WoW Cataclysm Pre-Release Server First 85 Checklist & Guide
Blizzard Entertainment’s latest addition to the World of Warcraft universe, titled Cataclysm, is set to hit on December 7th, and we’re here to help you achieve your server first level 85 dream.
Though multiple retailers will be offering midnight releases, your best bet may be to stay in the comfort of your own home and utilize the digital download option currently available on Blizzard’s site. This, along with the handy pre-cata release checklist we’ve painstakingly crafted for you below, will hopefully have you well on your way to attaining the highly sought after server first 85 achievement on your realm.
Home Sweet Hearth: Dalaran is no longer the convenient portal hub it was throughout Wrath of the Lich King, so you’re going to want to set your hearth stone to Orgimmar (Horde) or Stormwind (Alliance) come Cataclysm. These will make the best questing hubs as they are the only two cities that contain portals to Deepholm in addition to Vashj’ir and Hyjal.
XP Boost Out The Gate: Those interested in getting a quick boost of XP prior to digging into their Cataclysm specific quests will want to load up their current quest log with completed Northrend quests and sit on them until Cataclysm officially goes live December 7th. We recommend grabbing the quests at Argent Tournament, Orgrim’s Hammer (Horde) or Skybreaker (Alliance), Wintergrasp, and Son’s of Hodir dailies. Avoid picking weekly raid and profession based quests as they will not yield XP. If you’ve got the Bind-on-Account chest and shoulders that grant a combined extra 20% XP you should throw them on before turning these in the event they actually do work at level 80. One other important note is that you’ll need to re-log at 12:01 am on launch night in order to apply the Cataclysm expansion. Otherwise you risk the chance of not having your saved quest XP applied.
Bulletin boards like this will kick start your Cataclysm questing.
Get Your Flight On: In order to get your character ready for Azerothian flight with minimal down time, make sure he/she is logged out near the Cold Weather Flying Trainer in Dalaran. Once you’ve logged back into the game after the Cataclysm launch, you can quickly pick up Flight Master’s License (allowing you to fly around Azeroth for 250 gold) and head off to the Argent Tournament Grounds to begin turning in your previously stored Lich King quests for some cheap initial XP.
Argent You Glad You’ve Got Tabard? If you are one of the lucky and persistent World of Warcraft players in possession of the Argent Crusader’s Tabard, you can use it immediately after obtaining your Flight Master’s Training to quickly zip from the Dalaran Krasus’ Landing to the Tournament Grounds. However, if you don’t have this, you’ll have to get their the old fashioned way.
Looking for Work Work: Once you’ve completed your Northrend quest turn-ins, you’ll want to quickly hearth to either Orgimmar or Stormwind depending on your faction, and locate one of the several bulletin boards spread throughout the city. After doing so, you’ll be presented with an option to select your preferred starting zone (either Vashj’ir or Hyjal). Make your selection quickly and head off to find the individual within the city walls who will port you to your desired starting zone.
Pocket healers for the win.
Heals to Pay the Bills: Secure a pocket healer if you plan on doing any AoE mob grinding along the way to 85. Though finding a healer that is willing to forgo their own character advancement for the sake of your own likely won’t come cheap.
Have Vendor Will Travel: Having access to a Travelers Tundra Mamoth, Jeeves, or pony-equipped Argent Squire will reduce your down time and allow you to repair and reload on the run regardless of your location in the world while questing.
My Bags They Be Bulging: With the world in shambles, there’s no telling what will be thrown in your path as you make your way to 85. And for this reason, we suggest you load up on anything you think you may need that your class and spec doesn’t readily offer. For example, if you can’t heal yourself adequately, getting your hands on a few health pots and bandages may not be such a bad idea. In addition, you may want to consider things like water walking and water breathing elixers, swiftness and free action potions, and a solid supply of food, flasks, and enchants for any new items that you pick up along the way.
Don't try this at home.
Rockets, Choppers, and Turtle-mobiles: Having an assortment of travel options at your disposal prior to the Cataclysm launch can only work in your favor — assuming you have time, luck, gold, and a recruitable friend at your beckon call. Multi-passenger land-only mounts can be purchased in both two (the chopper) and three (the mammoth) seater varieties, while the air apparent recruit-a-friend rocket mount maxes out at two passengers. Bodies of water can be traversed quickly with the free-to-fish Northrend Sea Turtle Mount. But if you’re not lucky enough to fish up one of these bad boys before Cataclysm, you can always use the underwater Abyssal Seahorse mount you’ll get via a quest chain Vashj’ir.
Count Your Pennies Sooner Rather Than Later: Save the gold you’ve got and try like heck to make as much coin as you can before Cataclysm hits because server first chasers won’t have time to play the auction house.
Rest Up Then Stay Up: Becoming a server first 85 will not leave room for luxuries like sleep after the grind kicks into high gear. So unless you have two heads and can set half your body to sleep mode while the other is hard at work, you’re going to want to get plenty of rest during the final hours approaching the game’s release.
