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WOW: Cataclysm in early December?

Arena season suggests release date.

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm looks set for an early December release date, according to some enterprising detective work by WOW blogs.

Wowhead and MMO Champion have discovered text in the game files for the next Cataclysm beta patch stating that season nine of the game's Arena player-versus-player competition would begin on December 14th.

Cross-referencing this with a forum post from a Blizzard staffer stating that season 9 would begin "approximately one week after the official launch of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm", the fan sites have concluded that the third expansion for the mighty MMO will release on December 7th - a Tuesday.

This tallies with recent rumours that Cataclysm had slipped slightly from a November to a December launch date.

We've contacted Blizzard for comment and expect to hear back later today - but for now this looks like a solid, if not water-tight, indication of when you can expect to level past 80.