Congratulations to all Realm Firsts!

12/10/2010

And I mean that sincerely. I had been hoping to snag at least one, but it wasn't in the cards. The snafu of the Cataclysm launch had me try logging out at about 12:05, and I wasn't able to get back in until 12:20. I quickly used my mats to powerlevel to 525 cooking, but someone already got realm first on that.

Unfazed, I immediately used my ring to teleport to Dalaran, determined to go for realm first in fishing, and hopefully fishing up a Rat that had been eluding me for so long. I ran into someone else down there with the same goal, and he was maintaining a 15 skill point lead on me for the hour I was down there, so I switched gears again.

Maybe, I could get Realm First Archaeology?
I picked up Archaeology, slung my surveying pick over my shoulder, and headed out. I was following Kaliope's guide/suggestions, so I made sure to wait until level 75 to start solving artifacts, but I probably should have waited longer.

I would really, REALLY recommend you do most of your Archaeology before 85, because at least you'll get some XP for digging up fragments, and that's about the most exciting thing that will happen to you during that time. It's basically a LOT of traveling, followed by a mini-game of Minesweeper when you get to the dig sites.
Like Kaliope says when surveying "The survey tool has an indicator light on it, which glows in one of three colors depending on your proximity to the artifact you are tracking. Red means you’re pretty far away, but the large end of the scope is pointing you in the direction of the object. Yellow means you’re getting closer, but probably at least 50 yards away. Green means the object is very close, within 40 yards of you."
My take on it was "Red-mount up and fly for about 3 seconds in the direction of where the telescope is pointing. Yellow- mount and bound forward for about a second of flight time. Green- start spamming the survey tool every 5 feet, while enjoying the 5 second cooldown that Blizzard has on it."

-Tips to not go mental while surveying. Kill stuff! There's a guild achievement for critters killed, so while you wait for the cooldown, kill those level 1 critters you see roaming around.

I think I got to about 225 Archaelogy in my first 12 hours of play, and that was pretty hardcore grinding too. After that, I had some prior engagements to take care of, so my time doing Archaeology was pretty spotty during the week. I had some free time today, and wasn't sure if anyone had gotten the Achievement yet, so I decided to go all out and try for it. I had gotten to 420 skill level, when all of a sudden, the Realm First message popped up. The annoying thing about it was that I had just seen that guy in Zul'Drak, and he had whispered to me, but Infinite Ignore had blocked it, which meant that he was a regular Trade Troll, which I normally ignore. If he was a normal player, I would have whispered congrats, but people that make a practice of being idiotic in trade chat I have no respect for.

At least I'm not self-pressured to only do Archaelogy now, I can play my other toons!