Yeah, the last journal I posted said I'd be leaving the town I grew up in by the end of September... well... things have *ahem* moved up a bit.

I'll be leaving next weekend now.

Yep, things went a little interesting last night between my mother and I and, well, I won't have the car as far as I know, but otherwise I don't know whats going to happen.

Next week one of my packmates,  Trynity will be coming by to help me load my things into hir car and from there I'm going to St. Louis to start a new life as roomate to hir and hir boyfriend  Pearboi.

Yeah, the times they are a changin'... very very rapidly.

And now for some really big news.

As soon as I get my driver's license and the title on my ford sorted out (since I don't have it yet it's still legally in my mother's name) I'll be leaving Edgewood, the town where I've lived for the past twenty one years, and moving to St. Louis to live with two of my packmates,  Trynity and  Pearboi.

Its been kinda off the wall lately with that. At first I was aiming for the end of September, then I thought I might have to push it back until the start of November, and now... well... whenever I get the card that says I can legally drive (which will probably be in about two weeks give or take).

Either way, things just got a lot more interesting for me.

Also it'll be damn nice to be leaving conservative Christian Kentucky and moving to a town where I can be openly gay and not worry about getting shot in the face by a pissed off fundie.

There are some things I'll miss about here of course. I mean you can't live anywhere for two decades and not grow attached to it in some way, but at the same time I'm twenty godsdamn six and living at home with my mother. That is not good. So yeah, as soon as I get my stuff sorted out, clean out and disinfect my bedroom and bathroom (and yes I do mean disinfect. These messes fight back), and get the details for my car sorted out I'll be outta here.

So, I was working for a printing shop for a while through the temp agency I mentioned back a few journals ago but wound up quitting for various reasons, one of which being health concerns (the chemicals I worked around were making me cough up a lung every damn night).

Well... Just tonight I got a new job through them, no chemicals involved.

Thing is, they said 'heavy lifting'... but didn't say anything else, not even giving me a name for the place, just an address. Annoying yes, but dammit I'm desperate and the temp agency is fairly reputable.

Now, a bit of medical history. I have a herniated disc in my lower back, in the lower lumbar region to be precise (I don't know exactly which disc off hand, but its one of those ones). When they said 'heavy lifting' I figured they meant about thirty to fifty pound boxes in a warehouse or something.

... Eighty to ninety-five pound engine blocks, and in rapid succession too, we were expected to move several skids of them, about sixteen each skid, every hour... one at a time, by hand, onto a table, so they could be inspected.

I didn't even finish the first shift. I didn't want to go home once I got there because I wanted to at least give it a try after coming all the way out there. By 2:30 my spine felt like it was going to pop out of my back and I had to explain the situation to the supervisor, tell him that the temp agency hadn't told me specifically what I'd be lifting or how much (if they had I'd have turned it down), and thanked him for at least giving me a shot... but I was honestly afraid I'd wind up hospitalized if I tried to finish the night there.

I'm going to be calling the temp agency first thing when they open in the morning and telling them about my back injury and that when it comes to 'heavy lifting' jobs that I need them to set an upper limit for these... and that they need to be a lot more specific when they tell me about one.

UPDATE: I contacted my temp agency and explained the situation. They attempted to get me a job with a printing company (not like the one I was with before, small jobs only) but it didn't take. They're looking at a new inspection job like the one I had above, but this time focusing on the smaller parts for engines (spark plugs, nuts and bolts, etc)

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=244067922381427&set=a.244067919048094.53780.100003346620539&type=1&theater

So yeah, just signed for this sucker. ._. I have a car now.

No license yet, it's in my mother's name for the moment, but I've got one driving class and then my driver's test to go and that'll change.

Still, yeah... car. ._.;;; I'm flipping right the hell out now.\

UPDATE: Calmed down, decided to find a neat bumper sticker for it, found one. http://www.cafepress.com/+woofmobile_bumper_sticker,501975134?clickid=0004c71983f96d6e0a2a0581eba67c7a&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=j35264004&utm_source=GAN&utm_term=k316409&utm_content=ShopSocially

This is the news: http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.co.....12/07/30/45085

This is my reaction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AIRQZAgtaE

Well not really... I kept my clothes on.

