I’m pretty good at beating myself up over having alts. I’ve said before that I’ve played WoW off and on since release. My highest character is now level 71, my priest. Instead of working on getting her to 80, I’ve been working on my army of alts. Each of them crafts, and if it were not for the fact that you’re required to have adventure levels in order to raise your crafting, I’d probably not concentrate on them quite so much.
The plus side is that by the time I have one level 80 character, I’ll probably have 4-5 others close. My death knight inched her way to level 62 yesterday, and also managed to get her herbalism into the final stretch, and her alchemy is now capped at 375. I’ll need 65 before I can train for Grand Master, and I’ll need 68 if I want to choose a specialization (which I do).
My shaman is level 54, and yesterday I managed to cap her inscription as well as her jewel crafting. I have quite a stretch before she hits level 65 and can learn grand master, but it’s nice to be there. The hunter is getting close to her current cap, but is only level 50, and hasn’t started on Outland crafting yet. She’s also a skinner, which comes in handy. Unlike the shaman who isn’t a miner nor is she a herbalist, gathering her components can be difficult.
My warlock may only be level 15, but she’s also a crafter, engineering and mining. Long way to go on that one and I don’t bother thinking about it quite yet.
I’ve come to the conclusion that this is just the type of gamer I am. Some people are lucky enough to be able to concentrate on just one character – but me, I haven’t done that since EQ1. It’s not something I should get angry at myself about, after all I do really NEED to make a run for 80? What’s wrong with taking my time as I have been and playing what I feel like playing at the moment. Nothing, really. I’ll get there eventually.
Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!
I too tend to find myself floating between my different EQ2 characters. I’ve got my 83 Ranger/64 Woodworker (my first toon), 47 Warden/60 Carpenter, 52 Bruiser/41 Alchemist, and (my current favorite, albeit more for roleplay reasons) 46 Swashbuckler/40 Jeweler. While I’d like to get my Ranger up to 90 to get that XP bonus, I’m having a lot of fun switching between toons, especially my Swashy and Warden.
In all of my games EXCEPT EQ2, I tend to have a single main (for that game) and stick to it. One of my WoW alts is unofficially a main at the moment because my actual main is running out of stuff to do, but I generally tend to focus on one character at a time.
I don’t know what it is specifically about EQ2 that makes me more apt to ignore the fact that my neglected main is still parked at level 84. Maybe the alts are more compelling because of EQ2 has much more variety (at least at the low levels) with a wider range of races and subclasses. Maybe there’s something about the way the game is set up that encourages me to have stories about many of my characters (I have very few backstories for characters in other games). Maybe I’m just not in a hurry because I know that the only thing waiting on the other side of the finish line is a group game that I don’t plan to participate in. Whatever the reason, it’s almost like I’m “working” in other games and EQ2 is the one in my stable where I come in and mess around at whatever. :)