A question for people who love leveling alts...

Albatroes

How many is exactly enough?

I'm asking this question because of the whole allied race thing with wow in the last expansion. Personally, I like to level one of each class just to be versatile and in case devs decide to completely change one of my favorite classes' play-styles (i.e. hunter in legion, which they unfortunately keep doubling down on) I can change accordingly.

That said, allied races are essentially just more vanity added to the game (which some people argue that some of them could've just been existing race customization options instead of an entirely 'new race' especially with the supposed additional customization options coming in Shadowlands which makes half the allied races look stupid for existing, i.e. high-mountain taurens and light forged draenei).

So if you're someone like me, you have a minimum of 12 (24 if you play both sides) and whatever else after if you like having multiple races as multiple classes.

Do you have a limit?

I'm only using wow as an example since other games can vary for each person in how much they want to level, like FFXIV is designed to have everything able to be done on one character, yet some people still like to have high level alts.

rojoArcueid

I usually have 2 or 3 favorite classes and races in mmos so i level those first. After that, any other alts i make with the purpose of completing story/quest chains i may have missed with other characters, especially if different races and factions offer additional lore bits.

I don't like doing low level story quests with max level characters because i gain nothing from that. I also don't like leveling alts just because. If the exp rate is too high and i over level a zone quickly, i know i'll be making alts to see the rest of the zone so all my alts have a purpose.

kitarad

I am a nutcase I play many but only classes not races. I would roll a class on both sides like WoW because of faction not race though . I enjoy the Horde and Alliance lore and areas so play both sides. In games with a lot of classes I think I might become very badly overtaxed with the number of characters I play. Sometimes I never finish the game simply because of the number of characters I play.

Amathe

I usually have a small cadre of alts. 3, maybe. They are rarely max level. I can think of one that hit max level and that I geared out. 

They are mostly just there for me to play around with when, for whatever reason, there isn't anything that night fun to do for my main.

I am not someone heard to say "yeah I have 12 max level alts." Nope. No interest in that. 

Octagon7711

It depends on the game.  Games with good story missions I'll run a lot of alts just to redo the story as a different class.  Games with high difficulty I'll just level a few of my favorite classes. 

Loved the class stories in SWTOR so I leveled the classes with the most enjoyable stories.  GW2 and ESO  has easy leveling so I leveled every class. 

One good thing about alts, if the Devs love doing rolling class nerfs and buffs it's easy to shelve a character until it gets buffed again.

Amathe

But another issue is worth mentioning. More recently I make an alt in every available slot, even if I don't play them. That is because someday they may give out veteran's rewards, and usually every character gets them. 

Octagon7711

Amathe said:

But another issue is worth mentioning. More recently I make an alt in every available slot, even if I don't play them. That is because someday they may give out veteran's rewards, and usually every character gets them. 

I've done that.  On the other side a few games have limited character slots and more classes so you would need a second account to play every character.  I think I had that problem with Aion.  Wasn't worth having two accounts.

Iselin

I do alts for the classes... all of them. I never feel like I actually know a game well unless I've played them all.

Races I do for what racial I think fits best for the build I have in mind or just on a whim if the racial differences are not a big deal.

So my "limit" I guess is one of each class.

Po_gg

Octagon7711 said:

It depends on the game.  Games with good story missions I'll run a lot of alts just to redo the story as a different class.

This, pretty much. It's all about the game - and on a bit on the player too, but just mildly.

Like, in TSW you could do everything on your character, so average altoholics rolled 3 (one for each faction). More avid altoholics rolled 6, myself included.

However in CO, where the ultimate endgame is alts (ok, and costumes), I can't picture myself ever going beyond a certain number, let's say 50, that's why I added the mild weight on the player side. In a game like that, the "enough" is only limited by the player, hell there are players in CO with above 200 alts... and this year Cryptic  actually capped the alt number at 120.

But CO is an extreme example.

Usually I'm like the posts above, roll one for each class, or if there are race-restricted zones or content, then for those races too. Kinda what Iselin wrote about knowing the game, but content-wise. If I like the game, I want to know it inside out.

AlBQuirky

Depends on the game. If there are totally different starting areas, I create alts to experience these areas. Since EQ 1 was my first MMORPG, I filled 1 server with alts. 12 Races at launch, 13 when I played (Ruins of Kunark), then shortly after 14 when the moon of Luclin opened up, and finally Frogloks with Ykesha expansion. I quit playing before the Drakkan made the total 15.

15 races, with 14(?) different starting areas made for more than 1 server full of alts. I spent my 3 years in EQ 1 with my highest level character being 37, most under 20.