Yeah, part of the reason is probably because it's an election year and they want the support, but its one that I can definitely get behind. What this means is that the official democratic platform is to support LGBT rights in congress, that means that getting states to vote through same sex marriage legalization and protection laws for LGBT people just got a HUGE kick forward... at least in states with a lot of democratic politicians but it also means that they'll now help block legislation that would hurt us as well in red states.

Still, going to be an interesting next few years for us.

... and all the money that they would have given them is going to GLAAD instead.

The story: http://www.back2stonewall.com/2012/.....-business.html

My reaction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv4KQbDaCfM

Yeah, personally I don't eat there (I much prefer KFC) but not only is Chick-Fil-A losing out on money but the money they would have gotten is going to a LGBT rights group instead. This is the kind of story that really makes my day. ^_^

So yeah, I've spent the past few nights playing Dead Island again. Partially this is because I'm getting tired of playing Champions Onilne and can't get up the energy to get back into WoW until Mists of Pandaria comes out, partially this is because I'm out of money and can't afford to buy any new games, and partially it's because I've been reading these two webcomics lately...

Dead Winter: http://deadwinter.cc/

The Zombie Hunters: http://www.thezombiehunters.com/index.php

Good stuff, but yeah, lately I've been in a zombie mood and Left 4 Dead isn't any fun unless the rest of my pack is around to play it with me, so I decided to return to the lush, tropical, zombie-infested island of Banoi.

They have made a few changes to the game that I've noticed. For one, it seems to be a lot less stingy with healing items than before. Also there are more checkpoints (or at least it seems that way) and overall it's a lot less frustrating to get around than it was last time.

Mind you, I do still have some gripes. In Act 2 you're still more or less screwed if you come up against a suicider (-exactly- what it sounds like) and don't have a bomb or gun handy then you're stuck either throwing one of your melee weapons (by this point almost certainly a valuable upgraded and modded one) at them and hoping they burst or turning around and running like all hell. That and there's a few spots in the quarantine area where it seems that the infected simply do NOT stop spawning. I'm not saying that you kill them, go off, come back, and suddenly there's more. Thats whats supposed to happen. I mean that I wind up killing a neverending stream of enemies that pour out of the busted window of an apartment or out of an alleyway until I either run out of weapons or find a ladder I can climb or a door I can close. It can get rather frustrating when I die for the fifteen time because I suddenly got mobbed to death by a bunch of berserk humans with the zombie virus eating their brains.

So far I've still only gotten to act 2, though I started over on Sam B (I was doing Purna but I want to try someone who can take a few hits). My likes and dislikes are summarized below.

Pros:

- I rather like the story. I like how the heroes all have a reason that they're capable fighters (Sam B grew up poor and had to learn how to fight to survive, Purna was a policewoman and has had combat training, Xian Mei is a member of the chinese police and has been trained in martial arts and swordfighting, Logan played pro football), I like how there's a reason they're all in Banoi in the first place (Sam B was performing as a rapper, Xian Mei worked at the hotel as a spy for China, Purna was a bodyguard for another guest, Logan was promoting a blood drive for some charity event), and I like how they're varied enough that it's interesting to play through on different characters.

- The setting is gorgeous in the first act. I know Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation complained that the setting for the second act was too much like all the other FPS games out there but, well, I don't play most FPS so I guess that one doesn't bother me too much. Personally, I do like how it seems both familiar (the second act reminds me a bit of some of the more crowded areas in Covington, near where I live in the real world) and alien (the foreign setting, the occasional bloody handprint or half eaten corpse).

- The weapon modification is still a favorite of mine. They added a bunch of different weapons that you can find, from makeshift things like broom handles and boat oars to machetes and sledgehammers, and then added a bunch of ways to mod them. Some are fairly simple (just pound a bunch of nails into a baseball bat and give the infected a nice case of tetanus to go along with their zombification) to some really creative ideas (duct tape a battery to a machete and wire the ends to the metal to electrify the blade). A few are a bit implausible, like the ripper mod which lets you attach a spinning sawblade to the end of blunt weapons (I could see it breaking off rather easily in the real world), but then I think plausability went out the window about the same time people rose from the dead and started eating each other.

