Guild Wars 2

Just curious how others feel about this.

I’ve got an alt for each class in the game. However, I find myself with very little reason to play them. With the elimination of the holy trinity and one single faction, I just can’t find a good reason to play anything but my main.

I stuck it out for one of my other characters (Mesmer) and got him to 80. I haven’t touched him since. Gearing him up seems like a waste of gold and there isn’t anything he can do that my Ele couldn’t do. Yeah it’s a different playstyle…but in the end, there’s no variation on what you’re doing, just how you’re doing it.

How does everyone else feel about it?

The way I view it is:

The professions each have a unique flavor.
Most gear in the game can be traded to an alt.
Dungeon tokens and pvp badges are tradeable to alts.

What this means to me is that you can play whatever profession you feel like playing and still gain a benefit to each of tour characters.

Xriah.5743:

I stuck it out for one of my other characters (Mesmer) and got him to 80. I haven’t touched him since. Gearing him up seems like a waste of gold and there isn’t anything he can do that my Ele couldn’t do.

Portals – Hello???

Lol, have you really played? Admit it, you haven’t!

Honestly? I’ve only gotten 3 level 80’s, and when going into WvW I’ve found them each falling into different jobs almost naturally.

My warrior frequently went out everywhere, doing a bit of everything… taking camps or sentries, or assisting the zerg on the front line.
My Elementalist found her place assisting in towers and keeps, throwing AoEs on top of the walls to take care of enemy siege and players.
And my Guardian has found her place helping DEFEND towers and keeps that we have.

I’m currently working on a thief which I expect may spend more time among enemies, hobbling them and crippling, and I plan on making a mesmer sometime soon. Ranger, Necro, and Engie will come sometime further in the future.

So many areas to explore you can level up several characters and still see new stuff. Also so many different class mechanics each with their own playstyles…. Loving alts.. also makes for different grouping options/dynamics with family/friends.

Karizee.8076:

Xriah.5743:

I stuck it out for one of my other characters (Mesmer) and got him to 80. I haven’t touched him since. Gearing him up seems like a waste of gold and there isn’t anything he can do that my Ele couldn’t do.

Portals – Hello???

Lol, have you really played? Admit it, you haven’t!

I’m not really a team player in WvW. More of a ganker.

Yeah, I know. Judge me all you want.

I’ve had 8-80s for a while now, one of each profession and while I can definitely say engineers and necros (even rangers to an extent) have that feel, mesmers really don’t. They are one of the most useful/unique classes in the game.

Xriah.5743:

Karizee.8076:

Xriah.5743:

I stuck it out for one of my other characters (Mesmer) and got him to 80. I haven’t touched him since. Gearing him up seems like a waste of gold and there isn’t anything he can do that my Ele couldn’t do.

Portals – Hello???

Lol, have you really played? Admit it, you haven’t!

I’m not really a team player in WvW. More of a ganker.

Yeah, I know. Judge me all you want.

Then you should love your Mesmer.

Stand on a cliff. Pop Portal Entre.
Jump off, gank. Pop Portal Exeunt.
Port back up to safety.

I know the classes themselves play different. But…it’s not like when you level a healer and your whole role changes in a group dynamic or when you play an opposing faction and experience war from the other side. You’re still experiencing the same content in a similar way (kill the other dudes).

I’m also maining a D/D ele, which I suspect is part of the problem. The amount of combos and variations in their skills just make the other classes feel simpler, or at least, not as frantic. D/D ele almost feels like a fighting game.

I guess I’m in the minority then. Just curious.

Xriah.5743:

But…it’s not like when you level a healer and your whole role changes in a group dynamic.

You seem confused. Are you a solo ganker that eschews teamplay or someone who wants to heal in a group dynamic?

They need to make items account bound, not player bound, that would be a start.

They also need to put a viable gear cap if they ever want to encourage people to roll alts, otherwise they’re jeopardizing they’re mains progression.

Spent a bunch of badges and karma on and alt only to find out that legendary and ascended items need them……

Karizee.8076:

Xriah.5743:

But…it’s not like when you level a healer and your whole role changes in a group dynamic.

