As the terrible war against the Lich King continues... The proud defenders of Azeroth fight to secure a lasting peace. But there can be no peace, when the world itself is devoured by rage!

And as World of Warcraft gets more and more popular, the much anticipated announcement of the upcoming expansion pack is here. It is however getting harder and harder even for Blizzard, a company known for its strict secrecy when developing new titles, to keep information from the fans; because even if everybody rejoiced at the impressive features list, this information was already on the internet for quite some time. A little slip here, a fan who knows lore well there... a couple of new Halloween masks in the game resources... you know - it's always the little things.

Without creating an overly extended article so you won't get bored (and so that I could save some material for the review as well - yes, sneaky me), let's get through the list of the most important changes that the third World of Warcraft expansion pack - Cataclysm - brings to players.

So when you think of destruction in WoW - come on, do your worst - you probably come to the same conclusion as Blizzard: Deathwing. Initially known as the benevolent Neltharion, the Earth-Warder and leader of the Black Dragons, he was created by the Titans to guard the Earth and everything beneath it.

However, this exact proximity to the core of the Earth, and evidently the evil Old Gods, was the exact source of his insanity, corrupting him forever. With a desire to see every living thing in Azeroth dead, he will be known from now on as Deathwing, the Destroyer.

We've last seen Deathwing in Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal, but when you think of its offspring: Onyxia and Nefarian, you can imagine how much of a challenge their father might be...

Speaking of offspring, if you don't know by now, Onyxia will be revamped for patch 3.2.2 as a celebration for the five years of WoW anniversary - including new loot and most likely new fight tactics, which will probably include more dots and lots of whelps as well...

Nefarian will also be back in his own instance atop the shattered building of Blackrock Depths, but we don't know much more of this yet.

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Realizing that introducing a new class into WoW is a pretty tricky and hard to balance thing, as seen by the introduction of the Death Knight in Wrath of the Lich King, Blizzard have taken a step down for the moment, and are instead introducing two new races to join the Alliance versus Horde conflict, similar to Burning Crusade.

With their island torn apart by an erupting volcano, the Goblins of Kezan, neutral till now, are forced to move from their homeland. Finding it harsh and profitless to deal with the Alliance, they soon find a new affiliate in the Horde. And after all, the cuteness factor bought by the Gnomes lacked a little, so this addition just made sense.

On the other side of the barricade, the "giant door" (read Greymane Wall) that separated the isolated Kingdom of Gilneas was broken by the terrible earthquakes of the Cataclysm, and for the first time in a long time its inhabitants are free to roam the world. We find out that the worgen curse has affected most of the Kingdom's population, but in time they have been able to control the mutation, and bend it to their will, to transform whenever they feel the need.

With the scourge literally at their doorstep, the Worgen of Gilneas are swayed into the Alliance by Night Elves emissaries, and with a bit of effort from Jaina Proudmoore. They also bring a "much needed" race of beasts, to add to the "nice" factor most of the Alliance races have.

85 is the new 80, meaning the max level will only be risen by 5, and before you say "wha?!" listen: Cataclysm will mean a revamp of the old zones, including updated graphics, quests, instances and eventually flying mounts. Of course, this will allegedly make the leveling up process easier and you will be encouraged to start a new character, perhaps even a member of one of the newly available races.

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Archaeology will be introduced as a fourth profession available to anyone, along fishing, cooking and first aid. This addition is in strict correlation with the new Path of the Titans leveling up method, introduced for the max level players. Yes, even if you find yourself at level 85, there is still some way to go as you will be able to improve stats or pick up interestingly enough talents through a new - let's call it advancement system for a more appropriate term.

Depending on your affiliation to a certain Titan, this Path will vary. You will be able to respect as always, but these things tend to have advantages for everyone.

Along with a handful of new instances available at high levels, yet another surprise is in store for you: heroic Deathmines and Shadowfang Keep.

One of the highest anticipated PVP features will also be made available in this new expansion pack: rated battlegrounds - a breath of fresh air for those many arena haters out there, and their chance to grab the same item level gear as their highly competitive counterparts.

A stats simplification is also in store for you, merging attack power with agility for melee dps classes, spell power with intellect for caster dps, removing defense on tanks, spirit on dps gear, intellect from hunters (replaced with focus, a new resource), and these are only the beginning of the ground breaking changes Cataclysm has in store for your poorly unsuspecting level 80.

And if you always complained you just can't pick up those "fun" talents and must go for that 5% dps boost skill instead, there's also good news for you. As it turns out, most of the passive bonuses a tree has to offer are given to you depending on how many points you invest in it, allowing you more flexibility to pick those quick PvP escape skills, or just whatever you want really.

It is highly probable I've missed a few things along the way, but most of the new big things are here. But before we wrap this up, there is one more thing to talk about: the Guild Leveling System and Achievements.

Guilds will be able to gain experience depending on their time investment and progress on the game encounters, and a talent tree will also be available for them. A mass resurrect, free potions, or no durability repair costs for instance, these are just a few perks you could spend your points into. Same goes for guild gained recipes, that can now be learned by everyone, but will be unlearned and sent back to the guild bank If they choose to leave the guild...

Conclusion

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm promises to be one of the turning points for the Warcraft universe, not only advancing the story and lore, but also offering a new and more beginner friendly experience to new players who are just starting up on the game. That said, it is obvious veteran players haven't been forgotten, and as I've seen from this year's Blizzcon, everyone will be happy to know development looks quite advanced, and we can probably expect this pack to arrive probably sooner than later.