On the road again …
We’re Moving.
That’s right. Regis @ Wizards and Wenches held a contest and I was one of the luck winners. He offered hosting services off the blogwarhammer.net domain.
My new home will be http://altmuch.blogwarhammer.net. Please update your browser accordingly.
Yes, all 5 of you.
The first cut is the deepest …
My first dalliance into the world of the blogosphere was sometime in the late ’90s early Turn of The Century (yes, I’m *that* old). It was a site in which one of the customer service reps for EQ would rant. She was funny, witty and a damn good writer. Her first post became known, at least amongst the small circle of EQ bloggers/forums, as ‘The Rant Heard Round The World‘. I must warn you, gentle readers, that she does use some foul language and if that upsets you then …. well you probably shouldn’t read my blog either.
But I digress. Tweety, the name our intrepid bloggess took on as her nom de blog, was fired from her position (quite justifiably as she puts it) but soon gained employment at Mythic Entertainment. Her name is Sanya Weathers (née Thomas) and she has since left Mythic to pursue other things.
She, along with Lum the Mad (aka Scott Jennings) brought me into the world of game commentary. These were the days before WordPress. You had to write out your entry in Wordpad or somesuch then insert it into a flat HTML file. (We also had to then carry the files by hand! Uphill! Both ways!) It’s amazing how times have changed.
Anyway, my thanks to Syp over at WAAAGH! for linking Lum which got me all nostalgic and sent me in search of Tweety. Much props brother.
BTW: You may be wondering, “What does this have to do with altitis?” To this I say, “Can’t you see how my altitis even affects my real world? I can’t even have a blog about alting without alting and writing about something else …”
The other side …
Another aspect to my altitis is the opposite of the novelty feeling you get when playing a new class: burnout. I’m experiencing that right now with my highest level character. I’ve played Ventris since launch and he’s currently sitting at L26. So, not only do I level slow and my playtime is irregular (tends to be only 2-2.5 hrs any given night) but I have the distraction of having more than one character in my stable. I’m trying to focus, honestly!
I made an affirmation over the holidays that I would get back on Ventris and try to level him up since he was closest. During a session, Iridar remarked that he’d rather have me play Gunda. He explained I seemed to be very frustrated and seemed to enjoy playing my Knight more. Upon reflection, I felt his comments had merit. I really was frustrated with Ventris. Not the class per se.
I really enjoyed playing the Shadow Warrior. I just got burned out. I had finished both T1, T2 content. Participated in most of the PQs available and still ended up entering T3 too low to be able to finish the quests within a reasonable (at least for me) level of challenge. I was usually -2 to the mobs within the quests areas. So I went and did the Empire and Dwarven T1 and T2 content. This got me high enough so Avelorn wasn’t so bad but entering Saphery put me right back in the same position. Playing Ventris was no longer ‘fun’.
It was around this time the Heavy Metal hit. I was able to get into early release of Knights and found that being -2 to mobs wasn’t so bad. Playing became ‘fun’ again. The novelty of a new class plus the bonus of not being so squishy. I hope this holds up. I’ve decided to switch mains and run Gunda as primary. Hopefully the honeymoon will last to L40. We’ll see how it goes.
Why I Alt: Teh Essay
“You know, you would have maxed out if you would just stick to one character.”
I hear this.
A lot.
Mostly from the wife. (I’m lucky that way, my wife shares my hobby)
Altitis, Altoholism, ADD. Call it what you will, I have it pretty bad. Take my CoX characters for instance. I have one L50 (max level for CoX), one L32 and one L26. All the others, all 7 of my other characters on Virtue Server, are sub 20. This scenarios plays out on every game I’ve ever played. I had 5 characters in EQ with a main at L24. SW:G (Pre-NGE) had the same lineup only my main got a little further – A L26 Entertainer. Then WoW dropped and changed everything for me. I my altitis spread to other servers and I think at one point I had 24 odd alts. My main, retired since I no longer play, is a L68 Paladin (Anséis). Currently in WAR I have 13 characters. Nine are on my primary server is Phoenix Throne, Order side. I also have 4 Destro alts on Skull Throne and other servers. Oh, and I just created and leveled to 5th level (Order) another Order alt on Iron Rock.
Drive
All this is basically to show you, dear reader, that my ability to focus on a single character to max level is a bit retarded. My buddy Iridar thinks it may be something to do with his fixation – ‘Live for the Ding‘ as he calls it. Leveling is far faster during the < 10 ranks than during the mid levels. I can see this reflected in the sheer amount of alts I have sub 20. I do indeed feel that there is less of a grind during the early stages. Right now, my main (SW, L26) is in Saphery and my quests all involve mobs that are +1 or +2 levels. While I can kite with the best of them, the level disparity does make completing quests more of a chore. Take into account nipple confusion (I hadn’t played Ventris since Heavy Metal and kept hitting the wrong keys) and I quickly became weary of playing my main.
