Now that the Lich King saga is over, ZAM highlights the top five things about Cataclysm that we're the most excited about

GOBLINS AND WORGEN

Most players will agree that new races aren't as much fun as a brand-new class, but the Goblins and Worgen are particularly special. The notion of Goblins being included as a playable race was often-requested by fans all the way back in "original" WoW; the green-skinned, money-grubbing little runts were seen as the perfect "mirror race" to Alliance Gnomes, and many players agreed that the Goblins would be a great addition to the Horde.

Worgen, on the other hand, weren't an obvious "first pick" as one of the next playable races. Only the most astute WoW fans and lore-buffs were even familiar with the story of Arugal and their existence beyond the Greymane Wall. Everyone else usually just remembers them as "those werewolves in Silverpine" from their early-questing days (unless you're a Warlock who was sent to the wall during the Succubus quest and spent 30 minutes trying to figure out if you could get around it, just for fun).

The fan community's reaction to Blizzard's choice of races and faction allegiance seems to have been well-received by the majority of players. Most of the Goblin-envy from Alliance players is ultimately outweighed by the fact that they finally have a monster-esque race to choose. Both races have some pretty cool inherent abilities; Goblins wear a rocket belt, have access to their banks via a personal servant, receive vendor discounts regardless of faction and more. Worgen can use an ability called "Darkflight" to sprint for a short time and get a 1 percent damage increase across the board, among a few other traits.

GUILD LEVELING SYSTEM AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Socially-driven players are looking forward to the new guild-leveling system, which will share some of the guild mechanics that have already existed in other MMOs for years now. This is another great example of horizontal expansion, and it's one of the reasons why the Cataclysm expansion also represents the culmination of many long-awaited features that players have been requesting for years.

Guild members will finally have the ability to work together for common goals other than just PvE and endgame raiding. Players will collectively help to "level" their guild from 1 to 20 by performing a variety of tasks, including member leveling, PvP, boss kills, daily quests and more. As players advance their guild's level (the top 20 earners per day will contribute to the guild's "XP pool"), special abilities will be unlocked that will benefit all guild members. At BlizzCon, some of the examples tossed around were cheaper repair bills, increased gear durability and the ability to mass-resurrect entire groups of players. Since then, three abilities have been confirmed: "Everybody's Friend" removes the need for reagents, "Cash Flow" increases the coin drop from all kills and "Penny Pincher" reduces the cost of repairs by 10 percent.

We also learned that guild "currency" will be obtained via guild experience, which can be used to purchase things like "heirloom patterns," vanity items and more. The heirloom patterns will allow crafted heirloom gear to be "guild-bound" and sharable among members.

Even though we still don't have many details, we do know that entire guild system will receive additional enhancements. Tom Chilton confirmed that Blizzard is working on the ability for a "guilds transfer" service, and the game systems panel recap at the official BlizzCon site previews guild-wide achievements, new profession mechanics and more.

FLY EVERYWHERE!

Okay, so this isn't necessarily a huge, gameplay-influencing feature—but we've spent years waiting for it, and Blizzard used to tell us it would never happen! However, the developers went back and re-modeled almost the entire playing world, so they finally had the practical opportunity they needed to retro-fit the Old World for mounted flight.

At last, players will be able to soar over the Barrens and all the other zones we've been forced to hoof it on throughout the past five years. The developers even announced that certain areas will be altered specifically to allow flight traffic; the Undercity's roof will be removed to allow easier access, for example.

The only catch is that there might be a few restrictions; "we’re still determining whether there will be any restrictions on where you will be able to fly, at what level flying will become available, or whether you’ll need to do anything to unlock it," Blizzard explains in the official Cataclysm FAQ.

These are just a few of the more noteworthy additions and changes that are coming in Cataclysm. For a complete list of everything we know about the expansion so far, you can visit our Cataclysm wiki page (be sure to check back often; we're constantly updating it as new details are released). In the mean time, drop us a comment and let us know what features of Cataclysm you're looking forward to the most!