- The voice acting is actually rather well done in this one. Though maybe its just because I have a thing for British accents. Still, Sam B and Xian Mei sound like how you'd expect people with their backgrounds to sound rather than walking stereotypes like blacks and asians wind up being portrayed as so often in popular media.

- Vehicles. This is definitely my favorite part of the game. If you find a truck that doesn't have any obvious damage feel free to hotwire it and powerslide some zombies into a fine gooey paste on your tires. Its very satisfying in a visceral way to just plow right through a crowd and smash them into a wall or a fence or just over your head. I also like how the truck does actually take damage when you hit stuff. The windshield will shatter and your driver will punch the glass out so they can see, the engine will begin to emit smoke, its not much but its a nice touch. Its also a good way to deal with certain extra annoying enemies (see below) as the thugs may be able to send you flying, but they're no tanks and one good slam from the front end of a truck will do some severe damage.


The Cons:

- Some of the zombies are downright unfair if you don't come prepared. The Thugs can knock half your life off (and your ass about twenty feet) with a single blow, yet most of your weapons will probably be melee when you first encounter them. Its easier once you get instructions to make molotovs and deo-bombs and can use those to set them on fire, but until then I had to just be satisfied that they can't walk above a slow shambling pace and that I could just tap shift and sprint right past them. I have found that I can just wait until a split second after they swing their arms, or until they're roaring, then jump in and whack them a few times before they can react... but it only works if its one on one. If there's walkers, infected, or anything else nearby I have to run away and try to lure their buddies off them so I can sort them out before dealing with the big boy... and thats assuming I don't wind up getting the attention of any others in the process. The suiciders however are a royal pain. They're at least noticeable (they cackle insanely when you draw near, though I think I heard one of them try to say 'help me' which did give me a bit of a chill) but if you try to take them down at melee range they will blow your ass up. Literally. Its an instant-kill for anything nearby, friend or foe.

- Repairing your weapons is a pain. Yes it makes the game more real if you have to maintain your weapons, but with hordes of zombies coming that means repairs are either frequent or you're supper. That and repairs, even when done at a workbench you just happened to stumble across in an abandoned building, cost money. Why? What the hell are you spending it on, and who are you paying? Do you just rub it on the weapon and it magically becomes whole again by the will of Franklin, Grant, and Jefferson? If you think about it this can really shatter the feel of the game... but then again, see the note about plausability going out the window when the dead started chomping on their loved ones.

- Its very easy to get overwhelmed in single player. Yes I know Dead Island was intended for multiple players, but with most RPGs (MMOs being the exception), I prefer something that I can enjoy by myself. As I mentioned above a few places in the second act are really downright nasty with enemy spawns. You'll get overwhelmed fast not because you're not killing them fast enough, but because they simply don't. Stop. Coming! I know it's a zombie game and they're not supposed to, but this goes beyond keeping with the theme here. I had to either activate my fury mode and try to punch my way out of a mob before they could take my down by sheer numbers or resign myself to having to restart from the last checkpoint... again.

- While the voices are good, the NPC models often aren't. Many have some odd shiny-looking skin tone and a herky-jerky motion to their animation that makes them come off as looking less human than the zombies, almost like some kind of a wooden puppet on strings. Though the skin thing could just be my computer, the animation is still off. That and many NPCs will repeat their little dialogue snippets several times within the same thirty seconds which can get really repetitive in certain scenarios, speaking of which...

- Escort quests. Ye gods escort quests. This is one that Deep Silver never got around to fixing. The escort quests are very numerous, very difficult, and hands down the worst part of the game. Thankfully most of them are avoidable sidequests, but should you decide to bite the bullet and do one these guys are downright suicidal. They'll sneak along next to you all careful like until anything slightly undead-looking comes into view in which case they'll bellow a war-cry and charge in, weapon flailing... which is really frustrating when you're trying to escort some guy's wimpy brother back to him and he's trying to beat a thug senseless with a bit of wood. The worst bit is that if I die I just wind up a few feet back and a bit lighter in the wallet as a penalty, but if they die then Game Over, reload save?


Still, despite all the negatives I think I will keep going with this one. I'm curious to see how the story plays out beyond act 2 and I want to find out if they ever reveal exactly what the hell is turning everyone into zombies. Biological weapon gone wrong? Random act of god? Prelude to an alien invasion? Da voodoo? This is what bugged me about Left 4 Dead, they never explain what caused the infection other than just 'the green flu'. What exactly is it and what caused it in the first place?

