alts
Latest
Breakfast Topic: How are you managing your alts?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. 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?
Lost Pages of Taborea: Elaborating on XP gain and leveling alts
This week I want to elaborate on experience gain, the honor party, and other ways of leveling alts. I received some great feedback from last week's article that suggests to me an interest in a much wider discussion of power-leveling. But before I get to that, let's clear up XP gain in Runes of Magic. Most MMOs that I know of -- including RoM -- dish out XP based on the character's level and the level of the mob being slain. If your character is the same level as the mob, the game will give you an adequate amount of XP as a reward. If the mob is higher, you'll get even more experience, but you'll get less XP as you out-level a mob. If you've played any MMO, you're probably aware of this. In RoM, you'll stop collecting XP from mobs 10 levels lower than you. Naturally, fighting mobs slightly higher than you can be more efficient. You can continue to fight increasingly higher-level mobs, but at some point, there's just no way you'll be able to survive, which is why you may want to get a higher-level player to take you just about anywhere in RoM to power-level you. When a high-level player starts towing you around, though, the XP you gain will be based directly on the amount of XP that player would get from any mob he kills. Read on to see more about this and alternative ways of power-leveling.
Lost Pages of Taborea: Power-leveling alts in an honor party
Over the course of two years, Runes of Magic has had many patches. It has also had many changes and additions that never made it into the patch notes. They're usually nothing major -- maybe a minor graphical tweak or some other incidental improvements. Then there are items, quests, and features that seem to change, but I can never be sure based on my imperfect memory alone. Something seems to be new or different, but because it never made a lasting impression, I can't be sure whether I'm remembering it correctly. That's how I felt about the honor party. The newbie tutor system seemed to quietly crawl under a rug, but over time it has proven to be operational. Even though the NPC in Varanas does a fair job of informing you what the honor party is and does, I'll give you a quick run-down of how it operates. One of the advantages of knowing about and using the honor party is having a very quick way of leveling alts through the first 20 levels. I wouldn't recommend it for first-time players, but let's take a look at using the honor party to give your alt a huge jump in levels on day one.
Wings Over Atreia: Endgame = end of game?
It happens. All good things must come to an end... except (hopefully) your favorite MMORPG. After all, the whole idea of the MMO is to keep going endlessly, right? To supposedly ever-evolve -- there is no final "win" that concludes the story as in single-player RPGs. However, what do you do when you hit the level cap and have "been there and done that" with everything in game? I guess that's the disadvantage of not having a sandbox; as much I love the graphics and my friends in NCsoft's Aion, there really is just a finite list of things to do. Now before anyone gets up-in-arms or sneers "I told you so," no, I am not quitting and I haven't given up on the game. I still enjoy it. It just so happens that my mind zeroed in on the topic this week as I logged in over the course a few days and just stared at my screen, wondering what I wanted to do. While I was feeling under the weather a bit (which dampened my endurance and enthusiasm to complete any major dungeons), I started wondering about what there actually is to do in Aion after you reach and sit at maximum level for a while. For me, the two things that keep me interested in my virtual worlds are the community and friends that I find in game as well as exploring and experiencing new things. One involves the company providing regular content updates; the other allows for player-created content. But once there is nothing left to explore or experience, friends can drift away... so what does that leave? Pondering this subject and watching the community around me actually brought up some expected -- and some not quite expected -- answers. Join me past the cut to look at different ways Daevas spend their time in Atreia and how they keep their interest sparked.
Addon Spotlight: 2 addons by Shackleford
Each week, WoW Insider brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface. Everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond -- your addons folder will never be the same. This week: Shackleford. Sometimes when I am out looking for new addons for the Spotlight, I find an author rather than any one addon. Many addon authors are not one-timers -- they've got a few addons under their belts because they either love the work or just can't get enough out of punishing themselves. Suffice to say, we are very appreciative of their work, and really, where would we be without them? Today's Addon Spotlight focuses on two cool utilities from Shackleford, addon author to the stars (maybe). I am a big fan of little utilities, since most of these little wonders sit idly by, performing their functions with nary a whisper or whimper. Things just happen. If you don't already know them, may I introduce CalendarHUD and WeaponUP.
