After a long journey, basically the first batch of players to enter the game—and those who played for many hours every day—had already reached max level.
These players also realized that, unlike other games where reaching max level meant reaching the end, World of Warcraft still had countless pieces of content they had yet to experience.
Leaving the other things aside, there were first the side storylines in every region.
Across the vast world of Azeroth, countless side quests in every region still awaited players to complete and explore.
Some of them offered excellent rewards and classic stories as well.
Beyond that, there were the different playstyles.
After reaching max level, players could finally fully experience the appeal of every class.
This also gave rise to quite a few memes.
For example: "I'm an Arms Warrior. I fight with a fan. My cooldown's a minute and a half. Once I'm done spinning, I'm done for."
Charge plus releasing Souls—this was a warrior's romance.
Of course, even more players were busy farming dungeons to improve their combat power.
For a full set of gear, players could often grind themselves into the ground.
There was also one major issue that ran from the beginning of the game all the way to max level.
That was money!
Although a marketplace was opened later on, allowing players to trade with one another,
such as buying game-time cards and having other players purchase them with Gold Coins,
most players still generally would not sell game-time cards or buy them with Gold Coins.
Money remained a major issue. Many players saved up for a 1000 Gold Mount, which was no small expense.
At times like this, Warlocks and Paladins were quite happy.
Their class quests allowed them to directly obtain their own exclusive 1000 Gold Mounts.