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Elemental Unrest
The subject of this article or section was part of the Elemental Unrest, a world event that heralded the beginning of the earth-shattering Cataclysm.
CataclysmOrgrimmarElementalInvasion

Fire elementals attacking Orgrimmar as part of the pre-Cataclysm event.

The Elemental Unrest is a world event that heralds the Cataclysm. The event leads up to elementals attacking Stormwind, Orgrimmar, Ironforge, and Thunder Bluff. If players can defeat these elementals and free trapped citizens within their entire city, they will be granted access to two special boss encounters. Until the name Elemental Unrest was used by a Blizard employee on the official forums[1], the community generally referred to this event as the Elemental Invasion. This alternative name persists in the community, however, and is used by many other fan sites to refer to the same event.

The event is currently in its third phase, making it possible for players to complete all of the quest chains which lead to the invasions that will take place in the fourth phase. Players may also obtain the Inv enchant voidsphere [Tripping the Rifts] achievement while this event is in progress.

Event progression
Date Event
8 December 2009 Prelude: Rare Earthquakes begin on Azeroth.
12 October 2010 Earthquakes increase in intensity and frequency. Magni Bronzebeard and Thrall call meetings in Stormwind Keep and Grommash Hold respectively.
1 November 2010 Phase 1: Twilight's Hammer cultists appear in cities, elementals begin invading questing zones. Quests are available from Stormwind and Orgrimmar.
8 November 2010 Phase 2: Additional quests from Earthen Ring NPCs are available.
12 November 2010 Phase 3: Further additional quests are available. The Twilight's Hammer cultists are nearly complete the preparations for the fate that will soon befall Stormwind and Orgrimmar.
Anticipated Phase 4: The event is anticipated to climax with invasions against Stormwind, Ironforge, Orgimmmar and Thunderbluff. These invasions have not begun yet on Live servers, but details are known from the PTR.

Prelude

Meeting at Stormwind Keep

The Alliance leaders meet at Stormwind Keep.

Starting with the release of Patch 3.3.0 (8th of December 2009 for US realms), earthquakes begin in Azeroth.[2] They are very infrequent and of mild intensity. Many players failed to notice they were even occurring.

Starting with the release of Patch 4.0.1 (12th of October 2010 for US Realms) the random earthquakes begin to occur more frequently and with much greater intensity. They now have an accompanying sound effect and are very obvious when they occur. In response, the faction leaders of the Alliance and Horde have gathered in Stormwind and Orgrimmar respectively to deal with this turn of events.

On 16th of October 2010 the earthquakes have longer durations. Whenever there are earthquakes near the Orgrimmar or Stormwind Auction houses, or the bank in Ironforge, dust comes down from the ceilings.

On 27th of October the earthquakes become more frequent.

Phase 1

This phase was released on the 1st of November, 2010. The day the phase started, Zarhym stated "There are four stages of the event. We're on the first."[3]

Rifts have begun to spawn randomly in all questing zones, spawning elementals; the spawn timers are erratic, and not tied to the beginning of the hour. The first phase of the quest chains are now active. Earthquakes are now felt around the world, and not just in capital cities. Doom-preaching cultists and mysterious devices have appeared in Orgrimmar and Stormwind.

To obtain the Feat of Strength Inv enchant voidsphere [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. The daily quests Hammering It Out and A Natural Occurrence are obtained from the mysterious devices left after the portals have been defeated. Player level must be within typical honor/experience granting range to receive the quest.

See N [5-80] Prophecies Of Doom (Alliance) / (Horde) to begin the quest chains.

For a full list of Elemental Rift spawn locations, see Money achievement Tripping the Rifts

Phase 2

This phase was released on the 8 November 2010 and simply opened up a few more quests in Orgrimmar, Stormwind and Ironforge.

Doomsday Cultists walk in areas of Stormwind and Orgrimmar wearing the Inv misc note 06 [Doomsday Message] and are Spreading The Word (Alliance) / (Horde).

