So I just hit level 80 on my first character. I haven’t been playing for long but I love this game so far.
In every other MMO I’ve played I’ve always created multiple toons but this game seems to encourage you to invest in one character. Getting 100% on the map, acquiring Legendary gear, doing monthlies, dailies, crafting etc.. – all of it would take a considerable amount of time. How would anyone find the time to unlock it all with multiple toons? I only have a few hours a day and around 5 hours on Sat/Sun to play, would that be enough time to have multiple well geared toons or would I be better to just sink my time into my main? I play an Elementalist, the other classes look fun too so I’m kind of confused about what I should do next. Is it a case of having a bunch of mediocre characters or one really well geared character? Maybe I’m over analyzing things.
I have ten characters. Each race/class offers a slightly different experience, I just play what I feel like playing without worrying about 100% completion, legendaries and so on.
I enjoy playing alts. Reading the forum I get the impression that not worrying about a legendary (unless you really want one) tends to lead to a happier gaming experience. If you want an alt, roll one. Just be aware that you won’t be able to gear it up as highly as someone playing a single character simply because so many things are soulbound, and you’ll miss out on “farming time” while levelling. You’ll also be unlikely to go for ascended stuff on more than one toon, if you care about that.
That said, between the Orr Karma Vendors, and the amount of stuff on the TP, it isn’t particularly difficult to gear alts in exotics. The only thing you might struggle with is good dyes and fine transmutation stones (crystals).
I might have time for two characters. As I have a ranged character, maybe if I make a melee character that would give me some variety and it would be possible to maintain both characters. I purchased the game on 28/3/2013 and I hit 80 today. I’ve tested some other classes, I have a Guardian at 12 and a Warrior at 5. From the melee characters the Warrior looks the most appealing and would give me some variety.
I have 20 characters and I just play the game as it comes, as per tolunart. Some people are happy with one only. See how you go with an alt. If you start fretting about your first character then you can switch back and play that one until you reach some sort of satisfaction.
But in the end, each to their own!
Fire up the Hyperbowl ma, we’re going to town!
Would you like some hard cheeze with your sad whine?
Legendary weapon = exotic weapon with glowy effects, but spend at least a month, usually much longer, spending every moment in the game focused on collecting the “stuff” you need to get it.
It’s ok if you want to go for one, but it’s in no way necessary. And beyond the first time you see one, it’s not really that impressive.
Something to keep in mind is that Anet hates people with alts.
-Many rewards such as dragon chests are account bound so you can only get the reward on your main, not your alt.
-Also the new achievement reward for living story is 1 time only so you can’t get it for alts.
-DR applies to alts, so if you run a dungeon or farm on your main you can’t run it on your alt.
-The currency to buy ascended gear is all account bound as well, meaning alts will almost never be able to get ascended gear because you can only earn the currency at a painfully slow rate designed for 1 character.
So if you make an alt just keep in mind that Anet will do anything that is possible to slow your progress down and try to make you only play one character.
Something to keep in mind is that Anet hates people with alts.
-Many rewards such as dragon chests are account bound so you can only get the reward on your main, not your alt.
-Also the new achievement reward for living story is 1 time only so you can’t get it for alts.
-DR applies to alts, so if you run a dungeon or farm on your main you can’t run it on your alt.
-The currency to buy ascended gear is all account bound as well, meaning alts will almost never be able to get ascended gear because you can only earn the currency at a painfully slow rate designed for 1 character.
So if you make an alt just keep in mind that Anet will do anything that is possible to slow your progress down and try to make you only play one character.
If you feel you need all these things.
The only thing I don’t approve of is no individual storage.
Fire up the Hyperbowl ma, we’re going to town!
Would you like some hard cheeze with your sad whine?
Something to keep in mind is that Anet hates people with alts.
-Many rewards such as dragon chests are account bound so you can only get the reward on your main, not your alt.
-Also the new achievement reward for living story is 1 time only so you can’t get it for alts.
-DR applies to alts, so if you run a dungeon or farm on your main you can’t run it on your alt.
-The currency to buy ascended gear is all account bound as well, meaning alts will almost never be able to get ascended gear because you can only earn the currency at a painfully slow rate designed for 1 character.
