AA Anyone?
Hello, my name is Ailis and I am an altoholic. I have a grand total of eight toons at various levels that I play sporadically when I’m not raiding on my shaman. I even have and use quite often the Altoholic addon. I have one of every class except Warrior and Hunter and will probably keep it that way.
I love my alts and they love me.
In all seriousness, I’ve been doing a lot of alt-leveling lately. My guild is in farm status on most of the Wrath content until Ulduar comes out so I’m enjoying the change of pace that comes with being squishy and vulnerable again as I traipse my way through lowbie zones.
Leveling this time around is a completely different experience than when I leveled Ailis. When I started Ailis, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I trotted from quest to quest, sometimes reading the text, sometimes not, putting my talent points wherever looked okay at that magical moment in time and wearing just about any quest reward that dropped that was leather or mail. I had no concept of what the end-game was like, where my character was headed or where I should even go next.
Now, as I pull up my alts one by one and level them as their rested accumulates, I have a firmer grasp on the overall picture. I have a goal in mind for each of them and, thusly, have a general path laid out for them. I want my Druid to go Boom/Heal. I want my Paladin to be a Tank/Ret (maybe). I want to get my Warlock leveled quickly since raiding locks are in short supply. And so on…
There are a few things, however, that I’m discovering as I level through the Old World content again.
- I hate Duskwood. I don’t know what it is about that zone but I hate it. The quest lines are rather boring and badly placed – you have to run/ride back and forth across the entirety of the zone in order to turn in quests, do the quest, and pick up the new one in the chain. And then there’s the random Emerald Dream portal smack dab in the middle of the zone you have to constantly go around. What is up with that?
- I know very little about Kalimdor. Maybe that comes from never leveling a Horde toon but I find myself forgetting about Kalimdor when I’m looking for the next zone to level in. But that has opened up nice options for me and new zones to level in. For instance, I leveled my Warlock in Dustwallow and Desolace and actually had a lot of fun since it was a “new experience” for me.
- Ailis loves to fish. The rest of my toons, not so much. I can fish on Ailis all day long and not get bored. Maybe it’s because I’m fishing up fish that can actually be used towards some purpose. But, for some reason, I feel like throwing a fit when I have to fish on any of my alts. It’s boring, time-consuming, and….boring.
- I actually like Stranglethorn Vale. I know, a lot of people avoid it because of the long chains and the same repetition and the fact that it spans so many levels so you end up stuck there for a long time. But I actually don’t mind it. It’s brightly lit and almost “cheery” and full of herbs and animals to skin and lots of water. There’s a variety of things to kill and lots of different quests to pick from and, of course, the infamous Nesingwary quest line.
- The Missing Diplomat is my favorite quest line. No matter what level my character is, the second she gets that first quest, everything else is dropped until it’s done. Yes, it’s supposed to span many levels but I don’t care. Give me the epic story of the King’s kidnapping! Give me the ring that makes no sense as a reward from a mage! I love it all. It’s an epic quest line and, really, the only of its kind in the game. I sincerely wish there were more but, at the same time, rather enjoy the unique nature of this particular quest line.
- I’m a little more frugal. When I leveled Ailis, I had no idea about the costs of riding, flying, repairs, consumables, etc. Now that I have a better idea of the “cost of the end-game” so to speak, I’m hesitant to spend any money on my alts past basic consumables and repairs. Most of them I made gatherers so they can make the most amount of money possible. I watch the AH closely so I can maximize my profits on gathering mats and, in some cases, low level crafted items.
What about you and your alts? Anything you’re doing differently or have discovered since leveling your main? Anything you avoid like the plague or actually run to like a kid in a candy store?
You know how devoted I am to my pally
My DK is pretty boring to play, in all honesty, and playing a priest is just torture. What is this ‘casting’ crap?! You mean I can’t just run in and hit stuff?
