Holidaying with another self

What do you do when the pressures of endgame all become too much? When the PvP grind gets you down, and raiding just isn't doing it for you any more?

Spend some time away from it all, in an exotic location where everything's new again -- make an alt. Preferably a cross-faction alt.

It sounds idyllic, in principle. Start life from scratch again, in a town where nobody knows your name. Learn new skills! Have fantastic adventures! Spend four hours killing wolves and only regain a fraction of your former power! (Eh?)

Alts are great, in principle. However, if you're like me -- and you have over thirty of them -- then even a journey away from your main becomes tedious and repetitive. I've seen every nook and cranny of every newbie area, through lenses as diverse as RP-PvP and plain ol' PvE. I've done every newbie quest a thousand times, or at least it feels that way. If I have to collect Bristleback Belts or deal with Iverron and his spiders one more time, I'll go bonkers.

I recently decided to start levelling a priest (it must be heatstroke; the British summer's just begun). "Great," thought I. "I'm always healing anyway -- this time I can be a healbot from the start, and learn to do it well."

I got to level 6 and quit. Not because I hated healing -- let's face it, at the lowest levels most classes are similar -- but because I couldn't face the thought of fifty-four more levels ahead, levels of endless running and grinding and repeating quests for ingrates.

But I know I'll be back. When the tedium of life in the fast lane gets me down -- when I decide to make "learn2heal" another pet project of mine -- or just when I've nothing better to do. Even if I never play this priest again, I know I'll create another, some day. I have a feeling the expansion will cure some of my newbie-area-phobia, but it's a sad fact that what was once exciting and new has become tired and old, despite the variety of newbie areas and the novelty of switching faction.