WOW Cataclysm to begin beta soon?

By Robert Purchese Published 8 April, 2010

Blizzard appears to be suggesting so.

Blizzard's closed beta for the new World of Warcraft expansion Cataclysm may begin soon.

The developer mailed members of the press informing them it was "starting to gear up" for the testing phase, although 1UP reported that no dates were disclosed.

Blizzard has committed to a calendar 2010 launch for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, but said little more. A beta soon could mean a summer launch, or simply that there will be a long testing period before full release in the autumn - perhaps October, when Blizzard's annual BlizzCon event gets underway.

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm brings Onyxia's and Nefarian's dragon-father Deathwing back to Azeroth, a return that has devastating consequences for the existing world, tearing it asunder. In real terms, that means Blizzard is revamping the entire old world.

In addition, the level cap's being upped to 85, two new races introduced - the Goblins for the Horde and the Worgen for the Alliance - and new class-race options available.

And that's not all; head over to our hands-on impressions of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm for a bigger picture.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (20) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Tio #1 2 years ago

    resist....resist...must resist....

  • apolloscollapse #2 2 years ago

    Screw resisting, I'm gonna jack this shit straight into my vains!!!!

  • CaptainQuint #3 2 years ago

    "WOW Cataclysm to begin Beta soon?"

    This place is going to the dogs, with it's hyperbolic Daily Star style headlines.
    Edited by CaptainQuint at 08/04/10 @ 09:24

  • Lionheart #4 2 years ago

    I re-activated my account yesterday because me and my friend wanted a warm up to CAT. This is such a nice coincidence :)

  • Eraysor #5 2 years ago

    Hurry up Blizzard!

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #6 2 years ago

    This place is going to the dogs, with it's hyperbolic Daily Star style headlines.

    I'm not sure that headline would sell newspapers. How would you have worded it, given the space constraint?

    And there appear to people interested in the news, which is what we're after when we pick things to report - especially on quiet days like these.

  • CaptainQuint #7 2 years ago

    @Bertie

    Lol I was just taking the piss, there's nothing wrong with the headline -- "WOW" doesn't just stand for World of Warcraft ;)

    Keep up the good work.
    Edited by CaptainQuint at 08/04/10 @ 09:44

  • geeza2020 #8 2 years ago

    does this whole world re-vamp thing mean that owning the original vanilla WoW is now completely pointless? I dont understand :(

  • OnlyMe #9 2 years ago

    I assume the changes done to the world with Cataclysm is done through a patch and not through the expansion. The world will change completely, and nothing will be the same again. This probably means different quests for the areas that are changed drastically as well. But I don't think the Vanilla version is useless, just outdated and the world you get in the vanilla version is not the world you're gonna get when you log online.

    But I'm sure they still print copies of the original, and the latest editions will always have the patches that were applied to the game before it was pressed.

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #10 2 years ago

    @Geeza - no Cata IS vanilla in a way the 1-60 content will be a 'out of pack' change, everyone will have that part of the content changed forever no matter what version you buy, the only thing you'll miss out on without buying the exspantion is the 80-85 content.. So techically speaking you can just resub to the game again without buying anything but vaniila and poke your head in to see the changes.

    Atm Blizz are previewing the class changes - it's not just 'heres some new spells' either theres a whole load of changes to the core systems (like range and mana) as well most changes are a long time comming TBH - any Vanilla player jaded by TBC and Wrath is going to be seriusly tempted by these changes in Cata... it's a very much needed 'reboot' to the game.
    Edited by Kremlik at 08/04/10 @ 10:18

  • darkmorgado #11 2 years ago

    They are starting to reveal the big changes they are making to Classes on the EU website -

    [link url=http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=12947281618&sid=1
    ]http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html...[/link]

    Shaman, Warlock and Priest changes discussed so far, and they have announced a total revamp of the Death Knight talent trees, making Blood a dedicated tanking tree.

  • poopmonster #12 2 years ago

    oh no, just as I was getting over it. I can even talk about my life in WoW in the past tense.

    Not good...

  • dingo75 #13 2 years ago

    I don't know whether I can motivate myself enough to kill dragons again (yawn) in Cataclysm.
    Stand close to back right leg of the motherf... and dps the shit out of him / her until an air phase / fear.
    Avoid tail lash. Repeat.

    All depends on how much I can "hate" Deathwing.
    Arthas / Lich King was the biggest badass in Warcraft to me and now he is dead.
    Not sure this was a good idea from Blizzard.

    My guess for the release date: November 2010 (like WoTLK which also came in November).
    Edited by dingo75 at 08/04/10 @ 10:35

  • OnlyMe #14 2 years ago

    "Just when I thought I was out, they drag me back in!"

    /Al Pacino

  • sneetch #15 2 years ago

    @CaptainQuint

    If it makes you feel better, I got the joke. :)

  • sneetch #16 2 years ago

    @Kremlik
    Atm Blizz are previewing the class changes - it's not just 'heres some new spells' either theres a whole load of changes to the core systems (like range and mana) as well most changes are a long time comming TBH - any Vanilla player jaded by TBC and Wrath is going to be seriusly tempted by these changes in Cata... it's a very much needed 'reboot' to the game.

    Yep, I personally can't wait for the warlock changes, I've played one since launch and I almost widdled a little on the strength of the announcement that they were going to remove soul shards. The other changes will be fantastic.

    I hope they scale back the improvements in equipment, with Emblems of Triumph you can pretty rapidly get to the stage where a group of half-alert players on Teamspeak or Ventrillo can blitz just about all content outside of Icecrown. I'd prefer to see a gentler slope between the gear requirements for cataclysm raids, more about teamwork and coordination than pure gear.

    Edit: sorry, I meant remove soul shards as a physical thing that you need a bag of.
    Edited by sneetch at 08/04/10 @ 11:02

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #17 2 years ago

    @Bertie

    Lol I was just taking the piss, there's nothing wrong with the headline -- "WOW" doesn't just stand for World of Warcraft ;)

    Keep up the good work.

    Oops! Sorry. Tetchiness fail :)

  • Slipstream #18 2 years ago

    Cheers Dark!

    I'm sooo glad Priests can be considered for Tank healing again, also LOVE the sound of Life Grip xD I think it would be much more useful for lower level questing however because at Lv 85 you're usually in tightly knitted groups that yo're never that far from a target that needs healing anyway, plus this move lol it's totally gonna be exploited like Death Grip xD

    Anyway good news, good news!

  • Lionheart #19 2 years ago

    Thanks for the info Dark, looks like I'll be consuming that on my lunch break :)

  • gmjapan #20 2 years ago

    Hopefully this is a long way away and i can continue to refer to my time in WoW in the past tense as well. But i will be checking it out.

    Wrath seemed to make everything about "gogogo!" 5 minute fixes and crazy rewards. WotLK was also the first time i managed to get truely bored with the game.

    @sneetch: i hope they scale back the improvements in equipment as well.