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The Grand Betrayal

Venture to Gnomeregan and kill Mekgineer Thermaplugg. Return to High Tinker Mekkatorque when the task is complete.
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Mekgineer Thermaplugg slain

Description

I trusted Thermaplugg, <race>. Never did I expect that he would betray me and the entire gnomish people. And for what? Power? Wealth? All things that he would have had in time. Now we have been displaced from our home and that madman is in charge. The king of nothing....

We will retake Gnomeregan, <name>. We will not stop until the city is back in our control. If you wish to join in our fight, a simple task I ask of you: Kill the betrayer. Destroy Mekgineer Thermaplugg.

Progress

Completion



Locations

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StartEndObjectives - Gnomeregan

Reward

You can choose one of these rewards:
Civinad Robes
Triprunner Dungarees
Dual Reinforced Leggings
You will also receive: 35

Gains

Upon completion of this quest you will gain:

Related

Rating: +28 [-] [+]
By Groucho on 12/08/2006 (Patch 2.0.1)
A few general tips to keep in mind during a Gnomeregan run:

You might consider making a macro like

/target Mobile Alert System
/cast Earth Shock(Rank 4)

or whatever rank of whatever instant-cast damage spell you might have. Moonfire, Arcane Shot, Fire Blast, you get the idea. If you're not all about macros, just keep your eyes peeled and make sure your sound is on so you can catch them, otherwise they spawn a pair of elites. Alone, this isn't that bad, but when they come in the middle of a fight already in progress, you're probably going to wipe unless you're slightly overleveled or have a really good and organized group.

A major chokepoint for many Gnomeregan groups is the tunnel with all the Dark Iron Agents. The first pull with 4 Dark Irons is just really tough, make sure you kill mines before they're armed. A little further along, there's a group of 3 Dark Irons and one Arcane Nullifier who seem like they're a linked pull. If you wait for the Arcane Nullifier to path over near you, you can pull it and one of the Dark Irons, splitting it up into two pulls of two instead of another group of 4 that can now reflect spells. As for Thermaplugg himself, just keep DPSing, have someone run around and push the buttons of the statues with open mouths to prevent being nuked with tons of bombs, and if you have a good mage, Thermaplugg can be kited with Blink and some clever maneuvering.
Rating: +13 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 01/23/2005 (Patch 1.2.0)
2750 XP at level 38, when the quest is yellow.
Rating: +10 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 01/02/2007 (Patch 2.0.1)
Okay so I have a new rogue, level 20ish.&nbsp I wanted the Triprunner Dungarees for her (naturally).&nbsp Came here to check out how to get em.&nbsp I see a bunch of comments pretty much saying ,

"zOMG its soo hard!"
"I had 2 60's help and we all died! zoh noez!"

I went to Gnomer with my main (level 60 druid).&nbsp Nothing aggroed me, but I felt like testing it out anyway.&nbsp So I aggroed 3 or 4 groups of mobs (normal and elite mixed) and aoe'd.&nbsp Mind you, I am 51-point restoration spec for raiding.&nbsp So I have no talents in Balance (spell dps) or Feral (melee dps).&nbsp I killed the 3-4 groups of mobs with 1 aoe.

I stealthed to Thermaplugg's room, opened the door, went inside.&nbsp Buffed with Mark of the Wild only, I killed him in under 30 seconds in cat form.&nbsp The bombs did about 100dmg to me, or at least it felt like it.

So in conclusion, don't listen to people who blow this quest out of proportion.&nbsp It's not that hard to get to him and kill him.

Now yes, I understand I am level 60, and a group of 30s would have a harder time.&nbsp But here's the thing, designate 1-2 people to hit the bomb switches and you will be fine.&nbsp For the mobs before Thermaplugg, just your basic tank, heal, and dps.&nbsp If you can't get by those you will never make it in BWL/Naxx.

But seriously.&nbsp If you want this quest done, and dont want to waste time on trash mobs or the new LFG feature, just find a level 60 pal (or try and pay someone) to kill Therma for you.&nbsp Any druid, paladin, or hell, a warrior with first aid, can do it easily.
Rating: +10 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 04/21/2007 (Patch 2.0.12)
The thing about Gnomeregan seems to be that it's the first instance that actually requires some thinking and coordination.

Other low level instance you just run around and beat up everyone you see, and you'll be fine as long as the tank keeps aggro and the healer heals.