So if you make an alt just keep in mind that Anet will do anything that is possible to slow your progress down and try to make you only play one character.
None of that has ever bothered me. See first response in thread.
I have a couple of “main” characters, but I don’t worry about gearing them up fully. I just have fun. If you play to have fun, it doesn’t matter if you get a legendary on that item.
To me, seeing more of the stories is pretty good, because some of the early stories are quite fun, particularly in my mind the asura and charr stories.
I enjoy playing them.
In fact, you could play one through till level 20, do the personal story, doesn’t take that much time, then delete the character and do it again on another story path, so you can see them all. Some are, as I said, quite fun.
And knowing that stuff helps the end of hte personal story since so many of the characters and things from different racial story lines all come together in the end.
I have ten characters. Each race/class offers a slightly different experience, I just play what I feel like playing without worrying about 100% completion, legendaries and so on.
Same here. One of each profession (with 2 wars and 2 engies). Each is a different experience. I’m perfectly fine right now with rare armor on all of them. I may at some point get exotics, for some of them at least. If you want to see most points of the personal story, you need at least one of each race (after you choose which order to join its pretty much the same for all characters).
Thing about Alts, is that Anet seems to hate us having them lately. Such as with the new fused gauntlet.
Alts are fun. I have 5 alts of various levels aside from my main 80. They add variety to your play. I love my engineer, but sometimes I want to play mesmer for something completely different. Back to low levels, different race, fewer traits, still learning the ins-and-outs. Less pressure and casual.
Also, if you log on simply to bang out the dailies, use an alt. The bonus XP for each portion of the dailies is very nice.
It’s 2 different playstyles, and comes down to how you want to spend your gametime.
I have 8 alts (0 mains, 8 alts). I’m doing something different with each. One is specced more for dungeon runs, another I want to make better for WvW, one farms Orr, some are dragon fighters, etc. One almost has WC (just waiting for a few darn WvW points to open up), but not that interested in legendaries. Most of them have rare or exotic armor and weaponry, some from crafting, some from chests, some from exploring, some from Karma vendors.
I’ll probably never have a fully-decked-out max/min Omnicharacter. I don’t care, I don’t have to be the best at anything, I’d rather have variety and be decent at a lot of things. I like to experience all that is out there (except sPvP, which holds no interest for me). That’s why I run alts.
To add to what’s been said: another benefit of multiple alts is you gain a much better understanding of many systems when you play different classes.
Players with only one characters are way more likely to complain about this or that being OP, because they haven’t seen the interactions at play from the other side.
So I just hit level 80 on my first character. I haven’t been playing for long but I love this game so far.
In every other MMO I’ve played I’ve always created multiple toons but this game seems to encourage you to invest in one character. Getting 100% on the map, acquiring Legendary gear, doing monthlies, dailies, crafting etc.. – all of it would take a considerable amount of time. How would anyone find the time to unlock it all with multiple toons? I only have a few hours a day and around 5 hours on Sat/Sun to play, would that be enough time to have multiple well geared toons or would I be better to just sink my time into my main? I play an Elementalist, the other classes look fun too so I’m kind of confused about what I should do next. Is it a case of having a bunch of mediocre characters or one really well geared character? Maybe I’m over analyzing things.
Thoughts?
I also main an Elementalist. I have four alts, but only one I’ve tried to level in any serious way.
I’d do the work to get your elementalist in full exotics. (Don’t bother with legendaries or map completion, and only do dailies if you want the rewards.) It’s tedious for semi-casuals like us, but this will give you the flexibility to run or experience virtually anything in the game with friends or guildies.
Alts can be fairly boring since you’ll just be repeating all the content you did the first time and the glow you’re feeling right now quickly fades. Unless you like repeating content, you’ll get longer-term enjoyment out of this game if you focus on one character and use that one to explore the land of Tyria.
“A soft answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.” -Jewish Proverb
I have 7 80’s and my last profession is lvl 68. I like having alts. Because of the limited number of skills available, it helps keep the gameplay fresh. The downside is you end up doing content over that you might otherwise not want to. You also have to gear them all.
I would probably have a few more nice skins, a legendary, or just more money if I threw everything I had at my warrior but I like the variety.
