WHA  Ride the burro.  
(Version 3.1.3)

DREMWKR  WoW frames rates are now even higher after OSX 10.57, even with the video set to "Ultimate".  
(Version 3.1.1a)

SMTIPS  I highly recommend that anyone having troubles with the Minimap which is basically everyone on a Mac, that after you've written billing@blizzard.com and tell them you want a credit for this major issue that has existed for 2 months with no action on their part and they tell you that they A) Know nothing about it and referred you to tech support or B) have refused to give you any kind of credit or C) Have told you it's your addons causing the problem or D) have said it's a "temporary" issue, to go to the Better Business Bureau home page at http://www.bbb.org/ and file a formal complaint against Blizzard. Their techs are STILL telling people they should "repair permissions" and their billing department is clueless to the issue...here are two responses I got from Billing (now remember this is a well known problem on the forums. I told them to go there and talk to their tech dept. to verify my claims):

colinh:

"Thank you for submitting this information, as we are committed to making World of Warcraft as enjoyable as possible. We appreciate your feedback. I will see that this information is reviewed appropriately. While I cannot guarantee a direct response, I can assure you it will be read."

namh:

After reviewing what you wrote, I don't know that I can offer compensation time for this, what seems to be the trouble with your mini map? I haven't any trouble with mine at all. Sometimes there are particular addons that disable the wow interface, or the mini map can be disabled via ingame controls, lets see if we can get the map up and working for you.

Again...I highly recommend that you report them to the BBB if you get any push at all or any nonsense like the above.  
(Version 3.1.1a)

DREMWKR  I did a test on my new MacPro with the Radian HD 4800 series card. I ran wow on OSX with beta drivers, and with identical game settings and situation on XP using boot camp and native ATI HD4800 windows drivers with the card overclocked and all settings to "High Performance". In windowed mode the OSX version ran with less latency and about 25% higher fpm than the windows version. In full screen mode the OSX version also ran faster with less appearent latency, but the difference wasn't as wide.

It is my guess that OSX handles eight processors more effeciently as well as the video card, and that Blizzard really has worked hard to get top gaming performance from Macs. XP is by now a very old operating system, but gamer's swear it is noticably faster than Vista. So all things being equal, the OSX version of wow is faster and more playable. For that feat of gaming software engineering alone I give WoW 5 stars.

I also noticed that all things being equal the OSX version of WoW has way less stablity issues.  
(Version 3.1.1a)

SMTIPS  Minimap is broken as of Patch 3.1 on Macs. It is blotched in almost all interior areas. Many many people complaining about it and Blizzard seems oblivious to doing something about it. It is a staple navigation feature that is very needed during gameplay. They seem to be making this a minimal issue and it seems not important to them at all. Indeed, their last notification was over 2 weeks ago when they said "we are looking into it." They have released two mini patches since this 3.1 was released, have done multiple restarts on servers almost every day, and still they refuse to address this issue. They are being very Mac-minimilast about this. You can be damn sure if they were getting this issue on PC's they would address it right away.

Also, 90% of the time users are getting the message "Additional instances cannot be launched, please try again later" when trying to access instances, sometimes up to 30 minutes before you can get in. Supposedly there is a finite number of instances server-wide that can be launched at any given time on a realm. With Blizzard's billions they seem unable to address this and expand realm space to accomodate users.

Northrend has a constant hang bug since the patch, in which every 1 minute to 2 minutes there is a momentary hang of the screen..just for a moment, but happens all the time and very annoying. This is not an issue in Outland and old world. They refuse to acknowledge the issue and have done nothing to correct it. I would blame my machine if I didn't know at least 3 other people that get the same issue.

These issues alone, coupled with the fact that it can take DAYS to hear from technical support, and then it is usually a canned generic scripted answer and they don't deal with you as a person paying them money at all, along with the fact that it takes literally 5 to 10 hours to receive any kind of answer in game from a GM, make this game not worth paying for.

If you want to get your money's worth without major and unacceptable bugs that are being ignored by Blizzard, I suggest you find another game to play.   
(Version 3.1.1a)

DREMWKR  This is just some fine tuning of the 3.1 patch. The new instance Ulduar features siege vehicles and is blast to play, but is wicked tough to beat. Runs great on my MacPro.  
(Version 3.1.1a)

DREMWKR  This patch adds much more than just a new instance. It is an important one for mac WOW players. Blizzard has rewritten much of the mac graphics code to give the game a smoother animation and visual feel. The game threading has been redone to take further advantage of multicore processors, and the graphics engine has been enhanced for a better overall look. I salute Blizzard for continuing to develop WOW as a native OSX game.

