Upside of having two characters?

[dinantes]

Heya! Returning after a long while away (just before 2.1) and daunted by ther prospect of jumping into the end-lvl content with my 50 warrior/Black mage. Considering starting a fresh character, but it seems wildly counterproductive.

Is there any great benefits to having two characters?

[Alukah]

'No weekly lookout' seems to be the only benefit.

[LilPhist]

I'm able to send mail between my alt and main, so double the bank space =)

Sadly, that "workaround" was removed from the game.

[Kos_Mos]

You can only cap 2-3 jobs to 100 in desynthesis per character so you could cap 4-6 using 2 characters.

[ServerCollaps]

You can only cap 2-3 jobs to 100 in desynthesis per character so you could cap 4-6 using 2 characters.

most profitable things to desynth are charbound, so you cant trade them between the chars, which makes it pointless

[Ooshima]

The most common reason why people run 2 characters is for coil.

Some players just want to do coil twice, with the same or different people.

Those who do it with the same people are usually going for the double loot method. 4 main accounts paired with 4 secondary accounts, two different teams. Loots per team goes to the 4 main accounts. In this way, gearing is speed up much faster.

Another scenario is for coil selling. One of the raids in our FC have a full alternate account just to sell coil carries, so that gearing for their main account jobs will not be affected.

[Thaliss]

getting treasure maps
Gardening when private housing comes Private housing

[Freyt]

Having both male and female exclusive gear.

[Fendred]

Having both male and female exclusive gear.

This. I will never have the lightning hair cut unlocked or lightning's outfit. Also, cascadier outfit can only be for one sex. To be honest though, male/female exclusive gear doesn't make a whole lot of sense when two people putting on the same kind of armor can have different designs. (What ever happened to the part of the dragoon armor covering the belly on the female model?! X.X).

However, if you intend to do the end game rep grinds or the atma -> animus -> novus questline, you'd be better off not making a second character. The time requirements on those things, especially when taken as a whole, are brutal.

[Kayo]

Having both male and female exclusive gear.

This here is the only reason I have 2 character I play regularly (and am thankful that Lightning event is coming back). Not a big gear grinder so I couldnt care less about coil lockouts. Wouldnt level a whole other toon just to fill spots though I wouldnt mind if I already had one.

Im entry level anyway so the toons are in different servers. Also, later on, I would imagine another reason to make a new character is to just have a low level character to play with. Once you get all your class/jobs to high level you cant be a newbie anymore. Plus some players like revisiting the main story now and then... new race, new starter area maybe ....