Is MoP really as unfriendly to alts as it seems like in my mind?

[Screwtape]

It's way easier to gear alts in MoP than WotLK. Cataclysm ruined everyone's perception apparently.

[Deleted]

I dont think its unfreindly for alts. I have 1 main at 496 ilvl and 2 alts at 480 ilvl. On my way to lvl my fourth alt now. Started to play this alt on wednesday and are now lvl 79. Hoping to be 90 on monday and having 470 ilvl on tuseday.

[OnyxShadow]

There seems to be this notion that the previous system of doing 5-mans for valor and raid level gear at a slow rate = free gear. No, you're putting in the time in 5-mans or LFR. When you are doing this, you're either getting gear from the drops or from currency. There is only a very small window in which you are really getting upgrades from both drops AND from currency. Also, the gear for that is sufficiently lower quality than raiders are getting at a faster rate. So its basically a move from 5-mans for gear to daily quests. The reason I hate this change is that questing doesn't require any skill to do well, and there are no metrics for knowing that you are playing skillfully. In 5-mans, I could at least watch my meters and see myself improve over time. There is no equivalent when you're soloing other than a vague notion that the quests you've seen a hundred times are getting done slightly faster.

[Deleted]

daily wise it is not that bad at least for me. After you get commendation is quite easy to level up those reputations, Klaxxi you will be half way into reverred by completing just the main questline, Shado Pan, more than half into honored.

The bigger block is still golden lotus but if you want to push it it is not bad with the dungeon championing/work orders at the farm and does not take that much up to reverred I think

August celestial I think that is actually the worse of the lot, but I think I can leave one not at reverred and fill those slot with LFR stuff.
Domination point has never be excessively bad in my opinion.

I'm gearing up a shaman and I have to say that I'm getting pieces fast enough no complaints.

[IxilaFA]

MoP isn't alt-unfriendly. Cataclysm was just too alt-friendly. I'm not an alt-type of person and even I had 6 level 85s by the end of Cataclysm, that were all decked out in LFR gear. The fact of the matter was, with the catch-up dungeons and dailies, you could level a toon and be lv85 with full epics in two weeks. People got spoiled by the way Cataclysm was so spaced out and had so little to do that they got used to the idea of alts being just as geared as their mains, which never happened in the previous expansions unless you were really committed to it. If you want to play alts in MoP, it's still really simple. Leveling only takes a couple days, and you can manage the farm and all of your dailies you need to do with a couple of hours each day. You just have to recognize that if you want your main and your alt to be similarly geared, you need to put in a significant amount of time.

Not only that, but I don't get the complaint in the first place. When MoP came out I leveled a Monk from 1 - 90 in three days without the help of RaF, and was raid ready in 464 gear by the time MSV was unlocked. About two months into the expac (with no progression from my guild) I switched to a Holy Pally and she was leveled from 85 - 90 and in 464 gear in two weeks, and I was running her through HoF and MSV by then. Now I have a Monk and a Pally both with near identical ilvls and I enjoy playing them both. Hoping to add a Shaman in the works soon, if I feel like going through Jade Forest again (ugh). I don't really do my dailies on the Monk, and rarely ever Valor cap. It's mostly just sporadic LFRs, but with the increased loot drop rates, and the staggered release dates of ToT, that's perfect for me. I'll be done with MSV / HOF / TOES LFR by the time all the ToT instances are open, while my Pally I only log on for Isle dailies and guild raids.

[Arbs]

"In Mists of Pandaria, it isn't as easy to gear alts because there is a lot more for players to do. Many of the alts were created when there wasn't much to do in game."

Straight from the front page 2nd news post.

[Deleted]

Depends on how much time you have to waste, assuming you get 1000 valor points each week for the quest after obtaining sigils it takes about 3 months at most catching up to the current tier with the legendary quest line, and its not really needed to get valor items of 5.0 factions due to increased drop rates in LFR either.

[OnyxShadow]

Where do you get the idea that alts were just as geared as their mains in Cata. Yeah, I could do LFR and maybe pull my weight in normals, but it would take some serious insanity to get all your alts doing full heroic raids and get them all that level of gear. For that reason, most players had mains that were far more geared than their alts. My main was at something like 405-410 by the end, and my alts were around 390-395. The difference in gear power between my main and alts was immense.

I just wanna be able to do the casual raids with the alts that Blizzard pushed on me in the previous two expansions. I don't care that they are basically two full tiers of gear behind my mains (which is the difference between LFR and heroic). I just wanna play the content that is out there on a diverse set of play styles.

[potis]

Resubbed 15 days ago.