Another great inovation Blizzard has done is Dual-Specing. I can now flip between being a Shadow Priest for dps (damage) or a Holy Priest for hps (healing) without having to run back to the cathedral and pay 50gold for respecing, giving me more flexablity for raiding with my friends or PUGs.

Of the changes to the classes, the greatest was done to Holy Priests, Blizzard thought there was too much mana regeneration in the game from spirit and cut it 40%. MP5 speced gear/gems/enchants was uneffected. Since Holy Priests instant cast Circle of Healing (AOE) was put into a 6 sec. cooldown, in the WofLK expansion, they are the only casting class that doesnt do continous casting in combat. My Mana regen went from 800 and something down to 500 and something because of the patch. Also the mana regeneration spell was changed so it no longer applied to the caster, but the other party members, and it is now only temporary. This does mean that all casters will need drink up (mana up) alot more often, and that in long fights, holy priests are at a significant handicap compared to Holy Paladins, Resto Druids, Resto Shamans, etc.

I do play other MMOs on my mac using bootcamp, because most other MMOs are not OSX native. The closest to WOW is Warhammer. The PVP combat in WAR is much better than WOW, and its Public Quests are really nice. Leveling in WAR is much less of grind, and battlegrounds generate XP. I have heard over and over again from my WOW guildmates that play WAR, "(leveling) is so much more fun than WOW". It has also been my experience that the Battlegrounds are much more even between the factions. My WOW server the Alliance was outnumbered 3 to 7 or 8, and so rarely does my side ever win. But

if you dont like PVP, WAR is not for you, the PVE is better in WOW and much more developed, with the lore story telling much more integrated. WOW does have much better artwork and graphics, they are extraordinary and belong in a modern art museum. WOW's music is much better as well, so good, I would pay money to go to a symphony concert of WOW music, if you don't believe me, check out the WOW music at the iTunes store.

Things I wish WOW had that should be borrowed is: WAR's interface is more intutive and less cluttered, and when you pickup a quest, its in book format that is gives much more useful information. I also like the book/page turn transitions when porting, or going into new instances, BGs etc better than the generic montage graphics WOW uses.

  
(Version 3.1.0.9767)

DREMWKR  After installing the expansion "Wrath of the Lich King" and playing it for about 2 1/2 weeks, I have found it to be the best expansion, if not the best gaming experience in the MMOG ever done. The questing in Northrend both Borean Tundra and the Jford has been very compelling: in terms of both gameplay and lore, I have spent many happy hours exploring and the new areas and doing the new quests. I did a Death Knight in the Beta, and found the starting quest line the best ever done in any MMOs. Right now I am focusing trying to get my Holy Priest to 80, but will go back and do a DK just to do its quest line again, it was that good.

I have now done several instances in the expansion, many of them with 4DKs (DKs can't heal), I have found them to be beautiful, and well planned. They tend to be shorter with almost all being able to be done within an hour (vice the 2 to 4 hours the preexpansion ones), and in general more doable and accessable (& that DKs are OPd). As a healer, however, I have found several specific bosses more challenging, and as a whole it seems that cloth wearers (Locks, Mages, Priests) are at a disadvantage (in terms of getting killed more than before the expac). The artwork in the expansion is simply a masterwork, not just for MMOs but for all visual arts, it really belongs in a museium. The music is wonderful, even memorable and is so closely integrated into the game, it gives it a cinematic effect drawing in the player emotionally. While not in the game notes, the graphics engine has be upgraded, even the "old world" looks better.

One new feature I have a complaint about is the new ingame group calender, it does not allow the raid leader to send out group invites, instead its one at a time, for something like 10, 24 or 40 man events, it is just too much of a pain, the Group Calender add on is still so much better.

I did take my own advice and order an encryption dongle from Blizzard shortly before the expansion came out, I was wrong about the price in my last post, it was only 6.50USD, and shipping was FREE. However, as events turned out it too Blizzard about two weeks to send it, and so on the 2nd day of the expac, while I was in the middle of buying and selling on the Auction house, I was suddenly DCd, and unable to log to back on my account. I immediately changed my password, got back online and found I had been hacked and 2 of my toons had been robbed of items and gold. I put an immediate ticket to the GM, but because of the new expac it took hours for Bliz to respond. It took about a week and I did get most of the items in my bank and packs back but little of the gold for one char. nothing for the other. According to Blizz, I was the subject of a Denial of Service Attack and sophisticated hack, they didn't say (and not likely to say) but it may have been an inside job, it may be that someone actually reads these reviews.

