Breakfast Topic: Why reroll?
by Zach Yonzon 
Mar 2nd 2009 at 8:00AM
I probably should've mentioned this in my Breakfast Topic yesterday, which asked about your favorite noob moments, but my brother-in-law had a major one with his very first character. Playing a Druid, he eventually found himself in Moonglade. Not the best person with directions, he actually got lost in Nighthaven, unable to find his way out. He even tried to kill his Tauren by drowning in a Moonwell. Didn't work. In frustration, he deleted his toon and rerolled another Druid. My cousin had a similar experience when, at Level 12, we pointed out that his horns were white while the rest of his Tauren was black. He immediately logged off, and met up with us an hour later with an all-black Tauren with the same name. Speaking of names, my wife leveled a Priest but decided at some point that she didn't like the name and rerolled. These were the days before paid character customization, of course.
I suppose we all have different reasons to reroll. Before the days of PvE-to-PvP transfers, a bunch of us decided to start from scratch and reroll on a PvP server because we couldn't progress on our original one. As painful as that was at the time (we all had a couple of Level 60 toons already), it turned out to be a great decision as we ended up being able to experience the endgame. Have you ever felt the need to reroll, or start from scratch? Not quite the same as leveling an alt, but to start fresh entirely. With paid server transfers and character customization, I'm certain the need is less urgent, but for those of you who started anew, what were your reasons?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Jester Mar 2nd 2009 8:07AM
I had a Human Warrior as my very first character in wow, @ level 13 i had died in a pond. Unable to get my spirit to my toon through the water, i rerolled and deleted my first ever character.
joerendous Mar 2nd 2009 9:19AM
haha! i did the same thing! except it was off of the branch in darnassus that is part of the rogue quest where they have to pick pocket a satyr at the very end of the branch. although, i was a lvl8 warrior. i dove off the side coz i didn't see the two stealthed rogues. haha good times!
KT Mar 3rd 2009 5:07AM
Hahaha ... this reminds me of how very much time I spent trying to figure out how to get underwater and stay there and move around underwater when I had my first quest that took me swimming.
It took me soooo long to figure out. It was the hardest quest for me and I had to repeat it an irritating amount of times between the drowning and the murlocs.
Swimming is no big deal now, especially since you can hold your breath longer. I guess we all evolved better lungs!
daryl Mar 2nd 2009 8:10AM
I once rolled a DK gnome and did the whole DK thing right up to Lights Hope Chapel and 58.
Call me prejudiced but I didn't like playing a gnome, his sword was too short and stubby and the lowness to the ground felt funny so after some thought, I rerolled a human DK and did it all again. Not before I sent the 35g he made to my main.
Daryl.
Galtak Mar 2nd 2009 8:13AM
My first character was a paladin. Everything was okay up until about level 25 where I kept dying all the time. I was doing some questing with a warrior of similar level who didn't appear to have this problem so I just assumed paladins were rubbish and rerolled my warrior, who is now my main.
Turned out I just needed better gear on my paladin, but by the time I realised that my warrior was miles ahead.
Sometimes I regret I didn't stick with my paladin.
Oh well.
PeeWee Mar 2nd 2009 2:15PM
"I just assumed paladins were rubbish..."
And look how correct you turned out to be. ^^
Lemons Mar 2nd 2009 3:24PM
regret? I never regret.
Yea pallies are the fotm right now, but when they get nerfed "to the ground, baby!" are you still gunna want to play one? You gotta play the class you love, not just the class that happens to be OP for 5 mins.
Tristan Mar 2nd 2009 4:26PM
@Lemons I actually don't like playing pallies right now. They're way too OP and it's pretty much easy mode. I played a raiding belf pally pre 3.0 and got a lot of respect from a lot of people on the server because I had the gear to do it. However once 3.0 hit, I didn't like how easy it was. So I sold my toon and rerolled.
Guest Mar 2nd 2009 8:13AM
I'll be honest, I look at a serious reroll about once a year. I regret it sometimes, because I forgo some cool memories, but it also brings something cool. I start anew when I do it, meaning new account, new server, and I end up meeting new people, and doing new stuff. It's like a refresh button for the game for me.
I also get to switch from Alliance to Horde, or Vice-Versa. So that's pretty cool.
The worst part?
I have to level to cap again.
The best part?
The leveling process is more fun than at any other time.
SaxxonPike Mar 2nd 2009 8:14AM
I have rerolled so many times.. and I think I've got a form of OCD when it comes to that. I have deleted a level 49 toon because I didn't like where he was placed on the character list (not that I was playing em anyway...)
