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World Of Warcraft: Cataclysm Beta Beginning

by Phil Kollar on Jun 30, 2010 at 01:00 PM

This week, Blizzard finally opened the gates of Ruby Sanctum, a new raid encounter for World of Warcraft and likely the last bit of significant progression content that will be added for the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Not one to let its fan base worry about a lack of new content, Blizzard has just announced the beginning of the long-awaited beta test for their third expansion, Cataclysm.

Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime explained the reasons for the beta and the expansion pack itself in a recent press release:

"Our focus with Cataclysm has been to build on the knowledge we've gained through the previous expansions to deliver the best, most compelling World of Warcraft content for our players to date. Gathering focused feedback during the beta test will go a long way in helping us reach that goal when we launch Cataclysm later this year."

For those who haven't already heard, the press release also clarifies some of the new additions being made in the expansion: an increased level cap of 85, two new playable races (Worgen for the Alliance, Goblins for the Horde), a bunch of new zones, a new big bad by the name of Deathwing (the angry-looking dragon pictured above), and a completely reshaped old world that will see almost every zone from the game's original two continents changed in some significant way.

If you've signed up to be a part of the closed beta test and are one of the lucky chosen, you should be receiving e-mail notification soon. I'm sure I won't be the only one checking my inbox over and over again for the next few days.