It's an exciting time to be playing WoW, what with the WoTLK alpha information leaking out (Thanks for risking your eternal soul to break the NDA, anonymous screenshotter!) and 2.4 being pretty much a roaring success. By now, I'm sure everyone has settled in and is making plans for WoTLK, figuring out which zone they'll go to first, maybe setting aside a bit of money from all those dailies to powerlevel a trade skill.

So, I was thinking the other day of one more thing I was planning: switching mains. We've discussed the art of switching mains a bit before, but there's always a lot of hassles to it: there's the concern that you'll fall behind your friends, the concern that your gear won't be good enough, the concern that you'll have to grind your reputation up for certain keys and essential reputation rewards all over again.

A new expansion is just the ticket for getting rid of most of those problems. As long as your character is max level at the start of WoTLK, they can catch up on gear pretty quickly just from level 71 greens and quest rewards. Everyone's starting out grinding all the new WoTLK reputation grinds, so no worries that you're behind on those either. Despite being on a relatively "new" character, you'll be able to join your friends in Utgarde Keep right away.

So the reasons not to switch mains mostly manage to resolve themselves when a new expansion hits, and the question becomes, do you want to switch mains, and why?

Just this weekend I did something I never expected I would do: Spent 5,000 gold on epic flight. On my main? Oh no, I've had that for months now. I spent 5,000 gold on my alt. My alt! Good gravy!

Honestly, I don't really regret it, it's mostly the shock of spending that much gold on an alt that gets me. I'll definitely be putting the epic gryphon to good use, I play my alt quite a bit. Like I mentioned in another recent post, my alt is almost my second main. Pretty much full epics, has seen the insides of Zul'Aman, Tempest Keep and Serpentshrine, capped Blacksmithing, all of that. The fact remains, though, it is an alt. 5,000 gold on an alt!

I can't be the only one crazy enough to do this, am I? Surely there are others with alts that have epic flight? Most of my friends poked fun at me about it, but besides waiting for Wrath of the Lich King, what am I going to use that money for anyway? I suppose I could feast on Stormwind Brie instead but I have a feeling an epic gryphon is a little more useful, no?

It seems like a strange question, but think about it. Is your main your favorite character?

For me, the answer would be a No. This isn't to say I dislike my main, I simply enjoy my alt more. My gut told me originally that I only thought that way because my alt was something I didn't get to play as much, something new and exciting. As the months went on, though, I came to realize that I simply like my alt better.

My main is a DPS class, my alt is a tanking hybrid. As most of my friends could tell you, tanking is in my blood. In WoW and other games, tanking is kind of my 'thing.' Its been suggested to me a number of times that I just change mains, making my paladin my primary character. I like the idea and considered it, but there are other things that have kept me from doing it. My guild needs a shadow priest for the raid far more than another paladin, and at this point in the game, there's no closing the gear gap to catch up and continue raiding with a new main.

There are other reasons, too. Emotional attachment is a big one. Its a bit shameful to admit you care for a character that much, but after three years of Warcraft, the thought of shunting my main to the background is a bit painful. Maybe that's just the roleplayer in me, but you never know! I'm sure there are PvPers that feel the same somewhere out there, right?

Am I the only one in this boat, or are any of you guys in the same position? Is your favorite character secondary to your main for one reason or another?

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.

Ever since I got a computer sophisticated enough to play WoW and created my own account, my main has been my troll rogue. Sure, occasionally I'd experiment with an undead warlock or night elf hunter, but my heart and gear belonged to the rogue.

But recently, I've found myself just not satisfied with my rogue -- and just not getting raid spots with her. Maybe it's the fact that my weapons suck. Maybe it's my low hit rating. Maybe it's because we have a ton of rogues. Maybe it's because a lot of fights are melee-unfriendly. Maybe it's because I wrote an article mocking the guild's second-in-command. Actually, it's probably the last one.

Instead, I've been leveling my paladin. Now that I'm in Outlands, have finally found a pleasant profession (jewelcrafting), and am getting closer and closer to that magic number of 70, I'm considering asking the officers if I can make my paladin my main and raid on her. Not only would it be better for the guild (we only have a couple of paladins) and better for me (woo hoo, an actual raid slot), I'd like to experience the healing side of the game. I've been DPSing forever and am tired of it.

I'd say about half the players I know have a different main character now than the one they started with. Have you ever switched your main? What did you start out with, and what have you ended up with? Were you happy with the change?

Kraylessa on WoW Ladies has a problem I've been thinking about lately as well. When I first started playing WoW, I rolled an NE hunter (yes, I know it's a cliche noob class and race but I was young and impressionable at the time), and while I was able to get her all the way up to 60, I've since abandoned her for another server (because a friend made me move) and for the Horde (because, come on, Horde rocks). I've since rolled up a shaman, a rogue, and a mage, but even after playing and enjoying those, I still long to play a hunter again-- the combination of crazy ranged DPS, traps, and a powerful pet is like a siren song to me.

So I'm faced with the possibility of rerolling the same class I already played, and, like Kraylessa, this is not really something I want to do (at least I wasn't made to reroll because of an accidental character deletion). True, it has been a while since I've played the hunter, so things have changed a lot (not to mention that I've learned a lot as a player). And I'd likely try another spec-- my hunter was a marksman, so I'd probably try a BM (Kray doesn't want to level her priest shadow, but I have no idea why-- shadow priests are hella fun, and if she missed out by leveling with holy the first time around, she owes it to herself to level a face melter).

But it still seems like it would be boring, like a suspense movie I've already seen. Have you ever rerolled the exact same class? Was it definitely worth it or completely a pain? I'd really enjoy having a brand new Blood Elf hunter as a main, but I just don't know if I'd enjoy grinding all the way to 70 again.

Last November, Blizzard finally made public a page full of stats for what's happening to all of us in game-- the most dangerous creatures, most gathered items, most completed quests, and so on. Ever since, I always find it fascinating to stop over there and see what's new, but today I realized that I haven't really seen it since Burning Crusade dropped. So let's take a look at what players are up to since the Dark Portal opened, shall we?

Netherweave has jumped right to the top of listings in the Auction House, while Arcade Dust makes a nice showing at 7th. Of the Primal elements, only Earth is on the first page (most likely because it's the most farmed from all those Earth Elementals in Nagrand). It also comes from Mining, so it makes a good showing on the Most Gathered Items as well-- Copper leads that category by double everything else, though, most likely because of all the jewelcrafting going on. In fact, while Soul Shards are still number one, Copper Bars are the second Most Created Items in the realms, too. Interesting that you have to go to page 3 before you see a jewelcrafting item, though-- two sets of battleground tokens (Arathi Basin and WSG) are being made more than any Delicate Copper Wire.

Warlock pets remain on the top of the Most Dangerous NPC list, but King Bangalash and those nasty Defias Pillagers have company-- apparently people are back playing their mains, and raid bosses like Shade of Aran, Gruul, Nightbane, and the Maiden are killing players by the thousands. The Most Complete Quests screen has interesting info, too-- almost all of the quests are newbie Blood Elf quests (there is at least one Draenei newbie quest mixed in, but BEs have the clear majority). You'd think people would be completing quests in Outland to level, but three months after BC release, maybe that's not the case anymore. According to the stats, it seems like the large majority of players has gotten their mains to 70, are raiding Kara and Gruul, and leveling up their Blood Elf mains.