I’m an altaholic, I admit it. On my main server, Proudmoore, my character list looks something like this:

• Level 70 Paladin
• Level 70 Mage
• Level 63 Priest
• Level 37 Druid
• Level 24 Shaman
• Level 19 Hunter

plus two other attempts at hunters, another shaman, another priest and another paladin, all under twenty, and about seventy gazillion banker alts. (Why yes, I do have two accounts, how could you tell?) So when it comes to starting a new character, I have lots of options. I have plenty of cash to help them along their way; I have enough stockpiled resources to help them skill up any tradeskill; I have a higher-level character with whom I can dual-box to push them through any tricky quests.

I’ve recently started a little warrior alt on another server to play with a close friend, and it’s just weird; I’ve got none of those resources to hand. No twinking, no helping hands; what I’ve got is what I’ve got. Combine that with the fact that I’m playing with a default UI (since I’m not familiar with the warrior playstyle, I’m not sure how to configure things best yet), and it feels almost like a new game again – except I have to stop myself from watching the trade channel for familiar names, or thinking “oh, I’ll just swap to my banker alt and mail over some ore”. Good times.

Which makes me wonder, really – I know I’m not alone in generally clinging to my ‘main’ server, but I also know plenty of people will happily reroll on another server at the drop of a hat, and will very often have one or two characters on each of half a dozen servers. That kind of mindset is really alien to me, that willingness to shelve all the resources one has worked for and start over totally fresh, over and over again – but hey, as long as they’re having fun, more power to them. In the meantime, I’ll be over here on my lonely little warrior, looking sadly at her bank balance. :)