Seeking help from the more casual WoW players

[Amywef]

I did that even when raiding ;P Love your avatar btw.

I think my biggest problem is that I've pretty much "done it all" as I've played for so long. The only aspect of the game I haven't tried was rated PvP, but that would end up the same as raiding where I'd have to be online at certain times of the day. Casual PvP I guess could be fun, if I could find any like minded people to do it with.

Thank you.

I've been playing for a long time too. I guess my love for the lore keeps me from getting bored of playing, just the feeling of being part of the world/story.

[MoanaLisa]

I'll give this a shot although I'll say upfront that Warlords is the least amenable expansion for anyone who doesn't raid. I raided during Wrath, less so during Cataclysm, even less during Mists due to long-time guild members finally going their separate ways and decided that Warlords would be the expansion where I wouldn't bother to raid at all since I had stopped enjoying it. There could have been a better expansion to get to that point but things are what they are. Here's how I've been playing:

1. Not every day. I've devoted time to playing other games. So I've branched out a bit. I play about 4 days a week.

2. Get off the gear treadmill. Upgrades are nice but you'll have good enough gear from just playing to get along just fine without raiding.

3. Be thorough. Explore zones completely, get all the achievements, don't hurry. No one is pushing at you other than yourself. If you're doing dailies (of any kind really) switch them up and don't worry about doing all of them every day. If you get tired of something stop doing it the second you start to feel bored or annoyed. Come back to it another time.

4. Try things you wouldn't normally do. I started with pet battles this expansion and personally found the system to be deeper than I had thought and actually a more fun than I had ever imagined it would be.

5. Relax and start some alts. Try something different with them. Don't take shortcuts. Don't rush the leveling. Explore and enjoy. There are likely places in Azeroth that you haven't completely covered. You aren't on a schedule.

6. Old dungeons and raids are fun and profitable.

7. Once I started sorting through achievements that I didn't have I was surprised at the number of achievements to still get that sounded like a good time to do. Again, don't hurry. Don't grind them. Just relax and do a little at a time.

8. Hearth out in some place other than the current expansion. I like Dalaran myself although the shrine is good too for the portals. Let your characters be citizens of the world and choosing their own path instead of slogging along with the crowd. If you're playing like this, really: fuck the crowd.

9. If you're on an RP realm, see if anything is going on and join in. If you're not on an RP realm do some research and start an alt on one. Good RP players make up their own game. That's not a bad thing. RP realms tend to be a lot more social too.

10. Decide for yourself what you want to do; what you like and what you don't like. Don't let others do that for you. Keep an eye out for guilds that support your chosen play style. If you have the means, make a personal guild for the extra storage.

11. Keep a small notebook near where you play and if you think of things you want to do make a note of them. Keep that around. Right now I've got about 3 pages of stuff in older expansions to do. Do them on your main and it will be simple. If it's too simple, wear some gear that will make it a little more difficult.

12. Keep a good lore site like wowpedia or some other site like that handy. If you get to some point that seems to have some lore attached to it, stop, look it up and spend the time to learn about it while you're there. If you meet NPC's that seem to have some history, it's likely that they do. Look that up and learn about them. Go find old daily hubs and learn about the quests and any lore associated with them. People usually just blow by this stuff when leveling but if you're around anyway, save a couple of sessions and do them.

That should get you started. Good luck. Make your own path and remember, there's no rush to get to the end of the journey. I suspect the expansion to be announced this week is going to be a lot more sympathetic to this sort of playstyle than Warlords, which was really all about "Hey, you. Get through this other stuff we made and get to raiding."

[oldgeezer]

I play for 2-3 hours per week.

I like to be out immersed in the world (any of them) - I spend a lot of time flying, enjoying the ambience and the views, and exploring. I roleplay. I like slowly levelling alts, no heirlooms. I collect transmog gear and mounts from raids and instances. I work on professions, and play the AH. I'm enjoying the Tanaan dailies and rep grind atm. I've yet to run out of things that keep me amused.

[2hot4you]

Pugging on your own time in LFG tool is an option.
My only advice is to avoid pugging with guild groups. ALL guilds who pug randoms will have a gchat similar to this:

Raiderdk: EVERYONE ROLL ON THE TRINKET WHEN IT DROPS
Otherguy: don't let the pug win the tier shoulders, I need them for mog
Weeaboonelf: plz everyone roll for my back piece. Fuk pugs lol