On December 7th, World of Warcraft released their latest expansion:  Cataclysm.  In one day, Cata sold 3.3 million copies and became the fastest selling PC game in history.  I was one of those people who bought the game.  That means I helped make history.  Therefore, I am awesome.

I am not so awesome as to take time off to play a video game, if such behavior would be considered awesome.  Mostly because I have been taking a course for the past month and could not take the time off for any reason, except possibly for death.  Even then, my next of kin would have received a strongly worded letter of reprimand about me missing a day.

One week later, between days in class and studying for tests every other night, I have managed to get some hours in-game.  This is how I spent my time.

– I braced myself for server crashes that never came. This has to be Blizzard’s most seamless expansion release.  Seamless, aside from the level 80’s not getting XP for the first 30 minutes or so after the release.  Not a big deal, unless you were one of those folks who handed in 25 daily quests during that time and received zero XP for their efforts.

– I didn’t even try to log on with my Earthen Ring characters. It’s a “Server Population:  High” situation on the best of days, which meant queues.  During the first few weeks of Wrath, waits of 15 – 45 minutes were not uncommon.  Screw that, said I.  On top of that, ER is Horde-heavy (hi AIE). I’d still be fighting Horde folk for quest mobs and the like.

– Option B: Different server, different faction. Herc the Big Blue DK got called up to the Majors. The server he was on has a lower pop (no queue at all), and a higher Horde pop. This means less aggrivation and headache for an Alliance character, leaving only the aggrivation and headache of actually being an Alliance character.

– Also, he was the only 80 that had a gathering profession. I knew people would be rushing to get world or realm firsts so I started mining and putting stacks of ore up on the AH. In one week, spending about 30 minutes a day doing mining, Big Blue had netted almost ten grand. This was AFTER spending 4k on 310 flying, and 250g on Old World flying.

– Herc the Blue hit the new content HARD. How hard? Not only did he ding 85 on Sunday, but along the way he picked up the Achievements Coming Down the Mountain, Deep into Deepholm, and Unearthing Uldum. If I was so inclined, it wouldn’t take much more effort for him to finish off Loremaster of Cataclysm.

– The Uldum questline rocked. Harrison Jones is the Man. Nuff said.

– Big Blue has maxed his Mining profession and had started work on Blacksmithing, Cooking, and Fishing. There’s money there too if you look for it.

– I haven’t done a single dungeon run yet. I’m going to finish the Twilight Highlands questline, then go back and pick up rep gear to fill in any spots I might be able to upgrade. At that point, I’ll be ready for the repeated sodomization that is Cataclysm dungeons.

That’s my time in a nutshell. How have YOU spent your week? What have you liked or disliked about the expansion so far?