How do you play and manage alts in ESO?

WhiteScythe

I've realised I have a really hard time trying to convince myself to pickup a new class to try something different, I feel like this shouldn't be the case.

I like to complete things, whether that be achievements, skyshards, zones etc. The thought of doing all this over and over on another characters just makes me cringe. Let's not forget mount training..

So I'm asking you guys how do you handle it, how do you make it work?

Sylvermynx

? My characters are all themselves. I decide who I'm going to adventure on after I've run whoever through mount training and crafting. And then I just play whichever girl or guy that appeals.

I have a LOT of alts.... 58.... and counting.... But that's not really a lot. I had 70 when I played WoW.

WhiteScythe

I don't know if it's just me but starting new characters just seems like a whole lot of work to do.

NoSoup

I have 13 characters, 11 at cp cap and 2 used as banks. I wouldn't say I have a "main" character at all. I have a master crafter that knows all my blueprints/motiffs/diagrams and geared towards solo activities (questing, dolmans, battle grounds, vMA). I then have two dedicated dps - these are the DPS I would take into trials and DLC HM dungeons - one stam one magic. I have a dedicated tank and a healer for when I want to play support. Aaaaaand then, I have a dedicated PVP character who is generally my first choice for Cyrodil.

The other 5 characters I swap and change a fair bit, sometimes geared towards dps for easier content or geared towards PVP. At the moment they're all geared towards PVP for farming transmutes before the next patch lands.

What I log onto each night really depends on the mood I'm in, having so many options really does create different playing environments and helps to keep each time I play feeling different from the last.

Auberon1983

I have three characters, all Healers (MagWarden, MagSorc, and MagBlade). My Warden is my main. I tried Tanking for a little bit, and I definitely want to eventually branch out to it. However, I feel I need to get to "A" game with healing before I do that. I am absolutely awful at DPS, so I doubt I'll ever really get far there.

All three toons are Healers, but play differently. This also lets me explore the different classes, and see their strengths and weaknesses. Basically helps me better understand the game, therefore better understand my main role.

Linaleah

I have a main who is my adventurer. alts.. I have absolutely no need to be a completist on. I do some stories on them that I either particularly enjoy I wanted to try a different approach with. but aside from that and alts that exist solely to be crafting mules, my played alts get enough skill points and gear to be comfortably playable should the mood strike me, as well as their individual outfits, mount/pet selection and dedicated homes. I don't feel any need to push them any further achievement wise. they are also different classes and specs. cause sometimes mood strikes me for a bit of a change of pace.

Nomadic_Atmoran

WhiteScythe wrote: »

I've realised I have a really hard time trying to convince myself to pickup a new class to try something different, I feel like this shouldn't be the case.

I like to complete things, whether that be achievements, skyshards, zones etc. The thought of doing all this over and over on another characters just makes me cringe. Let's not forget mount training..

So I'm asking you guys how do you handle it, how do you make it work?

Sometimes its just not for you. Playing in other MMOs nothing really motivated me to pick up different classes. I was attracted to one particular class or another. I would struggle to motivate myself to level second or third characters. Especially if the story was the same.

What drew me into doing it in ESO has been a mix of customization, RP, and the opportunity to take my character to max level without having to bother with the same story. It also helps that leveling these characters are rather easy thanks to the fact that gaining XP has never been an issue in this game and XP scrolls are basically leveling on crack.

mocap

main is main. Alts for pure gameplay diversity, nothing else.

fred4

I am not a completionist and I don't do content for achievements. At all. Ever. Making builds is what I live for. Although I have developed a preferred playstyle, variety is the spice of life and seeing it from different angles helps you to understand PvP better. Did I mention I'm a PvPer?

I did quests a long time ago with my main. She hasn't done everything, but she has Cadwell's Gold, has the most skill points and became my crafter. Were I to level up another toon today, it would be Spellscar, Skyreach, collect as many skyshards as needed, possibly buy some with crowns, if I get really fed up. I hate talking to NPCs. I have no patience for that.

