Mimara
Status
Spec: Protection
Covenant: Kyrian (Renown 4)
iLevel: 212 [Haste: 16% / Versatility: 15%]
Legendary: Holy Avenger's Engraved Sigil (rank 3) / Relentless Inquisitor (Rank 1)
Soulbind: Pelagos (Ringing Clarity / Resolute Defender / Vengeful Shock / Shielding Words)
RIO (end of season 1): 654,9
Raid prog: None.
Professions: Skinning (Max) / Mining (Max)
As a reserve in case Vengeance Demon Hunter didn't work out, which ended up being the best tank spec really for the season, this character never really came into much use. Had some bursts of play, but struggled a lot with getting good vault items. And opposed to BFA, tanking in pugs is not something I enjoy in SL so only the once-every-other-month alt runs gave any score of note.
In spite of getting the legendary I was looking forward to looking at the previews and having the kyrian covenant power, protection kept the initial impression in the beta of being duller than in BFA. However, having a tank that has gathering professions has been a godsend so will be useful to have going forward.
Stormlufser
Status
Spec: Elemental (main) / Restoration (alt - pve)
Covenant: Venthyr (Renown 40)
iLevel: 222 (Elemental) / 219 (Restoration)
Legendary: Cloak of the Windspeaker (Rank 4) - Echoes of the Great Sundering (Rank 3) - Handguards of the Primal Tides (Rank 1)
Soulbind: Theotar the Mad Duke (Refreshing Waters - Call of Flame - Vital Accretion - Thunderous Paws)
RIO (end of season 1): 1264.8 (Elemental) - 199,9 (Restoration)
Raid prog: 9/10 HC - 1/10 LFR
Professions: Skinning (max) / Herbalism (max)
This was a class I was not going to play based on beta stuff, but as usual I couldn't keep away from shaman anyway. I meant to play Enhancement/Restoration since I joined Venthyr, but ended up being really taken with how Elemental played. And the fact that the only bracket we needed healers for was at the back end of the season in groups I tanked in if we wanted Ulve to play balance. Just like with tanks, there's a fair amount of alts out there that can tank or heal lower keys, so actually going up the difficulties in guild groups was hard as per usual.
I was gonna go for Elemental as my main spec in season 2, but a couple of things made me cool on how much I enjoyed this character. Mostly it was m+ stuff; for elemental you need mobs to stay put for some time to make Earthquake deal damage. Depending on the week and difficulty, sometimes dps goes through the roof, sometimes you do less than tank damage, all depending on how much the mobs are moved. Especially in pugs where some tanks has heard it's kite meta, so they chainpull half the dungeon by bodypulling and never getting threat, it's hopeless. Guild tanks stay put for longer, but they dont really think about how some dps operate since they don't play them and I guess I'm not yelling enough about it, but it's still annoying.
The second is that I should switch to night fae since raiding as venthyr elemental just isn't a good thing. Which I really can't be bothered with. I am so sick of the whole covenant shit this expansion. Pretty sure I would say it's my least favorite feature of any rpg I've played, digital or tabletop.
Esmënet
Status
Spec: Beast Mastery (main) / Marksmanship (off)
Covenant: Night Fae (Renown 42)
iLevel: 221 (Beast Mastery) (Haste 11% / Crit 30%)
Legendary: Cloak of the Master Rylakstalker (Rank 4) / Talisman of Surging Shots (Rank 1)
Soulbind: Dreamweaver (Resilience of the Hunter / Spiritual Attunement / Bloodletting / Rejuvenating Wind / One With The Beast)
RIO (end of season 1): 1265,5 (Beast Mastery) / 415,6 (Marksmanship)
Raid prog: Heroic CN (5/10) / LFR CN (4/10).
Professions: Alchemy (165) / Engineering (74)
One of the first alts, and since it was an alt I played MM and joined the Necrolords since going hard was not something I intended. MM was fun enough, but comparing Necrolords and Surging Shots to any MM with the serpent sting legendary and night fae was.... Not ideal. So originally gave up on it.
Had a resurgence after I was starting to get annoyed with how Elemental played in high keys, and switched covenant to Night Fae and spec to Beast Mastery. While tanks still seem to be allergic to staying in Wild Spirits, at least that's the only thing they can dodge of my dps rotation. Since the spec is so mobile, some dungeons like Plaguefall it's way easier to do regular dps as BM than any other spec in the game. Not really any burst to speak of, but brings Bloodlust, Misdirect and Tranq shot along with stable dps so has become my go to dps character.
