The Steppes

Overview

The Steppes is the first area in the ice path of the exapansion, reached from Goru'kar Mesa and leading to Icefall Glacier to the north. The zone was originally tuned to be for 50-60 range, but was scaled up to more 60-65. The quest rewards however are still low and generally not worth the effort. There are 15 rare mobs, a few open raid targets, and 3 zonewide rare drops:

Rare Mobs

Chef Gudez
Hits for just under 1300 and casts:
Can drop Razor-Sharp Obsidian Blade for My Pretty quest.
Drops - Spirit Mantle, Veil of Summer, Arm molds for group armor.
Deathfang
No info on melee, casts:
Drops - Gravelskin Boots, Gravelskin Tunic
Firebelly the Cook
No info on melee, casts:
Drops - Gravelskin Gloves, Firebelly's Unclean Cleaver
Gruntor the Mad
No fight data.
Drops - Barking Stone, Starshine
Hesmire Farflight
Multiple spawn points, can roam. Once agro'd he will attempt to run away and shoot arrows (spells). Can be roooted/snare, does summon. Hits for under 1k and casts:
Drops - Wirewick Sleeves, Wirewick Leggings, Feet molds for group armor.
High Shaman Firglum
Hits for under 1k and casts:
Can drop Razor-Sharp Obsidian Blade for My Pretty quest.
Drops - Wirewick Cape, Mammoth Tusk Flute
Hunter Borty
Hits for just under 1300 and has two "a Darkfell gnoll" friends. If you split the pets out before engaging Borty he will just summon replacements. Adds hit for 800ish and can be rooted or mezzed.
Can drop Razor-Sharp Obsidian Blade for My Pretty quest.
Drops - Spotted Cape, Granite Blade of War
Hunter Groppa
Hits for just under 1300 and has two "a Darkfell gnoll" friends. If you split the pets out before engaging Borty he will just summon replacements. Adds hit for 800ish and can be rooted or mezzed.
Can drop Razor-Sharp Obsidian Blade for My Pretty quest.
Drops - Coiled Serpentskin Belt, Bloodspear
Littlebiter the Skinchanger
In goblin form he casts shaman spells. Can change into bear form increasing his melee and does AE rampage.
Drops - Evergleam Sleeves, Wirewick Mantle
Midnight
PHs appear to be the only leopards in the area which see-invis. Hits just under 1300. Throughout the fight he will randomly switch agro and shadowstep to his new target.
Drops - Evergleam Coif, Evergleam Leggings, Arm molds for group armor.
Nanertak
Whenever someone kills a bear there is a chance that Nanertak will spawn on them. That person will become Nanertak's spawn point so even if you fade him off he will follow you until you zone. No fight data.
Drops - Warbound Gauntlets, Warbound Breastplate
Oldbones
Hits for under 1300 and casts:
Drops - Wirewick Belt, Oldbone Skull
Skurl
Spawns with his pet, Dark Fury. No fight data.
Drops - Wirewick Cap, Darkfell Bow
Sneaktalker Gizdor
Hits for around 1k and casts:
Can drop Razor-Sharp Obsidian Blade for My Pretty quest.
Drops - Leadfoot Boots, Mask of False Tales
Splotchy
Hits for just under 1300 and has two goblin friends. If you split the pets out before engaging Borty he will just summon replacements. Adds hit for 800ish and can be rooted or mezzed.
Drops - Dark Whisper, Smash
Tarbelly the Wanderer
Roams across the entire zone, can come with 3 agro-linked adds. Hits or just under 1300. Note that his loot doesn't have an aug slot.
Drops - Tarnished Nose Ring

Events and Raids

Cordagan Boulderfist

Cordagan and his friends are non-agro to start. Hail him and follow the dialog (ending with "Challenge Cordagan") and he will attack. His friends each hit for up to 2k, rampage, and can be slowed but not mezzed. Cordagan himself can hit for over 6k occasionally, no rampage, immune to slow, and casts:

The drunk AE appears to be cumulative, each time it goes off you get more intoxicated until finally it surpasses your tolerance. Your best bet here is to kite the friends, burn Cordagan down, and then take out the friends.

Cordagan has a 3 day respawn (need confirmation) and drops one of the following:

Erdna the Sleeping Giant

Erdna can be found, sleeping, in the caves to the northwest and is non-agro. If you have a raid of 18+ and hail him, he wakes up and attacks. He can triple for as much as 11k and has both single target and AE rampage (mitigated to 4500) and casts:

Every 20% Erdna will briefly fall asleep with the emote Erdna the Sleeping Giant lets out a giant yawn as it falls to sleep which clears his hate list. Erdna has a 3 day respawn (need confirmation) and drops two of the following:

Portal of War

To start this event you need to complete the Rebuilding the Portal quest arc to get 3 Portal Fragments. Using the fragments on the Portal of War will heal it, when it reaches 100% the raid event starts with Pummelcrush.

