Spooncraft

(src) Later today we will begin providing most of the remaining data from our upcoming patch for players to background download. This second phase will be very large (approximately 450MB) as it contains the data for all of the upcoming changes as well as art assets needed in preparation for the release of the expansion.

This data will be delivered at a very slow rate in order to reduce noticeable affects on the performance of your PC. By default, the background downloader will launch after game exit, and will stop upon game re-launch. However, you may wish to take advantage of one of the other background download options.

For more information, read the Background Download FAQ, found here: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=48524887&sid=1

This is big news! People have the misconception that the people over at Blizzard are working on one thing at a time. The reality being that well before the expansion was announced, Blizzard had been working on the art, concepts, and other pieces to the puzzle. Drysc says himself that in the patch will not only be information and data regarding 2.4 (expect dataminers to bring up a slew of new screenshots soon) but also data for Wrath of the Lich King. I can only assume that this is a sign of us getting much closer to the game going into beta testing very soon.