When I played WoW, the same happened, but not as extensively. I had a server for The Horde and one for The Alliance.

Too many MMOs today have players start in the same area (or less than a handful of areas), on the same mega-server. Playing alts today boils down to the same exact content over and over with little variance. I can't do that now

GW 2 I created 1 character of each race and tried to vary the classes. I couldn't make different classes of the same race because I'd seen it all already.

My outlier game was City of Heroes. It all started in either Atlas Park or Galaxy City. I still made an unhealthy amount of alts because the archetypes and power sets were so diverse. I filled all 10 US based servers with alts (8 each).

Gutlard

For WoW,  I have a Druid on each side, for whichever forms I think are coolest. Other than that, I roll 1 of each class on both sides, and had a handful of max characters for both sides. I don't raid and hardly do dungeons, so instead of the silly endgame grind, it's more fun for me to level in different areas for the story on new alts. I try to pick the best Race/Class combos that make sense with leveling/crafting and such.

In SWTOR, I was playing each class on each side for the story. I think I completed like 5/8 when I stopped. Same reasons from WoW, as I would rather experience a new class in new areas/stories than endgame grind.

In LOTRO, I was playing 1 of each class, and worked on the classes that were most fun in PvMP on both sides, and switched off as nerf hammers dropped.

In ESO, I was playing 1 of each class also, and trying to experience the three faction stories all the way through. It was pretty fun soloing and stuff, as I didn't raid and barely did dungeons in that game.

It's the same in any MMORPG I play. I start with what I think seems like it will be the most fun class to play. I usually see other classes out and about that do cool things and want to try them, but I usually try each class to the end for the story, if there is one.

There isn't enough. There aren't enough slots. There isn't enough story. Give me more of what I want plx.

Gut Out!

Octagon7711

Gutlard said:

For WoW,  I have a Druid on each side, for whichever forms I think are coolest. Other than that, I roll 1 of each class on both sides, and had a handful of max characters for both sides. I don't raid and hardly do dungeons, so instead of the silly endgame grind, it's more fun for me to level in different areas for the story on new alts. I try to pick the best Race/Class combos that make sense with leveling/crafting and such.

In SWTOR, I was playing each class on each side for the story. I think I completed like 5/8 when I stopped. Same reasons from WoW, as I would rather experience a new class in new areas/stories than endgame grind.

In LOTRO, I was playing 1 of each class, and worked on the classes that were most fun in PvMP on both sides, and switched off as nerf hammers dropped.

In ESO, I was playing 1 of each class also, and trying to experience the three faction stories all the way through. It was pretty fun soloing and stuff, as I didn't raid and barely did dungeons in that game.

It's the same in any MMORPG I play. I start with what I think seems like it will be the most fun class to play. I usually see other classes out and about that do cool things and want to try them, but I usually try each class to the end for the story, if there is one.

There isn't enough. There aren't enough slots. There isn't enough story. Give me more of what I want plx.

Gut Out!

Druid is my favorite class in WoW.  Anything to do with shifters really.

cameltosis

I'm not much of one for alts so take this as you will.

For me, there are two factors that determine how many alts I have: how interesting are the classes, and how fun is the leveling process?

As I prefer endgame, alts aren't really a thing for me. I only ever really get into alts once I've perfected my main, which usually means hitting endgame, completing traits, ranking up in PvP a decent way and usually having progressed through whatever raids there are. By completing all of that, I usually have a good handle on how each class plays and so I can make good decisions on what alt to start.

LotRO was the game I had most alts in. The class design there was just amazing, everything played in a very unique way with distinct roles. I leveled and raided with 5 out of the 7 beginning classes (never bothered with hunter or minstrel) and tried out the other two, plus the warden and runekeeper from moria.

SWTOR was the game I had the least alts in. I tried out most republic classes, and a few imperial ones, but I found that everything played the same. I got nothing new out of a new alt, I just had to repeat the god-awful leveling process. So, quickly gave up, deleted the alts and just focused on my main.

WAR was the game I would have wanted more alts, but didn't. Again, I thought the class design in WAR was pretty cool and I loved seeing what each could do. However, given the ridiculous vertical progression in the game, taking a break to level an alt just left your main crippled. I remember taking a couple of weeks out to level up a squig herder, but when I returned to my black orc I had fallen behind "the pack" by about 10 renown ranks, which in gear terms worked out as a significant (10-25%) stats advantage for everyone else.

seraphis79

1 for each class generally

Ridelynn

I always like having one of each archtype available.. but not necessarily one of each class.

I really like how FFXIV has you keep one character but level all the classes individually - one of the bigger strengths of that game. Alts take on a bit of a different meaning there.