Vegetable Mobs (King Tomato, Onion Prince, etc.) Question

[Malcour]

Anyone know if these mobs are for any of the new hunts? I was about to do a treasure map and these mobs level 45 showed up near me. They did decent damage and were fairly harder to kill given their level. No FATE on map at time and was not part of the treasure map. No drops from what I noticed. Didn't take all their names down but they seemed to match the names of the new minions added in patch from gardening.

[Enkidoh]

The 'mandragora royalty' mobs are actually part of a special FATE that is connected to one of the new Hildibrand quests added in the 2.3 patch. That's all they're meant for, like the FATE in Southern Thanalan with the Hildibrand-clone zombies needed for the very first Hildibrand quest. You can definitely fight them even if you're not on that quest or have already completed it.

Incidentally they're actually a reference to FFXII, where they originally appeared as a boss fight in the Sochen Cave Palace.

[Malcour]

Hmm, rather weird. Didn't see a FATE in area and got no reward from it, but makes sense enough. Tyvm

[EricCartmenez]

Yeah, got that last night doing the Hildebrand quests. Rather funny, but easy quests. That's the ONLY fight that I remember, and they have a heck of an AOE, which they all seem to use on you at once.

[Blackhalo]

Not really a FATE either, more like an instanced open world battle.
Not a hard fight, but still hectic. Had to swap target many times because they went immune or some shit. And raining AoEs like there was no tomorrow.

[Geist]

Hectic's the word with those critters, they're all over the place (I first spotted them as a group on my initial trip to Umbra). Like Eric pointed out, it's good to be on the lookout for their group AoE, but proper strategy will see you through in the end.