Gnomeregan requires fast reaction to dropped mines and alarm bots, timing to avoid large patrols, mobs that become immune to magic damage and finally some button pressing at the last boss. Sometimes this seems like it's just too much for inexperienced players (and noobs who just refuse to learn) whom until now have been able to survive by just doing dps.

In the end it comes to us experienced players *snicker* to explain to the newbies how to act, and get past certain areas. Unfortunately some people suck horribly at explaining, and rather resort to yelling insults and leaving the group, and others (noobs) just refuse to listen.
Rating: +8 [-] [+]
By raventears on 12/08/2006 (Patch 2.0.1)
This quest can be difficult to complete depending on your group and how good they are, but before you consider passing it up, the rewards are most definately worth the work.
Rating: +6 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 10/21/2005 (Patch 1.8.0)
the door to the boss is not locked!

the only thing that is locked is the back door to the instance, for which you need the Workshop Key
Rating: +4 [-] [+]
By sportman1280 on 03/07/2007 (Patch 2.0.10)
This quest is the killing the final boss in Gnomer. It is a bit tricky.

As you have your dps hit the boss, you have to have someone run around push the red buttons that the walking bombs come out of. If you don't, the bombs will simply explode on party members. Which puts the group into a wipe after a couple of bombs in a short amount of time. If you have the bombs under control, then the rest is just tanking and dps.
Rating: +3 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 03/16/2006 (Patch 1.9.4)
Thermaplugg has around 9500 to 10000 HP, but hes elite, so it goes painfully slow...

Oh, and the punchcard quest doesnt shut anything down. You still have to kill the mines and alarms, which is really easy because they die with one searing pain.
Rating: +3 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 05/03/2007 (Patch 2.0.12)
Its not that hard... i can kill the tiny mobs before the guy that drops the workshop key by myself and im a 34 survival hunter... if i could get a good party then i could beat it... i almost did it with a lvl 32 hunter 30 priest 26priest and 27 warlock but they all decided to hearth in&nbsp the middle of the instance... i dont get why everyone thinks its sooo hard.
Rating: +2 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 10/21/2005 (Patch 1.8.0)
Does anybody know what the buttons do around the gnome king?&nbsp Somebody told me they stop the bombs that spawn during the fight but I pressed them all before the fight and nothing happened, the bombs still came.&nbsp Is there a certain order to push them or are they just a red herring?

The workshop key is in the area with all the planes on the center platform.&nbsp Its one of those spider mech looking things and the mob is named Electro-somethingrather.&nbsp
Rating: +2 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 01/02/2006 (Patch 1.8.4)
Whats the horde equivalent to this quest ? nice stuff but walkin in ironforge is bad for my health :X
Rating: +2 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 04/21/2006 (Patch 1.10.1)
The best way to defeat this bastrd is to have a strong tank, healer, and players with lots of stamina. Tank just worries about pounding him..healer does the rutine...and others just press the red buttons to deactivate bombs that he calls up.
Easy!

And oh...'bout those dark iron mines...when the dwarf dops it...just start to hit the mine and deactivate it.
Rating: +2 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 10/21/2006 (Patch 1.12.2)
I have Been Thru This Instance Like 10 Times Its Not Really that Hard. in my opinion there is one hard part in the whole thing and that is the group of 4 or dark iron dwarves like second to last mob before the boss. it is really great to have like 2 rogues for this good dps for the last boss and that dark iron dwarf part the 2 jus sap 2 of them then its like a 5v2 instead of 5v4. those alarm things are easy on the 4th yell about 3 or 4 guys come to kill you. there was only one time (and it was really weird) about 25 guys came at us out of no where but that usaully doesn't happen. the best group for this i think is 2 rogues, good preist, paladin or warrior, and a mage or hunter. as long as everyone does there part and knows how to play the last boss is too easy. and those bombs don't to much damage i jus let them hit me :P. the boss drops 2 blues a mail sheild and a mail shoulders i beleive
Rating: +2 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 01/02/2007 (Patch 2.0.1)
my group:
32 priest
33 pally
33 rogue
34 warrior
33 lock

No wipes just destruction, No need to push buttons against thermaplug just have everyone focus there attacks on him until he dies. WIth a good healer and tank this instance was a piece of cake.
Rating: +2 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 03/16/2007 (Patch 2.0.10)
What realm are u on?
Rating: +2 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 03/04/2005 (Patch 1.2.0)
I just thought I should add, as I had read the other posts wrong. There are at least 6 buttons (maybe a few more) to be pushed in a circle around the centre where Thermaplugg is.