You seem confused. Are you a solo ganker that eschews teamplay or someone who wants to heal in a group dynamic?

I’m not confused. What I want to do depends on my mood and what I feel like doing. Sometimes I just wanna stab people. Sometimes I wanna do something different and play with a group in a healing role. Very occasionally I might wanna tank.

Where my feelings are coming from (and this IS just how I feel about alts. Don’t get too hurt over it) is twofold. Because there are no full healers or full tanks, essentailly everyone is doing the same thing, which is killing stuff. You can kind of hybrid it in this game, but killing is really what your role amounts to.
Second, there are no factions. Every character has access to the same content. The racial differences are asthetic aside from the racial skills, which are small.
These two parts add together and make alt’s feel less…unique than they do in other games.

Do I think the holy trinity should be reintroduced? No. I like being able to grab a group of whoevers and run whatever with our favorite classes.
Do I think we need seperate factions with unique content? …Well. I haven’t given it much thought since it’s way too late for that now. It could’ve been interesting, but I see just as many reasons not to.

I was curious if I was the only one who felt this way. I’m probably not, but I appear to be in a very small minority. That’s fine.

I throughly admit to being an altaholic. The most alts of one profession is the warrior. Iuse a different weapon set for each one. I am also experimenting with different traits thoughout them. I find each one challenging and fun to play

IDK how It’ll play out, but although the “trinity” may not be alive, there are very different ways to build your character, you can make your warrior a tank or heavy dps but squishy, me I am going with a purely offense theif first… probably will make a guardian with all kids of toughness after that, then maybe a caster/support style build. I for one like that each class can fill many roles, even multiple at a time.

I’m enjoying my alt-itis so far—I have 1 character of each race and each class except warrior and guardian so far. The alts give me a chance to explore different looks, play styles, personal story options, etc. Crafting is not as grindy since I’m making gear for several characters. And it gives me more choices about who I feel like playing each day . . .

Krosslite.1950:

I throughly admit to being an altaholic. The most alts of one profession is the warrior. Iuse a different weapon set for each one.

???

The three extra character slots for one of each class is the only thing I’ve spent gems on so far, so I thought of myself as an altoholic. But leveling a whole other character of the same class just to use a different weapon set? Seriously?

It’s too much trouble to unequip your weapons?

Hello. My name is Xavori. I’m an altaholic.

I haz dem all, and am now working on a second of them all using wildly different builds. For example, my first ranger is a faberge cannon (level 80). My new ranger is going beastmaster tank (currently level 42). My first warrior was sword/axe DPS magic farmer (80). My second warrior is a hammer/shouts tank (80). My first engineer really, really wanted to be a combat medic but ended up grenades and is now benched while I figure out what do with her post-nade-nerf (80). My new engineer is a silly firecat tank which is not the most effective build, but running around with a flamethrower all the time is much funzorz.

And oh ya, most of them get logged in at least once a day.

The reason I make alts in Gw2 is not primarely to try out different classes but to experience different zones. For me it’s more enjoable and “in character” to explore the ascalon-zones with a charr-character, the shiverpeak zones with a norn etc…

And I think some classes still play quite differently. Playing a warrior gave me a totally different experience than playing a mesmer. Of course you still end up killing stuff but you pretty much have that problem in any MMO.

Xriah.5743:

Just curious how others feel about this.

I’ve got an alt for each class in the game. However, I find myself with very little reason to play them. With the elimination of the holy trinity and one single faction, I just can’t find a good reason to play anything but my main.

I stuck it out for one of my other characters (Mesmer) and got him to 80. I haven’t touched him since. Gearing him up seems like a waste of gold and there isn’t anything he can do that my Ele couldn’t do. Yeah it’s a different playstyle…but in the end, there’s no variation on what you’re doing, just how you’re doing it.

How does everyone else feel about it?

