14 DAY TRIAL // For years now, every massively multiplayer online role-playing game to hit the market has had one overpowering foe to compete against. And while some claim to have put up a decent fight, none has the courage to proclaim itself victorious while fighting World of Warcraft. With a booming success on its own, the game received a steady flow of updates, patches and even large-scale expansions. The first one was the Burning Crusade, and no matter how well it was received, and it was greatly so, the second one, The Wrath of the Lich King, proved to be even more successful.
And with a third expansion on the way, Cataclysm, it looks like there will be plenty more years of gameplay added to the game. But to hardcore fans, the additions brought to it might prove to be more frustrating than they are exciting. When Blizzard released the trailer for the upcoming expansion, WoW-ers couldn't help but check the calendar to see if it was April Fool's Day. The expansion took an interesting approach to revitalizing the environment, and, instead of adding a new area to the already crowded map, the studio decided to reshape the old world, by forcing upon it, what else, a cataclysm.
But the rest of the features might seem like a bad idea to most of us. Goblins become a playable race and so do the worgens, and already existing races will have access to new classes. While few will complain about the worgens, WoW really didn't need any more gnomes. The trailer shows off one of the most horrible combinations possible, a tauren paladin, and while the idea of non-racial limited classes may sound like a huge destroyer of immersion, the thought of being able to make an abomination to everything that is sacred, an undead paladin or druid, does sound fiendishly enjoyable.
While Cataclysm still hasn't received an official release date, the game did receive an alpha opening today, January 12. Announced by WoW.com, the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Friends and Family Alpha was also rumored to be distributed not digitally, but physically, on a DVD. While the Cataclysm DVD photo proved to be a fake, the alpha seems to be a go, but details are very scarce at the moment.
One word of warning from past experiences should be made, an that is that, since this is a Friends and Family Alpha, if you receive an invite to join, you should steer clear of that message as soon as possible. This also happened for the Burning Crusade and The Wrath of the Lich King and you should know that alpha and beta scams that try to obtain your account details run rampant. So, since only people that have close dealings with Blizzard will take part in the alpha, you shouldn't even bother checking any received alpha invites.