Hello everyone! Meat Week Event is here again! Since this event is only open for a limited period of time, the most important thing to make the most of it is to get as many unique rewards as possible. It is also a good option to grind XP and earn extra Scrip. This guide will go through everything you need to know about Meat Week Event.

Participate In Primal Cuts Event

Every 15 to 20 minutes, you will get a Primal Cuts event. You can start the event by hitting a drum in the center. This will attract a group of animals to you. They appear in four waves, and you must kill the marked prime animals.

Note that Butcher’s Bounty Perk Card does not seem to give you more prime meat, but it does help increase other types of meat.

The waves will gradually become stronger over time, and the event ends when you defeat all enemies, or when the timer runs out. Successfully completing the event will give you prime meat that you can use later.

Since meat will rot, having a Refrigerated Backpack Mod or Good with Salt Perk will help you preserve them for longer. If you rank high enough on the scorebaord, Cryofridge will also be helpful to you.

The events that take place in areas where the enemies are stronger seem to give you more prime meat, while Mire seems to be the place that gives you the most meat. So pick the one you want and start collecting meat. If you’re fast enough, you can participate in both events at the same time.

Grahm’s Meat-Cook Event

The other half of Meat Week is Grahm’s Meat-Cook Event, which is all about advancing the progress bar in the upper right corner. There are three stages marked with icons here, and if you don’t reach the first stage, you fail. But if you want to get more valuable $1, it is very necessary to reach the later stages as soon as possible. Here, I will list the things you can do to advance the event.

Using Drums & Spits

You can find drums and the spits on the high platforms on both sides of the centre roast pit. They are passive activities, just like playing an instrument during One Violent Night. The unique thing is that they allow you to advance the progress bar before it appears.

They still give you progress during the event, and if all spits or drums are in use, you will get a reward. But it’s important that you get progress before the event officially starts. So if you happen to get there early enough, make sure to use them.

Donate Prime Meat

The roast pit in the center has spits and pots where you can place prime meat and donate it in stacks of five. For example, if you have 12, you’ll need two batches of five, but you won’t need the last two.

Each Meat-Cook Event has a maximum of 15. Each stack you deposit gives you a bonus of about 15 minutes. Stacking one stack makes you no longer hungry, and if you get hit, you have a chance to damage enemies with farts. Stacking two stacks does the same thing, and you get a 15-point bonus to your maximum health. Stacking a third stack increases it to a 30-point health bonus and a 5% XP bonus.

You also get 5 Legendary Scrips per stack, so you can get an extra 15 Scrips for each event. This is an extra little bonus for attending a Primal Cuts event.

Feeding Chally The Moo-Moo

Another thing you can do is feed Chally the Moo-Moo. You may have to attend at least one Meat-Cook Event to get the recipe, but you can make the recipe with vegetables before the event and give it to Chally when the event starts. Make sure to do these as soon as the progress bar appears, so you don’t forget.

Collecting Animal Chunks And Greens

You can also collect animal chunks and greens. You’ll find small animals like Opossums, Squirrels, and Chickens behind the shed. Regional loot doesn’t work here, so you’ll have to collect chunks individually. Put them in the shopping cart in the shed to advance progress.

Next to it you can see the container for greens. Bring them back to get more progress. If you want, you can also put submit wood in the pile next to the cooking pot.

Cleaning

You can also get progress for the event by cleaning up rotting meat, manure piles, and putting out fires around. Such as the scorchbeast poop you saw in Line in the Sand event. Be sure to prioritize this because they can actually slow down your progress if you leave them behind.

Event Rewards

After the event, you will receive rewards based on your performance. You can get XP, Caps, Legendary weapons or armor, Meat Week apparel, Treasury Notes, and Unique plans.

Besides that, there are quite a few plans for unique items and unique camp items, such as Meat Cleaver. This is a throwing weapon that does a ton of damage. If you haven’t tried throwing weapons yet, you might be surprised at how effective they are.

And of course, there’s Pepper Shaker, which is one of the major prizes of Meat Week Event. The only way to get this plan is through this event or by buying it from a player vendor. The chance of any single item dropping is about 1.6% per event.

So if you want everything, you should do as much Meat-Cook as you can. The event will last for about two weeks and will end on June 4, 2024, so you should have plenty of time to participate.

That’s it. Hopefully, this walkthrough made it a little easier for you. Good luck, and may RNG gods be with you.

Stash management poses a challenge in Fallout 76, but don't worry, you're not the only one facing this problem. Whether you're a seasoned player or a newcomer to Appalachia, handling your stash can become a shared struggle for all players at some stage of their gaming experience. So I'm here today to provide a guide for those looking for tips on managing stash effectively.