Phase 1
In the first phase is Pummelcrush and an assortment of adds. The trash can be, and should be, cleared without agroing Pummelcrush. After clearing room you can engage, he hits for around 5k and casts:
Phase 2
After Pummelcrush dies Vetiki and another assortment of adds spawn. Again clear enough trash to safely reach Vetiki and then engage. He can hit for 5k (but not often), flurries, and spawns 7 clones at 90%, 6 at 80%, 5 at 50%, 4 at 35%, and 3 at 20%. The clones hit for less and have much lower health. You'll want to kill them all before spawning the next wave. Vetiki will also cast a 60% haste on himself and the clones, though as long as it is slowed this shouldn't be a problem.
Phase 3
In the third phase you get Vegeroth and another set of trash. This time you need to clear all trash you can start on the boss. Vegeroth hits for upwards of 6 and casts:
  • Vegeroth's Wave of Death - Frontal AE 1k dd, 400 dot, 36 curse counters. If not cured in 1 minute it triggers an 8k dd.
Vegeroth will cast the frontal AE while doing trash, so be aware of positioning.
Phase 4
When Vegeroth is killed you get Earthrender and Earthcrusher. Earthrender hits around 3500, AE rampage, is immune to slow, and casts an AE 3k dd with root. Earthcrusher hits for 5k, AE rampage, seems to be immune to all spells, and casts an AE 7500 dd, stun, and flux. The two golems can be fought separately. There may be an unknown mechanic here to allow Earthcrusher to be targetable by spells.
Phase 5
After the golems the final boss spawns, Demeton, Destroyer of Life. First clear all the trash and then engage. Demeton hits for up to 7k, single target rampage, is immune to slow, and casts:

Unknown respawn time on the Portal. Demeton has a chance to drop Essence of Speed (upgrade DoDH claim mount to Bard speed) and 3 of the following:

Quests and Missions

Rebuilding the Portal

Quest giver: Moldren the Wise
Requirements: none
Reward: Necklace of Warportal Fragments and fragments to trigger Portal of War.

This quest is broken into 3 parts. Each rewards a portal fragment which will heal the Portal, get it to 100% to trigger the raid encounter. At various points having multiple people doing the quest can cause events to double spawn or not spawn at all so be careful with locations.

The Talking Plant
Tell Moldren 'I am willing to search.' to request the task. It is very simple, go to the far north part of the zone (around 2200, -70) to find the crypts. Going inside triggers the spawn of Prophet Spirit (if you get the location update and a Spirit is already up, it won't spawn another, but it only drops one piece). The Prophet is a giant, hits under 1k, but nothing special. Kill it and loot Ancient Charm. Give this to Moldren to complete the task and get a Portal Fragment.
The Library
Tell Moldren 'I accept this task.' to request the second step. Head to Valdeholm and get your first location update at (-385, -1110). You'll need to collect two books from houses (-700, -1230) and (-435, -1610) (unknown respawn time). Once you have both return to Moldren and hand them in together to complete the task and get another Portal Fragment.
The Destroyed Portal
Tell Wilped the Withered (not Moldren) 'Rebuild it' to request the third step. For this you need to do some farming. Head to Direwind Cliffs and kill the giant skeleton golems until you recover 4 Portal Fragments (not to be confused with the rewards from first two tasks). Then go to Icefall Glacier and kill kobolds to collect 4 Portal Rocks. Neither set can be pre-looted. Return to the Steppes and take the group to (-280, -295) for the location update. A Portal Guardian spawns, hits 800ish and procs a root and small dot. Once it is dead return to Moldren and give him the 8 looted Portal Fragments. This gives a 3rd Portal Fragment and the Necklace of Warportal Fragments. The necklace has unlimited charges but requires a Small Portal Fragment per cast, sold by all ldon magus for around 1p and stacks to 20.

Book for Toegnasher

Quest giver: Toegnasher
Requirements: none
Reward: Toegnasher's Token.

Toegnasher is a gnoll in the center of the zone, tell him 'I will help you find it' to get the task. You will need to locate 3 Ancient Parchments:

  1. A ground spawn in the grove region, western side of zone.
  2. A drop off the giants in the north of Steppes, around 1 in 10 drop rate.
  3. A drop off Nightmoon kobolds in Icefall Glacier, around 1 in 10 drop rate.

All 3 pages can be prelooted, turn them in to Toegnasher. Next you need to buy a Piece of Parchment from any spell research vendor, go to the druid port in spot in Steppes, and put the Parchment on your cursor. It should change to Copy of Druidic Rune. Deliver this copy to Toegnasher to get your Ring-slot-only 20 hp/mana augment reward.