Breakfast Topic: Do you use heirlooms when leveling?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. If you ask the guy or girl with the army of alts what they think of heirlooms, he or she will most likely tell you how great heirlooms are. When heirlooms were announced in Wrath, the players suffering from altitis all screamed out in joy. Something that would save them gold while leveling and make life just a little easier on the way to 80? Now 85? Yes, please! At first, we had shoulder and weapon heirlooms that were only purchasable in Dalaran or Wintergrasp. The shoulder heirlooms sold in Wintergrasp were identical to the ones in Dalaran, save that you sacrificed a sometimes useful stat for resilience. In patch 3.2, the Argent Tournament was introduced and with it, chest heirlooms and another way to buy heirlooms. Once you obtained the title you could buy shoulder, chest and weapon heirlooms with Champion's Seals. This was a much more viable and cheaper option to those who didn't want to dungeon crawl to gather the badges needed or who were spending your badges on gear for raiding. To some, the downside to these heirlooms is that they don't scale past 80. Cataclysm did introduce two new heirlooms that scale from 1 to 85: cloak and helm heirlooms purchasable once your guild hits the required level and you are honored. I myself have a number of different heirlooms for my alts, everything from cloth to plate, with different weapons for each class and their specific role. I stopped using them on my priest because I was flying through the revamped zones and couldn't finish all the quest chains before they turned gray. Do you have heirlooms for your alts? Do you prefer to use them while leveling, or do you keep it old-fashioned while leveling? %Poll-60592%
The Daily Grind: Do alts help or hurt game retention?
I'm going to share with you something I've struggled with and then ask for your professional opinion, Internet Friends. As a natural altoholic, I'm forever filling up my character select screen with a wide variety of heroes. And by heroes, I mean "experiments." Having a main is all fine and dandy, but sooner or later the winds of whimsy wash over me, and I feel the uncontrollable urge to roll up an alt. My struggle is this: Is my altoholic nature helping me stay in the game longer or hurting my interest overall? On one hand, having a single character to focus on helps me to bond strongly with that toon, explore high-level content, and dedicate myself to a focused journey through the game. On the other hand, having alts adds the spicy variety that I crave and lets me explore the game in new ways. But I've noticed that several alts can erode that tight attachment I have to an MMO, especially if I keep bouncing around between them. Does this happen to you? What do you think: Do alts help or hurt game retention for you in the long run? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Choose My Adventure: Christmas in Agon
Oy. Well, if I had to do it over again, I'd have scheduled this whole Choose My Adventure thing in such a way as to avoid the December holiday rush. Last week was rather hectic from an out-of-game perspective, and this week is shaping up to be even more so. That's not to say there wasn't any time for Darkfall, though, and I did manage around 20 hours of in-game activity for the week. As a testament to the title's staying power, there simply wasn't as much time as I'd have liked. The fifth week of my Agonian ramble-on was filled with low-level PvP, a bit of questing and crafting, and more exploration than you can shake a candy cane at. Join me after the cut for a recap of the week that was. %Gallery-111744%
Wings Over Atreia: Altaholics anonymous
OK, now I've done it... my status as an oddity at Massively is exposed for all the world to see. I confess -- I do not like to play alts. Whew. There, I said it. That wasn't so hard. And being unique is not such a bad thing, right? In gaming, and in Aion especially, I definitely feel out of place for this philosophy. After all, Aion not only encourages but rewards you for playing alts; what other game gives you an impressive armor set and weapon only after you reach mid-level on numerous characters? And even for those who eschew playing alts, there are times when you are forced to do so (like I was). Pathetic available inventory space? Make a mule. Miss lower-level solo instances because they were introduced after you were too high of a level? Make a noob. But these are only a couple of examples involving mechanics. What makes people create so many alts that they need spreadsheets just to know who has what and is where? Head past the cut to delve into the pros and cons of managing multiple characters in Atreia.