Optional Alliance-only breadcrumb: A [80] What's Shaking in Ironforge

Phase 3

This was phase released on 12 November 2010.[4]

More Doomsday Cultists walk through more areas of Stormwind and Orgrimmar with their Doomsday Message.

Cultist infiltrators are in Orgrimmar and Stormwind attempting rituals to summon powerful elementals to destroy the cities. Citizens are being held up and searched at the gates. Players get quests to search for infiltrators at the gate, arrest them in the city, and disrupt their rituals.

Thrall has moved to the Throne of the Elements in Nagrand. He is in a meeting with Aggra and Gavan Grayfeather. They are surrounded by a large number of level 1 elementals called "Disturbed Elements".

  1. B [80] Show Me Your Papers
  2. B [80] Arrest the Infiltrators
  3. B [80] Back Under Cover
  4. B [80] I Said the Words...

Side quest:

Phase 4

As of November 14, 2010, this phase has not yet been activated.

Preparing for the invasion

Before every invasion event starts, a herald will yell, warning players and citizens about incoming danger. At this time, players are instructed to grab barricades/sandbags from stockpiles around their major city and place them in zones directed by a red arrow. Low-level players unable to participate in this event are instructed to evacuate to the nearest portal activated by several guards. When all barricades are placed or 5 minutes have elapsed, the battle against the invasion begins.

Combating the invasion

CataclysmThunderBluffInvasion

Viewing a city's map during an invasion will display all the districts and which are still under attack by elementals or need citizens freed.

All of the districts of the invaded city will be attacked by elementals spawning from opened rifts. Every elemental has about 320,000 HP and every rift will spawn elementals until 32 are destroyed. Several citizens are trapped in these districts and must be freed by an [Earthen Ring Unbinding Totem] provided by Earthen Ring Defenders. Players must clear the city of every rift and rescue every citizen within an hour in order to win the event.

After players defeat 32 elementals surrounding a rift, the rift will close and a buff will be applied to all players nearby:

Elemental Faction Buff Gained
Alliance Horde
Fire Ironforge Orgrimmar Stacking damage debuff
Earth Chance to restore 2% HP
Water Stormwind Thunder Bluff +15% Power Regained
Wind 50 haste rating for 10s

Tips

  • Unlike other phased events such as Battle for the Undercity, Operation: Gnomeregan, or Zalazane's Fall, you are not buffed into invulnerability against these powerful mobs. If you are assaulting a rift by yourself or with a few players without a healer present, only attack one elemental at a time.
  • Bring an unbinding totem provided by the Earthen Ring Defenders with you. If your allies get trapped by an elemental, they must be freed or healed immediately or they might die within the time of the prison's stun.
  • The elementals' prisons are cast in a frontal AoE cone. It has a very short range, so it is possible to avoid it by simply running away during the cast.

After the invasion

If an hour has elapsed since the start of the event, Earthen Ring Defenders will intervene and suddenly halt the invasion, removing all elementals from the city. However, players will not benefit and will have to wait until the next event occurs.

If players successfully secure a major city, two portals are available to enter for the next 30 minutes to fight one of the four lieutenants Cho'gall commands:

Quests

Quests which follow the invasion of a city:

Patches and hotfixes

  • Cataclysm Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): Added.
    Phase 1 activated on 1 November 2010. Phase 2 activated on 8 November 2010. Phase 3 activated on 12 November 2010.

References

 
  1. ^ Zarhym 2010-11-03. The Impending Cataclysm.
  2. ^ Kody 2009-12-28. Cataclysm pre-launch event starting?. World of Raids. Retrieved on 2009-12-30.
  3. ^ Zarhym 2010-11-01. Problem with Elemental Invasion. Archived from the original on 2010-11-01. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
  4. ^ Zarhym 2010-11-13. Phase 3 of the Elemental Invasion. Archived from the original on 2010-11-13. Retrieved on 2010-11-13.
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