We've talked about playing with partners in the past. Many people reported that they enjoy sharing World of Warcraft with their significant others. I have to admit, time spent with my Mom on WoW has been a wonderful experience. I've been watching her explore classes and quests and I must say I am very proud of her. While sometimes solo play is the order of the day, it's great to have good company in the game.

Just for fun I recently rolled new alts with my boyfriend. I wanted to play a Warlock and he wanted to play something complimentary, so he chose Priest. It's really awesome to be able to keep going non-stop with no mana breaks. I Life Tap, he Renews. With his Power Word Shield, we take very little damage. The two characters provide excellent synergy and seem to be the perfect pair. We've rolled together in the past, but usually we choose our characters based on what we want to play at any given time.

When you roll with a partner do you choose classes that are complimentary?

Playing with friends is probably the most fun you can have in WoW-- while it's fun to solo, a good group is where it's at, and there's no better group then playing with people you know. Unfortunately, because even people who have a lot in common hardly ever level at the same rate, level differences grow quicker than expected, and pretty soon it's just not possible to play with friends without someone wasting their time.

Until friendship shows up anyway. Lev over at WoW Ladies writes about an interesting duo she made with another player-- after joining up for a quest in Winterspring, they've rolled 10 levels together, and even played on their alts. And the weirdest thing is, she's 22 and he's 14, so you don't think they'd have a lot in common, but she says they play together great (she has a younger brother, and she compares their relationship to that). In the comments, someone about her age confesses to being grouping buddies with an 80-year-old person, and someone else tells a story of leveling up 40 levels with someone they met in game.

Makes me kind of jealous, actually-- I've played a long time with the same people at 60 (and now 70), but leveling, I was never at the right rhythm to really grow with anyone else, either in common or otherwise. On my very first character, I played a night elf hunter (duh), and got some help from a night elf priest on how to start playing the game. I still have that guy on my friends list on that realm, and still see him play online, but he outstripped me in terms of levels a long, long time ago (he's 70, and my hunter is stuck in the late 50s). Now, it'd be nice to somehow technically be always able to play with friends (you could have instances that averaged your levels, or just play with premades, which is what I think Guild Wars does), but I think that's just one of the drawbacks of having a leveling system-- unless you only play those characters together, someone will always fall ahead or drop back.

I hear about a lot of drama, usually caused by excessive WoW playing -- and a huge amount of the drama involves couples. Whether you both play, or the gaming is one-sided, it seems rare that trouble doesn't occur in a relationship. Of course, it's not just WoW that can cause rifts like this, but the popularity of the game means that drama seems more widespread than with other titles.

If you're part of a WoW couple, how do you manage your time together and time online? How have you persuaded your non-gaming other half that staring mindlessly at a computer seven days a week is a healthy hobby?

Personally, my partner doesn't play games, and I feel very isolated from him when I play. Especially when I turn down dinner because I'm scheduled for a raid, and numbers are tight. As I only raid a couple of times a week, this isn't a big problem, but I can imagine the love lives of those in hardcore guilds may be less fortunate.

Following on from the love letter we saw yesterday, we return to the topic of couples playing together. Do you play WoW with your spouse or partner?

I know of many couples who play together, varying from those with separate mains who share a single computer to those who sit side-by-side and take part in the same raiding guild. I also know of relationships where only one half plays WoW, though it hasn't caused any break-ups as far as I know. I think either can have its happy moments.

My other half refuses to play games at all, but we share so much else that having a few different hobbies makes life more interesting. He listens patiently to my babble about dinging and a good night's loot, which is about all I could ask for. Does your partner put up with WoW with gritted teeth, or with a smile?