PvE Alts - to make or not to make?!

Up until now, I've spent basically all 100 hours or so of my time on GW on my only toon - a warrior. I've been trying to decide whether to make an alt. Obviously I would like to try out different professions but there are a few things really deterring me.

1) The rep grind for GWEN. I don't understand why the title ranks aren't account-wide. Can someone give me one good reason why the ranks are character-specific?

2) Heroes - I have to acquire and outfit them all over again. Expensive.

3) The same content all over again. Of course this repetitiveness is the bane of all MMORPGS. But given how ingeniously and successfully GW has modified the MMO paradigm (instant travel, instancing, level cap, builds, etc), I'm disappointed they didn't do more to make playing alts less tedious. The idea of having account-wide attributes is brilliant, but I'm disappointed they didn't take the idea all the way.

IN MY IDEAL GW WORLD, all characters on a player's account share heroes, quests, mission progression, and rep titles. Once you reach level 20 on one toon, you have the option of instantly creating another level 20 instantly who shares the main's quest log and can basically tackle the PvE content on behalf of the main. Sure, this breaks roleplaying immersion a bit, but it allows a non-hardcore player to explore all the professions and skills without being forced to re-grind the same stuff all over again. In my humble opinion, this sort of design is the natural fulfillment of everything ANet set out to do with its fundamental GW philosophy: less monotony, more fun, and get to the heart of what makes MMOs awesome without the fluff.

If you are allowed to change secondary professions at will, why can't you also change primary professions at will by logging into an alt who inhabits the same quest-status world as the main?

What do you all think?

It's a hard choice but there is no other way.

You basically have the repeat everythign on the alt. Yes, the GWEN title grind is indeed a frustrating thing but until Anet change it, nothing we can do

That's the main thing holding people back too.

For pretty much every other MMORPG:
alt = grind same content again.

Since GW is not like every other MMO, you expect things to be different. What I suggested above is one thing, in my opinion, they could have done to break away from the numbing alt-grinding repetition that's standard in MMOs.

I guess the title of the thread is a bit misleading: I've actually made up my mind to not bother making an alt. I'm just expressing my frustration at the current system and suggesting an alternative design.

I suggest you play your war for a little while longer.

Playing through the game again is part of the fun of GW, especially if you switch from being a warrior to say a Monk - it brings a whole new perspective on the game. You may realise you don't like playing as another character, which is a good thing, i feel, because that will inspire you to go back and work on your main a bit more.

its always best to try all aspects of the game, all characters (both in PvE and PvP) before you say you're bored of it.

invsblmn, grind is now the replacement for content.

They did and do not have the time to add more and proper content to GW anymore, but they gave us lots of things to grind for till GW2.

Unfortunately, most of the grind is boring as hell. GW was never meant to become a grinder, but now they make it more and more part of the game.

Sad thing is that you nowadays almost feel penalized when playing a new class through the game, instead of working on the phallic hall monument of your main.

It's real easy to play all the classes to lvl 20 to get a feel for them. If you like any of them more than your warrior, switch over and salvage/transfer all runes and equipment from your other Heroes, heroes, hero . . . .

I've stopped playing all my alts for the reasons you describe. I now have one character, all others are storage. My guess is they'll fix this awkward system design for GW2, so we'll have to wait for a better day . . . .

It would be nice if more titles were account wide and some of the titles a bit easier time wise to complete and that they could be used by alternate characters. Many of the titles should be for each character only.

The GWEN Titles are fairly easy to get with kills,quests and especially the turning in of books it really doesn't take long.

Any game creator wants to create some re playability reason in their game to make it so people keep playing once they complete the main storyline.

Changing 1st class would make no reason at all to make another alt except for appearance only

If everything was account wide there would be very little reason to play any other characters there would be nothing that they need to do.

I lack to see playing through a campaign with a different profession as grind. If you think 'playing the game' is grind, you'd better rethink your idea of having fun.

Is it me or are there becoming more and more threads from people asking the community what to do? --- should I delete my toon --- what do you think I like the most --- Just make another toon, if you don't like it after 5 hours, delete it and make another one. If you still don't like it, quit the game for a few months, then retry.

Anyways, /rantmode, fill up your account with PvE-chars, to farm birthday presents.

First off ... titles were introduced to GW 2 years after release ... they were not part of the original plan. They were only added because after 2 years people had run out of things to do ... titles added a very nice carrot to keep people going. Despite all the QQing on the forums, much of the GW population would have left (out of boredom) without them.

