WoW Cataclysm to overhaul early game experience

Blizzard wants more trial players to stick with the game.

Speaking during the Activision Blizzard Q4 earnings call last night, Blizzard president and CEO Mike Morhaime revealed the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion will play a major role in converting trial players into full, paying subscribers.

Morhaime explained that currently, only around 30 per cent of trial players make it past the level 10 threshold, meaning the majority never get to see what he describes as the "games best content and design" found later in the game. This is something the Cataclysm expansion hopes to remedy.

"With Cataclysm we will be overhauling the early gaming experience for players, bringing all of the content in World of Warcraft up to our current design standards and ensuring that even new players to the game will experience the best work of our development team," explained Morhaime.

"This will also provide additional replayability for our veteran players as well. In the long run, we hope that this effort will capture more players and drive continued growth."

Morhaime also confirmed that development on the expansion is going smoothly and the game is on track for release in the "back half of 2010".

Via Seeking Alpha