Before you say that was near impossible, I know the same thing happened to a veteran guildmate in Irontree, and not only did he have his toons robbed, but put 24K USD on his creditcard. (The current CC info I have with Blizz was outdated, since I just had gotten a new card). He did say that Blizz did dig into it and provided the CC company with the records showing what happened, they did not and would not provide it to him directly (my guess it to keep players from going after current or former Blizz employees-and then Blizz getting sued by its unhappy employees). Anyway, the security dongle came in a week after the expansion, and I have not had any trouble with my Blizz account since.

My additional experience tells me two things: 1) It confirms that account hacking is out of control in WoW, and 2) EVERY ONE WITH A WOW ACCOUNT SHOULD GET THE 6.50USD SECURITY DONGLE FROM THE BLIZZ WEBSITE.  
(Version 3.0.3)

DREMWKR  I have been playing the 3.02 and 3.03 versions now over the last month. As a Holy Priest it took some adjustment to the elimination of the separate +Healing and +damage bonus points to my gear. I had two separate sets of gear one for PvP and dps, and one for end game raid healing. After the change I found an optimum combination of both. Overall, the mechanics where adjusted so I didn't notice much of a change in healing, but a significant boost in dps. It is now easier to advance from 60 to 70, in prep for the Lvl 80 expansion. Changes were made in the interface to help reduce items in bags, so more room. The new profession Inscription, makes things more interesting gearing out, and at least the ones for Priests I like. Blizzard made these changes to make it easier for friends and guildies to play together with fewer class specific requirement. One thing they added that I really liked was Achievements, for example for being exhalted with all the Alliance factions I got the title "Ambassador".

In regards to the previous comment, you can level up, and end game gear up, playing unguilded, I have had generally good experiences with pickup groups in instances and in battlegrounds, and have made alot of good friends spanning many guilds. As for guilds I am in a good one- Irontree on Lightinghoof, that is well established and run by real adults. It is not easy to get into it, but that seems to help alot in quality of game experience. I suggest if any player is unhappy in their guild, ask around, and play with other guilds in instances, because it really makes a big difference.

One note of caution I must make: One day, I opened my Characture window and noticed that six of my epic (purple) gear was gone. I got an ingame note and an eMail saying that I had done business with a gold dealer that hacked other players accounts. Since I buy and sell hundreds of items a day on the AH (how I make good ingame currency stream), it could have been any one. But since I buy and sell mainly cloth and leathers, and all of the items taken were instanced bind on pickup items, I figured out that none of the confiscated items were in fact hot and challenged Blizzard to show otherwise. I did get a note back restoring the epic gear, but all of the epic gems, enchants, enhancements were gone. Also in the note was a whisper I had responded back in sarcasm to a gold seller that said he had gold for me. It turns out that Blizzard had gone back and looked at every tell I had gotten since I started playing the game, years worth. Blizzard said I was a gold buyer and justified the confiscation of the epic enhancements worth four figures of in game gold on that alone, even though I am certain none of them were hot either or any of it was purchased with hot or "gold dealer" gold. (I have no problem making gold in Wow, I am not a gold buyer-even though I get no shortage of offers in game and eMail). It took weeks of grinding to restore these items, and during this time I was unusable for the Guild's raid schedule.

So my word of caution is this: Anything you buy and sell on the AH is not necessary a done deal, no matter how secure your own account is, because hacking is basically out of control in WoW, and Blizzard's appearent strange attempts of vendetta by a faceless employee to fix things afterwards can make things worse. If an account is hacked Blizzard does not create new virtual items to replace the stolen ones, it takes existing items from other player's accounts, basically to avoid item inflation on the Wow economy.

I have made my review based on a charitable assumption, that the job of being a Blizzard hacked accounts restorer is a difficult and thankless one at best, and even doing what they feel is their best, there is alot of mistakes and collateral damage, with some of it I will have grace to say unintended. And that my case was the exception rather than the rule.

I have seen so many fellow guildies have their accounts hacked I suggest all Wow players get the USB encription dongle for about 10USD.  
(Version 3.0.3)

CERNIUK  Downloaded the trial version. Run it and it wants to test internet connection speed. It asks where it can make a folder and then falls flat with a failure:

"Failed to download World of Warcraft Trial. Please close all applications and try again."

Creating a new account and trying, closing all applications, nothing works. Like taking a new car from the dealership for a test drive and having the engine explode and catch fire right as you start it. Varooom! Booom!

Not impressed.  
(Version 2.4.3)