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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: How are you managing your alts?
by Josh Rose 
Apr 14th 2011 at 8:00AM
It is hard to focus entirely on a single character in WoW. Unless a person can PvP, raid, or dungeon crawl all the time or has an extremely limited play schedule, most players create an alt or two or 10. Wrath made alts easy -- hit 80, run a few dungeons, full epic gear in a day. Cataclysm may have eased the leveling process, but gearing and rep grinding on a single character is much slower than in Wrath. Also, there are not a lot of successful PUG raids to get an alt into. Most guilds haven't even killed all the content yet in normal, let alone in heroic. So the question remains: How to deal with alts?
I had seven 80s in Wrath, and all of them had at least full 251 gear before Cataclysm launched; heck, I had the ICC drakes on two different characters. Yet in Cataclysm, I find myself leveling them much more slowly and in fact didn't touch any until I had gotten my main through heroics until the point that justice points became useless and I had been exalted with every Cataclysm reputation except my guild. Even then, I concentrated on a single alt primarily hitting 85, then getting some gear.
But I found something interesting: Merely doing cooking and fishing dailies every day in Stormwind, my other alts are gaining experience much faster than I thought they would. I hit 81 on a few alts without ever having left Stormwind, except for the initial trips out to Hyjal and Vashj'ir in order to open the portals. One the other hand, I have a friend who leveled all his toons to 85 before deciding which one he was going to focus on.
So how are you dealing with your alts in Cataclysm? Are you leveling them all or letting some sit? Did you change your main?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
hrrly2 Apr 14th 2011 8:46AM
14 85s?
You are now my hero.
Myramensgone Apr 14th 2011 8:46AM
I might be an altoholic if it weren't for professions
Greg Apr 14th 2011 8:53AM
Before I took a break, I was all alts- virtually no mains. Leveling was a TON of fun and end-game was full of headaches.
I'm beginning to look forward to my return =)
Aggrajag Apr 14th 2011 8:54AM
My altitus took a major knock when I got into collecting achievements. I had loads of alts but it brassed me off that points I was getting on my PvP Rogue I *could* have been getting on my PvE main Hunter. Equally when I was healing instances with my druid I felt the points were on the "wrong" character.
I know it's a self imposed problem but now I only really play my main.
Ithrandil Apr 14th 2011 8:56AM
I finally got all 9 of my 80's to 85, but now they just kinda sit there. Even in wrath I couldn't -quite- keep them all up to speed, I deffinately can't with cataclysm gearing speed. Cataclysm is supposed to be so alt friendly, but it takes so much longer to get them to the point where they can begin raiding that I haven't bothered on most of em. And that really defeats the purpose of having so many alts on various servers. Say what you will about "too easy" wrath heroics, queues were quick, dungeons were quicker and badges flowed like wine. Current system is great for your main, not so much for your alts.
WTB transferable justice and honor points, even if it's at a conversion loss, since it's so easy to cap on your main (to the point they already added point dumps for mats). It really doesn't give alts any real edge, since heroics are hardly cutting edge now, and you still need to run them to get many of the item slots.
Numal Apr 14th 2011 9:02AM
I have 8 alts and 2 bank toons that may someday make altdom. Before Cata I had three maybe four characters total that I played. After Cata launched leveling a toon to 85 has become fun for me because all of my mid level abandoned projects have new areas and quests to do. I now have 4 85's an 80,70,60, and a 58. All of which will get to 85 and 3329ilvl eventually. My 85's do randoms 1x a day and dailies then I level an alt for an hour or two. With heirloom gear work through most of a level or two in that time.
Jason Apr 14th 2011 9:02AM
I've gotten 5 of my characters to 85 now. Only my main is geared for heroics/raiding right now & I'm on the fence about which one to start working up next. I have one more character within striking distance of 85 and then I'm onto alts I hadn't gotten past 40 during wrath. I'm honestly leaning towards getting all of the alts on my main server to 85 before I start working on gearing them and it feels like I'm doing that because I don't feel like doing that grind again right now. I suspect that once 4.2 comes out Cata normals and Heroics will be less daunting for my alts.
