Using an Alt to increase number of trade skillsFollow

Hi there.

I've been playing WoW in various BETAs etc. Looking forward to European going live where I intend to play a Dwarven Warrior, but have a Human Rogue as an Alt or vice versa on the same server. One of my reasons for doing this is that I can't decide which trade skills to take so was thinking of having the Dwarf do mining/blacksmithing and the Rogue do engineering, with the intention that the Dwarf can send some of his mining raw materials to my alt character via the mail system. Then I log off, log in as the rogue, pick up supplies and do engineering etc.

Does this make sense? Does this seem at all feasible? I suppose I could do it through the auction house if the straight mail method didn't work. Or alternatively I could just negotiate with friends to get the raw materials I need...

The technique of using alts to both learn a different trade as well as assist in supplying your own is very effective. Only thing you have to watch out for is items that serve both characters. The biggest example that I can think off is if you have a Rogue or Warrior and an alt that does tailoring, your first aid skill might take awhile to develope. But the cons definitely don't outweigh the pros in doing this. Especially enchanting. My goodness, why have one character poor when you can have 3 equally poor. (I'm still waiting on the payout from all those items I disenchanted). Point is if you want to make an alt for another Tradeskill make sure you know where you want to go with that skills. Other than that, its a great way to get supplies, see more of the game, etc.

This works excellent if you have alternates that you've leveled up or abandoned.

My first character I got to 27, was a human warrior. Normally people go mining / armor crafting with warriors, but I went herbalism / alchemy, which proved helpful for my other characters later on. His skills are only 182 / 184 right now as I'm working on my secondary characters skills.

My second and most beloved character is a Night Elf Hunter. He's currently 46 and has 238 leather working and 300 skinning. For those recipes that required something from an alchemist I was able to do so with my first character and mail them to my second. I've gone dragonscale with this charcter (one of the three choices to advanced leather working) and am currently midway through the first quest.

A friend started a month after I'd made these two characters and she started a Night Elf Rogue. Since I wanted to group with her I started a Night Elf Druid at the same time. At level 20 though I abandoned the druid and just helped her for a week straight until she was level 42 and able to group with my hunter. That gave me a third alternate to play around with skills, which I chose Tailoring (to make higher end bags) and enchanting. The enchanting really kinda sucks since you really need to disenchant to skill up successfully, but the tailoring has proved a great way to get rid of all my extra linen, wool, silk and mageweave cloths. I've currently gotten his tailoring up to about 130 where he can now make silk bags (10 slot) with a goal of making mageweave bags (12 slot).

This is all done via the mail system which once your bank is full is a perfect way for storage since items sent stay for 29 days. You can return them once which gives you another 29 days at no cost, before you have to mail them again.

Lastly just for fun I have a level 10 Gnome mage that has mining / engineering as his skills, but he's just for fun.

I’ve been playing MMORPGs for about six years now; UO, EQ, Horizons and now WoW. I’ve never before felt the desire to have two accounts. But after playing the two stress tests and the open beta, I knew I’d want to play with all the professions. So I bought two collectors edition boxes and set up two PCs. I’ve only adventured with both accounts one time, to finish up two quests that I could never find groups for. My two accounts exist almost exclusively for professions.

I have eight alliance characters on one server:

Human Rogue – skinning / mining
Human Warrior – mining / smithing
Human Paladin – mining / engineering
Dwarf Priest – tailoring / enchanting
Dwarf Hunter – skinning / leatherworking
Gnome Mage – herbalism / alchemy
Night Elf Druid – herbalism / skinning
Human Warlock – herbalism / alchemy

My rogue is my main. It’s the class I enjoy the most. This has worked well, as he can stealth into mines and mine mineral node without having to fight his way to them. At most he has to kill one or two near the node. And he passes his supplies onto my other characters that use them to level their production skills.

There are a few things I’ve noticed about having crafting alts that I’d like to pass along. First, while this can be done with just one account, it can get expensive. I knew I’d be passing lots of items back and fourth, which is one of the main reasons I wanted two accounts. But I had no idea of the massive volume of those trades. I’m sure having so many alts only multiplied the problem, but don’t be surprised when your sending stack after stack after stack after stack after stack after stack of items to your alts, at 30 coppers each. Also expect to be sending equipment back and fourth as well as trade supplies. Even with two accounts this can be a bit overwhelming at times.

Be prepared to play each of your alts. In order to max out your professions each character will have to be at least level 35. And since you’re so close you may as well take them to 40 and eventually get a mount. If your trying to race to the level cap, this will no doubt be frustrating. I’m not in a hurry myself. I’m rather enjoying playing the many different characters. I must admit I find the warrior difficult to play for my play style and I’ve not yet gotten into the mood to play my warlock very much. So I expect those will be the last two I level.

If you have a tailor alt, be prepared for you first aid skill to suffer on all your other characters. My poor rogue is level 40 and is still using wool bandages. All my silk is currently going to my tailor. None of my characters will take first aid past wool until my tailor can no longer gain skill from silk. Thankfully fishing and cooking helps fill this void.

Plan on being poor. Instead of selling all that extra gear and those extra profession supplies, you’ll be passing them out to your alts. If you don’t mind farming for money from time to time this isn’t so bad. But money can become an issue when you’re not selling anything.

If you love professions, using alts is a good way to go. But you have to be willing to invest the extra time in leveling up your characters as well as leveling up their professions.

this is a good idea but there are a couple of flaws that you need to watch out for with alts. the main thing is that you will have to level all of your alts because the higher skill ranks require higher skills. If im not mistaken i think you have to be level 35 to become an expert at a certain skill. but i f you want to put the time into raising them then go for it. Just dont expect to be able to raise the skill with just money and supplies.