However, it's important to note that your shop and displays will still count towards your stash weight. Now, let's jump into the tips for effective stash management.

Scrap Junk Items

Always scrap your junk items instead of storing them as they are. Scrapping junk not only provides you with valuable crafting materials but also reduces their weight significantly. Besides, it's best to avoid bulking your junk altogether and store them as individual components.

Be mindful of the weight of decorative items in your camp, such as teddy bears and other decorations. These $1 may seem insignificant individually but can add up quickly, affecting your overall stash weight. Consider minimizing decorative items, especially those with substantial weight, to optimize your storage space.

Fallout 1st members can access to the Scrapbox, a separate storage container specifically for storing crafting materials. Unlike the standard stash box, the Scrapbox has no weight limit, allowing you to store unlimited materials without worrying about inventory weight constraints. Consider taking advantage of this feature if you have a Fallout 1st membership.

If you're not a Fallout 1st member but have access to a trial period or promotional offer, consider utilizing it to grind and store materials in the Scrapbox. Materials stored in the Scrapbox during the trial period will remain accessible even after the trial ends, providing you with extended storage capabilities.

Consumable Management

Here's a significant stash management tip that may not be relevant in the early stages of the game, but becomes crucial as you progress beyond Level 50: manage your consumables effectively. As you accumulate chems and food items, they can quickly fill up your stash. Consider crafting or cooking them into higher-tier versions or selling excess items to vendors.

Additionally, investing in perks that reduce the weight of chems and food can significantly alleviate stash space issues. By utilizing perks like the Traveling Pharmacy and Thru-hiker, you can drastically reduce the weight of these items while they're in your inventory. Traveling Pharmacy reduces chem weight by 90%, while Thru-hiker reduces food and drink weight by the same percentage.

Additionally, if you have a backpack with mods like the Grocer's Backpack, you can further reduce the weight of chems and food. However, remember that these reductions do not stack with the Chemist perks, so choose the combination that works best for your play style.

Power Armor Management

Another stash management tip is to avoid storing power armor pieces individually in your stash. By keeping power armor pieces on the chassis, you're essentially consolidating their weight into a single, manageable item. This not only saves space in your stash, but also makes it easier to transport and manage your power armor.

When you examine your power armor in your Pip-Boy, you'll notice that the weight of the entire power armor frame is relatively low, often around 10 lbs. However, if you remove individual pieces, such as the chest or limbs, you'll find that each piece weighs significantly more.

If you have multiple sets of power armor or collect various pieces, consider using an empty power armor chassis for storage. Even if you're not a Fallout 1st member and don't have access to the Scrapbox, you can still utilize this method to optimize your stash space.

Of course, if you're a Fallout 1st member, you can take advantage of the Survival Tent feature to quickly access your stored power armor chassis whenever needed. This provides added convenience, especially when there's no stash box nearby.

Ammo Management

Managing ammo can be challenging, especially for players who tend to hoard everything. When enemies are defeated, it's tempting to collect all available ammo, just in case. However, this can lead to significant stash weight issues.

Being a Fallout 1st member has its perks, allowing unlimited ammo storage without weight constraints. However, for non-members, managing excess ammo becomes essential. I recommend only picking up ammo you'll use. Selling unused ammo to other players is an option, but it can burden your stash until sold.

A crucial point: avoid hoarding Mini Nukes and Missiles unless you frequently use weapons like the Fat Man or Missile Launcher. These items weigh considerably and often end up unused in your inventory. Selling them may prove challenging, as they're not in high demand.

Weapon Management

Here's another essential tip: only keep weapons you actually use! It's tempting to collect every weapon you come across, but they take up a significant amount of space. Sell these unused weapons for scrap or script. Weapons are relatively easy to find unless they're god roll legendries, so there's no need to clutter your stash with unused ones.

To help you identify which weapons you use frequently, consider renaming them. Organize them based on their legendary effects or their primary use. For example, you can label them with the Legendary roll followed by an abbreviation. This not only keeps everything organized but also saves time when scrapping or trading items. Renaming your armor pieces can also be beneficial for quick identification.

Diablo 4 has entered its fourth season, and this season is mainly focused on the setting of in-game items, the functions of some of which will greatly improve your experience of leveling up in the game. These settings can make it easy for you to reach level 100. Next, let’s take a look at what methods can be used to help you reach level 100 faster.

This guide can address all the different forms of content in your gameplay and allow you to solve the problem in the shortest time and with the simplest method. But it’s also important that you have complete control over what you run until you reach the highest level, because that’s where the fun of the game comes from.

