My Alt is an Idiot

[Bun_Vivant]

I have five 5 alts at end-of-content, plus one post-Endwalker, one in ShB, and one ready to enter ShB.
Having one of the fast mounts (i.e. the cash shop motorcycles) helps.
Having two accounts and two machines helps, too, you can fly a new alt to the Aetherytes and aether currents.
But it's not for everyone.

My alts follow a pattern: level WAR to 60, pickup DNC, level those two to 70, pick up SGE, head for 90 on all three.
Only two of them (my mains) deviate from that -- they did at least one class per role, so I could do all the role-based content.
Road to 80 helps a lot. Especially with getting all the hand and land classes to 90 as well.

And it's not totally useless: pairing two alts to do crafting or timed-node gathering saves tons of time.
Of course, it takes tons of time to get to that point, but ... it's time spent playing a game, chillin.
Sometimes I even watch the cutscenes again -- unless Alpha-nerd is in them.

No life? Maybe, but it's worse than you might think.
See, my spouse has two accounts, two machines, and multiple alts at EoC as well.

[Jojoya]

Oh, the laundry list of things? It's just dungeons base raids, so I could run them with friends, nothing more. I don't think I'm being unreasonable.

________________

At the end of the day, the game simply offers no solution for leveling an alt beyond some expensive skips that aren't even useful for Endwalker at this time, and it bothered me so I decided to make a funny thread.

Don't need to be able to fly to run dungeons and raids with your friends since you can queue for those from anywhere once unlocked. If you're trying to unlock something like Sky Pirates where flying to get to the teleport for the quests is mandatory, a friend can fly you. It's a rare player that doesn't have a passenger mount, especially with the FFXV event happening right now.

Might as well skip flying altogether if it's going to be almost useless for how you intend to play the character.

I'm also wondering why you can't use your main to do the content with your friends. You'd already have flying and the content unlocked. Being on a different data center is not a hindrance as long as you're in the same region. I take this character to Dynamis when others in my Marilith FC want to do content I haven't unlocked (and don't want to unlock) on my characters there.

I wouldn't call you an idiot. Other MMORPGs have ingrained the need to have alts in many of us who have played them. It can be rough to break habit. I just don't see any need to give new characters automatic credit for things other characters on the account have already done, especially when those things aren't especially time consuming and/or flow naturally with other content the new character is going to need to do regardless.

[Iscah]

I have to get them no matter what, and I'd rather do it right away. Zones like Garlemald and Il Mheg (and a few others across xpacs) let me go wherever I want as soon as I set foot in them. The idea of segmenting a zone for the new player is to bring them back later in the story for new surprises, and I'm down for that but... I'm not a new player. There's no surprises left in the map for me, yet I'm still forced to stay inside the proverbial cage. I don't like that.

Or... I'm an idiot, whichever works better for you.

Whatever you want to call it, the fact remains that you are not playing as the devs intended and are deliberately going around road blocks they've set to tell you that you don't need to do it yet, so you can't complain at them for it.

By the story, you go to Labyrinthos and visit locations A, B and C according to story, and collect currents while you'll find as you go along. You go do other stuff, then eventually return to Labyrinthos to visit locations D, E and F and collect the rest of the currents as you move through that area.

Instead you're choosing to deliberately sequence-break to go visit D, E and F before you actually have to or even can according to the devs' plans, and then you'll have to go there a second time for story anyway.

The early collection of currents has gained you nothing in the meanwhile, just double handling something you had to do anyway.


And yes, it's true that there are some zones like Garlemald where you can collect all the currents the moment you step foot in the zone, but that's because you only go there once in the course of the story, and I still see no point in doing so until you have at least unlocked all the quest-based currents. Before then, keep an eye on your compass while questing and pick up currents that are near where you're travelling, but leave the clean-up until the quests are done and you can actually use the currents.

[DiaDeem]

I'm also wondering why you can't use your main to do the content with your friends

Now, the obvious question: Why get an alt? You can play everything on one character and there's Data Center travel.
An my answer to you is: Because I'm an idiot, that's why.

Literally joke's on me for having an itch to play a Miqo'te, I guess. Seriously, I'm an idiot for trying to make an alt, that's the whole point of the thread.

