I was going to say essentially the same thing. In my early 20s I was working at Sony Computer Entertainment America as a QA tester and EVERYONE was playing and talking about WoW non-stop. This was probably around the time that Burning Crusade came out, or maybe WotLK. At the time it felt like I was the only person in my work/social circle NOT playing WoW.

I tried to pick it up years later, playing solo. It just doesn’t have the same appeal. I definitely feel like I missed out on something special by not having played it during the heyday.

WoW classic is a substantially different experience from WoW “retail”.

I kept a WoW account over these years but seldom played it. Still got hooked when classic came out.

Half of the fun is interaction with the community though. Meeting people in starting areas and struggling together in quests and dungeons. I’m not sure one can reproduce this experience again now that classic has progressed beyond the original expansion…

FWIW I don't consider my 40's to be my "formative" years :-)

That, and how many millions was spent on the artwork…