In the same boat. I’m in a little deeper tho, engis are becoming progressively more broken and Engi was supposed to be my main. Well I leveled him but once the nerfs started reaching their apex I learned quickly I couldn’t keep playing in pve. Wasted too much money respeccing him over and over (and no I wasn’t one of those grenadiers I was a part bomber part FT)

I then set my eyes on thief because I was disappointed in the Ranger (I only play adventurer classes or those that wear leather.) The process to level my thief was fun because it was so completely different from the other classes (part of the reason why i liked engi too). But when it came to the ranger, as an avid hunter from WoW I found it lacking. There’s no emotional bond between the tamed and the ranger. There’s no rare skin to tame, no awesome pet like no other standard pet to have (like animal spirits) there’s nothing really to work towards on this toon as a ranger. So why bother gearing.

I did manage to finally get enough gear (thru purchasing mind you) the mats. Let me tell you hard it is to get the mats together as a legit farmer in this game to put together a single set of armor. Ever since the loot rate lowering, the introduction of DR, and the breaking of MF in the open world it’s impossible to solo gear without spending money in the TP. It’s criminal and It’s pretty much why I don’t play. Tried the other night when i saw they had an update just to see what the drop rates would be like, still the same.

I don’t blame you OP there’s really no reason to gear up an alt. Why play all the classes unless you wanna learn them intimately for the purposes of improving pvp.

I’d love to have more alts. Sadly, 80 levels per alt is a real drag, and quite the disincentive. Seriously, what MMO has 80 levels at launch? ugh…

Chuo.4238:

I’d love to have more alts. Sadly, 80 levels per alt is a real drag, and quite the disincentive. Seriously, what MMO has 80 levels at launch? ugh…

quite a bit of them o.O

I saw the thread title and had to visit. I’m an altoholic with 6 level 80’s and 11 character slots. The issues that arise out of my altoholism are mostly around items which are soulbound rather than account bound. Things like the legendary weapons. You can use several alts to do the grind, but only one gets to wield the weapon. I really prefer they would be account bound.

The biggest issue is vertical progression. With my 6 level 80’s any mandated grind beyond max level gear will be painful. I’ve already made the decision not to level any of my other characters. I may play them again but don’t think it’s possible to manage them in a vertically progressing game. I had the problem in WoW for years and don’t want to go through it again here. I may even narrow the level 80’s I play and ask myself which ones justify the grind. I thought it would be safe to be an altoholic here, but maybe it’s a condition that just doesn’t have a cure.

I don’t think of it as 80 levels. It takes as long to get to 80 as it does to get to 30 in many many other MMOs.

I’m really interested to hear how some of you are capable of leveling two of the same profession all of the way up since you can respec. I’ve been really feeling the urge to play low level ele again (my main, 80) but it would feel like I wasted all of that time with my previous ele.

I have one of each. Every time I sign onto one I haven’t played in awhile, I find myself thinking..“Hey, this is fun”..and that toon gets a workout for a couple of days. I leveled an engineer up to 80 and while that was fun, I have barely played it since.

But I’m working on my necro a lot right now cause I like running it in wvw.

I’m an altaholic anyway. Some of my classes are on their 4th or 5th incarnation. I deleted a level 46 warrior to empty a slot to make a thief and ended up eventually buying another slot to make a new warrior…go figure.

dybryd.1358:

Krosslite.1950:

I throughly admit to being an altaholic. The most alts of one profession is the warrior. Iuse a different weapon set for each one.

???

The three extra character slots for one of each class is the only thing I’ve spent gems on so far, so I thought of myself as an altoholic. But leveling a whole other character of the same class just to use a different weapon set? Seriously?

It’s too much trouble to unequip your weapons?

Also different traits if you noticed I did mention that. Personal taste. Everyone playes in a style that suits them. This is mine.

dybryd.1358:

Krosslite.1950:

I throughly admit to being an altaholic. The most alts of one profession is the warrior. Iuse a different weapon set for each one.

???

The three extra character slots for one of each class is the only thing I’ve spent gems on so far, so I thought of myself as an altoholic. But leveling a whole other character of the same class just to use a different weapon set? Seriously?

It’s too much trouble to unequip your weapons?

You can’t really explain the disease and thought processes of an altaholic. Trust me..the reasons for our behavior make perfect sense to us…kinda. Even if it leaves our fellow players scratching their heads.