Numal Apr 14th 2011 9:16AM
thats ilvl 329 (obviously) a typo, sorry
Pam Apr 14th 2011 9:06AM
I have 3 85 druids, 2 of them in 353+ gear, 1 is about 343. I have an 85 DK, but she hasn't seen much action. Currently working on a priest (73) and at some point, my rogue (68) needs at least up to 75 (for max profession).
My main druid does the 25 mans, the other 2 fill in the 10 mans that were needing rounded out. (we are actually running 4- 10 mans at various times....on top of the 25's)
I have 2 bank alts with 6 guild tabs each. One of them (Warlock) I got to 38 (thru RaF), and the other (Shammy) got to level 5 just by doing the holiday quests that didn't require going out of town.
I think next up is a pally. I had one at 18 once, but got bored and deleted her, but Pally is OP healing, so this I must try....
The way to handle em? The only way... Altaholic....
juxul Apr 14th 2011 9:17AM
At the end of Wraith I had 4 80s before I got bored with the content and then I focused on two others who were at BC content and when I rember how much I liked the questing in BC and didn`t want to go thru Old World content again I made a second DK to do more BC after the first two leveled out of it. By that time patch 4.0 dropped then just when my 2nd DK hit Wraith I decided to try one of the new race class combos. Then when the expansion came out I tried out the Worgen starter zone.
The best way I deal with my alts is rotation my 80s are at 85 at which I played each until they leveled up by one then I went to the next one in line till they all hit 85. My 70s I level till 74 thru battlegrounds due to all the fun I was having in that bracket along with the ease of getting honor gear at that level. And the characters made after the expansion I play on the weekends.
Rotation is the best way I leveled all my characters and I don`t play them without rested xp.
Amaxe Apr 14th 2011 9:31AM
I have two 85s and an 84.
Right now, I have my shaman and paladin do the TB and Wildhammer dailies, as well as the fishing and cooking dailies.
Then my main works on zones as I pursue the Loremaster achievement (one zone left in Eastern Kingdoms, and all of Kalimdor).
Dumbguy Apr 14th 2011 9:35AM
I'm in a rut when it comes to my alts.
My goal is to have a max-level character of every class, but ever since cataclysm hit, I simply can't stand outland/northrend. I've raised four of my five 80s to 85 and brought a fresh character to 60 since the expansion hit. I love the new zones and dungeons.
But right now, I have a hunter in the early sixties and a shaman in the early seventies languishing. I can't bring myself to play either of them for more than 10 minutes. This is also discouraging me from creating any new alts, because I like to pretend that they'll get to max level and possibly raid eventually- which isn't going to happen when I can't bring myself to kill 20 wasps in Zangarmarsh again.
So I'm in the situation where the only alts I level (the ones not stuck in the 60-79 range) are committed to duo-ing or... tripling... with people that rarely sign on. It's fun, but... damn friendships, holding back progression!
razion Apr 14th 2011 9:36AM
I find I don't play alts as much as I used to, and as such I am now sticking to just one character. This is probably both because leveling is so much faster now and also because gearing up is now much slower than it was before. If I make an alt, it's usually for the sake of it being an alt--I never really want to raid or PvP seriously on it. When I make an alt, it's usually to explore changes to a class' talent tree or to do the "leveling game". However when the leveling game is so short, it just doesn't feel as good to get a level when they all go by so gosh-darned fast (hitting the cap now takes a week, as opposed to a month).
Felpa Apr 14th 2011 9:41AM
I really want to know, how people are gearing their alts? If you have limited play time?
thru random heroic, grinding faction dailies, hitting raids as soon as they are able to? All the above?
I have 6, 85's.. and 3 of them are i346 minimum (fun fact, only 1 of them is dps) working on my fourth, but I'm sad that i can not gear them up as fast as I'd like.
LynMars Apr 14th 2011 9:42AM
I just deleted a lowbie Worgen Druid alt last night--I'll get back to it someday, maybe. I have lowbie human hunter and Draenei shaman too that likely won't be touched until the semester ends, if ever. My main was 85 and in heroic gear, most of the reps maxed, etc. before I even touched my 2 main alts that I have no idea how to gear (the thought of relearning tanking makes me cringe). My Rogue may get leveled next, mostly through gathering, as she's mainly a gather-and-bank alt now, and ramming through the new zones and quests again in a short time span is blech for me (I need time between run-throughs of zones).