Whatever you want to call it, the fact remains that you are not playing as the devs intended and are deliberately going around road blocks they've set to tell you that you don't need to do it yet, so you can't complain at them for it.

Keep an eye on your compass while questing and pick up currents that are near where you're travelling, but leave the clean-up until the quests are done and you can actually use the currents.

Auriele... I don't have a problem with how the aether currents work, nor do I go around sequence breaking when I first went through any of this. My issue is specifically about having no alternatives for my alt. Nothing in your argument addresses that.

_____________

I'm never even asked for instant flight, just... something to make life easier on an alt. I truly feel like an idiot for making an alt. Square offers no quality of life assistance of any kind (even though it wouldn't hurt anyone), and some of the sentiment I'm getting from the thread is "deal with it" so yeah, lesson learned: I'm not making any more alts.

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

Your list is one of the reason why I only have 1 half baked alt in this game. I wish the game isn't so altagonistic.

[DiaDeem]

I wish the game isn't so altagonistic.

[Iscah]

My issue is specifically about having no alternatives for my alt. Nothing in your argument addresses that.

Yes, my argument does address that.

No, you do not have "no alternative" but to sequence-break to collect items that are 100% useless to you at this stage.

You can just play an alt like any new character. Go where the MSQ directs you, collect currents as you go.

You do not need all the currents now. You cannot collect all the currents now because they are locked behind sidequests that won't be available until the whole zone is open to you at level 88.

You have a choice and you are choosing the option that artificially inflates how much work you have to do, against the design intentions of the game.

[DiaDeem]

Yes, my argument does address that.

You offered no solution. Playing as if I was new isn't a solution, it only reafirms the problem.

No, you do not have "no alternative" but to sequence-break to collect items that are 100% useless to you at this stage

You're missing the point. The currents have to get collected to fly, and I have no idea why it bothers you that I wanna do that first.

You can just play an alt like any new character. Go where the MSQ directs you, collect currents as you go

Yes, this is exactly what I'm saying. That's EXACTLY the problem. The fact that an alt is treated as if the player behind it is new IS the problem.

You do not need all the currents now. You cannot collect all the currents now because they are locked behind sidequests that won't be available until the whole zone is open to you at level 88

Still missing the point. I don't intend to fly early, I'm just getting busywork out of the way.

You have a choice and you are choosing the option that artificially inflates how much work you have to do, against the design intentions of the game.

I've tried both approaches. Getting the currents early has always worked better for me. Even if the zone is split, I always get all the currents I can on one side and then follow MSQ. I in fact just did that with Elpis. If that bothers you, deal with it. Not everyone plays like you do.

You keep thinking I'm annoyed at the currents specifically. I've explained quite clearly what the problem actually is, but here it is for you, one more time...

- I don't have a problem with the currents or how they work with the zone divisions
- My issue is having no mechanic to help my alt do what my main already did.
- This doesn't apply to only currents but to EVERYTHING that needs re-unlocking as an alt.

Clearly, getting an itch to play a Miqo'te and making an alt for it was a terrible mistake, not because I have to get aether currents in whatever order but because there are no catching up mechanics to help alts get everything set. So yeah, joke's on me Square. I won't make any more alts in the future.

Guess I'm not only an idiot for playing an alt, but also for trying to have fun with the post. Leave it to the forums to get obsessed with the wrong thing and miss the point entirely.

Gonna go back to only posting dinosaurs attacking Japanese people and men throwing chairs at skeletons.

[Iscah]

I don't intend to fly early, I'm just getting busywork out of the way.

And my point is, you're not getting busywork out of the way, you're creating busywork.

The game intends that you do A and B together and set up B's objectives with that expectation, but you're going out of your way to do B first and then retread the same ground later for A.

[DiaDeem]

And my point is, you're not getting busywork out of the way, you're creating busywork.

The game intends that you do A and B together and set up B's objectives with that expectation, but you're going out of your way to do B first and then retread the same ground later for A.

- I have no issue with the currents themselves. Whether I frontload them (as I've been doing for 9 years) or do it as your sacred order dictates, it's IRRELEVANT to this thread and topic.
- The issue (for the 100th time), is that there are no mechanics to help alts catch up with dungeons, raids, flying, gear, or anything at all, and are treated as if the player behind them was brand new.