Basic Upgrade Method

In Diablo 4, experience points (or call it XP) can be gained from all missions by destroying enemies. However, in some missions under certain circumstances, XP gained in this mission will be much more than in regular missions. Here are some general upgrade methods:

Helltide Side Quests Dungeons and Nightmare Dungeons Grim Favors Campaign Events Other endgame content (if you haven’t reached max level yet).

Most of the general quests above aren’t the best way to level up, but they still depend on what you specifically want to play. If you want to know more about the story background of Diablo 4, you can participate in side missions or some battles. But if you want to upgrade quickly, besides researching Helltide and Dungeons, what I will tell you next is the unknown upgrade method.

Intermediate Upgrade Method

You should understand all XP boosts before using this method. If you use all experience point boosts at the same time, you can reach the maximum level in less than 10 hours.

The earliest forms of this approach came from team rewards. Simply put, if you have a team and complete the mission content with them, you will receive rewards; but if you complete the mission with non-party players, you will receive half the experience points.

In addition to the party experience bonus mentioned above, you can also research Elixirs. Elixirs can obtain it during early game crafting or when destroying enemies. Elixirs can provide up to 5% bonus experience points for 30 minutes. Later in the game, Elixirs may be 8% effective. These perks will increase the speed at which you complete tasks in the game.

If you feel that making Elixirs is cumbersome, you can purchase Elixirs directly in the mall. Different types of Elixirs can provide different upgrade speeds.

The last and most important thing comes - season bonuses. If you open your battle pass or menu, you will see some rewards that have ended. Don’t be discouraged, you just need some Smoldering Ashes to apply the upgrade, so you’ll need to go through Season 4 Loot Reborn’s battle pass to get Smoldering Ashes first.

Once you have Smoldering Ashes around level 28, you can use it to expand your experience rewards for completing quests, up to the maximum.

Advanced Upgrade Methods

As mentioned before, the best way to level up quickly is to research Helltide and Dungeons. Next, let us carefully analyze the upgrade methods of the two modes and find the method that suits you best!

Helltide

If you want to skip the campaign and not wait there to level up, Helltide is the most efficient way to level up. You can reach level 60 or World Tier 3 or 4 in 3 hours. The major way to upgrade Helltide is to go to the Baneful Altars in the current Helltide area and use three Baneful Hearts to activate events to achieve the upgrade goal.

This method will generate hundreds of enemies, including a maiden boss that will drop a lot of valuable equipment. When you take out three Baneful Hearts, everyone in Helltide area will be activated and gather to clear all enemies as quickly as possible.

Please note that growing enough Baneful Hearts requires unlocking Baneful Hearts seeds first. These seeds can be obtained by completing specific tasks in the game or by talking to the commander. Once you have a Baneful Hearts seed, you can plant it on the appropriate land and take advantage of related events to obtain more Baneful Hearts.

In addition, you can also obtain Aberrant Cinders by destroying enemies, and use Aberrant Cinders to open treasure chests to obtain more $1 and equipment. In Helltide region, you can find these treasure chests in specific locations.

Nightmare Dungeons

In the opinion of some players, Helltide always levels up faster than regular dungeons, but once you touch Nightmare Dungeons, your level will rise faster. Unlike Helltide, which relies on its community to keep the event up and running, Nightmare Dungeons are entirely dependent on how many levels you can complete and how quickly you can complete it, giving you significantly more freedom.

You can have a fast and stable experience farm by using Sigils. If you can meet the following two requirements, you will receive higher experience points than Helltide:

Your build is so strong and flexible that dungeons can be completed in two or three minutes. You can complete a Nightmare Dungeon that is at least ten levels higher than you.

These requirements are difficult to achieve, but if your game character is strong and flexible, you can easily do it.

Now the choice is up to you. Which one do you think is more suitable for you, Helltide or Dungeons?

They all have their own pros and cons, depending on you, and their rewards are different, regardless of experience points.

Helltide will give you more gear, and where events have 80% to 90% uptime, Helltide will also give you more experience points. In addition to this, you also get exclusive Helltide materials. This means that when you need these materials in other tasks, you still need to enter Helltide to obtain these special materials.

The special thing about Nightmare Dungeons is that it gives you some Glyph experience points. These Glyph experience points can be used to strengthen your game character’s Glyph on the Paragon Board in Nightmare Dungeons.

In Helltide, if you can defeat all enemies, you can get at least 925 pieces of power equipment. This way you can switch from Helltide to Nightmare Dungeons.

But if you’re around level 90, and you already have Profane Mindcage consumable that increases Helltide monster levels by ten levels for an hour, you can also get the same item-powered gear in Helltide.

