Starting Over

So the shared topic and much discussed question over at Blog Azeroth this week: what would you do if your account was gone forever and you had to start over?

I believe this is assuming something tragic happened, like aliens ate your account, or somehow it was simply gone forever. Obviously Blizzard has shown a track record of being able to restore some of your information, so very rarely is all lost. For the sake of argument though, let's look at a couple of options.

Account gone - no friends available

If my account was completely gone, and I didn't have any friends available from my guild, I'd probably just stop playing all together. I mainly play to raid, though I do have some alts, and getting back into competitive ICC raiding would be fairly tough with my current play schedule. If I kept my same play schedule, it would still take me a month to get kitted out in badge gear - and I don't have the AH skills to supplement me with the BoE epics I'd need to round out my set.

Of course, losing your account AND everyone that you know in game is pretty unlikely. Oh, I'd buy a PS3 and Assassins Creed I/II - because I'm always late to the party.

Account gone - friend structure exists

Assuming that nothing changed but my ability to raid, I'd get a RAF going and power-level my butt to 80. I could probably count on enough gold from our gbank to cover the basics, and getting all the badges you'd need (with a good support group) just wouldn't take long at all. I'd also try and just buy an 80 off someone in the guild. I mean, if the situation is extreme enough that I've lost my whole account, I think some corners can be cut.

Yeah, yeah - but what class?

I think the real point of this question though, was what class/role would you play? Would you re-roll the same class as your main, or use the opportunity to change?

In this case, because my goal would be to get back into the end-game raiding as quickly as possible, I'd definitely go with the Paladin again. I love the versatility, I know the class backwards and forwards, and I can save myself 1g at lvl 20 with the free mount. What's not to love?

If I ever had to choose a different class though, I'm pretty sure it'd be a druid. Same flexibility as the Paladin, but with a ranged DPS setup as well. I'd want to be a Troll though - even if you do spend 90% of your time shapeshifted.