I know the games can get kind of pricey, so I wanted to share: I went to Target tonight to look at the games, and they had the base game for $20, one expansion (the burning crusade) for $30, and one expansion (wrath of the lich king) for $40.

BUT....they have a special promotion going on right now where if you buy the base game, you get the burning crusade expansion pack free!

(Hopefully this post is allowed? I re-read the forum rules but I wasn't 100% sure)

Oh, don't do it! It will suck YEARS of your life away!

On a side note, Blizzard is irritating. Since they made everyone switch to Battlenet, they're now talking about requiring real, full names on forum posts. If I hadn't already left the game, I would leave now - I'm the only person in the US (per Google and Accurint) with my name, and I certainly don't want people from an online game to be able to find me, especially since I have a very obviously female name.

i spent years (since release) being a hardcore raider on the best EU server, on one of the top 10 guild of that server. too many hours, too many plans, too much of life. it was good when i HAD the time, but i don't anymore. since raiding was all that interested me in the game, i quit it in favour of work/studies/social life.

sometimes i miss it, but not too much. i've found offline games are much less demanding

My little brother is obsessed with this game. I don't play but this thread attracted my attention. I guess if you time yourself while playing then it won't suck away your life like it has his. He has 4 young kids and his wife says he never spends time with them because he is always playing the game.

Have fun, in moderation of course.

They backtracked on the names-on-forums thing a while ago - it's not going to happen at all. Thank goodness - whoever came up with that idea clearly has never experienced the fear of an online stalker.

I'm a fairly avid player. I have a great guild on a backwaters server that raids semi-casually (we're 9/12 ICC-H 25man). I actually met my boyfriend of a year through my guild. For me it's been a positive thing in my life, but I can see how for some people it takes over way too much time/energy/resources.

I tried the free trial and really didn't like it. I play Maple Story instead - it's free and it's silly :3 And Nexon are less annoying than Blizzard. Or so runs the arguments on the forums, lol.

I used to play but after this last expansion and my last year in college I didn't have time or money to keep feeding Blizzard. It's definitely addictive and will suck your life away. My husband used to play ALL the time and then one day realized...where are all my REAL friends lol. Needless to say, neither he nor I play anymore.