The new maps are already in your game files. They're just not turned on.

There's a reason 4.0.1 was so big, and it wasn't class changes.

I think the real crazy people are the people who think they're gonna be able to play at 12:01. Having gone through the BC and Wrath conversion I think its safe to say this probably isn't going to save you much time.

Tho the Wrath transition was much better than the BC, I'd be quite surprised if we saw servers playable for a good couple hours after launch, so you might as well just download your stuff then.

So power to people who want to save time, but a warning to anyone thinking they'll be able to play much on launch day.

@N-train: I was playing Wrath as soon as I got home from the midnight release party and plugged in my upgrade code and logged in.

I'm hoping that the trend will continue: BC was indeed more difficult; moreover Wrath was much easier. Having so many people pre-downloading Cataclysm I think will only help smooth the transition once the game comes out.

But--they've made lots of changes to the whole process so we'll just have to see I guess.