The World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is now available for pre-purchasing digitally on Battle.net. Pre-puchasing Cataclysm allows gamers to play the expansion the minute the servers go live.

To avail of this option, simply complete the digital pre-sale process on Battle.net. The account of those who pre-purchase Cataclysm will be flagged for automatic access to Cataclysm when it launches at 12:01 a.m. PST (7:01 p.m. AEDST) on December 7.

Gamers whopre-purchase the expansion, have to log in to World of Warcraft at least once prior to December 7 to start the background-downloading process for Cataclysm.

Once they log in to World of Warcraft, their account will become eligible to begin receiving the Cataclysm data when it becomes available. The data will automatically download in the background while gamers play World of Warcraft or while the Launcher window is open.

However, the digital version of Cataclysm will not feature the exclusive pet. The World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Collector's Edition is exclusive to physical retail copies. The digital version consists of the standard edition.

The pre-sale is available in the following regions, with realms scheduled to launch at the following times: Americas, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia - December 7 at 12:01 a.m. PST Europe and Russia - December 7 at 12:01 a.m. CET