times and cleared out hole camp around 8 times and still haven't got the drop this quest is ridiculous!

Comment by evilbunnychic

Yeah most def a pain quest......took forever for gem to drop. really its not worth it but if you are bored its good for a lowbie quest

Comment by Rivermark

I've dinged THREE levels before this stupid thing dropped.
The most retarded quest ever.

Comment by gossamerstarsxx

I'm getting really, really annoyed with this freaking quest. How many of them do you have to kill before the damn thing drops?

Comment by WCityMike

One small trick I've learned is that if you kill the wizard and then Shadowmeld, the imp or VW returns to its master and then disappears. Shadowmeld is only a Night Elf ability, but I imagine similar "I'm no longer here, boo" talents might do the same.

Comment by pinest

shadowmeld has a 2min cooldown, and the wizard minions are way too weak to waste my Shadowmeld Cooldown on them :s plus this quest takes ages to complete, its not a viable way to do it..

Comment by Feliciamarie

HORRIBLE drop rate. As a level 80 going around just aoe'ing them one by one...I've killed about 100 and nothing so far...

Comment by whitewolfiemark

after about a "hour" of grinding for this quest, it dropped for me off a dark strand enforcer...strange drop rate X_X

Comment by Vraiel

Yes this quest can be annoying. I tried this quest at lvl 19 as a druid. I found it easy to Wrath, Moonfire the imps and concentrate on the Cultist. That usually killed off the imp. With the voidwalker mobs, its a great help if you use Entangle Roots on the Voidwalker, again concentrating on the Cultist. After trying to just kill off the mobs as quickly as I could without CC, I avoided this quest for as long as I could from the resulting deaths. Enforcers and Excavators are relatively easy for a Wrath, Root comboing Druid.

Have fun, after around the 20th mob the quest item finally dropped for me.

Comment by shadele3t

north or mastera's post kill mobs get soul jem done in 10 minutes

Comment by forsynthe

I cleared the camp twice then decided I didn't really care... good luck to all of you who are trying to find this gem!

Comment by CasualRiot

Upon completion Delgren the Purifier will smash the soulstone and a night elf spirit in a red kilt named Sargath will appear. This dialogue will follow:

Delgren the Purifier says: A simple enough task to break this soulstone!

Glowing Soulgem bursts open!

Sargath says: In the throes of the Sundering, Ameth'aran was at the whim of the terror that gripped the land. There was little hope for survival.
Sargath says: Athrikus came to us. He told us that he could save us from harm. He cast a spell upon us to protect us from harm.
Sargath says: When the shaking stopped, his true motives were revealed. We were trapped, and he was slowly draining our powers.
Sargath says: There were hundreds imprisoned by his spell. Now only a few remain in their prisons. He would speak to us sometimes.
Sargath says: He worried that his power weakened, that soon even we last of his precious soulgems would fade and die.

Delgren the Purifier says: Then we must put an end to Athrikus Narassin. Tell me, spirit, where might we find the other soulgems, to undo his magic?

Sargath says: His lieutenant, Ilkrud Magthrull possesses a tome which might indicate the location of the remaining soulgems.

Sargath fades into the mist...

Comment by devilgirl1283

I picked one up after about half a dozen or so kills. Either they improved the drop rate or I got lucky.

Comment by remus611

Be warned: This is (by quite a lot) my most hated quest in the game. I can't say I have done all quests, but with 3 pretty high level toons (and one more on the way), I certainly have done a lot.

The drop rate on this is STUPIDLY low! Wowhead says 5%, which seems generous. I cleared their ruins 2-3 times before FINALLY getting this stupid gem to drop. I cannot for the life of me see why Bliz felt it necessary to make this so low a drop. It is totally incongruous with the rest of the game and simply leads to endless frustration. Obviously other posts agree.
Well I can say as of 3.2 this is NOT fixed. I am baffled how update after update can come along and Bliz ignores this glaringly frustating quest. Perhaps they are oblivious (our bad for not reporting it), but one would think they'd have play testers who maybe kind of noticed this quest is a useless waste of time! And I have to believe more than one person has complained directly to them about the amazing frustration i this one.

About all this quest is good for (other than continuing a long chain) is farming exp IF you happen to be blue. My suggestion: Go rest up for a couple of days, get lots of blue, and at least get a ding out of this annoying quest! I almost dinged myself, and I was far from blue on my exp bar!

Good luck; I hope the rest of you have better drop rates that I had!

