I'll share my feelings about WOW. I hope I don't offend anyone; if its your bag, I do not mean to bag on what might be something positive in your life. However, my experience with WOW was fairly bitter and in retrospect I regret the time in spent doing it. There were MANY times when I spent hours playing, and afterward I felt hollow, as though I just tossed out my most precious resource, my time, and got nothing for it. I also got bicipetal tendonitis which you don't want, trust me. I spend enough time at the computer as is working in IT. I was very into WOW right after I moved from SF to NYC and it kept me in touch with some friends, at the cost on non-engagement with my new home. One could meet people playing WOW but I cannot help but think that the time spent is not a good investment when compared to other avenues of meeting people.
I DID have some great times playing WOW. When I had two friends living with me in SF and we were in our mid-30 levels (me a warrior with a shaman and a priest - joy of two healers for the tank) we were the terror of Stranglethorn Vale, routinely taking down level 60s back when that was the cap. Some world PvP moments were well worth it. But I feel that kind of fun can be had in a game designed to NOT be a time pit.
Just remember you are going to die someday. No one ever said on their deathbed, I wish I ground more bog lords or got my Orc Shaman alt up to level 80. WOW plugs into a lot of the same brain circuits as gambling and addiction. I am wary of anything like that. PnP D&D has so many spontaneous uplifting moments, plus I get to drink scotch, eat delicious food and laugh with friends while we collaborate to write our own story. You'll never get tendinitis from rolling dice but I suppose a very sharp d4 could take out an eye if thrown hard enough.