Social Butterfly
Some of my altoholism can be explained by my desire to group with friends. I’m an S.E.A.K. according to GamerDNA’s Bartle quiz. The alt I have on Iron Rock was created last night because a friend I had invited to play had started a character there. I really enjoy playing with friends and tend not to PUG much. I’ve a bad taste in my mouth for PUGs. You would think this would go against the socializer piece of my Bartle profile but there you go. I will stop playing WAR to jump onto CoX if that is what my friends are doing. This kind of activity significantly impedes the upward progress of my main.
False Sense of Accomplishment
I was watching The Big Bang Theory Monday night. It was a re-run of the episode “The Barbarian Sublimation”. In the epidsode Penny gets hooked on Age of Conan. Leonard hypothesizes that the addiction may be due to Penny lacking “A sense of achievement lacking in [her] real life.” I don’t think that’s me though I can see how it was germane to the episode. (Penny was getting a little freaky lookin). I do tend to learn the most efficient (for me) way to get through each starter area and this may reinforce why alting comes so easy – I know what to do and how quickly I can do it. With a higher level character there is the frustration of the unknown (what order am I supposed to click these objects? The friggin quest doesn’t even have a riddle-like hint for goodness sakes!).
In the end …
In the end I think it’s just the novelty of playing something new that keeps me alting. Trying the different classes. Seeing how they play at increasingly higher levels. Even though the content isn’t ‘new’ the experience is since each class plays differently and has different mechanics. Thoughts? Feel free to comment, question or even outright call me on this BS.
Why I Alt: Teh Background
I’ve always been more of a social gamer than hardcore gamer. Even so, I pretty much redefine ‘casual’ player. Most of my friends, who don’t play MMO’s hardcore, usually get at least one maxed out character in the MMO of their choice. Sometimes they have two or even three.
Me? Not so much.
In the 19 years or so since I’ve played MMO’s I’ve maxed out exactly one character: Parabellum, my AR/Devices Blaster on Virtue Server in City of Heroes. The *only* reason I got her to 50 was because I happened to be L48 when a double XP week-end hit and my RL friends that play got me to grind out the last two levels. I played EQ for almost 3 years (had to stop playing because it was affecting my relationship with my fiancee). Got into Dark Age of Camelot for a year or so. I played SW:G for about a year then World of Warcraft dropped. Luckily, I had managed to get my, now, wife to start gaming so I was able to avoid wife aggro. I actually played WoW for some time and, if you consider that I was in closed beta: 3rd wave, you will understand the depths of my very casual approach to leveling – I never maxed a character in WoW. Not one. Wife had 2 and was working on a 3rd when we both quit playing. My main in WoW is currently sitting at L68 (Anséis) on Durotan. I’ve played WoW, off and on, since 2004 for maybe a total of 3 years. I played when WoW:BC dropped. Still did not reach max cap (now 70).
I’m currently playing Warhammer Online. My main is L26 but since Knights dropped I’ve been playing my Knight of the Blazing Sun alt, Gunda. She’s currently sitting at L18.
That is my current conundrum. I stopped playing my main for two reasons: 1) KotBS dropped and I wanted to play the new class and 2) I have just hit Saphery and all quests involve mobs that were +1 levels to me (for a ranged squishy this was not a plus). I am trying to decide if I want to jump back on my main and do quests in the other pairings or switch over permanently to my Knight and be done with it.
Status of the Blog
Just wanted to take a sec and quickly post something seeing as I’ve relatives in town and won’t be posting or playing WAR over the next couple of days.
I’ve been playing MMOs since the days of EQ, running my human Ranger through the forests of Qeynos and quickly realizing that a) Humans have no night vision and b) No light source means black screen. I’ve played the gamut of MMOs from EQ to SWG to WoW and now WAR. I also concurrently play CoX since some RL friends play there and prefer that genre. Outside of PC gaming I play in a regular PnP group that meets most Sundays.
I’m really looking to forward to blogging, or rather ranting, about WAR and some observations I’ve made. I play Order on Phoenix Throne and Destro on Skull Throne. As the title indicates I tend to alt a lot being the more socially oriented gamer that I am. My highest toon right now is a L26 Shadow Warrior (Ventris) though I am currently grinding a Knight (Gunda) up the levels and I think I may make her my main (yes, I’m one of *those* players – guys that play gals).
If you see me on feel free to send me a tell. All I ask is that you mention reading this blog – otherwise I’ll feel really guilty about not knowing who the heck you are.
Good Luck and good hunting!
/Stand
Hello World. My name is Ventris, and I’m an altoholic.
I started alting at a very young age. In fact, I was alting in my very first MMO though they didn’t call it altoholism back then. I don’t really understand what motivates me to alt. My counselor suggested that I write about it and make contact with other altoholics like myself. This is my attempt at following his advice, though seriously, I don’t think I have a problem. I mean, I can stop anytime I want. Seriously. Why are you laughing?
