Altophiles Anonymous: #6 - Grab Bag

Hello, my name is Ysharros and I’m a recovering altoholic. Just kidding–I remain an Unashamed Altophile, and that’s not about to change. However, due to various real life issues, this week’s confession may be on the short side, and was inspired partly by questions I was asked elsewhere (thanks to my e-Muses). So here goes.

Q: How do you decide which alt to play at any given session? Do you level alts sequentially? Do you keep them approximately the same level?

Some people are very organised. Me, I play whoever takes my fancy that day/hour. It also partly depends on who else is playing, what might be going on, how much time I have (lower level chars can get more done in a shorter amount of time, usually), and what sort of playstyle mood I’m in.

I’m not a serial altoholic, I’m a mish-mash altoholic so no, I don’t tend to level characters sequentially. It keeps me sane not to, since I have so many alts usually that leveling, say, 5 chars from 1-10 in WAR will eventually drive you batty from content repetition. I have a high tolerance for repeating content, but even I have my limits; taking breaks between doing exactly the same content can help refresh said content a little. Right now I have 3 WAR alts firmly in T2 and another several who could adventure in T2 and, not surprisingly, I am somewhat jaded with tier 2 as a whole right now. Taking a break for a bit (playing higher or lower chars, playing something else) will recharge the enthusiasm battery. However, it leads to:

Q: How do you remember what skills they all have?

For most people the answer would probably be “With great difficulty,” and I can’t say I always have everything at the tip of my fingers the second I log an alt on. But I have a good memory for numbers and skills and stuff like that, so it doesn’t take me that long to recall who does what.

That being said, I’m fairly sure it takes me longer to fully plumb the depths of a given char’s skillset than it does for a monophile. When you’re playing the same character all the time, you’ll encounter more situations and learn the tricks and limits of what you can do much more quickly than this altophile will. On the upside, I’m a Jill-of-all-trades type in real life, too, and I find the exposure to different classes and different mechanics helpful on a wider scale. It evens out, I suspect.

If nothing else, playing a little of everything makes me (I hope) more tolerant of other people’s mistakes and stumbles. I know how hard it is to be the only healer in a scenario; I know how hard it is to be the only tank in a PQ when 3 heroes spawn; and I know exactly how squishy those witch hunters and bright wizards really are. It makes me more tolerant, but also more knowledgeable of what they might do next and how I (whoever I’m playing at the time) can best contribute to that.

Q: How do you manage your alts? Do you spend a lot of time mailing stuff to and fro, or do they sink or swim by themselves?

A little of both. Since I’m a highly addicted craftoholic as well as an altophile, what tends to clog down my alt interactions is crafting materials. I love harvesting stuff (even in WAR where the crafting is really rather basic) so I usually have plenty of gathering-skilled chars. In WAR, that means a lot of leeches and seeds end up being mailed around, either to my own chars or to my husband’s, or to whoever in the guild has expressed a need. As for gear, I keep an eye out for particularly tasty pieces, but other than that my chars are mostly responsible for equipping themselves — especially in WAR, where gear isn’t quite as important. In SWG, I did use my tailor to make snazzy outfits for everyone. Okay, several outfits. All right! Enough outfits to sink a cruiser!

None of my alts are mules — not one of them exists solely to hold stuff for everyone else… except for the Witch Hunter, who has managed to con all the others into thinking it would be a good idea if she held all the dyes, so she’s building up quite a nice collection of dye pots. If I were inclined to roleplay her, I’d say the others have another think coming if they ever expect to see those dyes again. So many coats, hats and shoes, so little dye!

Q: What class mechanics do you prefer?

Overall, probably melee DPS. I always end up making melee DPS characters, and love them no matter how good or awful they might be. That’s my first and instant gut reaction to what character to make. However, in the last few years I’ve grown to really enjoy healing, so now I’ll always have a healer alt — not so much for general usefulness (though of course they are) but because it can be real fun to be one of the factors that scrapes a group through a quest/PQ/scenario/encounter. It’s also occasionally quite demanding, so I “relax” with the DPS characters. When you know you’re very very likely to die horribly, it actually makes life simpler; do what damage you can, live if possible, and if not make your death as expensive as possible.

The last class archetype I tend to pick is the tank, mostly because they’ve had such a raw deal in so many games. WAR, however, has given tanks real meaning and a viable role in all activities — and has also made them fun. As a contrast to high-damage, low survivability DPS classes or watch-healthbars-like-a-hawk-but-miss-all-the-fun-visuals healers, it’s nice to play someone who will usually be in the thick of things doing their best to act like the immovable object.

So, while I may prefer melee DPS classes, I enjoy them all. I find the contrast between them keeps my interest in all of them alive. I know, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but for me a change of class is as good as a rest.

I was also asked a fascinating question about hybrids, but time runs short and it’ll leave me something to discuss next week. In the meantime, why don’t you share some of your altophile preferences, methods, tips and tricks?