World of Warcraft: Cataclysm to be downloadable at launch

Blizzard has confirmed that World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will be in stores and also downloadable from December 7, making it the first World of Warcraft expansion that can be bought and downloaded before release.

Of course, when I say “before release,” I mean “about eight hours before release.” The add-on will be downloadable from the moment Blizzard turns the servers on, at midnight Pacific Standard Time on December 7th.

As brick-and-mortar stores won’t be open until much later that morning, committed WoWers will get to start grinding earlier than others. That might not sound like a big deal to you or I, but I know those eight hours matter a lot to some people!

Better still, fans will be able to download all the content on the game DVD in advance – we assume so the massive fanboy charge to Blizzard’s site doesn’t completely break the internets.

See also: 6 awesome illustrations for World of Warcraft fans

[Via VG247]