The Daily Grind: Do you re-roll when you come back?

Coming back to an MMO after an extended leave of absence can be a trial in and of itself. Unlike the first time, when everything is fresh and new and straight-forward, a return means that you have to unravel all of the messy threads that you left behind when you bugged out after a rage quit (I'm just generalizing, here). All at once you have to remember your passwords, get reacquainted with your characters, relearn your skill rotations, puzzle out your entire quest log, and catch up on the (presumably) many changes that have happened to the game since you left.

Consequently, the temptation can be strong to simply wipe the slate clean and re-roll a completely new character. A brand-new character can help you relearn the game without overwhelming you with too many details at once, which is hugely appealing. On the other hand, it might seem like a waste not to continue an old character that you invested so much of your time and effort into building.

So do you re-roll when you come back to an MMO, or do you pick up where you left off? This Daily Grind will self-destruct in five minutes or after a hundred comments, whichever comes first.

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

Reader Comments (23)

normally I roll a new character for a bunch of levels, until i am familiar with the basics and everything again and then i switch back to my old characters to figure out where i left off...

except with wow... everytime i went back to that game i just kept playing my main, because there's absolutely no relearning in WoW.... after all, all of their expansions have been exactly the same stuff over and over ;)

@eLdritchZ

Couldn't have said it better myself.

@eLdritchZ

I'd have to disagree with the relearning part depending on what class you played. It seemed like every time I would rejoin to try out the new expansion my Paladin would practically be an entirely new class.

@eLdritchZ

This. Exactly this.

Sometimes I like the new "reminder" character enough to keep it as an alt, but usually, they just get deleted once I feel ready to run my main characters again.

@eLdritchZ

Same. Many times, I have forgotten the basics or the rules have changed on me (even after a few months of not playing). I try to play my old character, but if I feel a bit overwhelmed and in need of a refresher, I will make a new character and relearn.

In some cases, where I feel I can get away with rolling on a different server with a different rules-set or a untried class, I will even keep the new character, if character slots allow.

I only reroll if it's been more than a year or there has been major changes to the game.

It takes all of five minutes to get re-acquainted with a skillbar, so I rarely see a point in re-rolling when returning to an MMO. Generally, when most people ragequit due to imbalance, I re-roll the OP class (as an alt, not a main) instead of quit. Abusing broken mechanics makes me feel better about them existing, which alleviates the desire to skip-out on what is otherwise a perfectly good game.

I seldom take a hiatus longer than about 2 months, but when I come back it's usually with enough impetus to make a new character, but then I have over 50 characters already, so I'd hardly wipe out all the old ones - They provide me with the breadth of available game-play styles that keep my interest for so long between hiatuses. Each is unique, with its own story that can be as much the inspiration to get me playing it as the powers and the fun. There's even one or two I'll want to play just because they look fantastic, but then that's City of Heroes for you - best costume designer I've come across, widest variety of gameplay styles and you can write your own character's story to help you really get motivated.

No reroll, but if feeling too lost, I'll probably make an alt, their fewer skills generally help to get used to a game system again.

Nope. Once I come back, I prefer to hit the ground running,

Ever try doing a raid first thing after a 1 year hiatus? It. Is. Hilarious.

I do from time to time as I enjoy leveling. If I left a game and came back it was probably due to boredom on a previously played character.

I re-roll low level characters when I can't remember what I was doing with them when I left. Specially if there were changes to the questing experience.

Mid to high level characters are almost always left the way they are. I'm not willing to lose too much play time getting a character back to it's previous level.

I'm with @PrimeSynergy here. Regardless of how long I've been gone, I grab my main jump right in. Granted, I try to read up on the release notes since I last played first. Only once have I been too out of touch with a game that I rerolled, but I hadn't invested much time there in the first place.

Really, it depends on how "messy" everything is. If my inventory is full of junk that I'm not sure why I was saving and my quest journal is an incomprehensible mess then I'll probably re-roll instead of trying to figure everything out again.

Usually, I'll re-roll. Just like with single-player games, I prefer to get the whole experience from the beginning. If I take a long break I prefer to tackle it from the beginning. That said, if it's a game like WoW where the repeatable endgame stuff is usually the same with each content addition, it's no sweat just jumping back into an established character. I prefer PvE, but I also prefer variety, so i rather enjoy leveling. In WoW at least, leveling and running dungeons are about the same in terms of gameplay (killing stuff over and over until objectives are completed) so aside from the gear, I prefer the changing locales and storylines of leveling. All-in-all, this has turned me into an alt-oholic.

I re-roll every time I re-subscribe after a couple months hiatus. I consider it my excuse to play every class available. I get bored playing a main in World of Warcraft, but if its DAoC I always start from an existing character; DAoC takes too long for me to level up to 50, even though it has got better.

I try to never reroll, unless it is a new class that is drawing me back into the game. OR if the game is like FFXI and they no longer have my character information.

I don't like to re-roll when I go back to an online game, because playing those old characters is the largest motivating force to returning in the first place, for me. Usually though, it's been so long that I am no longer effective or comfortable with that character and end up re-rolling anyway. At least for awhile.

I do not reroll.

Nerfs to a favorite character are my number one reason for leaving games to begin with. I will not come back until they have been reversed or the mechanics changed enough that it makes no difference.

I generally re-roll, although I've come to see this as a huge time-wasting flaw of mine. I just end up playing the same content, and then usually quitting at about the same point. Rare is the game that can keep me enthralled all the way through.

My new strategy is to do as some already suggested, roll a new avatar, but only until I reacquaint myself with the game, then jump back where I left off. I figure its my only hope of completing games with my Game ADD issue.

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 20 Comments

The Daily Grind: Do you re-roll when you come back?

Reader Comments (23)

Posted: Aug 17th 2011 8:06AM eLdritchZ said

Posted: Aug 17th 2011 8:24AM Equillian said

Posted: Aug 17th 2011 9:31AM Ehra said

Posted: Aug 17th 2011 10:50AM mysecretid said

Posted: Aug 17th 2011 5:06PM Space Cobra said

Posted: Aug 17th 2011 8:10AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 17th 2011 8:27AM actellim said

Posted: Aug 17th 2011 8:46AM AceSteveC said

Posted: Aug 17th 2011 9:01AM Carolina said

Posted: Aug 17th 2011 9:11AM PrimeSynergy said

Posted: Aug 17th 2011 9:27AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 17th 2011 9:27AM DarkWalker said

Posted: Aug 17th 2011 9:29AM dustraven said

Posted: Aug 17th 2011 9:32AM Ehra said

Posted: Aug 17th 2011 9:40AM hereafter said

Posted: Aug 17th 2011 9:45AM Bladerunner83 said

Posted: Aug 17th 2011 11:01AM Bramen said

Posted: Aug 17th 2011 11:27AM Palebane said

Posted: Aug 17th 2011 11:58AM Heraclea said

Posted: Aug 17th 2011 12:28PM Ocho said

Info

Description

MSRP

Release Date

Genre

Developer

Publisher

Rating

Breaking News

The Secret World launch delayed to July 3rd

Featured Stories

The Mog Log: The Legacy rewards and what they mean

The Tattered Notebook: The passing of Ribbitribbitt

The Firing Line: PlanetSide 2's Matt Higby on the MMOFPS revolution

Engadget

Joystiq

WoW

TUAW