Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsRhonin and Vereesa in Dalaran
by Alex Ziebart 
Aug 14th 2008 at 2:00PM
Love him or hate him, the latest beta patch has made it official: Rhonin has entered the World of Warcraft. Along with his wife Vereesa, of course. The Violet Citadel in Dalaran had its artificial wall preventing you from getting inside removed in the last Wrath beta patch, and they've begun populating it in this patch. Rhonin, Vereesa, and a couple members of what I assume is the Dalaran ruling Council (the Six).
Rhonin and the two Archmages in the Citadel all seem to be wearing recolors of the supposed Mage Tier 7 that cropped up awhile back, so we can all consider that a definite confirmation. It looks pretty cool, if a bit unusual (wow, a tunic and not a robe!), with the helm turned off. With the helm on, I really couldn't help but giggle. You can see Rhonin and Vereesa above, and we've also added higher resolution images to our Dalaran gallery. Oh, and forgive the poor lighting. They apparently haven't turned on the electricity in the Citadel yet.
Rhonin and the two Archmages in the Citadel all seem to be wearing recolors of the supposed Mage Tier 7 that cropped up awhile back, so we can all consider that a definite confirmation. It looks pretty cool, if a bit unusual (wow, a tunic and not a robe!), with the helm turned off. With the helm on, I really couldn't help but giggle. You can see Rhonin and Vereesa above, and we've also added higher resolution images to our Dalaran gallery. Oh, and forgive the poor lighting. They apparently haven't turned on the electricity in the Citadel yet.
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Cedarr Aug 14th 2008 2:43PM
Wouldn't it be mage T8 because I could of sworn Blizz said they'd be reusing the T3 models for Naxx.
solemn Aug 14th 2008 2:53PM
Reusing the models as in drops from the bosses in Naxx. They did the same with older tier models in karazhan. Tier 7 = a new set. Tier 3 = boss drops.
MazjinYrael Aug 14th 2008 2:45PM
I personally like the fact that its a tunic, means I can actually wear all the cool tabards without looking an idiot. The whole beige and purple theme is a bit meh i have to say, hope the t8 and t9 look better. The tabard thing is cool though, though I think blizzard needs to add a robe/tabard switch (like the hide helm/cloak option in the interface) to appease everyone.
MazjinYrael Aug 14th 2008 3:15PM
Actually, scratch the last two instances of tabard and replace them with tunic (I'm retarded).
heath Aug 14th 2008 2:47PM
if mages can learn how to summon swords from him, i'll be impressed. otherwise, i'm kinda disappointed he's just hanging out as just another npc.
SpaceDog Aug 14th 2008 2:46PM
I think the gear looks fine. As someone said above, quite battle magey, seems fitting for a crusade type scenario.
xtrjmonaco Aug 14th 2008 2:50PM
I wish my Human Mage could hook up with High Elves ;)
Thijz Aug 14th 2008 2:50PM
I finished reading Day of the Dragon a few weeks ago. I'm going to start with the War of the Ancients trilogy when I finish part 7 of The Dark Tower (Stephen King).
Trebblebase Aug 14th 2008 2:57PM
i always pictured her as a nightelf look-a-like.. im sure somewhere it said how she is taller than average and strongly built?
Fancylad Aug 14th 2008 3:03PM
I would KILL to side with the blue dragonflight just so I can gank Rhonin. It makes me sad to see him in game.
RogueJedi86 Aug 14th 2008 3:26PM
It does make you wonder why classes like warriors and rogues and death knights can't ally with the Blues, since they don't use magic, and thus aren't a threat to Malygos justified reasons for hating magic.
Dunwich Aug 14th 2008 3:58PM
Indeed, speaking as a Rogue and 'Lock player, I'd happily throw my lot in with the Blue.
I'd happily throw my lot in with the Horde to gank him.
RogueJedi86 Aug 14th 2008 4:34PM
@Dunwich
Why a Warlock? They're part of the Blues' problem with magic users. They both use evil magic, and use it to summon to Azeroth the very monsters that caused Malygos to distrust all magic users to begin with.
Zarkharaan Aug 14th 2008 7:37PM
Spoilers if you care, but.
You'd get accepted even if you were a mage. Malygos is either recruiting or killing off mages, basically a join-or-suffer/die situation for a lot of them. In fact, there are mage traitors from the Horde, Alliance and Kirin'Tor allied with Blues.
Personally I don't mind. Nice to see more NPCs that make you go "Hey, I know something about that one", even if Rhonin was over the top in WotA. But the whole WotA was quite a stretch.
RogueJedi86 Aug 14th 2008 4:26PM
I hope those are placeholder models. Leader of the Kirin Tor in Northrend, and he looks like a typical human? Geez, the mage armor looks bad on him. I thought he was wearing plate at first, due to males looking so damn bulky in anything besides a dress. Imagine if they'd done A'dal and all the Naaru as just recolored Banshees. Seriously, unique models. That goes for Vereesa too. But I don't see a tag, so I guess not.
And yeah, they need to change Sylvanas' model, or explain in-game why she looks like a Night elf while her sister is still a High elf.
I also hope they at least mention Rhonin and Vereesa's kids in-game. I figure they won't appear in-game, and I'd like Vereesa or Rhonin to tell us where they are. Though they could arguably put them in using the Blood elf children models already in-game, that wouldn't look right for their being Half-elves. The Blood Elf model didn't work for half-elf Arator, and it wouldn't work here.
Wildhammer Aug 14th 2008 4:30PM
They used the Night Elf model for Sylvanas because it resembles her more closely than the High/Blood Elf model. Really, every Elf model in the game sucks and none of them 'really' look like any of the sisters. They all need individual models with animations that don't make them look moronic.
RogueJedi86 Aug 14th 2008 4:32PM
But they need to at least look like the same race. They're full sisters, not half or anything. If my folks said my sister was a High elf same as me, but looked like a Night elf, I'd be pretty suspicious.
Dightkuz Aug 14th 2008 3:27PM
Could someone give me a link where I can see Mage T7 with helm ON?
Offhand Aug 14th 2008 3:28PM
Day of the Dragon is simply the worst, most generic fantasy novel ever written. The fact that later books supposedly made this guy even more idiotic scares me.
And he isn't Rincewind...
Vox Inane Aug 14th 2008 3:30PM
I would friggen kill for Aethas Sunreaver's version of that armor. I want my pwnage fire mage to wear that bad a** armor and pwn gnomes in the face.