December 7!

Blizzard has officially announced that Azeroth's day of infamy will also be December 7. It's good to finally have a release date. Now we can stop guessing, folks can start arranging to take time off, and there's a definite "finish line" for Wrath of the Lich King.

I've been giving a lot of thought about my goals for Cataclysm. Towards the end of TBC, I decided that I wanted to join a raiding guild and start raiding in Wrath of the Lich King, despite the fact that I had never really enjoyed raiding in the past. That lasted for about 2-3 months after Wrath launched, then I left my raiding guild for a casual guild. While they also raid on occasion, the intensity of the raids has always varied according to guild interest.

Anyways, this time around, I'm going to be true to myself and my playstyle. I'm done with raiding. I'll still happily do 5-mans (but not every night), questing, exploration, reputations, RP, collecting, and crafting. Archaeology is what I'm most looking forward to, and it sounds like it will be right up my alley. I'm still mourning the loss of Path of the Titans, but it's understandable if that concept didn't work out. I have at least 2 alts to level during Cataclysm, and there's a possibility that number might go up to 3. So there will be no shortage of things to do.

I still need to clean out my banks/bank alts, get crafting supplies together and sorted, make bags, and so on. I also think now would be a really good time to clean out my add-ons. There's a good number of add-ons that I likely won't need anymore, so may as well clean those up as well.

I'm working on getting Netherwing reputation on Betsea, 3 years late! I just had never gotten around to doing it before, although admittedly it's much easier now considering that there is zero competition for eggs, ore, and mobs. It's a good mini-goal to get while we're still in waiting mode.

Predictions!

Nearly every day in Trade chat I see people asking "When is Cataclysm coming out?". Guildies are asking it, bloggers are asking it... and I certainly would like to know as well. Time for some predictions!

Let's see what we know so far:

• As of January 5, the next wing of Icecrown Citadel will be unlocked in two weeks, or around January 19. 

• If the final wing is released 2 weeks later, that would be February 2. I'm going to say February 9, just because it's Arthas and I wouldn't be surprised if Blizzard drags it out.

• The current arena season ends on January 19th. It started on September 1, so it lasted 4.5 months. If the new season starts right away and runs the same amount of time, it would end sometime in late May.
  

• The Wrath of the Lich King beta started July 17th, 2008, and WotLK released November 13, so you're looking at approximately 3-4 months between the start of beta and the launch date. 
  

• To add to that, patch 3.0.2 (the launch event patch with the barbershops, achievement system, Stormwind Harbor, Inscription, and all the other WotLK goodies) released on October 14, a full month before the launch date. 
  

• As of right now, there have been no reliable leaks of a Friends & Family Alpha of Cataclysm, nor any word on the Beta. This seems to put a February/March release date out of the picture, as there likely wouldn't be enough time to complete testing.

So given all of that:

If we hear about the Beta soon, say, sometime in late January/early February, and then allow 3 months for testing, we could be seeing the launch date as early as April. That seems really early to me, again, knowing that we're talking about Blizzard here, so I'm thinking May is more likely. I also think May is more likely given that the next arena season may be ending around that time frame, and they could start fresh with both the expansion and the arena season. Plus you have the Memorial Day weekend, which would be prime gaming/buying time. This means that patch 4.0.x, the one that starts the pre-launch event, could very well start in April.

So yes, my guess is May 2010 for Cataclysm launch, with patch 4.0 going live in April.

Water World

MMO Champion has a new post up today with details on several Cataclysm changes, including Archaeology, Reforging, and (what really caught my eye) the new water engine. While watching the Cataclysm trailer it looked like the water was different, but it was difficult to tell if it really was a big change or not... well it is! Check out some of the screenshots:

Considering that water-filled areas are supposed to be a big deal this expansion, it's no surprise that they took this opportunity to update the water. Now, will they be providing us with scuba gear?