But then I'm a total geek for this sort of stuff, so yeah.

Aaaaand... Not a fan.

There's nothing wrong with the show mind you. The animation is bright and colorful, the characters all have distinct personalities, and I can certainly see why others like it... But it just didn't grab me.

Am I now going to join the pony haters in their abuse of the series and its fanbase?

Nah. I've got better shit to do than that. For one its incredibly juvenile to do such a thing to a series that does have merits and a decent message (TWILIGHT DOESN'T!) and for another I'm a twenty six year old man who plays Pokemon so yeah, there's that. :P

This is the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYwT-h4MWRM&list=FLM1A3zg0PrfauXY0-gg5Wpw&index=2&feature=plpp_video

This is my mate:  lexingtonegreywinds

Irony is fun. :D

Also, good find Tryn.

The news: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/.....157515146.html

My reaction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmLwFWc5gMU

Yeah, seriously... I haven't even watched MTV since I was a teenager, but I've heard way too much about Snooki, the Oompa Loompa that got away, and the rest of that idiotic show. Thank you MTV and good riddance, now would you PLEASE show some godsdamned music videos?

So yeah, after beating Diablo 3 I decided to try the beta servers for Mists of Pandaria again...

Right off the bat, something new.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....512_043002.jpg

Also, there's now an option to make a character thats immediately level 85, which I promptly did.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....512_043321.jpg

So yeah, thats a monk with a title from Cataclysm and decked out in purple gear from the end level stuff. I selected my spec, set up my talents, and got to work arranging my toolbars... then opened my pack to set up my hearthstone...

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....512_043605.jpg

After I got done wiping the shit out of my pants at seeing the contents I sold off most of it, then enchanted my gear with the stuff I couldn't sell off. Pity I can't keep it. :<

Anyways, a few new things about monks. No matter what weapon you actually have it seems that they mostly rely on their fists and only pull out the weapon for certain attacks.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....512_045522.jpg

They also get some nifty attacks like Crackling Jade Lightning. Also, before anyone makes a DBZ joke at that one, they also get an attack called Chi Burst which looks exactly like a Kamehameha wave when you charge and shoot it. Thats the one you make fun of.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....512_045623.jpg

Also, for anyone rolling monk because they like fighting games take a look at the Spinning Crane Kick.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....512_045917.jpg

Chun Li would be proud... or file for copyright infringement.

Next, this change is minor, but dammit if I didn't like it.

At one point I have to team up with a draenai medic to help revive some crash victims (apparently the Alliance's entry into Pandaria went about as well as the Twilight Highlands and Northrend...), but rather than the usual "Kronokai Kristof" or whatever gibberish they usually say she actually said things like "Who needs medical attention?" and such. An NPC actually said things RELEVANT to the situation instead of the usual pre-programmed stuff!

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....512_050119.jpg

Oh, and I got to help perform CPR on a dwarf. I did not honestly expect to do that today. Still, another NPC, a Night Elf with SI:7 also said 'keep your mind on the mission' and such rather than their usual stuff too. I'd like to see this continue. It'd be nice to see Blizz actually add some more personality to the world.

Lastly, this is how you get back and forth from Pandaria, at least in Stormwind (dunno how it works for the hordies).

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....512_050953.jpg

Its right next to the Earthshrine, where you could pop back and forth to the Cataclysm areas.

Yeah, I knew the candy factory job wouldn't be permanent... but, well... Today I got a call from the temp agency that went like this:

"So yeah, we got a really good performance review from Parfetti and you did a really great job BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT they got caught up on their order and it turns out they don't need temp workers anymore so yeah, you don't need to go in on Monday. We'll call you when we find another job for you, but feel free to check in with us just incase".

So yeah, I'm out of a job again. I knew it wouldn't last forever (temp job and all) but still... I only got one week! D:

Its now about half past ten here and so is my witch doctor. He's now past level ten and even has a few witch-doctor-only pieces of equipment (a voodoo doll and a tiki mask).

I also made a few discoveries.

1. Your gold is shared between all your characters. If you start a new character after you make a really high level one you may wind up getting a lot of nice gear at the start because your character will have the same gold as your other one.

