Hehe, well - one of the reasons I got so into it was that my GF at the time was even more into WoW than I was.
I don't think I could ever play an MMO alone for long - as I tend to solo when I don't have real friends playing.
Playing MMOs solo is boring, imo.
Hey Dart and greywolf, out of curiosity, how did you have time to play that much and how did you fund it? Student? Played WoW at night, work / study all day?