Same! Almost. I started about 2 months in. March 7th is my anniversary date. I started this character (then a Draenei Shaman) on Darkspear.
Been a long ride since then, but this toon is still my favorite. 
The NGE killed SWG for me.
I loved that game but it changed so much literally overnight I lost interest in it overnight. Everything I found fun in the game was gone.
Like an idiot I switched to another space based EA game but left it after only a couple of months. It was at that time I picked up WoW. I don’t remember the exact date but it was pretty early in Vanilla.
I’ve taken a few breaks here and there to play games like World of Tanks, but I keep coming back to WoW.
1 Like
Played since the original Warcraft…
TBC, patch 2.2.
Started in Vanilla quit during Cata came back for MoP left WoD came back with Legion.
BFA I quit a month in just came back within the last month, only due to friends.
Day one retail. My rogue has an old pvp title/FOS.
Had to quit about 6 months in due to moving. Went back around BC after a breakup (gave me something to focus on while in despression).
March 2005
Novemberish 2017
2006 officially, late Vanilla. I did play on and off extremely casually before, mostly on a private server I’m ashamed to say.
Really looking forward to the satisfaction that era of WoW brought about when everything you did was a conscious decision not just something in the background while you did something else.
It might not have truly been difficult, but it had a way of making everything meaningful and I think that’s something missing from the live game. Substance.
I played summer of 05 for about a month but Classic was super boring, like, I’m glad all you boring nerds played it so we could get all the good stuff later, but ick.
Anyways, I played each expansion a month longer than the last till Mists where I played up till the big drought and I’ve been subbed all but a few months here and there since Warlords. I actually like Warlords since it allowed me to raid a ton but I did take off 3 months in the middle of the big drought.
I joined in late TBC, but never really played. I was just making multiple trial accounts because my parents wouldn’t buy my a WoW subscription. I would just be a dumb kid annoying roleplayers in Goldshire by saying dumb things.
I actually started in WoTLK when I could get enough money, but then in High School Cata came out and I started to get into raiding and playing the game seriously.
BC pirate server. Then i skipped WOTLK completely. Then i joined Cata on blizzard server. WoW wasn’t very popular at start in my country. And cost way too much for a kid at a time.
March 17, 2005.
09/07 was when my free trial started.
Beta phase 3, 4 and then the open beta.
Then retail, 40 minutes after the servers were up after buying it at midnight at Walmart in Nebraska(day one); They had no idea why me and 3 other nerds had formed a line, in the electronics department…
“Oh, what? Let me check… Oh yeah, those were back there, here.”
Having it before people who “preordered”, who were still screaming on the forums for days:
Priceless.
https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/character/us/baelgun/kylathia
is my character who started 40 minutes after the servers were up, which is as soon as I could buy the thing at Walmart (at midnight) then take the 7 minute drive home. She took the free transfer to Baelgun, from whatever one of the original servers were (Blackhand? Sounds right.) Besides barbershop stuff, taking the “Dark” from Tyrande, she is unchanged.
Since I played the beta, I already knew what I wanted to make and what name; Basically I remade my beta character.
Also, you did not have to install the retail game if you had the open beta. The open beta was actually MORE patched up, so there was only a 400 byte patch or something small before I could play.
In fact, I’ve never installed a retail Wow cd/dvd. I was in every beta, so then ready for retail. WoD/Legion were the first beta I was not in, but it was all digital for a while before that.
Day 1. I wont be so pretentious as to list beta. Played for a long time on Azgalor then the guild transferred at the beginning of Legion. Guild has been intact since day 1 as well.
June of 2006. Looking forward to playing classic, was hoping I’d get into beta but no luck so far.
1 Like
2005, I’m unable to find the exact date as the transaction history does not show your sub payment history any longer. I’m assuming that because some ppl sub through tokens. I’m bummed I wish I could still see my full history.
1 Like
I bought EQ back in the day and then demanded a refund… I paid for the CD why should I have to pay for access to a game??? Right? That was my frame of mind for many years until BC came out and I had a friend tell me I really should give it a try. I waited for a bit longer and ultimately joined near the end of BC. 2007ish?
Day 1, 2004.