Had a SoR Hunter at level 80 that i started leveling the second day after resub, he is ilevel 482 , full malevolent honor gear also along with some revered reps that i did because of professions.

Also have a monk from 0 to 82 in these 15 days, while my "main" that i had all these years that i played only at the start went from 466 ilevel to 476.

Game is as easy as always if you play it properly priority wise and have the time to do so.

[Otaka]

Quite unfriendly atleast before the patch.

my main gets all his gear from raids and reputations from dailies, there are so many dailies that i cba to do em on my alt after farming em for weeks on main.
and then LFR, i did mogushan vaults since my alt got in them (pretty easily) but after 5 weeks or something like that (got like max 4 items from there without coins) i finally got enough ilevel for heart of fear, and that was already in patch 5.2 with the extra drop rates.

No i didnt cap my valor every week because i was doing it on my main for quite some time and there arent that many instances to do.

Not fun. The reason why i want to have 2 playable characters is due to versatility. Sometimes i want to take break from my main and play a different kind of class. or just to have another kind of spec for use. my main is dps, my alt is healer.

[Sansnom]

Since MoP was released and maybe a bit before that even, I've been under the impression that the way Mists of Pandaria was designed was aggressively harsh towards players that enjoy playing characters other than their main.

Depends on how you consider it to be unfriendly. It does not stops you from playing alts. Gearing for alts has not changed.

The main change that is considered to be alt unfriendly is the rep grind I suppose. Before it was quicker to grind them for alts, not so now. So I think if you don't care about trying to do everything for every alts, then no. If you like to give your alts max rep, then prepare for a long grind. I know people who did this and they seem to quite enjoy the dailies.

[Sealbinder]

I am enjoying leveling all my alts this expansion. I don't understand peoples complaints about the game being alt unfriendly. I am yet to experience this problem.

[Nitrax]

I only have 1 toon at max level... usually I have about 3-4 this far into an expansion, especially if I'm not in a raid team.. so yes.. it's kind of alt unfriendly.

[xskarma]

Depends on what you call "alt unfriendly". With minimal cost and effort you can have an alt ready for the first LFR level (460). I think that's perfectly acceptable as alts go. It allows me to run a variety of content on my alt without being stuck doing just dungeons.

If you mean "alt unfriendly" to mean you can't just skip ahead to the latest content by running a handful of dungeons then yes, it's "unfriendly". I don't think this setup is a bad thing though, personally. The fun in alts should be playing them, the level at which you do this isn't so important if you at least have something to do, and some progress to be made. That's not good enough to some, I've noticed, who seem to take alt play as being able to play their alts at the same level and content as their mains. That's okay, just a matter of opinion.

[lizon]

The questing seems to feel like a slog, at least after the first two times (Lookin' at VotFW, Dread Wastes, and the end half of Townlong, here). That being said, I'd say it's probably more unfriendly to gear all your alts in anything other than 463 blues, (Or some 476 purples if you get lucky from scenario boxes or end bosses.) the rep system being what it is. Especially if you haven't been to revered with a faction on a character yet.

I have four 90's atm working on #5. On my newest 90 my horde priest I got her to 470 ilvl within 4 hours of hitting 90. Within 3 days I was at 480 ilvl. I accomplished this by using a combination of crafted gear, Sha boots, heroic runs, and LFR. It takes you no time at all to gear up for raids if you plan out exactly how you are going to gear up. The problem is that many players don't plan it out. They just run instances haphazardly and waste time doing dailies when neither are needed.

People also often waste time in their questing before they hit 90. If you already have one 90 that is already exalted with the Shado Pan and the Klaxxi you don't need to do any of their dailies at all for rep to get gear. All you have to do is do the entire quest chain in the Dread Wastes and the Townlong Steppes. By the time you finish the quest chains you will be close to revered. In 5.2 with the VP discount on gear you can now get at least one 489 item within a few hours as well. Heck you can even get 496 crafted gloves and chest on the cheap these days as well.

What I am basically saying here is that if you have the funds/professions already then it can and is very easy to gear up an alt if you plan it out and are willing to devote the resources necessary to accomplish it. By saying that it is "unfriendly" to get gear on an ant it only shows that you are unwilling to put forth the effort to obtain the gear that is currently out there for alts. You do not want to put forth the effort, you do not want to put forth the time, you do not want to obtain the rep, and you do not want to devote the resources necessary to gear up an alt efficiently with little to no effort. You just want gear handed to you on a silver platter. You will excuse me if I don't feel any sympathy for your plight.

Also remember you can also get a 489 ring from both the Klaxxi and the Golden Lotus if you hit exalted with them. That can be accomplished within a weeks time if you are already exalted on one character and use the commendations.

