We had a discussion about alts in another thread and how maybe we have lots of ideas for characters that may never come to be because of time restraints or lack of motivation to level or play them, or maybe you’re just not dedicated enough to the idea.
Tell me about a character concept you love and maybe have vague ideas for, but can’t find it in yourself to pull the Alt Trigger.
God, too many.
Blood Knight
Sunwalker
(Lightforged?) Draenei Vindicator
Discipline paladin
Zandalari Prelate
Night Elf Elunite Paladin
Astromancer
Chronomancer
Astral Druid
Lightforged Draenei Mage
Zandalari Dinomancer
Kul Tiran Tide Sage
Orc Blademaster
Tauren Shaman
Troll Witch Shadow Hunter
Forsaken Apothecary
Forsaken Assassin
An “old soldier” man’s man
Pandaren Mage
Pandaren Priest
Pandaren Samurai
Draenei artificer
A beastmaster
An elven ranger
Dark Iron Anvilthane
A mechangnome or flesh gnome
Those are just a loose list of aesthetics that I have had, at some point, a powerful need to play. My problem is I already have fifteen roleplay characters in some state of development and activity, and more that have profiles but never been RP’ed. Most are on the shelf waiting for a good opportunity, and I’m constantly searching for them. So like… Until one of those guys gets offed somehow (and my friends keep REFUSING to let me kill them), I really don’t have any bandwidth to play any more.
Another worry is that… Like, man, in terms of personalities, motivations, deeper emotions, and themes, how many unique characters can I really make? I already worry that my characters mannerisms are too similar to one another, and that I’m not staying true to them because I’m borrowing from another active character. Maybe making more would force me to branch-out from my “tried and true archetypes/tropes”, but that’d have to be deliberate. I certainly couldn’t just roll up and RP one one day, because I’d probably be copying from an existing character’s personality and adjusting.
My typical strategy is to either
I like both of those strategies. The first lets me explore the aesthetic without really going too in depth. Also, though rare, I have had NPCs that developed into full-fledged characters! The second is really awesome, because when I can make it work, it really enriches existing characters and makes them feel more unique. For example, I wanted to play a bard, but didn’t want to squeeze another character in there. So, I eventually got the idea to turn my Void Priest into a bard too. Kinda a “choir of darkness” vibe to her, which I think is really awesome!
TL;DR: I want five accounts and five me’s so I can keep fifty characters in-play at the same time.
EDIT: It’s weird how many of my want characters are paladins, when I typically don’t like paladin characters. I guess they just look cool as hell, so I see and think, “Oooh. Shiny.”
You’re an elf after my own heart.
For me, I get this idea in my head about a character concept usually by questing or running around somewhere, being inspired by NPCs. They’re usually pretty trope-y: dwarf hunter, void elf rogue, tauren sunwalker, mechagnome fire mage, troll warlock witch doctor.
I end up rolling them and logging in to fill out basic trp info, then I don’t really ever had a need to log into them again. Even though I’d love to play them, there’s just not enough time to play my one RP character, let alone two or 48 others.
Void Elf Hostel Owner - it’s in space.
I had the perfect idea for a Kul Tiran. He was going to be a grizzled sailor deeply bound under the spell of a siren who would go into town and do errands for his mysterious mistress, acting completely suspicious and creepy. But then. The name Thornman was available. So he became a goofy loveable Thornspeaker and the exact opposite of my original idea. But one day. One day I will make my creepy sailor. Maybe. Probably not. But it’s a good idea damn it!
Discipline Paladins should be a THING!
I’m currently sitting on a bunch of alts for characters I haven’t played much of at all for varying lengths of time; often because I simply lack the enthusiasm to prioritize over others for one reason or another. Here are a few, ordered by level (as well as I can remember without checking) and/or the last time I remember playing them:
Kul Tiran Druid,
One day I was blessed with the vision of a big Amazonian wild-woman; a barbaric warrior-scholar, one with nature, who fought on behalf of nature in the form of a bear. This image lingered for long enough to finally make another Druid, which I leveled until I could apply alternate looks for some of the forms and so far haven’t touched since. I seem to be suffering a bit of an internal conflict as, while I originally imagined a big beefy human woman I simply find that the aesthetics of another Night Elf Druid would be better; so on top of wanting to put time into other projects I’m torn on how I should proceed with this one.
Void Elf Mage,
A few of my Blood Elf characters are related, mainly a bunch of characters I made to be shared on the same one Mage along with a Paladin. I had planned to introduce a new sibling to this family, a once womanizing scholar whose ways placed them into an unfortunate position before turning their intellectual efforts towards Umbric’s project. I had a few minor ideas to apply that I thought were interesting; most notably a mutation brought about by alchemical experimentation with the Void which resulted in their hair becoming a semi-sentient appendage. Part of the reason I didn’t work on this character more was, in part the class choice. Sadly as much as I like Mages they aren’t always the most fun to level and I feel that was especially true in BfA. I spent a bit more time on them during the anniversary event due to the experience buff and that was pretty much the last time I touched on them.
Kul Tiran Monk,
This is one of my earliest ideas for a K.T.H character. She was intended to a member of the Blacktooth Brawlers, one of the pirate gangs featured in Freehold. She faked her own death after a fateful fight against a travelling Pandaren Monk in hopes of learning from said Monk to be a better fighter. Her story somewhat coincided with a Vulpera Monk I made around the same time who had more or less the same premise. I intended them to be fellow students of the Monk as well as rivals. I eventually dropped the Vulpera in game in favor for a Mage, who I’ll write more about in the next paragraph. I’ve logged onto the Kul Tiran Monk relatively recently but I’m not sure how soon it’ll be before I do so again.
