[Suggestion] FFXIV Alt-Friendliness

[TheRealDesastr]

I'd like to add PVP Series rewards...I don't see why time limited/exclusive stuff is NOT account bound.

Agreed entirely there. Also..weren't we supposed to get the option of getting those limited time stuff at some point in the future, I thought? Or was that just a rumour?

[localareanetwork]

Just give me an option to skip MSQ on an alt, please..

[Bright-Flower]

This is also the game that still hasn't added a UI for egi/fairy glamour and you have to type out a text command to adjust it.

I love FFXIV but dang is the game cheap and behind the times in some ways even for 2013. I don't want to say 'lazy' because it's probably more a staffing and budgeting thing and not the team just not caring, but it's very noticeable. Apparently in some ways even compared to FFXI in some ways like mailing stuff to alts, a game predating not just FFXIV but WoW as well.

[Ramiee]

The game just needs to bomb again so we can get ARR 2.0 so the team has to play wow again and see their new alt-friendly system they've developed for the war within.

[TheRealDesastr]

...You can mail stuff to alts in FFXI? How can we not in.. oh my gods. /facepalm

My mind is boggled.

[Chasingstars]

The only way to mail stuff over to an alt in ffxiv, without friends, is literally to have a second service account, your "mule", who itself has an alt. Such mules, aside from mailing services, are also used for item storage and the creation of free companies.

So even if you only plan to have 1 character on the mule account, that is an extra $12.99 per month for a basic service that other mmorpgs already have for free. It is basically the equivalent of paying for 6 & 1/2 extra retainers for your account for one retainer who has post office access.

[Willemdarke]

I was literally about to make this same thread last night, but was too sleepy, lol.

Although I take regular breaks to play other games and enjoy other hobbies, I always return to FF14 as it's my social game of choice and it's where my friends are. Yet.. I'm so bored of it.

I already did everything I want to do in DT, except level crafters/gatherers and farm 90~x2 more extreme tomes for the mounts. And I was bored. So I was back to leveling alt jobs, which I never use. Grinding the same fates and dungeons again and again, and again. And then it hit me, for a lot of Endwalker's content droughts I was doing the same thing, except pre-90. It's so boring! So much of this game is one-and-done, and not just the MSQ. What's left is grinding the same things over and over again week after week.

Then 2 days ago I was so bored I made my first alt. On a different data center (zero gil), with a different race than mine and with a job I hate. I even made a little backstory for this alt (something even my main doesn't have) and braided my hair to match the character (cringey, I know). And those past 2 days have been the most fun I've had in FF14 aside from fooling around with friends on discord. Just exploring, doing random quests and learning about Gridania culture. Unlocking systems again. Doing things I've not done in YEARS. Even enjoying the horrible voice acting (I actually like Yda's, lol). It's "new" to me again and sure as heck it's more fun than spamming bloody Tower of Zot or Vanguard.

Alt playthroughs are the lifeblood of longevity for games. Not just MMOs, all games. I legit don't know how many playthroughs of BG3 or Elden Ring I've gone through in the past few years. The convenience of all-jobs-on-1-character is great and should stay, but I cannot for the life of me fathom why SE so heavily discourages alt playthroughs in this game - even shop-bought items aren't account-wide, God forbit glam and hairstyles too - why???

[Keumjo]

Since my main is a viera, sometimes I just want to remember what it's like to wear a goddamn hat. So I have a few alts, each alt has a different look and feel than my main. I've had to buy story skips so I didn't have to play expansions I don't like, but I have to rebuild all of my glam dresser and minions/mounts/rewards/etc and that stops me from fully engaging with my alts. You have to go back and unlock all the quests to do desynth/chocobo/ex dungeons. And if you story skip you still have all the blue quest markers for unlocking aether currents even if you already have flying.

It's not friendly at all, and if they didn't want you making more than one character, they shouldn't make it an option. But since they do, they should make the alt experience better.

[TheRealDesastr]

On the bright side, my questioning on tumblr and twitter seem to generally lead to positive results and people wanting at least a little bit (if not more) alt-friendliness in this game. I dunno if it will make a difference, nor do I know if posting here will, but it'll be on people's minds. Perhaps one of the more prominent FFXIV content creators will see this all and eventually talk about it. One can hope!

[AngaratoSvartberg]

100% agree

if they cant make this work than at least make everything and i mean EVERY SINGLE THING from the mogstation account wide. its ABSOLUTELY ABSURD that you would have to buy things multiple times for your alts.