In Helltide, you need to kill monsters every moment, but in Nightmare Dungeons, because the monsters are not as dense. It takes some time for you to go from one pack to another.

Based on the above, the different upgrade options you choose will depend on what type of content you prefer and how powerful and flexible your build is. In addition to Elixirs mentioned above, there are also some Boss Summons on sale in the mall. When necessary, you can purchase and summon Boss to help you get a better gaming experience. Happy gaming!

Elden Ring is a game that is so big and so expansive. Sometimes, it feels really easy to miss little details or hidden locations. I used to take pride in the fact that I explore every nook and cranny of these types of games. 

Next I will introduce to you the three most missed locations in all of Elden Ring.

In addition, investing enough $1 in Elden Ring can help you explore secret locations more efficiently.

Walls, Snails, Fear & Darkness 

First up on the list, we have Sellia Hideaway. This place is essential if you’re looking to finish Sorceress Sellen’s questline as well as get Lusat set and Stars of Ruin spell. The reason this one is so easy to miss is because it’s actually hidden behind an Illusory Wall and even after you find this ucer wall. There’s many more inside in order to find the entrance and this Illusory Wall. You will first want to head to Church of Plague and then head north. 

On your way to Illusory Wall, there is a Sorcery waiting to blast you with spells. He’s not too difficult, so you should be able to take him out pretty easily. There’ are also a few items you’ll want to pick up along the way. 

As a side note, if you’re playing offline and you don’t have any signs from people showing you where to go, you can run around spamming Margit or Mohg’s shackle, which will reveal all the hidden Illusory Wall as well. Or you just roll around and start smacking things with your sword will have the same effect.

Once you are inside Hideaway or Cave, I’m going to probably call it Cave from now on. Once you’re inside Cave, there are a bunch of really unfriendly monsters. You’ve got Miners and Sorcerers which you’ll see in a lot of Caves throughout the game. But you also have those little snail things that hide and shoot you with magic at one point towards the end. 

You actually just have a bunch of them fall in your head as you’re getting ready to approach the main boss in this Dungeon. They are terrible. 

But the number one worst part about this whole place is Revenant . They just decided to put a Revenant in here to just mess up your whole day. It’s not fun. When exploring this Cave and all of its nooks and crannies, remember there’s about three Illusory Wall in here. I think three or four. 

But as you’re exploring, you’ll come across a two kinds of ending zones, one is the final boss where you’ll fight three Putrid Crystalians. I’m going to fight with Crystalians. 

You’ll fight three of those. They’re easy if you have a strike weapon, so just keep that in mind if you have a strike weapon they’re much easier to defeat as you can stagger them very quickly and give massive Critical Hits on them. 

Secondly, you will come across a sealed door. It’s kind of big and blue and glowing if you are far enough in Sellen’s questline. You will be able to then interact with this door and through talk to Lusat. He’ll give you a spell. If you come back here once you finish the questline, he will not be here and you can pick up his armor, which gives you a lot of bonuses for star type spells. 

But at the end of the day, this place sucks. I don’t like it. But it’s got a lot of good stuff. So I’d highly recommend checking it out.

Taylor Lautner’s Abduction 

It definitely would not be a FromSoftware game if there wasn’t a horrifying and scary monster that kills you, grabs you and takes you off to some far away place. Elden Ring is no different. If you remember, in Dark Souls 3, there were those dudes with the cages on their back. They stuff you in the cage and take you off to another location. 

Bloodborne had those big hooded figures that love to just punch you, kick you, do all the horrible things to you and then they grab you and stuff you in their bag and take you off to just the most horrible place imaginable. 

In Elden Ring, we have Abductor Virgins, these guys are real creepy looking they got sometimes big old Scythe hands, sometimes they have big old Blade hands but inevitably they have a bazillion hands that come out of their stomach and try to stuff you inside.

In order to reach a secret location in Volcano Manor as well as a cool tunnel that takes you to mount Gelmir much earlier in the game than you might have expected, you will need to be murdered to death by an Abductor Virgin and then taken away. To find this monstrosity, you’ll first want to head to Schoolhouse Classroom Site of grace in Raya Lucaria. 

Now if you remember that gigantic wheel that you probably jumped on to go up to get to this location. Just jump back on that wheel except take it all the way down to the ground, where you will find an Abductor Virgin waiting to destroy you. 

I am also just now realizing that underneath the face of these guys. They’re holding a baby like a weird ceramic or metal just statue of a baby. That’s terrifying. 