The Daily Grind: How many alts do you have?
Most of us have a primary MMO that we play, and whether it's our only game or simply the one we spend the most time in, somewhere along the line we end up rolling alternate characters. A few games allow you a maximum of one (EVE Online) or sometimes two characters per account or per server (Star Wars Galaxies), but most current titles give you ample character slots to fill. While some folks probably stick with their "mains" through thick and thin, I suspect I'm not the only one who has run newbie content multiple times -- or paid for extra character slots -- in order to satisfy the particular brand of OCD that compels me to try every single solitary class in a given game. The question of the day, ladies and gents, is how many alts do you have on your main game account? For the bonus round, tell us whether you play them regularly or if they simply exist to be mules for your main. Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
WoW Rookie: An empire of alts
One of the most satisfying things about the World of Warcraft is the ability to have a small army of alts. Usually, you hear about folks playing a main character full time and then having one or two alternate characters. The alternate characters are a distraction, or perhaps a way to kill a little time. I even know a couple people who play alts expressly to learn more about other classes for PvP purposes. But for those of us who find ourselves with very limited time to play, alts offer the opportunity to play WoW in a whole different way. We can play almost every class and every race, often all at a same time. Grouping for raids and heroics can be difficult, but if we are playing a half-dozen characters, it's almost like we're a raid unto ourselves. Playing a group of alts is rewarding, but there are some important tips that can make life a lot easier. To be truthful, it isn't as if there's much you can do wrong while leveling a group of alts. And while a lot of that playstyle is a simple matter of personal choice, there are still little things you can do to smooth your way.
Breakfast Topic: Is your main a former alt?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. My love of WoW started pretty slowly. Off and on since probably vanilla, I'd sign up for the 10-day free trials. Though the game was interesting and enjoyable, I never cared enough to actually buy a subscription -- that is, until I started my lovely undead female rogue. There was just something about sneaking through the shadows, baiting my targets and emerging in a flurry of blows to dispatch my adversaries before retreating to the darkness from whence I came. I loved it. I couldn't get enough of it. So I bought the expansions and signed up. I had become a full-fledged WoW player. I dinged 80, joined a guild, raided Naxx and Ulduar and even became one of our best DPSers. Life as a rogue was good. At some point, I decided it would be fun to start leveling a shaman. I'm not going to lie; it was awful at first. Going from the quick-moving, quick-killing, quick-thinking rogue to a troll who just dopily stood there slowly casting Lightning Bolt as his enemy wailed on him was not even almost fun. But everything changed once I got a few BoAs for him and started leveling as enhancement. I had found a new love. Everything about enhancement was just so much better than being a rogue: pretty colors, flashy spells and much more variety in rotation -- not to mention the ability to heal if I ever get bored of beating the snot out of every monster I see. Now, my shaman is geared in four pieces of tier 10 with all the top-end enchants and gems, and even my resto off spec isn't far behind. Meanwhile, my rogue languishes at the top of character select screen in welfare epics, never having seen the inside of ToC or ICC -- and she probably never will. And honestly, I don't know if I feel guilty for abandoning her. Has anyone else had this experience? Have you ever leveled an alt for fun, only to discover it was more enjoyable than your main? Has leveling an alt ever given you a newfound love and appreciation for the game?
The Daily Grind: Should multiple accounts be policed?
