Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsBreakfast 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 7 of 10)
RAEGLATEM Jan 31st 2011 10:31AM
When I finally got my girlfriend at the time to start playing. She made a Troll hunter. She was so excited and what not. (and if any of you are familiar with the starting zones, there's always a huge fire or something). Well in all her excitement, she walked over to the quest giver (who happens to be next to the fire) and stood there. After about 10 seconds of me looking away I turned back to see her practically in tears asking "Why did i die!?!? Did I do something wrong??!?!?" Staring at her corpse on top of the fire explained it all. 3 seconds into the game, and already died to a fire. I still rub it in to this date.
alpha5099 Jan 31st 2011 10:33AM
Goblin shaman who kept attacking me while I was questing in Vashj'ir.
Brett Porter Jan 31st 2011 10:35AM
Mine was in Mt. Hyjal where some jerk who was PvP flagged decided to hang out amongst the quest givers. Not only was it difficult to actually pick up and turn in the quest because the NPCs kept trying to kill mobs for us, but I accidentally whacked him once and flagged myself.
I paused a few seconds... no retaliation, thank god! So I flew up out of the way and decided to wait out the flag.
Then I got bored. As soon as I dropped back down I got ganked by a mage. I'm a death knight. You can tell I don't world PvP.
The first non-player death was caused about 1/2 way through Mt. Hyjal when I was trying to get away from a bunch of constantly respawning mobs and just couldn't make it.
Aaron Jan 31st 2011 10:37AM
First zone I hit was Hyjal on a PvP server. My poor toon was dead before the screen finished loading. Went and did Vash after that. :P
Hob Jan 31st 2011 10:38AM
My hunter is the least played of my toons. I thought it would be fun to celebrate Cataclysm night by taking him from Mulgore through the Barrens, from Ratchet to Booty Bay, and then up to the Redridge Mountains to train a fox.
I got a little distracted in the Southern Barrens (I hadn't bought my Flight Master's License yet, so I was still running around), and suddenly the sky goes red. And everything else. Ummm... graphical error? Is my video card dying?
Nope ~ I stood in the fire on opening night. That's gotta mean something, right?
kutterr88 Jan 31st 2011 10:41AM
On the second day of the expansion i was in Uldum. I went out for a smoke and when i cam back in i was roasting in flames with the achiev Stood in Fire. Deathwing had decided it was my time.
Nawaf Jan 31st 2011 10:44AM
Win!
You sure got the cataclysm feel
Stardusted Jan 31st 2011 10:43AM
I just killed the mob standing there, literally a second ago, and now it has respawned...along with friends...I swear there wasn't this many there when I started...oh, I'm dead now...
*Stardusted's thought process during first Cataclysm death*
Uriah Jan 31st 2011 10:51AM
Did an overconfidence pull of mobs for a quest.
elustree Jan 31st 2011 11:00AM
I feel better not being the only oblivious one to Baron Geddon aoe damage.
Wolfshanze Jan 31st 2011 11:05AM
First on-line minutes after Cat launched... Have my Frost DK take care of necessary prep-work, old-world flying, preening talents/glyphs, etc... check the Hero's board, see Vash'jr and Hyjal... still having nightmares about Kevin Costner's Water World, I decide to go to Hyjal for my first zone.
Being a PvP server, I carefully (and quite skillfully) manage to click on the quest giver without attacking the dozens of horde on their mounts deliberately crowding around the quest givers to try and start something (i'm too clever to fall for that one), and I proceed to head out and start attacking a few nearby elemental mobs... I do my rotation, spread diseases, frost strike, howling blast... destroyed by NPC guards... what... what... what?!?!? Wait a minute now... oh yeah... Howling Blast hits nearby (deliberately i'm sure) horde, flagging me as aggressor and guards kill me... apparently I hadn't been smart enough not to use AoE on mobs first night in Cata when surrounded by horde.
So, my first death in Cata happened quite quickly at the hands of some Aegwynn (PvP) server Hyjal guards simply cuz I AoE'd too close to a hordie (who I'm sure did it on purpose, hordies are bad like that).
Andrew Jan 31st 2011 11:06AM
Attacking 1 naga and pulling 2 more accidentially.
Jerry Jan 31st 2011 11:09AM
My first death actually came at the hands of the double edged swords known as "addons". I don't remember exactly what it was, or all the finer details but I had made some recent interface changes and went on questing somewhere in stonecore and found myself dieing to an elite because I didn't recognize the new uis marking for an elite mob. Needless to say, I found out quickly after that...
dmrobertson2 Jan 31st 2011 11:08AM
Good ol'fasioned ganking by an 85 Orc Warrior. Lil ol 80 squishy gnome me never stood a chance. I paid his Horde back by goin on a killing spree in Vashjr when I hit 85. I did not kill too many lowbies, just anything they might have needed in the starting area.
Veverothe Jan 31st 2011 11:10AM
In retrospect I'm not quite sure if it really was my first death in cata, because I can't imagine that I've done Vashj'ir without dieing once, but I remember questing in Hyjal at the wolf god shrine when I was fighting some twilight cultists. Unfortunately I was with my back at a reeeeeaally looooong drop and I didn't know of the mobs could knock people back. One second later I was running madly forwards at the steep edge, but once again gravity demanded tribute. So I paid. A few seconds and a loud "Nooooooooo!" later I thought "Drat, my first death in cata."
Vector Jan 31st 2011 11:17AM
First quest in Hyjal, doing sorta pretty well against two rock elementals (one accidental add), only to be backstabbed by a rogue.
FYI -- if you're on a PvP server, there's no honor in killing someone who's overwhelmed by mobs. None. If you really think you're good at PvP, help them kills the mobs first, then smear them on in PvP. It's what I do, and hey I lose quite a bit, but that's the way Thrall would roll.
Harvoc Jan 31st 2011 11:18AM
While leveling, I don't think I died that much at all. Contrary to what Frostheim advised, speccing Marksmanship for leveling, I went with what I had leveled my hunter with from the start: Survival. The first time I died was when I tried to take on Velskar, an elite that wanders around the Shimmering Expanse that had around 3 million hp. I finally killed it though after many tries and a long 15 min of kiting. The other times I died was when I tried to kill the Devious Great-Eel without weakening it first. I still killed it later though after I rezzed.
Ceros Jan 31st 2011 11:25AM
Perhaps one of the very first deaths of Cataclysm after the servers became stable.
I was off to Vashj'ir to try out the new area concept, but my first stop was the flightmaster to pick up my much desired Azerothian Flying. I acquired the breadcrumb quests from the board and I was off to the boat.
After the boat came, which seemed to have taken forever, I hopped on and waited till the loading screen took me to the middle of the ocean, just past the Maelstrom. Excited, as I was one of the first to see this new area, I started jumping around. The only problem was, I flew and despite the prowess of my blue drake and it's 280% fly speed, I could never catch up to the boat and eventually succumbed to fatigue, spirit hopping until I finally made it to the south eastern edge of Vashj'ir.
The first time I saw the kraken scene was only a week ago or so when I finally got the willpower to go through Vashj'ir for the second time.
Zhiva Jan 31st 2011 11:26AM
I found that Alliance gunship sometimes dismounts you if you fly over one exact spot of it.
Chris Jan 31st 2011 11:28AM
Some doucher flagged for PVP standing on top of a quest-giver in the quest hub after you free Lo'Gosh. Right-clicked the wrong one and got slaughtered by the guards.