I mean seriously, if you have time to level up an alt then you should have the time to get the rep necessary to get make gearing up all of your alts a little easier.

lvl 84 you need about 4 million XP to level up.
lvl 85 you need about 15 million.

How is this not unfriendly to alts?

That is about 4-5 hours of total questing in the Dread Wastes. You can eat some lunch and burn through it all before dinner. Heck you can be raiding by that afternoon if you plan out your gearing properly.

[Flaks]

How MoP handles alts: Oh you did all those things on your main? Do them again on your alts or too freaking bad. Oh you're bitching about it now? Here we'll put some random bandaid fixes and act like we're doing something.

How WotLK handled alts: Oh you did all those things on your main? Here's the best iteration of heirlooms ever to ensure you don't have to sit through a billion bgs before being able to contribute; or you can buy rep heirlooms; dungeons are quick, easy and interesting; bgs are competitive; pvp is balanced enough so that an honor geared player can compete with someone in full conquest gear. Oh you're bitching about it now? Wait no you're not because this iteration actually worked exceptionally well.

[hulkgor]

If there isn't enough to do on your main, blizzard sucks because there is no content.
If there is a lot to do on your main, blizzard sucks because it's alt unfriendly.

No, MoP is not unfriendly to alts, there is simply less time\effort put into them because your main has a lot more to do.

The only 'reason' one would say MoP is unfriendly to alts is not being able to purchase flying skill to new chars in Pandaria after having a level 90, but hey, not like leveling takes a lot anyway.

[Elite Peon]

Just to clarify a few things...

I feel like I get tired of things after a reasonable amount of time. Maybe I could stomach the whole ground travel from 85-90 thing again once...maybe twice. After that, its just going to be painful for me. After two expansions of having a very reasonable remedy to the monotony of ground travel, its a hard pill to swallow going back to the vanilla/TBC model. Furthermore, I have no intention whatsoever of EVER grinding reps again on alts so long as that's tied to monotonous actions like dailies or farming. Some players may not mind doing hundreds of asinine quests every week to be able to keep up with alts. I'm not one of them. The problem with all these things is that they add nothing to the experience but hours played.

As for the lack of heirloom flying (again, I have no problem with being grounded that first time), I think its fairly obvious that the maps are designed frequently to more or less troll you. There are unnecessarily long routes in many places and slight hills which are unpassable for no good reason that you are forced to take huge detours. Again, I can stomach all that once, but the thought of literally hundreds of hours of trudging along at ground mount speed to max level all my characters is untenable.

I bought this game on the day it was released after playing a couple weeks of the BETA. I'm not some dude that's only seen the game since Cata/WotLK. This game has always been a more casual MMORPG, and its trended further in that direction for years...until MoP. Incidentally, subscriber levels have almost always increased or remained stable when the game followed that trend and dropped rapidly when Blizzard lost their way and designed for the hardcore minority.

Looking at the big picture, almost all of the things I have against the MoP experience are tied to Blizzard subtlety building in huge amounts of tedium to artificially lengthen all aspects of the game. MoP seems extraordinarily watered down to me. When I get on an alt, I have the expectation that I won't get him to anywhere near the level of progression as my hardcore raiding main, but I will be able to casually enjoy the basics on a completely different type of character than my main. That's very simply the way it was for years until just recently. As subscriptions continue to plummet, I hope Blizzard realizes the cause before its too late. They seemed to wake up a bit towards the end of Cata, and player populations stabilized for a long time despite the low-quality final raid and an over-long gap between the last major patch and MoP.

I have to agree 100% with everything you said !

[CrazyEyez315]

Only difference with your main and alts is your patience with dailies to gain access to valor gear.

[Kaiarra]

Even if you ignore everything and anything else that's been brought up (generally leveling=tedious complaints), I'd say it's alt unfriendly just because of LFR queues (you can totally ignore dailys on alts, if it's just not your thing - the only relevant rep atm is SPO).

As a DPS it's pretty commonplace to be looking at 50min queues for both ToES/ToT let alone the rest of the raids or if you get dumped into an 'in progress' run.

I'd say I spend more of my time AFK on WoW in some crappy LFR queue than I actually spend playing the game - Heaven forbid if I ever decided to run more than two characters through LFR each week. The more alts you have the more queues you sit in, which is just tedious; I want to play WoW not sit in some queue AFK while I play another game until my queue pops.

Bliz need to nerf the amount of healers required for LFR (2/3 per raid seems a decent number instead of 6), or start giving healers/tanks more incentive to queue (and to fix healers/tanks being able to select to roll for DPS gear already).