Hello and well met-
Here is a quick background.
I’m 51 years old. I started EverQuest on Day 1 1999 (and still play a little). I also picked up Dark Age of Camelot and played it for several years. I tried World of Warcraft around the time The Burning Crusade came out and had a lot of fun playing the game with a buddy. I believe we got into the 60s but he lost interest and then I guess so did I as wandering alone is good sometimes maybe even a lot of the time but certainly not all of the time.
I switched gears to Warhammer Online and City of Hero’s which I loved dearly. Unfortunately Warhammer was shut down for varying reasons. My personal take is that they tried to hard to balance the game around the vocal minority and the logic was so convoluted that the game was choking to death on its on bile. City of Hero’s was canceled for…still not sure, it had such a rabid fan base.
Right now I still play a little EverQuest, some Elder Scrolls and even a smidgen of Lord Of the Rings Online.
I keep being drawn back to World of Warcraft though and I piddle around and get no conversation or 15 insta guild invites from people I have never heard of which a;ways scares me away. However the lore is so intriguing that I want to really give it another shot. My goals:
Find a good balanced server with some lower levels and casual guilds (any suggestions?)
Start a new character (Shaman? Druid? Priest? maybe a DPS Warrior?) Not Hunter, Mage, Warlock or Paladin, I have a little experience with them and want something different
Horde or Alliance? I’m OK with either.
Find a guild (Family Style?) Conversation, Knowledge Help and Tips, Plain ole camaraderie
Start at level one and follow the lore / story if that’s possible. I know that over all of these years certain events have unfolded in a particular order. I’d like to not get caught up in leveling but travel the world experiencing all of these story lines in the correct order.
Is there a guide somewhere that has the basic path that says “At level X move to this zone and follow Y story to get to Z conclusion” and in that same vein is there a ‘best’ website for skill and talent information that stays updated?
Pick a trade skill and become proficient (archeology looks interesting, maybe another multi purpose like alchemy? Suggestions?)
Hunt Rares and Achievements. Collect Mounts and Pets.
Make a few friends
Winter is coming and I need a time sink.
To anyone that reads or comments or provides any insight or tips - I appreciate you. There is some much stuff out there to research but things seem to change continuously (mostly a good thing) but it makes a lot of information suspect.
If things work out I would be interested in coming back and updating this topic to share how things progressed. It might even help any other new players that feel impossibly behind and overwhelmed.
I have my 8 In Dobsonian set up so I’m going to go look at Jupiter for a bit but I will be back 
Thank you for reading my novel and for any and all input you can provide.