Blizzard has confirmed that they have started the closed beta for Cataclysm, the next World of Warcraft expansion. Invitations will be sent to players whom have signed up to Battle.net and have opted into the beta. The expansion will be getting a full release sometime this year if all goes according to plan. Cataclysm will instigate quite a few new changes. The level cap will go to 85 and the entire old world will be getting a redesign. There’s also now a big dragon called Deathwing. With a name like that we guess he’s not going to be friendly.

“Our focus with Cataclysm has been to build on the knowledge we’ve gained through the previous expansions to deliver the best, most compelling World of Warcraft content for our players to date,” said Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime.”Gathering focused feedback during the beta test will go a long way in helping us reach that goal when we launch Cataclysm later this year.”