This is not a game... it's a drug...
Today is 15. April 2011. and it is 2 days after I have quit WoW again.
The current expansion is Cataclysm and the current patch is 4.0.6.
This game is a miracle amongst miracles! A game unlike any other game! A game that evolves and devours you with it's content as you keep playing it. It's so good it's actually bad!
Even before you get the game, you are faced with a challenge. You need to have a lot of hard drive space and means to pay for the game, since it requires monthly fees. You will have to create your account and use it every time you want to play the game.
From the moment you create a character and set foot inside Azeroth you will immediately be enchanted by the game's cartoony graphics, game mechanics, battles, monsters,... everything. And as you keep playing you will like it more and more...
And if you ever get lonely, you will find many others like you who have fallen to this game's charm and are there for the same reason as you.
This game is an MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) , and before it, the term wasn't as popular as it is today. This means that the game has a huge world populated by many players from everywhere in the world who compete or work together in order to enjoy the game.
Before you start the game, you have to chose a faction. Either the Alliance or the Horde. The Alliance (currently) consists of Humans, Dwarfs, Gnomes, Night Elves, Draenei and Worgen while the horde consists of Orcs, Trolls, Tauren, the Undead, Blood Elves and Goblins. Since this game always keeps expanding, more races will surely join both sides. Once you chose a race you also need to chose a class which (currently) consist of Warrior, Paladin, Priest, Mage, Druid, Rogue, Hunter, Warlock, Shaman and Death Knight. Each of these classes is unique in it's own way .
Once you have selected your class and race you will step into the World of Warcraft. Immediately you will notice a lot of other players who have also stepped into the world and who are just as confused as you are. You will then do a few quests, gain a few levels and learn a few more abilities. After you finish all your quests at the starting zone, you will go out and search for more quests. Only then will you start to realize how massive this game really is. You will want to reach the maximum level, explore every single continent, gain the best weapon you can find, beat all the dungeons, conquer all raids... everything, but as you progress, you will start to realize how little you know and how little you have and how long you actually need to do in order to complete all your goals.
If you are dedicated to playing this game, you will redoubtably reach the maximum level (currently 85) and then you will be faced with a choice! Either quit the game now, because you have reached the maximum level and have beaten a really good portion of it, OR you can play the End-game which is where the game shifts into a drug!
Many WoW fans claim the the game only begins when you reach the maximum level, but in my experience, the game ENDS after you reach it and becomes a chore... a chore you will have to do, because you will want to do it. Up until that point, you were looking forward to gaining levels, clearing dungeons and having fun with your friends, but now that you've hit the maximum level you will have to earn money, earn better gear, raid with 25 people at the same time to clear a single game boss, do daily quests,...
You will soon find a raiding or a PvP guild and make arrangements with them to play every other day and show up for their events.
Once you finish everything there actually is, a new expansion will arrive bringing thousands of new contents for you to enjoy.
To sum up everything I have said so far: THE GAME NEVER ENDS!!!
During your time playing (especially during end-game) you will start noticing that you have disregarded things that were once important to you. Like your girlfriend, your family, your job, school or even all other games you were playing. At first you will not care, but after a while you will start to wonder how much have you missed. You will start thinking about all the things you could have done but couldn't because you were playing the game.
At that point I quit the game... again, just like before after every single expansion and I doubt I will come back again.
I was a kid when I first started playing this, but now as I enter adulthood I am starting to realize how much of an effect this game has on me. I have neglected my friends and family, I started doing badly at school at some subjects, I lost the will to do some things I love doing, like exercising and even sex.
This game is perfect in all ways. Everything is done with such care to make you like it. If you don't resist it's `charm` you will get sucked into it and start living a new life in this fantasy world and if you do you will quit and hope never to come back to it again.
I do not hate this game, I hate myself for playing it so much. It is probably one of the best games in the world. So good, yet so bad in a different kind a way.
You may want to try playing it but I wouldn't recommend it.