In terms of playing different classes, if you watch YouTubers over a period of time, you find they each have somewhat consistent playstyles and their builds, even if gear and build concepts differ, play somewhat similarly. That's how it goes. You're always going to put heals on the same key, for example. The pattern that I like is a defensive back bar with typically a HOT and one offensive and preferably ranged skill on that bar. That could equally be Vigor -> Poison Injection, Regeneration -> Degeneration, Living Trellis -> Fetcher Infection and so on. My front bar typically has one passive skill, e.g. Inner Light or Camouflaged Hunter. It's just one less thing to worry about and you end up with builds that play at least somewhat similarly, even when they're different classes.

zaria

I have mostly alts for various purposes. On main stamsorc who do all the quests and try to do most stuff.
One templar healer I mostly use for dungeon and trial healing.
One nightblade who is second DD.
Two DK tanks,
I also do crafting writs on these.
One magic sorc who is currently set up for vMA.

Rest 7 are not really used much currently. all are max cp but some has pretty junky gear and I don't really know how to play them.

Carthelion

Not having much time to play, I try to keep my alting under control.
My main is a magsorc, I flit between solo and dungeon DPS. I do most of the story content on him and has all crafting/antiqueties ect....

I love healing so have a Temp purely for dungeons and I like the assassin/thief gameplay so have a mag/vamp/blade for fun and farming. These guys I do stories that are appropriate but very little crafting.

I may dabble in tanking but again, my limited playtime means this will probably be a side project with easier dungeons.

Doc45

I don't go for achievements on alts, but I like for them to all be playable so have no mules. For those that really don't want more than a couple characters, I'd still recommend trying out a tank, healer, and dd.

Having played all three roles, I feel I'm better able to play each since I have a better understanding of the perspective of each role. It's also nice to be able to come as any role when one's missing and needed.

Beyond having one in each role, it's mostly just fun to mix things up at times with different skills. But, there are also times when it's nice to be able to have flexibility in what to bring as well to benefit the group in trials (i.e., a class that offers something that may be lacking like pairing a warden healer with a templar, having the option of melee or ranged dd, etc.).

Mount training's a pain, but I've never minded leveling alts. I have 18 toons on my main account, though that's certainly not something I'd recommend for everyone. Having more than a few definitely brings some challenges along with any benefits.

WhiteScythe

Thanks for the replies.

I primarily want to do Cyrodiil + daily dungeon, finish all the zones. It's what I'm working on atm tbh, I'm not max CP I'm only 285. I have a MagSorc and a StamDK both built for PvP right now.

The reason I ask how you guys go about playing alts is whenever I try to go start something I realise just how much I'm missing in terms of skyshards, wayshrines etc.. mount skills, ugh. It just turns me off everytime.

TineaCruris

I have four to five alts for storing bound armor and weapon sets I did not want to discard, and my bank is full of the same. Other than mules I have at least one task specific toon for each role. The ability to learn and craft bound armor will be a real game changer for me.

Grandchamp1989

I have 4 tanks (DK - Selfish, Warden - group buff oriented, NB - Ulti generating, Templar - AOE taunt) spec'd into their respective strength.

I have my main I use for questing, crafting, PVP and Solo

I have 2 healers - One for trials (heals, Sustain trial sets) and one for dungeons (1 healer/sustain bar 1 DPS bar)

I have 1 DD I use mostly for trials as it's the shortest wait time for DDs.

rpa

I tend to play one character at time. Rest gather dust and item overflow and give occasional bite for the needy meanwhile.

WhiteScythe

Grandchamp1989 wrote: »

I have 4 tanks (DK - Selfish, Warden - group buff oriented, NB - Ulti generating, Templar - AOE taunt) spec'd into their respective strength.

