Rerolling or alt-itis?
by Amanda Rivera 
May 31st 2007 at 7:04PM
Reading through the forums I have seen several posts about people wanting to reroll characters, and this confuses me. I am an altaholic myself, and I spend my time spread between 9 characters, the 10th being our guild bank alt. I might even say I have more alts than that, considering the two I created for It came from the Blog. What this means is that when I log in, I choose a character to play based on how I am feeling at the time. Sometimes I feel priestly, sometimes I feel the need to rage against the world.
But back to the concept of rerolling. Rerolling a character, as I understand it, entails completely deleting the character you have been working with in order to start anew. I have had friends that did this, one in particular that deleted his hunter in favor of a priest, only to regret the decision later. I asked him why he didn't just leave the character since you have 10 slots to work with. The only reply I got was a /shrug.
I find it hard to imagine that I would abandon my mage and start playing an entirely new character, possibly even on another server. I have spent so much time with her, she's as much part of my family as my dogs, and you could argue more of a part of my family since she has been around longer and I spend more time with her than I do them (if anyone tells them this, I will deny it to your face.)
I thought I would bring this up to the readers, because I simply don't understand the allure of abandoning one character to start another. I play all my alts pretty regularly, which probably explains why I still have no epic flying mount. If you have rerolled characters, what was the draw, and if you have considered it, why? Is rerolling somehow better than my alt-itis?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
gt May 31st 2007 7:20PM
I believe the term "reroll" has become the term used whenever you start a new character, regardless of whether you delete your previous character or not. I guess it's just easier to type instead of "create a new character".
Opere(a) May 31st 2007 7:39PM
Excuse me,
My name is Alex Poniz. I am known on the boards as "Opere." It is the name of my level 16 B-Elf Paladin. All I'd like to say is that I'm very pleased my term "alt-itis" has caught on. Please popularize it some more. It's pretty sweet, huh? ;D
PS. It's probably going to be the name of my next toon. I've never managed to level anything past 60 (several 50s, a load of 40s on various PvP servers, and more 20>'s than I can remember.
Poxus May 31st 2007 7:45PM
I am currently "rerolling" from my Undead Warlock on Undermine to a Dwarf Paladin on Quel'dorei. Why? WEll the drama and lack of real raiding or grouping on Undermine has left me bored. Plus I am now on a CST server so most things go along with my time zone which is a good thing.
Byron May 31st 2007 7:43PM
I don't think the term 'reroll' implies deleting any characters, just creating a new main and retiring your previous main. The old main becomes a bank alt, farmer or something, and the new main is powerleveled to 70 and becomes the primary raiding/bg/arena toon that gets all the good gear, rep grinds, profession training, epic flying mount, etc.
Tiforix May 31st 2007 7:44PM
Generally I've understood the term "re-roll" to mean that you create a new character and make it your new "main", regardless of whether you delete your old one or not. I have no data, but I'd guess actual deletion of characters is pretty rare. At the very least you could keep your old one around for farming, banking, or crafting.
Bland May 31st 2007 7:48PM
You have to give me partial credit for "Alt-itis", because I invented the hyphen.
Sherp of Ahrotahntee May 31st 2007 7:50PM
I think the main reason people delete characters is that they've come up with a name that they really like.
Boonie May 31st 2007 7:52PM
I think it depends on you game play type... for me my avatar is just that... an extension of me. thus it could not be a simple case of adding an alt... I had to 'start again'. For me it was a fairly major real life change so my rogue just didn't 'fit' me any more. So I sold off all my soul bound and sent the money/other gear to the guild bank and 'rerolled'.
I have really enjoyed the 'reroll' and am regretting that all my alts started in the same start area, thus losing a little of the 'new zone smell' of the new character.
gruberson May 31st 2007 8:08PM
i've been re-rolling since i started, but i am not an altaholic, nor do i suffer from alt-itis, or any other permutation of the concept.
i have just been trying to find the class that hits all the sweet spots. my first character was a warrior that i leveled to 60. he was a great tank but horrible in pvp, which i enjoy more than those insufferable dungeon crawls, so i rolled a mage alt that became my new main.
I had a lot more fun with the mage - but the low hp, low armor and long cast times eventually forced his retirement at 67.
now i've found myself in the middle ground, with a hunter that i'm running in the 20-29 wsg bracket. it's been a blast! she's got survivability like a warrior, agility like a rogue, and range/snares/dmg of a mage, plus a pet! omg i'm in love ... if i'm gonna run any character up to 70, it's gonna be this one.
seriously though, your friend deleted his character? lol what a dummy! /shrug indeed.
Arispere May 31st 2007 8:14PM
I can't believe anyone would delete a character above level 30. It would represent flushing at the very least 30-40 hours of work down the drain. Use them to farm mats, craft items in professions that your main doesn't have, twink out for battlegrounds, or something. No reason to throw them away.
...unless they already have 10 characters and need the space. At the very least these low-level alts could be fun for twinking and battlegrounds.
But deleting a high-level character just because you are frustrated by a nerf or something... that's just stupid behavior akin to throwing your computer out the window when it freezes up.
Derringher Jun 1st 2007 2:04AM
At one time I had 27 alts (including several banks) and this has now been reduced to 10 plus 6 banks on my secondary account. I actually have a few other alts on other servers in case my goes down but that doesn't happen much.
