The art of switching your main
by David Nelson 
Dec 14th 2006 at 3:03PM
Switching your main is easy enough if you are in a very casual guild, or not in a guild at all. You simply say to yourself..."Hey! I want to be a rogue now." No problem! You're a rogue! How about when you are in a raiding guild, or a hardcore pvp guild, and you have been raiding with your mage and you want to start raiding with your rogue? And you want to roll on loot? Problem! Or at least there has been in every raiding guild I have been in. Why? Well, the reason most commonly given is that you spent the last few months raiding and equipping that mage, and it would be unfair to retire the mage and start over as a rogue. After all, the guild has equipped that mage, and all that loot would be wasted. I totally get that point of view, and it is a reasonable one. I mean, if you let one person change their class, what if everyone does? That would really kill progression. However, some of the folks who want to change mains see it a different way. They want to change because they are bored, and isn't playing a game supposed to be about the fun? And from another point of view, you are running the risk of losing the mage-wannabe-rogue if he gets fed up and rerolls on another server. If a player is fun to have around and not a drama queen, why not give into their wishes? Is it worth losing a good player over 4 pieces of tier 2 gear? I can really see both sides of the issue.
With that said, I have never been in a raiding guild that allowed someone to switch their main under any circumstance, and in talking to some of my friends today, neither have they. Once you roll on that first piece of BWL or MC loot, you are essentially committing to your character for the rest of your tenure with the guild.
And another thought, with The Burning Crusade right around the corner, wouldn't now be a perfect time to allow folks to switch mains if they so wish? By the time everyone regroups at level 70 to start endgame raiding, most, if not all, of your current gear is going to be replaced. That means, provided the guild has a good balance of classes, that the switching of the main is not hurting the guild or "wasting gear." Of course, you'd have some folks raiding with new classes, and there would be a learning curve with that, but that is to be expected. And with all the new talents, spells and encounters, there would be a learning curve anyway.
So what do you guys think? Do any raiding guilds allow the switching of mains? And if they do, how is it handled? Finally, is the expansion release the perfect time to switch classes without a penalty?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Expansions, Guilds, Raiding
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Deaddoc Dec 14th 2006 3:13PM
Most raiding guilds have instances (or at least parts of instances) on farm status, where the core raiders have already gotten all of their goodies. The best course of action is to only allow the new main to raid in an area that is already in farm status until the character is sufficiently geared to help the core raiding group.
DÖT Dec 14th 2006 3:18PM
If you are burnt out on your main switch and play something new...who cares about what other people want.
thingy Dec 14th 2006 3:30PM
It's only when raiding came to an almost-halt in my guild due to the pre-TBC lull that my guild opened up transfers. Prior to that there had simply been one druid who changed to a hunter, and that was it. He had said to the officers something along hte lines of "I either change, or I stop playing. Your call". Funny thing is, he'll be making his Warlock his main once TBC comes out.
I've got a pally wanting his (very new, not many blues) priest to become his main, a hunter wanting to roll a chamois, and I (hunter) am considering making my priest (2 * T1, rest is ZG gear) my main. For me it'll depend on whether the rumuors of hunters usefulness in end-game raiding in TBC are true or not. If they are, I'll be priesting it up. I'll need to see for myself though which means getting the hunter to 70 ASAP.
Shakina Dec 14th 2006 3:28PM
My guild handles the switching of mains pretty fairly. You must petition the guild leaders who (in a coucil) will decide if the move would benefit raiding. An example is not having enough healing, I want to be a priest, yada yada yada... Now, if recruitment is closed on a specific class because we have too many of those, the petition may be revoked. Generally it isn't too big of an issue and gear that most of the people in that players new class has already gone to the mains. It becomes easy (although expensive) to attain raiding gear to help out the guild.
My friend has a heavy raiding guild on another server who told me a great way to solve this problem. They have an ALT night every monday. Since they can tear through MC, BWL and AQ40 on their mains, the alts are all able to be outfitted (without point cost) rather easily. All of a sudden, you are catching up with your main on gear. Of course, the guild members seem to all be friendly and fair with loot rules and there doesn't seem to be an issue with rolling on MC loot when you are downing Naxx bosses and getting them on farm status.
I think that the TBC content coming soon, you will not see as big an issue with switching mains because you will be getting quest rewards for level 61-65 that look like they blow away T3 equipment, and you are getting socketable items to customize how you want to play your character.
