I Am Cursed

I have a severe problem of altitis. That or I have a problem with commitment (stay away from me, ladies). My character history in World of Warcraft is a tragic reading. I know, because when I wrote it down for my guild’s profile a few weeks ago I realized it myself. It seems I barely have time to level a character to max level before I’m off with a new project to level up. And I don’t even like leveling!

Or, at least that’s what I think. Maybe deep down I enjoy tormenting my mind by killing the same ten rats over and over again, like some kind of grind-masochist. Leveling in WoW is a hundred times better than it was four years ago, but it’s also four years of doing the same leveling content over and over again, with some fresh new expansion-stuff on top of it. Leveling in Northrend is not too bad. Actually, it’s quite enjoyable experience. But even that gets dull the third time you do it… and I have done it three times now. I don’t need QuestHelper, because I know from memory the locations of all quest locations.

So why is it impossible for me to stay faithful to one character for any length of time? I keep thinking of my friend who has played the same character since release, and I just wonder how does he do it? He got alts – and a few of them are even max level - but he always got his priorities straight and will throw them under the bus at any time for his main character. I can never manage that. I put all my focus on one, and when playing with alts it’s just a matter of time before I play him more than my main character… and he becomes my new main character.

The “problem” is even more problematic because I can’t find a logical pattern that could hint to why I do what I do. I mean, if I stuck with melee characters longer than casters that could give me a hint that I just enjoy a specific archetype, but that’s not the case. I leveled a hunter to 80, then a druid to 80 for healing/caster DPS, and then a warrior for tanking and melee DPS. And now the tank is being put to the side for a mage. Does it make sense? Not to me anyway.

It could be that I don’t enjoy playing any of them, and I just go back to the archetype that I played far enough back in time to forget why I quit.

But I think the real reason is that I just enjoy the thrill of starting over. Tabula rasa; a blank slate. That once I’ve got used to a familiar pattern or habit I start looking at other characters and seeing their difference in a new light. That maybe being a mage isn’t that bad after all. Every time I quite a healing class I swear I will never touch healing again, and yet I know I will level a priest or paladin eventually. Maybe it’s the experience of doing something different, or maybe it’s the challenge. I don’t know.

Actually this problem is not just in one game, but all games that has the ability to create individual characters with different potentials. I remember that I played games like Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights for a full run with one character, and then created new characters over and over again, but never coming close to finishing it before starting over.

Maybe it’s even a blessing; to be able to ignore all past experience, pain and suffering you had to go through to get a character where it is, and create a new one with no remorse. But I like to think of it as a curse, because leveling sucks.

If I ever meet Sisyphus he and I could trade some stories.