Elementium - US Barthilas

25/25 completed quests to turn in once Cata goes up = Check

Sufficient gold for repairs/professions/enchanting = Check

Optimal regem/reforge/respec for levelling = Check

Research on level 85 raid spec and prioritizing necessary rep grinds = Check

Itunes playlist updated with new songs and renamed "Level like a whore mix" = Check

Grocery shopping for necessary sustenance = Check

Girlfriend off on holiday = Check

Can i safely say I'm all ready for the launch of Cataclysm?

Inspired by Hwh's incomplete memoirs of his 20 hours with a china man, my first ever Elementium blog would be an attempt to chart my fateful (hopefully) levelling journey from level 80 to 85, attempting to capture my thoughts on the challenges faced, physical and mental hurdles experienced throughout the grind, random thoughts, food cravings etc.

In some way, Cataclysm would be my first "real" expansion. As a late comer to WoW (regretable decision to choose Guild Wars over Classic WoW due to its FREE ONLINE PLAY), I started levelling my first mage only midway through Burning Crusade (May 2007, the day after Riyo Mori won Miss Universe 2007) and came back again to level my current mage three weeks or so after WotLK's launch having taken a break from the game due to university commitments. What really excites me this time around is the fact that I would finally be part of the hustle and bustle of the entire WoW community scrambling to level 85 and experiencing a whole new expansion from the very second US servers are switched on. The world (of Warcraft) has literally been shattered and the humdrum existence of Azeroth's citizens will never be the same again. Though I am not one to be drawn into the casual/hardcore debate, a year's worth of Icecrown Citadel farming and the failure that was Trial of the Crusader made it such that the announcement of a December 7 Cataclysm release was met with a swift HELL ITS ABOUT TIME in my mind. I am looking forward to the new expansion with bated breath and wish everyone all the best when servers go live tomorrow whatever time zone you may be in.

December 7 0000hours

Attempts to sleep at 1030pm like Sozzage did has failed miserably. I guess switching my biological clock to sleeping 5 hours before my usual bedtime of 3-4am in the morning is harder than I thought. Logging onto WoW proves to be a futile endeavour as there is an inevitable lack of things going on one day prior to the big release.The [Bloated Mud Snapper] and [Bloated Catfish] I've been trying to fish up all day as part of [The Limnologist]'s meta-requirements continue to elude me. Perhaps this is better left for another day and time.

Logging onto SC2 to play some ladder games before Cataclysm takes up all of my time proves to be a larger source of frustration as back-to-back defeats against Zergs when I was in favorable positions caused me more grief than losing to random 6 pools. Starcraft is really a game which takes a lot of practise and mechanization and skills (or my lackthereof) deteriorate so quickly should you not play for a few days. Auf wiedersehen Jim Raynor, the closest I'll come to SC2 in the next few days would probably be in the form of looking at Elementium guild ranks and the GSL as I start the necessary pre-raid gear and reputation grind.

Heading off to continue reading this book titled "Born to Run". The irony of a sedentary WoW player reading a book on long distance ultrarunning is not lost to me. I do resolve to exercise and eat more healthily once this Cataclysm grind eases up. The mind is willing but the body is weaksauce indeed. Rest well guys, long day ahead.

December 7 1107hours

Heading out to collect Cata CE soon. Feeling rather lerthargic and a quick look at the fridge surprises me as all the drinks and snacks I bought for levelling has vanished! Perils of living with siblings. Need to go grocery shopping again later after collecting CE. Hopefully this lerthagy is not a sign of things to come in the next few hours/days.

On a brighter note, Tuesday is shows day! How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men and Chuck are back from Thanksgiving hiatuses. Note to self: Dual monitors might help a lot in the levelling process.

December 7 1449hours

Collected my Cata CE early from Sock at IAH games as my sister had to use the car later in the day. Apologies to Xinhuan and co who I pangsehed for lunch :X Tai Seng is one helluva complicated/ulu place.

Feeling more excited as I browse through my CE. Such a letdown that I can't redeem my Landro's Gift Box yet as I'm Hated with Booty Bay. My Spectral Tiger's probably waiting for me (i wish).

