Breakfast Topic: WoTLK: The perfect time to switch mains?
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Apr 22nd 2008 at 8:00AM
It's an exciting time to be playing WoW, what with the WoTLK alpha information leaking out (Thanks for risking your eternal soul to break the NDA, anonymous screenshotter!) and 2.4 being pretty much a roaring success. By now, I'm sure everyone has settled in and is making plans for WoTLK, figuring out which zone they'll go to first, maybe setting aside a bit of money from all those dailies to powerlevel a trade skill. So, I was thinking the other day of one more thing I was planning: switching mains. We've discussed the art of switching mains a bit before, but there's always a lot of hassles to it: there's the concern that you'll fall behind your friends, the concern that your gear won't be good enough, the concern that you'll have to grind your reputation up for certain keys and essential reputation rewards all over again.
A new expansion is just the ticket for getting rid of most of those problems. As long as your character is max level at the start of WoTLK, they can catch up on gear pretty quickly just from level 71 greens and quest rewards. Everyone's starting out grinding all the new WoTLK reputation grinds, so no worries that you're behind on those either. Despite being on a relatively "new" character, you'll be able to join your friends in Utgarde Keep right away.
So the reasons not to switch mains mostly manage to resolve themselves when a new expansion hits, and the question becomes, do you want to switch mains, and why?
For me, I still love my Druid. I enjoy Druid tanking, and I have a back story for him that's offered up some great roleplay. I'll feel sort of guilty to leave him on mothballs for a while. But there's two truths I've come to realize - or rather, two truths I've known for a while, really.
Firstly, of my current level 70 characters, I probably like my Hunter more. Working with a shot rotation is bringing out a theorycrafting side I never knew I had, and I genuinely enjoy working with traps and kiting and having a pet and all the other stuff that comes with hunterdom. Beyond that, I have always wanted to play a Death Knight. It was the class I originally planned to play when I first heard that Warcraft was going to have an MMORPG, and now that that class will actually be implemented, I feel like it's my duty to at least try one out. If I find I like Death Knights to any degree, I'll have a new main. If not, my Hunter will probably get my main love. My Druid... well, he'll enjoy a nice semi-retirement in the Grizzly Hills for a while, most likely.
There's other reasons to change your main too. I even know some people who plan to switch their priest from one race to another come WoTLK just for certain racial spells. Our own Matthew Rossi is already making plans to switch from his Human Warrior to his Draenei Warrior once the expansion hits (he figures his guild wouldn't be happy with the 8000 point drop in HP if he switched beforehand).
Are you in a similar boat? Do you plan to switch mains in WoTLK for a new class or a new race? Are there any other reasons to switch mains?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics, Expansions, Leveling, Classes, Alts, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Nati Apr 22nd 2008 8:06AM
What WotLK info has leaked, exactly? So far all I've seen has been old Blizzcon footage and faked screenshots.
Enli Apr 22nd 2008 9:14AM
One of the screenshots was proved to be fake, but the rest seem to have held up so far. Of course the others may also turn out to be faked later on, but they don't seem to have the tell-tale characteristics of a typical fake.
Warlock Apr 22nd 2008 11:32AM
In response to Enli - they are not fake (well, most of them), but they ARE from Blizzcon. Thus, not leaked. Not even from the closed Alpha Test.
Suzaku Apr 22nd 2008 10:00PM
The real screens were photographs of the Blizzcon demo. The rest were fakes. All of the maps were fake. The login was fake (I made it, in fact). The one used for this article was a fake.
Erika Apr 22nd 2008 8:09AM
I stilll am leveling my second 70. I would like to bring both of them to Northrend.
Frelphin Apr 22nd 2008 8:16AM
I've been playing a druid for 2 years now, feral for all of that time (I can't heal to save myself unfortunately). But after seeing almost all of the BC raid content as a feral tank I'm planning to switch to my mage in the expansion.
Gear and rep isn't really holding me back from switching, but the fact that my guild relies on me being around to tank as we only have 3 feral druids and 2 prot warriors as main character tanks.
Naix Apr 22nd 2008 12:51PM
Funny people are switching from Druids to other classes. I have 3 other 70s and have been leveling this Druid for about 2 weeks. I must say I really really really like the Druid class. I can spell dps, tank, use hunter track human, use rogue like abilities, and heal better than a priest (well so can a paladin).
To really appreciate the Druid you have to play the other classes the Druid mimics. So powerful it's amazing more people don't play the Druid.
Jane Gray Apr 22nd 2008 7:34PM
WTH? What are you healing as you level that makes you think its better than a priest? Druids are useful for 25 mans, but you'll find trouble handling a heroic with comparable gear to any other class.(And just as important, you'll have trouble finding 5 man pugs that trust you to be able to do it).
Druids are jack of all trades but master of none. Although nothings nicer to heal while levelling than a bear tank.
Lios Apr 22nd 2008 8:22AM
I switched mains when tBC came and i probably will do so again. I have a priest, paladin and hunter at 70, so i can choose to heal, pewpew or tank when the time comes. Also leveling some other classes. In the perfect world i'll have all classes to 70 when wotlk comes around and then i'll choose a new main (probably deathknight ;) ).
Marawar Apr 22nd 2008 8:34AM
My main at this moment was my first to ever hit 60 or 70 and has been prot pretty much since he dinged 70. I've always wanted to play a DPS class and I love melee, so I've been levelling an Enhancement shaman (which I could even respec into Elemental if melee DPS didnt seem to suit me!). He's currently 68 and I'll ding him to 70 pretty soon I suppose.
