Keys to a successful alt?
by Allison Robert 
May 17th 2008 at 7:00PM
Lately I've been trying to fix this and have gone back to leveling a few alts. While talking to a friend last night about his propensity for leveling alts at the approximate speed of an SR-71, it occurred to me that I have two warriors, only one of whom has leveled quickly. The other just can't seem to fill up the XP bar. Obviously there's no class difference to cite as a possible reason, so I started thinking about what affects the leveling speed of an alt, and why I've got so many unsuccessful ones littering the character selection screen:
1. Same faction?: If your main is Horde or Alliance, then starting a toon on the opposite side means starting off penniless with no real means of affording good bags or gear for a while (I might be wrong on that count now given that the number of daily quests has resulted in considerable AH inflation, at least on my server).
2. Same server?: Same is true if you roll a toon on another server. My main is a Tauren Druid on a PvE server. The underperforming warrior is a Draenei Warrior on an RP server. Even with mining and skinning as professions, there is no way that the warrior can afford the things that my main can afford for her overfed, spoiled alts. The two warrior alts are roughly the same level right now and the Tauren's AH greens, plus enchants from a Mage alt leveling Enchanting, means her stats considerably outclass the Draenei's. Killing more quickly on top of being more likely to survive = easier to level.
3. Familiarity with the class/spec you're rolling: I respecced my Shaman from resto to enhancement for easier soloing and was suddenly jolted by an issue I never worried about on my Druid; if your weapon skill is 0, it's going to be a while before you can hit anything. Wow, man. Wow.
4. The Peeps: It's not as much fun to play an alt on a server where you don't know anybody and nobody knows you (I await the legion of comments that reasonably turn this around and say, "That's the reason for playing that alt, fool.").
5. Exploitation of said peeps: I don't think anyone can argue that getting run through dungeons for gear and drops is a less attractive option than braving an oft-empty LFG while leveling. Again, on another server you're on your own.
6. Class: Certain classes and specs tend to level faster than others, although obviously this doesn't apply to my two teeny warriorettes. However, my Dwarf Hunter has certainly leveled at (for me) breakneck speed compared to my Tauren Shaman. Let's face it; corpse-runs are often VERY long in old-world Azeroth and some classes are more likely to avoid them than others. That's a huge time- and irritation-saver right there. Yeah, yeah, I know, just Ankh, but let's compare the convenience of an hour's cooldown to a 30-second one?
7. The new factor: The quick little Tauren Warrior is also the first character I've ever taken Engineering on, and our resident engineer is correct; it's fun as hell. Or maybe you just take to another class more readily than you thought you would, with the same sense of delight over getting Vanish that you previously got for Cat Form.
8. Race: This could just be a highly idiosyncratic "thing" of mine, but the fastest alt I've ever had (the Tauren warrior) is a visual copy of my main with slightly different skin and horn colors.
9. How busy the original toon is: The main is frequently asked to tank things or assist other players. I have not yet been able to get away with pre-scheduling game time, as in "OK, I'm gonna finish dailies and get some farming done on the main, and after that I'll log to the alt." Never happens. All of my alts have wound up suffering from this, truth be told.
Some combination of these factors must be behind whatever spark keeps us playing a character that's not our main -- to the point where the toon might well become the main -- but maybe I'm just searching for a good reason to go back to observing an endless stream of "Your 2H mace skill has reached (preposterously low number)" on the shammy.
Filed under: Druid, Making money, Classes, Factions, Leveling, Analysis / Opinion, Warrior, Shaman, Hunter, Alts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Nibbit May 23rd 2008 6:06AM
I feel your pain.
ZUR13L May 17th 2008 7:31PM
Re: Effect #4, I think it's spelled "foo'"...
rick gregory May 18th 2008 1:58PM
"Lately I've been trying to fix this and have gone back to leveling a few alts."