Flit Dec 14th 2006 3:29PM
Sounds like a lot of guilds need to chill the hell out. It's only gear, and you will run it again. I could see if you had just gotten to 70 and only been playing for 2 weeks, gotten 2 peices, and then said, "nvm", but that wouldn't happen anyway. People have been 60 for years now, people should be able to play whatever they want.
Oh, and can we stop using that screenshot for every WOWinsider story? Thanks.
Ryan Dec 14th 2006 3:31PM
I know of quite a few guilds who were against switching mains simply because they wanted to beat the new content as quickly as possible but are now telling members to go ahead and pick something new for expansion. Afterall, tier 2 will be phased out by level 63-64, so I don't think most guilds care at this point.
Maglite Dec 15th 2006 3:21PM
My guild lets you switch your main once every 2 mos. It's a pretty good comprimise; keeps us from getting bored and doesn't kill progression.
Sylythn Dec 14th 2006 4:02PM
Wow, I've never heard of this restriction and if I found out my guild had it, I'd be gone in a heartbeat. We've got several 60's that have two mains, and they use it to benefit the guild. A couple of the guys have a healing class and a DPS class - depending on what we need for the night's run, that's the character they play. I'll eventually have two mains as well, a Warlock and a Pally. We're very short on Warlocks, so that'll probably get a lot of use - but we're sometimes short of healers and tanks too. I'll be gearing them both up, but I'll also be using them both for the guild's benefit.
Michael Dec 14th 2006 4:13PM
Hmmm...sounds like a lot of folks view WoW playing as a job instead of a game. When a guild starts to actually play for someones game time then they have a say in how that person uses his WoW membership. If the guild isn't paying (in real currency) then I'd tell them to go to hell.
Beth Dec 14th 2006 4:27PM
I've never liked the whole sacrificing your sanity for the good of the guild. First and foremost, you are playing for yourself. It's a game. It's fun.
Of course a huge part of WoW is to work as a team in order to explore new content. Also, tons of fun.
But when you do something that's not fun, like playing a character because "you have to" - that's just wrong. It is this type of person that gives WoW a bad rep.
Brought to you by Blizzard Entertainment people... don't forget that.
Belthasar Dec 14th 2006 4:22PM
Guild above all. You need to run your work schedule and social outings by the guild councils / officers as well, so that the rest of your life doesn't negatively affect progression.
No switching of mains, and you can never quit the game or cut down on your hours. Guilds require a monthly tithe of 10% RL income, and 50% in-game gold earned.
Molly Dec 14th 2006 4:24PM
My guild allows you to play your alts during raids if there is room in that class for that run. However, your alt shares the same dkp pool as your main. So, say you take your new level 60 into MC and your main is working on slowly getting tier 2, you would absolutely screw over your main by spending dkp on your alt. Alts also are only allowed to get something if no one else has or wants the item. So, yeah, my alt that I wanted to raid with I use for farming and 5-mans.
Shalkis Dec 14th 2006 4:54PM
My opinion on main switching mostly depends on the loot system used. If it's DKP, fine, go ahead. You have earned your loot already on your main. The more items get used the better.
However, I do have problems with people bringing alts (especially classes we don't need) to raids and expecting to get loot for both their mains and their alts, even if someone else's main is interested in the loot. Or expecting to be invited to progress raids with severely underequipped alts (greens in AQ40?)
oshin Dec 14th 2006 4:35PM
To those who think guilds that do this are strict: Every boss in this game beyond the trashy mc bosses need some amount of gear to kill, so if you want to switch main because your old one isnt fun, fine, but if you want to raid then consider that you should put yourself back in mc, now is that fun ? Dont forget that a guild doesnt have to keep a memeber who doesnt want to help out the guild.
Anyway its a moot point, TBC levels the field again for a few months, guilds wont have to find 40 extremely well geared people (with crazy dedication) to do the latest instance.
P.S The cthun pictures getting old now =D
crsh Dec 14th 2006 4:42PM
I've dropped my rogue in early November; I'm in a "hardcore" (whatever) guild in Naxx, my rogue is what I was recruited for, but I came to terms that raiding on my rogue wasn't my idea of fun anymore. My alt is a lv60 priest with no decent gear that I used in BGs, I love my shadow priest and decided to switch mains.
Well I didn't get kicked, but I can't raid anymore, and have no spot priority in lesser instances like MC or ZG (alts of mains get priority, I'm considered like a Friends&Family with no privies now).
