...the fact that there are 7 times as many humans on Earth as there was even a couple hundred years ago.

Not saying fossil fuels aren't contributing, but surely the population issue has to be a contributing factor too.

Actually, I trust the final expansion will likely be the last grand battle against the Burning Legion as they finally reach Azeroth itself en masse. It's been hinted at as far back as WC3.

Pandaren came first, actually (in WC3, 5 years before KFP)... however, they probably played on the KFP hype to center an expansion around them.

Good point... that number is simply the number of actively-subscribed players. How many does it end up being if you count in those who are on the Starter Edition (up to Level 20 is free)?

Actually, my gf got me into it. Still with her, too... in fact, the day Gov. Dayton signs the marriage equality bill, she'll be my fiancée. I wish that damn gamer stereotype would just die.

No, instead they realize that in order to keep up, they need to spend RL money on gear. The day you can (ToS-legally) buy powered gear with RL money in WoW is the day I stop playing, logging in just enough to RP out endings to my toons' characters.

I also had no problem with Wine. Granted, I had to figure out how to install it in Wine (hint: do NOT use game DVDs, use the downloadable installer), and remember to disable ActiveX in favor of OpenGL, but other than that, it was gravy. In fact, WoW is one of the most compatible major Windows programs to use with Wine.

Not as many as it used to be, and on "kill-to-collect" quests, the drop rate usually ends up being about every other kill. The entire 1-60 experience got revamped in Cata. Some of the older-style quests still show up in the 60-80 experience though, since those parts have not been redone fully, however, they did remove the old "group quests" by nerfing a lot of those quests' bosses ("group quests" still show up at L70 (Outland Shadowmoon) and L80 (Northrend Icecrown) ranked areas though)

It's not so much Free-2-Play I have a problem.... it's Pay-2-Win, where whoever has the deepest pockets IRL gets all the glory. WoW has not yet turned into that, but the moment it ever DOES, I'm out...

Suddenly I'm reminded of one of Data's lines in Star Trek: "Television ceased as a viable medium in 2040."

Looks like the scriptwriter may have overestimated its popularity. :)

Not really, because with CATV, everyone is split off the same receiving apparatus (antenna/sat dish at the cable company). With Aereo, everyone has their own antenna. That's the legal difference.

The difference with cable is that with cable, all subscribers are accessing the same feed, hence making it a paid-for public performance. This is not true with Aereo. With Aereo, each customer gets his/her own dime-sized antenna (locked by password) that only picks up normal broadcast stations. That's a significant difference, and why it's not considered a "public" performance like cable TV is.

Aereo also allows live viewing, and you can't really skip commercials in that.

"...but the instant you try to blast it free into the internet for anyone to see..."

Well, Aereo isn't really quite doing that...they're giving you an antenna (that is exclusively YOURS) that you can log in to and watch whatever that antenna is receiving. No one else can log into your antenna. This is why it was ruled legal, it's not a publicly-available centralized broadcast.

No. What they do is give you an antenna in the cloud. Each customer has their own antenna powered by an array. You watch the same content that someone with a rooftop antenna does.

On facebook, I did a basic outline as to why this was ruled legal:

Why Aereo is legal in an easy side-by-side comparison between traditional and digital:

1) Just as you had a TV antenna on your roof that only you can access, you have your own antenna that only you can access. Each customer has their OWN antenna. Your service fee pays for maintenance of the array your specific antenna is powered by.

2) Just as you could split your roof antenna signal as many times as you wanted throughout your house to send the signal to all your TVs, you can access your Aereo antenna with any device you own via the Aereo app. Your service fee helps maintenance of the Aereo app and keeps it updated. To clarify...keep in mind you are not so much accessing CONTENT, as you are an ANTENNA! That's the key point of this right there. You're accessing an ANTENNA that is exclusively YOURS, and sending its signal to your video device. The internet is simply playing the role of the coaxial cable.

3) Just as you could use a VCR to record any signal that comes off your roof antenna to watch for later, your personal Aereo cloud storage can store recorded programs to access at a later date on any of your devices that run the Aereo app. Until 2008, this could have been illegal, but Cablevision won a decision that said they could store programs in the cloud for their customers' personal viewing. What Aereo does in this case is no different. Like the Cablevision situation, each customer has their OWN cloud storage. Your service fee helps the maintenance of the cloud storage.

4) The one limitation: Just as your roof antenna could only receive local stations that you had to live in the area to access, you need to prove you are in the right market for the service. This is why right now, only the NYC market is eligible for Aereo, despite its user being able to watch their programs over the internet. You have to live in the area to get its channels. This is due to FCC rules of exclusivity. Aereo is planning rollouts in numerous other cities (including my home area of Minneapolis) before the end of the year. Your service fees help Aereo to grow.