Your bottleneck is laurels when it comes to gearing. Thus, if you have no particular need for them, alting a bit is fine and allows a change of pace. If not, and you feel unfinished, I would strongly advise against it.
For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards,
for there you have been and there you will long to return.
If all you do with characters is max them out and gear them in exotics, the game is very alt friendly and you’ll have fun with it.
When you start getting into ascended gear, legendaries, all the misc vanities like spvp profession titles, soulbound fancy stuff like the cash shop mining pick, additional inventory slots, exploration star and all that…it becomes much less so.
8 characters in total. The challenge to get skins for all of them is fun
Really, remember, that this MMO will be around for a while so you don’t need to get that Legendary right now. I might want to have 4 – 5 legendaries or some other special skinned weapons. But hell I have years to reach it. And if I don’t – is it really a big deal? I have fun with my alts, that’s the important thing.
I think you shouldn’t have alts actually, make the one you truly like, its original concept is what truly made you pick that one character so why not stick to it?
The Whole concept in gw2 of personal story, customization and everything, the dye system too, and armors and possibly missable items (the recently released gloves are only available to one character per account), encourages you, EXTREMELY I’d say, to solely have one character and maybe use the rest of the slots to pvp.
The rest of the characters will never, EVER be as dedicated as the one you truly like, which is your original avatar, to truly be an “avatar” as it’s its meaning.
Yeah, I play alts and I am happy with how the game handles them.
I have a main character for running dungeons and a different main I use for WvW. I have 7 characters with 2 80s. Both in full exotic gear yet I am a pretty casual player. My alts range from level 8 – 71.
Remember that the daily and monthly span your account, so you can do different parts on different characters…or all on one.
There is no right or wrong answer to this. I love playing alts but having a couple of main characters I play in certain end game situations. If alts are not for you, then that is cool too. You can play either way and be happy.
Alt it up. You have 5 slots make characters on all of them and give them all bags. You can use them just as storage slots if you don’t play them. If you are playing a lot of ele you might notice that a lot of the gear drops you get are for a heavy class. It might be just my experience but it looks like heavy class gets medium gear, medium (adventures) get light gear, and light (scholar) gets heavy gear. Also, you can just leave the alts near a node or chest and harvest it daily. The chests gear seem to be on a 6 level interval. You start out at level 14 gear then go to 20 and then 26.
Yes somethings are account bound, like laurels, and are good for a single “main” character, but other things favor alts. Like the SAB. I have 14 characters. I could get the 50 baubles easily and I had many chances to get the rare drops. I got 5 rare skins total. But I really only farmed it the last 4 days of the month. Procrastination!
You can also see the personal story alt choice.
So make alts even if you don’t spend time on them.
Little Old Lady, Sea of Sorrows, Robot Adventurers [RA], Tokyo Japan.
I have 8 level 80s. I bought about $300-$400 worth of gems, converted them to gold, then leveled them all with crafting. Then I spent a TON more gold gearing them all in exotic gear and weapons. And I was having so much fun switching between all the different characters so freely.
And then ANet pushed out the latest patch and completely DESTROYED my UI since I am a triple monitor AMD Eyefinity user. So ya, I would like all my money back please since I can’t even enjoy the game with this fugged up UI.
1. Not all games support triple monitors
2. Unplug two of your monitors, or set guild wars 2 to run on a single monitor only.
3. Have you tried writing a support ticket instead of yelling at Anet on the forums?
I know that you’re upset but you should not run around the forums posting in EVERY topic you find.
I have 8 level 80s, one of each profession and at least one of each race. I gave up thoughts of a Legendary once I read the requirements. I see people complaining about using the same 5 or 10 weapon skills over and over and to me it feels I have 90 skills, minimum. Then you add all the F skills! I switch weapons and use different ones when I play so it’s actually way more than 90.
For gear, at first I got all exotics. But after that I just got greens and whatever rares I got as drops. I buy exotics to gear up, but only when my bank balance goes above a baseline amount or only if I have farmed enough mats to craft.
As for ascended gear, it’s not necessary unless you are doing high level fractals. This game was designed, I think, to be done by characters wearing rares.
Unless you are determined to have a Legendary or to get thru the content as fast as possible or you just can’t stand to go thru leveling again then I would recommend at least one alt. It can make a big difference in keeping combat fresh.
