A lot of rumors flying recently about the new World of Warcraft expansion. MMO Champion says they’ve got the details for sure. I suppose we’ll find out this week at Blizzcon.

When the rumors first started leaking out, I felt pretty “meh” on the subject. A couple new races, and letting old races be new classes? Neat, I guess, but you’re still playing the same game that we’ve been playing for the past five years. Not exactly high caliber stuff for a third expansion.

But then they started talking about the Cataclysm stuff. SPOILERS AHEAD. AVERT YOUR EYES IF YOU’RE AVOIDING WOW EXPANSION SPOILERS. Now, this could all be bullshit, we won’t know for certain until we hear it from Blizzard themselves, but the rumor is that a huge cataclysmic event is going to seriously fuck up Azeroth’s shit. Orgrimmar split in half, Thousand Needles flooded, death damage and destruction everywhere you turn. Nothing is the same, Azeroth is trying to rebuild. Zones, quests and instances revamped. Able to use your flying mounts in old zones, etc.

Now if that’s true… if they’re really doing this, and doing it well (not some “alternate reality zone, caverns of time horseshit) then I am impressed. And psyched. This is precisely the kind of thing WoW needs to make it feel fresh again. Let’s face it, after five years, the game is showing its age. And quite frankly, it’s made improvements in leaps and bounds over those five years, and the original zones got left in the dust. Bringing all of that stuff up to par with the newer stuff is a smart move.

I’m entirely sure that there are a bunch of hardcore raiders out there bawling themselves to sleep at the thought that Blizzard might not be focusing entirely on them for this expansion, but in my opinion, the game needs this. Especially if it wants to stand it’s ground against The Old Republic and all the hawtness that game is offering. Personally, I think it will be plenty neat to walk through an old zone and think ‘Wow, I remember what this place was like before Armageddon fucked it in the ass’.

Last week I probably couldn’t have cared less, but this week I’m excited to see what news comes out of Blizzcon.