Buckle up World of Warcraft wonks, your world’s finally ending in December after five geophysically peaceful years of topographical regularity.
Kiss your Azeroth (as you know it) goodbye when the apocalypse takes place on December 7. Mark your calendars, take any final pictures, and say your farewells while you can.
The cost of catastrophe? $39.99 for the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm regular edition, or $79.99 for a collector’s trove stuffed with a behind-the-scenes DVD, soundtrack, 176-page art book, trading card starter packs, and an exclusive in-game pet named Lil’ Deathwing, after the monster responsible for the looming disaster. Note the collector’s edition will only be available at retail.
Cataclysm marks Blizzard’s attempt to bring more than just a couple new races (werewolves and goblins), zones, raids, battlegrounds, and a new level cap (85) to the party. This time, Azeroth itself goes under the knife (or, if you will, world-sized payloader).
“Cataclysm includes the best content we’ve ever created for World of Warcraft,” said Blizzard CEO and cofounder Mike Morhaime in a press statement. “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.”
“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.”
Blizzard’s still soliciting beta testers if you want a sneak peek. I’ll wait. I’ve got my hands full leveling up a Tauren Hunter and Night Elf Druid before some guy in a rabbit suit shows up in Thunder Bluff with a stopwatch and I’m hearing Tears for Fears tunes over slow-motion raid video playbacks.
Follow us on Twitter (@game_on)