Friday, January 4

What makes a main?

I got various toons now and i've always considered my Hunter my main.. he was the first to reach 60 and later the first to reach 70 aswell.
My alts would be the lower toons at first and some of them managed to reach the max. level after a while; my Druid and Warrior both made it to 60 and of those two my Warrior made it to 70 aswell. My Druid is parked at level 64 but from down below a Shaman is climbing up aswell which is level 61 now and got a good chance to overtake the Druid soon.
So what makes a toon a main? For me it is the character who raids, the character you spend most time and money on... but that rule might not be so accurate at the moment, or not at all even. On the moment i'm spending most time on my Shaman but he ain't my highest character, i don't spend the most money on it (altho that epic riding mount was quite expensive and engineering is a bitch aswell), i wouldn't consider him my main... at least not yet.

What if level is a factor then? I got a Warrior who is 70 aswell just like my Hunter and you know what? He raids! Karazhan and not SSC and TK like my Hunter but he still does. His gear is quite epic (think just missing 1 epic ring) while my Hunter is still wearing 2 blue trinkets.
But when comparing itemlevels my Hunter still would be the best equipped as he has a few SSC and TK epics aswell so that still doesn't make my Warrior a main, even with the ammount of gear he has that would many Tanks who raid Karazhan jealous.
Does gear make someone a main then? Still i would need to say no, at least not in my case.

I think there are 2 factors which determine which of your toons is your main. The first factor is you, you have to decide that a certain character is going to be your main... your character you are gonna spend most effort on.
The other factor depends on your guild (if you are in any) and if you are raiding; your guild is that second factor. Can they affort you mainswitching?
Ofcourse they can't stop you from switching but they can tell you you won't get a raidspot on your new main as they simply don't need anyone of that class extra.
But changing mains while in a raidguild can also leave a gap in the raidgroup.... maybe you were filling a spot or you were simply good at your class and it it feels like a waste to leave a skilled toon like yours on raids.

Now i wouldn't present this topic to you if it wouldn't be something that would keep me busy.
As an officer i've seen requests to mainswitch more often, many times we would have to decline that request.. because we couldn't afford to miss that persons toon or simply don't require the new main on raids. We work with raidranks; we got raiders, backup raiders and casuals... if someone decides to mainswitch he becomes a casual in theory, losing his earlier earned raidrights. This seems quite fair to me actually, how can we know if the player can skillfully play his new main aswell? And how about that toons gear? Surely no one is willing to take him by the hand and go back to kill bosses which already been farmed to death and are no longer on the route.
If you are somewhat skilled (there is always more to learn, i won't believe you if you said you play your alt to its fullest... not untill you had at least as many hours /played on it as your main) and you do have the gear which allows you to jumo in directly, then nothing but the earlier mentioned 2 factors stand in way of a mainswitch.
Doors may close behind you tho so be very sure of that mainswitch because you might be stuck in that new virtual body for quite a while.

5 comments:

The Witterer said...

Jeesh, there's so much I am glad I don't have to think about as a current lvl 55 with no raiding interest. Being in a casual guild that's basically a mates' club makes the game simpler in aspects like this. :-)

For me the question is simply which one I feel most 'attached' to as a toon. As my highest alt is 25 this is a fairly easy decision for me. I am about to start a new toon with another guild Hordeside. Can you have two mains? One on each side?

Exanimo said...

Oh thats a good question actually. We have someone in the guild who has a toon on Hordeside aswell and he raids in both. Both raids are at Kael'thas so quite equally too.
I wouldn't be able to say which one he consideres his main... if he doesn't just look at it as having 2 mains idd.

The Witterer said...

I guess there's also a difference in what I'd call a main and what you'd call a main. Given that I'm casual I don't have to nominate a main as there's no main vs alt rolling issues and no raid spots to be held onto etc, so I don't have an 'official' main, just a toon I play most time on and have decided to try and drag up to 70 first.

Exanimo said...

You sir, are wise beyond your levels :P

Matticus said...

As a raider, I think your main character should be defined as your toon that helps your Guild progress. I recently had a guild mate switch from his decked holy priest to a Resto Shaman (which within 2 weeks became similarly geared as his Priest).

My main has been my priest, but I also have a raiding Resto Shaman that's about 150 healing shy of my Priest's healing. I spend more time on my Resto shaman running instances and heroics then I would on my Priest (because my Shaman isn't as geared). Therefore, I don't know if time played would be a factor.

I think intention is the biggest thing.

On another note, I can't remember where I found your blog but it was added into my reader. Good stuff!