Like most of you, I stopped playing a long time ago. However, I was nostalgic this past month and thought it would be worth a brief one time renewal to go back and visit Azeroth. Do some of the dungeons that had been introduced since I left or just content I never got around to. I even did some of the grinding of dailies.

Got lucky today, though as they patched 5.0.4 on my last day and I got to try out the changed game before my account expired. I am going to have to completely relearn my old favorite class: Druid. The changes they made to Druids seem specifically targeted at people who complained about being locked into a single form every time they played and not being able to really shapeshift at will. I logged onto my Balance Druid and found that I could instantly prowl from Moonkin form (which auto changes you to cat), raise my HP by 30% of max health with one button (that changes you to bear)... and yeah, that probably doesn't get your skirts in a bunch cause you could do something similar for awhile now, but 100% of my intellect is used as Agility now. So my casting power is immediately converted to melee attack power and armor. Plus there are talents and glyphs that let me cast certain heals in whatever form I want. There are so many things that used to be talent tree specific that are now useable in all forms. And new crazy shit. Seriously, go to the talent calculator and look at some of the talents and glyphs for Druid. Everything is designed to favor a player who wants to change forms in a battle and serve as many roles as possible. And with player on player damage being cut by 40%, you might actually have some time to run around and do those wild maneuvers instead of getting four-shotted. There's actually a Stag glyph that makes a Druid a mount for an ally. Or one that turns you into an orca instead of a satanic sea lion.

Some other notable game changes (and I didn't have time to see much in my limited game-remaining time) include cross-realm zones, mounts/pets useable by every character on your account and enhanced dungeon/raid finder that lets you queue for both at the same time.

Yes, it's largely the same tired old environment you outgrew years ago, but there might be a new element of fun thrown back in. Enough to renew for maybe one more month of goofing around.

Oh yeah... before anyone asks. Yes, you still have to pay for a subscription.