Breakfast Topic: Altphobia
by Mathew McCurley 
May 30th 2010 at 8:00AM
My main character has one reputation to go for Exalted. My main has their Rusted Proto-drake, approaching Bloodbathed Frostbrood, and is decked out in almost as much gear as they can achieve. Then, off in the other corner, is my alt shaman. Poor guy. I love him, I really do. He just feels so neglected. Why can't he have everything my main does! All that work, all that time! Why can't it all be transferred over magically to the alt that I would love to be my main?
Contradiction is abound. My current main is an alt. Is everything I have written a lie?! No. How did I originally change from main to alt? My original character was a raiding priest, whose experience was forged in the fires of vanilla Warcraft raiding. Burning Crusade was on the horizon, and we needed paladins. I took one for the team. My priest... gone. Did I regret it? Nah. Do I wish that my new main had all those previous achievements? You bet I do.
Cataclysm has the potential to re-main me with the addition of goblins to the Horde, even in the face of crippling altphobia. So now eyes turn to fate and we see what class rips me from my comfort zone and ignites a new fire under an alt that becomes a main. But the old main, the forgotten main, will still have these achievements, these man hours, these ideals as part of their existence. If only the new main could have it all, too.
What about you? Cataclysm brings many new opportunities to ditch your main and ascribe the "main mantle" upon a new creation. Will you? Are you like me, and feel like you are cheating on your main when you're playing on an alt?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Dr. Nothing May 30th 2010 8:06AM
I've always had a similar problem, simultaneously I'm an altoholic and an altophobic. I create various alts to try out different classes or racials, play them for 5 minutes and decide it's time wasted I could be working on my mage. Plus I don't really get on with the other classes except for druids. Gonna have me a worgen as soon as cata hits and finally level me a drood :)
aaron May 30th 2010 12:21PM
I have an 80 of every class and I seem to choose a different main with each expansion. So, it's a love hate relationship.
I have found that enduring an 80 of every class has made me a better tank and healer. I have also found that I tend to avoid focusing on pure classes now. Vanilla wow = warlock. TBC = getting every class toward 60. wotlk = warrior and finishing every class to 80. Cataclysm is a toss up between the priest and shaman, and (of course) getting everyone to 85... :)
Anye May 30th 2010 12:34PM
I used to be the same way... Not that I was altophobic, but I was... altose-intolerant? I'd play an alt to maybe level 10, 20? Then park them. Highest I ever got an alt was mid-30s.
The issue for me was the grind. Doing the same old quests over and over again was not exciting. It was especially bad if I had three alts at about the same level. I would work on one in the starter areas in Kalimdor, and the other one around Stormwind. (Personally can't stand the dwarf starter quests.) So where would I take my third toon? Didn't work.
I did say, "used to", though.
Three things helped, two thanks to Blizz and one of my own doing:
1) Heirlooms
2) Dungeon Finder
Heirlooms made the grind a bit easier, and I did start to level my hunter (at the time my highest alt) again. But Dungeon Finder really made it easy. My wife and I started leveling a tankadin/tree combo on a new server, got them to level 50 without breakin' a sweat. I finally realized I was now capable of doing something I always wanted to do, which brings me to...
3) A tank of every class
My main is a bear tank. I've always been curious how similar a prot warrior was to a bear, and was always jealous of the tankadin's abilities. So I wanted to roll a tank of every class. Taking the plunge to do so made me a lot more alt-friendly, so now I find myself leveling dps toons with as much ease. Now I've got two 70's, a 60, a few 30s and then some. Changing servers slowed me down, and I'm not really playing at the moment, but when I do play, it's almost always on an alt now.
But will I ever switch to a different "main" toon? No, heck no. I love my bear too much.
Calybos May 30th 2010 1:14PM
What is this "main" you speak of? I've never had one, and I've been playing for over three years.
Focusing on just one character, and investing all your time and effort in it? Nope; not for me. I'd be bored. Heck, I seldom play the same character twice in a row.
Am I 'missing out' on part of the game? Probably--but if you focus on just one character, so are you.
GrumblyStuff May 30th 2010 2:55PM
@Calybos
"Mains" are what I'm known as and what I know people as. Regardless of the toon I play, people that know me use the name of my main. That, to me, is the definition of a main.
This even as I went nutso on my warrior for achievements, mounts (near 100 and has violet proto-drake), pets, gearing, rep, etc.
@Anye
Heh. Funny you mention starting areas. I've tried to level in all the different zones but I have to say I vastly prefer the human areas going from Elwynn to Westfall to Redridge, Wetlands, Arathi. I have done the others on alts and, well, for loremaster, but once I hit Darkshore or Khaz Modan, I'm heading to Westfall.
I'm not sure why I fall into that pattern. Maybe it's to see and feel the difference between classes within the same environment that I level other classes. Or maybe I'm just being lazy. Still, it is a helpful way to measure a class. A pally would just wade into a camp of gnolls whereas a priest might preshield, smitesnipe, and run until mobs reset and a rogue might go for a combination (after sapping/pickpocketing) relying on evasion.
When you get into that state of mind, really understanding the current limits of your class, is when alts shine. Or you keep trying to spam abilities like a warrior with infinite rage and quickly become disinterested and that alt becomes a storage toon.
