Jason over at Wife Aggro sends word about a good piece he posted on a subject I don't remember ever covering: how to switch over to a new main. It's an interesting thing to cover, and a situation that I bet happens more often than people think. But as Jason says, especially since the Burning Crusade was released, switching an alt up to your main is quite a task. In vanilla WoW, things weren't too bad-- you had to run BRD once or twice, run UBRS once, and you were pretty much set for endgame. But in Burning Crusade, there are lots and lots of keys and factions and questlines and decisions to deal with, so switching is a much tougher thing to do.Not to mention how your guild takes it-- dealing with grinding faction rep again is one thing, but "giving up" a character that your guild has helped equip (sometimes with epic gear) causes all kinds of drama by itself. And while it's probably easier if you're switching to benefit the guild, Jason is actually doing the opposite-- he's leaving his Holy Paladin for a raiding Rogue.
Of course, this is still just a game, and you should play what you want to play. If that Warrior you've got just isn't doing it for you lately, you have every right to make that Druid you've really been enjoying your main. But you've also got to remember that this isn't a solo game-- especially in guild situations, switching from an alt to a main can have a huge effect. But if you handle it as Jason seems to be doing, by carefully considering all the consequences of such a switch, both you and your guild will be better off in the end.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-12-2007 @ 4:07PM
Erica Olson said...
You're assuming that everyone is in a raiding guild and must adhere to what the guild wants and kow-tow to them. Of course, one is already re-speccing and gearing to keep the GM and raid leaders happy anyway.
Many of us are semi-casual players who have no trouble switching mains.
As you say, it's a game. And I pay for my own subscription so I can play any class that I want when I want.
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9-12-2007 @ 4:18PM
Horixon said...
I am currently doing exactly this. I have a hunter that I have played for over a year, and I am just tired of him. So I recently leveled my rogue to 70 and am in the process of getting heroic keys and decent raiding gear.
The raiding guild my hunter is in won't let alts in at the moment, even if you are calling them your new main. So I left my hunter in that guild and joined another raiding guild (that just so happens to be further in progression) with my rogue. Should be running Karahzan tomorrow. Unfortunately my hunter won't see much action, but I left him in that guild mainly to keep in contact with all of the friends I made there.
It is a bit of a task to redo all of the factions/keys/gear but I am having a whole lot more fun. And that is the whole point. As for this being a game where you do need to be a team player, I got lucky. My new guild was short on rogues :)
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9-12-2007 @ 4:19PM
Sylythn said...
Or that you're in a small casual raiding guild that can't afford the loss of a particular class member or risk setting back the entire group...heaven forbid there be middle ground between kow-towing to demands and doing whatever you want regardless of the results.
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9-12-2007 @ 4:20PM
Freehugz said...
I think he assumes most readers are competent enough to realize that parts of the article are geared towards raiders and others aren't.
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9-12-2007 @ 4:24PM
Attilla-on-maw said...
Meh...as a person who pretty much put my 70 shaman on the back burner in order to bring my paladin up to 70 and then some, I have had full guild support.
My shaman is resto, and my pally is currently retribution (insert ret pally comment here) simply so I can grind faction rep and cash.
My guild sees the potential for both characters. I can respec holy at any time on the paladin for instance runs/raids, or even prot (yes, proven fact...pally's CAN tank). Should we need a group healer, the shaman goes...single target healing, or tanking, the pally goes.
Some guilds are too short sighted to realize tha having veratility can make the difference between being able to do a raid, and not being able to do a raid.
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9-12-2007 @ 4:30PM
Epiny said...
Most people in my guild have two level 70's. One you prefer to play and the other is in case the guild needs it. I think the 3rd group of level 70 twinks should be hitting our raids in 2 more months.
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9-12-2007 @ 4:34PM
Gill said...
It is more of a task now. 10 more levels aside, the keying alone for instances will take up the bulk of your time.
I'm actually in the process of switching over from my hunter to a new Druid. Most of the time I just farm and PvP with my hunter anyway but with the druid, I found lots of versatility with it that I can help a bunch of groups. But that said, I'm not even keyed with any of the TBC or pre-TBC stuff on my hunter, and I found levelling to 70 with that toon already a big task (coupled with the fact that I was guildless up until 70).
Hopefully I can get there in a less time frame as my druid. I wish the new accelerated 10 to 60 levelling would come sooner.
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9-12-2007 @ 4:47PM
Skrilla said...
Level to 68-70, wait for WotLK, thats what I'm doing anyway. You need an insane amount of time on your hands if you want 2-3 level 70s in raid gear (either that or your guild is good/nice enough to carry your crappy geared 70 through raids).
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9-12-2007 @ 5:08PM
Kyane said...
I just hit 70 on my shaman ( after venturing into TK & SSC with a feral druid ). I'm already keyed for Kara, and have the rep for 2 heroic keys. It's not overly difficult to get the faction, especially with rep coming from instance runs.
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9-12-2007 @ 5:34PM
Karl said...
Odd that I recall back in "Vanilla" WoW this question was posted a few times. People fought back and forth over this issue, some saying Raiding Guilds should demand they not change; others saying the toon is their $15/month toy and should be able to do as they wish without hassle.
Honestly, it is far easier today to gear up for Kara than it was to gear up for MC. Fire Resistance anyone? My opinion was back then and certain is today, that the people playing the toon should make the choice and their guild can either support that person or the person can leave. There are plenty of guilds out there that can use another toon. Now with 10-man and 25-man Raids vs. 40-man, guilds can quickly collect geared players to work with.
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9-13-2007 @ 8:25AM
Vestras said...
I am in the process of transitioning to a new main, at least partly.
My guild lost several key members to RL issues, so we are trying to cover the spread. For me, that means getting my old mage alt up to the level to go hit Grull and the Eye as soon as I can. The grinds going slow, but I am pugging a lot more instances this time around so my gear is better than my druid was at this level, and it's less a fight for getting the gear I need.
The real hard part is getting keyed for Heroics, which I have not even finished on my main yet. Some of these rep grinds stop way too soon.
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9-13-2007 @ 4:31PM
Dyvina said...
I have 5 mains...what's the big deal?
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