However, if you are new to the game (100 hours is still very new lol), titles would be the last thing on my mind. Play through all the campaigns ... try PvP ... try different classes and experiment with builds - thats the fun of the game. Titles are things you grind out after you have run out of other fun things to do.

BTW, if you haven't already, try PvP. Don't be intimidated. The game was designed and balanced around PvP (else we would have WoW-like levels and items to grind for) and PvP is truly the best part of GW. I had never played a single PvP game before GW, but I tried it (out of boredom) and now most of the time I can't be bothered to PvE. It's really that good.

Because, despite what some here will tell you, you don't need to increase the ranks for all the tracks on every character. Go to the wiki and look up the reputation line armors and the skills. Choose one you like. One normal mode Hero's Handbook later and you'll have all the reputation you'll need to get to rank 5, probably rank 6, which is more than enough to unlock all content for that line and makes the skills for that line usable enough. It helps to make sure you take the bounties at each shrine, of course, and kill everything in your path rather than trying to rush through and bypass all the monsters. Concentrating on one line with each character also gives you more variety and not all lines' skills go well with every character, so there's really no reason to grind away and max every line.

Not at all expensive. Give them weapons, shields & focii from loot drops. Save your trophies and use them to get collector weapons. Use greens that drop. Change their builds when you find good equipment for attribute lines that you normally don't do (Heroes are more adaptable that way than human players). Don't obsess about getting perfect mods and max damage for them - a Ranger Hero will be just as happy with a Sundering Flatbow of Fortitude that's 14-27, 17/18, +27 Health and 13^50 as one with 15-28, 20/20, +30 and 15^50.

You can play the same campaign with a warrior and then come back and play it in the same order with a necro minion master and have an entirely different experience (then switch your necro to a SS or SV and have another different experience if you want). Then go with an elementalist nukeaholic or a prot monk, or a imbagon para, or a spirit spammer rit, etc....... etc..... etc..... Those are just a few examples, but the beauty of GW is that you can try out so many different types of Professions and builds within professions and have a very different experience with the same game content. I find it hard to see how some one can be finding the game boring or a grind when they have just one character.... You can get to lvl 20 in 2-5 days easily, even faster if you really want to and have the rl time - so go ahead make a few alts, try different styles of gameplay - or better yet, actually beat every campaign with 2-3 different professions before you say it's a bore or a grind.
good luck and enjoy the game

are you saying that after done playing (example) a warrior to level 20, you instantly know how to monk and play an elementalist or a necromancer or an assassin or any other profession at level 20s? and do you also wants all the skills unlock once your only character has reach level 20? what skill would you equip your level 20s that can be created instantly with?

Variety is the spice of life as they say.

As someone with a crazy number of alts (who needless to say, hasn't played religiously for a year...) I'd recommend playing your war and making another character when you want to try out a build.

Also, if your only experience in the game is playing a war, you probably shouldn't make your 2nd character something like a mesmer. That would be traumatic for you. Assassin may also not be the logical next choice for you either.

It would probably do you justice to just check out the skill lists and combos online and only make a second character when you start jonesing to try a build idea.

There are positives for having alts:

* Unlocks. I have UAS account purely from PvE (each character gets all skills for his primary; Skill quests, hero trainers, gold and skillpoints from quests, etc ... Skill come naturally).
* Experience. If you want to make your builds and teambuilds, if you want to play PvP, you need some knowledge of all skills and of all class capabilities. It comes easy if you play them each for a while.
* Someone to give that nice weapon that has no market value but which you don't want to merch.
* Farming. Having alts enables you to get money effectively because whenever new farming spot is discovered, all it takes you to get and start exploiting it is 10 minutes. This also applies to hidden treasures and similar stuff. Old alts also get b-day presents that they can give your main to fill hall. Having 10 alts x completed each campaign gives one access to 40 green weapons - enough to outfit your mains heroes purely in guaranteed greens.

Best is, IMHO, having main character and them have family of mules slash alts which you play at casual pace whenever you are bored with your main or when you want to reach new farming spot.

Besides, everyone should make at least one character in each camapign ... you miss lots of (fun?) content not doing it because starter areas don't offer quests to outsiders.

