Breakfast Topic: What keeps you hanging on?
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Jun 23rd 2009 at 8:00AM
For most of vanilla WoW and Burning Crusade, my main was a Druid. I healed, I tanked, I DPS, I raided, I PvPed, I did everything with him. He was a great character, I found the class fun (Yes, even before patch 1.8, thank you very much). But somewhere around mid-Burning Crusade, I just plain burnt out on Druids. I don't know if it was just one too many bad raids, if it was just familiarity breeding contempt, or what, but I switched to a Hunter and never looked back.When Death Knights were announced, I knew that was my new class, and I also knew that my Druid was probably doomed to be level 70 for good. I'd focus on my Death Knight, then my Hunter, then probably my Shaman for heals, followed by my Warlock. My Druid would just languish in Shattrath unless I was really, incredibly bored.
Yet here I am. My Death Knight is still my only 80, and now I've chosen to level my Druid ahead of all my other characters. I've purchased some heirlooms for him and dived right in, and I'm having a lot of fun in spite of it all. I think part of it is that it's just been long enough that I'm excited about the class again. I'm enjoying the things I used to enjoy about it, and I'm excited to try out new stuff like Savage Defense and Wild Growth.
But the big reason is actually probably because he's just a fun character to RP. I've built him up over a lot of years, in casual in-character conversations with friends, by participating in community-wide scripted RP events, and by writing and thinking about his in character reaction to various in game quests and world events and other pieces of lore. From all that, he's turned into a sort of wise but slightly curmudgeonly sage who is often confused by the strange new world of mortals, who sometimes lets his sense of justice lead him to do rash and hotheaded things, and who enjoys a good brew and a pipe full of dreamfoil with his wife at the end of a long day. It may seem weird, but I really, really like this guy, and It just got to the point where I hated to neglect him and his story when it felt like he had so much left to do.
I'm wondering if I'm alone in this. Do any of you have a character who just refuses to be set aside for long? Why do you keep coming back to them? Is it gameplay? roleplay? A sense of obligation to your guild, perhaps? Or is it something else?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Breakfast Topics, Classes, Alts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
notBowen Jun 23rd 2009 8:13AM
No, not really. Your viewpoint on the game seems to be staggeringly different from my own.
WoWie Zowie Jun 23rd 2009 8:24AM
^^ me 2
Eamara Jun 23rd 2009 8:13AM
While my main is now my DK, I always think that my Hunter is my true 'main'. This is for much the same reasons as Daniel stated: my Hunter has an established personality, one that is enjoyable for me to act out and write about. It also helps that she has a spirit wolf pet and was my first max level character ever. :)
So yeah. Essentially the only reason I play my DK is because I love tanking and really enjoy the mechanics of the DK class. If I enjoyed Hunters more, I'd no doubt be playing my Hunter more often.
Robert M Jun 23rd 2009 9:50AM
I think you hit it on the head. Converting from a “main” is the hardest thing to do. My main was my first toon ever, I spent a good 20 minutes at the setup screen choosing a name, and he was my first toon to 70, a gnome warlock named Carvis.
I played that toon for so long, was called Carvis for so long, that it felt weird when Lich launched to level the paladin (a dorf chick) and the druid (a resto with a Celtic name) that even when I changed servers, I told everyone in the guild that I pretty much answered to Carvis.
I know there have been posts on here about mains, but I’d really like to see something (here or elsewhere) that really addresses the psychological attachment that people have to their mains, and maybe what it says about those of us who cling to our original toons vs those who can change mains like Sarah Jessica Parker changes clothes in Sex and the City.
AnthonyM Jun 23rd 2009 7:32PM
It took you twenty minutes?
gitarguy48 Jun 23rd 2009 8:19AM
My experience is similar. My druid did everything, including recon for new instances my guild planned to run. Stealthing passed leets, watching their reactions and gauging movement from that, has to be one of the most heart pumping thrills in the game.
When Wrath came out, I jumped on the DK class and really enjoyed the opening quest line, for the first time seeing how my actions changed the world around me. I started a gnome rogue as well, and had some fun with that.
But on hitting Outland and progressing through 5 levels in very short order, the DK became somehow, well, ordinary. It's not as much fun when the risk of death (without your active intervention) doesn't exist.
So my druid, who had ground out lots of gold in the run up to Wrath, and had respec'ed from Balance to feral tank to help the guild, hopped on the boat in Menethil and never looked back. Blasted though to lvl 80 in no time, and went to dual spec.
After trying out several guilds he moved on to a small leveling guild where he heals normal Northrend dungeons, tanks the heroics, builds up a resto set, and helps his guildies level up.
I love my druid's flexibility, and he will always be my main.
RetadinMan Jun 23rd 2009 8:18AM
Honestly, when it comes down to it, alts. There is one class that I always want to level (right now it is rogue) but I suck at them, so I spend a month or two playing them a half an hour a week and reading up stuff about them. This really helps my main in PvP, except in BGs I always get nearly lagged out.
mynameisjoeness Jun 23rd 2009 8:20AM
main was mage, then lock, then warrior, then lock again lol but when DKs were announced I debated making that my main, but then i got to play them on the LK beta and Idecided without question to main the DK with Wrath, got Realm first 80DK, and am currently in the top guild with the best gear on my server, but lately the game hasnt been as fun, pre-ulduar I level'd a crap ton of alts (ive got 7 lvl 80s lol) but even hopping around on them between raid times Im still not having as much fun as I used to.
Just started a new job and have already missed a raid night because of it, but it kinda felt good to be doing something different lol. Im hoping that with something other then wow on my schedule it'll make wow more fun, but the burnout is def seeping in slowly.
