Phat Loot Phriday: Tenacious Defender
by Michael Gray 
Mar 9th 2012 at 9:00AM
"OK," Miranda said slowly. "Here's what we know. A demon working for the Forsaken is renting out val'kyr. We can't ask Abercrombie any more because Throgg knocked him out."
"Accident," Throgg muttered. "Just trying to jog his memory. Maybe I jog him too hard."
"However, we know that Vari-whatever betrayed Sylvanas," Miranda continued.
"I'd say we could just ask Sylvanas," Lolegolas chimed in, "but it's not like our last attempt went swimmingly."
"What's that?" Miranda replied. "You think that perhaps the Dark Lady of the Undead might hold a grudge against us because you spontaneously turned her into a puppy?"
"It was a cute puppy," Lolegolas said meekly.
"Outland," the Gilnean said quietly. "Dire fiends of that sort are most commonly found there. We storm the castle, so to speak, and start asking around with extreme prejudice."
Miranda scowled. "I suppose."
"What's wrong with Outland?" Throgg asked.
"Nothing, really," Miranda said quietly. "I'm just not supposed to be there."
"You're not supposed to be there?" Throgg asked.
"Yeah. I probably won't be able to walk around much," Miranda said quietly. "My travel will be limited."
Lolegolas drummed his fingers on his leg, then said. "I have a solution. We need to go to Hellfire Ramparts, first. There's an item there that can help."
"What's that?" Miranda asked, blind to the setup.
"Tenacious Defender," Lolegolas said. "It has the power ... to move you."
Item summary: An old plate belt, the Tenacious Defender drops in Hellfire Ramparts. The line is a reference to Wonderboy by Tenacious D.
Edit: Removed reference to "heroic" Hellfire Ramparts, my bad. My version of Ramparts is a vaguely blurry, spinning experience of getting stomped by a giant robot.
Phat Loot Phriday brings you the scoop on some of the most ... interesting ... loot in the World of Warcraft, often viewed through the eyes of the stalwart Throgg and indelible Lolegolas. Suggest items you think we should feature by emailing mikeg@wowinsider.com.
Filed under: Phat Loot Phriday
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
belzac22 Mar 9th 2012 9:05AM
It actually drops in Reg Ramps but we all know which item you are talking about :)
Michael Gray Mar 9th 2012 9:17AM
*cough* Right. Let me fix that up.
I don't have a single sober memory of Hellfire AND I LIKE IT THAT WAY. Details get hazy.
Boobah Mar 9th 2012 12:43PM
I guess. There's not even any robots in Ramparts.
Revynn Mar 9th 2012 9:12AM
Princess Bride reference is win.
Black08Mustang Mar 9th 2012 9:23AM
"The line is a reference to Wonderboy by Tenacious D."
Really? You're going to start name dropping your pop culture references? Weak.
Michael Gray Mar 9th 2012 9:23AM
Only on very rare occasions. A bit of explanation was called for since it was a reference to a reference to a reference. At 3rd-party referentials, we either draw a line or wait to divide by 0. A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend.
robsmith77 Mar 9th 2012 10:57AM
I, for one, appreciate such information as it enables me to increase my pop-culture knowledge.
woecip Mar 9th 2012 1:00PM
"Black08Mustang" -- with the rag top down so your hair can blow. Ice ice baby. You username speaks volumes about you, and none of it good.
Black08Mustang Mar 9th 2012 8:17PM
@woecip
Wow a textbook ad hominem attack, which ACTUALLY speaks volumes about you. I kind of hope you did that on purpose as a joke and your not as stupid as that example protrays. If so, good job. Otherwise.... umm, ya.
Gendou Mar 9th 2012 9:57AM
When Burning Crusade first came out, one of our tanks, Exrin, had a running total posted in the Guild Message of the Day for how many times he had run Hellfire Ramparts and not seen Tenacious Defender drop. The count was well into the hundreds by the time he hit 70. Still, he kept at it, running the instance multiple times a day until it finally dropped. One could say he was... tenacious.
Tri Mar 9th 2012 10:46AM
You forgot the sunglasses!
Dookey Mar 9th 2012 10:32AM
My first ever item with sockets, dropped first run
Newchron Mar 9th 2012 11:07AM
Yep. As a fan of the D, I've got this baby in pristine condition in my bank.
j0ust Mar 9th 2012 11:09AM
Heh, I recently farmed this up, along with some of the other recoloured valor plate, to go along with my LFR paladin tier (curse you, legs and gloves!)
Goes together pretty well, check it out ;)
http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/earthen-ring/Bahzkovar/advanced
puffcake Mar 9th 2012 11:17AM
Just wanna say that I love the story going along with the highlighted Phat Loots, but I have a question: How come sometimes Throgg speaks like a normal orc, and other times he speaks in broken language like an ogre or some other less intelligent race. All the orc characters we roll, as well as all lore characters speak normally. It tends to break the flow a little bit from week to week. Otherwise, as I said, I love this column, please keep it up :-)
Revynn Mar 9th 2012 2:32PM
Perhaps with a Blood Elf, an Orc a Gilnean and a whateverMirandais (dragon?), they're all bouncing around between languages. Maybe Throgg's Orcish is fluent but his Thelassian and Common aren't quite as refined.
monotype Mar 9th 2012 11:45AM
God, I miss Outlands gear with all those crazy gem sockets. You pick up a belt, socket it with +20 of your primary stat, and you're wearing that thing till you're tromping around Icecrown. Beautiful.
Olania Mar 16th 2012 5:30PM
Yeah, like how I used the same badge shield from Karazhan until Storm Peaks. So something like a year and a half and seven levels.
GStetina86 Mar 9th 2012 12:39PM
I almost hate to say it, but I really loved outland. I leveled my first max level toon there(70 if you arent sure), and hit it on the 4th of july! then started smashing faces in, in pvp! ah, the wonderful old days.....
robsmith77 Mar 9th 2012 2:36PM
Booo, I can't watch the video here in the good 'ol United Kingdom *sad face