I do it to try out different classes. I am currently leveling a nightblade because I have never played a nightblade before.

Writs : I assume you mean crafting

Again a single character can have any and all professions in ESO
So why multiple toons ?

Builds : What do you mean by this ?

Dailies : This is nothing but gold right ?

I have 14 characters at max level. I change my "main" relatively often since all class/spec combos play quite different. I also have characters in all factions since for PvP, faction still counts.

I have alts because I enjoy playing them.

More writs equals more chances at bonus material maps, master writs, and, yes, easy money.

You post here a lot. I cannot imagine you don't know the use or context of a 'build' in ESO.

More dailies equals more chances at motif drops, and, yes, easy gold. As well as levelling undaunted.

Also, I have 5 toons because I like to play this game combined with my enjoyment of variety.

While true, any Class can fulfill any Role, it really comes to down to Gear, Skills, Attributes and Champ Points to make that happen. So, rather than respeccing and re-gearing for each dungeon depending on the role, we just have different characters for that. This allows me to optimize my Tank and Healer, and to provide a different kind of DPS (Damage, Sustain, Pet, Tanky etc) with just a character Log.

Also, as ZOS chases the ever elusive "Balance" in the game, some classes are favored for part of the year, while other's whither. So, no matter what ZOS does messing with the Classes, I can load a character that can get the job done.

Of course RP can have a lot to do with having multiple Alts. Inventory management is a mundane reason for multiple alts.

Finally, I get sick of seeing the same backside each day, so I like to change it up.

For the first year or year and a half, Alts were a total pain to level, as each one has to slog through the Vet Ranks. People today complain about the hours it takes to level an Alt, well, kiddos, it used to take months to level an Alt. So, until the Champ System came out, I only had 4 characters, one for each class. Now, I have 14, 4 Mules and 10 Mains, so I can do any content with any approach at any time with just a log. Heck I even have a Farmer character that no one is going to catch unless they are geared in the same specific way, to better farm mats with.

I'm never satisfied with what I create and always try new characters. I do this in every MMO. With 13 in ESO, 26 in SWTOR and many spread across multiple servers in WoW. Once I get to a certain level I don't delete.

FOTM

Necomis wrote: »

I'm never satisfied with what I create and always try new characters. I do this in every MMO. With 13 in ESO, 26 in SWTOR and many spread across multiple servers in WoW. Once I get to a certain level I don't delete.

While I am an alt-aholic too, I have murdered many an alt. Max-level, whatever, I am indiscriminate, and will delete a toon the moment it 'bothers' me in any way.

This is annoying because on many an occasion ... I have gone and re-levelled the same class, race, combo, etc!

So I can have a cranky female altmer vampire, a hairy drunken nord werewolf, a seductive dark skinned redguard templaress, a big bellied argonian guy, a sneaky merciless dunmer nightblade etc etc.

If possible I always like to try out every class in MMO's.

Edit: And races or other combinations if available.

For me, I have alts in here as i had alts in WoW and any other MMO i played, my Melee Stam Sorc dps is different than when it was Ranged Magika DPS, so is my Warden DPS diferent from my Nightblade DPS, my DK Tank is different from my Warden or Templar healers.. as in WoW my DPS Ranged Ice Mage was different than my Melee DPS Death Knight and my Tank Pally was different than any of them as it was before as Pally Healer or my DPS Warlock... i guess alts are for diversity?

because the character creation screen offers lots of variety
because of friends
because of racial passives
because of classes

Short answer: variety.

Long answer: Playing the same character all the time is boring to me. There's currently no class change option in ESO so if I want to play all the classes I have to have at least 5 characters. Also while you can pay to change your build (changing from a healer to a tank for example) doing it a lot quickly becomes expensive and it takes a lot of time to reset all your skills, attributes and equipment. I'll often play 2 or 3 different characters a day, if I had to reset them each time I'd never get to actually play. There's also things like vampirism which is even more awkward to remove or reset.

Aesthetics also come into it. All my characters are different races and while I don't exactly role-play I do give all of my characters a backstory and personality, and that affects how I play them. They also use different equipment etc. for more variety.

And on top of all that there's what they're doing. One night I could be in the middle of exploring a public dungeon, I like to take my time exploring, and also make sure I find everything, so that can take more than the hour or two I have per night. When I log in the next day I may not feel like doing a dungeon right away. With just 1 character that would mean leaving in the middle of it and having to go back later. With multiple characters I can just log into a different one.