Earthquakes

I definitely feel like I am slipping and sliding (somewhat unwillingly) down the slope that leads to the Cataclysm. Don't get me wrong; I am excited for all the new content, classes, spells, and ~achievements~ that the expansion will bring. Still, unlike Keeva, I find myself not quite yet ready to face the sundering, because dammit, I still have some achievements to wrap up! I definitely admire her nonchalance towards bucket lists, but as you can see I love them enough to have a whole page devoted to them! Also, I really really love making lists.

During Hallow's End I was allllll over the Invocation of the Wickerman, and even got my Consortium to exalted and Timbermaw to revered (only about 100 feathers left and I'm ready for exalted, too!). But Aka, you may ask, why the hell weren't you farming stuff for The Insane? In fact, shouldn't you be doing that right now, and also every hour of every day until Cataclysm?

I'm in a bind, you guys! Here's what Blizz has to say about Insane in the Membrane:

Just for clarity, Insane in the Membrane will not be removed in Cataclysm. We can only confirm this one for you, but since it's undoubtedly one of the most brain-melting achievements, we thought it nice to let you know that you don't have to rush to have this done before the expansion. ;) [11.16.2009]

Insane in the Membrane is a feat of strength, not an achievement. Feats are things that you can't be guaranteed to complete, which is why they're feats and not achievements. Most of them are actually now impossible to complete, and this feat will join a long list of "you had to be there" moments in WoW time. 

The feat isn't being removed of course, those who have it will retain it, however; some of the requirements are, so it will no longer be able to be completed by anyone who has not already done so. 

It's possible that in some very specific situations where someone has completed the reputations which are being removed, but not others that will still be in the game, that it can still be completed. But it's something we're waiting for clarity on, and will let you know as soon as we do. [10.25.2010]

Murrrr. Well, ok I can see their logic. Feats aren't necessary, and getting them or not doesn't even affect your achievement point count so all you are missing out on is bragging rights. I'm banking on that last paragraph being what saves me - the only two factions I have left are supposedly unchanged in Cataclysm, and I'm hoping that even if I can't finish them up until after launch I'll still get credit for doing the whole ordeal. Then again, I could always have my heart broken like when Wrath launched and I didn't get credit for Champion of the Naaru, despite doing everything for it.

Fun story - my friend who got me to roll horde on her server had that title, which was the first title I had ever seen on a toon, and I was duly impressed. I remember her helping me kill mobs in Mulgore (I was a pretty pathetic noob) and thinking to myself "One day I hope I can have that title, too." Then I started the long series of events that leads to it, and even got a questing buddy to work on it together. When we went to turn in our final quest, he got the title and I got diddlysquat. This was right after the achievement patch, and I ticketed a GM explaining how I had done everything right beside my friend who got credit and wtf didn't I? Too bad, so sad, is basically what they responded, and I'm not ready to be smacked down again if The Insane is completely unachievable for folks in my position.

So the point is that I'm already prematurely mourning the loss of this awesome title, although I get the feeling that I'll probably finish out my last two reps simply out of spite. Having come to this gloomy conclusion, I'm now turning my attentions to my ally priest, who come hell or high water will finish up Azeroth loremaster before Cata. I'm already more than halfway done (which is why I would feel simply awful abandoning it and starting again from scratch afterwards), so my plan is to do 30ish quests a night after I've finished my random questing and old world raids on other toons.

Cata Events [spoilers for quests]

I enjoyed the short and sweet series of quests that kicked off this week's events. I've heard a few people comment that the quests seem anticlimactic, and I certainly agree with that sentiment when it comes to the final quest, which is basically "BTW Garrosh you may want to know something bad is happening. FYI. Ok, bye." However, the quests up to that were equal parts epic and charming, what with uncovering the doomsday plot and deactivating a ton of dangerous elemental bombs being hidden in Orgrimmar. You get to see Cho'gall, which felt very foreboding. You also get to wear a sandwich board and proclaim the end of the world for all of the nonbelievers to point and laugh, which was strangely cute. On maxed toons the quests reward a fair amount of gold, and on lowbies they are worth at least half a level of XP!

Aside from the immediately identifiable quests, there is also a Feat of Strength floating around that involves destroying one of each of the four types of elemental rifts. They spawn all over the world, although each element tends to stick to certain zones. If you destroy a rift spawning elementals in your level range, you will be eligible to pick up a very simple daily from a Mysterious Item that is left behind by the rift. The big problem here is that the rifts spawn once an hour on as-yet unpredictable times. I got my first two whilst farting around in vent with a guildie and simply waiting at known spawn points, and the second two the next day actively hunting them. Although it is nice to have that extra daily gold or XP, it's a pain in the ass to have to hang around a spawn point hoping that the spawn time is soon, so after finishing the achievement and quest once, I can't really be bothered.

On the way back from the quests out in Durotar I came across this fine specimen dancing in the midst of several heated duels. I see that the cataclysm is making people do more than join doomsday cults!