One thing to note too about getting to this location is that you are going to want to not die by its big buzz saw hands, but let it grab you. Let it pull you inside of it, chomp you up and do its Dirty Deeds to you. 

After your quick loading screen you will be teleported to Volcano Manor, where you will see a bunch of broken down Abductor Virgins, you’ll see a bunch of cages. There will be a lot of bats everywhere. Trying to scream at you and attack you, just make your way through picking up any items you might find along the way. 

Eventually, you will come across another Site of Grace and once you are there, you can actually teleport out of here. If you do not want to be here anymore, don’t teleport out though, because then you will not have the lovely experience of seeing all that this hidden area has to offer. 

One of them being more bats and a lava fill pathway to take you to the boss. Actually, it’s two bosses. Two Abductor Virgins that you get to fight, one of them using Ghiza’s Wheel hands, the other has the Scythe hands. 

If you do manage to defeat them, you will be rewarded with a weapon. After that, head forward and you will see any other Site of Grace as well as a way out of this abomination of a Cave.

All Hail The Dragonlord 

Welcome to mount Gelmir. Here, you’ll encounter the Great Dragon Placidusax, the secret boss in Elden Ring.

Now there are many secret bosses but this. I think is the one that everyone considers secret boss in Elden Ring. To get to this big dinker of a Dragonlord, you need to first head to Farum Azula.

Once you have found the beside Great Bridge Site of Grace, turn around and head back down the elevator, you just came up. The reason I recommend doing this first is that this is the closest Site of Grace to this boss fight. 

Once you get to the bottom of the elevator, I would recommend killing all Beastman waiting for you. You can run past if you want. But if you kill them, you won’t have them throwing things at you or shooting lightning at you. That could potentially throw off your jumping as you traverse a dangerous cliff area.

Like many areas I’ve talked about before, I completely missed this boss fight on my first playthrough and it wasn’t until watching videos after the fact that I was like, what the heck is Dragonlord Placidusax. 

Turns out I just completely missed these Cliffs that you can jump off onto floating platforms. After traversing the shattered floating cliff side, you will find yourself on a much bigger portion of a wall. That has been shattered and is now floating. You’ll find a little groove that you can lie down in to do that. 

After watching a very calm yet chilling Cutscene, you will get to fight Dragonlord Placidusax. Now my build was absolutely not set up for this guy, but your build actually set up for a boss fight. 

This is one of the coolest boss fights in this game. It is so fun. It’s challenging. The atmosphere is awesome. The music is incredible if you’re able to kill Placidusax, you will be rewarded with a gazillion runes and the remembrance of Dragonlord.

You can take this remembrance back to Roundtable Hold and turn it in for either Dragon King’s Cragblade, which is an awesome heavy Thrusting Sword with one of the coolest weapon skills I’ve ever seen in a Souls game. 

Or you can also get Placidusax ruin, which is a spell or basically a Dragon Incantation that allows you to just spew golden breath all over. It’s really cool. Go fight him.

So there you have it, those what I believe are probably the three most missed locations in all of Elden Ring. Like I said before.

I hope you won’t miss these hidden locations in the game.

Get ready because I'm about to reveal a bunch of important passing techniques that are often overlooked but are currently proving to be crucial in the EA FC 24 Team of the Season event. However, before we delve into these techniques, let's take a moment to enhance our understanding of passing fundamentals.

Passing Basics

Passing is the cornerstone of gameplay in EA Sports FC 24. It's not just about moving the ball between players. An effective passing involves delivering the ball to a teammate smoothly, without disrupting the game's flow. An inaccurate pass can lead to missed offensive opportunities or the opponent gaining possession.

In the game, there are various types of passing, each serving different purposes:

Short Passing: These are ideal for maintaining possession and orchestrating build-up play. The key is to keep the ball rolling with swift and accurate short passes. Long Passing: Used to switch play or find teammates in advanced positions. Timing and the positioning of players are critical factors for successful long passes. Through Balls: Perfect for splitting defensive lines and creating scoring opportunities. The success of through balls depends on anticipating the movement of teammates and executing the pass accurately. Ground Passes

Let's begin with the Ground Pass, the simplest passing method in the EA FC 24. Target a player with your Left Analog Stick and press your X or A button to send a Ground Pass directly to their feet. This is the most commonly used pass, but ensure there's no opponent blocking the passing lane.

The Driven Ground Pass, which is also called the Long Driven Pass, is a more forceful version of the normal Ground Pass. Hold R1 or RB button and power up a normal pass for a faster and stronger delivery. Use it when your passer isn't under pressure to speed up the play, though it relies on the skills of the passer and receiver.