Now, I'm on Galakrond and attempting to level every class to 80. Right now I've got 4 characters in Northrend. Rerolling keeps the game fresh, in my opinion. Not to mention, you don't really know the game 'till you've played all the classes. The way you play might not change drastically, but it's never the same old thing.
Rugus Mar 2nd 2009 8:15AM
I've Always been a marksman hunter since the old days. I'm more a "single toon" player and I love solo-gaming (until you reach end-game content where you cannot play alone anymore). In that sense, Hunters are the best class to play PvE content.
I rerolled a warrior (now level 70 used as cooker in Dalaran) because after playing so much with a hunter I felt the need to wear plate and seriously use swords and shields. That's all.
I rerolled a DK too both because I was interested in the lore and because I did not need to start from level 1. Sadly, I really do not like the DK class so I eventually abandoned and deleted the toon.
Considering the insane amount of things to do in Wow, playing more than 1 toon from 1 to 80 (grinding factions, doing dailies, exploring achievements and completing dungeons) -in my opinion- is just insane, unless you have no real life.
I prefer focusing on 1 class that I really like and play it well. That's all.
Jaikara Mar 2nd 2009 8:15AM
I recently decided to reroll on a new server. I've just come to the point where I don't feel any of my existing toons are really going to take me any further.
So it's time for new people, guilds and adventures. Oh yeah, and this time I'm playing Horde. I'm kinda tired of Alliance. Not sure my heart's really in it.
Aaron A. Mar 2nd 2009 2:45PM
I felt the same way. The endgame only provides so much new material, so much opportunity for discovery and character development. I too had gotten to the point where I wasn't sure what else I could do with my current character.
I recently began my first serious attempt at a Horde character, so in one fell swoop I had switched to a new realm, new faction, new race, and new class all at once. I must say, I'm having a great time. Playing an opposing-faction character gives me the chance to meet people and undertake missions that were completely unknown to me a month ago. I can't say that I'll never check back on my Alliance characters, but there's something nice about not knowing what's around the corner.
William Sagemire Mar 2nd 2009 8:18AM
When I started playing, I shared an account with a friend. Got my druid to about lvl 20, then rerolled when I made my own account.
Then rerolled a pally to play with a friend on another server when I got tired of being ganked on the PvP server my druid was on. Played the pally from there on until TBC.
Then rerolled a BE pally to play another server to be the first pally in a friend's horde guild right when TBC came out.
Rerolled a hunter last fall on a random server, lvled to 70 a month before Wrath and am still playing it (80 now).
Going from alliance pally, to horde pally, to hunter, the main reason for the rerolls were that whatever guild I was in before had fallen apart months before and I would quit playing for several months before coming back to the game. When I did come back I would have forgotten how to play my previous chars, or would just be sick of them still.
Okabe Mar 2nd 2009 8:21AM
Pretty much whenever I get bored.
Which is a lot.
hah Mar 2nd 2009 8:23AM
hey, My first character was basically a warlock which turned out actually to be good. I suppose i wasn't clever at that time to think what char would be the best for me.
I was keep changing characters and kept asking people of their thoughts of what char was best. They would normally answer as their own char but, i didn't realize that.
However, i started at first a warlock, theni went for rogue, druid, and i was still a low lvl guy. I wanted to have a fast char but it never went well.
Then after some time i started to realize that i'm still a low level noob who hasn't yet reached the high lvl.
By the time i understood that, and got it cleard into my head i started to lvl in an efficient way.. and eventually it went on properly.
Danielle Mar 2nd 2009 8:23AM
My first druid was a night elf with green hair. At level 20 I decided green hair didn't suit me or my character and I promptly deleted her (before barber shops mind you). My second druid was much more successful with no green hair and was my second 80.
Seedcake Mar 2nd 2009 8:25AM
Since I'm an altaholic, the only way I can picture "starting anew" is deciding to roll a level 1 on a completely different server. I've done this a few times actually, but only in one case did it ever truly stick. A few weeks before patch 2.3, I gave up playing my level 70 priest main on a normal server to roll a fresh new paladin (who is now level 80) on an RP server.
My reason? Mainly I did it to escape the horridness that is Madoran. I also count moving from priest to paladin as a serious trading-up.
Now, all is happy sunshine funtime. Best thing I ever did.
Michael Mar 2nd 2009 12:57PM
LOL, if you think Madoran is bad, try Alexstrazsa. Thats bad. At least the crowd on Madoran is reasonably kind and until lately trade was not totally crap.
And going to an RP server? Wow, I would rather lie in a bathtub full of razor blades while midgets jump on me.
Seedcake Mar 2nd 2009 2:55PM
You know, Michael, RP servers can make that rather kinky scenario happen for you.
Just sayin'.