What are the actual roadblocks with alts in FFXIV?

[Zetsumei_Tsunarashi]

The only real "barrier" is just the fact you have to pay more money per month to have more characters. If you want to make an alt, do it. There's not really a good reason to do it, but if you want to go through the MSQ, level up, and unlock everything again, go ahead and do it. What is considered a 'big deal' or 'pain in the ass' is entirely subjective and therefore its up to you to decide that for yourself.

[Superskull85]

The only real "barrier" is just the fact you have to pay more money per month to have more characters. If you want to make an alt, do it. There's not really a good reason to do it, but if you want to go through the MSQ, level up, and unlock everything again, go ahead and do it. What is considered a 'big deal' or 'pain in the ass' is entirely subjective and therefore its up to you to decide that for yourself.

You do not need to pay more per month for alts. The cheapest option allows for 1 active character per world.

[Mika_Zahard]

You do not need to pay more per month for alts. The cheapest option allows for 1 active character per world.

If you purchase the 6 months sub, it has the same price as the single cheapest month available for non 1.0, and with that u can have alts in the same server.

[DPZ2]

The only real "barrier" is just the fact you have to pay more money per month to have more characters. If you want to make an alt, do it. There's not really a good reason to do it, but if you want to go through the MSQ, level up, and unlock everything again, go ahead and do it. What is considered a 'big deal' or 'pain in the ass' is entirely subjective and therefore its up to you to decide that for yourself.

Um, alternate characters are free for subscribed players. You pay no more money per month and can have a lot more of them than you are likely to want to create. If you purchase additional Retainers, that number is also available to alternate characters without additional payment (so, 6 retainers = 6 retainers for each alt you have as well).

Reasons to play alts: you want to play as a male Viera while your current main is a male Miqo'te. No need to purchase additional Fantasia to see what your Paladin would look like as a Hyur. You want to go through ARR again to see how high your level can get before you hit Heavensward. You want to create a character for Role-Playing on an RP realm, but still do battles on your main.

Downsides to play alts: you have to go through the MSQ, again. Not so much of a difficulty if you enjoy running through the lower level dungeons at the correct iLevel/job level.

[Cinno]

Um, alternate characters are free for subscribed players. You pay no more money per month and can have a lot more of them than you are likely to want to create.

It costs extra to have alt characters on the same world though. You can make as many alts as there are worlds at the Entry level account (one character per world), but if you want to create an alt on the same world as your main character, its a different subscription option that costs more per month.

[DPZ2]

It costs extra to have alt characters on the same world though. You can make as many alts as there are worlds at the Entry level account (one character per world), but if you want to create an alt on the same world as your main character, its a different subscription option that costs more per month.

I don't remember an option to create an 'entry' level account when I started back in 2014, which is why the extra $2 US never came to mind.