So, last night was the midnight release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. What am I doing awake and not playing it right now? I'll take things that pay the bills for 1000, Alex.
Anywho, I was determined to be first in line last night. Determined. I got to GameStop at 8:40 local time. Yeah, that means I waited 3 hours, 20 minutes for Cataclysm. But I was first in line. First! For once, I was first at something. The employees and manager at the Brier Creek Gamestop were awesome, letting me stay inside until the last customer (other than me) left. Then came das boot at roughly 21:00 (that's 9 pm for you non-military time folks). So I stood outside. Had I still been in Rhode Island for that, I would have said "Eff this" and waited in the car. But, this is North Carolina, how bad can it be? Uh, below freezing and windy. OK. I can deal. Wool pea coat? Check. Wool hat? Check. Gloves? Check. Snuggly scarf? Check. Sub-zero rated hiking boots? Check. A way to operate my Droid? Uh...
The next line-waiters didn't show until about 21:20. They were awesome. Their names elude me, but I remember them being awesome. They both play Horde, though she has a Night Elf Druid (doesn't like "Cow People", which Durok was a sad panda about when he finally showed). Durok arrived shortly thereafter, and promptly took my coffee order. Mint mocha. Delicious. That' when people started filing in. The line was getting deeper and deeper. And my excitement was growing and growing. Apparently, most of the Northeast Raleigh/Morrisville crowd plays Horde, as there were few folks with even Alliance alts. This made the little Undead Warlock inside me cackle with joy. MWAHAHA! We sat out in the cold together, our little makeshift family of geeks, counting down the minutes until 22:30 when they would open the doors for pre-ringing.
More after the cut.
They opened the doors early! By 13 minutes, no less. The guy at the door was very nice, protecting my front of the line territory, even from Durok. I explained that, yes, he's with me. And, yes, he's getting Cataclysm, too. Why else would we have preordered and prepaid for 2 collectors' editions? The manager let our family of line-waiters wait inside until midnight. One hour and 43 minutes has never taken so long in my life! The first ten went by quickly, the next hour not so much.
At about 23:00, I started the timer. The countdown began. as I watched the minutes and the seconds tick by, my excitement just grew. If you've never been first in line for a midnight release: try it. The last 10 minutes is the greatest adrenaline rush I've ever had, short of spinning out on the Garden State Expressway. Next post: what happened in the last 30 minutes to midnight, and once I got home.
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