One more hour to go before servers go live. Last minute preparations and one last bath before the madness ensues?

December 7 1552hours

Attempts to stay alive in Sons of Hodirs dailies area is failing. wtf why did we not choose to go horde?

Although most of us have decided to lock in Dungeoning as the most preferred choice of levelling, I think that it is still important to understand how questing works. This is why china man TS and I have decided to lock ourselves away for the next 20 hours and quest from 80-85. I know this has been done many times before by other individuals in the guild, and both TS and myself have individually levelled through questing as well, but nothing beats trying to immerse yourself into the experience proper. This means we are going to simulate as if we were going for realm firsts - very efficient and fast levellng, little breaks, and all round me deciphering english quest text to the illiterate. Also, even as many have done so, few have actually documented the journey.

The purpose of this blog is to do just that. Every so often, I will update this post with regards to our progression - what quests we've done, any challenges, reflection on quests, how we are feeling physically, my irritation level with a china man, etc, etc. Hopefully this will be of some use to those who have decided not to dungeon to ding 85.

Day 1 - Monday, 1631hours

Although I have done this before, there is a certain sense of excitement strangely enough. Maybe it's the thrill of simulating the real thing come December 7 - should I actually need it. More specifically though, I look around my desk and have found that I have stocked up quite nicely for the next 20 hours. Bottles of water + sprite (my choice of levelling soft drink), sweets (gum is highly essential in keeping you fresh), cheezels (mmm yum), and other assortment of snacks that they only have here in australia so even if I listed them out it'll be useless to you SGs.

We kick off as usual with the long ass boat ride to Vash'jr. The ride itself isn't long actually, it's the freaking RP you have to wait through after picking up the first quest. Oh well. And so it begins...

PS. Don't forget to train flying at the flight master and set hearth to SW.

1816 hrs

TS dings 81 lol. i had dinged earlier but i think better if we go in accordance to his exp. we're about half way thru vash'jr

1951hrs

LOL vash'jr is too big for its own good. getting quite bored already haha. i just dinged 82 and TS is about 660k exp behind. quests so far have been fairly simple, but some quests you really need to do at least once just to know the positions of quest mobs, items, places, etc.

2024hrs

Idiot dings 82 finally. Am spending more time translating/explaining than questing. gg.

2131hrs

Wow. Vash'jr is getting quite annoying. We're at the last part of the zone, and it is really quite time-consuming due to the vast distances u have to cover. Seahorse mount doesn't really help lol. Glad this place is finishing soon though!

2154hrs

mmm. guess not. met with a bugged quest in the chain. moving on to deepholm now

2343hrs

ive just dinged 83, not sure when TS will. deepholm has been quite disappointing, although i would say it's a refreshing change from vashjr because u dont swim around lol? and hecteon is trying to simulate real world ganking and pissing TS off haha. quest wise again i think deepholm is rather like vashjr, both very linear and not very difficult. entertainment wise... well. quests are quests, there are maybe like 5 generic types and it's just different models around those that's all. anyway let's see how long mroe til 84.....

Tuesday, 0200 hrs

Our first break at 83 and a half (a bit more). Now onto Uldum for a bit...

0431hrs

funny, server shutdown?! that was rather unexpected. 12 hours in, i can say this experience has been an interesting albeit short one.  i am about 6bars into 84, and TS is about 4 bars behiind. timing wise we could have been a lot quicker and more efficient as a duo, but i think we are still quite okay. we took 1 30min break and still managed to clock 12hours. not forgetting however the beta guild has 10% extra exp. we ended up parking in uldum. strictly speaking, we probably could have/should have skipped uldum. it's a good zone bar from the fact that there are too many "unskippable" cut scenes, which does get annoying after awhile. the questing style is less linear than Vashjr and Deepholm, but i think it's not too wayward and still manageable

Edit: I just read a blue that they have officially concluded the beta testing, haha which means, we couldn't finish this endeavour. but i guess we probably could've easily finished the job in another ~8hours or less.

I'll post about my reflections in greater detail tomorrow.