Fast On Your Feet: While damage dealing boot enchants are tempting, having the extra run speed that comes with an enchant like Tuskar’s Vitality will come in handy in areas that don’t allow for mounting. For this reason we suggest you apply Tuskar’s to your current footwear and possibly even keep a few extra scrolls in your bag for any upgrade you might pick up.
MOM! BATHROOM!!! Make sure to clear your bowel of anything that resembles poop reserves before powering up your PC, because no one wants to unleash an unexpected shart seven hours into questing. Now you’ve got to slowly stand up, drop your drawers, wipe up the mess, and find clean clothes. That’s at least thirty minutes worth of leveling time wasted Mr. Poopsticks!! Of course you can always throw on a pair of Depends Undergarments and shit your pants freely.
25 Hour Energy: Stock up on at least five of those five hour energy drinks, because all quest-grinding server first chasing achievement whores know that a mere five hour energy boost is for second place losers.
Why Wait Til Midnight? Midnight launches are cool. But you want to know what’s even cooler? Server first level 85. Yeah that’s right, and if you want a serious crack at it, you’re better off downloading the game right now directly from Blizzard, and having it ready to go as soon as the clock strikes 12:01 am PST. Sure, you might be able to make it back to your home in time if you pick it up at your local store, but you also run the risk of getting pulled over, swerving off the road in excitement, or being abducted by car chasing aliens. Ask yourself, is it really worth it? If the answer is yes, and you simply MUST purchase the collectors edition at a local midnight release, you supposedly can still have the game somewhat ready to go when you get home by following the steps outlined in the WoW Insider article here.
Food For Thottbot: Keep a healthy supply of leftovers and microwavable snacks like hot pockets at your immediate disposal during your questing marathon and remember to munch on them from time to time. Nothing says epic fail more than forgetting to refuel your real life self, and passing out at your PC one quest shy of 85. No one will remember the malnourished underachiever for what they could have been. Remember to eat you fool.
Time Off or Bad Behavior: Try to secure two to three days off from your job (assuming you even have one), and if that doesn’t work you can also attempt to call in sick. And if even THAT doesn’t work, you can always tell them to take their job and shove it. The economy will turn around eventually, and when it does, you’ll have server first level 85 on your resume.
The Fire’s So Pretty!!: Buy a new PC if your current rig is a little lacking. The Cataclysm changes aren’t so daunting that you’ll need a new PC to run the game, but you may need a bit of an upgrade in order to see some of the altered water and fire effects. So pretty.
Bark Twice For Pepperoni: Have someone watch your pets, or, you can always take a few extra days to train your dog to order pizza and even meet the delivery person at the door. Still, there’s no guarantee he won’t eat it before bringing it to you.
You Would Cry Too If A Hacker Hacked You: Leveling to 85 before anyone else on your server will feel great. So great, you can almost feel the sheer joy rushing through your body right now. Conversely, receiving a text message the very next day from a concerned guildy who swears they saw you running around Orgimmar butt naked while offering all your in-game mats for 20 copper in trade is not so great. Blizzard offers free authentication in several varieties right now, ranging from a key chain, mobile cell phone app, and last but not least, a dial in authentication service. No more excuses, protect your account.
Make sure all your addons are ready for Cataclysm.
Addons In Order: Make sure that all of the World of Warcraft in-game addons you enjoy using are currently up to date and ready for the Cataclysm launch. The last thing you want to be doing is mucking with your addons while everyone else is questing away. Head on over to Curse.com and check to make sure you’ve got the most up-to-date addons installed.
Are We There Yet? Save yourself time and aggravation by picking up all the new flight paths you can get to before Cataclysm launches. You won’t be able to get the ones within the zones we can’t yet access, but there are plenty of new old world flight points that you’ll definitely want to get out of the way sooner rather than later.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure we went the wrong way.
The Family That WoWs Together Stays Together: Spending twenty something hours glued to a computer screen playing World of Warcraft with your virtual friends isn’t exactly the best example of “family time,” so unless you’ve braced yourself for life after your significant other storms off with the kids in the middle of the night, you may want to obtain their advance blessing. Or better yet, buy them their own accounts and have them quest with you.
You’re Going To Need Some Bigger Bags: If you’ve got the expendable gold, one thing that is definitely worth investing in is increased storage space. Now, this won’t matter as much if you’ve got a traveling vendor (i.e. Tundra Mount) to offload your crap as you move along, but it’s still not a bad idea to up your bag space going into an expansion.
Grab a few portable holes if you can afford them.
Keep Your Friends Close And Your Mages Closer: As we mentioned earlier, Cataclysm will not be the portal fest that both Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King were, so it’s very important that you make friends with a mage very early on if you haven’t already. Getting yourself around Azeroth will be easier with the ability to fly, but nothing beats a quickly conjured portal — especially when you’re racing for server first 85.
Feel The Need, The Need For Speed: Flying around is great, but flying around with 310 mount speed is even greater. And while you’ll be able to buy the fastest flying speed in the game once Cataclysm hits, you can gain the ability right now for free — assuming you are willing to beg, plead, or sweet talk your way into an achievement focused Ulduar or Icecrown Citadel 10 man run.
