During the holidays I will take the time to highlight most of thefeatures added to the game with the upcoming expansion. Most of theinformation was released during the Blizzcon and I don't think anyonehad the time to process everything during the event, the blue posteractivity will calm down for a week or two and it should leave you withplenty of time to discuss each feature.

I might add aCataclysm menu when I'm done with that. (Yes, I do realize that I'mstarting to have a lot of menus here. I'm sure I'll eventually figuresomething out)

Cataclysm Alpha/Beta Test
Let's start with a small reminder: TheAlpha/Beta Test of the expansion didn't start and anything sayingotherwise is a scam from people trying to steal your account. Trust me, when an Alpha version of Cataclysm is available, you'll know about it.


Cataclysm Release Date
The2nd most popular question on my list, what's the release date of theexpansion? We don't know. The only thing we know at this point is thatCataclysm should be released in 2010 but Blizzard didn't announce theexact date for the moment. Of course it never hurts to Preorder Cataclysm on Amazon.com or anywhere else.


Cataclysm - Guild Improvements
Wrathof the Lich King made guilds slightly less useful, a decent PUG cancomplete a lot of the raid content and finding people to run an heroicdungeon has never been so easy. Cataclysm will change that and makeguilds more interesting than ever!

Guild Levels and Talents
Yourguild can now gain experience and levels, the maximum level being 20.Your guild will gain experience through different ways :

• Playingwith your guildmates and killing a raid boss or winning an arena matchwhere more than 75% of the group is from your guild.
• Playingalone also helps your guild, leveling your character, your professions,or even your reputations will increase the level of your guild as well!

Youwon't be able to level fast just by recruiting a hundred of members,guild leveling is restricted and only the top 20 earners each week willincrease the experience of the guild.

Each level will rewardyou with a guild talent point, they can be spent to make your lifeeasier in the game and will give you bonuses and abilities such as :

• Remove reagent costs from raid buffs.
• Reduce the cost of repairs.
• Increased gold drops from monsters or players that reward experience or honor.
• Summon your entire raid to a place.
• Resurrect your entire raid after a wipe. (30 min cooldown)
• Reduce the amount of rare reagents needed for professions. (Like reducing the amount of Frozen Orbs to craft a weapon)
• Automatically transfer a % of the gold dropped by monsters and bosses to the guild bank.

Thisis only a small preview of the talents and it already looks like a goodreason to stick with your guild, but wait there is more!

Guild Items and Guild Currency
Guildexperience will also be converted in a guild "currency" used to buyspecial items. These items are bound to the guild and you will have tostay in the guild to keep them, if someone leaves with a guild item itwill just be returned to the guild bank.

You can expect various item rewards from this system:

• Heirlooms
• Mounts and pets
• Professions Plans (Leaving the guild will unlearn them)
• Potions and Rare Reagents
• Guild Banners
• Guild Bank Tabs and Guild Talents Respecs

Guild Achievements
Cataclysmwill also add achievements for your guild, the mechanics are the sameas guild leveling you will need a minimum ratio of guild members in thegroup to complete them. They will be very similar to playerachievements and you can expect things like :

• Completing a raid instance with your guild
• Crafting one (or more!) legendary items
• Become a Grand Master in every profession
• Become Exalted with all Northrend factions

Looking for Guild
Cataclysmwill also make the management of your guild much easier. A new "Lookingfor Guild" interface will be added, it will give players an easy way tofind a guild and give leaders an easy way to find new members. This newfeature will let you recruit people based on a few filters based onvarious requirements.

Improved Guild Interface
Tracking what's going on in your guild will also be made easier with a new interface.

• TheGuild News will let you check everything that happened in your guild:boss kills, members achievements, new item loot, profession leveling... It will come with different filters to let you find specificinformation.
• A new Roster tab will give you more information onyour guildmates, you can see the professions of everyone in the guildand even check the list of their recipes to see if they can craft anitem.
• The calendar will also let you invite other guilds to your guild events.