Blizzard is changing the way we patch World of Warcraft before long. In what way, you ask? You probably don't want to know. Basically, they're making it so you can stream updates to your client while playing. What's wrong with that? Well, nothing, really. It is just more complicated. They're using colors now, lookout WoW players!

Here's the deal - there are now three stages to the patch download process, each color-coded so you can easily tell what stage the patch is on. Here's the three stages, taken directly from Blizzard's forums:

SETUP (RED): Core game content is being prepared. You cannot enter the game at this time.

AVAILABLE (YELLOW): Major game content is not completely applied. You can play, but your game experience will not be ideal.

PLAYABLE (GREEN): Final game content is almost complete. You may experience a few game issues with playing at this stage.

This change will go into effect soon for those playing the Cataclysm beta, except you'll have to completely reinstall the beta client from scratch. For everyone else, the first you'll likely see this change is closer to the Cataclysm launch - most likely in the pre-expansion patch we are almost sure to see.

After the break is exactly what beta testers will have to do to play the beta after the patch that initiates these launcher and update modifications.

1) Uninstall your current Cataclysm beta client

Windows - From your Start Menu, click Control Panel, then Add/Remove Programs

Mac - Select your “World of Warcraft Beta” folder and drag it to the Trash icon on the dock, right-click on the Trash icon and select “Empty Trash”

2) Download the latest version of the Cataclysm beta client

• Visit http://battle.net/
• Login to your Battle.net account
• Select “Account” at the top of the page, and then select “World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Beta” from the Game Accounts list.
• From the Download Game Client box, select Windows or Mac to begin downloading the installer.