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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Identity Crisis
by Robin Torres 
Jan 12th 2009 at 8:00AM
Once upon a time, at the beginning of 2005, just a few months after WoW was released, The Spousal Unit made the switch and traded in his Dwarf Paladin for a Tauren Shaman and never looked back. He brought a couple other classes up to 70 and made lame attempts at duos with me, but Onnix the Shammy was the only character he really wanted to play.Then Wrath of the Lich King came out. He immediately took Onnix to Northrend and started questing. But he took a brief break to make a Death Knight, so that it could sit and get rest while he leveled his main. He decided to make an Orc because they look good in plate and we picked his name from a Celtic god of death (who ended up being a goddess). He didn't spend much time on the look and didn't care too much about the name because this was just a throwaway character.
Then he decided to burn through the initial quests. He had done some of them in the Beta and thought they were fun. Then he decided to see how fast he could get through Outland. And then, just like the comic above, he took him to Northrend. Next thing we knew, he had taken his DK to 80 before many of his guild's mains.
So, after being identified as Onnix in guild and vent for years, he was now Caillech. New guildies didn't know who to heal or assist in vent. And now his main is an Orc, when he really relates more to Tauren. He changed his name to Onniix, which at least eliminates the confusion during raids, but you can't change your race. Orc instead of Tauren, lame misspelling of name and a tank instead of healer -- he is going through a bit of an identity crisis.
With all of the Death Knights running around, I know there must be more of you going through similar identity issues. Is your main completely abandoned or have you been sharing time with your new favorite class? Or are you one of the few who refuse to even try the hero class?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 6 of 6)
Tondef Jan 12th 2009 4:50PM
I played my Mage to 80, then started tinkering around with the DK. Now the DK is 80 and I'm spending gobs of time reading up on tanking and out gathering to buy gear. Yup, I too have pretty much changed mains just because I have found that I really like tanking.
Maybe when the next hero class comes out, I'll like that better?
Aaron A. Jan 12th 2009 5:02PM
I've been playing WoW since August, so my story's probably not the norm, but I find that playing a Death Knight renewed my interest in the game.
Somewhere around level 45, advancing my Warrior became a never-ending slog through pointless "Kill x of y" quests. It improved somewhat with 3.0.2, because I respecced into a full Fury build, so it didn't take half an hour to kill a single Furbolg. I was getting really tired with my main, so I created a bunch of alts, thinking that I'd level them to 20, then decide what I really wanted to play. In other words, after eight /days, about 1,000 gold, and hundreds of quests, I was strongly considering abandoning my main character.
Still, I kept hearing from all my friends and guildies that Outland is way better than level 50-60 Azeroth, that the game completely changes at 70 (now 80), and that I'd really enjoy the game more if I could just push through to 58-60. I wanted to, but I just couldn't stand the solitude and repetition of the level 45-55 zones.
It took me a few more weeks to level the Warrior to 55, partly due to personal constraints, partly because I was splitting my time among alts. As soon as the Warrior leveled to 55, he turned in his quests and went home to Ironforge. I then logged out and created a Death Knight. The opening storyline intrigued me, and yes, he was pretty overpowered for the first ten levels or so, which allowed me to breeze through the Plaguelands and most of Outland.
A funny thing happened, though: by playing through the Burning Crusade content, running daily quests, capturing towers, and then moving on to Northrend and its creative collage of objectives, my interest in the game had come back. This content was so much more interesting than what I'd been seeing in Tanaris and Felwood. After a while, I was eager to play my Warrior again, so I could experience these dungeons and quests that I'd already completed. Now that I've leveled the Death Knight to 80, and I see the options available to him at that stage, I want to get my other characters up to that level, so they can get involved in Arena and Heroics and Dalaran fishing.
Will the Death Knight become my main character? Hard to say; it depends on what the guild needs. But it's been an interesting ride, and it has certainly cured the boredom that could have ended my WoW career.
Aubrecia Jan 12th 2009 5:20PM
I really enjoyed the DK starter questline, don't get me wrong, but the idea of going through Outland after I'd just recently done a lot of the quests there didn't appeal to me in the least. So I sent him off to Thrallmar and let him sit there to gather rest EXP. Eventually I deleted him because I came to the realization that I was never going to play him again and had other alts I was looking forward to leveling much more than I was with him.
tonedeff Jan 12th 2009 5:26PM
MY main back in vanilla wow & BC was a lock, I started a shammy about a year into bc and kinda switched between the 2. Then about 6months befor LK came out the shaman started to take over. Enjoyed playing melee and was mixxing it while waiting for LK to come out. THEN LK comes out and i've barely done anything on my lock. he rots in IF and de's stuff for me.
