Honestly, this doesn't affect me really, as I only focus on one character.. However I know people who it does affect so I have decided to bring the topic up.

The functionality of having alt characters in this game is extremely limited. I know this game isn't really designed with alt characters in mind (multi-armory system etc) however the communication between main characters and alt characters is extremely poor.

1. Unable to add them to friendlist (which means you cannot send mail) and no shared storage facility external to that of a free-company chest.

In ARR, this was brought up as a counter to combat RMT. I don't truly understand why this is in place, as I can't see any benefit of transferring items or gil from one character to another on the same account.

Furthermore, there are ways to get around this, and that is to utilize the company chest. However this option is not available to those who either don't have access to it on both of their characters, or wish to be in multiple free companies.

My point with this argument is that there are already methods of transferring items between characters on the same account, however they are extremely convoluted and are a hassle for players who wish to do something that should be as simple as sending a mail or dropping it in a "shared retainer".

2. Housing

2.1 - No access to housing between characters, due to the inability to add alt characters to your friends list.

This point is similar to the first. Because you are unable to add your alt characters to your friends list, you are also unable to give your alt full access or teleport permissions to a house you may own on your main character.

After speaking with people who own multiple houses on alt characters, they purchased these houses for the main reason that their alt characters don't have access to the housing features on their main character.

This brings me to the next point on this..

2.2 - Housing is not shared between alts, which encourages multi-house owners.

It is no secret that housing in this game is limited. Furthermore, many players are buying up multiple plots on their alt characters which in some opinions is considered rather greedy for such a scarce resource.

My belief is that housing plots should be shared completely - per account, per server.
If your main owns a house, then your alt characters shouldn't be able to own one..
HOWEVER, alts should absolutely have owner privileges including teleports.

This is a tricky topic, and there is little that can really be done about the multi-home owner plots that are already in existence.. However I am really hoping that this restriction is put in place before the 4.1 housing ward (Shirogane) is released.

A potential solution (while many current multi-home owners will likely disagree with this) is to add this feature, then give players the regular 45-day reclaim timer. After the end of the 45 days, the house with the most recent visit will be kept, and all other plots owned by the player on other characters will be forcibly reclaimed with 100% gil refund and all furnishings unbound and able to be sold on the market.

3. Shared retainers

I believe that the easiest way around the item transfer issue is to add one (free) shared retainer across all characters on the same server.

Many other MMOs do this in the form of "Banks" where you have an account-wide storage solution that allows you to place items in it that all characters have access to.

I do not believe that this system should replace the ability to store items through individual retainers per character, as inventory space is scarce in this game.

If the concern is that alt characters will be able to share unique gear, especially considering you can only purchase mog station items for one character at a time - add rules similar to that of the company chest that does not allow you to place unique items in there.