Raf.1078:

dybryd.1358:

Krosslite.1950:

I throughly admit to being an altaholic. The most alts of one profession is the warrior. Iuse a different weapon set for each one.

???

The three extra character slots for one of each class is the only thing I’ve spent gems on so far, so I thought of myself as an altoholic. But leveling a whole other character of the same class just to use a different weapon set? Seriously?

It’s too much trouble to unequip your weapons?

You can’t really explain the disease and thought processes of an altaholic. Trust me..the reasons for our behavior make perfect sense to us…kinda. Even if it leaves our fellow players scratching their heads.

I like your response better then mine +1

To tell the truth, alts are what keep me playing and I haven’t bought character slots, I lose a lot of interest in my characters when they hit level cap because I don’t really know which direction this game is heading and anything that interests me is a waste of gold at that level.

The lack of trinity isn’t something I mind in open world, but it can make dungeons a nightmare, too many times I’ve seen who people don’t even dodge or look out for the team and the party wipes.

Sorkas.1865:

So many areas to explore you can level up several characters and still see new stuff. Also so many different class mechanics each with their own playstyles…. Loving alts.. also makes for different grouping options/dynamics with family/friends.

This is the main appeal for me. I have 5 permenant characters – one of each race – and a slot for a 6th when I feel like trying out something different.

I’ve found going back over the same areas often leads to discovering things I’d missed the first (or 2nd, 3rd etc.) time round. Especially since different characters will get different dialogue options with several NPCs. (One of the things I’m really enjoying right now is taking my Order of Whispers character around the main cities and finding out who’s an agent.)

I also find that even though in theory I’m doing the same thing on each of them my playstyle is very different so it’s still fun to switch between them. (Also I realise you probably didn’t mean it literally but if you simplify it to the point of ‘kill the other guys’ then you could argue that playing GW2, on any profession, is exactly like playing Call of Duty. Obviously that’s not true and the same goes on a smaller scale – even if your goal is the same playing an ele is not the same as playing a guardian.

Finally I haven’t done it in GW2 (yet) but I can completely understand why people would have multiples of the same profession. Yes you can respec when you need to, but if you’re regularly switching between the same roles it’s easier to have seperate characters.

gennyt.3428:

To tell the truth, alts are what keep me playing and I haven’t bought character slots, I lose a lot of interest in my characters when they hit level cap because I don’t really know which direction this game is heading and anything that interests me is a waste of gold at that level.

The lack of trinity isn’t something I mind in open world, but it can make dungeons a nightmare, too many times I’ve seen who people don’t even dodge or look out for the team and the party wipes.

I don’t think bringing back the trinity would eliminate bad players. It might make it easier to tell them what their role is supposed to be, but that doesn’t mean they’d have any more idea of how to do it.

Xriah.5743:

Just curious how others feel about this.

I’ve got an alt for each class in the game. However, I find myself with very little reason to play them. With the elimination of the holy trinity and one single faction, I just can’t find a good reason to play anything but my main.

I stuck it out for one of my other characters (Mesmer) and got him to 80. I haven’t touched him since. Gearing him up seems like a waste of gold and there isn’t anything he can do that my Ele couldn’t do. Yeah it’s a different playstyle…but in the end, there’s no variation on what you’re doing, just how you’re doing it.

How does everyone else feel about it?

I love playing my alts, every class plays its own way and i think its great, my goal is to have a bad kitten of each. if they all played the same then i could agree with you but they dont, they are all stand alone fun

The answer for me is always RP. Though I admit I just have 6 characters (3 are 80), none of them a Ranger, Engineer, or Norn, I might very well start up a duplicate profession at some point if a character concept demands it. RP also keeps me playing my main and engaging him in the world. So many storylines going in my guild! Right now we have an adventure arc shaping up for the next month or so that’s had some behind the scenes stuff setting up for months already.

Heck, RP kept me in my previous MMO for 7 years and only GW2’s superior aesthetic and gameplay pulled me away from people I still consider good friends over there. RP adds so much more depth to any MMO.

