Breakfast Topic: What caused your first Cataclysm death?
by Stephanie Drury 
Jan 31st 2011 at 8:00AM
One of the great things about expansions is all the "firsts" we get to experience. For example: my first 310% flight speed, my first time flying in the old world, my first archaeology artifact -- there are so many fantastic things that come with an expansion! However, there are also some rude awakenings. I was surprised when frost came back as a mage leveling spec. I was also taken aback at just how quickly I perished when I tried to take on more than one mob. Let me paint a picture for you.
Here we have this overconfident fire mage coming into Mount Hyjal for the first time. She grabs some quests and heads out to kill some fire elementals. She tags one, and puts Living Bomb up. It proceeds to make a lot of elementals angry with her. She shrugs off the multitude of fiery beings heading her way -- "I'll just AoE them down." That doesn't bode well. Slowly, her life force ebbs away, she gets weaker and weaker, there's a darkness coming over her, and then she's just ... gone.
I stare at my screen. Did that really just happen? Did I seriously just die to my first Cataclysm mob? I quickly look around the room; awww crud, yes, my husband saw that. Well, that's a bit embarrassing! I then take some time to see what the other mages in the area are running as. "Ahem, well I guess I'll go spec frost now ..."
I'm curious where and when the rest of you saw your first Cataclysm demise. Was it due to overconfidence or a wrong spec? Did you make it without dying until your first dungeon?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 10)
elementalbulldog Jan 31st 2011 8:04AM
Baron Geddon in Hyjal, still feel stupid for that haha.
Velzon Jan 31st 2011 8:57AM
My first death was caused by greed trying to get to a obsidian node that I could not reach in Hyjal only to slip into the world and fall until a sudden stop caused my death.
Toren Jan 31st 2011 9:42AM
What I like is how anyone who raided MC back in Vanilla would go "Oh hey! Geddon! Wow, this is a trip down memory lane....hey...what's hitting me? Oh.......right......"
He had a ring of bodies around him and several somewhat sheepish people moving back and forth out of the AoE while a new wave of people would walk up and say "Oh hey! Geddon! Wow! This is a trip...."
And yes, I was one of those.
anjeney Jan 31st 2011 9:52AM
same here
Rai Jan 31st 2011 10:18AM
Fire? It's fine, I'll use Cloak of Shadows!
...what do you mean he spends longer than five seconds casti-
...ambulance please.
pecan3.14 Jan 31st 2011 10:45AM
Me too. >.> I just stood there casting, like an idiot. Oh, I'm getting hurt? I'll just put up my armor and...
...FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU.
Sir Broose Jan 31st 2011 11:09AM
Wow, just read this first page of threads. Glad to see I'm not alone. Baron Geddon was my first corpse run, as well. I couldn't decide if I was expected to move or if the quest would save me just in time, as part of the mechanic. That question was answered soon enough. However, I got credit for the quest, just as I died, even though the counter was only up to 18 out of 20.
Needless to say, I did it correctly on my next alt, and survived with plenty of life to spare.
Wrath Jan 31st 2011 12:59PM
Geddon. Indeed. And more than once, I am sad to say :-D
Nipah Jan 31st 2011 8:45PM
Yup, the Baron got me as well... 2-shot me in my old, crappy WotLK gear.
Oldguy Feb 1st 2011 11:51AM
Same here. I like to tell myself it was because I couldn't see the hellfire amidst all the throngs of players on day 1, but it was stupid. It was much stupider by the third death or so.
Blayze Jan 31st 2011 8:07AM
Baron Geddon.
Heilig Jan 31st 2011 11:15AM
Never even made it to Geddon. There was a bug where if you had the opposite faction targeted when you landed in Hyjal, the Wardens would rape you, even if you were afk and never touched anybody. It was such a warm welcome, and made me feel good about all the time Blizzard had spent ironing out all the bugs in their game during the long closed beta cycle.
Vaeku Jan 31st 2011 11:34AM
This. I never played back in Vanilla, so I didn't know about his AoE, and I didn't notice what the NPCs were saying.
polydorr Jan 31st 2011 8:08AM
Since I was a week late to actually play the expansion, I managed to make it to the first dungeon without getting ganked. There, I died to Blizzard's idea of fun: the healer (me) running out of mana.
loop_not_defined Jan 31st 2011 10:04AM
Blizzard's idea of fun: not being able to snore through group content. I realize some find the idea of requiring coordination...in a group...appalling, though.
polydorr Jan 31st 2011 11:02AM
Actually it was more along the lines of trying to keep up with Mr. "Hey cataclysm i lolfacerolled wotlk so i reforged all my dodge/parry to stam bc stam = more hp amirite?" Tank with the three non-interrupting, seemingly half asleep stooges (read: dps) who like to stand in the fire, break polymorph, and go up and kick Runty in the balls before pulling Beauty.
Then getting to the forum/comment section of ______ WoW site and getting L2PLAYKTHX'd by someone such as yourself.
I should just play a mage
Lloren Jan 31st 2011 11:25AM
You're not supposed to kick Runty in the balls? But they're so shiny and round and have a sign that says "kick me" on them. How can I resist the temptation? :'(
loop_not_defined Jan 31st 2011 11:35AM
I didn't imply you should "l2p", I implied you should coordinate. From the sound of things, you were more content with silently swearing at four other players for outright ignoring responsibilities, while simultaneously blaming Blizzard for the trouble.
Even the best healers cannot heal through fail. Nor should they expect to.
loop_not_defined Jan 31st 2011 11:50AM
I'd like to add that there's a difference between healing through mistakes and healing through complete failure. It's certainly possible to heal through mistakes in Cataclysm dungeons - although more difficult if every single person is at the absolute minimum gear level...and it's more likely that they're *lower* than the minimum.
loop_not_defined Jan 31st 2011 3:48PM
I'm honestly disheartened to see that people would up-vote someone who has clearly detailed the numerous failings of his "group" (i.e. five players soloing), yet places the blame squarely on Blizzard's shoulders. As if they were the ones who horribly programmed the AI of his four companions.
Seriously. This is just sad.