Cataclysm Alpha / SPOILERS BE AND GOES HERE!

IRVINE, Calif., Oct 04, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that World of Warcraft(R): Cataclysm(TM), the highly anticipated third expansion for the world's most popular subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game*, will be released starting on December 7, 2010. The expansion will be available on DVD-ROM for Windows(R) XP/Windows Vista(R)/Windows(R) 7 and Macintosh(R) at a suggested retail price of $39.99 and will also be offered as a digital download from the Blizzard Store. A special Collector's Edition packed with bonus items will be available exclusively in retail stores for a suggested retail price of $79.99.

"Cataclysm includes the best content we've ever created for World of Warcraft. It's not just an expansion, but a re-creation of much of the original Azeroth, complete with epic new high-level adventures for current players and a redesigned leveling experience for those just starting out," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "With the help of our beta testers, we're putting on the final polish, and we look forward to welcoming gamers around the world to enjoy it in just a couple of months."

The first two World of Warcraft expansions, The Burning Crusade(R) and Wrath of the Lich King(R), each shattered PC game sales records upon their release.* In Cataclysm, the face of Azeroth will be forever altered by the return of the corrupted Dragon Aspect Deathwing. Players will explore once-familiar areas of the world that have now been reshaped by the devastation and filled with new adventures. In an effort to survive the planet-shattering cataclysm, two new playable races — worgen and goblins — will join the struggle between the Alliance and the Horde. As players journey to the new level cap of 85, they'll discover newly revealed locations, acquire new levels of power, and come face to face with Deathwing in a battle to determine the fate of the world.

The beta test for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is currently underway. Visit the official Battle.net(R) website at http://www.battle.net to set up a Battle.net account and sign up for a chance to participate. To learn more about World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, visit http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm.

Warcraft expansion gets debut day

The arrival of Deathwing makes big changes to the Warcraft game world.
World of Warcraft's third expansion will be released on 7 December.

Blizzard, creator of the hugely successful online game, confirmed the date as rumours of a December release swirled around the internet.

The expansion will re-make some of the original territories of the Warcraft world and introduce two new races.

It will also overhaul some of the basic mechanics of the game and give players a chance to make their characters even more powerful.

World of Warcraft (WoW) is an online game in which players create characters, such as warriors, warlocks and shaman, who they then take on adventures to gather loot and items to make the avatars more powerful. WoW is among the most successful of the so-called massively multi-player online games.

The expansion - called Cataclysm - will be available worldwide on 7 December and players will be able to buy it in shops or download it from the Blizzard store. The retail price for the expansion will be 34.99 euros (£30). A collector's edition will also be available only in shops for 69.99 euros (£60).

As the name of the add-on implies, Cataclysm will make big changes to Azeroth - the world in which the game is set. These changes are caused by the return of a dragon called Deathwing.

The expansion will also raise the level cap to 85 from 80 and introduce the goblin and worgen playable races to WoW.

To get at the content in Cataclysm, players must already have an up to date copy of World of Warcraft. Earlier expansions for WoW were the Burning Crusade in January 2007 and The Wrath of the Lich King in November 2008.

Saevir wrote:70 euro for a collector's edition? Good thing I stopped short of ever collecting those

Tashun/Galavan wrote:Nice lamp for RP:

Lukeian/Natelda wrote:So, what's the deal with these dark irons anywho?

Anaei/Vezullia wrote:"Saturday, October 23
Cinematics: Cataclysm - 10:30AM - 11:30AM."

So we should be seeing the cinematic soon enough, even a bad quality secretly filmed one.

Rakshine/Vect wrote:Tree form?

Jakins wrote:

Hmmm, kinda worried about whether this is real or not. Heh.

TO BE PRECISE! The model is made but the textures were created by somebody, so it is just a canvas model with glowing eyes just now, so it was just a white block until they touched it up.

Baròth wrote:I don't know if this has been posted already... But here's the "cinematic" for the goblin starting zone, don't watch it if you don't like spoilers.