World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

Depending on who you talk to this was WoW at its absolute best. I wouldn't really disagree. While OG WoW holds a particular nostalgia for me I think I had the most fun in BC. They smoothed out a lot of the wrinkles and grinds it felt like and then just added more, more, more of everything. My Priest went from being a pretty solid DPS to one of the best in the business, easily able to solo the entire game. They added flying mounts which was some of the most fun I've had in a game, particularly because you spend hundreds of hours playing without one and suddenly BAM you can fly everywhere. It was especially great for me because for the first time I found a niche I could capitalize in the economy when I hit max level and maxed out tailoring. I would farm water elementals up near Shattrath and then sell Shadoweave gear for hundreds and hundreds of gold. I remember fondly making 2800 gold in a 24 hour span by not sleeping and farming non stop. And then I bought my epic flying mount for 5k gold. One of the few people to have one on the entire server and for sure the only one of my friends with one. It was spectacular to see the fruits of my labor so prominently displayed.

My only regret is I didn't have friends or make friends who wanted to raid. I missed out on all the cool raids. I never did Black Temple, I never got raid gear like I did in classic. All my friends wanted to do pvp and duel with couldn't disinterest me anymore. Though I do recall doing pvp with a rogue I made friends with and would hang out in ventrilo with...FUCK I can't remember his name but it would come to me sometimes.

Yeah, this was a spectacular era, the last time I went full obsessive nerd with a game. More memories coming back to... farming rep for my Talbuk mount which I used just because it was rare even though it was kind of underwhelming lol.