Difficulty re-establishing a "main"

Community General Discussion
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When I first began playing the game seriously (and by that I mean not just doing Ghostlands over and over because it’s the best zone), I made a DK. I leveled it to 80 as fast as I could, and I proceeded to play it like it was the only thing that mattered (and at that part of my life, it was all that mattered). It’s where my original “gamer nickname,” or whatever you want to call it, came from, and it’s what most of my friends from that time know me as. That character was a part of who I was, and it impacted me and my social circles as I went forward in life.

When Cata launched, I found myself displeased with the changes to DK, so I started bouncing around other classes, but none of which I’ve really connected with like I did that original DK. To make an 18-year WoW story short, I ended up deleting that DK, and most of my characters from that time, and then taking a pretty long hiatus from the game. I would return on occasion, level a new DK, play it for maybe a season, try a couple alt classes, then end up quitting again.

I am trying to avoid repeating this cycle. While I don’t mind having an alt class or two as a backup, I’d really rather be able to say with confidence, “Oh yeah, my main’s name is ‘X’ and it’s a FDK, and I’ve done this or that on it.”

As it stands, I no longer feel any kind of “connection” with any of my characters as I once did. I have several DKs, and after a while I end up deleting them for one reason or another. Despite my love for the class, and the fact that I generally have had a good time on it as of late, once I’ve accomplished whatever arbitrary goals I set for myself, I no longer have any drive to play it anymore. I hit my PvP goals on my DK this season—better than I’ve ever done before—and it’s like all desire to play the class was just drained from me. I almost immediately moved to another character and began playing it, and I’ve bounced between alts ever since. I don’t even log on my pseudo-main unless someone else needs me to for whatever reason.

As of right now, I’m leveling my DH to 80 so that it’s ready for pre-patch launch, and going into midnight early access I won’t even be starting with my DK. I’ll be playing my druid to just farm herbs/ore to try to build a nest egg for the coming expac.

I’m really starting to feel as though the love/energy I once had for the game isn’t the same anymore. I’ve tried over the years to re-establish that link with both my character and the game itself, and I just can’t seem to. While I do enjoy playing the game, it doesn’t have that same hit it used to have, and I’d like it back.

TL;DR:
I’m do not find myself wanting to stick with any one character as i once did, and i’d like to get back to that, if at all possible.
For those of you who do have mains—and not just a main class, but a specific character you view as your main—

  1. How do/did you connect with this character?
  2. Would you say that time invested was the largest contributing factor in viewing a character as your main?
  3. What would you suggest for someone looking to find or create a main now, but is struggling to do so.
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Remix is turning my login screen into a graveyard of “temporary alts” (account-wide progress request)
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I changed his race and even faction often, but I think of him as my main hunter because he is the one I did achievement points on, and gear up each season (I don’t gear up too many to save effort, I rarely even get good gems on other characters). In DF S2 I geared about 10 characters to play seriously, but this time, no. It’s too tedious to get all those crests on 10 characters. When gearing takes longer, I have this one character I play seriously and that is him. And to be honest he is still 724 item level so other people put much more effort into gearing one or more characters than I put into gearing just one.

Yes it was the main factor for me, pun intended. I don’t love my main more than my other gnomes but I love all my gnomes more than all my night elves. And when my main is a non-gnome I love them less than the gnomes.

Create a lot of alts and then fully gear up the one you like the most next season to max gear, you can call that one your main and BAM you have a main! It doesn’t mean you can’t play others or that you have to be especially connected to your main. They’re (to me) just the one that does the most stuff because they get the best gear.

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I had wanted to main Brewmaster since I started playing the game in 2016, but was always too scared. I finally gave up the ‘tankxiety’ and fear of playing a ‘difficult spec’ and decided to just roll with it.

I’d say whatever character you look at on your login screen and just go “hell yeah I wanna play this one” more than all the others is your main. Don’t fall into a sunk cost mindset.

With Lemix allowing giga fast leveling, and Midnight a few months out, just level stuff for now. When prepatch hits, try everything you’re interested in. Don’t worry too hard about finding your main. At least in my experience, my main for a season finds me more than I find it, if that makes sense.