One issue too is the 'a few' part of that. If you focus you'll level faster of course... but if you don't have a burning desire to level a [insert class here] then you might have to play a few to find one that clicks. Levelled and geared my rogue... then I though about ding a shammy... got him to 23 and decided that I hated the totem mechanism. Luckily the next alt clicked and my shadow priest is now 70 too... but noting else really appeals. My 13 druid is fun... but do i really want to do 57 more levels? By time I level and gear her WotLK will be close probably... so I think I'll mess around and then see what the DKs are like to play
Farrell May 17th 2008 7:47PM
I've only got 1 level 70 - almost 50 days played. This is from February 07. Also got a level 69, though - only just hit 69. Then there's my level 50 hunter. After that is a 35 mage and a 26 druid.
I see no problem with not having loads of level 70s.
I know others like me, in that they prefer to concentrate on their main than play alts.
Sure, we do play alts, but don't put too much effort into them.
Although, I'm contemplating switching my main from my rogue to my warrior come WotLK.
Saying that, pre-TBC [I stopped playing for 6 months] I had 2 level 60s and a bunch of level 40s. But neither were major raiders, so it wasn't the same for me - my rogue is occassionally raiding MH and BT
superfrank May 19th 2008 6:57AM
With a pretty well geared main, I find it tedious to put time into my weak and underpowered alts :)
Thauron May 17th 2008 11:01PM
I started in December 2005... and my best alt was a level 33 (which actually preceeded my 70). Since then, I now have 3 level 20+ alts, working on my warrior currently.
Suffice to say I'm absolutely horrid at levelling alts.
But recently I'm buckling down to get the job done.
A tip of my own:
NEVER delete your alts. EVER (semi-acceptable if below level 10, but even then I wouldn't recommend it). Even if you think you're quitting the game. That level 33 I mentioned? He's long gone.
Persistence seems to my biggest problem. I tend to get bored easily, low level characters offer so few options compared to my 70 warlock.
But I think the warrior's picking up a bit, tanking is proving to be VERY fun.
Steven Dison May 18th 2008 11:48PM
I have a billion alts, I swear to god. It's not like I don't have the time. I have 3 70s- a feral/moonkin, a holy paladin, and a ret paladin. And they don't take any of my time up because well...I don't really play them anymore. I'm more or less just waiting for Wotlk with them. But everytime I log on an alt, I just seem to get bored VERY fast. I think it's an epidemic really.
Not sure if there is a cure...
Markainion May 17th 2008 8:30PM
Playing 2 1/2 years got two alliance 70 in a PVP server, plus two Horde in both well into there 60's just taking my time to get to 70 because I am doing BG dailies frequently to get tons on honor and tokens before I hit 70. I can say pet classes like Warlock and Hunters raise the easiest. My first class was a Warrior, and decided to take an Alt Warlock up with it to help out. Mostly by making potions and saving money, my Alt being an Alchemist while my Warrior was a Black Smith. It also saved a lot of money because of the free mount for the Warlock. This also helped because Warrior required good gear to advance while Warlock can often be raised with gear well below it level.
Restarting over with the Horde on another server I restarted with many alts, but settled with a Hunter as my main, because it seemed to advance really easily versus my other classes I was trying out. The classes now being 69 ½ with 60,000 honor and at least 50 of each token, is well primed to reach 70 in style. But doing BG with the horde seems to be a quick way to get daily BG done, giving you many bonuses like money, honor, tokens and experience by doing them.
My other horde is a Paladin, a fun class but expensive compared to a Warlock to advance, mostly because like Warrior gear is essential to advance easily. All my high level characters have high level crafting skills. With my hunter being a Leatherworker and my Paladin a Jew crafter. While being a pure gatherer is cheaper and a quicker moneymaker I believe crafting skill do pay off in the end. With either decent gear or something you can make money at selling
Some hints to advancing research a bit about the class, so you don’t need to train in skills you will not use. This will save a fortune, and not all skills are used or even required to advance, and you can save respecting cost as well, if start of placing you talents into the easiest spec to raise from the start. Rising two classes at a time is time consuming, but allows you to keep the blue line, up always, which helps on advancing but cost money because it take less quest and killing to advance, but even though boring it allows for easy quest repeating because you know what you are doing the second time around.
