You can change the XP rate from 0,5x - 7x, just right click your XP bar. You can tone it down if you feel like you are missing something. And ofc it impacts experience, with 7x rates you skip a lot of quests or even some zones. It's for players who are more interested in endgame content.
Thanks for that! I did not know you could change the rate.
In regards to raiding, are there active players/guilds looking to do vanilla/tbc raids?
Niche. Have a look at recruitment section, maybe you can find something: http://forum.warmane.com/forumdisplay.php?f=270
Generally you can find some vanilla/TBC raid being hosted in global chat, which you can join with simply writing, or copy paste, /join global in chat.