I'm one of those players that abject that picks a chic based on aesthetics and I'm analytic at the T1/2/3 sets as a way of giving myself an end-game ambition to 'aspire' to.

I didn't play Classic aback in the day so my catechism is, how abounding hours played am I analytic at to even access a T3 set? I've apprehend that Blizz abstracts 1-3 hours per akin to get from Lvl 1-60. But afresh I'm apprehensive how abounding hours accomplished that...

I'm seeing some allocution about how a lot of humans didn't get to arrest Naxx even afterwards a year played (a lot of humans book this up to pre-TBC agreeable dropping)

I can prob play 15 hours a week, so I'm starting to anticipate a T3 set adeptness be an unattainable ambition for me - can anyone accord some angle on hours played about to get a Bank 1 or 2/3 set from their experience?

SockofBadKarma told me this:

Well, let's see if I can get an estimate. I'm traveling to accomplish a bulk of assumptions actuality that may not arise to canyon based on arrest composition, acerbity of brotherhood requirements, bulk of aggressive guilds, affluence of agriculture for a accurate class, etc. My bulk could be underselling, or even overselling, by as abundant as 20-30%. But it's at atomic a ballpark.

First is the leveling. Bold you're not a maximally able amateur who can aswell get advanced of the ambit (which you aren't if you're abandoned arena 15 hours a week), afresh you're traveling to acceptable charge about 10 to 13 abounding canicule of in-game time to get to 60. So we'll be accommodating and say it's 10, which gives us an antecedent 240 hours.

After that comes the raiding itself. You'll wish to get into a brotherhood that will in actuality be able to adeptness Naxx. It's traveling to be difficult in your accompaniment aback you'll be larboard abaft with the antecedent application after-effects of beginning 60s who raced there, but it can be done, mostly by bold charge and efficiency. That's traveling to crave you to acreage a pre-raid BiS. At this point we're apparently in Appearance 2 (Naxx doesn't absolution until Appearance 6, apperception you, which is apparently about two years away). You're traveling to need, and this is a asperous estimate, about 30-50 annual per alcove run, with anniversary bead averaging about a 20-30% chance, and about 16-18 pieces of gear. Let's boilerplate it at 17 and 40 annual per with a 25% chance. That agency for anniversary section of gear, you'll charge about 160 minutes, or just shy of 3 hours, in any complete alcove itself,  additional alteration time and accumulation analytic time that will acceptable add an hour. Afresh for charity's sake, we'll pretend that a accumulation will accumulate active that alcove until you get the item. So let's say 4 hours per section of accessory (and again, this is complete charitable). We can aswell accept that some accessory pieces are advancing from quests, so we'll say 56 hours to get pre-BiS.

Now you're in a brotherhood that recruited you because you showed charge to acreage the best accessory accessible afore accepting arrest epics. This is the array of brotherhood you'll charge if you anytime wish to adeptness Naxx, let abandoned bright it. From actuality on out you'll wish to authenticate that you're a amount raider, W0W classic gold which agency bold up to a minimum of 80% of raids with abounding farmed consumables at the ready. You're traveling to wish a minimum of 3 hours of agriculture time for anniversary arrest anniversary (probably added depending on spec). Afterwards your brotherhood starts application flasks, that'll jump to 6 hours a week. On top of that, you'll acquire the raids themselves. 

Actuality you are lucky; because humans already apperceive the content, a lot of guilds will acceptable be active two arrest nights of amid 3 and 4 hours each. We'll be boorish now and accept it's 4. So anniversary anniversary you'll be dedicating 11 of your 15 hours to agriculture and raiding, and you'll do that every individual anniversary for 2 years, and afresh at some point you'll be agriculture even more, which bliss it up to 14 of your 15 hours.

So, if you got to akin 60 in the 16th anniversary afterwards release, that leaves you with 36 weeks larboard in the year. We'll accomplish it simple and accept your agriculture duties will access in the new year. That's 11x36, and afresh 14x52. Now, I'd yield off 20% of that, but we'll add in animal absurdity actuality and accept that sometimes raids will go best than intended, and sometimes you'll be accomplishing off-night raids like ZG. That's 396 hours + 728 hours afore you set basal in Naxx. And this is bold a brotherhood that in actuality doesn't get bent up in AQ40. Despite what some humans may affirmation about Vanilla accepting easy, a lot of guilds are traveling to breach afar at Vael artlessly because they were absolution too abounding bad players or players with bad specs into the raids, and they can't aboveboard the amphitheater of arrest efficiency+friendships.

Now you're in Naxx. Your arrest is blame its limits. You've had to carelessness notions of abandoned 15 hours per week; accept now that you're traveling to be agriculture for 9 hours just to atone for wipes, as able-bodied as ambidextrous with alteration times and apple buffs. Now, we accept you're not in the best brotherhood ever, but it's a brotherhood that still, with patience, manages to exhausted KT a few months in. So for three months you'll be spending 17 hours a anniversary minimum, or 204 hours.

Now you wish 8/8. So does everybody else. We'll accept you're rolling a chic that has 6 amount associates in it, and let's say there are 8 others in your bank badge group. So you charge to attempt adjoin 13 added people. So let's say if a badge drops, you get it 1 out of every 14 times. This bulk will abatement as added humans ample out specific slots, but it's a acceptable average. Aswell there's a ring in the T3 set, but I accept you wish armor specifically.

Some of this accessory you will acquire already gotten while aggravating to clear. We'll say you got 3/8 afore you austere KT, and at this point I'm accepting complete generous. That agency that you'll apparently acreage for addition 4 months afore you get a abounding set, unless you were one of the a lot of basal associates of a hardly best Boodle Council brotherhood that rewards you with accessory tokens preferentially because you were just that good. So we'll say that afterwards 7 months in Naxx, you'll get your 8/8 (something complete few humans had aback in the day, aback TBC appear afore a lot of guilds could anytime get Naxx on farm). So at 17x28, that's 476.

So you've got 240+56+396+728+476=1896 hours as a ballpark estimate, and I'd action it would in actuality be over 2000 by the end of things. That's about 83 canicule of in-game time.

If you don't anticipate you can handle dedicating 83 canicule of time accomplishing in actuality annihilation in-game for two years added than agriculture and raiding, or abroad adjusting the time you absorb to annual for chargeless time as well, afresh amend your goals now.

Edit: As for abounding T1 and T2, we'll be able to accept that by the end of anniversary year your brotherhood will acquire farmed abundant agreeable for anyone who wants it to get 8/8. So let's say that T1 takes about 650 hours, and T2 takes about 1100. Or you can accompany a brotherhood continued afterwards it has absolutely farmed those arrest tiers and appropriately bound acquire all accessory absence to you as a new recruit, appropriately abridgement the agriculture time considerably, but I wouldn't put my chips on a action that involves demography a year off, bold up afresh in Appearance 4, and acquisitive some brotherhood will yield benevolence on a amateur with 0 arrest epics and 0 arrest history.