Why so many alts? I don't believe that one class is truly better or worse than the other. Each have a role to play in Azeroth - or the Outlands - and each have strengths and weakneses. I intend to find all of these over time, find them and learn how to work around them. By understanding your enemy you understand your fight. So when I am with one character and in PvP, I'm actually thinking about their moves as much, if not more, than mine. I wanted to experience alt talent trees without costly respecs. Now I have cut down on my alts because I have found the 'zone' of exactly who I want and where I want them to go. After 18 months of player - which I have really enjoyed - I have found a new direction in grounding the players I have into my guild culture. With them spanning a wide range of levels it also means I can be on hand to help junior players in the guild without having to 'run them through' instances. Personal point of view but in my mind it is all about learning and the learning curve each character creates. I have found that those who rely only on a high level character running them through a dungeon tend to miss out on vital party skills for that class. We certainly won't run anyone in our guild through an instance with a high level character until they have attempted it 5 times with others who are at level.
So, in all this blather, I'd like to say that many alts have their bonuses and benefits and help you enjoy the game ever more taking your playing skills to the next level!
Matthew May 31st 2007 9:01PM
I deleted a lvl 48 hunter when I decided to quit the game at the end of 2005 and wanted to make a clean break. Sold all of her bags, stripped her naked, sold the equipment, destroyed the mount, gave away all the cash. Needless to say, I came back, eventually rolled a new character on the same server, and regretted my decision to delete the hunter (would've been nice to have some way to farm for wool for my tailoring warlock).
I had heard about character restorations, but didn't really think something that was deleted 18 months ago would still be restorable, but lo and behold, a GM was able to restore the naked hunter. I gave her 100g for bags and equipment, and thanks to the crazy Beastmaster spec (it wasn't nearly as good when I quit), I've already levelled her up to 51 and have mined and skinned enough to nab her a Hurricane.
So yeah, even if you delete a character, the GMs can restore it for you. They can only do it a limited amount of times, but it worked for me!
(Not that this is necessarily very relevant to the topic at hand, but it's an interesting story I wanted to share.)
Bandito May 31st 2007 9:05PM
The term 'roll' or 'reroll' comes from the days of Dungeons and Dragons, where your character's initial stat pool was determined by dice rolling.
From my experience playing early MMOs, I believe 'rerolling' your character means deleting that character and making a new one in its' place, with the very same name.
(P.S. "FOR THE HORDE!")
HankD May 31st 2007 9:38PM
I deleted all my alliance characters when BC came out... 60 Mage, 56 Rogue, 54 Paladin... kept my 60 orc warrior, rolled new blood elves, and started fresh. Why? Somewhat 'cause of drama, somewhat for lore reasons, somewhat just 'cause I was liking the horde side more... but I haven't regretted it, my 70 blood elf mage is lots of fun and I like him a lot.
Kalandrah Jun 1st 2007 4:37AM
While originally "reroll" meant that you threw away your old character and created a new (rolling new stats), the term has been appropriated by most online games.
Rerolling doesn't necessarily mean deleting your current character. It's also used for when you plan to put your current character into stasis and create a new character to act as a main.
Thijz Jun 1st 2007 4:44AM
I never delete characters unless they're lvl 12 and I haven't played on them for 5 months and need a new character slot :P
Tridus Jun 1st 2007 6:23AM
People seem to use it differently. I only use "reroll" to refer to the two cases when I actually wiped out a character and recreated it. I've done that twice:
- I made my 40 NE Priest into a Dwarf Priest, but not for the reason you think. I'm an RPer, and the female NE emotes drive me absolutely crazy. At the time, I barely knew what Fear Ward was. (I'm really glad I did it now.(
- Changed my Dwarf Paladin to a Human Paladin, because someone else wanted to use the character in a storyline and they needed a Human.
Other people use "reroll" to mean they're starting an alt though.
TheGreatLarro Jun 1st 2007 7:38AM
"Alt-itis?" I've always said I suffer from "Alt-aholism"
cynmoon Jun 1st 2007 9:10AM
zomg #18, I totally invented the word alt-aholic ages ago! It was right after I invented the internet and teh internetz (despite popular belief, they aren't the same thing. One has more porn) Seriously people, quit stealing all my ideas. :-P
Also, hi! My name is Cyn and I'm an alt-aholic.
Last month though, I had all 10 slots filled up (woe to the person who thinks "That's what she said") so I made a clean sweep and deleted all my alts below 30, and some of my double alts (really, I don't need two priests). I'm down to two banks, my lock main, my priest (the first character I ever rolled, I don't have the heart to get rid of her), my shaman, and a hunter I thought it would be fun to level in a pimped out tuxedo.
He was just going to be a disenchanting bank, but I'm having fun with him so I think I may take him all the way. But that would mean having to get rid of my tux at some point. :-(
That's the fun of alts though. My main I take seriously, leveled all my professions, taking the time to rep grind, doing all the boring crap. With alts you can just have fun. It also helps getting to know and understand other classes. And you never know, maybe you end up finding a class you like better.
ben1778 Jun 1st 2007 10:45AM
LOL @ anyone who thinks they "invented" the term Alt-itis. That term has been around since EVERQUEST, and possibly eariler.
Besides, Altaholic is a far better term. This appears to mean: "One who can't get enough of playing/creating alts."
Alt-itis would mean that your ALT has a disease characterized by inflammation. "itis" refers to an inflammaroty disease.