Cogfizzle Jun 23rd 2009 8:23AM
I can relate I think. I have a Rogue who I HATE to play but love to be in the shoes of and roleplay as. I'm currently hovering my finger over the 'delete character' button because I need to make space to migrate an 80 onto the main server I play on but I simply can't bring myself to do it.
I never play him
I hate being a rogue
I long ago left the guild he was in for not playing enough
But I just Can't. Let. Him. Go.
Maybe - a serious suggestion - you need a personality transplant. If you like the personality of A but the playstyle of B is there really any reason why you can't simply start playing B with the personality of A? It doesn't have to be the whole thing, just identify the parts of his personality makeup that attract you and carry them over.
Just because your character had this personality levels 1 to 63 doesn't mean he has to keep them 64-80. Who's going to know that it's changed? And if people do know just explain why you've done it, they'll surely understand.
ReyesOfHope Jun 23rd 2009 9:57AM
I love my rogue. There is nothing more gratifying than sneaking past and around horde in a battleground, lurking in Undercity, and ganking one when they think they are alone and safe. I also like using knives. Stealth and daggers rock.
I tried a mage, DK, and druid as well...but only for a few levels.
Kryxx Jun 26th 2009 12:04AM
@ReyesOfHope
I feel the same way. I love my rogue and can't play any other character because of it. I've played since vanilla, raided 40 mans, PvP, etc. My rogue is still my only max level character. My highest alt is level 35 and has been since before BC. I have a ridiculous /played on my rogue, but I still can't imagine playing anything else.
It would take a lot to make me not enjoy the rogue class. I'll always be able to stealth around and stab things, no matter what changes are made. Long live the rogue!
Revinal Jun 23rd 2009 8:25AM
My Paladin. Given the schizophrenic nature of the buffs and nerfs to paladins, as well as the HUGE post 3.0 backlash against our over-buffed OPness. I decided that my DK was going to be my new main. I was the first 80 DK in my guild of 500+, and about the 5th 80 overall, but even now I find my DK is fun, but my paladin is just... amazing to play. I loved the paladin class from when I started pre 1.9 (5 minute blessings, 10 minute greater blessings, 30 second seals WOOT) when I had NO clue what I was doing, and I have levelled 4 at different times in my playing career. Now I have an 80 DK, an 80 Balance/Feral druid, and of course, my 80 Paladin--who I swore was going to take a break. But it's impossible to put him down--now I'm working on making him the Achievement Whore/PvP toon of my many many alts.
uncaringbear Jun 23rd 2009 8:44AM
Same with me here. While my DK is my main toon now, I find myself going back to my ol' pally again and again. She was my second serious toon, and after putting her on ice for about a year and a half, I recently leveled her to 80, and am loving the class again. I love the uncomplicated play style of Ret, and PvP healing is a load of fun, too. I think the introduction of dual spec really breathed new life into the class for me.
Knyle2 Jun 23rd 2009 8:27AM
My only char is wow has been my shaman,
I love playing it because they are awesome, and horrible at the same time. Its one of those classes like hunters where some people are sooo bad u think God I hate hunters, but then one will walk into your instance, control his pet like and champ CC like its his job and put out like 7k dps. just like some shams are horrid and some of us can rep it Hard!
Plus we are fairly dynamic, Resto and enhancement are both so fun, and we needed dual specs so bad, bc a holy priest or resto druid could still solo, my dailies in BC took me forever! to the point that when the raid week was over id spec melee and farm for like 3 or 4 days.
Not to mention were ever changing.
I dont feel like he has a personality though, hes just a game char.
But the thing that keeps me hanging on is that my friends play wow still too. If they all switched to Warhammer, or eq2 or champions I would go with them in a heart beat. As time goes on, it becomes increasing difficult to stay enthralled by wow. as everyone gets more streamlined, the fights get less about rpg mechanics and more about , can u get 25 ppl together and have no one F up. like a dance recital.
The Friends I have, and make keep me playing wow.
Knyle2 Jun 23rd 2009 8:28AM
Why does my avatar show up on massively.com posts, but not wow.com posts?
And I still cant change my PW , i have to type out a random generated PW every time I have to post.
notBowen Jun 23rd 2009 8:34AM
Is your avatar a monkey in a hoody? Because that's what I'm seeing.
Rugus Jun 23rd 2009 8:28AM
A - C - H - I - E - V - E -M - E - N - T - S
They're my damnation.
Knyle2 Jun 23rd 2009 8:35AM
See, I think Achievements would be much cooler if you couldn't look them up. and you just had to stumble across them, to show how much u actually experience in the game, and I wish they could have retroactivated them all.
However, to go hunting for achievements is like people on Xbox360 renting games they know are crappy, just to harvest points that don't really serve any purpose.
Rugus Jun 23rd 2009 8:43AM
@ Knyle2
> However, to go hunting for achievements is like
> people on Xbox360 renting games they know are
> crappy, just to harvest points that don't really
> serve any purpose.
Achievements are fine (for me) because they indeed do not have any purpose. It's just the fun of doing them. Some are stupidly easy (fish 50 fishes...), some are hard/almost impossible (PVP, timed encounters, ...), others encourage people (like me) to visit/discover old content that would have never been unveiled if not for the pleasure of getting the achievement.
It's a matter of fun, that's all. Do people really rent games to get Xbox points? Well, that's beyond my imagination, anyway people do stupid things like smoking, drinking alcoholics until they smash to the ground and so on.
I do like them for the pleasure of just "doing" them. Not for the fun of going in a capital and act like I'm a cool hero ;-)
Chamual Jun 23rd 2009 3:26PM
@ Rugus
That's all well and good, but I still like my feats of strenght and even though they don't count for anything I'm still proud of having them...