I have my main I use for questing, crafting, PVP and Solo

I have 2 healers - One for trials (heals, Sustain trial sets) and one for dungeons (1 healer/sustain bar 1 DPS bar)

I have 1 DD I use mostly for trials as it's the shortest wait time for DDs.

I can see how having multiple classes/characters for the trial scene in the game would be beneficial. I don't plan on ever really doing any of the raiding content in the game, just not something I'm interested in.

Grizzbeorn

I have my main; the very first character I ever created in this game, and who has always been my main, who I do everything on (crafting, questing, achievement hunting, etc.), and, currently, is the only level 50 character I have, and I'm only at CP305 as of yesterday. I've been playing for a little over two years.

Then I have 17 alts.
One of them is just a level 4 mule.

The other sixteen are at various sub-50 levels; a couple are less than a week old, a couple of others are almost as old as my main. Lots of fluctuation.
All of my characters share a collective back-story, but I only have three whom I have never deleted, either to re-make as a different class, or to replace with a different race/class combo.

My alts mostly serve as experiments in trying out the various races and classes. I don't do everything on them, but there are a few things I do on all of them (hunting skyshards, obtaining Blade of Woe, opening Thieves Troves, leveling Fighters and Mages Guilds).
I do some things on some that I don't do on others (some [most] are werewolves, some are vampires, I'm leveling Dark Brotherhood on one, Thieves Guild on another, Psijic on one, a couple have Psijic Portal capability...).

My main will always be my main and my most complete character, and I am slowly bringing those other three up to max level.
The rest may or may not stay. Time will tell.

pod88kk

I've 18 characters parked next to the writ boards in Mournhold. 16 do the Alchemy and Jewellery the other 2 do them all.

Varana

I have one character who is the main one, doing all the quests, crafting, and most of the achievements.

For alts - usually for different roles, some different classes - I pick and choose. You don't need all the skyshards, or whatever. You just need enough for the skills you actually use, and the rest comes with time. There's so many skill points in the game that you don't need all of them unless you want to play a stammaghealtankdamagecrafter.
The most annoying things about levelling a new character are the Mages Guild books (an addon helps a lot), Fighter's Guild (unless you specifically grind it which I hate), and esp. Psijic. Whoever is responsible for the Psijic quest line, should {censored but imagine something very graphic and violent}.

I also choose a specific area for questing to get the experience and some skill points - often a DLC area because they're fresher. My Altmer did most of the Summerset quests, things like that. The main quest is great for skill points but I find it excessively boring after doing it half a dozen times.

I don't often level new characters, so I have plenty of XP scrolls lying around from all the level-up rewards. They help immensely. If you're playing a DD, queuing for the dungeon will give you lots of time to run around collecting shards and books until the queue pops. Going through the "group events" in base game public dungeons will give you a skill point every time (the DLC as well, of course, but you might have difficulties soloing some of them on a new char).

I find this approach - go collect a skill point if you need one, level guild skill lines only as far as you want them - more relaxing than looking at a map and getting anxious about all those skyshard symbols.

Stinkyremy

I have the intention to make a mag and stam dps or every class and a few classes healers and tanks but I don't rush in to making an alt until I want to try something out. I have 10 now, 4 of which are under 50 and going to be power levelled in the witches festival, 2 of them are brand new necros as I don't know the class.

i aim to do everything on my main with alts there for alternative ways to play.

Luke_Flamesword

I made more characters 3 months ago - now I have my main character, 5 additional dd's to taste every class in game and one healer. Achievement, recipes, making quests, etc - it matter for me only on my main. The rest is for casual playing when I need something new, making gold with daily writs, etc. They also very useful at events when I want grind some daily quests. For now I only need to horse train every morning, but this soon will be over. It's not a big commitment, I don't rush with collecting skyshards or leveling skills, so mostly is fun I'm glad that I have all these alts.

