Feeling punished for having alts...

[Halivel]

Soo....pretty much how most MMOs operate? Or used to atleast. I cant speak for all MMOs, but many would not share bank, would not share achievements, would not share seasonal and event items, wouldnt share 'housing', and didnt give you an easy way to end game. Each character was usually treated as a new beginning. Maybe things lately have changed, but yeah, this isnt new.

A lot of games actually have account-shareable bank (or, like, a special shareable tab in the inventory), but about other points you are right.

[Melichoir]

A lot of games actually have account-shareable bank (or, like, a special shareable tab in the inventory), but about other points you are right.

This is a more recent invention now that I think about it, and the reason for account shared bank is pretty simple - less storage space for the player. As an example, in the old days of wow youd create bank alts so youd have more bank space to store crap. This was the same case in a lot of MMOs if I recall. The account banking however done away with that. Cleverly, it was marketed as a feature for players, but in reality it amounted to having less storage space overall for the convenience of having a new alt access the same storage space.

[TaleraRistain]

This is a more recent invention now that I think about it, and the reason for account shared bank is pretty simple - less storage space for the player. As an example, in the old days of wow youd create bank alts so youd have more bank space to store crap. This was the same case in a lot of MMOs if I recall. The account banking however done away with that. Cleverly, it was marketed as a feature for players, but in reality it amounted to having less storage space overall for the convenience of having a new alt access the same storage space.

It's not even remotely recent. We had shared bank slots back in EverQuest.

[Kaethra]

It's not even remotely recent. We had shared bank slots back in EverQuest.

This. Shared Bank in MMOs is older than some of the players here who are trying to act like salty vets.

Everquest is also the first game to facilitate alts by allowing story quest unlocks to apply to the entire account as well.

[Melichoir]

It's not even remotely recent. We had shared bank slots back in EverQuest.

I didnt say it was all, but having a massive shared bank system was not a part of many mainstream MMOs. This still doesnts solve what I said regarding shared banking - you wont be getting any advantage on shared banking other than you can transfer items slightly more effectively than current. Thats it. You wont be getting 'larger' bank slots to compensate, youd end up getting less storage space per account. This would be a detriment to people who run alts for Crafting Purposes.

If anything, anyone who wants a shared bank system, why? What is it you store in your bank slots that you need access to that cannot be mailed? Cause what do people use bank slots for?

Tokens from bosses/raids - will be character bound.
Crafting/Gathering materials - Shared banking will actually hurt your storage capabilities, not help them. Anything that is untradeable will be character bound pretty much.
Glamour Outfits - Would be predominately character bound unless it was set up account wide item (which is already mailed to you on creation of a new character right now.)
Pets - Character bound
Mounts - Character bound
Gil - You can transfer 1 million at a time. What exactly are you spending excessively high amounts of gil on that youd need to have full access to it that you couldnt do by sending a few letters?

Youre not getting a better deal out of this unless you start requesting changes to the above as well. Keeping them separate at least grants you two retainers with 175 slots each, so each alt gets 350 new spots for inventory (not even including saddlebag).

The game is designed around you having one character that does it all. With NG+ coming, the necessity for alts becomes even less significant outside of how a lot of people use them for extra storage or crafters.

The only suggestion I can see having some merit here is having alts have access to one characters house. That I can see being an ok thing.

Beyond that, youre not being punished. Youre just starting from scratch. Thats it.

[Niwashi]

This still doesnts solve what I said regarding shared banking - you wont be getting any advantage on shared banking other than you can transfer items slightly more effectively than current. Thats it.

Of course that's it. That's the whole purpose of why people are asking for it.

Currently, you have to set up a private FC to be able to have a shared bank where you can transfer stuff between your alts, but that means having to forego the social purpose of an FC, since you can't be in more than one.

We'd like something like the FC chest but which is shared among our alts rather than among our FC-mates.