Are alts mandatory?

[TacticalGoose]

Hi, I want to start a completely fresh account and would like to play only a single character that I do everything on. Is this at all possible. as in, have all life skills and combat stuff on a single character?

Also, has the game changed a lot in the last 3-4 years? I liked quite some aspects of it, but the "Endgame" in terms of PvE always felt kind of lacking to me (there wasn't anything to do aside from the normal mob grind if i recall correctly, but I did somewhat enjoy life skills).

And last but not least: Are all classes viable for PvE right now, or are some especially good for beginners that start on 0 budget? I played Wizard/Witch last time, so that's the one I would like to avoid.

Thanks in advance!

[Fredericks of Cursewood]

Not mandatory, but they do have a number of advantages and no real downside. Why not use them?

All classes are viable for life skills. For end game grinding some are just better than others. There are certain classes that have advantages for certain life skills, but it really doesn't rule out any class of character from hitting the top ranks in any given life skill.

[TacticalGoose]

I just absolutely hate having to manage or play alts, I have no connection to them and they feel like annoyances rather than anything enjoyable to me. I'm not saying Alts are bad, just that I personally do not like them.

Good to hear most stuff can be done on a single character though, I guess I'll just give it a go!

[Fredericks of Cursewood]

We are different players then. I have all alts and no main character. I feel that it quiet's all the voices in my head.

It really doesn't take long to level from 1 - 56 or even 61. I have a few characters that I have not played for but a few hours and just use them for extra storage and to accumulate energy.

A couple areas that would be difficult would be farming with the same character as I saill/barter with. Depending on what you are farming, you usually want to pop in every few hours to harvest, plant, weed, etc. Having a farming alt means you can just change characters and not have to run half way across the map.

If you are doing daily quest at a certain location, it is easiest to have an alt there. For me it is having an alt in Duvencrune and one in Port Epheria. Pop into them for a few minutes every day to do the daily quest and then go back to one of my other characters.

Having an alt that is capped at level 49 is also helpful if you want afk transport or afk fish in a combat zone.

Sometimes you can even use alts to start and finish quest when the quest giver is far away.

People use alts to farm world bosses. They are just usually leveled to 57 and have the Oasis Gear and then just need to tap the boss in order to get a share of the loot. Saves a lot of time rather than running around with your main all over the map.

For bartering, some people will keep an alt with a ship in Ancado Inner Harbor in order to quickly trade for Crow Coins versus sailing all the way across the map.

None of the above examples would exclude you from an activity without having an alt. They will just save you a lot of travel time.

[fmalfeas]

Nova is my go-to recommendation for starting. Tough as nails, AoE, can passively fight via the guards (and later, Axiom) which also allows her to get some back attacks in on things even when she's facetanking them. Her mounted combat RMB is also surprisingly effective (and AoE).

Weakness being that she's not very good at high mobility evasion. But if you're not doing PvP, that should be completely fine.

Shai is another solid choice, and has the perk of the donkey with skills. That's a bigger perk that it seems, because donkey's don't get attacked by mobs when you're not riding them, so you don't have to find a safe place to park your horse. Just ride the donkey to the area you're going, dismount, and don't worry. If you have a trainer's flute, a shai has unlimited range on calling her donkey as well.

[Nain]

my alts just sit in velia and wait to be milked of their sweet sweet energy. either using it for potions at alustin or investing energy into grind spots.

and thats all they do. just sit and wait for their milking time, like cows in a barn.

[Proctor Cain]

A number of Alts has been a "traditional" means for managing failstacks for enhancing.

[TacticalGoose]

I should clarify, I don't mind alts for energy-stuff or failstacks etc., just wasn't sure if it's feasible to train all life skills etc. on a single one, but that seems to be doable.

Thanks for all the input!

[Purr]

Originally posted by TacticalGoose:

I should clarify, I don't mind alts for energy-stuff or failstacks etc., just wasn't sure if it's feasible to train all life skills etc. on a single one, but that seems to be doable.

Thanks for all the input!

i do all my lifeskills on 1 character my lahn
all my alts are energy bots for milking cows
that said... i also lvled some of their lifeskills for the extra income/extra market storage space only cooking, alchemy, hunting, processing and gathering to pro 1

[dollars202]

I find getting around can be annoying especially if you play land and ocean, have a land character and have an ocean character and have a bunch of energy batteries for tagging when you want to go get amity or do some quests requiring lots of energy. Hope this helps.

[xyz]

22 slots, 22 sources of energy :S

[dollars202]

23 slots now with sage out. 22 characters but an extra slot for seasonal.

[Glitterclaw]

I understand the sentiment cus I (and several of my friends) were in the same shoes as you but having alts can be convenient for many things as other ppl said. Playing a single character is viable for sure, but at some point you are gonna reroll unless you absolutely love your class, then you get alts no matter what might as well use them for energy etc.