re: Ive never played WOW, should i try it?

Like everyone here has said - there is a possibility that it will suck you in...

I've played since launch and no game will ever touch the hours (days now) I've logged. It didn't almost ruin my life per say, but I've had school troubles, relationship issues, and lazy issues throughout my years playing it though. More so in the early years of playing (Classic-WOTLK). As I got older it didn't effect me as much though. Everyone's different, however.

With that being said I wont' tell anyone not to play it though. In it's current game state, it's not too grindy if you want to be casual and you can get a lot done with just a few sit downs a week. I play two nights a week now because I'm married with kids and still feel like I accomplish something.

I would NORMALLY suggest starting with classic, but for the above reasons I would go retail. If you don't have the time to grind to 60 and do end game stuff I don't particularly feel Classic is worth it, but with that being said I've already done it countless times so the level 60 grind is the chore for me.. for a new player it may be amazing. Classic can consume you because the more you play the more you accomplish because it takes time to earn things.

WoW is a great game that gets memed a lot but I've had some great experiences and met friends I still chat with daily - even met some IRL. It's a shell of what it once was but still fun to play and probably the best MMO of all time.. it's success will be hard to touch. It will be be a sad day when/if the servers close down one day.

TLDR: Play the game, try it out! I suggest Retail but can't go wrong with Classic but it's grindy (but rewarding). Play responsibly!