Vulpera Mage,
One day the madness touched me again and bestowed upon me an idea of an order of Vulpera Witches who watch over Vol’dun while also looking beyond; occasionally aiding ailing travelers anonymously and vanishing from sight. An obscure coven, whose goals are simple yet enigmatically nuanced; bearing a culture peculiar to the Vulpera at large while retaining the same spirit. This character would be a representative of that coven. A gypsy-like individual, who might occasionally seek to trade arcane trinkets for lore and other forms of information or simply watch their surroundings with naked interest. Clearly I had more ideas about an element of the backstory than I did the character itself.
Dwarves
I made a few Dwarf Warriors during the time before I finally bought SL, both of which were created with the overall plan to emulate the Sister of Steel tabletop class; one core Dwarf and one Dark Iron. In part they were also an excuse to get some mileage out of the heritage armors since I went through the trouble of unlocking both. I also made a core Dwarf Mage who was meant to be an old bearded sorceress with an affinity for runes, as I had a spark of madness one day and thought ‘If the devs won’t get female Dwarves beards I’ll just have to make do.’ Despite my efforts the lack of an in-game representation of my vision still dampens my enthusiasm. As for the Sister of Steel characters I’ve played one recently and would like to develop them more but there are various other things I’ve put before it more often than not.
A few others,
Priests that use guns,
I had two flavors of this idea; a Dwarf Priestess and a Priestess of the Moon. I also thought of their guns being magic in some way, such as being powered by their faith/zeal rather than using conventional methods of fire. I thought about trying the latter with the Night Elf Hunter I already have, whose current character is a sniper/gunman with magic guns and a past career in privateering, but I wanted to focus on that one for the time. I don’t really want to level another Hunter either.
Civilians/Commoners,
I have a couple of characters I consider to be relatively normal civilians; all of which are currently Night Elves. It can be nice to try one’s hand at portraying the common, or at least less extraordinary, man and I’d like to try other perspectives; particularly with other races. I do struggle sometimes finding the motivation just to portray the ones I have now, for reasons I’d rather not elaborate on here.
Addendum: I forgot I also have a Pandaren commoner of sorts; but, just like the others, I rarely do anything with her.
Necromancer,
I had an idea sometime ago for a Highborne Arcanist who took up necromancy to bring back a dead loved one and ensure they could be together for eternity. That is about the gist of the solid ideas for that one. I have enough Highborne to deal with already and the romance of this particular idea can only go so far with me.
Zealous Shaman,
I like the idea of Shaman who religiously serve elementals and I’d like to try more variations of that. I already have two however and it took me forever to work up the desire to work on the second. A third shaman made with the same idea sits in my roster, at this point I mostly keep her to preserve the name since I like it so much.
I know my Blood Elf Discipline Priest of Belore somewhat well, by now. Not what made him who he is, but I understand his actions, influence and ambitions. But I just can’t stick with a clothie, so he remains an unnamed background character in my mental landscape.
A lovable and well meaning Draenei restaurant owner who has a very difficult time with common. (Shelved due to Burning Crusade being over for over a decade at this point, and the whole idea being quite dated)
A Botani-possessed Druid. Went through to AU Draenor normal, came back under the influence.
I’d like to try a grey item salesperson, maybe a goblin or vulpera.
A scummy competitive fighter, patterned after Ash Ketchum.
How about a depraved super-fan of the Steamy Romance Novels?
A forsaken Steve Irwin, complete with a crocolisk hunter pet!
A crime scene investigator. I’d set up the scenes to roleplay for others!
Some kind of Deep-Throat type who communicates only by mail.
There was a troll in the Barrens for a while who’s name was Trashmon. One time he sold us some stuff.
Trashmon be takin’ a break de game richmon. Dey be collection’ moah t’ings ta trade in da meanwhile.
i’ve always wanted to have a used mount salesman who patrols the streets of stormwind looking for the next slob to con into buying a 20 year old mare
I’ve always, always wanted a Horde Rogue alt. I enjoy playing Rogues so much I want to go through it again. But it’s never worked out, I always felt like any character I tried to create for them was either too close to Enekie’s or didn’t make sense in the lore.
But recently, like many of you, I’ve decided to treat the lore as kind of a trashpile from which I can pick and choose stuff to fit my story. Honestly, not giving a single zug about fitting into the overall narrative and playing an Orc that may or may not be drifting in and out of the present and her memories of the Second War is just a grand ol’ time.
I highly recommend apathy, friends. It’s just great.
who cares what you think?!
Uh, just a little community called my book club.
Nightborne Mage - former Moonguard member turned ice cream vendor. Basically she didn’t trust Illidan, and fortunately her intuition paid off, since she left the guard before he sacrificed a bunch of them to increase his own power. After the destruction of the Well of Eternity, she opted to study frost magic instead of the arcane and became obsessed with creating tasty frozen confections.
I abandoned the idea because I’m not really a fan of playing elves. Maybe when the Nightborne get some more customization options…
Boost a nightborn with the name Eikene and you’re all set.
Eikene sounds like Suramar’s version of Ikea.
instructions not included