What type of server are you going to play on? PvP servers tend to be about 55% Alliance, whereas a lot of the PvE/RP servers tend to be closer to 2/3 Alliance.

I've played on all 3 types of servers, but most of my experience has been with PvE. I tend to like the Horde because of their backstory and some of the humor. I also like the races and towns of the Horde a bit better. (I've also played through the Alliance zones on alts so many times I'd rather shove a hot poker in my eye than play through them again. :p)

When the population is heavily slanted in favor of the Alliance, the Horde side tends to be a bit more mature. This seems to be less so since so many folks started making Blood Elves, though. From my experience, Horde teams generally tend to be better team players in PvP, too. Though, there are definitely exceptions to this on both sides.

The trade off for the Alliance is that you will always have a lot easier time finding people to group with when you need it. Alliance chat is definitely busier with requests for groups for the various instances. The Alliance AH is also usually better populated. Being on the Horde, it's often been a pain to get an item needed for a quest that I could have easily bought at any time on the Alliance AH.

On PvP servers where the population tends to be splite more 55/45, there will likely be a lot fewer trade offs population wise.

Probably a cheaper (and easier solution) would be to go to whatever game store is near you (EB, Gamestop, Best Buy, CompUSA, whatever) and pay the $1.99 to get the trial DVD. Cheaper than paying for shipping for Bliz to get a replacement disk to you, and it includes all 5 of the CDs on 1 DVD.Ein-7919

This is what I was going to recommend. I did this myself just so I wouldn't have to install from 5 CDs if I wanted to reinstall again.

I'll add another recommendation for Oblivion if you're into RPGs at all.

Crackdown is a lot of fun, but it doesn't take very long to complete everything in the game.

Edit: Like someone else suggested, Gears of War is another great game.

Definately got a point there, but as you play a MGS multiple times, you'll start catching new things in every cut scene. Besides, it wasn't till I played MGS the 3rd time that I accidentially found out that I could just skip right through fighting "The End", I never knew you were able to avoid fighting that lil old guy cause he's a pain in the you know what, but like I said, try each title more than once, and you'll see you'll like it more with the unlockable guns you get. Also, if you play a game after the first time, I'd doubt you have to continue watching all the cut scenes, that's what the "X" button is there for my friendHoVDaHuSTLa1

Yes, thankfully you can skip the cutscenes. I ended up doing that in places when it just seemed like they were never going to end.

Without getting too much into it, there are some other reasons why I didn't care for either of the entries I played. Though, I'll skip that discussion as I don't want to seem like I'm only here to bash the series. Though, games being so focused on using cinematic elements to deliver the experience is something I just don't care for. Replays through the game aren't going to help with that.