I've been really thinking about making him my new main, however my "old" main already has his epic flying mount, but what the heck, I won't be able to fly up until some higher levels anyway.
This is a great chance to try out an entirely new role in the game. And of course I'll try out the new DK class, because being a knight that brings death is just made of plain awesome and win, right?
Smurrf Apr 22nd 2008 10:15AM
Switch mains? Likely not. I love my lock too much. That said, my alt tank is always ready and willing to go at a moment's notice...badge gear and ZA have done wonders for keeping my toons geared on the same level.
Now, switching guilds? In all likelihood, yes. I waited for faaar too long to do so in this expac, and am only now getting into the upper end of SSC in my guild. Which is great and all, don't get me wrong...but I'd really have liked to been farming BT for at least a month or two before 2.4 came out.
Aigarius Apr 22nd 2008 8:45AM
It is a tall chance, but it is quite possible that some TBC or Azreoth factions will get some Inscription recipes, so it would be preferable to have a more rounded-up character if you plan to take that profession up. You'll need a bunch of gold as well - several thousand at least.
Most interesting thing in powerleveling Inscription that I could think of is that IF the inscriptor works directly on a person (and not just creating scrolls) and inscriptions work with specific abilities, then there might be benefits of being of some class because there would be no Inscribing spells for your class at some skill level or your class skills could be prohibitively expensive. That might require you to hire people to stand by you and let you Inscribe their spells for a while.
Dan Apr 23rd 2008 1:57AM
They have already stated that Inscription will be making items, rather than having them stand around in Orgrimmar and shout out what they can make. In fact, they've stated that they will want to change Enchanting to the same model, except for the very best enchants.
This might still change of course, but I don't see why it would, there is no real benefit forcing people to *not* use the auction house.
Kolky Apr 22nd 2008 8:46AM
I've been playing PVE alot with a human priest on EU-Magtheridon. When TBC hit the alliance community pretty much died out and I did take a break from the game.
Now I've rerolled horde on the same server and still priest! (moved my main to another realm, no-way im deleting it!)
Just the thing that I dislike of my re-rolling is that I had just bought an epic flying mount & grinded for a dragon mount on my other main, gonna hate doing that all over...
Kuri Apr 22nd 2008 9:01AM
Almost 10k saved so that my newly minted Death Knight never has to worry about currency, and he can take up whatever profession benefits him the most.
I leveled as a Healing Druid with a Prot Warrior. Everything died but us, but it wasn't quick or easy. Because we'd hit max level only a few months before BC, we simply kept on going. Hit the endgame, and cleared out instances, and eventually raids together.
WotLK however... Can't wait. I can't wait to reinvent myself. I'm done being a tree. I'm finished watching the life bars. I'm through taking the blame for someone becoming dead.
THE ONE TRUE KING!
Jewbanks Apr 22nd 2008 9:15AM
Ive got a 70 Mage and Prot Pally. My mage is my main, was at 60, is at 70. Sadly my prot pally just runs a heroic once in a while he's all but shelved. However, early at 80 it will be easy to catch him up and gear him. Im not sure what I want to do. But mages are so much more easy to level that will probably be the first to 80.
Vestras Apr 22nd 2008 9:09AM
Personally, I am torn about mains at the moment. While my Boomkin has been with me since I got back into WoW and I raided with him for quite some time, My mage is getting a lot more love and geared up to surpass him in many ways already.
In the meantime, It's my goal to have a total of 5 70's by LK. boomkin, mage, shaman, smiter priest, and a prot warrior, so that I can get a good even spread of content in LK. the real question is, which one will I focus my time on?
dfscott Apr 22nd 2008 10:00AM
I still love my holy priest for raids, but the sad fact is that I spend more time doing dailies than raiding, and I hate doing them in holy spec.
I guess it boils down to what your definition of a "main" is. If it's the char you play the most, I probably will switch my main to my rogue once he hits 70 -- he's a lot of fun and much easier to solo with. However, I'll always enjoy playing my priest just because I love healing.
thatquietgamerdude Apr 22nd 2008 10:11AM
I'm seriously thinking about switching from my enhancement shaman to my mage, warrior, or paladin (all in their 50s right now). The main reason for that is because I want to play something that's easier to gear. Also I'm getting tired of melee DPS: enhancement shamans are awesome for it, and I'm not going to delete him or anything, but I'm ready to try something new, like spell DPS or tanking (my paladin is prot already and I love it). I do have a healing toon, a holy priest, but he's only level 30 right now.
Ahoni Apr 22nd 2008 10:05AM
I had 2 60s when BC hit, a hunter main, and a warlock that had hit 60 a few months before. I took turns leveling them thru Outlands (rested XP FTW!). Long before I had hit 70 I had made the switch, at least in my head. I was enjoying the warlock much more than the hunter, probably just due to boredom. I had far more time in on the hunter, and could pretty much AFK level.
I was out of town for work for a couple months just after BC, and when I came back the guild had dissolved. It was technically still there, but all the old faces had left for a splinter guild, so it was the perfect time to find a new guild and switch mains.
Now, I have 3 70s, the warlock main, the hunter, and a feral druid. I also have a mage at 63 who should be 70 long before the expansion hits, and possibly another alt I've been playing a lot lately. Will I switch mains once again? Hard to tell. Depends on how much I am enjoying the warlock come WotLK. Expansions are definitely a good time to switch, as you will be seeing new places and getting new gear, and you are not left behind by several months of gearing up your main. With the expanded talents available past 70, it is a chacne to completely change up talent specs and rediscover an alt. Remember all the Felguards at 2.0? Who knows, might have a boomkin main come WotLK ...