Now that I have everyone singing Europe’s song “Final Countdown” – its time to really prepare for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. Midnight EST/9PM PST – the realms will be launching Wrath. Do you have your copy?

I strongly urge everyone to prepare the best they can, here are some pointers that I think can help everyone pass the time until Midnight.

  1. Know your gear upgrades – research on WoW-Loot.com, wowhead.com, or other database sites. It is important to not waste your time chasing upgrades that might only be minor from an instance, that you will replace in a quest. Remember that a lot of T6 won’t NEED to be replaced, however don’t forget that crit will need to be monitored as to be able to harness Surge of Light, Holy Concentration, and Divine Aegis.
  2. Get a good zone map or leveling guide – Jame has put together another fantastic one for Alliance and Horde. Knowing where things are instead of aimlessly running around a zone to only have to go back across the zone, passing through an area where you need to kill 5 mobs is a waste of everyone’s time.
  3. Teamwork – if you have a leveling buddy, do it, help each other out. Don’t be a jerk while leveling snagging mobs from other players trying to do the same quests. The person you steal from today, might just be your guildmate tomorrow.
  4. Do your dailies tonight – you can easily complete your 25 dailies tonight, and then turn them in at 12:01 for XP. I recommend turning in the Isle quest last in your loop to use the Darnarian’s Scroll of Teleportation back to Shatt. Then its just a quick portal to SW/IF then onto Northrend!
  5. Have fun – period. Remember its a game! Making it a complete chore to get to 80 ruins the fun. For some, staying up late into the morning with Guildmates while pushing the grind is fun. Take some time off here and there, go outside, watch a movie with your better half. Coming at the game with a fresh perspective does wonders, that and logging out in an Inn gives you rested XP!
  6. Download 3.0.3 with Wrath – if you have time, the connection, and Blizzard’s links are working, you can download 3.0.3 w/ Wrath Content. It saves you some time at midnight tonight (since you wont have to install and patch) and gets you into Northrend that much sooner, but without a Account Upgrade Key you can’t do anything yet. Blizzard’s Wrath download is here

I have to plug DwarfPriest.com here. She did a FANTASTIC write up for her WOTLK Survival Guide here from Spec suggestions, to gear upgrades, to reputation information. Worth the read, no doubt.

Just over 14 hours to go, folks. Good luck!