I have a Norn Warrior, Human Guardian, Asura Engineer, Charr Hunter, and Sylvari Thief. Pretty much to experience their areas as the actual race and each race’s personal story.

Shame that Asura/Sylvari end up spilling into other zones after their 1 starter zone and shared secondary zone. (Metrica Province/Caledon Forest -> Brisban Wildlands and then to human zones)

Haven’t done the Charr zones except the starting zone but I think there is a gap in there too where you have to travel to a different race zone or grind DE’s.

I pretty much went back and forth due to renown hearts not giving enough experience and DE’s not spawning enough due to lack of players in the middle zones which led to being unable to clear the level bracket to go to the next area. I would do the zones first on the actual race before doing them again for experience on a different race.

The thing that keeps me going with my alts is mainly roleplaying, and making sure they’re each taking a different road to 80 so I don’t get burned out on one path. Each chose one Primary Craft and one Secondary Craft, so all 8 Crafts are represented without doubles. All race and gender options are represented except Male Asura and Female Charr, and my two Humans, two Norn and two Sylvari all chose differently for the first and second parts of their racial stories. Three each are Vigil and Priory, and two are Order of Whispers (and if they ever release a 3rd Soldier class, it’s whispers for them too), and on the Intro to the Factions missions for the ones where I’ve got two of the same race, I planned in advance to have them choose missions that the other hadn’t selected. And finally, wherever a class offered a path that dramatically differentiated it from its peers, I focused on that even if it wasn’t the most effective course (not that I minded when a couple of those paths DID turn out pretty effective). Right now I’ve got 360 total levels between all characters. I’m aiming for 400 by the end of the week – two 80s and six 40s – and all characters at 80 by May, allowing for my sporadic and usually pretty relaxed rate.

I have one of each class spread across all 5 races. In fact, the gems for the char slots were the first things I saved for with in game gold. I wanted to play all 5 story lines and I wanted all the classes in case certain ones were best at certain things.

Currently – lvl 80 war (main), lvl 80 necro, lvl 50+ guard, ele, thief, & engi, lvl 30 ranger, and lvl 25 mesmer

I’m playing through the storylines on every one as they level and trying to mix and match my selection of attitude choices and Vigil, Priory, OoW choices as well. It’s fun to experience as much of the game and story lines as possible.

Even in GW1 I never really had a main/alts. it was more a matter of right now i want to play an ele, next match/mission i’ll play a warrior. That’s the beauty of minimizing vertical progression and a constantly increasing level cap.

In gw2 i’ve played all the classes. I only found 4 i like so far so I will level up and gear those 4 (2 done, 2 half way) and pick the one that fits my mood at the time of playing, or the one that best compliments my team/group.

After leveling a Ranger, Mesmer to 80 and with a level 76 Warrior, I still have not decided on a main. Maybe it’s just the feel of Orr, not sure to be honest, once I hit 80 I seem to lose interest in doing anything else. I think I have more fun hunting bots and recording / reporting the teleport bots mining low level gathers.

My issues with alts in this game is a lot of the things that make this game fun are a p.i.t.a. to do. When all is said and done, this game is like Serial Killer Barbie where between acts of murder and mayhem we’re playing dress-up. Why then aren’t dyes account wide? Why is my bank filled with tokens when they’re just another form of currency that could be held in a status bar like gold? Why isn’t karma automatically shared in a single pool between all alts? These are little things that allow players to enjoy their alts that are simply missing in this game.

What they should consider doing, as opposed to forcing us to keep 20 pages of mail, several mules, and god knows what else worth of low level gear is introduce some actual scaling gear in this game that could be shared between characters or could be used as viable level 80 introductory gear.

Introduce ‘robes’ where you could socket in X stones and each stone gives you your level * 1.5 of a stat rounding down. This way you don’t need to transfer a dozen pieces of gear, your gear is comparable to some of the better greens at 80, and you can enjoy the leveling process.

I think WoW introduced something similar to this in the last expansion they had as well.