For some reson since 3.0 i dont have as much fun with him as i did back in the day. :(
Wraithanne Jan 12th 2009 5:38PM
I started WoW as a Priest because the guild was going to need one. I got to the original endgame, which at the time was just MC, and found that I wasn't really needed. I decided to roll a Mage and make it my main. The guild was not pleased and did everything to make sure I had no help at all with leveling, etc.
2 guild changes later and the Mage is still my main tho I did get the Priest to 70 eventually and will get her to 80 just because. I also discovered playing a Hunter in that time and have enjoyed the hell out of it. I have her at 70 as well and will take her to the cap.
So where's the DK? 63 and stuck in Zangarmarsh for now. The opening zone was very well done but Outland has a way of sucking the joy out of you.
eclipse3979 Jan 12th 2009 6:44PM
My wife started playing WoW the night after WoTLK launched...I normally play a Human Pally with great enjoyment who has been a 70 for some time now. I had to roll a new toon to help my wife as all my alts (of which there are many), were too high a level to help my poor wife's squishie mage.
Needless to say I have a 71 Human pally (I had a day off work that she didn't) and a new 60 druid to match my wife's 60 mage. I also have a 60 DK...just waiting and biding his time for whenever i have the chance to actually play it.
Paul Jan 12th 2009 6:57PM
I went into Wrath with 4 70s under my belt: priest/hunter/mage/rogue... all dps with the exception of my healer, whom i would only play if we had no others online. Took my hunter (main) into Northrend on day 1 of Wrath and got halfway to 71, logged and made my DK... and I've barely looked back.
I get dps above and beyond anyone I play with in pug's or guild, I can tank up to heroics, and after the patch, pretty much everything. I get mechanics that cross between rogue's energy, warrior's rage, and I get a pet/army... hard to pass up. Gives my guild an extra tank when needed or dps enough to blast through anything quickly.
Finally starting to level the 70s, but the DK is definitely the main now. One of the biggest factors in choosing who to focus on was the fact all my 70s are epicced out and wouldn't be getting gear for several levels.
rose-marie paradis Jan 14th 2009 12:34PM
I really loved my main, a human lock, but since I was ally because of family (who moved to another server by the time), I got my DK with horde.
Since I enjoy more horde side, I left my old main, not because of the class, because of faction
Obnauticus Jan 13th 2009 1:10AM
Melee classes have always been my preferred manner of killing things. My old main is a druid, specced feral from launch. Took a small break right as BC got started, raid burnout mostly. Came back about a year before Wrath dropped. Got him and a warrior to 70 and maxed out professions, ready for Wrath. I kept a close eye on how the Knights were progressing, because it seemed like a very new and interesting concept, and a chance to get in and get a feel for a new class and work with it from the ground up.
Wrath releases, and the very first thing I did was roll up my Draenei Death Knight. He is my main and to date my only 80. I enjoy the style of play and their capabilities. I still got called by my druids handle many times in vent, but most have just taken to calling me Soth (Sothoth is his name). It's been an interesting thing to see.
I look forward to whats down the pipe.
Evelinda Jan 13th 2009 2:12AM
I actually havent levelled anything to 80 yet... my main in bc was a hunter, and i'd also levelled a priest to 70, then about a week and a half before wotlk hit, i got a druid to 70, who kinda took over as my main... but then i got distracted by my paladin when my druid was 73, and levelled my pally (so far) to 69... i have such a terrible case of altoholism, the line between main and alt ends up severely blurred! :)
Rolf Jan 13th 2009 2:50AM
I really liked the concept of Death Knight and how it can Tank with a 2H weapon. Being a DPS Warrior Junkie, I never cared much about Tanking :) Now I want to play my Death Knight as a Tank but having leveled 5 characters through Outlands past 2 years (and most of them completed Outland Loremaster :S) the idea of taking my Death Knight through Outland gives me shivers :) I am thinking of going for Instances only but I don't know if I will get to learn the class well enough should I do so. Any comments?