Duskmold

Quest giver: Priest Ulkag
Requirements: none
Reward: Orb of Duskmold.

To complete this task you'll need to first do the key quest to Inner Vergalid. Ulkag wants you to collect flower specimens from the Vergalid Mines. Head deep into the mines, into the locked portion, to find the flowers, destructable objects. Nuke/attack them and loot two of each type. With patience and good invis this can be done solo by timing it between pathers. Once you have all 4 return them to Ulkag for your reward.

Lost Souls

Quest giver: Captain Gul
Requirements: none
Reward: Band of Woven Teeth.

This quest is broken into two tasks and to complete it you will need to do the key quest to Inner Vergalid.

Lost Souls I
Tell Captain Gul 'What ancient creature' to request the task. He sends you into Vergalid Mines, the locked portion, to find an undead golem named Skullrend. It seems to be an uncommon spawn with 'a clattering servant' as the place holder. Fight should be nothing special, loot the Klazag's Amulet and return it to Gul to complete the task.
Lost Souls II
After finishing the first half say 'Press on the exploration' to request the second. Return to Inner Vergalid and slaughter the drakkin around the great pit (The Void it is called in quest text) until one drops Void Etched Symbol (roughly 1 in 10 drop rate). Return it to Gul to complete the task and claim your reward.

My Pretty

Quest giver: Cragnaw
Requirements: none
Reward: Fractured Winter Steel Statue of Flame.

Tell Cragnaw 'I do this' to get the task. For this task you'll need to kill at least 20 Gnolls in the Steppes. You'll need to loot a Razor-Sharp Obsidian Blade from any of the gnoll rare mobs (Chef Gudez, High Shaman Firglum, Hunter Groppa, Hunter Bort, Gruet Longsight, and Sneaktalker Gizdor), and 5 Yellow Spider Silk from the young wasp spiders in the southeast. Everything can be prelooted. Turn in everything to Cragnaw for your reward, one of five parts for the The Shattered Gift quest in Valdeholm for Staff of Frozen Flame.

Scattered Gear

Quest giver: Cartographer Wyl`ard
Requirements: none
Reward: very very little xp.

Tell Wyl`ard 'find' to get the task. You'll need to loot a Wyl`ards Cartography Tools from gnolls in the northeast area. They drop about 1 in 6 kills. Just looting the tools will complete the task. There is no follow up. It is possible this was intended to be part of the Wanderlust aug but was dropped.

Serric Lives

Quest giver: Orumot Uluntar
Requirements: none
Reward: Cloak of Incantations

Tell Uluntar 'escaped to safety' to get the task. Head to Vergalid Mines and clear orcs and goblins at the entance until you find a Piece of Serric's Tabbard. Loot (not pre-lootable) this and return it to Uluntar to complete the task and get your reward.

The Ancient Tablet

Quest giver: Elder Nezzen Tru`tak
Requirements: none
Reward: Transcripts of the Lost Tablet

Elder Nezzen Tru`tak doesn't seem to roam, but doesn't go home either so if dragged away he can be hard to locate. Tell Tru`tak 'What tattered document' to get the task. The task is fairly straightforward, you need to locate Hak`Leth's Ancient Tablet. This drops rarely off anything in Vergalid Mines and can not be pre-looted. Return the table to Tru`tak to complete the task and claim your reward.

Treasure of the Dead

Quest giver: Bordan the Cursed
Requirements: 3-6 in group
Reward: Plundered Krithgorian Knife

Tell Bordan 'I am willing' to get the group task. Head into the caves to the north, take your first left and click the wall. Inside you'll find a chest. When you approach the chest the door to the room locks and Crypt Guardian spawns. It hits for around 650, no special abilities. Once it is dead hail Bordan to complete the task, everybody in group gets a knife and a bit of xp. Bordan despawns for about 5 minutes, no word on lockout.

Web of Curiosity

Quest giver: Yavia
Requirements: none
Reward: Assassin Weave Cape

Before starting be sure to clear out the spiders around Yavia. Tell her 'What food and drink' to get the task. Yavia needs food and water so find two ground spawns in the room (trail mix and glacier water). At this point a wave of spiders spawn, weaker than zone trash, 2 assassin spiders. Kill them, collect more trail mix and glacier water, and give them to Yavia to start next wave. 2 more spiders, more food and water, 3 more spiders, more food and water, 2 mature spiders, more food and water, and finally the Queen. The spiders start hitting around 250 and scale up to queen hitting 500ish. Once Queen is dead hail Yavia to complete the task and collect your reward.