What If the Class Plays You?

It’s something I’ve observed recently, now that I finally have a fair amount of high(ish) level alts.

The way I play, when on different toons, changes vastly from one character to the next. This isn’t just basic stuff (like not casting fireballs when playing a rogue). it’s a complete and total attitude swap.

Almost like I’m a completely different person. For instance.

On my mage, I can pound out a lot of quests very quickly. For about a week, I was easily getting 50 quests done per day, conducting an efficient slaughter of the mobs in my path

Let’s say there’s this cave where a named mob spawns. There is also about 15 other mobs between the entrance and the named mob. These other mobs don’t offer anything, quest wise. As a mage, I would kill only those mobs that are specifically in my way. Avoid as many of them as possible, end them if they interfere with me. Kill the named mob, leave.

Kinda the same attitude on a rogue. Just as efficient getting quests done as the mage, but… well, let’s go back to the cave example.

I arrive at the cave, slip quietly past all the other mobs, assassinate the named mob at the end, and stealth right back out again.

On the rogue, I only kill what I get paid to kill.

This completely changes again when I swap over to the hunter. It’s very difficult to go questing on my hunter. The urge to keep killing stuff, to continue hunting, is very, very strong. I find myself wandering all over the place, killing stuff, with no rhyme or reason to it.

There’s a quest early on in the Howling Fjord, where you need to go kill some rams for… something.

I went to go kill the rams. I killed the rams, and the ice elemental things. Then, when the rams turned into elk, I killed them too. When the ice elemental things turned into grizzly bears, I killed them too. When I ran across a village filled with sneaky worgen, I killed them too.

About an hour later, I found myself on the border of Zul’Drak, wondering how I got there. I think the only reason I stopped and wondered “WTF” was the fact that my bow stopped shooting. Out of ammo.

Somewhere during this long trek north I got two eternal waters, 6 stacks of Borean Leather, nearly maxed out my skinning skill, a couple stacks of Frostweave, and dinged 71. Oh yes, and I completed the quest, too.

Why does this happen? Where is this change originating from?

How can I go from completing an entire quest hub in an hour to completing a single quest in an hour?

Nothing else really changed. The laptop remains the same, I remain the same, I didn’t change clothes, I eat and drink like normal people do, I even get up and go to the washroom when required. I don’t listen to different styles of music from one character to the next.

The only thing changing is what class I’m playing.

Thus, there is only one conclusion to be reached from all this.

World of Warcraft is a mind control device that fundamentally changes the way you act. It’s only a matter of time before Blizzard uses this powerful weapon to wage war on their rivals.

We stand on the cusp of the zombie apocalypse, and we, my friends, are the zombies. With cries of “Mrrrglrglrglrglr”, we shall descend upon the unwitting citizens of the world, and consume them utterly.

There will be no mercy. There will be no quarter. They will be assimilated.

It’s only a matter of time before family reunions world round take place at an ingame inn. Only a matter of time before Aunt Sophie brings a mage to Potluck, and everyone rejoices. Only a matter of time before that creepy bishop makes his way towards the tram, and finds a whole civilization of tiny gnomes.

In other news, the Temple of Storm in Storm Peaks is very, very high. I highly encourage everyone to fly all the way to the top and jump off.