Dire Maul is an ancient night elf city turned to ruins located in Feralas; split into three different zones, it's overrun with ogre tribes, ghosts of its prior inhabitants, and elementals.

Dire Maul North is remembered fondly by most raiders as one of the most important sources for world buffs which used to be key to defeating bosses in raids back then. In what was referred to as a "tribute run," players disguised themselves as ogres to sneak past guards and eventually become the king of the Gordok tribe for extra loot--and buffs. It was one of Blizzard's first divergent dungeons in which alternate paths--such as skipping bosses--were encouraged.

In addition to the dungeons, the area contains in the plaza a special PvP arena where members of the same faction can spar to the death. Every now and then, bosses will spawn in the middle of the arena, offering random world drops; farming these NPCs has proven to be a popular way to get Orb of Deception as both of the rares have a higher than normal chance to drop it.

In Cataclysm, Dire Maul was returned from a level 60 dungeon to one for the low to mid-40's so that more people could experience it.