started in 07, was also young, 10 years old, and i agree with u with the feeling wow gave. i consider the feeling to have started to dwindle since cataclysm. Many argue that wotlk was the beginning of the downfall blah blah, and ye whilst that might be true, cataclysm is really where it was felt the most, and actually did start the end of the wow we grew up with. though i kept playing, each expansion giving me a clearer idea on whats wrong with the game and hows it changed for better or worse. and today, despite still fowlloing it, i get so angry thinking about how retail is. it annoys me so much. I lvoe world of warcraft, but i love what it used to be not what it is today.
i suspect many of the reasons why i, u, and many others feel the same way for wow is because it came out and peaked at a time where the world was different. wow was super fun but so was the world around us. the music, the internet, the everything was different. however, the younger generation of today have the same feeling for all those things, but no mmo to give them that feeling we had the first time, which is why i believe the biggest reason why we felt like that then and not like that anymore today is beucase the game has changed. for the worse.
its no an mmo anymore. this will sound slighly selfish or "ignorant" to some people, but i truly believe that many people today who play just dont realize what it is about the game that doesnt make the feel the same as way before, or why they quit mid expac and come bk later at the end or after a new expac, only to repeat the cycle again. THE PROBLEM IS THE GAME. its changed for the worse