newbie envy

I was walking around Orgrimmar when I passed by an unguilded level 10 Troll Priest with a very ugly haircut. I had nothing to do while queued for a Battleground, so I figured, might as well inspect him. He had several pieces of green cloth gear crafted by himself (with stats like +2 Spirit/+1 Intellect), a +5 Health enchant to Chest, a Lesser Magic Wand also crafted by himself and a green Mace Of Strength. He was just standing there, probably AFK. I didn't try to start a conversation or anything. A few minutes later, I got the message prompting me to join Warsong Gulch.

This pointless random encounter actually made me all fuzzy and teary eyed. We were very alike - both Troll Priests - but we were just so different at the same time. I could clearly notice he was just starting out. Everything is fresh and new to him, every new zone a never-before-seen experience. He's using the extremely adorable lowbie green gear he crafts, I'm never satisfied with my high-powered optimized dungeon drops. All in all, I think he's currently having more fun than me. Probably just as much fun I had when I first started killing Defias bandits in Elwynn Forest with my lowly Human Rogue - that is, LOADS of fun.

When he learns to inspect other people, he'll start checking the beautifully geared, fully epic'd people in Orgrimmar, and probably start to envy their gear. Little he knows that he is the one to be envied. A few months later, he will be able to have all those epics he once envied, while the fully epic'd guys, like myself, will NEVER again be able to experience the game the way he is experiencing it now. Our eyes are already jaded, we can't ever be subject again to the same sense of overwhelming wonderment of getting to explore Azeroth for the first time.

I remember an old WoW advert that said: "It's not a game. It's a world". I don't think you that line is appropriate nowadays - WoW has, without a doubt, turned into much less of a world and much more of a game. But I wonder if for newbies like that Troll Priest, less cynical and more open than we grizzled veterans, WoW can still be truly a World of Warcraft.