Pirates of the Burning Sea recently amended its in-game rules to reflect an official stance on the practice of "alt-flipping," a tactic used by players with multiple accounts to manipulate the game's Conquest system. In a nutshell, Flying Lab devs have labeled certain uses of the tactic as griefing and stated that it will be policed as such (including possible bans). Interestingly, Flying Lab also goes out of its way to state it has no problem with multiple accounts per se, saying that in most cases multiple accounts are a perfectly acceptable gameplay tactic. This seemingly opens up a can of worms over what is considered legitimate and/or acceptable gameplay, particularly when the game's design intentionally features a "cutthroat, competitive [...] system that drives players to find any edge they can get over the opposing forces." Dual-boxing is nothing new in MMORPGs of course, and games like EVE Online even advertise it and run discount promotions for alt accounts. What about you, Massively readers? Do you dual-box, and more importantly, do you feel alt accounts should be policed? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of our readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's The Daily Grind!
Guest Post: Confessions of a noob rogue
This article has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Back in the dark ages of history, in vanilla World of Warcraft, I rolled a rogue. This was before battlegrounds, when dishonorable kills were a fear and world PvP was a rush, when men were men, mages sheeped for fun and warlocks ... well, let's just say that warlocks have a reputation that they've earned. World of Warcraft was my first MMO, after coming from persistent worlds hosted by Neverwinter Nights. I played a rogue there, too, steeped in Dungeons & Dragons rules and the like. World of Warcraft was both nothing like and exactly like my roguish experiences before -- a sneak who dealt devastating damage with small weapons, no matter whether the target was gnome or giant, fearsome orc or fiery dragon. In the midst of a Westfall investigation (tasked by SI:7 to infiltrate a tower), I noticed a few growing complaints in guild chat: "We have seven rogues in the guild but only one priest; would someone please roll a priest?" I told them I would, sent my rogue back to the character select screen, and rolled the character that would take up the entirety of my vanilla experience.
Guest Post: Confessions of a noob hunter
This article has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider. As a prot paladin, I've learned my place in the world (of Warcraft). True, that place is usually face-deep in the crotch of some monster, but that's beside the point. When I'm tanking, I know I'm here to do one thing and one thing only: to piss off bad guys so they'll leave you alone. Strapping on my shield and a mace keeps me in a Zen-like comfort zone where everything seems to just come naturally. Like many others, though, I've found myself looking for more to do as Cataclysm lurches ever closer. After all, there are only so many things to get beaten by each week. This has left me joining a growing percentage of players in a less-than-exclusive club: "Hi, I'm Brian, and I'm an altoholic." Most classes I've tried have felt fairly natural. I've leveled my DK and priest with no problems and have really been enjoying the early levels of both my mage and warlock (which, as you'd imagine, leaves me with quite an internal struggle). There's one class, however, that has managed to bewilder me at every turn. A class that, for whatever reason, seems so counterintuitive to me that It's taken me over a year and a half to hit level 27. My friends, I am -- cue dramatic music -- the worst hunter in the world.
Lost Pages of Taborea: Low-level PvP alt
I've been spending some time making a home for myself on Artemis. Yes, I've moved away from the PvP server, and I haven't regretted it. I've never really participated in open PvP, so it's not really a surprise. I've said before that I only started on a PvP server to have that extra option available to me and to have an added dose of excitement. Well, your unofficial ambassador to Taborea may be changing his tune. After I made the switch to PvE, I wasn't sure what to do. I already had a high-level character. I didn't feel ready to put my main to rest. It's been my dedicated character for over a year, and it does give me the advantage of accessing high-level content. With the limited time I have for Runes of Magic right now, let alone other MMOs, I was tentative about making an alt. I took the plunge, made an alt, and haven't looked back. Oddly enough -- or maybe not -- I'm enjoying PvP more on a PvE server. I've found that I like alt life, and it has me thinking creatively about what to do with each character. I've spoken about PvP culture; I've mentioned my idea for improving battlefields; and last week I spoke about siege badges that can help you in battlefields. This week, I want to cover building a low-level PvP alt. There's a lot to be done in prepping a low-level PvP alt, so let's get busy.