Its fun having secondary characters to play. If you think you might enjoy it, then by all means create one and at least start it. No harm in that. I rather enjoyed playing through the same content again with a different class, as you get to experience a different role and revisit areas you otherwise would have absolutely no reason to, although for most of my alts I played large parts of them socially in PUGs or guild groups. I couldnt retread areas over and over alone - that would just be too dull.

I also sympathize with the concerns about heroes and titles not being global. This is actually why I retired all my alts only to play my monk.

I'd say give it a shot and see how it goes.

??
I've always considered alt to be an alt-account.
Multiple pve chars is the norm, surely. This is the problem with titles, people play one single-character way too much so don't learn/experience other characters.
As well as making the jump to pvp so much harder, you're more likely to get bored of your "main". Make other primaries!!

When first starting gw I solo'd with my main and used other chars to help friends through missions my main had already completed. Pretty much completed 3 campaigns on 5 chars doing that, and it never really felt repetitive. Plus the 2nd time you go through missions you know the shortcuts/mobs to avoid and can cut your completion time significantly.

I also really enjoy making pve chars "pvp ready". Although pretty much impossible for necros (so many weaponsets for n/e, n/rt, n/mo...), rangers (bows, hammers, scythes) it's feasible for other chars. Best of both worlds that way.

You don't need to grind out those titles to max on every character you know. Most of the good PvE skills are perfectly useable at Rank 1 of their respective title tracks.

A lot of people I know just play with a core of heroes. The uninventive ones just use three necro heroes. It doesn't cost much to rune up the few you use the most. It's important to remember though, that even with basic equipment they're still better than hench. For Nightfall heroes like Koss who come with a starter sword that does need upgrading - just give him a collector's sword. Pimping heroes does not need to be expensive. Give them what drops. Research what you can get for free...Collectors have all sorts of decent weapons. One example I can think of is a 15^50 Suntouched Scythe from a Margonite Mask collector in the Gate of Torment - it's free and max and can be modded with whatever drops.

My main character, my Ele, has her heroes pimped to the hilt. No expense spared. She plays in Hard Mode and I deem it worth it for that one character. I don't feel the need to make the effort for all my other characters.

I found massive replay value in GW - but it's all personal preference. Each profession, I find, brings new and interesting ways of playing the game.

Make another character.

Playing other professions is one way of getting a really good understanding of other professions strengths, weaknesses, and the skills they have. It should make you a better player on your warrior for it. I have, and play, at least one of every profession, but I still have one favourite character, who gets most of my attention, and I use as my main title hunter...the Character who's legacy will live on in GW:2. Other professions are good for variety, they quench boredom, and provide you with a better insight into the game.

my warrior and monk are decked like hell and back, from pve skill titles, heroes, gettin' thur hair did, and the what not....

the rest... aren't lol.

i love to play my sin and mesmer, but neither even have heroes.. er they do.. but none worth speaking of. same thing with high rep. i just left them with whatever i had at the end of GWEN and said "forget it."

it also helps to have people to play with when you wanna beat the games : /

No, I don't think there is a good reason.

I'd like to see unified heroes. It's not really the expense, so much as the time sorting them out. The usual against argument, when heroes first appeared, was that people would use their high level heroes to "power level" their new characters. A pretty weak argument, if you ask me, and soon solved by having the heroes still level as normal - just make their kit global. Hell, get rid of heroes and let me use my other characters - that I'd just love.

This is veering into different territory, but I've always thought more choices would have elevated GW considerably. Some years ago, the RPG/Shooter "Deus Ex" pretty much spoiled me for all other games. Almost every encounter allowed me to decide - kill, sneak or incapacitate? Align myself to that side or the other - and not just the lux/kurz which scenery do I prefer? -type choice, but genuine moral choices that allowed me to feel truly immersed in events, as they unfolded.

The closest GW comes is when I avoid that quest were the sunspear creep proves himself by killing an injured, unarmed corsair.

If only they'd let me help Varesh - things would have been so... different.

I have mixed feelings on some of the above. Certainly I'd like to see all titles global, but doing that with quests and missions is probably taking it too far. Outpost unlocking might be convenient though. I'm sure someone once suggested adding a tome to insta-travel to an outpost already reached by another character... that would be decent solution, to avoid slogging through sections of the game you really don't want to play.

As for primary professions - I'd love to see them done away with in GW2! But in GW1, our characters have appearances matching their professions, so it isn't realistic to be able to change, without getting a new body and effectively re-rolling your character.