Illusionary Tactics: Orb of Deception
Welcome back to Illusionary Tactics, where we look at items or quests that can make you look like something you're not, for fun and profit (profit not guaranteed).
The Orb of Deception is probably the first item I think of when I think about things that belong in this column. It's just so...deceptive!
What does it do? It makes you look like a member of the opposite faction, for five minutes on a 30-minute cooldown. The transformations are determined by your race and gender, and are as follows (thanks, Excorsism):
Gnome Male ↔ Tauren Male
Gnome Male ↔ Tauren Male
Gnome Female ↔ Tauren Female
Human Male ↔ Orc Male
Human Female ↔ Orc Female
Night Elf Male ↔ Undead Male
Night Elf Female ↔ Undead Female
Dwarf Male ↔ Troll Male
Dwarf Female ↔ Troll Female
Blood Elf Male ↔ Draenei Male
Blood Elf Female ↔ Draenei Female
The model and armor of the character you transform into is always the same, and it looks like Scarlet Monastery-type stuff. Like other transformations, your real weapons are still displayed. This item is responsible for fooling me so many times – I'm not even joking. For instance, just a week or two ago I mis-identified the faction of a guild I was writing about, based on the fact that there were Tauren in the screenshot. Of course, those Tauren were merely deceptive gnomes.
How do you get it? This baby is a world-drop BoE, so it's going to be hard to farm for it specifically. Your best bet is probably to try and get it off the AH; according to WoWEcon the median sale price is 575g. Pretty hefty, but not so bad when you consider you'll probably keep this item forever.
There is one mob who has a relatively high chance to drop the Orb: Skarr the Unbreakable. Skarr is a level 58 rare elite ogre, and he appears in the free-for-all Dire Maul arena (which is outside the DM instances). He's probably soloable by a level 70. The way the spawn timers work on that arena is as follows:
The spawn has an equal chance to be Skarr or the Razza, every time it comes up.
Killing whoever it is starts a six-hour timer.
When that timer elapses, either Skarr or Razza spawns again (randomly)
Razza has a 5% chance to drop the orb - not as good as Skarr, but it's something and probably makes him worth killing if he happens to be up when you're there.
Note that it is a free-for-all arena, so members of your own or the opposite faction could certainly try to kill you while you're trying to kill Skarr/Razza. However, I doubt it's that popular in this post-BC world of ours. Skarr has a 13% chance to drop the Orb, so you'll have to kill him eight five times on average, but you could always get (un-)lucky.
If you should happen to have an Orb that you want to get rid of (though I can't imagine why you would), the vendor price is 46s, or if you're an enchanter you can DE it into a Large Brilliant Shard.
Do you have any suggestions for items/quests that transform you? Let me know in the comments. Last week we looked at Dartol's Rod of Transformation, which turns you into a furbolg. I'm not sure anything can quite top that, but you're more than welcome to try.