Guest Post: Confessions of a noob death knight
This article has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. Here's the thing: I've been a mage from day one, when I first started playing WoW a good two years ago. I always liked being a mage in Dungeons & Dragons, so I figured I would like being a mage in WoW. I was right. In fact, I love being a glass cannon. (OK, I don't love the glass part so much, but I really dig the cannon part.) I'm not a great mage; age and fingers that were broken by judo or baseball have slowed me some. Still, I am a good mage. I hold my own, doing anywhere from 7-12k DPS depending on buffs and what I am watching on TV. The thing is, as much as I love being a mage, making my own food and teleporting all around, I hate taking forever to queue. I also started thinking, "Hey, there must be more to simulated life than just standing back and blasting things." I decided to try a new character. Not having the patience to level a character from 1 to 80, I figured I'd go the death knight route. After all, DKs are mage-killers; they are the anti-mage. So after two years of being nothing but a ranged DPS machine, I rolled a DK.
Call for Submissions: Confessions of a noob
We're having a great time sharing the voices of our readers on the site -- and readers seem to be thoroughly enjoying both writing and reading our regular guest posts, from articles such as Long exposure WoWtography and Northrend truckers: A tale of WoW OTR to the countless Breakfast Topics that help us blink our way through bleary mornings over a cup of steaming coffee. This week, we're continuing the tradition with a new call for submissions about alts. Have you recently rerolled on a new-to-you class? Show us the other side of life as part of our "Confessions of a Noob: Class X" series, written especially by experienced players who are leveling a new class for the first time. Show us what you're learning about your new class. What has surprised you? Is there something about your class that you're having one dickens of a time remembering? How is your role in groups different? Have you gained a new appreciation for your new class -- or others? We're not looking for narratives telling the story of what your character did while leveling. Instead, we're looking for opinions, comparisons and observations about the process of playing a class that may be very different from the one you're most used to. What are the facets of your new class that make playing this new character a compelling, enjoyable experience? Your title should clearly reflect the class of your new alt (for example, "Confessions of a Noob: Paladin"). Don't forget to provide perspective by explaining what class and spec you're most used to playing.
Breakfast Topic: The alt before the storm
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. Everyone has at least one alt in WoW. It may be the bank alt you send all your items to while questing away from a capital city. Some of us have one of every class, or multiple alts on different realms to play with friends on a different server. Cataclysm is going to change the way we play our alts forever, though. We will have goblins named with every variation of "Gringotts" used as bank alts. People will name their worgen after Twilight characters or make names that mocks Twilight. But the two new races aren't the only things happening come Cataclysm. We are getting new race/class combos. Roleplayers will have new characters they can roleplay or add the new class/race combo into their character's story. While Blizzard has yet to give us gnome paladins, our little friends can now be healers, which gives us the chance to take 24 of our gnome friends and knock on Deathwing's front door.
Breakfast Topic: When a character just doesn't click
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. Personally, I'm sick of playing my warlock. She's geared to the teeth and, though I'm not the best warlock in the world by any means, she's been known to put up some very competitive numbers. However, it's been a long and frustrating road with her. After switching from my DK to my 'lock at the end of Ulduar for guild needs, it's been a constant struggle for me trying to figure out why she wasn't quite reaching the damage potential I was expecting. I tried respeccing, regemming, changing tactics and techniques, researching and talking to other warlocks, but I never quite hit that mark I was looking for. Even when I thought things we're finally starting to come together and I was starting to give the arcane mages a run for their money, a new warlock joined the guild who regularly humiliates me on the meters. For some reason, I just never found my stride on that character. Now the guild's need for ranged DPS is long past and I'm looking for any excuse I can find to get away from something that has felt like nine months of trying to jam a square peg into a round hole. Just try convincing your raid leader to let you bring your undergeared melee DPSer or healer to 25-man Lich King instead of your 6K GS warlock, though. I'm currently grinding through Outland like crazy in a hope to fill that holy-paladin-shaped hole we currently have in 10-mans before we recruit one. It's a long 19 levels, though, and I probably have two weeks at best to hit level cap and get geared out through heroics. With a full-time job and two kids, that's a fairly tight deadline.
