Feeling punished for having alts...

[Rayo]

didn't they add a way to friend your alts in the game a couple patches ago? maybe I'm just pulling blanks on a different feature or game but I think I recall such a thing being introduced with the stormblood patch cycle

I don't have any problems with alts, I use to have one myself, just kinda curious it that feature exists or is just me remembering things

[CazzT]

This game is so unfriendly towards alts.

I know i see the same tired lines over and over.

"Why do you need an alt?"
"You can play every job on one character."

Some people like playing as a new character, whether it be for roleplay, or just playing a different race.

RP reasons I can partially understand. I'm not an RPer myself, at least not beyond my interaction with the story, but I advocate and support the RP community in most of the things they want.
Different race... Fantasia potion. Don't need an alt for that.

I'm usually the one encouraging others to consider the other side's perspective. I've tried to consider the other side on this and I just can't find a good reason for alts in this game other than playing on another DC.

The questions you listed are legitimate questions for this game, though.

--- Why do you need an alt?
If the answer is anything other than "to play with friends on another data center", the reason is almost guaranteed to have another solution that doesn't require an alt.

--- You can play every job/do everything on one character.
There's really no counter to this. If you want to do everything all over again, I get that. But that doesn't justify shared bank space (which I'm not against and agree it's odd that it's not already in), shared achievements (i rarely agree with this request/demand), or many of the other things I see in regards to being able to do everything on one character.

I know I sound a bit closed minded, but I promise I'm not. I have tried to find counters to both questions from multiple angles.

[JunseiKei]

This can all be done on one character line doesn't float. You can't use multiple races on one character so if you want to play multiples you need alts. You also pay extra for additional characters with your monthly sub.

These are very reasonable requests in my opinion and they do exist in other mmo's but not this one.

No easy way to skip the main story.
No shared bank.
No shared achievements.
No shared seasonal and event items.
No shared housing.

Don't most MMOs that have these features is because one character plays one job/class only, ever? If you want to play something else, you are required to make a completely new character. A lot of other games have market-able gear, too; something else that doesn't really exist in FFXIV outside of crafted gear - until bound. You can also have multiple characters on a datacenter without paying extra, especially with the world visit system; you pay extra if you want them on the same server.

[Crystal_Raven]

No easy way to skip the main story to reach endgame.
No shared bank.
No shared achievements.
No shared seasonal and event items.
No shared housing.

Store items are for one character only

And cant even send gil or materials between characters on the same server without friends or a contrived transfer on the market board.

Basic functionalities in other MMO's completely absent from this one... And we are hitting the 3rd expansion now.

Those functionalities are there because if you main a tank and you want to play a DPS, you need to make an entire new character.

Here, you don't have to do that, so there is no point to waste development time on those features. Simple as that. The game is built around doing everything on one character.

[Wynn_Storm]

RP reasons I can partially understand. I'm not an RPer myself, at least not beyond my interaction with the story, but I advocate and support the RP community in most of the things they want.
Different race... Fantasia potion. Don't need an alt for that.

I'm usually the one encouraging others to consider the other side's perspective. I've tried to consider the other side on this and I just can't find a good reason for alts in this game other than playing on another DC.

The questions you listed are legitimate questions for this game, though.

--- Why do you need an alt?
If the answer is anything other than "to play with friends on another data center", the reason is almost guaranteed to have another solution that doesn't require an alt.

--- You can play every job/do everything on one character.
There's really no counter to this. If you want to do everything all over again, I get that. But that doesn't justify shared bank space (which I'm not against and agree it's odd that it's not already in), shared achievements (i rarely agree with this request/demand), or many of the other things I see in regards to being able to do everything on one character.

I know I sound a bit closed minded, but I promise I'm not. I have tried to find counters to both questions from multiple angles.

I don't RP either, but i think its a good thing to have, it keeps people playing and they enjoy themselves.

You mention Fantasia potion, and while i agree to some extent i don't think it needs to be the go to solution.

Some people don't want to shell out $10 every time, and some people are attached to their character because they have been playing them for years.

That's where having an alt would come in handy.

I know its money vs time here.

But i don't think it needs to be on the level that it is.

I know this game is different because you can do everything on one character, but they could at least add some leeway for alts.

I don't play alts, but if i did play one i don't think i could see myself putting forth serious effort on it.

Like i wouldn't go for relics or anything of the sort. Doing it once is painful enough.

[HyoMinPark]

didn't they add a way to friend your alts in the game a couple patches ago? maybe I'm just pulling blanks on a different feature or game but I think I recall such a thing being introduced with the stormblood patch cycle

I don't have any problems with alts, I use to have one myself, just kinda curious it that feature exists or is just me remembering things

No, you cannot friend your alts nor was any such feature added in SB. I believe in early ARR there was a bug people could do to friend their alts but it's never been an intended feature. I believe the reason given by the developers is "anti-RMT measure".

[LaylaTsarra]

No, you cannot friend your alts nor was any such feature added in SB. I believe in early ARR there was a bug people could do to friend their alts but it's never been an intended feature. I believe the reason given by the developers is "anti-RMT measure".

There was a recent bug that allowed alts to friend a main. That bug was fixed although not immediately. My understanding is that Yoshi P did make the comment that they were looking into the ability for alts to share a house with their main but that has yet to materialize. Hopefully that will happen with the new housing updated whenever that may come. Weather or not that involves friending alts or some other means remains to be seen.

[Mew_FC]

I don't get why people just don't get another service account if they care that much about alts considering it solves every issues the game has when it comes to having more than 1 character.

[linay]

Pay extra to have an alt and can't even mail things to it. Have to make your own FC just to share items and gil between your own characters for which you pay extra every month.

You don't pay extra to have alts. You pay less to have fewer alts. You also pay the same per month if you pay 6 months at a time.

[Wynn_Storm]

I don't get why people just don't get another service account if they care that much about alts considering it solves every issues the game has when it comes to having more than 1 character.

What? How does getting another service account solve the problems?

Your solution is paying $30 per month for two accounts?

Where in your mind did you actually think this is a good solution?