Finally do the daily BG frequently; I know I mentioned this already, but BG daily offer so many advantages to advancing, including free blue gear, on you way up through tokens and honor and even quest. Even if your Alliance do them as often as you can, at lower level BG daily aren’t always availed to play, having offered daily only half of them of the time. This can be counter in part by having many alts, and making sure they all get the quest when offered. Also I don’t think the Horde advantage to wining BG is as strong in the lower levels, because of the Twink factor which seems to dictate victories more than anything below level 50 BG
Tristan May 17th 2008 8:49PM
My friend that started the same time I did has 1 70 since January 06. He's also geared out from BT/Hyjal and has about 280 days /played.
I can't focus on one character for that long. It's just not how I play. The fact that I got a paladin to 70 is amazing to me.
Bacclor May 17th 2008 8:53PM
I have the same problem. I love having alts and everything, and I'm getting very bored of playing my level 70 holy priest, but I just outright despise leveling. It took me about 2 weeks played time to get my priest to 70, over the course of about a year. I've been playing since November 06, and I've managed to get 60 characters over level 10, but only 4 over 20. My highest alts right now are a level 26 hunter and a 22 druid. I'm currently trying to level the druid, but it's getting pretty frustrating. I have him twinked and everything, I just don't have the attention span to level for hours at a time.
Microx May 17th 2008 9:21PM
I've been playing since January of '07, and I have the attention span of a five year old, and I've managed to get a warrior to 70. With getting bugged to tank some random instance (he's fury, and has no plans to start tanking) and just not being motivated enough, I haven't wanted to play him. I play on a PvP server and all my alts are on one server so I can send money and stuff from my main. I've been playing a rogue lately, made him a couple days ago, he's only level 8 but still pretty fun to play, and not that expensive from what I've heard.
Norwood06 May 17th 2008 9:20PM
I have the reverse problem. I have been playing, on and off, since June '05. I have one level 70, my holy priest, and one alt, a level 11 mage. There's always stuff to do on my priest, whether it be rep grinds, pugging 5 mans, looking for missed quests, gathering, making consumables, or raiding. I always feel like time spent on my mage 'tumor' merely detracts from progress I could be making on my main.
anonymoose May 17th 2008 10:10PM
PreTBC I had a priest main, shortly before release of TBC I started a druid (who was probably 30 when TBC came out) and very early in TBC I started a shaman. The priest hit 70 before the end of January of the release of TBC, the druid sometime in March or April of the same year, and the shaman, by July of that same year.
I think the key to quickly leveling alts is to stick to your same faction & server. Don't underestimate the value of gold, friends, etc. and how much time they shave off the leveling process. I was able to have friends provide me with run throughs (most of the time not because I'd asked for it, but because they needed to get something from the instance, for instance the friend leveling JC who needed mojo from ZF, another friend testing out theorycrafting about his build ran me through Gnomer several times, and another friend farming for righteous orbs or large brilliant shards ran me through BRD, Strat, and other lvl 60 Azeroth instances).
I try not to make a nuisance of myself when I'm in an active alt phase--I do as much as I can without asking for help from higher level characters, and on servers with an active population I usually attempt at level instancing before I ask for run throughs. The advantages of this are: I get to meet other alts or competent first time players (and I get to meet people to put on my ignore list), plus I avoid burning out my friends who know I will always try to do things myself before I bug them for favors.
Some people have suggested to me that the best way to level a character is to avoid instancing and only grind or do quests and grind--I say no way. I want my character to be 70, but I don't want to *hate* my character by the time I reach 70. I did plenty of grinding on my priest (who leveled to 60 holy) and really won't do it again. It is simply boring.
I mentioned getting to meet other alts--it's vital imho to find the other alts. If you are in a very good guild, be shameless about discovering the alts of your peers in other very good guilds. This has been a very powerful tool when leveling my alts.
Additionally--something I see now that I have a tauren shaman at 52 and an undead rogue at 62--in some regard I think horde have a slightly easier time leveling their alts. I will freely admit I haven't seen all the quest lines, and certainly there are some flight path related inconveniences (but hey you have transporters in Under City & Silvermoon, if I recall correctly, and those don't exist in any Alliance city), but on the whole the quest lore is *much more fascinating*, at some levels the quest rewards (hello Hinterlands) are far superior to those offered Alliance side, and then there is the superior capability for cooperation that seems to exist Horde side.