Moving on to the Lofted Ground Pass, it's ideal for bypassing Defenders blocking Ground Passes. Double-tap the Pass button to lift the ball slightly, making it harder to intercept. You can employ this pass inside the box to evade Defenders.

Lastly, the 1-2 Pass adds dynamism to your attack. Hold L1 or LB and pass to a teammate, then watch as your initial passer makes a forward run. Use this to create new passing opportunities and confuse Defenders. It's effective when combined with other passing techniques, especially on the wing to exploit space.

Through Passes

However, not all passes need to go directly to where the receiver is. Sometimes, you need to send the ball to his running lane so that he doesn't lose any speed while catching the ball. Therefore, we have 2 passes that point out the direction your runner is heading to.

Through Pass: Power up the Through Pass with your Triangle or Y button while giving your passer a side angle towards the receiver. This increases the efficiency of the through ball and allows the runner to get behind the defensive line.

Lobbed Through Pass: If someone is trying to anticipate the passing lane and cut it off, allowing runners to get in behind the defense, you can use a Lobbed Through Pass to get the ball past them and into the path of the player. Watch the movement of players, identify the defensive behavior of the opponent. If not, hold down the L1 or LB button and step up the Through Pass.

Another Through Pass variation is a lofted one. It can easily dodge a Defender's interception and get the ball towards your running lane. It is much easier to control the ball with this method compared to the lobbed one. In short distances, double-tapping the Triangle or Y button will allow you to execute it.

The next one is known as the Driven Through Pass, which can be executed by holding on to both the L1 and R1 or LB and RB buttons together. The Driven Through Passes are particularly effective in wider spaces. If you spot a teammate making a direct run towards the goal with minimal defensive coverage, consider using a Driven Through Pass to swiftly deliver the ball to them.

Lob Passes

Moving on to the Lob Pass section, by only using the Square or X button, you can achieve a lot of things, especially when facing pressure. Using a simple Long Pass easily lets you break the pressure. You can also switch sides consistently with the Long Pass to get your buildup in another direction.

If you want your Long Pass to get even higher, which can be very useful for players who have the Aerial PlayStyle. You can utilize your $1 to acquire a player with this particular PlayStyle. Then you can hold on to the L1 or LB button before going for a Lob Pass. This higher Lob Pass will give your pass more height, making headers easier.

On the other side, the Driven Lob Pass does exactly the opposite. Your pass loses height but gains speed, which can be very practical if there's no one between your passer and his target. To be able to use it, hold on to both L1 and R1 or LB and RB buttons together and power up the Lob Pass.

Using this Driven Lob Pass while switching sides is very effective if you're not under any pressure. It allows you to get towards the other side rapidly and increase the pace in your buildup before the defense settles.

Here are a few passing techniques I suggest trying out in the EA FC 24 TOTS Weekend League. Have fun and win more games with them!

With WoW Cataclysm Classic just around the corner, Deathwing burst forth and destroyed the world, bringing sweeping changes to Azeroth and many of WoW’s systems. Fast forward to today, and Deathwing is returning once again in WoW Cataclysm, launching on May 20.

A lot has happened since 2010, so let’s take a moment to revisit Cataclysm patches, review the story and some features introduced, and take a look at the brand new changes coming to Cataclysm Classic!

Patch 4.0.1

Patch 4.0.1 is Cataclysm system pre-patch, introducing several interfaces and system updates ahead of release.

Reforging was introduced, allowing players to assign some of an item’s secondary properties to different secondary properties, and Mastery was introduced, providing a new secondary property for you to consider!

Additionally, spells and abilities changed removing ranks, instead simply scaling with character level, and Spellbook UI was updated with it.

With ammo removed from the game, hunters have seen a number of quality of life improvements, especially as cloth, leather, and mail users see their armor become as durable as plate, which normalizes repair costs across classes. This avoids the problem of spending large amounts of $1 and still not getting satisfactory results, as was the case in the past.

Patch 4.0.3: Shattering

Patch 4.0.3 brings us Shattering. Without warning, the corrupted Dragon Aspects Deathwing bursts from the stone heart of Deepholm, the realm of earth in Elemental Planes. Jagged cracks tear through the land, and raging waves crash against coastal areas.

From Thousand Needles to Blasted Lands, the surface of Azeroth is reshaped in a violent upheaval. Forced to defend their homes against Deathwing and his minions, both the Horde and the Alliance lived with the uneasy fear that the world as they knew it had changed forever.

Shattering saw the continents of Kalimdor and Eastern kingdoms reshaped, offering unique experiences in previously existing areas and new adventures in never before seen zones.

