An Odd Cataclysm Inclination:

[OldHordeGlory]

So I have been taking a break from WoW recently. I have played the game since December 2004, off and on of course, and I've always had a good time doing so. I've leveled a rogue, paladin, warrior and shaman to 80, and a hunter dang close as well (76 or something, can't recall at the moment). The original game was, by leaps and bounds, my favorite since it was my first MMO and based in the Warcraft universe I've enjoyed for years before WoW was released. I cringe to think of the /played I have on my first character, but I don't regret playing the game for so long, because it's been a blast.

I've been staying current on Cataclysm as best I can through this site, the official site, and whatever external sources they link me to. I'm actually very excited to see the game growing, and am particularly interested in the Old World revamps that will be undertaken. It was thinking about this that the question first came to my mind: should I just delete my characters and start over new with Cataclysm? And the answer seems to be, for all intents and purposes...yes.

Now I can already tell most people will disagree with this, although there are some who will roll worgen and goblins in addition to their current characters. But I'm talking about getting rid of ALL my existing characters in order to experience leveling them again, only brand new.

I've weighed several other options that would circumvent that, but I like deleting them best:

- You can just create new characters on different servers/factions
While this is true, it doesn't alleviate the temptation of sending resources, heirloom gear, and other luxuries to my new characters to help them along. I want to do it truly from scratch, with no outside assistance from existing characters

- You can just create a new account to avoid that temptation
While I do not mind buying Cataclysm, buying WoW, TBC, WotLK, AND Cataclysm is a bit too steep for my desire. It's much easier this way.

-But, you'll lose all the exclusive Feats of Strength, titles, and items you have that do not exist anymore!
While it's true that I will lose my [Severed Night Elf Head] from old school Alterac Valley, and my First Sergeant rank on my first character, I find that the former is something I barely even glance at in the bank, and the latter will be trivialized by new content. This is the lot of any nostalgia items I may have anyways; ultimately, they're just clutter, and I don't wanna be a packrat anyways, so it's better to nix them despite the fond memories.

-Well that's all well and good, but you realize you'll have wasted 5+ years of your life for absolutely nothing if you do this...
Well, yes and no. Y'see, my characters aren't MINE to begin with. I mean sure, I created and leveled and geared them, but they have always belonged to Blizzard despite this. One day in the distant, distant future WoW will dwindle, and the servers could very well be repurposed for something else and shut down. My time will be just as wasted that day as it would be by deleting my characters. But ultimately, it's about the fun memories I create on the characters for me, and to be perfectly honest I have FAR more fond memories of leveling and below-the-cap instancing than I have in farming heroics for weeks, so I look forward to the fun of new memories in a new game world, with revamped talents, skills and zones.

So what do you guys think? Does this notion make sense to you? Would you ever consider this yourselves?

[Dark Side]

In the end, thats all entertainment is, fond memories. you go see a rock concert, its a memory even though youv seen them a million times on youtube and itunes. This is just 5+ years of entertainment

[iLive]

That's insane. :]

[OldHordeGlory]

In the end, thats all entertainment is, fond memories. you go see a rock concert, its a memory even though youv seen them a million times on youtube and itunes. This is just 5+ years of entertainment

Exactly. That's the mentality of mine that's driving this, really. To truly experience the depth of the changes Cataclysm introduces on the whole, rather than just five levels and resume heroic farming, I need to cut strings and reforge memories anew.

Now this is largely due to my enjoyment of leveling I'm sure, and those who are not fond of it will not agree that the memories of grinding basilisks with low-ass drop rates are very endearing. Still, to each their own I s'pose.

EDIT: Heck, I may even take this opportunity to re-level my characters on a RP server or something, where people talk a bit more and interact more during the leveling process rather than just blitzkrieg-ing it to 85. I risk ERP in Goldshire by doing this, but it may be worth it

[dranx]

Ive always wanted to level up a hunter again. was fun the old days, getting every single new piece of gear and seeing if its good or not just by looking at its armor value. Good Ol' days.

[taran111]

Its an interestng idea, and one I've considered before as the most fun I'd ever had in WoW in vanilla was when I was 14, knew nothing about these helpful sites, and was absolutely staggered by the depth and complexity of the world. but TBH I put too much time and effort into my paladin to throw him to the dogs at this point. And I've only got one 80, albeit having a couple 70+s. I'd be more likely to just start over on another server if anything.

[Spartinz]

Lol too many achieves too re-get too much gear to get when leveling.

[Hellevad]

I have chars on 3 realms. I have started from scratch completely each time I started on a new realm. There is NOTHING under the sun that would make me do that again.

Starting with no bagspace, no resources and no friendly names to help out here and there as needed on the way up (don't get me wrong - I try to group with strangers for instances and such on the way up, and the LFD-tool have certainly made that easier... But sometimes you just want to run in, knock over a specific boss for a certain questreward or drop and then plow on through the levels. Getting a friend to boost you to that particular boss is easier than spending hours in a random PuG that may even fail to kill your particular target).

Having enough gold by default to stay current on all skills including all levels of riding skill (not to mention heirloom CWF) is worth a LOT. I would never start chars on a fourth server or delete all the ones I have to start "fresh".

But hey... If it floats yer boat.

