Just an idea; why not make the game a bit more Alt-friendly?

[Terin]

Okay, the thread-title probably sounds *really* bad! Just follow me for a second, though, and maybe the idea will seem... ehh, less bad?

So, here's the deal; right now, I really dig playing as my Miqo'te Pugilist. I plan to eventually level other Classes/Jobs, as well, but I'm fairly content with him as a Pug/Monk. However, I *really* want to play a Paladin. The problem? I would rather have a Hyur Paladin.


As it stands right now, I would simply have to start a new character. However, that means I'm also giving up the 50% XP-boost that my Miqo'te would get while leveling a new Class. It also means giving up the convenience of using items I've collected to use for other Jobs.

Worse than anything, though, it means breaking up the experience. Not the literal Experience-points, but the experience itself. The natural goal, right now, is to get lvl 50 in every single Class/Job on a single character, but if you specifically *want* to have two or more characters, it means either abandoning that goal, or dedication exponentially more time.

Now, to really throw a wrench in those plans, what happens when new Jobs are eventually added? Maybe a Dark Knight requires leveling a Warrior and a Black Mage to unlock, but if you've leveled those Jobs on different characters, then you're presented with a very, very large hurdle to overcome. And that's assuming you don't want the Dark Knight as another race, still!

So, here's a possible suggestion. I'm not saying "This will fix everything!", but it's just an idea to get a conversation in motion.

What if, once you've completed *all* of your core Story-missions, your Class/Job experience becomes Account-wide? By that, I mean that if you have a character who is already lvl 50 in every Class/Job category, you would simply have to level a new character up to 50 and complete their Story-missions, but then they would also have access to all of those Classes.

Of course, there are also likely Con's to this idea, as well; the biggest one I can think, being that players might then feel *compelled* to play as alts, in order to gear out difference Classes/Jobs more quickly, instead of alts being more "optional", just for visual distinction. Still, as I said before; I'm just trying to start a conversation. Maybe we can iron this thing out, and see if there's a better solution to be had or not! :P

[Sinaloa]

This proposal would result in people saving time. Saving time results in Content earlier done. Content done results in people quitting. People quitting do not pay money. It won´t happen.

The system as it is is very friendly to people who want new chars fast and to those who have only few time to lvl up twinks. And it gives Content to those who want several chars for powergaming purposes (Stats, multiple ID´s). A developer cant make everybody happy. You are just in the unlucky minority. The majority (SE, Powergamers, Casuals) can live with the System.

[Kyoskai]

Long ago people wanted one character/race to be all classes, now they want all classes to be all races at once.
What's next? Make a new character and be completely done with the game?
Your suggestion is completely flawed and makes no sense if you think about it.

G'won think it over.... you know you haaaaaveeennnn't...

[Kincade]

The only thing I can think of along the lines of making alts easier to level that wouldn't be too unbalancing is allowing players to send mail between characters (on the same server of course). Other than that I'm fine with the way things are.

[Niwashi]

I don't want a new alt to immediately be high level at anything, because one of the reasons for creating alts is to have low-level characters (as the low-level content can be a lot more fun than end-game grinding).

[EDIT]
For instance, I have three alts and am or will be pursuing all 19 classes on all of them. That's 57 times that I can level up, plus I can keep increasing that as much as I want by just making more alts. By your plan, I'd be limited to the first 19 and then the game's over.
[/EDIT]

I would like some better tools for coordinating between multiple alts, though, especially the ability to trade items back and forth. The current rule that we can't mail anything to our own alts is incredibly annoying.

[Terin]

I suppose that's a good point; it does sort of rob you of that appeal for leveling an alt, if you're really committed to leveling up everything more than once. I suppose the concern I have is that, as someone who typically has a different character dedicated to each Class, that sort of mind-set feels "penalized" slightly, as opposed to the "One character, all Jobs" system. Still, you're right; my suggestion has some pretty big flaws I didn't consider.

Here's another idea; what if your Armoire were account-wide? Since, to my knowledge, the only *useful* gear that can be deposited is the Artifact equipment you get later on, at least it would keep special Event items within reach for alts. Yay or nay?

[MysticNeko]

Here's an idea, instead of having alts just to play a different race, they could make changes to the aesthetician to actually make him useful (and worth the 2k gil) and allow him to "make a completely new you" (doesn't he say something like that anyway?) by letting you essentially use a fantasia potion essentially. I think personally that this would make a lot of players happy plus instead of having to redo the main story line again you can switch your race to hyur when you wanted to play pld and then switch back to your miqo'te for mnk (though i guess that does take away the fun of leveling all over again but at least it wouldn't make anything broken and actually makes the aesthetician useful instead of the uselessness he is now)

[Merryl]

Or maybe if the alts were on the same server...you could just switch your appearance at will but keep the classes and exp locked to the account inventory and armory. That's what the thread author really wants right?
Say you like being one race for healer but switch to another for dps. It would be just like changing gear or soul stones. I don't see why this would be impossible.
Although as it sits having multiple characters on the same server costs a few dollars more.

You wouldnt be gaining exp or levels since that info would be locked to the account.
Each class starts at lvl 1 anyway...so I don't know why anyone would be missing out on the experience or fun of leveling.
And you'd only have to see the story and quests for that class once ( not 4 times like me *snore*)

It would need a limit like it has now. I think 8 should be plenty.

It would be a sweet idea. Cause I'm already running myself into early retirement with these alts...I started out liking it until I got halfway and realized how many skills actually cross over
Now I just can't decide who needs to be deleted...so much time and work wasted.

Err...I just thought of something though...what about names? All these alts have a persona and separate name =_=;
That would be impractical to keep that. So we'd end up with some really oddly named characters..like say a big burly looking tank named pretty kitten or something. O.o

Unless maybe you'd have to log out to switch character sets...to be able to have different first name only

[Terin]

Honestly, it's a complicated issue, so it's definitely hard coming up with the right solution. I definitely support the Aesthetician getting more options to change your character (as a Miqo'te, for example, it doesn't make sense that the tail can't be altered), but I'm not sure I would say "Hey, let's let him change your race", either. Maybe, though, they could make Fantasia Potions available in the game somehow, though, provided they were still rare, or difficult to acquire?

Still, like I said, for me it's more about having a truly diverse set of characters, instead of one "do-everything main". To be honest, I do sort of dig Merryl's idea, though; being able to treat each Job as its own "character" does have a certain appeal. Just not totally sure how that would work out.

Anyone else have any possible suggestions?

[Merryl]

It is complicated. I would be very wary of them changing things ...the simple thing to do would be to allow character skins that work like the armor system.
What I'm afraid would happen is combined inventory of all the characters on my account. Definitely do not want that.
They should continue to separate it by server... Not saying it would ever happen, but if it did; let the player be responsible for building character sets on the server they want to be on.

Definitely not everyone will be happy if their alts are suddenly sharing an inventory without warning.

You know implementing a skin idea is a win/win situation really. Think of it this way... If 3000 people have 3 alts and suddenly they can have that same experience on 1 character, thus deleting 2 characters...that's 2000 profiles. You cant tell me that wouldn't free up or even eliminate the need for some sever space?