Rumor: WoW's Cataclysm Just Around the Corner

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John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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Rumor: WoW's Cataclysm Just Around the Corner



The day that will live in infamy in Azeroth may be here sooner than you think.

Thus far, Blizzard has been characteristically tight-lipped regarding the release date of Cataclysm the third expansion for its mega-MMOG World of Warcraft. It'll be out when it's done, of course, and not a moment sooner.

We may now have some idea just when, exactly, that moment will be: December 7th.

This is an unofficial date and has not yet been confirmed by Blizzard, of course. Still, there's a fair bit of evidence supporting the theory: Two WoW fan sites (WoWHead [http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/1994-Cataclysm-Beta-Build-13117]) both independently noticed that the latest patch notes contained the following information:

"Arena battles and Rated Battlegrounds are only available during an active player versus player combat season. Season nine will begin on December 14th, so be prepared at that time to take your shot at glory!"

Some of you may be saying, so the new arena season begins on December 14th? That doesn't really tell us anything unless we're fans of PvP combat, right? Maybe, maybe not - but then we have World of Warcraft: Cataclysm [http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=27026472909&sid=1]." Not only is December 7th a week before the planned new arena season, it's also a Tuesday - the day on which Blizzard (and indeed, most major developers) releases all of its games.

If that wasn't enough, a throwaway line [http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/09/30/arena-season-9-to-begin-on-december-14-cataclysm-launch-dec-7th/comments/30742170/] in one of the fluff pieces surrounding the retaking of Gnomeregan event: "[With] the fall of the Lich King, the last great threat to the citizens of Azeroth, the chance of any cataclysmic event taking place in the foreseeable future is 'less than 12.7%,' Mekkatorque's leading combat medical advisor Doc Cogspin purported."

12.7%, hm? Cheeky, Blizzard. Very cheeky.

As always, this is a rumor and shouldn't be taken as the gospel truth until we hear something official from Blizzard - but if you wanted to start booking your days off in advance right now, I don't think we'd blame you.

Incidentally, this means that the expansion will have been in a beta testing stage for six months at launch, half again as long as either of the previous two. I guess there's just more to test this time around.

(Via 1UP [http://www.1up.com/news/rumor-world-warcraft-cataclysm-december])

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Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
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That screenshot makes me laugh for some reason...WHY?

Oh well, only a few months until I try WoW again.
 

IamQ

New member
Mar 29, 2009
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Tuseday? Huzza, I've got school and the hollidays are about 2 weeks from that date.
 

Celtic_Kerr

New member
May 21, 2010
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Imteresting, very interesting. I thought it was rumored for november, but a few weeks more won't kill.

I hope all of this goes well. I just feel sorry for my guild leader. He's memorized ALL the quests abnd locations, so for cataclysm, he's going to be at a total loss XD
 

Therumancer

Citation Needed
Nov 28, 2007
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Hmmm, well I can't say much about it. I simply think that since it's October and that's only two months away that it's unlikely. December 7th would a solid Christmas release date, but I'd expect more of a sudden marketing blitz than we've been seeing.
 

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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Therumancer said:
Hmmm, well I can't say much about it. I simply think that since it's October and that's only two months away that it's unlikely. December 7th would a solid Christmas release date, but I'd expect more of a sudden marketing blitz than we've been seeing.
Not necessarily. WotLK was November 13th, and we didn't even know the release date until that September.

If the marketing blitz starts this month (and with Blizzcon at the end, there's no way it won't), we're still on schedule.
 

Rad Party God

Party like it's 2010!
Feb 23, 2010
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Hmm, that's quite interesting. It's like a conspiracy made on purpose by Blizz to make some buzz... maybe this is the start of said advertising campaing to start making buzz for free until they made it official (maybe tomorrow?).

Also, I can't wait to start playing WoW again and get hooked (addicted) again. It's been 3 long years since then.
 

Marmooset

New member
Mar 29, 2010
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The other day I heard Thrall say - cryptically enough - "When it's ready."
I wonder if that might be a clue?
 

Owlslayer

New member
Nov 26, 2009
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Good news for all our WoW-junkies, i guess. All this commotion about WoW these days has me tempted to try it out. But i must not! If i do, i might lose what little social life i have! And i don't really have a social life.
 

Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
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Well, I am sure all in WoW arwe ready to have there world tipped upside down, literally.

Hope they will enjoy it
 

VanityGirl

New member
Apr 29, 2009
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It seems pretty fun. I'd really like to play this. Decemeber 7th gives me enough time to get my druid to level 80. Hehe.
 

ThreeKneeNick

New member
Aug 4, 2009
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Actually, the distributor for Activision Blizzard games for Serbia has the date November 2nd on their website. They even have a countdown timer. I didn't take them seriously, but you never know, eh.
 

Ghengis John

New member
Dec 16, 2007
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So I only get 20 or so more tries to get that fucking raptor I've been trying to get every three days for a year. And every seven days the two years before that. Damn it. I'm never going to get my raptor :(.
 

solidstatemind

Digital Oracle
Nov 9, 2008
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Haven't you guys noticed that they're already preloading the data for the 3.3.5-to-4.0.0 patch? Odds are, we'll see that go live in the next few weeks. If they do the same thing that they did with Wrath, they'll put it in place, do some serious bug-stomping for 6 weeks or so, and then launch the X-pac.

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if it went down like this:
-Patch hits right before or after BlizzCon.
-Release announcement/party at BlizzCon.
-Late Nov/Early Dec, Cata ships.
-Blizzard spends Christmas sitting on heaps of money.
 

ravensshade

resident shadow
Mar 18, 2009
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solidstatemind said:
-Blizzard spends Christmas sitting on even larger heaps of money.
fixed

also eh WoW.. there's never been a MMO which has ever held my attention for more then 2 months at a time (granted only trialled WoW but eh..) and this is quite a lot of rumor mongering..
 

Vaccine

New member
Feb 13, 2010
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Oh god, if it's really Dec 7th, hot damn I have 2 months off starting around then, RIP my social life.