[malkara]

Curiosity begs me to ask you this.. Are you EU or US, cause might be nice to have someone with the same line of thought levelling along with ya no ?

[Fano7]

I'd do it if I could get my n00b-ness back. Leveling up my hunter was so much fun when I didn't know my way around the world, and what each class did, what each boss did, where all the quest givers are, etc. If I did it now, I'd probably get annoyed.

[Cactrot]

I don't see how rerolling on a completely different server would make transferring anything very easy.
Personally I will never delete my old characters. I just don't see the point. If I wanted to start fresh with no assistance from old characters I just wouldn't send anything to them. That isn't exactly a tough test of will power. However I also don't see the point of that. One of the most irritating thhing about having recently rerolled on a new server is not having every profession and being forced to use that dirty disgusting auction house.

[Deleted]

I'd start over... Although i think the majority of people wouldn't.

If i could keep my friends list and guild, i would...

[Cactrot]

I don't see how rerolling on a completely different server would make transferring anything very easy.
Personally I will never delete my old characters. I just don't see the point. If I wanted to start fresh with no assistance from old characters I just wouldn't send anything to them. That isn't exactly a tough test of will power. However I also don't see the point of that. One of the most irritating thhing about having recently rerolled on a new server is not having every profession and being forced to use that dirty disgusting auction house.

[GISP]

Screw the gear and stuff, But my hard earned mount/pet collection for not to say the rep grinding, would not do all that again.

[OldHordeGlory]

I have chars on 3 realms. I have started from scratch completely each time I started on a new realm. There is NOTHING under the sun that would make me do that again.

Starting with no bagspace, no resources and no friendly names to help out here and there as needed on the way up (don't get me wrong - I try to group with strangers for instances and such on the way up, and the LFD-tool have certainly made that easier... But sometimes you just want to run in, knock over a specific boss for a certain questreward or drop and then plow on through the levels. Getting a friend to boost you to that particular boss is easier than spending hours in a random PuG that may even fail to kill your particular target).

Having enough gold by default to stay current on all skills including all levels of riding skill (not to mention heirloom CWF) is worth a LOT. I would never start chars on a fourth server or delete all the ones I have to start "fresh".

But hey... If it floats yer boat.

That's fair enough; I imagine there are a lot of people who share that viewpoint and it makes just as much sense as any other. For what it's worth, though, I think the whole 'paying for new ranks of spells' is going away in Cataclysm in favor of abilities that, once purchased, automatically scale up as you level. That alleviates that last little bit, but there's certainly more to it than that.

I'd start over... Although i think the majority of people wouldn't.

If i could keep my friends list and guild, i would...

Well with the upcoming BNet integration I think that'll be pretty possible to do. I agree that recreating friends lists is a bit of a pain.

Most of the friends I started out playing with have moved on anyways, so it doesn't impact me as much to start over from scratch. Speaking of which...

Curiosity begs me to ask you this.. Are you EU or US, cause might be nice to have someone with the same line of thought levelling along with ya no ?

It certainly can't hurt; my younger brother played with me for a few months before losing interest, and that was some of the funnest times I've had since we were playing in a similar mindset.

I'm US.

One of the most irritating thhing about having recently rerolled on a new server is not having every profession and being forced to use that dirty disgusting auction house.

Well another fun thing about the current plan for Cataclysm, as I understand it, is the alleviation of at least part of the tiresome farming needed for professions. I imagine to level professions at a rate which will keep them useful throughout the leveling process will be a bit easier come Cataclysm...and probably more fun.

Unless farming bears and wolves above Camp Mojave in Feralas during the Ahn'Qiraj event was considered "fun"... o_0

[alliachillesi]

I would just start on another realm... so if you got bored of leveling, then you could easily go play on one of your other characters... and being on another realm, no gold, no heirlooms... just leveling like normal!

[Worgoblin]

Heh, I plan to reroll on a new server released with Cataclysm. I probably won't delete my old toons though, unless I really need the space.

[Dark Side]

Exactly. That's the mentality of mine that's driving this, really. To truly experience the depth of the changes Cataclysm introduces on the whole, rather than just five levels and resume heroic farming, I need to cut strings and reforge memories anew.

Now this is largely due to my enjoyment of leveling I'm sure, and those who are not fond of it will not agree that the memories of grinding basilisks with low-ass drop rates are very endearing. Still, to each their own I s'pose.

EDIT: Heck, I may even take this opportunity to re-level my characters on a RP server or something, where people talk a bit more and interact more during the leveling process rather than just blitzkrieg-ing it to 85. I risk ERP in Goldshire by doing this, but it may be worth it

For what my opinion counts, if you want memories, then just take your time doing what you want in the game. To hell with all the acheivments, realm firsts, guild firsts, and play the game as just that; a game. Its much more enjoyable if you do that. Some of my fondest memories are leveling in duskwood while listening to acdc on my first toon

[VoodooStu]

im giving my druid to a friend, and only reason im keeping my mage is because i have that unicorn recruit-a-friend mount and i think its funny.

[OldHordeGlory]

Some of my fondest memories are leveling in duskwood while listening to acdc on my first toon

Hehe, it was killing wizards around Dalaran's purple bubble while listening to Soil's "Breaking Me Down" over and over for me. :P

Got plenty of good, old memories...time to make some new ones with new guys I think :3