Are two new races coming to Blizzard's World of Warcraft? WoW Insider says yes, and may appear in a possible expansion called World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. According to unspecified sources, the new races will be Worgen (Alliance) and Goblin (Horde). Apparently, the conclusion that Cataclysm will include two new races stems from four new textures of Halloween masks found in the last PTR build: Helm_Mask_Halloween_GoF, Helm_Mask_Halloween_GoM, Helm_Mask_Halloween_WoF, and Helm_Mask_Halloween_WoM. Despite this, goblins in WoW have been a neutral race since the game's release.
In addition, the new expansion may very well change the face of Azeroth itself, updating the four-year-old MMORPG to better compete with Star Wars: The Old Republic launching next year. Rawcast theorizes that a massive water-based event will obliterate a good portion of Azeroth including the Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms (hence the use of Cataclysm). Granted the scenario is just a theory, the site lists several reasons for its conclusion, citing support for water-based adventures and low-level areas becoming irrelevant with each new patch and expansion.
If a new expansion and two new races will indeed be released for World of Warcraft, Blizzard will more than likely announce their existence during BlizzCon 2009 later this month.