More Alts, More Professions, More Connection.

When I first heard about connected realms something immediately occurred to me.  I can have more characters on my server.  Now that connected realms are underway that passing thought becomes a reality.  With each new realm that merges with mine that means there are 11 more character slots I can make effectively on my main server, even if they are on one of the other servers.

This means my heirlooms can be sent to them and I can level even more characters faster.  If five realms were connected together I could effectively have 50 characters on the same server.  It can't happen because I already have a lot of characters on many different servers, some of which will not be connected because they are on full servers, sometimes with a queue to log in.  Dare I say blizzard would not be stupid enough to connect a realm to one that already had occasional queue times to enter even when there is no new content, like now?  Well, don't put it past blizzard, they have been known to make their fair share of bone headed moves before.

Either way, I do have a few character slots open being I am not at my 50 max and that means I can make more characters on my main server thanks to merging.  The thing is, what characters do you make on a server that already have one of each class?

Well, when I had my second account active, which has been inactive for an extremely long time and I intend to leave it that way until they offer another scroll of resurrection mount, I had a couple more hunters, a druid and a DK on the main server where I do most of my game play.  They sit quietly on an inactive account at 85 now, but if anything that gives an idea which characters I would level as duplicates giving the ability to do so now.

Leveling more hunters really seems like a no brainer if you ask me.  It is my favorite class.  It is the best class in the game to level with.  It is one of the best classes in the game to gather with.  And it is my favorite class and by far what I am best at.

Past that, you need to look at will I play them.  If anything a hunter would be what I would most likely be willing to play.  It is also why, when looking at my past history, the only 4 classes I tend to have duplicates of at max level early on are the ones I play the most.  Hunter, druid, priest and death knight.  Without a doubt, in my opinion, the 4 easiest classes to level and play.  But that probably has more to do with my experience in them.  I am sure other classes are easier for other people.

But with more characters comes more opportunity to expand on my professions.  Of course, like any good commander of an army of alts, I have every profession already including having one of each alchemy specialization.

So what professions might be best to have duplicates of, and that is what I am thinking about now.  With the connected realms leveling a new character does not seem like an issue.  Be it a hunter or some other class it won't take more than 2 days played even if I take my sweet ass time to level from 1 to 90.  I've said it so many times before, leveling is just too darn fast.  However, in this case, where I would just be leveling for extra professions, that works out to be a good thing.  But don't let me taking advantage of that lead you to believe that I changed my mind.  I still believe, very strongly in fact, that it should take even a fast leveler like myself 20 days played to get to max level, not 2. 

The reason we have so many bad max level players is we give them a free pass to become max level players.  I say let them take 40 days played to get to max level, if they can manage that, they will more than likely not be a bad player when they get there.  But that is a post for another day.

Back to topic.  What professions should I start stockpiling on?

First things first.  With the barrens quest hub and now the timeless island hub, we are seeing what the future might hold for us and that is a lot of BoA catch up gear.  What does that mean to the profession minded person?  I'll tell you exactly what that means.  You need an enchanter of every armor class.

Look at the timeless island BoA stuff.  Timeless plate, timeless mail, timeless leather and timeless cloth.  All of which can only be converted by the person that can wear it and as soon as it is converted you can not trade it.  So you would want to convert it on a character that can disenchant it wouldn't you, to get the most out of it.

This weekend I converted and disenchanted over 400 timesless BoA pieces for a total of 453 sha crystals and I still have roughly 100 pieces floating around because I do not have an enchanter that can disenchant mail.

It only makes sense to have one enchanter of each armor class now.  Not only does it make sense, but you would be playing at a disadvantage if you did not have one of each class.  A disadvantage in making gold, a disadvantage of not having all those normally expensive weapon enchants for free, a disadvantage of wasting materials they are handing out for free.  The only thing worse than not playing well is not playing smart.  Having a profession alt that can disenchant all classes of armor is playing smart.

With connected realms and the ability to have more characters on your server, why not have an enchanter for all types so if they ever do this again you can take advantage of it.  Being I need a mail enchanter, I love playing hunters, and hunters are easy to level.  Can you guess my first connected realm move in concern to what class I will roll and at least what one profession it will have?  Yeap, a hunter with enchanting is on its way.

Outside of that obvious addition, what professions should I make the others I will add to my army of alts when the time comes?

Things like tailors will always be good if they do something like they did with bags this time around.  Instead of making one bag every 12 days you could make 2 or 3 or 4.  I am sure you can make a lot more money having a lock on the bag market from the get go like that.  Or even if you are just making them for yourself, at least you will have all the best bags sooner than later.

But if they do it with reputation to get the pattern like this time, which I hated, who has the time to grind reputation on multiple profession alts?  Surely not me, and I play a lot.  So not sure who would unless they are unemployed.  So maybe that is not a good option because getting ready for it might effectively make more work for myself and the last thing I want is to back myself into a corner where I feel I "have to" do something again.

More transmutation alchemists makes sense.  Only need one for flask and one for potions.  There is no limit on how many of those you can make but when it comes to transmutes there is always something with a limit and when an expansion starts those things always sell like wildfire. They even still have a fair deal of life throughout the expansion.  Something you can't say about some other things.  So surely adding a few of those would be good.

How about adding another double gatherer to the mix for those days when I just feel like doing some farming?  A worgen druid makes for an excellent herbalist and skinner thanks to instant flight form and the ability to pick herbs in the air plus faster skinning.  A hunter makes for the absolute best node gatherer meaning mining and herbalism is great for them too, let the pet fight while you gather.  No losing a node to getting attacked and someone else taking it while you are fighting.  We all hate that don't we?  Well, I do.

There are so many great things (and bad things) that can come with connected realms but all I can think about is my army of alts and what professions they will be.  More alts, more professions thanks to more connection.  I can dig it.

Are you character capped?  If so, what are you planning to do with your new found ability to make more characters effectively on your main server?