Comment by Flagg

A pain for a priest, mobs that drop it are immune to fear and have a pet (imp - void)

Comment by Vexallius

This quest is probably the most annoying quest implemented in the game. So far, I've wasted literally 2 hours on it and it hasn't dropped. It's a pain. If you love grinding, this is the quest for you.

Best of luck to people trying to complete the quest. I hope you have better luck then me.

Edit: Exactly after I wrote this, it dropped. O.o Surprisingly enough, it was the same for me just like it was for Godistigger.

Comment by alchemistkitten

I just tried this quest today, expecting to at least level once. As it turns out, I cleared 3/4th's of the camp and found the gem. I have to wonder if the rather-large patch that updated this morning might be the cause of this?

Anyways, level 21 hunter did fine handing those mobs. Just be cautious of the rogue-type, they go straight at you, not your pet.

Comment by eagereyes

surprisingly enough, i only had to kill 6 before i got the drop. guess i have good luck :)

Comment by Tempo

I fished up Mr. Pinchy on my first cast into a Highland Mixed School, and immediately got the Magical Crawdad Box.

I should have known I would pay for it later. And I am. With this quest.

Comment by tintri

Eight times I've cleared this stupid camp, still no drop. Beyond annoying.

Comment by Xphilos

If you share my problems with reading comprehension or are just a confused person in general:

Even though the quest is called The Tower of Althalaxx, the npcs you kill for the gem are not at the the Tower of Althalaxx.

Hence, the very, very low drop rate if you farm it there ...

Comment by Shopan

Thank you all...I thought I was the only one that has had problems with this and Klavens's Tower....too bad my guide has them set at about the same point for my priest and rouge......

Comment by joapet

I read this to check the loaction and was considering going to The Tower of Althalaxx in Darkshore but then it dropped after I'd cleared the camp once. Pretty sure they must have increased the drop rate on this one because iirc it used to be near impossible to get.

Comment by Nyke

I don't know if they fixed the drop rate or i just got really lucky, but I was only out here for about 10 minutes before i got the quest item to drop.

Comment by sephiroth692

It dropped for me when I cleared the camp twice, logged out for a day and killed 4 of the enemies. Seems like I was luckier than other people.

Comment by Anjeer

It dropped the moment my bags filled...

D=<

Comment by skreidle

The camp for these is north of Maestra's Post in Ashenvale--various Dark Strand members. I cleared the camp once and got it on the next pop, about 20 kills and 4 minutes.

Comment by Murzik

I dropped this quest after spending more than 2 hours, more than 20 bottles of Melon Juice, and countless pauses to eat.
No drop! Not fun at all!
As a level 23 Shadow Priest I was not able to clear the camp. In fact, I could not get half way before they spawned behind me. I found my self in a 3 v 1 situation a few times!

Comment by Gythian

Spent 2 mins on this quest as a 80 lock. And yes It counts towards Loremaster of Kalimdor.

Comment by depizan

The drop rate is still terrible. I slaughtered the camp over and over again, and finally logged on here to see if it was bugged or something. I went from a couple bubbles in to 20 all the way to 21 without seeing the gem. Yes, I had rest bonus, but really. Almost an entire level on one quest?

I wish I'd been one of the lucky ones, especially since I'm trying to get Darnassus faction. *sigh* I guess I could slaughter mobs for another level and see if I get any luckier. :(

Edit: And after posting here it was only another near clearing of the camp to get it. Posting here does seem to improve things. (I know, I know, magical thinking.)

Comment by nokturnal12

this quest just sucks. ive spent over an hr on it and am extremely irritated. some of the other comments say posting made it drop, so im having a go. its got to be worth a try xD

yep, next mob it dropped! ^^ weird.

Comment by kimblehmoose

dont know if anyone has made this clear yet or not, but i spent about 10 mins attacking the wrong mobs because the name of the place changed to ordil'aran while i was still in bahran's haunt.
the place you need to be is at 31,30 but it should be easy to find now with blizz's new feature to make their names stand out.
good luck

Comment by godistigger

This quest was marked obsolete by Blizzard and cannot be obtained or completed.

And there was much rejoicing!

Add to list...Links

The Tower of Althalaxx

This quest was marked obsolete by Blizzard and cannot be obtained or completed.

Collect a Glowing Soul Gem and return it to Delgren the Purifier at Maestra's Post.

	Glowing Soul Gem

Description

Balthule's letter is dire. This Cult of the Dark Strand is a thorn in my side that must be removed. I have been dealing with some of the Dark Strand scum northeast of here at Ordil'Aran. One of their number possesses a soul gem that I believe holds the secret to the cult's power.

Bring it to me, and I will be able to decipher the secrets held within.

The Tower of Althalaxx

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