I can think of a few jokes that start with “You might be an altaholic if…”

Me personally, my first character was a norn warrior. I tried a human ele, norn Mesmer, Guardian, Ranger and Necro, but none of them really took hold… but then I finally got a decent video card. I’m currently leveling my second norn warrior, because I love the combo and the game just looks gorgeous. I missed so many of the nuances the first time through! It probably seems weird to be leveling almost the same exact character, but the small changes make it perfect to me and I wouldn’t want to be playing any other race/job combo, so screw it! Have fun doing what you want to do. It’s a game, after all.

i have 1 of every class, 4 of them are 80 (mesmer, necro, thief, ranger) but the rest are extremely low level and i haven’t played them much. my next 80 will be an ele, but it’s 10 right now.

i sense a noticeable difference in playstyles across my toons. mesmer and thief are slightly similar, but the main difference is that on my mesmer in WvW i sometimes remove all stealth from my skill bar just to make it more challenging. whereas i could never, ever do that with thief. my ranger is just a farming toon, i never purposefully pvp with it. necro is the class that has caused me to think the most about my pvp and plan more carefully. necro and mesmer are definitely my favorites, but i don’t know if i could pick one over the other, i like them both so much. i actually have a fair amount of experience with engineers too – mine is only 15 but when i started the game i used engi in sPvP for a while – but i have no plans to level him anytime soon. they were just ok. we all know they need work. moving on….

so naturally, i think ele will be a good fit for me. i have no idea why i like the mages so much – i usually go for the assassin characters, but i’ve basically abandoned my thief out of a lack of interest. it’s the only 80 that i really never use anymore, except to gather mats and craft gear for other toons. other than that, i still actively rotate between necro, mesmer and ranger, and i will soon be adding ele to the mix!

So many different builds, I have a totally different playstyle on each of my alts Though my main being ele just means i’m super flexible, my alts are mostly for the different armour looks, I’m a fashion seeker :P

Xriah.5743:

I know the classes themselves play different. But…it’s not like when you level a healer and your whole role changes in a group dynamic or when you play an opposing faction and experience war from the other side. You’re still experiencing the same content in a similar way (kill the other dudes).

I’m also maining a D/D ele, which I suspect is part of the problem. The amount of combos and variations in their skills just make the other classes feel simpler, or at least, not as frantic. D/D ele almost feels like a fighting game.

I guess I’m in the minority then. Just curious.

No, I feel the same way. I started out with a D/D ele, and all the other classes are definitely easier and less frantic. I’m leveling my alts up very slowly, just whenever I feel like something different I switch to an alt and start leveling. I’m going to stick with D/D ele for a long time, because it’s just a blast to play. ANet really got that one right.

I guess, I view the other classes as tools that I’d like to have. Plus as a way to go through the early storyline in different ways, with different races. My heart’s always going to be with my ele but I can enjoy the other classes at a slower pace when I feel like it.

Goloith.6349:

They need to make items account bound, not player bound, that would be a start.

They also need to put a viable gear cap if they ever want to encourage people to roll alts, otherwise they’re jeopardizing they’re mains progression.

Spent a bunch of badges and karma on and alt only to find out that legendary and ascended items need them……

This is a big one for me and I’ve commented on it many times. I think it’s really important for the longevity of the game.

When you use a valuable item, it should become account bound, not soul bound. When you have a main with a legendary and a bunch of expensive soulbound stuff, most people are going to have a hell of a time justifying doing it all again on an alt. Now sure your legendary hammer might not be any good on your non hammer using alt, but at least you could use it on SOME other characters.

Ascended rings are account bound on pickup which is good, still soulbound once equipped though I believe. Need to remove barriers keeping long term players from rolling up new characters.

I would leave normal crafted exotics or anything else that’s not difficult to obtain as regular soulbound as is though, as that’s good for the economy of the game. Getting a bunch of 3g each gear for another character isn’t really a major barrier for a long term player. Stuff like legendaries, t3 gear, ascended? Make that account bound on equip.

Right now the game’s new enough plenty of people still roll alts and that is good. ANET should be removing as many barriers as possible to doing so a year or two from now though.