Danikat

Honestly I think the reason I'm able to play multiple characters is that none of the things which bother you are a problem for me. I'm a completionist in the sense that I want to do everything in the game, but I'm not bothered about doing it all on the same character (and aware that realistically I'll never get around to some things, like farming gear for trials). I also don't mind repeating the process of finding sky shards and lore books and things, it's part of exploring the maps.

I play multiple characters because I like the variety. They all do quests and exploration, but in different orders so they're all at different points at any given time, plus they're all different classes and have different builds. That means when I log in I can choose what I feel like playing today, rather than being stuck with the one option I settled on previously.

But like someone else said it's not something we all have to agee on. If you prefer playing one character you can do that, or have one main one you focus on and maybe a few other specifically for when you need a different class in a group, or whatever works for you.

Tandor

I have just over 40 characters and play them all as equals rather than as a main plus alts. Note that they are characters, not toons !

They vary in levels and content done, and some I play often while others I play only occasionally. I never log in just to do training or crafting, but will sometimes do those things if I log in a particular character purely for the daily login reward and a very short play session. I'm not fussed about maxing out mount training quickly as I don't play competitive content, and only rarely use a mount as it gets in the way of harvesting while normal run speed is fine.

I well understand how some players can only run a single character, but personally I have found that boring over the years and logging in the same character to do whatever content it's on the same way every day eventually becomes a chore for me especially at higher levels - let alone "endgame" which I avoid reaching. Playing multiple characters (and games) keeps it all fresh for me and after gaming for 37 years or so I have yet to burn out on a game or get intensely frustrated with one. I play purely for relaxation, and any element of competition or completionism would ruin that for me.

CaffeinatedMayhem

I have 12 characters. Most were created for specific roles: tank, healer, dps, pvp. I find it much easier to simply log into another character for different roles, than spend gold/time to respec one. Additional bonus: more daily writs = more income.

It is a lot of work to start a new character, especially a crafter. But I find it easier to have only my main be a completionist. The others do what is necessary for their build/skills. Only my main chases achievements.

There are people who are completionists with all of their alts; the ones I know only have 3-5 characters total.

deviousthevile

I think with the ever changing metas and nerf cycles, the only real purpose of a main in ESO should be getting achievements and crafting. One of the reasons I have so many characters is it allows me to bring whatever class is strongest at the time to any situation that arises. Whether that be PvPing, pledges or trials.

Bucky_13

This is my 3rd MMO, and in all of those I've been an altoholic. Especially in SWTOR & ESO due to the advantages in those games that alts gives when you enjoy crafting.

When I started ESO I made 3 nbs as I realized that was the class I wanted to play, one of each faction. The DC one became my main char and I mostly played that one for the first year until I hit cp160.

Then eventually I started to pvp, tried out all 3 chars and found that I enjoyed EP side the most, that character then became my PvP main while the DC one was my PvE/crafting main.

And then I made a ton of other characters, especially once I started to focus on earning gold. Now I have 13 crafters that are also geared to PvP, with more on the way. Running them once a month in PvP made them a lot more fun since it gives some variety to what I play, which is usually my 2 main stamblade.

Everest_Lionheart

I’ve got 4 dps, 2 mag (Templar, DK) and 2 stam (warden, NB)

I solo and play dungeon on all of them. 3 of the 4 are also trial DPS. I play all 4 daily for undaunted keys and transmute stones because chasing gear can be a real chore sometimes. I’m hoarding tank and healer sets for when I make those in the future.

I also do all my daily writs on each toon for the extra gold and mats, have all maxed in jewelry crafting because platings are expensive and the hardest to get. Speaking of daily writs, time to go do those now...

Kiralyn2000

WhiteScythe wrote: »

I've realised I have a really hard time trying to convince myself to pickup a new class to try something different, I feel like this shouldn't be the case.

I like to complete things, whether that be achievements, skyshards, zones etc. The thought of doing all this over and over on another characters just makes me cringe. Let's not forget mount training..

So I'm asking you guys how do you handle it, how do you make it work?

