World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is about five weeks away from release, but the apocalypse waits for now orc/man/elf. According to WoW Insider, elementals and cultists are spawning outside of a variety of locations in Azeroth and they're not too friendly. Said to be only the earliest and weakest of events leading up to the greater Cataclysm, WoW players interested in getting the full expansion experience best start now before the storm grows out of control.

As if most World of Warcraft players didn't have enough to do leading up to the Cataclysm, the live event that began today introduced a number of new quests for Alliance and Horde players. The quests revolve around investigating a doomsday cult that is growing in Azeroth's cities. This involves listening to a number of 'Harbingers of Doom', collection their end of times pamphlets, and eventually infiltrating the cult itself. As is the nature of these things, the quest-line will eventually lead into an epic adventure. Hard to say if this adventure has a happy ending, though.

Other interesting details include daily quest objects that the elementals drop which likely will eventually lead to unlocking a portal and two angry bosses. There are also more earthquakes occurring around the world, but that's probably just an odd coincidence, right?

These sorts of uncommon events are what make MMOs so fascinating. It's not so out of the ordinary for a single player game to change the setting drastically without warning, but even the slightest changes in an MMO typically have large, unexpected effects. The small series of quests introduced today will likely encourage players to visit locations that may not see more than a few daily passersby. Random elemental spawns might clear entire zones of low level players, or encourage it to grow with higher level bodyguards. Small earthquakes can cause thousands of gamers to pause briefly at their desktop and say, "What was that?"

It's a very exciting time in World of Warcraft, and Blizzard likely has big plans for players in the coming weeks. Will you join in on the Cataclysm, or at least watch the happenings from the safety of the internet?

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm releases on December 7 for PC and Mac. Preload the expansion right now so you're prepared for launch day.

Source: WoW Insider