So I’m starting to hit a bit of a crossroads. I’ve had my main (this one) since I started playing WoW at the start of Legion and I’ve continued playing him through BfA.
Recently though, I’ve been playing on my Hunter alt, and so far been enjoying it more than my Paladin. I feel as though I want to continue with the journey on my main, having that one character that you played right from the very beginning you started playing and taking it through all the current content is satisfying, but at the same time, there’s a character sitting on the sidlines I really enjoy.
I dont really have time to play them both regularly so I find myself at a crossroads what to main for Shadowlands. I dont think I could say goodbye to all those reputations I’ve grinded through the last few years, but I dont think I could bring myself to leave a character I love playing on the sidelines.
So a question for you all who’ve changed mains over the years, what made you do it? And did you have any regrets?
For me, it depends on the class and the changes that Blizzard have made - although I was a Hunter main for years (Marksmanship Hunter in WoTLK, Survival Hunter in Cata and the start of MoP as I loved BM Hunter PvP) and I do have regrets about leaving that toon, because of all the memories.
I remember getting excited about what my hunter’s Human model would look like in Culling of Stratholme and then what the Night Elf model would be for Well of Eternity. Little things like that still make me miss my hunter, and I do intend on going back to playing her in Shadowlands as SL will be my final expansion before I emigrate to New Zealand and I want that last stretch to me and my hunter, taking on the Shadowlands’ initial problems.
I’ve changed mains most expansions. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. I’ve always levelled my very first char up as well, but ironically they’ve never been my content main. But I like them so I still carry him around and keep him somewhat current. I grind expo achis out across the different chars so I don’t end up with them all on one char /shrug
The guy I always level is my gnome mage, my first char from vanilla.
Mains:
Vanilla, dwarf priest
TBC, belf pally
Wotlk, belf pally/troll shaman
Cata, worgen priest/troll shaman
Took a break
Legion, nelf DH, pandaren A monk
BFA, patch 8.0 pandaren rogue A
8.1 pandaren priest A
8.2 goblin DK, pandaren monk A
8.3 Mechagnome Hunter, goblin DK, also semi geared/played mechagnome priest and Mechagnome warrior.
Are you going to use those reps for anything at all in Shadowlands? Nope, you won’t. The achievements will still be there, whatever you earned, will be there - either account wide, or on the char - all you lose is not playing it as your main. Not really a big deal, to be honest.
I mained a Warlock in Vanilla, switched to a Prot Warrior in TBC, that lasted halfway into WotLK, when I switched to a DW Frost DK tank, which lasted 'till the end of the expansion. I gave up raiding, played a little bit of Cata on a Priest, then quit for a longer time, and came back in 8.1 on this Monk.
I intend to take this monk into SL as my main, but if that turns out rubbish, I’ll switch to my Druid alt in a heartbeat and make her my new main.
I’m more of a practical person than a collector. I don’t care much about a single character having All the Good Things of past expansions. Hardly any of that matters in the current one. Most collectibles I do care about are account wide, which makes switching even easier a choice.
I first played a blood elf mage because thats what my friend at the time who introduced me played, and since mage was the only class he knew thats what i rolled so he could teach me.
I messed around with some deathknights and warriors and stuff as well as kept my mage, but around cata/MoP i started watching streamers, and i saw some guy playing feral and i was amazed at how he was weaving in and out of cat form healing himself and literally dancing around people in duels and arena, so i tried rolling druid and it just stuck, i started feral but eventually tried all the other specs and the whole class just ‘‘clicked’’ with me, and so i never changed.
Oftentimes I change because I get bored of playing the same class. Other times because I don’t like the changes made to a class.
WotLK: Paladin
Cata: Didn’t like Holy Power so I started playing Mage
MoP: Mage
WoD: Rogue
Legion: Rogue
BfA: Priest, then changed to Hunter because spriest is bad for solo content + Voidform sucks
Shadowlands: Probably Hunter
I change main all the time after I get bored with all the grind and also because I really like to test different specializations.
I had a rogue for around a decade that was really hard to let go but when I quit raiding and saw what changes they did to rogues after WoD I just had no regrets at all.
The only reason I would have to become attached to a class is if I started to raid again and had to perform good that you could expect from someone that mains a class.
If the next expansion isn’t a mess like this one, and allows players to actually main 2 without being forced to worry about a new neck essence, level, new cloak, new azerite, new corruption and on top of it all, the gearing itself, I’ll consider having 2 mains. this mage and DK.
But i doubt it.
Blizzard loves to create multiple layers of things to keep players busy for more playtime, while in reality, it just reduces the incentive for players to do it more than once, frustrating them more and more with the game.
But shadowlands seems fine so far, so who knows? Maybe 2 mains is a thing that’s possible without you wanting to bash your head against a wall.
Used to be mage main. But as it’s become more and more of a one-trick pony with increasingly less utility (though dungeon design is built around not needing any, so I guess that’s why) it just isn’t as interesting as it used to be. Lost interest in the class completely in Legion and didn’t really have any clear main but decided to pick something and stick with it from BfA onwards.
DK and DH was tied for first choice with paladin as close second. Since I have more time invested in the DK (WotLK character after all) that’s what I ended up with. The last couple of weeks I’ve noticed that I still am better at paladin than DK though, so regretting it just a little bit.
Always mained a hunter except for one patch (i play since 4.3)
that patch was 6.2 (HFC patch), I played 2 mains in this patch - hunter and warlock. They were both mythic geared and up to date on all the gear upgrades (valor, leggo ring drops etc)
I thought I’d never say this but I miss WOD. It permitted you to play lots of alts without commiting to this game like to a full-time job. No time gated grinds except for legendary ring quest, and even that was significantly accelerated in 6.2.
BFA went all-in on time gated grinds. This expansion puts MOP daily quest grinding to shame
I’ve tried many different classes over the years. Some I just leveled, some I played at a relative high level. But the class that I’ve always come back to and that I considered my main is rogue.
Interestingly enough it was my first character back when I started in WotLK and somehow it just stuck with me.
That was however until I came back to BFA in 8.3 and got into mythic+ (I played some m+ in legion aswell but on a pretty low level). While rogue is still fun in m+ (although I always prefered assasination) the main reason to switch to a dh was the queue times. There was just way too much downtime when playing as a solo dps (even when queuing with a heal it was still somewhat terrible).
So I used the character boost from purchasing BFA (that I hadn’t used until then) to boost a dh to 110 (yep I’m that lazy) and play tank.
And so far I have zero regrets. Vengeance tanking is super fun. I can find groups whenever I want and for whatever dungeon I want (a healing gf helps aswell).
Mythic+ also made me learn a lot about tanking in general. Until then I was just holding aggro and only using CDs when I got low on health (and I still considered myself a good tank).
Since I rarely raid and mainly do 5man content I think tank will stick quite a while with me. I have not yet decided which tank I’ll play in Shadowlands. I haven’t looked into tanking in SL much, but my current favourites are still dh or warrior.
i am at max characters. i had many “mains” during my time in wow. often they are duplicate classes though but they mean a lot to me. all have unique stories and memories attached to them.
i usually dont play more than two characters on the side besides my main.
however, i do think its natural for most people to play/feel drawn to different classes or races at one point to mix things up and experience something new. all those achievements and reps wont go away just because you play another character. they will be right there when you decide to switch back to your paladin.
and regrets? well, i do feel bad for all those characters just waiting for me to play them again. its like i let them down and waiting.
but then again, im easily to guilt trip. a week or two ago we went to a different supermarket for grocery shopping and when we passed by the one we usually go to i audibly apologised to that supermarket because i felt bad that we went to another one as if i had betrayed it. so make of that what you will.
I will try not to add to much as I think most have explained their selves pretty much like I would too.
Feeling attached to your paladin is pretty normal and so is the feeling about your hunter.
I’d suggest you to just go with the flow. Go play your hunter. Go main it in SL. Give your wow a refresh and play something you havent before. Your paladin will be happy waiting for you if you want to play it again, but you shouldn’t rush that.
At the end it’s all about you having fun playing a game. That was your paladin in the past till now. If you have fun playing your hunter, that’s what you should do.
I’m maining feral now and in SL and it’s the one spec I’ve never played since classic wow and I play this for maybe just over a month now. Let’s see how itll be.
