The Alts We Do Not Level
There are many factors that can add to an MMORPGs replayability. Multiple races, classes and factions can all potentially offer a new experience to the player. Some games even have unique stories associated with different types of characters, ensuring that rolling a new alt means that the player doesn’t repeat material they’ve already completed. Many gamers enjoy this aspect of the genre and will experiment with different builds, resulting in a character selection screen filled with numerous alts in various states of progress. However, irrespective of whether you get to experience a new story or if you indeed like the new character you’ve created, there comes a point when you look at your new alts progression and reflect upon the long, long journey to level cap. It is at this point that many alts fall by the wayside. The aforementioned character selection screen is often populated with unfulfilled potential.
Some MMOs make levelling a new alt a relatively easy experience. Star Trek Online is very generous with experience points and a player can level a new character to level cap (65) over a weekend if they’re diligent. The Elder Scrolls Online similarly does not make levelling an alt to 50 a chore. Dolmen farming in the Alik’r Desert is an expedient alternative to playing through story content. The Lord of the Rings Online is a horse of a different colour and even though much of the early content in the game has been streamlined for fast levelling, progression can slow down once the player arrives in Rohan. At present the biggest levelling bottleneck is Mordor, which has a massive change in difficulty compared to previous content. However, MMOs are not just about the journey to level cap. As and when you arrive there is the issue of obtaining appropriate gear. Depending on the game this may mean working your way through various reputation progressions to get your hands on what you need or spending a fortune on the auction house. Further reasons why so many alts never arrive at cap.
However, many game developers have a “solution” to these levelling issues. Rather than seeing a mid level alt, languishing in the doldrums as an indictment of their game design, they prefer to interpret it as a business opportunity to sell the player a boost to level cap. Needless to say, such “services” divide the player base. Some see this as a convenience and a way to quickly get a new alt to level cap without the grind. Others see it as a game breaking anathema and a personal slight against their entire life and value system. And then there are those who don’t really give a shit either way. More often than not, if an alt has been abandoned then there are usually good reasons for it. It’s play style may not be to our taste or it may have failed to meet our expectations. Perhaps we didn’t like the associated story. Whatever the reason, once sidelined, abandoned alts are seldom returned to.
So what of my superfluous alts? Well I tend not to have that many. Once I find a class in an MMO that I like, I tend to go all in and focus on it. However, I do from time to time experiment. Currently in ESO I have an Argonian Necromancer, who is just kicking his heels in Shadowfen. I decided to create a new Dragonkinght and take them through the game’s entire story in narrative order. Hence the Necromancer got sidelined. In LOTRO my Dwarf Hunter is loitering around the crafting hall in Bree. Crafting eventually became too complex and so he remains a fixture next to the forge, doomed to stay at level 105. However, things are more fortunate for my new Gorn Captain in STO. He is permanently stationed in the Vlugta Asteroid Field, mining and refining Dilithium ore. It may not be the most glorious of destinies but it beats not being used at all. Such is the fate of the alts we do not level. What do you do with yours?