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I don’t have a main anymore. That somehow went out the window in War Within. I’m still not sure how or why. I now have a campsite called “Mains,” because there’s four I’d cycle between this expansion.

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This character will probably always be my ‘main’, it’s just part of my story as a player. I had other mains before it but after my exodus from the original server I was on to strike out my own way it’s always been this character at the forefront.

They’re basically my real first ‘OC’ that’s just my own without other people’s input, so that attachment for me will always be there. I’m not sure on what advice to give for making a new ‘main’ other than it having some significance to yourself or your own personal story.

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I don’t think there’s a reliable answrr to this quandary, that anyone can provide you. It’s your personal preference on your personal journey. No one is gonna be able to walk in your shoes to tell you where to go, or how to get there.

I took this character from a mere alt in Vanilla, to a main doing Sunwell in BC to HM ICC in wrath, to shelving her for the next 17 years.

I’d reckon there is no “attachment” as you see it. I conquered the world with this character, and put her away at the drop of a hat. These are, at the end of the day, pixels.

So ALL that being said- my suggestion? Get rid of the rudder, and just go wherever the wind takes you. Gearing is easy enough to make it so.

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Ashnazg here is my main and has been since the last wing of ToS opened in Legion. Before that, it was Wilhame, a worgen destruction warlock, who is almost like a co-main.

While I don’t game any longer, I’ve been a TT RPG nerd for most of my life; I even ran my own publishing company for a while and was a host on a popular RPG podcast. I connect with all my characters via strong head-canon stories. Both Ashnazg and Wilhame have really strong backgrounds and stories, a good portion of which I came up with as I was creating the characters. And then as things happen in-game, if those things are important to the character, I’ll embellish them some and add them to the character’s head-canon (like, for instance, during the Suramar questlines, Ashnazg felt a kinship to the Nightfallen of Shal’Aran because they accepted him and his help for what it was, unlike the elves of Val’Sharah and their “you’re more demon than elf” stuff. He planned to retire with them at Shal’Aran after the Legion was dealth with, but then they joined the Horde. So now he feels betrayed by the Nightfallen.)

Again, it’s whether I can come up with good head-canon backgrounds and stories. If I can’t, the characters don’t mean as much as those that have them.

Find one with a cool story that makes you excited to play it, and excited to run around Azeroth and add quests and dungeons and raids and events to their story.

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Find something you think is fun, cool, and looks good.
Then just play them, and keep playing them.

The attachment builds over time.
The more youve done on them, the more you have to be fond of.

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I swap mains each season. I get heavily invested into a character thematically, find a transmog/mount/title etc that I think fits that well. By the end of the season I feel that I have fully explored that characters potential and enjoyed it, and I’m ready to do that again with another spec.

I don’t see anything wrong or bad with not having a long term main.

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My PvP main is my Undead Priest, probably has the most /time played and achieves of all my toons, I LOVE my Priest more than anything, we’ve been through hell and we’re still here to talk about it, killed many Alliance, MC’d many folks off the edge of something. Good times.

My PvE main is Paladina here, got the job in Legion when my Priest as heals mind you, got kicked twice from a M0 for wanting to do the prof quest. /rage

Geared up Paladina and went back and solo’d the place, didn’t get the prof quest done for my Priest, but I held a middle finger up to the groups that kicked me, felt good and my PvE main was born I guess.

Paladin’s are giant pink toolboxes, easy to play, hard not to like them when you want to kick back and chill.

So Priest main, with Pally a close second.

I guess to answer the question, I didn’t pick my main, so much as it picked me.

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Yeah, I was kinda thinking that might be the case even as i asked it. After posting the thread and reading the replies, i dont really think anyone has the answer i’m looking for (not that i even know what that is).

That being said i dont regret asking, I appreciate everyone sharing their perspectives with me.

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56 mains. No one gets alt treatment.

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For me is simple, my main did most of the quests among my warbind (in the progress to clear all quest marks in every zone), have all profession skill to max (from classic to tww), has all recipes, exalted reputation in many faction (working on every faction now), has a lot of teleporting items, gears in bag and rare items to show off, and has some old elite pvp set.

My advice to people who want to actually main a character is to find an anchor to invest time. That anchor must not be warbind, and are not retired every season like gear. As long as your invested time is not wasted by some catch up mechanism then it is a good anchor.

