Making the game alt/alt-job friendly

[Vahlnir]

Having multiple characters in WoW has kept me busy (mostly willingly) through the years, but this game just isn't really meant for that. If I need a change, I buy a fantasia. Or switch jobs for a little while. The thought of having to grind the MSQ on another character is just...no. God no.

[Jim_Berry]

I'm probably in the minority, but I'll NEVER create an alt.

[Felis]

Account wide mounts

already ingame. CE mounts and Legacy Chocobo

Account wide Mounts available at level 1 on different characters

you will still need a license from your GC.

[technole]

Yeah, many minions/mounts are account-wide like anytime you use a CE code, or some mogstation purchases that go over a certain cash amount like the Moogle. Achievement mounts rightfully need to be unlocked again.

I still say the biggest benefit of an alt is being able to be in the world/data center of people you want to play with without uprooting everything. Some more friends on Primal or Aether? Just make another, level in your spare time. Get a jump potion if you wish.

[Iromi]

Whats even the point of making the game "alt-friendly" when one character can be every class and crafter.

I don't do this myself but I do know many people who have more than one character on the same server that they play so they can bypass the tomestone limit. While we can play every job..only one job can really be upgraded fully because of weekly caps and lockouts, at a time anyway. If I wanted to do BIS SMN and BRD in the same amount of time, it would be impossible.

[Felis]

I don't do this myself but I do know many people who have more than one character on the same server that they play so they can bypass the tomestone limit. While we can play every job..only one job can really be upgraded fully because of weekly caps and lockouts, at a time anyway. If I wanted to do BIS SMN and BRD in the same amount of time, it would be impossible.

Is only usefull if you also do Savage raid with all the alts.

[Altena]

I don't care for alt-characters personally.. Because XIV is more a story about your character progressing and going on various adventures / learning new skills etc.. That and the character switching system to play other classes is a rather archaic thing in an MMO.


Regarding alt-jobs however.. This is more of a content issue.
The current system blockades players from progressing their characters too quickly because they can't release content quick enough to keep players busy.
However currently we only have enough time to gear 1 or 2 jobs, maybe 3 at a push (due to hard lockouts/tomestone caps). So generally speaking we will have a max of a few jobs we can cap out before the next content patch - and the rest of our jobs are stuck in the highest crafted gear because of the physical blockade..

The solution is to add some kind of grindy content that is not locked behind a weekly cap that allows us to progress other alt jobs when we have finished capping tomes/raid lockout.
In my opinion, base tome gear should only be 5 ilvls behind raid gear. (eg. i335). Upgrading it would put it equal (as per-normal).
24-man raid gear should be the same ilvl as base tome gear as per normal (eg. i335).
There should be some form of open world / farmable content that allows you to grind for i330 gear without a lockout during the raid patch.
Keep crafted gear sitting where it's at now because max melding it still pushes the iLvl up quite significantly...

[Dyylan]

Wow! So many responses to this thread! And all bring up interesting points. In the end, though, my original post and desire for this game to be some version of "alt(job) friendly" is in fact due to raiding, and it seems I'm not alone. It's really sad for me to have spent so much time getting to max level on one job, and so much time getting that job geared enough to be viable in progression raiding, to lose opportunities because that class is already over represented in groups, or other raid composition considerations. (It's also hard to find a nice static just as it is!)

And if you don't know much about progression raiding, I'll tell you. In order to be able to participate to the highest extent, it's often asked of you (and in some cases demanded) to bring multiple classes to the table, for various reasons. In FFXIV, I'm trying to do that, but it's going to be a while due to lockouts and caps until I can. But I still have to pay my subscription in the meantime.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

The solution is to add some kind of grindy content that is not locked behind a weekly cap that allows us to progress other alt jobs when we have finished capping tomes/raid lockout.

This is where I feel a modified version of WoW's Mythic+ could have value. They could even take Light farming and spread it out further to avoid the spam-fests that became A1S and Ravana. Some alternative for secondary jobs and gear progression in general would be a welcomed addition, regardless. I want more reasons to do content than farm for mounts and cap tomes-- the latter I mostly do through Savage anyway.

[Rinuko]

I can't think of any reason to have an actual alt other than crafting specializations.
I have 7 alts but that's more cause i enjoy replaying the MSQ and leveling process - this wont apply to the majority of the player base