Posts tagged alt 
The Daily Grind: Are you a fan of account-wide rewards?
Guild Wars has long been a source of mild frustration for me because not all of the game's achievements are account-wide. While aspects of the Hall of Monuments are based on your account's accomplishments and skill unlocks are accessible by alts, the game nevertheless discourages me from devoting ...
The Daily Grind: Are heirloom items bad for MMOs?
In its Wrath of the Lich King expansion, World of Warcraft introduced a new class of items: the heirloom. Heirlooms can be transferred between all of the characters on your account, even your alts belonging to "enemy" factions. While a cloth-bedecked caster can't exactly wear the heavy platemail ...
The Daily Grind: Are alts and mules a form of cheating?
In response to Beau's recent Free For All column on the topic of botters and cheaters, reader Keith wrote in to suggest that there's another form of cheating much more common and pervasive: the use of alternate characters. In games like EVE Online or Star Wars Galaxies, which limit the number of ...
The Daily Grind: Does a class' popularity influence your desire to play it?
There are a few constants that dog my adventures into every MMO. I will play a female character even though I am a man, I will go nuts over pet classes if they are available, I will probably create a legion of alts before ever hitting the level cap, and I will wear stylish hats even if the stats ...
The Road to Mordor: Making your alts work for you
I have a confession to make. My name is Justin, and I'm a Lord of the Rings Online altoholic. I know. I have a problem! I'm weak! DON'T STARE WITH THOSE ACCUSING EYES! I always start out in games with the best of intentions: I'm going to stick with just one character, at least until I hit ...
Lost Pages of Taborea: Power-leveling alts in an honor party
Over the course of two years, Runes of Magic has had many patches. It has also had many changes and additions that never made it into the patch notes. They're usually nothing major -- maybe a minor graphical tweak or some other incidental improvements. Then there are items, quests, and features ...
Wings Over Atreia: Endgame = end of game?
It happens. All good things must come to an end... except (hopefully) your favorite MMORPG. After all, the whole idea of the MMO is to keep going endlessly, right? To supposedly ever-evolve -- there is no final "win" that concludes the story as in single-player RPGs. However, what do you do when ...
The Daily Grind: Do alts help or hurt game retention?
I'm going to share with you something I've struggled with and then ask for your professional opinion, Internet Friends. As a natural altoholic, I'm forever filling up my character select screen with a wide variety of heroes. And by heroes, I mean "experiments." Having a main is all fine and dandy, ...
The Daily Grind: Do you make stealth alts?
If you've spent any kind of time in MMOs, you've undoubtedly run into at least one person who drives you completely insane. Perhaps your boss heard you mention World of Warcraft at the coffee machine one day and popped up in your guild shortly thereafter, ensuring that you'd never have a moment's ...
Wings Over Atreia: Altaholics anonymous
OK, now I've done it... my status as an oddity at Massively is exposed for all the world to see. I confess -- I do not like to play alts. Whew. There, I said it. That wasn't so hard. And being unique is not such a bad thing, right? In gaming, and in Aion especially, I definitely feel out of ...
