Perhaps an unusual request

[ChasWylde]

Okay, here's the situation. I'm not a raider. I'll never be a raider. My life just doesn't allow for it. I need to be able to play at my own pace, at my own time, with no one relying on me.

I would be willing to play on someone else's server, but it's hard to tell which servers have which features. I've been looking at them for days and half of them don't even describe what they are or what they offer beyond saying which patch number they have. But it seems like solo servers are tough to find.

So I'm thinking what I would like to do is set up a private server for solo play. I do not, however, know the slightest thing about how to do that. I'm good at following directions when things are explained to me in easily digestible chunks, but it's not a skillset I already possess.

ALSO, however, here's the catch: the one thing that has really disheartened me about not being a raider is the fact that I have missed a lot of story progression as it happens. I will log in, the world has changed, events have occurred, but I wasn't a part of them. That's what I'm after. Not the combat. Just the story. I love the lore and I want to experience it as it happens.

It seems to me the best way to do this would be to...what, set up a server with the very first vanilla patch, play it through, then upgrade to the next patch, play it through, rinse and repeat, all the way up to current? Obviously, because I'll be soloing, I will need some way to tweak raid content to be soloable and/or gear myself to be able to solo it. Again, the story and lore and experience of playing the content as if it's "new" is what I'm after.

Is there a way to do this? Is it even possible? Has someone already made such a thing?