So Many Characters

Man, I have a lot of characters.

I totally get why you'd want to stick to a primary character, maybe with an alt or two. It's a faster route to higher levels, as well as new content and more impressive items. But frankly that's not enough for me at the moment. I'm more intrigued by exploring the different styles of play that different classes have, and the different looks (and environments) provided by different races.

So I end up with fifteen characters.

Here's the whole list:

Shandris

• Gnome mage
  
• Night elf druid
  
• Human warrior
  
• Draenei shaman
  
• Dwarf warrior
  
• Human paladin
  
• Gnome rogue
  Terenas
  
• Human rogue
  
• Night elf hunter
  Drenden
  
• Undead rogue
  
• Blood elf hunter
  Kul Tiras
  
• Human warlock
  
• Dwarf warrior
  
• Undead mage
  
• Dwarf warrior
  
• Night elf rogue

OK, that's pretty silly, even for me. Some of that's a bit inflated; three or four of the characters were created by Eric and DK when they were trying the game out at my place. And a couple more are destined for quick death -- one dwarf warrior is a naked corpse in the Frostmane Hold at the moment.

But why all the others? In a word, variety. I was curious to try out a wide range of looks and styles. And it's fun that way, too. Sometimes I'm just in a mood to summon demons, while other times I prefer to stab someone in the back. I'm just that way.

Those are my two highest level characters -- the human rogue and warlock, both in their mid-20s. About the time that I got them to where they are, first Eric then DK began to play. For whatever reason, they started characters on Shandris, and so we've been doing most of our playing there.

It is annoying to be spread across four realms. Well, it was intentional with the Horde characters -- not much point in sharing a server with the Alliance characters. But the others came about right around the launch of Burning Crusade, when load queues were long and patches were frequent. When all your characters are low level, there's a major temptation to just log into another realm and start someone new. Now it's an annoyance, and I'm contemplating whether I should move my higher-level characters to another realm.

It's also nice to have shared professions on the same realm. I found this out when my rogue hit 20 and got the recipe for Thistle Tea. Very cool -- until I saw the prices for Swiftthistle. Ouch! She is fairly accomplished at leatherworking (up to about 145 I believe) and isn't rich with maybe 5 gold at the time. So I switched her realm-mate night elf hunter to Herbalism, and quickly worked up to cutting Magebloom and Briarthorn (which sell well enough in their own right, too). And of course, the rogue can send leather armor back to the hunter as well; it's all very convenient and cozy.

I'm sure it won't continue. With Eric and DK on Shandris, that's where the bulk of our attention will focus. My characters on other realms will be either killed (sniff) or maybe condensed into a single alternate realm. And even some of my Shandris toons will be left behind.

But for now, I'm heavily invested in multiple personality disorder. And loving it.