Om Nom Nom

So, in honour of the imminent release of Cataclysm, one of my co-workers and fellow guildies has created this little masterpiece...and before you ask, no, the dragon is not edible.

Stood in the Fire

So there I was, quietly minding my own business while questing out in Eastern Plaguelands, continuing my pursuit of Loremaster of Eastern Kingdoms. I was at Light's Shield Tower, about to hand in another of the quests which was part of the Fiona and her caravan quest chain, when all of a sudden the sky turned blood red.....!!
Immediately, my thoughts were.....could it be?
I'd read that since The Shattering, Deathwing now randomly appears in a zone and burns absolutely everything in  sight to a crisp....so was I in the right (or wrong) place at the right time. I quickly mounted up and rode around the tower and sure enough, there he was....flying towards me, breathing fire and toasting everything in sight. Immediately I began riding towards him and as soon as I reached the flame, I dropped dead.
In my excitement and haste to try and secure the achievement, I'm embarassed to say I completely forgot to take a screenshot. I can offer only this as proof for now....but rest assured I will make sure I get it next time.

For those who are chasing the achievement, here's some info (reprinted from Official WoW forums).

Q: Will this last long enough on any given day I can have time to run there and get some……or is it something that will pop up and be done 5 minutes later and I’m just going to have to be lucky in the right zone?

A:There is very little warning once he decides to strafe a zone. If you’re not in the zone already, you have virtually no chance of sacrificing yourself to his flame.

If you’re in the zone, you’re almost definitely screwed.

The achievement is a Feat of Strength since it won’t be available forever. Given the rate at which this occurs and the random way in which he chooses to attack, virtually everyone who earns the Feat of Strength will get it by accident — it’s a wrong place at the wrong time sort of thing.


Q: So does this mean he’s going to strafe zones all through Cataclysm until the 4.x patch when he’s killable and he’s dropped on a realm sometime?

A: Yes, this isn’t a permanent event, but will last so long as he’s free to roam the world.


Q: Will Deathwing be crisping the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor only, or will the frozen wastes of Northrend feel his firey wrath?

A: This will be specific to the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, though he will choose his locations quite indiscriminately.


Q: If you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, do you have to be a certain level to get the achive? I can smell the QQ already from players who can’t have fun. Like, low levels thinking they should be safe from everything, and will cry during the event if they die – then later will cry as higher levels when they can no longer do the event.

A: Deathwing doesn’t care what level you are.


Q: Will there be any zones not open to attack?
Do all zones have an equal chance of being attacked?
How best may I sacrifice myself to my lord and masters righteous flames?

A: Because his flames literally kill any creature, critter, NPC, or player in Deathwing’s path, there are a few places we’re not having him go for gameplay reasons. The large majority of the zones on the two continents are fair game though.


So basically – there’s no point joining Deathwing alert channels to alert players to the right zone and then get over there – you only have seconds to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, he should be active until the patch that puts him in as a raid boss, so there should be plenty of time for a nice, toasty, dragon-flavoured happenstance.