Cataclysm Prologue - Elemental Invasions Started
The elemental invasions just started, new quests NPCs are available in capital cities and elementals will randomly spawn in zones!




Tripping the Rifts achievement
  • Rifts appears everywhere, including Northrend and Outland. You can get your achievement by destroying rifts anywhere but you won't be able to loot lower levels Mysterious Objects.
  • Rifts seems to spawn at the beginning of each hour (01:00AM, 02:00AM, etc) pretty much everywhere in the zone, however there are confusing reports about this and some people reported them spawning in the middle of the hour. If you arrive in a zone and can't find rifts, you probably just have to wait for a respawn.
  • Rifts are destroyed by killing elementals, each elemental death lowers the health of the rift.
  • The Mysterious Object looted from rifts gives a daily quest with gold/XP reward.

Rifts zones by Type (Source)

Fire
1. Westfall
2. The Barrens (Between Razorfen Downs and Razorfen Kraul)
3. Dustwallow Marsh (Inside Theramore near Armory; North of Witch Hill)
4. The Hinterlands
5. Searing Gorge
6. Blasted Lands
7. Winterspring
8. Hellfire Peninsula
9. Zul'Drak (South of Zeramas; East of the Reliquary of Pain; In the middle of Zeb'Hakkar)
Water
1. Silverpine Forest (East of Shadowfang Keep; South of the fork in the road east of Sepulcher; West of Dead Field towards the shore)
2. Ghostlands
3. Wetlands (On the shore near the Bluegill Murlocs and the two ruined ships; Between the Greenwarden and Dark Iron Dwarf Camps)
4. Thousand Needles (Darkcloud Pinnacle)
5. Stranglethorn Vale
6. Swamp of Sorrows (Stonard)
7. Un'goro Crater
8. Zangarmarsh
9. Shadowmoon Valley
10. Dragonblight (Agmar's Hammer; Wintergarde Keep)
11. Icecrown

Wind
1. Darkshore
2. Hillsbrad Foothills (Southshore; Tarren Mill)
3. Duskwood
4. Arathi Highlands (South of Circle of West Binding; Hammerfall)
5. Eastern Plaguelands
6. Terokkar Forest
7. Netherstorm
8. Borean Tundra (Magmoth)
9. Sholazar Basin
Earth
1. Loch Modan
2. Redridge Mountains
3. Desolace
4. Western Plaguelands
5. Burning Steppes
6. Silithus
7. Nagrand (Laughing Skull Ruins)
8. Blade's Edge Mountains
9. Howling Fjord (Wyrmskull Village near the hut Alliance players witness the visions of the past)
10. Grizzly Hills
11. Storm Peaks (Gnoll Camps west of K3; Maker's Library)













Cataclysm Direct Download and Game Cinematics
There, Blizzard still loves you, and you will have all the cinematics if you buy the digital version of the expansion!
Originally Posted by Bashiok (Blue Tracker)
We’d like to take a moment to clarify how we’ll be delivering World of Warcraft: Cataclysm cinematics to players who purchase the expansion digitally through Battle.net or download the installer from the web in the future.

Prior to the December 7 launch of Cataclysm, all current World of Warcraft players will receive the Cataclysm intro cinematic as part of an upcoming patch. In addition, all other in-game cinematics (including previous ones such as the Wrathgate movie) will be available for download to players who have not previously installed them. These cinematics will be automatically downloaded in the background while you play the game, after other critical game data has been received.

Cataclysm Realm Launch Time Information
Originally Posted by Bashiok (Blue Tracker)
Wondering exactly what time you’ll be able to begin playing your goblin or worgen or making your way to level 85? On all North American realms, World of Warcraft players who upgrade to Cataclysm will be able to begin experiencing the new content at 12 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (3 a.m. Eastern Standard Time) on December 7, whether they purchase the digital download through Battle.net or buy a physical retail boxed version in stores. Players will not be able to access Cataclysm expansion content prior to 12 a.m. PST, regardless of how they upgrade or what time zone they’re located in.

Cataclysm Raids available for testing!
Almost all bosses are now available for testing!
Originally Posted by Daelo (Blue Tracker)
All raids are currently available for testing, except for Magmaw in Blackwing Descent.

Note that to reach some of the final bosses you must currently kill the previous bosses in the zone. So be careful what you skip for now.

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Elemental Invasions
There are four stages of the event. We're on the first. This is only the beginning. (Source)

Hunting for Elementals to get the achievement
I know. And I'm saying the elementals are merely leaking out at this point. It's but a small sign of a larger, more malevolent presence threatening to tear apart the land.

If you don't want to camp elementals for one achievement, wait until they're camping you. (Source)

"Low" DPS specs in WotLK
When there are multiple specs that fill the same role, as is the case for Fire vs. Frost mage or Arms vs. Fury warrior, we have found that some players will play their favored spec because they like the theme or mechanics, as long as the damage difference isn't too significant. Sadly, those players also seem to be in the minority. Many others will respec, regem, etc. for even a slight *theoretical* (very important word there) gain in dps.

If you recall earlier in the LK patch cycle, we attempted to bring Marks and Survival hunters up to the Beastmaster level. We didn't get the numbers quite right though, so what happened is that many hunters felt like they had to switch out of BM and into Survival. (Let's please not turn the rest of this thread into a lecture about how if we had only listened to *your* idea for tweaking hunter damage, everything would have turned out fine.) We heard from many players how frustrating that was -- to wake up one day and have to learn to replay their class because the anointed highest dps spec was now a different tree completely. Players are much more tolerant of huge, sweeping changes between expansions than they are in between patches.