2. Your stash is shared as well. If you find a nice wand (wizard only) but you're on, say, a barbarian just stick it in your stash and swap characters. Its also why buying additions to your stash is so ridiculously expensive. What you get for one you get for all.

3. Hirelings are back, but with a neat twist. The first one who joins you is a templar, but he's also part of the storyline (which is why I won't reveal more than that about his character). Whats neat is that as they level you get to choose what abilities they get. When I first got him I was level seven on my witch doctor and I was able to choose between two skills. I could either give him the power to heal himself and me, or I could have him set to taunt enemies when I'm low on health, forcing them to attack him instead. I don't know if there's any more (he's the only one I've found so far) but I would assume that its the case.

4. You can craft weapons after helping out the blacksmith in Tristram. How you do this is you break down magical items (anything with a +x to stat or more) and you use the materials from those to make new armor. You can also upgrade his skills by purchasing training (pricy though) and with each investment the quality and variety of goods he can make goes up.

So yeah, the storyline already has me curious too, but I won't reveal anything. After all, I'm trying to avoid spoilers myself, I wouldn't want anyone else to get too many because I had loose lips.

Well, I got home from my new job today (according to my mother I now smell faintly of candy after work... go figure) and immediately ran Diablo 3 and logged in...

... or rather I tried to. It seems that Blizzard's reputation of launch day server woes is well deserved. It took a bit but I got on around 4:30.

Its now about a quarter past five as of writing. They shut down the servers for another update but I did manage to get a bit of work done on a shiny new witch doctor named Zulzanza. The game started, as you may suspect, in Tristram. I never got very far in the original Diablo (I did beat Diablo 2 and the Lord of Destruction expansion but thats another story) but I did feel a good deal of nostalgia at the immediately recognizable music.

Sparing any spoilers for new players, the Witch Doctor plays very similar to the Necromancer as many would suspect. My current spells allow me to summon a bunch of grasping zombie hands from the ground (no damage but it snares and slows enemies), throw a jar filled with ravenous corpse spiders, summon a squad of 'zombie dogs' (which aren't undead dogs but rather human zombies with dog skulls for heads), and conjure a flock of fiery bats to swarm my enemies.

I gotta say, technical issues aside, I'm having a blast. Before the servers went down I whipped up a female monk (Jie) and a male wizard (Nelen) and after a quick shower while I wait for the servers to come back online I'm going to hop back in and give one of them a whirl.

So yah, first day went well. I think I'll stick with this one for a while.

Just got a new job through the temp agency I signed up with.

Its a factory that makes Airhead candy. Full time, Monday - Friday with weekends off, first shift (7a-3:30p), and I get the same pay rate I had at my old job. :D

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57.....ansom-is-paid/

Just a little news story I'm passing around. Keep an eye out for this one guys. It looks nasty.

The article: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_.....to-become-law/

My reaction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmLwFWc5gMU

A different reaction for those of you who still go batshit every time you see anything at all MLP related: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_VheAwZBuQ

Another update here.

I went to the interview with the temp agency, my mother is trying to get ahold of one of her friends as well who had a nephew who worked for a place that refurbishes old PC components and tries to resell them to schools and such (which sounds damned awesome).

Also, some big news. One of the other things that we were discussing his her co-signing for me on a car.

For those of you who don't know I'm a decade past sixteen and I have never actually owned a car or had a driver's license. At first it was because I was fresh out of high school and didn't want to pay that much and have nothing left for anything fun and eventually it just became... well... because.

As for the temp agency the interview seemed to go well and now I'm going to be calling them on Monday to talk with someone specific. I may actually wind up working with my friend Wodie at his factory soon.

Time will tell but I can see myself re-employed very soon here.

Got an interview with a temp agency tomorrow at nine thirty. :D

So yeah, an update here.

- My mother and I are going to be going out to the unemployment offices in the next town over tomorrow so I can see if I'm eligible for help.

- I have several leads on new jobs.
+ A bookstore on a bus line near my house has a full time opening.
+ A Gamestop in a local mall has two part time slots.
+ My mom found the number for a Citibank bill collecting call center.
+ My friend Wodie (who's been featured in some of my art) has given me the info for a temp service that the factory he works for uses.
+ Wodie has also mentioned that the factory his sister works at is looking for some second and third shift workers.