Mostly, by not being someone who has to "complete" everything on every character.


I'm an alt-a-holic, I make all sorts of characters to try out their playstyles, (or different 'class' or 'race' questlines, if a game has that. Like every race in WoW had it's own starting zone). I don't necessarily keep playing them if the playstyle doesn't click with me, or once I get into the repetitive section of questing/etc. I will keep them around in case of changing interests, or to have more characters to participate in events, etc. But even on my "main" character, I don't tend to go for 100% completion.

In this game, I have three sorta-"mains". My original character I made when I started (stealth bow Stamblade), who I'm trying to do all zone story content with (eventually). My Magplar that I made a year or two later, to try an actually effective character who could solo tougher things. And my Stamden, which I made when I got Morrowind/Summerset, as a new character to play through those storylines. My other characters I only really 'played' for a couple dozen levels, and then relegated to Writ/Event/Mule duty.



But, yeah - the main key to being able to play lots of alts is NOT needing to Complete Everything on them.

Spearpoint

I kind of know how you're feeling, @WhiteScythe so I'll my two cents.

For the first 2-3 years or so, I only had my main and no alts at all. I was a bit terrified of the thought of starting new characters, both as leveling was harder back then, and that it felt like a bit of waste of xp and time to play on alts rather than progressing my main stamblade.

So first when Morrowind launched and Wardens were introduced, the alt adventure began! So my first alt went - obviously - by the name of Wardena. I really enjoyed this, as it was really refreshing and much more liberating than terrifying. My nb main since beta had grown quite the personality during her lonesome travels, and therefore my next character grew her own personality right of the bat, and her own history started to naturally unfold.

As close to animals as my warden is, she resides in her homely hunters' cabin in Malabal Tor when she is not out and about.
I find that it really helps to give characters their own background and context, and therefore I doesn't feel like a waste to play on alts rather than my main.

The number of alts really picked up when I hit CP cap, as then I felt that I could finally relax a bit more in-game. I also really wants to complete things. But I decided early on that achievements for the sake of the achievement and everything outside actual fighting was left to my main. My main is the only one that have explored everything, and can craft everything. The rest doesn't craft or completes writs at all, though this time around I've sent every one in to the battlefields of Cyrodiil, and it'll grant me a nice addition to the purse in a few days.

So as someone else pointed out, alts are mainly for diversity in play-style, as in my case too. When it comes to horse training, yup, that's a *** All my characters start their life sleeping in stables for quite some time before I move them on to their own separate home where they pursue their own dreams. Sometimes when I've made a new character, i train its horse speed for up to a few weeks before I actually start playing it. By that time, I've also figured out if I actually like this character as well, before I start spending time and gear on him/her.

And by now, the family have grown to a happy bunch of weirdos 🍺

TL;DR:
To prevent the cringe of doing all this over and over on another characters, I recommend that you decide that the other characters would mainly be for play diversity. If you've been through most stuff on your main, I don't see a point to do it all again, unless it's some spesific content that supports that actual character. Make enough research into which race for which class to the point you're as satisfied as possible, just so you don't regret any combinations at a later point. Choice of race is not too important, but passives do make a little difference.

Let alts be born out of either need, or curiosity. Don't push it. Pick a name you actually like or fits that character.
And start training your horse's speed as soon as possible

PrimusNephilim

I main all 18 characters. For new content, I go to the two characters I started with when first started playing ESO, they've done it all and one is my master crafter.

So when logging in, I scroll through the my list and decide on which one I'm going to play, lately its been my Mag Warden but if I need to do writs, I go to my crafter, if I need to do antiquities, I go to my other first character. I have a dedicated tank and a dedicated healer for dungeons and trails and I have two dedicated PvP characters.

ESO gives the opportunity to play in different ways which keeps it real for me. The only drawback for my is, I've never reached Black Market Mogul with one character, but if I were to combines all the stolen loot from each character, I would have it easily. One of these days I'll get.

PN