And to see if the buttons need pushing, the machines start crackling with energy.

Edited, Thu Mar 3 19:53:35 2005
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 10/21/2005 (Patch 1.8.0)
You have to keep pressing the buttons, have 2 people on your team that only press the buttons.

Basically the tops of the bomb towers light up before they drop, when this happens push the buttons.&nbsp

PS. the bombs don't stop immediately after the boss is dead, so if you need to res someone lookout for bombs.
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 10/21/2005 (Patch 1.8.0)
1-st you should find tinker labs.Then find the elevator and go down, there will be a narrow passage to the train way. Then go down this trainway and you'll find him, he will be in the Tinker Court.

PS:
sorry for my bad english
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 10/21/2005 (Patch 1.8.0)
PROBLEM:
Myself a 25 Rogue, my partner a 25 Hunter knew that we could never do this at our level even if we got more players our level range, so we recruited the following folks.
Level 50 Rogue
Level 37 Warrior
Level 36 Druid

We began clearing the dungeon then working through the instance. We had no problems and the non stop zero downtime fights were fun and easy *UNTIL*

The alarm bombs began spotting us.
For those of you who have done the lower parts of Gnomeregan are familiar with the little Bomb mech patrollers I am sure.

"INTRUDER ALERT!" etc etc followed by a massive train of mobs some 10-60 seconds later to wherever your location is= TGW (total group whipe out)

The first time this happened we were like OMG.
The second time we started killing those things the moment we saw them, the little bombs would still see us some distance away (30 yards=/-) so even though we would immediately rush and kill them in 1 hit, they would still get their yell off.

Doing this seemed to buy us more time, but not much. We even tried the technique of stealthing in to kill the bombs before they woudl see us and the little things would spam their alert message everytime.

Thus after 8 TGW due to the massive trains that followed these alarms, we still pressed on but eventually we gave up.

We obviously are doing something wrong, and that leads to my question.

QUESTION: Is there some way to de activate these things prior to continuing our search for Mekgineer Thermaplugg?

What tactics have you and your friends used to deal with these?

Where is Mekgineer Thermaplugg located, are we simply in the wrong region?

Thanks in advance for any useful or helpful replies. Myscha the sleddog
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 03/16/2006 (Patch 1.9.4)
I went in two different times.
First group: lvl 32 rogue, lvl 32 pally, lvl 32 hunter, lvl 28 priest, and a lvl 32 warrior.
Second group: lvl 31 mage, lvl 60 priest, lvl 60 mage, and lvl 33 pally.

Neither time did we make it past the mobs with mines.

Does anyone know if the punchcard quest should be done in unison with boss quest? Seems like those control panels should be able to shut down a lot of the robotic alarms in the dungeon. Just a thought. If you try this ... please, let us know how it works for ya. -)
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 04/21/2006 (Patch 1.10.1)
Also Thermapluggs door is not locked and by his door walks an RARE ELITE monster named Dark Iron Ambassador...ok drops but you have to go through a couple of mine setting dwarfs to get him. I say its worth it. If you really dont need quests bring someone in your group that has the Workshop Key that drops from the Electrocutioner 6000. I found out somemore things on my second or third trip there..When entering the front portal of instance you can skip a lot of it and go directly to the Clean Zone or middle of instance by jumping on the huge gear in the front. Good Luck!
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 12/28/2004 (Patch 1.2.0)
Pressing the buttons stops the bomb. So have 1-2 Members running around stopping the towers while the others attack ThermaPlugg
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 11/18/2006 (Patch 1.12.2)
is there an easier way of getting to him, i tried with a full 5 member party all above lvl 30 and we got totalled 3 times in the corridor to his chamber. we'll be fighting two mobs then for no reason about 20 come from nowhere at us! Whats happening is this a glich that i should report or am i just doing something wrong?

-Akiri
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 12/24/2004 (Patch 1.2.0)
sooo... press the buttons or no? having a really hard time beating this.

Edited, Thu Dec 23 23:51:43 2004
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 04/14/2005 (Patch 1.3.2)
where is he
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 08/08/2006 (Patch 1.12.0)
Exactly how much HP do these bombs have? I read that they have low health but how low? Why should u kill them one by one after u have pulled him to the entrance if u just can kill them with a couple of AoE?
I like the idea of the bottons and I am thinking of doing it( I am a paladin) but the problem is that if I go to push them the rest of my group we get wiped(well i just have some bad expierence:P) and if I stay and help I cant be sure that the'pusher' will do it wright. I just like to do everything by myself cause of the huge amount of noobs playing WOW and these seems undone here:)
And how much dmg do these bombs do?
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 02/06/2007 (Patch 2.0.6)
Quest is actually attainable at 26. Great for twinks.
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 10/13/2006 (Patch 1.12.2)
can i obtain this quest at 29 so I can use the triprunners for twink gear?
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 04/14/2005 (Patch 1.3.2)
for one thing...in my group we didn't even press the buttons. We were all level 35 or 36. The trick is to take a priest with you to do the mission. While the rest of the party fights with thermaplugg the priest just continually heals. Its the most effective way to do it. But if u press the buttons then the bombs don't come for every button u press. There are a lot of buttons and u need only one person to press them continually.
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 04/15/2005 (Patch 1.3.2)
Having done Therma a few times now, here's what we did and it worked like a charm. Forget the buttons...takes too much running around, etc.

We pull Therma to the doorway, so the bombs have one route to get to us. Have one person with a good ranged attack (mage is great for this) just concentrate on knocking off the bombs as they head your way, the others concentrate on Therma (with hopefully a healer keeping an eye on the fighters).

We've used this method a couple times now and it works like a charm.
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 11/11/2006 (Patch 1.12.2)
where is he located?
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 12/21/2006 (Patch 2.0.1)
a good strategy for the bombs is to have either a mage or hunter either use bolt or shoot them. usually one or two hits will kill them
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 12/28/2006 (Patch 2.0.1)
We've just had the 20 strong spawn just now. Took out a level 35 Paladin and level 41 mage out straight away. They chased me, a level 54 Hunter, right the way from the ramp down to the Boss, back past the workshop key Boss, back through the slime filled room and back to the Clean Room. They caught up with me there because I turned round. If I hadn't, they would have chased me back to the instance entrance. I've posted a ticket to the GMs to see what they say and I'll post the response back here.

Tomofinland - Hunter lvl 54
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 01/09/2005 (Patch 1.2.0)
The first couple of times I faced this guy, the grouped got wiped. The trick is to have 2 people on each side of the room strictly push buttons to stop bombs. Use the tank, healer, & nuke to fight Thermaplugg, other two just keep pushing the buttons and he'll go down fast
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 04/15/2005 (Patch 1.3.2)
i wear those pants hehe..got em from him
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 06/06/2005 (Patch 1.4.2)
He's level 34 (Elite).
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 04/20/2006 (Patch 1.10.1)
We wiped and when we came back, there were half a dozen bombs standing around Thermaplugg. I had engineering, so I ran up and dropped a mithril frag bomb on them (the 8 yard in diameter bomb). The bombs have low hp, so it killed them all and thermaplugg followed me back to the door where we killed him. My toon was a hunter, so I did feign death after dropping the bomb to escape. Obviously not everyone can use this strategy, but I mention for the benefit of those who may find it helpful.
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 12/28/2004 (Patch 1.2.0)
I went in last night with a full group, and we did well until this fight. The bombs just killed us. Are there good tactics here? Do the bombs have many hit points (can we just kill them before they get to us)? And what do the buttons do?

Is there a way to get to this fight quickly if you've been through the instance before?
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 06/20/2005 (Patch 1.5.1)
If you have the workshop key, you can get in via the workshop door (and hence the instance) near where TechBot and the 'A' card machine can be found.
Rating: +1 [-] [+]
By Anonymous on 06/26/2005 (Patch 1.5.1)
Ok, beat Thermaplugg on the first try so i thought i should just mention what we did.

We had 3 group members, levels 38, 40 and 45. None of us had done this before so maybe our tactic is good. You DO have to kill the bombs or they'll eventually kill your group.

You enter the room and see Thermaplugg in the middle surrounded by towers with Buttons. Pull him to the side, and have someone press the bottons on the towers. I just pressed them as I ran around the room. But the ones that are glowing and crackling are the ones that are going to drop bombs.

Once thermaplugg was dead, the bombs stopped running after us and the towers stopped dropping them.

It was hella easy. But the only reason i even knew about the bombs was from reading the top posts, thanks guys=)