So yeah, a day out of work and I've already got several leads on a new job as well as a potential source of income until I get back on my feet. Not too shabby~ :U

Well, thats that. I got three people in one week complaining to my bosses about me and today my district manager asked if I could guarantee him that I could keep my temper in check at work...

... and do you know what? I couldn't. I honestly couldn't say yes.

So, I quit. No joke, no going back, no returning to it later and saying it all worked out. As of about one half hour prior to this post I ended my employment with Shell.

However, I'm not upset at this. I've been the night guy for seven years now and dammit I'm sick of it. I'm sick of the inside-out sleeping, sick of dealing with the bar rush every night, sick of not being able to go out on my days off without fucking my sleeping patterns up, and sick of living like a nocturnal hermit for a paycheck.

As for what I plan to do... well, tomorrow I'm going to see about claiming unemployment if I can and then I'm going to start looking around town for a new job. If I can manage it I'm going to aim for something with little to no customer interaction but one other thing I'm going for is, if possible, part time work. Next chance I get I'm going to try to enroll at one of the local colleges and get some higher education. I'll probably have to go back and do some remedial stuff, I wasn't exactly a model student in high school, but within a couple years on the outside I hope to get a degree for IT of some sort and try for a job in data entry or some similar employment where customer interaction is minimal and I can work around machines more than people.

So yeah, we'll have to see what happens from here on out. I'll post updates on here for those who want to see them but for now I'm going to spend a day relaxing and tomorrow get down to the real work.

Update: Good news everyone! I've already got two leads on new jobs. :D

Update 2: Was going to head out to get applications but my mother, who is also my ride, got a call from a friend who's brother is in the hospital. I'm calling it a day since I'm fading out here and she's going to swing by both locations (a used bookstore and a Gamestop) and pick up the applications, then we'll turn them in when we get a chance, probably tomorrow.

Update 3: Got another lead. Bill collections call center for Citibank. We'll have to see how that plays out but yeah...

So yeah, I got a chance to play around in the beta some more and was able to get some more tryouts with the pandaren starting area as well as see some new sights around Azeroth.

Now I may be wrong, its been a bit since I did stuff in Kalimdor... but I don't remember this being off the coast of Darkshore:
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....712_082810.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....712_083155.jpg

Yeah, those are Horde sails on those ships. Could be that we see Teldrassil come under siege in MoP along with the possible destruction of Theramore Island that is rumored to occur right before the new expansion. Sadly I couldn't find out more as its still very early in the beta. None of the questgivers in Darkshore are working at all and even the portal into Darnassus from the island is busted. For now I'm stuck outside of the elven capital so I have no idea what the horde is up to out there.

Speaking of the horde I made a pandaren that'll join them (as Jaie is in the alliance). Lingzu, the warrior woman.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....012_134020.jpg

Yes I went with a red panda pattern for her and, yes, you get a fluffy red panda tail.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....012_135326.jpg

Anyways, onto the good part here. The New Demonology spec.

There's a pandaren near Garrosh's throne room in Orgrimmar (the alliance one is by the trade district bank) that will teleport you to one of three new areas in the continent of Pandaria.
Apparently there's a lot of PvPers on this server too...
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....012_135326.jpg

Well, anyways, first thing is that in MoP being able to transform into a demon plays a LOT bigger part than before. Currently it's little more than a nice bonus and a burst of extra DPS for dungeon bosses. In the expansion it is simply how demonologists WORK.

For one, several of your abilities actually change into totally different ones when you become a demon (in addition to the bonus spell damage, armor, etc).
Normal: http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....012_134528.jpg
Demon: http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....012_134535.jpg

The changes are as follows:
Shadowbolt becomes Demonic Cleave, its instant cast and has no cool down while still being a ranged attack.
Fel Flame becomes Ray of Twilight, it damages all enemies in a line rather than just one target.
Hellfire becomes Immolation Aura: Basically the same thing but with a major damage boost and it doesn't hurt the warlock to cast it anymore.
Lastly, your curse spells (Curse of Weakness and Curse of Elements) become Auras instead. They still do the same thing, but to all the enemies near you rather than just one target.

