Then and now: how has life progressed since you started WoW?

[Asrialol]

Started playing in 2006 or so, sort of an escape from reality since I didn't really have a good time in school. Ended up fucking over a lot of grades since I ended up playing too much.

Today I have a girlfriend (Been together for two years next month), have a good paying job that I love, a lovely dog, lovely car, sweet apartment. I play wow now and then with friends mostly.

Since I started playing in 2006, that's 8 years. 8 years is 1/3 of my life.. So, a lot of things can happen in that time, obviously!

[Deleted]

Was single when started. Then found a woman and tought her to play. Broke up after 6,5y and stopped playing when figured out there's life out there.

[TEHPALLYTANK]

Started back in late '06 (was 12 at the time), lots of shit happened and poof here I am. I'm currently enjoying my NEET status while juggling misanthropy, apathy and empathy. A good deal of the time I've been using to fill in much of the social knowledge I never picked up as a child, still have some issues to work through but mostly would say I'm content. Plans for the next year or so involve getting my GED, possibly moving, getting my SSI sorted out so I have some income while I develop the skills needed to support myself.

[Knaxos]

As most of us did, I started playing WoW as a kid, and well, life has just gotten harder and harder...

Surprise surprise but its still very enjoyable!

[Maulis425]

Started in early '07 and since then:
Bought a house, got dumped, got a new job, got a girlfriend, engaged, married, kiddo, promotion every year since 2007 and now I'm making more than twice what I started out and this week officially became a software engineer. Lots of bumps along the way, but overall my life is great.

[freighttrain]

The question here is simple: how does your real life compare when you started the game to what it is now? What major milestones have happened in the (almost) 10 years available of gameplay?

I ask this question because I recently got back in contact with someone who I played vanilla wow with and raided molten core in late 2005. He was 16 at the time and I was 15. In just the 8 years since we've talked, he graduated highschool, got a tech degree fixing motorcycles, has owned a house for a few years, etc. while still playing the game on and off. So it made me curious just how much life can progress in what seems like a short amount of time (the existence of WoW so far).

I was working as a front line grunt in a landscaping company back in 2004. I know own my own company that was responsible for putting the one I started with out of business because I pay my workers properly not that BS Agronomic Base pay carp a lot of companies use in the northern seasonal regions.

[Warlord Booty]

Was in middle school when I played more games, started high school and started to do more activities - lacrosse, cheerleading etc and then just normal teen stuff, so I would play less, or I would play in shorter bursts, no more marathons, and not on any sort of life sucking raid schedule. I wasn't going to skip hanging out with friends cuz it was raid night. All during, my brothers were similar, and we were main cogs in raid groups. Tanks, top DPS, heals etc. Having to tell the raid that there was no raiding this week cuz the two tanks were watching LeBron win championships was fun lol

[Deldavala]

Started on Europe release date(played Beta before that). Back then I was currently going to school.

Since then I have finished 2 Bachlor degrees, One master degree and a MBA.

I have bought 2 apartments. One which I live in and one which I am renting out.

I have been together with my GF for 5 years this year so that's about half the WoW time.

So I would say even if I am raiding 4 times a week during progression my life is progressing just fine.

[Deleted]

wow many dropouts and trash of society here
- started at 15ish in vanilla
- finished masters degree
- am now system engineer it
- still play regularly and try to participate in raids.

[Ciddy]

I was in college when I started playing (2005). The only real difference is that I finished college about a year later and got a full-time job. Still employed there. I'm doing fairly decent. I'm not raking in the money, but I'm not poor either. Can't complain too much. Oh, and I have a different car now. Got that car in late 2006. So it's not so "new" anymore but still gets the job done for me.

edit: oh, also, I have a beard now and wear contacts instead of glasses. My appearance has otherwise not changed much.

I quit playing WoW about a year ago. Will probably come back a couple of months before WoD hits unless I get an urge to play before then. I have nothing against MoP, but my guild (of 6 years) fell apart at the end of Cataclysm, and that situation left a bad taste in my mouth. I played enough in MoP to hit level 90 on my main, get exalted with a few reps, and run LFR a few times, but that was it. I still keep in touch with some of my old guildies through Steam and other battle.net games/real ID, and there is some talk about reforming the guild if enough people come back for WoD. So we'll see!

[Mosotti]

I dropped out long before WoW... Started in 2008. Until now
- changed towns
- changed jobs
- paycheck tripled
- gained 30kg

[Mermaid]

got married, bought a house.

[holypriest]

Started at the end of vanilla since then I
Finished my bachelors
Started and finished my Masters
Worked a job I hated for 4 years
Quit job and was unemployed for 3 months
Now work a job I love part time and am looking get a second job so I can finish saving for a house

[FobManX]

I started playing WoW in December of 2007, my Sophomore year of College. I am now a 26 year old working adult.

Where did the time go...

[brandonsurge]

Grades dropped in HS. Got into crappy community college. Dropped out. Enlisted. Medical Honorable Discharge. A few jobs since then, all shitty. No lucky break. Still failing. Still playing WoW. Since 2004.

[chazus]

~2004-2009 (Beta, Vanilla-Late Wrath Era) - Played beta, played Retail, raided MC. Sometimes ditched work early to make raid times. Subleased in someone elses house. Lived effectively check to check, no life progression. Slow character progression.

~2009-~2012 (Warth-Cata Era) - Moved, switched jobs, got finances in order. Did Heroic Raiding Wrath through Early MoP. Life improvements in general.

~2014 - Got a better job, going back to school for business degree. Have my own place. Have 6 characters in raid gear. IT administrator for a small business. Charity service provider. Have vacations planned. Looking into buying a house/condo.

I've played WoW since Beta in 2004, with only about a month break in 2006. More recently my life has improved greatly. WoW was, early on (MC era) a detriment to my life. Raiding in particular was budging into other things. I personally feel making the game more accessible has made it easier on me, as I don't feel as 'obligated' now to get the best to hang out with my friends.

[Fishyface]

Man its been an interesting ride with my life progress...

2005-2007 - Coasted along in college, barely keeping my gpa above a 2.0. Raided tons and really made a lot of character progression.
2008-2009 - Cousin passed away and I nearly flunked out of college dealing with it. Met my about to be wife in 2009. Starting turning my life around, for the first time I realized there was more to life than video games.
2009-2011 Began to pull myself out of the hole I had dug myself into grade wise, deepened my relationship with my gf, raided less but had better work balance.
Graduated with 1st bachelors
2011-2014 Became Deans list student got my life together, went back to work, proposed to my girlfriend. About to graduate with 2nd bachelors and getting a masters in the future

[Zisszinthek]

Since I started back in vanilla, I have gotten divorced (Not WoWs fault... never marry a Brazilian you pick up at disney.), changed jobs a few times, moved a few times, traveled from east coast to the west coast and the north border to puerto rico for work while raiding from hotel rooms, gotten lots of pets (all of which went in the divorce.) and spent a bit of time in ERs for work related head injuries... No real timeline that I can remember, I have a bad sense of time and it is all kinda a long blur.

[leggomydairy]

wow many dropouts and trash of society here

wow you're rude

[GoldNSilence]

Started while working in customer service at a call center, switched to nursing and got a job at an upper class assisted living home which I worked at through Vanilla to Burning Crusade, went back to school, met my current wife and finished through Wrath, quit during Cataclysm due to it being bad and focused on my career and starting a family. Casually played MoP, quit when child was born, came back and became a LFR hero until 14 months of SoO then quit again.