Even got the tryhard professions of alchemy (for double flask duration) and engineering (for cres), and was intending to raid on this in season 2, but offered to tank until one of the usual are back or some other fix happens, which might have been an enormous mistake.
Serwa
Status
Spec: Frost (main)
Covenant: Venthyr (Renown 40)
iLevel: 211 (Haste 15% / Crit 20%)
Legendary: Icebringer (rank 4) - Frostburn (rank 1) - Incanter's Circlet (rank 1)
Soulbind: Nadjia (Icy Propulsion - Flow of Time - Tempest Barrier - Ice Bite)
RIO (end of season 1): 592,5
Raid prog: LFR (1/10) - Normal (5/10) - Heroic (1/10)
Professions: Tailoring (max) / Enchanting (max) / Cooking (40)
Meant to be a co-main with Wutteät. But the raid turned into a bit of a disaster when it came to drops not being useful combined with an erratic schedule with rules switching from week to week, made trying to just play in a casual but productive way on this character very very hard. So I left the guild and stopped playing the character.
I brought it out now and then to try more Frost, but the stay in combat bug and bad pug groups made me quit again as soon as it happened.
Since all my ties to Arathor are now broken again, I assume this character will end up in a limbo like a lot of my cataclysm characters. And as a reminder that if current guild folds, it's better to just stay in own guild and forget about raiding than join another.
Navarim
Status
Spec: Destruction
Covenant: Kyrian (Renown 42)
iLevel: 202
Legendary: Cindercloak of Azj'Aqir (rank 1)
Soulbind: Kleia (Ashen Remains / Shade of Terror / Diabolic Bloodstone / Infernal Brand)
RIO (end of season 1): 264
Raid prog: LFR 3/10.
Professions: Tailoring (max) / Inscription (65)
Destruction Warlock was one of the specs I considered to main this expansion, until it was clear we would have no demon hunter for the raid. Which was a bit annoying with how much fun it was to play in the prepatch leading up to shadowlands. But boy oh boy was I happy I didn't main it after leveling it to 60. And seeing how warlocks performed in groups at the time. Which led to this character being untouched for months after hitting 60.
I tried it a bit again after the usual routine of the guild warlocks quitting or being unreliable one by one. But getting into even the lowest pugs is a struggle, trying to dps anything but bosses is a chore (see tanks moving mobs out of aoe) and I need to switch covenants. So just sitting there as a bagmaker and missive scriber will be the fate of the warlock again.
Serwaswathan
Status
Spec: Frost
Covenant: Night Fae (Renown 40)
iLevel: 199
Legendary: Band of Disciplinary Command (Rank 1)
Soulbind: Niya (Discipline of the Grove / Flow of Time / Diverted Energy / Icy Propolsion)
RIO (end of season 1): 208,3
Raid prog: LFR 10/10.
Professions: Blacksmithing (62) / Jewelcrafting (104)
I leveled this to max late in the patch after being stuck in the 30s and 40s for a while. First as Arcane, but switched to Frost for 50 to 60. And just got some basic gear and played with a legendary meant for Fire. Not sure I will play it again come next season, but I have it mostly for the professions anyway.
Dominator
Status
Spec: Protection
Covenant: Venthyr (Renown 42)
iLevel: 196
Legendary: Bind of the Mad Paragon (rank 2)
Soulbind: General Draven (Shielding Words / Vengeful Shock / Resolute Defender / Adaptive Armor Fragment / Hallowed Discernment)
RIO (end of Season 1): 26,8
Raid prog: LFR 7/10.
Professions: Herbalism (149) / Enchanting (25)
Last minute patch leveling since there wasn't much else to do. Meant to be Ret/Holy as this character has always been except for in BFA. Has wormed his way into arguably being played more than my "mains", so I have a feeling this will not end well. Went Venthyr to have something Mimara didn't, and since getting healing practice is hard to come by I'll just be a dps healer.
Not done much besides the odd dungeon, bought a 150g rank 2 base item on the ah and got some upgrades from Korthia. Good character to funnel into at the moment.
