In an effort to revive its slowly dwindling numbers, Blizzard is offering players a new reward to bring former players back to World of Warcraft and its current expansion, Cataclysm.

Two new faction specific mounts have been unveiled: the Spectral Gryphon for Alliance characters and the Spectral Wind Rider for Horde characters. To be eligible for these rewards, players send a "scroll of resurrection" to a former player. Once the player accepts and pays for at least 30 days of game time, the referring player will get the reward.

The "resurrected" player also gets a few nifty benefits:

• Any one character will be boosted to level 80, the max level before Cataclysm raised the cap to 85.

• An automatic upgrade to Cataclysm without having to purchase the game.

• A free optional character transfer to the realm and faction of the player that sent the scroll of resurrection so the two can play together.

• An finally, seven free days of game time.

The rules apply to any character that has been inactive since before March 4 of this year. There is also an FAQ for players with more questions.

The hugely successful MMO has been gradually losing players, down from a peak of around 11 million to around 10.2 million last year. Despite the drop, the game continues to be the most popular MMO on the market. Maybe it is time for me to resurrect my eight Alliance characters (all 80+), especially with the new Mists of Pandaria expansion on the horizon later this year.