Schneid May 30th 2010 7:07PM
wow. you sound just like me... try tanking classes right back to the mage...
Anye May 31st 2010 5:49AM
@GrumblyStuff:
I like the "human" areas most of all, too. NE areas are okay if the dungeon queue is short, but I get really bored walking through Darkshore and Ashenvale. I think the human areas are just nice and compact, not a terrible amount of traveling required between quest hubs.
jealouspirate May 30th 2010 8:09AM
I've thought of switching mains before, but the loss of all those reputations and achievements is so painful. I don't care about gear, that comes and goes... but my main! He has the Salty title, the Chef title, the Violet Proto-drake, and many other things that I worked hard at getting.
I am an altoholic to be sure (WTB moar character slots!) but my Shaman is, and forever will be, my main... even if I go through periods when I play alts more frequently.
CaryEverett May 30th 2010 9:42AM
I know the feeling.
Maybe one day Blizzard will make all your mounts and pets and stuff BoA?
Well... we can dream right?
Imnick May 30th 2010 8:08AM
I do wish some rewards such as mounts, titles and mini-pets would be cross-character.
You're hardly going to get a frostbrood vanquisher on two characters, but it would be sweet if you could use it on all of them just because you got the achievement on one. It would also help a bit with the problem of changing main and not keeping achievements.
epsilon343 May 30th 2010 8:57AM
This is what my line of thinking is. I'd be more willing to pick up an alt if I had some of the creature comforts and awards that my main had.
Basically I'd like more things to be account instead of just a single character.
Rai May 30th 2010 9:58AM
I couldn't agree more. My main is a Rogue that I've had since, forever, but recently my Warlock's become better geared through some extremely lucky ICC25 PuGs.
However, all the big achievements that you have to hunt for (including the hunt for the violet proto-drake) just don't get done on the Warlock. I love my rogue too much - he's my main. Recently I referred a friend and recieved the touring rocket: no surprise which character got it.
(It's a shame the refer-a-friend mounts aren't BoA but that's something else entirely)
Aloix May 30th 2010 1:44PM
I agree. I mean, I can see why a lot of minipets are not xtoon I guess, a goldsink is a time sink and we know Blizz likes us doing those. I switched mains last fall (Priest to Paladin) and am an avid pet collector.
Some other things though, like the RaF mount, I really wish I could move that from my Priest to Pala though, since there is no 'simple' way to get another.
I think Blizz just wants us to throw more real money at them in that case, TBH. And I can't justify a 3rd account for it @.@
Rakah May 30th 2010 8:09AM
I have an 80 of every class but the gear is somewhat varied, i guess cata allows me to catch up with all characters.
P.S. i wish my hunter was a goblin
Haven May 30th 2010 8:09AM
Aye, that's my story, too. Started as a rogue in early TBC, rerolled DK and fell in love with the mechanics and feel of this class (I still remember it - 6 mobs on my lvl58 neck in Hellfire Peninsula, and I killed them all and still had 100% health - ty Blood!). Still, I don't have the heart to delete my rogue or give her to someone. Gonna level a shemen in Cata, and I fear for my DK. All these changes...
Tigrex Jul 10th 2010 2:24PM
Unlike TBC and WoTLK, Cataclysm is only gonna bring us new class/race combinations, so i dont really think its going to have a very big impact on the way people play. Making a Blood Elf paladin was something new for the Horde, so was Draenei Shaman - Worgen Hunter on the other hand is just new looks...
I might be rolling a Goblin Rogue, after all those awesome racials but other than that, no i wont be re-maining...
JohnnytheFuture May 30th 2010 8:09AM
Ah, finally someone I can identity with! I never understood those alt-oholics.
xSchwarzerWindx May 30th 2010 8:15AM
I've yet to be in a guild where someone (seriously) took one for the team and re-rolled a committed new main to help out the guildmates. Or even filled a needed spot at all with a class they took an interest in.
As it is, the one I'm in, barely anyone can be bothered to log on on a Saturday night and run randoms for gear / emblems for gear. And if they do show up, they certainly don't want to heal, despite being a healing class, and one of the few ones, or tank, despite being a ta... you get the picture.
How I envy you all with your comraderie and progression.
Hammyfan2 May 30th 2010 8:17AM
My main is a priesty, but after Burning Crusade I got kinda burnt out on him, so I rerolled pally and then a warrior and never looked back.
Sel May 30th 2010 8:21AM
I'm actually a major altoholic. I've switched mains 4 times now, with plans to do it again for Cata. I just tend to get bored with a class when I've been raiding for a year or two, and then I get the itch to try something new. This coming expansion is the only time that I haven't known what class I want to play as a main, though. I guess I'm waiting to see how the class changes actually play out in beta.
When I moved to my current server from the first one I played on, I actually had the intention of sticking to 1, maybe 2, toons instead of my usual fill every character slot with a different class method. However, that didn't last long and my character slots are completely full now, so I've had to try a different server just to level up another alt. I'd love to be the type that fully invests all my play time into just 1 character, but I love playing so many of the classes that I just don't see that ever happening.