Now... the way this works is that your spells as a demon consume Demonic Fury rather than Mana.
Note the bar in the upper left where your soul shards are kept now:
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....012_134717.jpg

The spells you cast as humanoid will each add a set amount of Demonic Fury, up to 1000 points. You can turn into a demon for free, but it consumes 6DF every second you stay transformed. The benefit is, of course, that in demon form you're basically hell on wheels as far as combat goes.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....012_134721.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....012_134726.jpg
Your spell damage jumps through the roof, you take less damage, and your spells almost all affect multiple enemies.

Again, I wouldn't be surprised to see them nerf this, but for now demon form is one hell of a rush.

Also, some Warlock spells now have both passive and active effects. The passive effects are always turned on, but their benefits can be sacrificed for a short time to gain different bonuses immediately.

Examples:
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....012_134821.jpg
Wild Imps is a nifty little power. Every shadowbolt (or demonic cleave in demon form) has a 20% chance to summon a Wild Imp that backs you up for a few seconds. Best part: Their firebolts add a bit of Demonic Fury to your meter.
By activating this power you gain five Wild Imps at once, but your other spells won't make more appear until the cooldown ends.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....012_134825.jpg
Dark Soul: Knowledge... I dunno if this is the same for all specs (the 'knowledge' part makes me think it isn't) but while passive you get a small +5 bonus to your Mastery stat.
Activating it fills your soul with demonic knowledge, changing the bonus to +30 for twenty seconds, but the cooldown is two minutes long and you get no bonus once the twenty seconds is up.

A few other minor changes:
Soulstones are no longer items, but rather a spell that can either be used on someone before they die to give them a one-time revive effect, or you can use the spell on a dead player to bring them back to life.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....012_134839.jpg

Lastly, healthstones have three charges now instead of being a one-time item.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....012_134851.jpg

Thats all for now, I'll post some info on Destruction once I get a chance to get to the training yard in Orgrimmar. I tried it out in the field and... well... lets just say you're playing with fire in the most literal way possible (read: I died very fast).

So yeah, today my beta copy of the Mists of Pandaria finally got done downloading (17.7GB) and I got a chance to try out the new race, starting area, and class.

Here's the pandaren starting area in a nutshell:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhUkGIsKvn0

Yep, for every mage, rogue, warrior, and whatever there were probably about fifty/sixty monks. I, of course, was one of these, but damn if they weren't all over the place.

So far its shaping up nicely. I went with a Windwalker (DPS) spec for my monk and was rewarded with an attack called 'Fists of Fury' which is basically the 'Oraoraora' thing from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure complete with ghostly hands next to my own (dunno if those are gonna stay or not).

Also found out something neat which will probably be a lot more relevant on here. You can choose whether your fur pattern will look more like a panda bear (black and white) or a red panda (reddish-orange and white)... and if you take the latter you get a fluffy red-panda tail to go with it. Sadly Jaie, the monk I rolled, is stuck in the black and white one as the barber shops don't work for pandaren yet, but I dunno if I'll be able to import her back to my Alliance server once the beta ends anyways so I may wind up having to remake her anyways.

Don't wanna give away too much of the plot here, but I'm satisfied with how its going so far. Screenshots below.

They changed the layout for the character creator:
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....612_110549.jpg

Jaie, Pandaren Monk:
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....612_112434.jpg

Combat animation is very smooth and expressive. Fun to watch:
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....612_112659.jpg

And speaking of expressive... if the original eight races didn't look dated before:
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....612_113454.jpg

One thing Blizz is trying to do is give the same enemy types more variety in appearance. Like different armor sets and so on for the same foes so that they look more interesting:
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....612_113546.jpg

Another neat thing is that my main attack as a monk changes based on what weapon I have equipped:
Staff: http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....612_115812.jpg
Unarmed: http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....612_115817.jpg

Sound advice for furry players:
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....612_124206.jpg

There's still some difficulty issues in certain areas. Getting jumped by four hozen (little monkey guys) is not fun:
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....612_124838.jpg

Also, this is why nobody in Azeroth has found the pandaren's home... it doesn't stay in the same place:
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....612_130944.jpg

Lastly, Fists of Fury in use (ORAORAORAORA!):
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/.....612_141708.jpg

This is the news: http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/19/showb.....-ew/index.html

This is my reaction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5P1XBq6_tc