I just don't have the time to devote to bunches of alts. I like to RP too, and while some people can maintain a large stable of active RP characters, I've always preferred to focus closely on a couple characters. Again, it's a time-energy thing.
Gracandrea Apr 14th 2011 9:47AM
My main is still Grace my prot pally.
I dragged my feet on getting Gracilliana (or Graci) to max level again- she's an enhance shammy - but she's there now.
Working on a gnome priest at the moment - she's at 63ish (I think) and doing well - surprising, I usually am more into melee.
Badgelooter Apr 14th 2011 9:49AM
I found that I was on alts more as guildmates hit 85 and gathered the gear they needed to be raid ready. At one point, we were waiting almost a week for one of our healers to catch up so we could start raids. Because just about everyone had an alt which could fill a role different than that of their main, we grouped up and headed into random dungeons on our alts, getting a feel for what tanks/healers/dps were going through in different fights. In the end, I think that understanding how to heal an encounter makes it easier for me to DPS it on my main. As a healer, you see where damage comes from and can work out when to use defensive CDs while DPSing, making life easier on PuG healers. As a tank you start to uncover the rhythm of add spawns, aggro wipes, etc. Pretty soon our alts were looking pretty good, to the point where we were comfortable venturing into LFD on our own to tank or heal.
Also, I have a miner alt who leveled to 85 without completing any quests outside of dungeons. Made for nice money when I went back and quested through all the Cata zones, and when I started unloading mats on the AH. SInce our guild recently hit level 20 and unlocked the BoA helms, I started a level one toon to finish out our "Stay Classy" acheivements, and others in guild have done so too. It's fun to go back with guildies and hear yelling in vent because someone didn't use an ability they haven't learned yet.
livingmercy Apr 14th 2011 9:52AM
My main is my human fire mage. She's who I'm most comfortable with, and she's who I quest with, etc. I have a DK now and basically only do dailies now that I'm in SW, but perhaps could run some with her one day. My other 2 alts that never get my attention (well, not "never," but certainly rarely) are my Blood Elf and my Draenai Priest. The Horde lands are too scary for me. lol... and I don't like being a priest. I've gotten her to lvl 21, but just don't spend time on her much because she cannot DPS for crap! Killing takes forever, and I'm not a confident enough player to even attempt to be a healer in a dungeon, so yeah... I stay with my mage. :)
Kurtis Apr 14th 2011 9:50AM
My main (tauren druid) was 85 pretty quickly after Cata dropped, along with maxed out professions. He's finishing up a couple of rep grinds, though not with any particular sense of urgency.
I've got a goblin DK that I leveled from 62 to 85 over a couple of weeks - I started out for the guild "Stay Classy" achievement because our guild's highest goblin DK was 65 and no play time in weeks. I'd forgotten how much fun a DK could be. He's mainly working on professions now - his mining is near max-level, still has a ways to go on blacksmithing.
My current project is a troll warrior, also for the guild "Stay Classy" achievement - highest troll warrior at the time was level 45 and hadn't played since Cata. She's now level 65 and getting ready to finish up Outland in the next couple of days.
I haven't touched my main Alliance alt in weeks, except to log in and take items out of the mailbox.
Shellfire Apr 14th 2011 10:06AM
I have several alliance side alts who I leveled to 85 (5 plus my "main", to be precise) and got to at least heroic level gear or better. I also have several lower level Alliance alts. But our server has started dying, less and less people are playing - even fewer are pugging raids. Then Rift came out and even more people have disappeared. Now I have almost completely abandoned my Alliance toons and have focused on some Horde toons on a busier server. I am enjoying the quick leveling with guild perks (my Horde alts are in a level 25 guild, while all my Alliance alts are in level 22 or lower guilds) and am looking forward to hitting 85 and gearing my Horde alts up with heroics and raiding. My Alliance toons are currently unused and unwanted.