At some point after I started working on my epic mount, my alts started getting more attention. For me, playing a lower-level alt is almost a way to relax from the pressures of endgame life; worries vanish and all you have to do is look at that long-forgotten XP bar.

As someone with a large number of alts, I've been (mostly unconsciously) trying to change the way I play them; soloing the questlines in the Barrens is only so much fun the first few times, and while the later levels are much less overplayed for me, the early ones are over-familiar and boring.

To avoid the potential drudgery of soloing, I've been playing with others a lot more than I have in the past -- almost all of my previous characters have worked their way up the ladder alone, save for the odd instance PuG. I even avoided several instances until late in the game because of this.

To change that, I've been pairing up with other players -- my rogue teams up with a mage, and my mage with a priest -- and it's great fun. Tearing through mobs, learning how the other player operates, even the simple feeling of not being the only one in Ashenvale at midnight; it may be hard to find others to team up with, but it's definitely worth it, and the various players who've put up with me have my heartfelt thanks.

I've also been calling in a few favours. After helping someone level their character to 60, I've taken advantage of their newfound power to become one of those despicable players who powerlevels through instances; in most cases it's simply a case of following around a level 60, picking up loot and cashing in quests for XP. I plan to play instances normally, to learn more about my class, but going in with a high-level player is far more novel for me -- I've done it twice so far, and I'm not sure whether to repeat the feat.

Finally, while playing my rogue doesn't give me too many new tricks, playing my mage is giving me the chance to experiment with AOE grinding and all the techniques and timing involved. It's a new challenge for me, and I already miss certain abilities when I get back to my main.

As for the profit part of the equation, it's important to me that my alts aren't a money-sink for my main; so far, with herbalism and all those lovely instance drops, it seems to be the other way round.

Filed under: Quests