Yeah I “technically” have a priest…. I’m all for casting if it’s more like Warlock or Mage casting where I do uber DPS and they’re dead before they take 2 steps towards me. But I’m very much with you on the running around and hitting stuff. It’s why you will NEVER see Ailis roll elemental…
I have ten toons, all Horde and all on Gul’dan (i don’t know anybody on any other realms). My alts range in level from level 2 Troll Rogue (i did level a BELF for my wife to 20, I just don’t care for the rogue), to my level 40 Lock (I won’t count my 67 DK since technically she is only 12 levels in). Most are in the 30-40 range.
I love leveling them when I am not raiding, raiding is pretty much the only thing I use my main for any more, it is sad, but my attention span has not allowed me to finish questing in StormPeaks and Icecrown.
Things I have learned…
1. Don’t wait until 80 to level your profs (takes much more money to do it that way).
2. Don’t attempt to level engineering, one toon is enough.
3. Squishys are calle squishy for a reason (I have learned this one OVER AND OVER AND OVER etc…)
4. The game begins in Outlands.
5. It much easier to pick and choose gear for toons when you know you will be replacing it in just a couple levels at most. It is also nice to know if you stack int on a lock and not stam in the early levels, you can still balance it out without spending money, you may just have to wait a little (at one point my lock had 14-1500mana and 900 HP)(I have since fixed that
.
6. Profs are actually fun to level as long as they are not engineering.
7. It is nice leveling alts when you are in a raiding guild. I level when not raiding, if I am not raiding none of my buddies are. If they are not raiding…Free run throughs!!!
8. And one from not playing my alts…The Baron’s Mount will never drop.
Oh, and I was going to mention, I did use Altoholic. It is a great add-on, I use Carbonite now, and since it is free, all the great payed features are…well…free. The UI is a little different, but not too bad. I stopped with altoholic since I am trying to stop duplicating functionality in addons. Yes I was the guy that had macaroon and bartender, baggins and arkinventory installed.
You’re a self proclaimed altoholic for having one of each class except two? I wonder what in the world that makes me then – 36 alts of every class in the game after deleting all-in-all about 30 others. My wife hit her 50 toons/account limit last week so she just went through a delete phase as well.
I find leveling alts to be one of the main sources of enjoyment in this game. I have an 80 mage that has ran instances and raids for end game and I just don’t care for it much at all. So, I stick to my various alts.
To follow the example above, here’s my list of things learned:
1. Never wait beyond level 10 to start your professions. Even if you don’t know what you want, at least grab something and use it. If you change later on down the road, then so be it. Don’t be afraid to change, but putting it off until later is full of fail. I have switched professions (all maxed at 450) on my 80 4 times, and it doesn’t bother me at all.
1b. Get used to leveling your fishing skill. Keep it in line with your other professions and just work on 25 points or so at once. Get it up a bit, then stop and return to questing. If you’re one to eat at your desk, that’s an excellent time to fish. Enjoy your own meal, and keep a hand busy while you’re doing it with something productive.
2. Engineering is for twinks or people with lots of gold to throw away. Blacksmithing is strictly for those who love to farm mining nodes for 16 hours a day. Avoid both of them, imo. Unless you’re a twink, then Engineering is a must.
3. Always push your limits and challenge yourself constantly.
4. The game starts to die in Outlands. It does freshen itself back up in Nagrand though. The game completely dies in Northrend. Story there is great, rewards are awesome, and levels of boredom reach an all time epic high. Northrend sucks, no exceptions.
5. If you’ve already got a high level toon, don’t be afraid to spend gold on good gear for alts even if you know you’re only going to wear it for 1-2 levels. My main on my new server is an enchanter, and I throw enchants on all of my alts’ gear whenever they get an upgrade. Of course my level 10 rogue needs to dual wield Fiery Swords.
6. All professions are fun to level. Engineering is actually one of the most fun to level since so many of the items are fun or interesting. It takes a freakton of mats of course, but who cares as long as it’s fun. Mining is probably the most boring if you ask me, even after recent patches.
7. Leveling alts is always fun, especially when you try to beat your previous alt’s performance. Mage soloed that at 25? Lets see if the Paladin can do it at 18 then.
8. And no, the Baron’s mount will never drop. Ever. For any reason. Give it up. 213 runs and counting….