I knew what switching mains implied in the context of this specific guild though, I knew it meant I'd have to find another guild if I wanted to raid on my priest, and I stand by my decision (albeit the cost is relatively high).
jpc Dec 14th 2006 6:21PM
All of these types of problems stem from the fact that you need 39 other ppl to see true end-game content. If you didn't need to resolve yourself with so many other people, then you could just do what you wanted and your own skill would determine, for example, whether you were good enough to heal in a difficult encounter with no points in holy or not.
Wormwood Dec 15th 2006 10:40AM
While its all nice and easy to say that the guild can't you what to do, those are obviously not guilds that are making progress through the end-game content. If you want to see and do everything available in the game, you need to put forth more effort, which usually requires some discipline to coordinate 40 people.
Every guild is different, I've seen some that never even allow alts, while others are "bring what you want" to a raid. The most successful (in raiding terms) seem to be those that are carefully balanced with class/specs for each encounter. Naxx runs with 13 hunters and 9 rogues and 3 priests just won't be as easy :)
I've changed mains twice- each time because the guild needed a particular class, so I've now got 2 barely used 60's with 6/8 tier2. Like others have said, all that stuff will be obsolete with TBC, so this final stretch before TBC probably IS the time to change to a new class is thats what you want...
pjc Dec 14th 2006 8:12PM
The fact about raiding guilds is that you will always lose people due to attrition whether it be from burnout, real life, switching to another server, etc. Letting someone switch mains lets you maintain an experienced players. Gear is one thing, but so is experience. There is a balancing act between switching mains and having a player abuse it by playing flavor of the month. In the end, its a game and you should play to have fun.
Ben Dec 15th 2006 12:24AM
I think that whatever happens in this circumstance revelas a lot about both the player and the guild in question. I'm sure we all agree that a guild exists to work as a team and that the needs of the many usually outweigh the needs of the few. That theory is all well and good, but how that theory plays out is another matter entirely.
Clearly a lot of guild leaders see themselves as totalitarian rulers, decreeing what is good for the collective and what can and cannot be done. Sure, this ensures that the guild's goals get accomplished, but what does it say about the members? To me it says that a good number of the members either don't understand or don't care about the guild's interests. It says that they're in it for their own personal gains and fail to recognize or respect the need for a unified guild.
It's this sort of guild that is forced to implement draconian regulations: minimum raid attendance, mandatory specs, strict black and white policies about alts, etc.
It's also this type of guild that all too often collapses from internal conflict. Members are told what to do with no apparent rhyme or reason. Guild leaders refuse to be flexible for fear of the ensuing chaos. The very nature of this sort of guild attracts members with overinflated egos, and it frequently only takes a few to speak up before the entire precarious structure falls apart.
Contrast this with a guild where people actually understand their role in the raid and respect the raid's goals. Not a guild with weak leadership or led democratically, but one where the members and leaders care enough to share ideas and truly embrace them. A guild like this stays together and works effectively because everyone's in it to progress and explore, not because everyone wants their phat purplez (though phat purplez are a welcome side effect).
For example, with the expansion imminent, I decided I wanted to go back to shadow spec for leveling. I was a bit disappointed that the free respec came early as I would have preferred to remain holy/disc until that time rolled around. I mentioned to my class leader that I was thinking about going shadow and he told me to go with whatever spec I wanted. So I took full shadow. I went and soloed in my new spec and it was awesome. I was tearing things up the way I never could as a holy priest. Then I went to heal an instance and was blown away by how much my mana efficiency dropped. We did a short MC run to farm trash mobs and test out our new specs and I realized that raiding as a shadow priest just wasn't what the raid needed and didn't feel right. Before we went to ZG that evening I respecced back to holy/disc.
What does this have to do with the question at hand? Like changing specs, changing mains will affect the balance of the raid. In some cases you will not be given the chance because of a mandate from your guild leadership. In some cases you will be allowed due to the flexibility of your guild. In either case I would encourage you to really think about why you're raiding and if you're working for your own peronal benefit or for the good of the group. If you're locked down by a harshly restrictive guild and when you search your heart you really think they're being unreasonable, I might think about looking for a new guild. If you understand that your change is not benefitting the raid, but you're really so burned out that you have to change anyway, then you should also respect how your change affects those around you. You're effectively making them adjust to a new toon who's not as well geared, and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that you might be overlooked in favor of a better equipped character until you can get some farming runs in and work your way back toward their level.
At the end of the day it's your game and you should play it to have fun. Just remember that everyone else is entitled to have fun too. Do what you must to enjoy yourself, but recognize how your actions affect the people you play with.
Kick Dec 15th 2006 6:29AM
In my guild, biggest instances are for Mains (From MC to BWL). The others are for the Alt (ZG, AQ ...)