Playing A Game World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Mac

Forgive me, Gunpei, for I have renewed.

Last weekend I caved in to peer pressure, and found myself flung back into Azeroth. In the interest of playing with people I actually know, I've started a new character, and since I'm on a PvP server this time - and with the Horde - I'm seeing a lot of the old game I've never seen before. Which isn't to say it's terribly new and exciting; though the quests are different, now that I'm past the starting zones, the geography is becoming pretty familiar. The good great news is that the old-world levels have become all but trivial, with reduced leveling requirements, increased quest/kill rewards, and more content that has so far made the early levels a total cakewalk.

I also decided that I would make my new character a Frost mage, my previous record for holding a Frost spec lasting somewhere around five minutes. There is no shortage of Mages who extol the "control" virtues of Frost - but I had never been satisfied with its damage output, and though this has been improved in the past years, I find myself in a similar situation today. Nevertheless, I will continue the grand experiment for at least a few more levels, until the allure of raw Firepower consumes me completely.

The new achievements system is kind of cool, but, just as with Steam and Xbox Live - given that achievement "points" cannot be applied or redeemed for anything - it doesn't really add anything of value to the game. In 2008, implementing Achievements is less an "exciting feature" than a "me-too" marketing point, and frankly I would rather development time had been spent on something meaningful like ... I don't know, robots.

Meanwhile, my existing level 70 is languishing in the purgatory of his old server; I only logged in briefly to buy materials for, and construct, the Engineering flying mounts that had been introduced shortly after my last WoW outing. Northrend beckons, as does the Death Knight class, but I know if I don't get this new dude leveled now I might never have the compulsion to do it again.

Progress: Level 27