If it’s so dead, why play?
Yesterday I pointed out that for 70s, the only way to see pretty much all the nifty stuff not already seen is to be part of a raiding guild – which means 20 hours or more of WoW per week. Note again, as I’ve pointed out in the past, that I did NOT say 20 hours of raiding. I said 20 hours of WoW. There are rare exceptions – as individuals, not as guilds. And again, what if you don’t WANT to do 20 hours of WoW a week?
First, there is a LOT of content to World of Warcraft. If you’re willing to set aside your level 70, you can level a few other characters. I say a few, because in addition to the stories only accessible to horde or alliance, there are lines only available to certain classes – healing the land in the druids, the Organization in the rogues… you get the idea.
Second, while I don’t like PvP, a lot of people do. And if that’s your bag, you’ll have a constant flurry of different foes, all with varying skills – oh, not the ones the game gives you, but how the player USES what the game gives. Humans are just more varying than we can afford to program into games, so far. So there’s a great of fun to be had there, which doesn’t require 20 hours of play a week.
Third… people. I wrote some time ago how regardless of the guild, it’s still a volunteer organization. Nothing ties it to you but your desire to be part of it. And as a consquence, you’re going to have things in common with more than a few of the members — or you’re going to leave. I know of very few guilds where members don’t converse – type-chat or voice-chat – outside the raid or other purpose of the guild. All guilds are social – they’re a natural outgrowth of the nature of a MultiPlayerGame. And Just Visiting takes as much time as you want to take. And sometimes there are people you find in your guild who, if they lived nearby, would probably be the person you hung out with all the time. $15 a month to have pretty constant access to friends you’d never have otherwise? Cheap, really.
These are a few reasons why people hang on even when they can’t do 20 hours a week. And if that works for you, great. Do it.
Have fun.
Priestly Endeavors - a gaming blog 
Sorry to see you leaving, as I enjoyed reading your posts, but I guess everyone reaches the point where they stop having fun eventually. I don’t understand why you seem to be stuck on this point you’re trying to make of raiding taking 20 hours of playtime a week, though.
Since the 2nd or 3rd month of TBC I have only logged on for an average of 8 hours a week, and I’ve still managed to keep up with 2 weekly raids all that time. We are a very casual raid, but we’ve still managed to slowly work our way up through Karazhan and the tier 5 raids and we are now half way through Black Temple.
Aside from 7 hours of actual raiding, I stock up on funds using my trade skills and the odd daily battleground, which makes me more than enough cash to keep me in potions and enchantments. Flasks are all free these days, and repair costs are more than made up by the gold dropping in raids.