After reading this post about Naïve leveling her second character I started thinking about the amount of alts I have, and how some people only ever really focus on one character, while others have at least one of every class in the game. I think it has to do with me enjoying to experience and learning about a class as much, if not more, as experiencing the content. I guess you would have to since the content doesn’t change, just how you interact with it. But, if you look at it from a different angle it also makes the content feel more varied.
Attempted to afk-auto walk fly into Dalaran. I missed. Badly.
When it comes leveling I think peoples mindset ruin a lot of the experience. If your only goal when rolling a new character is to get to 80 as fast as possible you will get bored with, most likely very fast. There are several things I do to liven things up a little. If you should happen to be in Ghostlands and run into my Warlock you would probably see bald undead fella running around with 4-5 mobs on him, tagging new ones as the rest go down. Challenge yourself, experiment and find your limits while leveling and you will have a lot more fun, and probably come out as a better player once you hit 80. Another tip I recommend is to set short term goals. The thought of a new cool spell, a certain item, talent or mount can be enough to get you through those last few, dull experience points. The very last tip will probably rub the one-character-players the wrong way. After getting several alts up in levels and not being in a rush to get them too 80 (my goal at the moment is to have at least my warrior, shaman and possibly priest to 80 by the the time the next expansion hits), I start rested leveling. As the name implies, rested leveling is to level whichever character currently has the most rested. You’ll end up having spent less time leveling each character and makes the game feel varied and somewhat fresh. For added WoW-freshness (I’m starting too sound like a chewing gum commercial…) you can always try out different speccs. My shaman has already tried all three speccs and is only lvl 54.
On the whole there is not really a class I dislike. I do generally enjoy ranged classes more than melee ones, but after playing almost every class and specc in the game I can’t really say there is one I hate. You are probably /facepalm-ing by now, and I don’t blame you. There is just something about exploring every nook and cranny of a class, perfecting the play style etc. that I love. I guess you could sort of compare it to spending numerous amounts of time and gold too boost your DPS just by a few hundred (Yes, I’ve started to really enjoy balance specc. I feel ashamed…), just that it’s a continual process since you are always getting new abilities.
I eventually dropped into the sea.
Since I’ve given tips to those who are having a hard time leveling characters I should probably share some with my fellow altaholics. One thing I hear a lot from people who love alt leveling is that they are constantly out of money (you know who you are). Since my priest’s current bank balance is 500 gold plus (all made by my self), I’m having a hard time figuring out how people are broke. Something I do on all alts is to have at least one gathering profession, and make as much use of it as possible. There are always some lazy, rich, level 80 who can’t be bothered to level his professions, and is more than happy to spend ridiculous amounts of gold on low level stuff. Another mistake I see a lot of people do is that they claim that “greys aren’t worth anything”. They couldn’t be more wrong. Invest in some big bags and loot everything, and you’ll see the money rolling in after quest session. My third and final tip concers gear. No, you don’t need that 100 gold lvl22 rare axe on the auction house. You’re likely to replace it very soon and it would be a waste of money. Generally you’ll do just fine with gear you get from quests and instances.
I attempted to figure out why I enjoy leveling alts as much as I do with this post, but I don’t think I’ve gotten any closer to an answer. I guess it’s the combination of learning, exploring and figuring out things, combined with the mindless relaxation that comes with questing while listening to a podcast, music or watching TV in the background.