Be Unprofessional: As difficult as it may be, you’re going to need to ignore leveling your professions (and possibly even visiting your trainer to learn new spells) if you want to win the race to server first 85. This may seem silly but when you consider the competition you’ll have racing against you, you’re going to want every second you can bear to be awake focused in like a laser beam on leveling and leveling alone.
Who needs Dalaran portals when you have an arsenal of super cool mages?
Looking For Guild: Get yourself into a solid and focused guild as soon as you possibly can. Cataclysm will mark the first expansion that allows for guild leveling and rewards members for raiding, PVPing, and gaining achievements as a guild. Because of this you are going to want to join a solid guild with proven officers that know how to lead and have a track record of success in the raiding and PVP arena.
Justified Reward: Cap out your Justice Points before Cataclysm so you can instantly reward yourself for all the leveling grind you are about to undertake the moment you hit 85. Saving up 4000 Justice Points (the current max) will allow you to pick up two to three level 85 blues (depending on how you mix and match). You deserve it!
Stop Being A Soulbound Horder: Yes, it’s hard to let go of your glorious raiding past, but your personal bank has endured two prior expansions now and you are severely cramped for space. Now;s the time to seriously consider parting ways with a few items that you will never ever use. We’re not saying to drop your precious tier gear, but throw on a pair of rational glasses and rid yourself of all that other stuff that’s weighing all your soulbound bank slots down. This includes any old PVP gear, as Blizzard recently gave us the ability to sell it.
Do you really need to keep Gorehowl?
Dual Spec Or Go Home: The ability to save two specs on your World of Warcraft character has been in the game for some time now, but considering the cost to do so (previously 1000 gold), many players passed up on it. However, it’s now available for an insanely cheap 10 gold!! The amount of gold you’ll save in respec fees will be worth it alone.
Stand Outside … In Fire: Spend your downtime in Azeroth outside the city walls whenever you can, as Deathwing is currently in flight, and while the chances of having his firey wrath burn you to a crisp (and give you the Stood In Fire” achievement) are slim, the chances of him hitting you within a major city are zero.
Make Yourself More Attractive: No, I’m not talking about changing the hair style of your in-game character (although that may not be a bad idea). I’m talking about improving your guild worthiness. The Lich King expansion has made many of lazy, and this is your chance to bring your sexy back! You’ve got a little time left between now and the Cataclysm release, so use it to brush up on your PVP skills, research your class changes, and earn a few more valuable achievement points. The more you polish off your toon heading into Cata, the more valuable you will be to your guild. So remember, be attractive, and don’t ever be unattractive!
Clean Your Command Center: A clean desk is a clean mind (unless of course you refuse to stop thinking about internet porn). In all seriousness though, if your desk is a mess, set aside a little time between now and Cataclysm to toss a few of those empty soda bottles and candy wrappers in the trash. Hit the surface with a few sprays of Pledge and kick off your questing journey with a spotless workstation. It will likely end up looking like a mess by the time you’re done, but that’s besides the point.
Get Comfy: Buy a comfy chair if you don’t already have one, and prepare to sit in it for a very very very long time. Your quest for server first level 85 will not be a short one (some of the feedback I’ve been getting guesstimates the process taking around 22 hours), and unless you’ve got a willing home helper on reserve you’ll be doing it all in one shot with no sleep. Don’t underestimate the power of a comfortable place to rest your butt.
Get nice and comfortable. The road to 85 is going to be a long one.
Come With Me If You Want To Level: Every second saved can mean the difference between server first 85 and everyone else. Or as Ricky Bobby would put it, “second place is the first loser.” So, if you want to eliminate having to alt tab out of the game to constantly research the placement of a much needed quest objective, you may want to consider an in-game leveling guide as a supplement to the one Blizzard has built in.
While the Blizzard solution is nice, it doesn’t offer you the same level of accuracy and detail you’ll get from a third party solution, and that’s because they don’t want the game to be that easy for you. However, when your competing for server first 85, you’re going to want it to be as easy as possible.
Two third party leveling addons we tested were “WoWPro,” a free questing/leveling guide addon that is capable of delivering solid results with a little configuring, and “Zygor Guides,” a not-so-free alternative addon that was very polished and easy to use from the moment you loaded it up. We preferred Zygor for its ease of use, straight forward customization options, multiple view settings, and sound alerts. The WoWPro option has the edge in terms of affordability (in that it’s free) but we found the setup to be less intuitive. Zygor will run you $40 per faction (or $60 for both), and if you’ve got the extra cash we definitely recommend giving Zygor a shot.
Zygor Addon
WoW-Pro Addon
Have Fun: The best way to prepare yourself for a long and daunting journey through new content that only begins when you hit level 85 is to enjoy the final moments of the current Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Socialize with your guildies and help out some of the noobs who are still itching to see the content before Cataclysm hits. Play it forward my friends! Today’s noob may end up being a valuable addition to your guild tomorrow, and every link in your guild chain will matter if you hope to level your guild along with yourself.
