A Changing 'World'

'World of Warcraft' will launch a new expansion in November. That seems like a good thing. The frequent players are very tired of the same ol', and I'm very tired of listening to them whine about how bored they are.

Last week a lot of changes were implemented to prepare for the expansion. Now I realize it isn't such a good thing after all. They 'fixed' a lot of things that I didn't think were 'broken.'

They gave our characters new 'skins' and better animation. I like the better animation, but the 'skins' (namely the faces) are uglier and more angry-looking. It took away from the cartoon-y aspects of the game... something I rather liked. It's darker now, more grim. Ugh.

They took away some of the spells and attacks I preferred to use against the bad guys. They changed others beyond comprehension.

They do this all the time, and I'm sick of it. The cycle of 'simplify' and 'complicate' continues to chase its tail. Here are some examples of the changes taken from the actual patch notes:

"Solar Beam no longer Silences a target again more than once per cast. Additionally, the Silence effect from this spell now shares Diminishing Returns with other Silences."

"Dark Intent now grants 5% Multistrike instead of 10% Stamina"

"Unleash Flame (which increases the damage of the shaman's next fire spell by 40%), when used on a Flame Shock, will continue to increase the damage of the periodic effect for its entire lifetime, despite being consumed when the Flame Shock is cast."

By the time I figure out which of the buffs, spells, and abilities will be best for my playing style, other players will complain loudly and everything will change again.

The good news? Perhaps I'll get that book written after all next month. It doesn't look like WoW is going to be much of a distraction. Now if only I could break the 'MahJong' game....