Top Five: More Things To Do Before The Cataclysm

• NOTE: This is a follow up to a prior post, Top Five: Things To Do Before The Cataclysm. Be sure to check it out if you haven't already.


• Complete the Test of Faith quest series - This quest is only available to Horde characters, so you Alliance faithful know what you have to do. This quest chain involves a long trip through Azerothian lore, including a trip to the library in Scarlet Monastery. Blizzard may find other ways to teach new players about the Dragon Aspects and the Scourge. But they won't be able to replicate the very first memorable quest in the chain: a leap of faith into Thousand Needles. With the impending flood, the same jump wouldn't be quite as harrowing.


• Complete the Battle for the Undercity quest - For some reason, Blizzard thinks they have to reset the state of the entire world when Cataclysm hits instead of letting history pass as players quest through the game. The most unfortunate side effect of this decision is the removal of the Battle for the Undercity. The immediate followup to the disastrous assault on the Wrathgate, players have the opportunity to assist Thrall and Sylvanas Windrunner or Varian Wynne and Jaine Proudmore as they attempt to purge the Undercity of Grand Apothecary Putress' and Varimathras' terrorist forces. But since the lore would be contradictory to the new status quo, Blizzard is pulling one of the iconic quests from WotLK out of the game.


• Raid Zul'Gurub - One of the more fascinating casualties of the Cataclysm will be the conversion of Zul'Gurub from a 20-player raid into a level 30 to 35 questing zone. I can't claim that ZG was unique. See if this sounds familiar: trolls lust for power, start calling upon various evil beings, go crazy, begin sacrificing folks. You're right, that's every troll zone in the game. But ZG has a great charm, looks good, and has a boss that you can fish up from a river with Mudskunk lures. That spells fun in my tome.


• View the intro movies for each race - Currently when you start new character, the game plays a flyby of your starter zone to introduce you to the story of your chosen race. However when Cataclysm rolls out, Blizzard is replacing the flyovers to reflect the new state of the world. If you want to witness the originals as they were meant to be watched, you might spend time rolling up temporary characters to see the original movies before they disappear into the bowels of YouTube forever.


• Try out the opposite faction - While you are watching those intro movies, you might consider trying out a character on the opposite faction. If you have only ever played from one side or the other, this will be the last chance to see how the other side from level one before it all changes. To push it too hard because things will probably be changing for the better soon. But it will be too bad if you take the time to tour the lowbie lands now.