Blizzard announced some interesting news yesterday, laying out three steps to Cataclysm.

The time has come to set the framework for the imminent release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. Check out our refurbished Under Dev page for a look at the core features being implemented in this major patch.

What this essentially explains is that Cataclysm is three steps away from right now. First all the Cataclysm mechanichs will be introduces with 4.0.1. Players will have time to get used to the way this changes the game and what it means to them. Then, some time later another patch will be released (4.0.3) that will change the face of Azeroth with all the old zones and cities changing. This will be released just before Cataclysm, likely meaning a week or two, giving time to spread out some of the server load for downloads.

Then Cataclysm will be released, opening up all the new zones and allowing players to level to 85.

I am a bit torn on the staged release. As an IT guy I can see the benefits, however as a game, I think I would prefer picking up Cataclysm and having an all new shiny game.

What are your thoughts? Voice them in our forums.