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I feel that. My first toon ever was undead lock. Then I made a paladin and was very connected to this char. After 10+ year break I came back and started a warrior and then a priest. Maxxed them. Remade the paladin. Played her a lot. But I find myself gravitating to rogue over and over again. The class I was starting to get into back when I quit arounf end of Wotlk start of MoP.

So for me it was a matter of reviving my old main with tsame name and look and everything. But then I have an alt of every class. I spend the most time doing this or that on my rogue now. She has the max cooking and fishing. Mac professions. So the class I like farting about on has become more fun to me than the one I would use to get invited to endgame content (paladin).

If I could get used to waiting for groups or make friends maybe rogue would be my main. I rambled a lot but the thing I am trying to say is maybe see which one you just like doing lower stakes content on most.

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Ironically in light of what I typed, you and I are walking a very very similar path. Hell, I’m just now taking the rudder off myself.

So yeah, no shame in asking, at all. Mayhaps you’ll reach an entirely different insight than I have.

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I really identify with a lot of what you’re saying. I think for me at least, the spark was always about the people I played with. When I returned from my hiatus I also struggled with that spark being gone and missing it.

It it’s kind of like love, you can’t force it if it isn’t there, when you stop trying to force it you sometimes stumble upon it again.

Follow what Interests you, if this isnt it right now then that’s ok too.

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I would be a Rogue Main if I didn’t completely forget how to play as soon as I get into a group setting.

it’s wild how much I really like Rogue as a class in almost every aspect, and I can play solo content very well and I get the rhythm of Rogue Combat when I am by myself. but then as soon as I get into a dungeon or raid, I’m completely lost combat-wise and just end up button-mashing out of confusion.

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for me, i just stopped thinking i had to force myself to do everything on my main. for example, i still consider my druid to be main because it’s one of my oldest chars and i have the most nostalgia/memories attached to it, but i also play whatever looks fun each season.

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I think I can relate to this, though in a tangential way. I have always main’ed a lock **** and I thought maybe I was weird to end up with four of them at level 80. It is my comfort class so to speak, so I guess that passes for the the one I identify with. It is the class I will use if I want to experience content or try something new and not have to think at all about my abilities and just focus on the tasks at hand. it is my efficiency class so to speak.

The being said, remix and leveling bonuses have left me in a position to where I actually have multiple characters across three different classes, and I can’t choose as to whether I want to default back to my lock. I cannot deny the power and survivability of vengence DH for things like delves. I love devoker for general questing and farming (and it accidentally became my main for DF/TWW), but it can be squishy and a one trick pony in some dangerous encounters when the all CDs are on cooldown. I enjoy frost DK for general questing as well as it is not as squishy as devoker and can get through sticky situations, but it is not as up front blasty / nukey fun.

**** my launch era class was cow shaman from the enhancement windfury two-handed mace days. So about as basic of a class to have. Shock - auto attack - heal

I really want to level another enhancement shaman up, but ask myself what the point would be when I already have a VDH or Blood DK? Same goes for warrior.

Right now I think I have decided this:
Delves = VDH or Blood DK
Questing = stuck … I can’t choose.

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  1. how do i connect with the character:

My main is m y VHD.

the legion “refusal of the gift” cut scene is one of my top favorites of the whole game.

the declaration “I am my scars!!!” won me for life :slight_smile:

  1. time invested

hard to say without logging on for slash played. it is in the dozens and dozens of days for sure.

I dabble in other toons here and there and have all classes more or less at max level, but my VDH is the one I seriously play in m+, delves, challenges and even some PVP.

  1. how to choose

first, are you a FOMO/META player?

if so, you are probably screwed out of picking a main. the game changes too much. maybe play either mage or priest. Mage seems to always have something good going for it. if you l ike healing at all, one of the priest specs is usually decent and shadow priest is often decent.

if you want flexibility, then pick paladin or druid. they can do all the roles. if shaman ever gets a legit tank spec, that would probably become my main.

another question, are you a solo player or group player?

if solo, pick hunter and get after it. go tame pets, and do huntery things in the world.

I like VDH because I feel invincible in the open world and I generally focus on lower end m+ play and I hate to wait for groups :slight_smile: