I Used To Be A Werewolf...

I was out mining in Iron Pines Peak this morning while chatting to my mother on the phone. Deep in amongst the trees I saw something rise up out of the snow. A ginger werewolf. No, not that one.

I can't say I've seen a ginger werewolf in Iron Pines before so I followed him. He ran around being werewolfy until he got tired. Then he lay down among some trees up by Whitefall. My miner is only level 35 so I swapped to a bigger boy and came over, hardly expecting the werewolf still to be there, but there he was, fast asleep.

He must be one heavy sleeper because he didn't wake up once as I set him on fire and blasted him with acorns, or whatever it is that those life spells do. He just lay there and died.

Good boy! Now roll over!

The werewolf's name is Razormane and he's one of Telara's many "named" creatures. I love nameds in MMOs and I was very happy indeed when I ran across my first early in Beta.There seem to be three basic kinds of named creature in Rift. The best known are the ones that have quests attached. Often if you kill one of those without having the quest already they'll thoughtfully drop some body-part that gives it to you. Then there's the least-known type, which are mostly just bigger versions of the local wildlife. You can usually spot them because they're called something slightly different to the rest of their herd or pack and they're physically larger. These always drop a green item, but only a generic one.

And finally there are "Blue Diamond" nameds like old Razormane here. They're very easy to spot. They have a big, blue diamond over their portrait and they have an actual name all their own.

Put a target on my back too, why don't you?

They are significantly tougher than regular mobs their level, but still reasonably easy to solo. Especially when they sleep through a firestorm, although I think that just might have been a bug...
They also have unique drops.

Hey! Which of you clowns straightened out my scimitar?

 Mostly these are green quality and aren't something you'd be all that likely to use. Sometimes, though, they look cool enough to go in your Wardrobe slot. (When are we going to get wardrobe slots for weapons and off-hand items, eh? Eh??)

Meh

I think these nameds are a good start but they could do with more work. I'm not sure if they can drop blue quality items as rare drops, but if not then they certainly should. They could be promoted and featured a bit more, too. I'm not sure how many people even know they exist. They could even be worked into crafting. I could have made a gorgeous leather tunic out of that pelt!