Cataclysm Classic’s pre-patch is now live, but the Twilight’s Hammer questline and Elemental Unrest event are not (yet)!

The World of Warcraft Cataclysm Classic pre-patch is now live, bringing an overhaul of changes to questing, player leveling, class systems, and the introduction of two new playable races and much (much!) more in this complete overhaul of WoW Classic.

Typically the pre-patch comes with an event but it looks like Blizzard hasn’t implemented the Twilight’s Hammer questline and Elemental Unrest PVE events in Cataclysm Classic’s pre-patch which is odd considering Blizzard included pre-patch events leading into The Burning Crusade Classic and Wrath of the Lich King Classic. Just because it’s not in the game now doesn’t mean it won’t make it at all, however. Despite the deviation in content from the original Cataclysm pre-patch, there’s still a few more weeks until Cataclysm Classic’s launch on May 20 and considering the story implications of the pre-patch questline, it still makes more sense to implement it into the game than cutting it outright.

We’ll get a better idea as the pre-patch continues but for now here’s a rundown of the Twilight’s Hammer questline and Elemental Unrest events we expect at some point in Cataclysm Classic’s pre-patch.

How to start the Twilight’s Hammer Cult questline

The questline originally served as a preamble to the Cataclysm expansion involving the Twilight’s Hammer cult and their activities in Stormwind and Orgrimmar before the eventual Shattering of Azeroth. The questlines are congruent across both factions so everyone will experience the same story. During the original pre-patch, the quests progressed each week of the pre-patch before Cataclysm’s launch and the Cataclysm Classic pre-patch questline might progress differently.

To get started, Alliance players need to go to Captain Anton in Stormwind Keep and Horde players should report to Blood Guard Torek in the Valley of Strength in Orgrimmar.

How to do the Elemental Unrest event

During the original pre-patch, players were also able to participate in Elemental Invasion PVE event which was split into two activities: defending each faction’s capital city and fighting elemental invaders throughout different zones.

Zone Invasions

Zone invasions happen throughout different zones across Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor, Northrend, and Outland. Players can begin participating once they hit level 10. Each zone is invaded hourly by a certain elemental enemy type (fire, water, earth, or wind) and doesn’t change throughout the event. When an invasion happens, there will be an elemental rift that appears and spawns enemies:

• Defeat these enemies to reduce the rift’s health to zero which closes the rift.
• The first rift closure of the day will give you a daily quest instructing you to deliver a Mysterious Device to an Earthen Ring Emissary in one of your faction’s capital cities.
• Completing the quest rewards currency and will probably reward gear, though we don’t know what ilevel it drops at yet.

Depending on the element type, you’ll get one hour stat buff: Earth Powered, Fire Powered, Water Powered, and Wind Powered. There’s also a new feat of strength, Tripping the Rifts, you can earn by completing one of each rift type during the pre-patch event.

Defending a faction capital city

Once the Twilight’s Hammer questline progresses past a certain point, two elemental types will begin attacking two capital cities (one Alliance and one Horde) every few hours. Like the zone invasions, the elementals stay the same each time:

• Ironforge and Orgrimmar — Fire and Earth
• Stormwind and Thunder Bluff — Water and Air

These attacks are preceded by a five minute warning and are meant for level 80 players. Before the attack, you can help set defensive barricades and grab an Earthen Ring Unbinding Totem. When the attack happens, you’ll have a limited amount of time to complete the following objectives:

• Free trapped citizens using your totem
• Defeat elementals and close rift

Once the rifts are closed and enemies defeated, you can queue up to fight an Elemental Lord in an instanced mini-dungeon and defeating one of these bosses rewards you with ilvl 251 gear:

• Kai’ju Gahz’rilla
• Crown Princess Theradras
• Grand Ambassador Flamelash
• Prince Sarsarun

The original Cataclysm pre-patch first implemented the system changes, then the questline and Elemental Invasions which escalated over the course of three weeks, before ending with the Shattering, at which point players had another three weeks to explore a vastly different Azeroth before the expansion’s launch.

The Cataclysm Classic pre-patch event looks like it will fit everything between April 30 and May 20 so things might happen more quickly or all at once and we’ll continue to update as we learn more!

Originally published on April 29, 2024. Updated on April 30, 2024.