Adagabo
Status
Spec: Balance (main) / Guardian (off)
Covenant: Night Fae (Renown 40)
iLevel: 205 (Balance) / 203 (Guardian)
Legendary: Balance of All Things (rank 1) / Ursoc's Fury Remembered (rank 1)
Soulbind: Dreamweaver (Well-honored Instincts / Conflux of Elements / Precise Alignment / Innate Resolve)
RIO (end of season 1): 318,8 (Balance) / 166,9 (Guardian)
Raid prog: LFR 7/10.
Professions: Herbalism (max) / Alchemy (max)
As the "faff about on after mains are done" character, this character did anything but. There were no gigantic issues, but there were some small issues with a lot of aspects of playing it. Mostly because my two most played with people mostly played druid already. But Balance felt a bit... like a straightjacket? Guardian lacked threat and played with people that never wait until I actually tag everything or knock things out of my aoe. Restoration has the "get a guild group consistently for healing" issue. Feral I never even set up.
Not sure if I will try this class next season, unless the guild m+ meta turns into alt spam again.
Ihnanna
Status
Spec: Windwalker
Covenant: Necrolord (Renown 42)
iLevel: 199
Legendary: Invoker's Delight (Rank 1)
Soulbind: Bonesmith Heirmir (Coordinated Offensive / Tumbling Technique / Fortifying Ingredients / Bone Marrow Hops)
RIO (end of Season 1): 403,6
Raid prog: LFR 3/10.
Professions: Herbalism (max) / Skinning (max)
Was leveled to do the gathering thing since I did more crafting than expected. Did some keys with Wind/Ulve that gave a bit of RIO. Otherwise mostly did a fair share of grinding on the herb/skin spot I have, but when Stormlufser got leveled up and got way better gear that character took over the role of this.
Will be back to farming if I do some tryhard professions on Stormlufser too.
Ghoset
Status
Spec: Vengeance
Covenant: Kyrian (Renown 32)
iLevel: 201
Legendary: Reckless Grasp of Fiery Soul (rank 1)
Soulbind: Pelagos (Repeat Decree / Fel Defender / Growing Inferno / Viscous Ink)
RIO: 362,1
Raid prog: None.
Professions: Skinning (max) / Leatherworking (max)
Some people in the guild was harping on about horde at a time when mains were sorted besides vault items, and we had the short alt crazy period. But then people got KSM, we got curve and TBC classic was released. And guess what. I ended up being the only one sticking my head in the ogrimmar door from time to time :)
Not played since valor was introduced so didn't really get much done.
Goals from last time
-Still need 2 signatures for the antisocial guild... (Tried general chat, but it seems even gold won't get you random signatures these days)
-Try to establish Esmënet as a +14 doer. (Got there with guildgroups, with Kalthalos tanking)
-Sort out professions. (Have all crafting professions at high enough level, and spread of dedicated gatherers)
-Stockpile runes and potions. (Have enough on both mains for a month or so I think)
End notes
I obviously went overboard with alts this season. Plan was the joint mains, plus some gold/material farmers on the side not doing anything serious. Instead lots of half geared alts and only fixed the profession self sufficient state towards the very end.
Shadowlands was pushed as an alt friendly expansion. Which it is, and is not. There's three things at work here:
*The best thing for me is how easy it was to get a bit above entry level keystone gear. Once campaign was unlocked and unrated pvp ilevel was maxed, you could get around iLevel 195 without doing anything rated or a key. With all slots controlled so nothing was luck. Which I think has been the best and most efficient way of getting alts ready for doing "proper" content.
*After getting said gear, dealing with the vault and dungeon drops is another matter entirely. While getting a second item if depleting instead of just one helped, the ilevel of dungeon drops is just lame. Drops now are just getting the correct item and pour valor into it. So gearing up unless you have people to trade you is horrible.
*Alt the mumbo jumbo with covenants and legendaries. Renown is easy, but the other stuff is highly annoying. Getting conduits. Getting a legendary. If you ever want to play the character for higher stuff, should pick the "correct" covenant for the start, or get timetaxed for a reason only the devs feel is proper it looks like. I switched covenant on hunter, and had to do a campaign again on same character with essentially no rewards, and it felt just so stupid.
Nothing has changed for next season, which is why I am gonna try to just trade out and focus on two characters at once. The rest will stay in Korthia to get crystals until I have enough.
All in all the season in alts was messy, and I hope I stay away from leveling another sea of alts next season.
Comments