If you look at the patch history of the rest of LK, there were many tweaks to Subtlety, Arms, Frost and BM. We were cautious though, because we were trying to avoid driving everyone who played those classes to have to switch class to class. We were trying to get the dps elevated without going over, and that's just a very small target to hit.

We learned from this mistake though, and part of the overhaul of the talent trees was specifically to make tweaking a lot easier for us. The passive talent tree bonuses are just one example, but we also did things like break our old rules for how spell coefficients relate to things like cast times, and the budget of a talent point in general. We wanted to develop a system that gave us more knobs to adjust and more fine-tuning we could deploy in between expansions to adjust specs that are low without going over.

Here's hoping it works. (Source)
This article was originally published in forum thread: Cataclysm Prologue - Elemental Invasions Started started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 346 Comments
  1. ordhor's Avatar
    This Thread Is Misleading As In Saying You Have To Camp These Elementals To Get This Feat Of Strength.
    It's Not The Only Way.


    For those wanting the Feat of Strength, just wait for when the invasion actually starts on towns, having to kill rifts. You can get it easily by then.
  1. PewpewNL's Avatar
    I followed someones instructions and here is the proof:

    h t t p : / / w w w . triumph-design .c o m /ag/pewpew_tripping_the_rifts.jpg

    Happy Hunting!

    -Pew
  1. Krystal's Avatar
    Some things I've noticed from camping several spots in Northrend across all of my healers (and with my bf):

    1) You don't have to hit the elementals to get the buff. However, you do need to be really close. My bf was afk one time and I killed some while his toon was several yards away. It did not count for him. BUT one time we were waiting on a spawn and went afk to make dinner, sitting right where it spawned, and we came back to find that we had the achievement.

    2) For our server anyway.. the spawn time is about 55 minutes. They're spawning ~5 minutes sooner than whatever the previous hour was. And they all spawn at the exact same time.

    3) The low level rifts do count. I think that's a known fact now though. But yea. I can confirm that.


    Hope this helps. The FoS is not as hard as I thought it would be. I have it on my main now, and I have toons camped at each location, switching them every time. So they'll all have their FoS's soon as well. =)

    Happy hunting!
  1. LancerEvo's Avatar
    My OCD doesn't allow me to wait till city invasions though!!
  1. Lollis's Avatar
    Confirmed that you do NOT need to close rifts appropriate to your level, as long as you get the buff that is enough. Got my fire buff from Hellfire Peninsula as a level 80 and I did not have to search out a fire rift in Northrend before I got my achievement.

    Only the 13g (80) Daily quest is level specific.
  1. KO55's Avatar
    Ok what are the names of the addons used int he screen shot named: "elemental3_1.jpg" - the snow one...
    I wanna make my interface look clean like that.
    Much appreciated
  1. Nocturnally's Avatar
    Sooo... "You have to kill rifts of your own levels to get the achievements, if you're level 80 look for them in Northrend."

    WoWhead is stating its... To obtain the Feat of Strength [Tripping the Rifts], players must obtain a buff from each type of elemental portal that spawns in Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, Outland and Northrend (Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind). Players do not have to kill rifts of their level to qualify for the achievement.


    Which is true? Can anyone like comfirm this.


    ...../facepalm
  1. Korluun's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by KO55 View Post
    Ok what are the names of the addons used int he screen shot named: "elemental3_1.jpg" - the snow one...
    I wanna make my interface look clean like that.
    Much appreciated
    http://wowinterface.com/downloads/info17749-ElvsUI.html
  1. k0nker's Avatar
    Earth rifts in Azshara, too.
  1. homerjade's Avatar
    grizzly hills sw of amberpine just north of conquest hold ...earth elementals
  1. anirel's Avatar
    In case someone didn't mention it earlier (I guess everyone did, but Boub still doesn't change the info!), you can use ANY rifts to get the achievement, but only your level rifts give you the daily (with 13g reward omg omg). Confirmed this on Azuregos-ru (two in Northrend, then tired of waiting, then Thorium Brotherhood camp and Dire Mail).
  1. GhostSkull's Avatar
    I had trouble with elementals in Zangermarsh, they would disappear as I approached. Another rift site is southwestern Valkyrion in Storm Peaks.
  1. Tsudots's Avatar


    A helpful map of spawn locations of rifts in Northrend for people who want to go hunting

    Edit: sorry just saw it was already posted, a guildy linked it to me
  1. thechairmanh2k's Avatar
    im assuming the city quartermasters wont be on live till 4.0.3?
  1. Gangrenous's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Tsudots View Post
    A helpful map of spawn locations of rifts in Northrend for people who want to go hunting

    Edit: sorry just saw it was already posted, a guildy linked it to me
    I just completed the achievement by killing elementals in Arath, Duskwood, Storm Peaks, and Blasted Lands. The elementals can be killed anywhere worldwide but you cannot loot the Mysterious Object daily quest is all. Save yourself the endless hours of camping in Northrend and find a spot anywhere in any zone.
  1. impossiblegirl's Avatar
    MMO is wrong? lol. Well they do NOT have to be your own level for achievement.
  1. Cernunnos's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by sooke View Post
    MMO is wrong? lol. Well they do NOT have to be your own level for achievement.
    They only have to be your level for the daily quest item.

    To get the buff for the FOS they can be any level.
  1. Shinayne's Avatar
    Seconding (thirding?) Outlands as the prime spot to go. On my High pop server, I got it done in one spawn timer on three different toons out there. Northrend's for chumps.
  1. Sidone's Avatar
    Meh they keep dissapearing for me once i approach mobs. Happened twice now. They phase out.

    maybe not active on eu yet.
  1. Cernunnos's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sidone View Post
    Meh they keep dissapearing for me once i approach mobs. Happened twice now. They phase out.
    They despawn after 10 mins or so. You are probably getting there too late.

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