Most of that reply was to the person who said they didn’t read what I wrote, but then referenced what I wrote in the reply.
I will admit I sounded perhaps too harsh with “nothing more” and probably should have left that off. But I don’t back away from the sentiment that we use our characters as tools to experience the content. The story, as played out in the various facets of the game, is the thing. To get the full story (or as much of it in-game as Blizzard will allow us to see, without forcing us to also buy books/etc.), we have to complete the questlines, which include dungeons and some difficulty of raid (which is a large part of what LFR has become), or we have to wait until those cutscenes are available on YouTube and/or the launcher. And I would consider that as circumventing certain aspects of the game.
As for how that relates to your individual character, I have a paladin from way back who is decked out in a full transmog set of Dark Iron gear. I didn’t buy any of it. I ran Molten Core and BRD until I had them both memorized, mining ore in fractions at a time, then going back into BRD to smelt and work it. I also made every one of the weapons. I did that as a personal challenge to see how long it would take (answer: a while) and so I could say I did it, plus I happen to love those instances, and how the gear looks.
But me doing that didn’t advance an objective or an achievement in-game, nor did it really build my character. It certainly didn’t make him stronger. Dark Iron gear is all (I think) BoE anyway, so some rich guy could just buy his way into that set if he chose.
I could draw a direct line to another analogy in the same vein as my first one, but sports (or sports equipment) analogies don’t seem to play here. Just know that I could bore you and do it.
Instead, I’ll focus on the last part of that sentence: I would argue that we “change the thing we’re working on” every time a new xpac rolls out, using the character as the means to do it.