I've played both horde and alliance on PvP servers now, and I can honestly say--if I'm in trouble on my horde toons I feel like horde 70s fairly fall out of the woodwork to come help. If I'm in trouble on my alliance toons, I notice the ever increasing number of horde toons appearing, and alliance in general saying "L2P Nub" "It's a PvP server" etc., but never, never coming to assist. My alliance *friends* I could get to help--but never complete strangers. Everytime I get killed horde side, a handful of complete strangers come to my aid, sometimes without me even asking.
qoa May 18th 2008 6:05AM
Uh. Train to SW from IF ?
It's not as if there is a reason to go to the Belf city. Both systems are clearly there to bypass zones you can't really run through at level 20.
anonymoose May 18th 2008 3:32PM
"Uh. Train to SW from IF ?
It's not as if there is a reason to go to the Belf city. Both systems are clearly there to bypass zones you can't really run through at level 20. "
The distance between UC & SMC is pretty vast--But as a Belf trying to get to the Barrens--I'll just say you don't have to work too hard at it. Portal to UC, blimp to just outside of Ogrimar, and start running. Don't forget to get your FPs on the way.
On ally side, there is no port out of Exodar, you instead have to take a series of boats off Dranaei island to Darnassus--which has long been known for it's easy access to the rest of the game. From there it's a boat ride to Darkshore, then another boatride to Baradin Bay then...oh wait yeah you still aren't at Iron Forge. Grab that flight path and start running, and have fun with the orcs on the way to IF.
The reason you would want to have some easy travel between these hubs as a lowbie is because both the dranaei and belf start zones have easier intro quests, with far better quest rewards, making the initial first 20 levels or so much faster.
Say what you will, I think horde side questing for leveling has so far proven to be much easier than ally.
MechChef May 18th 2008 12:08PM
An approach that I've found that works quite well: Set an alt goal, such as wanting him to hit 70. Next, follow a leveling guide to move up as efficiently as possible. As long as you can commit the time to leveling (because WoW is a time-sink) you can get it done.
wowradio#176 May 20th 2008 11:51PM
I've been playing since open beta and I still don't have a level 70. I keep making new characters because I can't stay on one class for to long.
Draele May 18th 2008 1:11AM
One thing I suggest everyone do is level an alt on the opposing faction of a class/spec you're already familiar with.
I recently picked up my horde Warlock alt after leaving him at level 10 for what feels like forever. Knowledge of playing the spec, as you said it vital. My alliance main is an Affliction Lock and the horde alt is an Affliction lock as well. I just wanted to level up horde side for the unique experience...and I hate the whole sit/drink deal most classes have to do (I can only play Feral Druids, Warriors and Warlock or else I get antsy) I'm very good with Affliction, I know all the nuances, the tricks, exactly how to balance my stats as I level, etc. I do quests solo that I highly doubt I could have done 2 years ago. What makes it a nice challenge, however, is not to have your main feed it money. I've geared my alt totally with quest drops and what I could buy off the AH with the money I make off herbing.
Just give it a try and watch how fun it can be to level up again.
Milktub May 18th 2008 1:12AM
I see the whole pro/con for alts as depending on why you have alts in the first place. I have alts to supplement my main's weak spots (e.g. disenchanting BoEs, making bags and potions) and to provide a change in pace. That's probably the reason I play my druid alt the least: it's playstyle is too similar to that of my warrior and rogue (unless I'm healing, which isn't often enough), and his leatherworking skill will not be at a helpful level for quite a few levels.
Then there's the people who simply want an alt of each class role. Their concern isn't anything other than "how fast can I get to 70, and how easy will it be to gear up at 70?"
Then you got the alt-a-holics who compulsively roll alts. It may be a string of warlocks, or nothing but melee classes.
Then you got the true re-rollers. These folks aren't rolling alts, but are starting all over. And they ignore all your rules. They roll a new faction on a strange server. They start from scratch with nothing but the grey gear they're born in. They rule.
Dah May 20th 2008 5:34PM
As much as some may laugh at the concept, if you don't like the way your character looks, you will be less likely to play it.