I’ve always had a tendency to want to create and re-create characters. I can sit and entertain myself in a good character creation screen for an hour, easily (which is really funny because my 7 year old son likes to do the same thing–genetics r funnee.). When I played EQ2, I had a station access account because I wanted the extra character slots–and I put them to good use. I played a host of characters over level 50, and eventually got my two “mains” up to the level cap of 80.

In my first flirtation with Age of Conan, I didn’t delve as heavily into alts as I normally would. I simply wasn’t there long enough to fully flesh out and explore the various classes. I had a bear shaman, a barbarian and a demonologist all over level 30, but I spent most of my time on my barbarian before I quit.

In Warhammer, I thought I was cured of my altoholicism. There was only one class that remotely interested me, and that was my Witch Elf. I tried playing other classes–sorceress, disciple of Khaine and squig-herder, but none of them held any appeal for me. As a result, once I reached level 40 on my Witch Elf, I was sort of stuck. I had no desire to “repeat” the game with a new class. Couple that with a crippling class nerf, and the icing was on my “gotta blow this popsicle stand” cake.

Now I’m back in Age of Conan, and find myself spending a lot of time in that character create screen again. By the way–the character customization in AoC is outstanding. You can get some truly unique looking characters and the models are very realistic and fun to look at when playing. And yes, there’s boobies. But I digress.

My new “main” is a conqueror named Keiry, who I dinged 57 with last night. I’m enjoying the hell out of that class, and I foresee her staying my main character for the coming future. However, I’ve also got a barbarian–a new one, as I’d deleted my old one–that I am enjoying thoroughly, and a Priest of Mitra for a change of pace. Thanks to Dyones for providing a better description of a PoM than I could.

Another positive that Age of Conan has had this time around is a vast improvement of the amount of content available to explore while leveling. Even thought I’m working on 3 classes at the same time, I’m finding some new quests, etc. to do as I level them up. Sure, there’s a certain amount of repetition–quests I’ve already done, areas I’ve already explored–but I’m not finding it boring to repeat them because the classes play differently and require different tactics to succeed. And there -is- something to be said for being familiar with a zone or a quest line, as you spend less time wandering around helplessly.

EQ2 held my interest for a long time, not only because of the playability of the game itself, but because it provided me with a number of classes that were enjoyable when I was “repeating” content. Age of Conan looks to be headed in the same direction.