Two races were unlocked Goblins for Horde and Worgen for Alliance, and fresh race and class combinations accompanied them. Nine new dungeons were introduced:

Blackrock Caverns, a network of tunnels created by Deathwing in Blackrock Mountains, where heroes face down members of Twilight’s Hammer cult. Throne of Tides, an underwater dungeon, and part of Abyssal Maw that was filled with naga and ancient of Old Gods. Vortex Pinnacle, located in Elemental Plane, where armies of air elementals gathered and had to be stopped. Stone Core in Temple of Earth above Deepholm that had fallen to Twilight’s Hammer with Mad Priestess Azil in control. Lost City Tol’vir in Uldum which pitched champions against the hostile, Neferset, a faction of Tol’vir created by Titans to guard their research facilities. Halls of Origination, part of Titan research facility of Uldum that was once used to develop new races, was left full of ancient defenses to protect from intruders. Grim Batol, a once great dwarven fortress that had been occupied by Twilight Hammer and the corrupted Black Dragonflight, saw champions ride atop dragons to bombard enemies before engaging them in combat on foot. Deadmines, once the hideout of Defias Brotherhood’s leaders, like Edwin VanCleef, became the primary Defias stronghold, from which new leader Vanessa VanCleef plotted her vengeance. Shadowfang Keep, formerly home to Archmage Arugal and his Worgen until it was liberated by Horde adventurers, was occupied by Vincent Godfrey, traitor to both Gilneas and Forsaken, and was a target of both Alliance and Horde.

Three new raids saw champions face down to some of the bigger threats and allies of Deathwing!

Blackwing Descent was the layer of the resurrected Nefarian, son of Deathwing, and the site of the heinous experiments he conducted in an attempt to create a new breed of chromatic dragons.

Bastion of Twilight was the primary fortress of Twilight Hammer. Cho’gall, the leader of the cult, dwelled here, as well as Sinestra, mother of Nefarian and Onyxia and creator of the first Twilight Dragons, reanimated and overseeing the creation of another Twilight clutch.

Throne of Four Winds was located inside Skywall, and was Al’Akir’s personal lair! With the barrier between Elemental Plane and Azeroth ruptured, his invasion needed to be stopped.

Patch 4.1: Rise of the Zandalari

Patch 4.1 Rise of the Zandalari is the first major patch for WoW Cataclysm! The days where the great troll empire stretched across ancient Kalimdor, were long past. As Azeroth recovered from the destruction of Cataclysm, the world’s divided troll population faced a bleak future.

These dark times spurred the trolls of the Zandalar to drastic action. They began a bold crusade to save their race by unifying the trolls into a powerful empire.

With Zandalari’s aid, the fallen capitals of Gurubashi and Amani nations - Zul’Gurub and Zul’Aman began rebuilding, replenishing their forces for a bloody campaign to expand their territories.

Yet Vol’jin and his Darkspear trolls were not aligned with Zandalari. They vowed to work with the Horde and the Alliance to prevent the trolls from starting a new war in Azeroth. Soon Vol’jin was forced to act on his promise, for if Gurubashi and Amani were left to their own devices, the world would know the legendary strength and savagery of the ancient troll empires once again.

With the trolls attempting to rebuild and reunite, Zul’Aman and Zul’Gurub were reimagined, becoming heroic 5-player dungeons.

Guilds received some attention with the introduction of Guild Challenges that rewarded achievements and gold for completing various content in a guild group. Guild finder tool was also introduced, designed to help players find like-minded friends to tackle these new adventures with.

And a very helpful quality of life improvement also came with this patch. The ability to resurrect allies from raid or party frames, instead of having to locate a fallen companion’s body in the world.

Patch 4.2: Rage of the Firelands

Patch 4.2 Rage of the Firelands, was the second major patch of Cataclysm. Across the breadth of Azeroth, Horde and Alliance dealt crushing blows to Deathwing’s elemental minions and fanatic Twilight’s Hammer cultists.

As the elements continue to be in disarray, it seems that the noble shamanic order may finally be on the verge of collapse under the enormous weight on its shoulders. Even Thrall, for all his wisdom and skill, had grown aggravated by his failure to effectively communicate with Azeroth’s elements.

Recently, his calls were acknowledged, but the malevolent entity that responded had only intensified Thrall’s fears and doubts.

Patch 4.2 brought with it a new raid, Firelands. This molten hellscape in Elemental Plane was forged by Titans to house Ragnaros and his servants. Ragnaros’s invasion of Mount Hyjal could not go unanswered, as champions took the fight to his domain.

A new legendary item, Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa’s Rest could be obtained after completing a considerable questline. This two handed staff was incredibly powerful, and wielding it was a true testament to dedication!

