I still find it incredibly hard to believe that this game came out as long ago as it did, and how it played such a huge role in my life. It might have even saved it.

I remember I was 12, sitting in my room on my old crappy HP laptop circa 2005 and seeing an ad for a free trial to play WoW. I couldn’t use my parents’ credit card, so I used to scrounge together money to buy Mastercard/Visa gift cards to pay the $15/month. The thing barely functioned and the framerate + lag was horrible, and yet the way I was entranced was unlike anything I have or likely ever will experience again.I had depression when I was a preteen all the way until I was about 19 or 20 years old. I used to sit and stare at a knife I had in my room, or eye the bottles of pills in the medicine cabinet. Selfish thoughts, but I was still a kid. I remember it came to a head when the girl that sat next to me in my chemistry class hanged herself. I’ve since “beaten” it, and no longer require medication, but during those years the crippling loneliness and sadness that nearly drove me to suicide at several points was somehow abated by this game. Whenever I felt that way, I just logged on and let myself get lost. No more bellybutton gazing, no more sadness, nothing. It was basically meditation. It basically cured me after 10 years of this. I’m now successful by my own standards, attended a top university, and am a lawyer. As contrived as it sounds, I wouldn’t be who I am without this game.I must have quit and come back a dozen times since then. The community has thinned out significantly since, the magic isn’t quite what it was, and I no longer play. I don’t have anywhere near enough time anymore. But I often sit and listen to the soundtrack from Vanilla all the way up until Legion, though. It’ll always be part of my life.