Eternal deferment [of my free 10 days]

More blog spam. Downloaded pretty much everything to get on the most recent version, but didn't quite get to playing. I have an old x86 PC that meets the suggested sys reqs, but it's running Win2k, which is no longer supported. And the PowerPC G4s aren't strong enough to run LK. What do to?

After some forum digging, it looks like I should be able to get started with my tired G4 Macs, which I guess is enough to burn my free 10 days tomorrow.

Did find this entertaining comment from the WoW forum thread "Wrath of the Lich King System Requirements":

Blizzard really does try hard to get people to buy new computers. I don't know if they watch the news or understand at all the very hard time we are all having economically. No its best to string them along with non-answers like the game will work in some fashion, but we won't tell you exactly because you might not buy WotLK.

Hilarious. Sword of Fargol was a good game in its day, but I'm not going to pay $20 to play it online now, thousands of other folks playing at the same time or not. Perhaps these sys req folk should go play UO with the original client. Fun!

I'm fairly glad Bliz is upping sys reqs, just upset that I don't have anything that can comfortably meet them right now. Where's my new NVIDIA'd Mac Mini?!

Panzerkins NERFED! It was nice while it lasted

It was nice while it lasted. No, this isn't the standard, "I just got married/a job/a new baby and can't play WoW anymore. Sorry things got so slow, but I have to move on."

No, this is WORSE. The panzerkin experience, as of 3.0.2, seems to be over. Imagine my surprise reading the patch notes when I see this...

Moonkin Form (Balance) no longer increases your attack power or causes you to regenerate mana off melee attacks, but now has a chance to cause you to instantly regenerate 2% of your total mana every time you critically hit with a spell.

No more attack power or mana regen? Wtf? FTW!!!! TWF!!!!!!. (That's right. I said it. THE WHAT FREAK!!!!)

Panzerkin, I hardly knew ye. Sheesh. Wonder what caused them to smash that old playstyle. Seriously, why not just keep both? What would it hurt to have panzer and oomkin out there? If anything, wading in with a staff to regen mana was a boost to role-playing. It made moonkin more memorable, and also gave me an excuse to prove I was worth something during melee time. How the freak am I supposed to mana up if I'M OUT OF MANA AND MY ONLY MANA REGEN IS BY CRITING WITH A FREAKIN SPELL?!!

This sucks. Please kill my desire to solo MORE. SUX0RZ!!!1!

I'm upset. This is what I get for thinking I should come back for a while. Which I will. Soon, now that I'm over the superfun "World of Warcraft could not be found. Please make sure the game is properly installed" jive. My free ten days should start up tonight, followed by a period of work, followed by my 60 day game card. I need a vacation, and don't have a solid week to travel, and that means Northrend, here I [finally] come.

(Note the extreme disconnect between, "They've ruined the game!" and "I'm going to start playing again tonight." I don't get it either. Maybe I'll play a lot of death knight stuff. Take THAT, Blizzard.)

WotLK Reading

Shifting Perspectives: Gearing your Balance Druid at 80
Daily Druid Balance Info
Moonkin FAQ
3.1 patch notes

Was sorry to see resto4life is hanging it up. Get your shirts at a discount quickly, you know!

Finally, some dual-speccing

In general I don't like making the game easier just to increase play, but at endgame/max level, there really is a need to be able to go with more than one spec. Panzerkin is a great solo spec, but not as conventionally useful in instances. There, I'd rather be feral. OKAY, I SAID IT. It's so much easier to find a group if you're a bear, or at least it was the last time I played, or even, dare I say it, spec'd resto. And let's face it, filling the heal slot as a panzer in healing gear is no fun whatsoever. (If you can find a group that lets you tank as 'kin, however, it's nothing but fun...)

So this, from Inside Mac Games, makes me once again want to start back up my char...

Nethaera: Why are we allowing players to dual spec after all this time?
Ghostcrawler: We really felt like this was a great way to increase the flexibility available to players and encourage them to take part in more aspects of the game. To use just one example, some players like to participate in both raids and Arenas, which is awesome behavior that we want to promote. But, there are some talents which are more useful in one part of the game than another.

That and some texts from an old guildie, that is. Man, I wish real life wasn't so time consuming. *sigh*