A nice quality of life change, improved Durability Displays’s warnings, adjusting yellow to signify 20% durability as opposed to a durability of 5%. And access to a wealth of information and lore was added directly in-game with the introduction of Dungeon Journal.

Patch 4.3: Hour of Twilight

Patch 4.3 Hour of Twilight was the third and final installment of cataclysm, and its largest content update since launch!

In the aftermath of Cataclysm, the warriors of Azeroth rose up against the forces of the mad black Dragon Aspect Deathwing. Thus far, the world’s defenders had shattered the power base of Twilight’s Hammer cult and defeated the raging elemental Lords Al’Akir and Ragnaros.

Yet despite these victories, as long as Deathwing was free to pursue his twisted goals, Azeroth would remain under threat. No one was more aware of this fact.

The great Dragon Aspects such as Nozdormu, Alexstrasza, Kalecgos, and Ysera. Together with the wise shaman Thrall, they devised a plan to vanquish Deathwing with a weapon of his own design: the infamous Dragon Soul.

Thrall and the noble aspects would call upon Horde and Alliance to help them retrieve the artifact - No longer in existence - from the distant past. Those brave enough to face the challenge would embark on a perilous journey from Azeroth’s apocalyptic End Time to Dragon Soul’s point of origin during the catastrophic War of the ancients. If the heroes succeeded, an even more harrowing battle awaited them in their present.

Hour of Twilight brought three new dungeons:

End Time saw heroes visit potential futures that would come to exist should Deathwing prevail, pitting them against visages of corrupted heroes of Azeroth and ultimately facing down a tormented version of those Nozdormu, called Murozond, who created Infinite Dragonflight and shattered the time ways in an attempt to subvert his own mortality.

Well of Eternity flung heroes back 10,000 years in time, just before Sundering to assist Illidan and Tyrande in battling Burning Legion. As Azshara attempted to bring Sargeras himself to Azeroth. Hour of Twilight saw heroes prepare for the last battle with Deathwing, and fight alongside Thrall to bring Dragon Soul to Wyrmrest Temple.

The final Raid, Dragon Soul, continued to the fight in the besieged temple through Last of Deathwing’s lieutenants and ultimately onto Destroyer himself. As Thrall, Dragon Aspects and the champions of Azeroth attempted to end Cataclysm once and for all.

A new legendary pair of daggers called Fangs of the Father could be obtained by rogues after completing a multi-quest chain that concluded with the defeat of Deathwing.

And Raid Fighter tool was introduced, offering a quick way for players to form a group for a specifically tuned version of Dragon Soul Raid.

With all these epic storylines, legendary items, dungeons, raids, Cataclysm era was densely packed.

But perhaps one of the greatest systems introduced in all of Cataclysm, perhaps one of the greatest systems introduced in all of WoW came with patch 4.3 - Transmogrification.

This new cosmetic system allows players to customize their gear like never before by copying the appearance of one item onto another. Gone were the days of mismatched armor and feeling like you had to choose stats over aesthetics!

In Cataclysm Classic, the core story and experiences will remain, but a few things have gotten some changes.

Firstly, things are going to be faster. An increased content cadence will condense the entire expansion into about one year, while an expanded pre-patch means the action starts sooner.

As of the pre-patch going live, the shattering has come to Azeroth. Kezan and Gilneas starter zones are now available, and Goblins and Worgen are unlocked and can be leveled up to 80.

Also, Transmogrification is unlocked, as are account wide collections. New class and race combos are unlocked, along with class updates like talents and spells. Archeology and Reforging are also unlocked. Accelerated leveling from 1 to 80 is in place, which will help you roll alts in this faster environment. And flying is unlocked in the newly reshaped Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms.

At launch, several more iconic features from Cataclysm will come online. Five zones will be unlocked. Mountain Hyjal, Vash’jir, Twilight Highlands, Uldum, and Deepholm will all be available for 80 through 85 questing.

And the 9 dungeons we explored earlier that were part of patch 4.0.3 will all be unlocked, along with a new heroic Dungeon system. Tol Barad world PVP zone that pits Horde against Alliance for the control of three objectives will also unlock at launch, as will everyone’s favorite fairgrounds Darkmoon Island.

After launch Throne of the Four Winds, Blackwing Descent, and Bastion of Twilight will make their appearance and a new flexible Raid Lock System, which allows players to do both the 10 and 25 player versions of raids in the same week. Plus, additional content updates will continue to roll out as the expansion unfolds.

That’s it for my review of all the major WoW Cataclysm Classic patches released so far. Anyway, the new expansion is coming soon, so let’s wait and see!