See that image above? Every character except for the Elezen and the Hyur to the very left belongs to me. These are many of my FFXIV alts… but not all of them.
FFXIV is a game in which alts don’t need to exist. You can do and be everything on one character (and my main is maxed out in everything except Blue Mage). In fact, there’s even a lower priced subscription for people who only roll one character per server.
I’ve chosen to pay the higher price sub for the past 8 years in FFXIV. I choose to have alts. I choose to upkeep these alts, and at this point, am currently running my 5th character through Shadowbringers.
Why would I do that?
Some of it is just the nature of how I play MMOs, especially being a creative person. Some of it is just because in every other MMO, I’ve made numerous alts. That’s just how I play. Some of it is because, to me, the experience feels different depending on the combination of race, glamour and character personality.
So how did all these alts come to be?
My Main
I rolled my first FFXIV character in September 2013, and this has mostly remained “My Main.” The one I collect things on. The one that has all jobs leveled. That sort of thing.
My Main has had a long and troubled past as you can see. FFXIV makes it so easy to change names and fantasia into something different, and that continues to be a sirensong for me.
If I don’t like how a character feels, if I suddenly get the inspiration to do something different with them, or if gameplay is just stale – all it takes is a fantasia (and sometimes a name change) and I’ve repurposed that character to be what inspires me without losing any of the progress I’ve made on them.
Case-in-point my Main.
She started as a weird blue cat named Zuri. She was my first FFXIV character, and coming from GW2 where I had a particular Flame Point Charr that was easy to distinguish from others of her kind, I attempted to make my first character in FFXIV something that was visually unique.
Unfortunately, I think I accomplished that a little too much. As time passed and Zuri became the head of a growing FC, I decided I wanted a more serious character. I also decided that I wanted to use my net name. So she became an Elezen named Aywren.
But then! I decided that I missed my Miqo’te! So back to cat she went. In the meantime, I actually rolled another Zuri Nimat (for a different server and FC) who I changed to AuRa when the race was still new – put a pin on this idea for later.
In Shadowbringers, I got burned out on cat girls and cat boys. I decided to go back to Elezen.
And then, a few months later, I was feeling demotivated to do anything on my Main… and finally decided to toss the “Awyren” character out the window all together and turned my main into one of my story characters, Benjamin. I’m still getting used to this change, but I do believe it’s going to stick.
Let’s hope so, at least.
TsuYa Tai
I rolled my first alt in October-ish of 2013 when Syn first began to play. My Main was already halfway through ARR content, and I wanted a character to play alongside of hers from the start. There was no New Game+ back in the day, so my only option was to roll another character.
There was a point in Heavensward (when I was really put out with Bard changes) that Tai became my Main for the expansion. But when Bard was improved and Red Mage came out, I switched back to my Main as my main. (Does that make sense?)
Since then, I’ve kept Tai in relevant content – he’s even cleared up to Factory in Alliance Raids (for the glamour). He’s been a Dragoon from the start, but come Endwalker, he’s going Reaper. He’s always been a character with a scythe, so this is going to be a new start for him!
Zuri Nimat
But wait, wasn’t “Zuri Nimat” the name of my main? It was until it wasn’t.
Remember how I told you that I’d rolled an AuRa – which was a new race at that time – and she eventually became my new Zuri Nimat. Well, this AuRa still exists and persists. In fact, she’s the character I’m running through Shadowbringers right now.
Zuri’s become one of the cast of the Spot of Mummery story that I write. You’ll see that a lot of my alts are based around this story going forward.
She started as a Bard, but since I had way too many Bards on my roster, I switched her to Dancer main when that job was added to the game.
Amon D’Syrcus
This is my troublemaker right here – the “RP alt” who often threatens my Main for main slot due to how dang much I play Amon.
Back in 2017-2018, I was feeling restless in FFXIV. I needed a creative outlet. I wanted to try my hand at storywriting and story-RP. After several failed attempts at writing stories and sorting through my alts for a character that would be my break-out, I settled on Amon for a number of reasons.
If you’ve run the Syrcus Tower raid, you’ve beat up my RP character before (no hard feelings). Probably several times. He’s a (smaller) cloned form of the raid boss Amon, and I’ve had a ball writing for this crazy Allagan Bard.
His stories and adventures are told at my creative/story FFXIV blog – Spot of Mummery.
And because I needed a cast of characters for that story and to take screenshots with, I started to… roll more alts!
Amon currently mains Bard but also does Red Mage and White Mage!
Koh Rabntah
Koh is also an NPC in the game who stands out in Mor Dhona – the one that’s possessed by the Allagan spirit of Noah. She used to be much more relevant back in the day since she gave the quest to run the Crystal Tower trio for what used to be important drops each week.
Now days, I’m not sure too many people remember her story. Her situation with the Allagan possession has not been brought up again. I thought it was an interesting predicament, and since Amon is all about Allagan lore, I brought Koh/Noah on board as a member of Spot of Mummery.
I’m currently leveling her Scholar to see if I like shield healers – I’m hoping to turn her Sage once the expansion drops.
Mocho Mayucho
Mocho is another member of the Spot of Mummery cast. I wanted to include a Lalafell and I needed a tank for their rag-tag group. So, the idea of an older Lalafell (who is Echoblessed) who also has dreams of becoming a Paladin was born.
He’s the one alt that I haven’t kept relevant on content – he’s still just a level 50 Paladin sitting at the end of 2.0 MSQ. Not sure what I’m going to do with him, but seeing he’s one of my few Lalafell, I’m keeping him around.
Ajir Moks (Kha)
I needed a character foil for Amon in Spot of Mummery, so I rolled Ajir. He’s a rough-around-the-edges AuRa who used to main Samurai. I think he’s going Reaper come the expansion, however.
I originally wrote him out of the story after the first story arc because I wasn’t quite sure where his development was going at the time. I have ideas for him now, though, and I hope to introduce him back into Spot of Mummery pretty soon!
Ajir will make an awesome Reaper.
Tad Kouris
Tad was a character that wasn’t created for Spot of Mummery. In fact, he was an accidental character that appeared during some RP writing sessions between myself and Syn. Something about his personality – and the fact that he’s Amon’s younger cousin – hooked me, so I repurposed a character in FFXIV to make Tad a thing.
I’m glad I did because I adore him!
He’s currently a Machinist with a love of red pandas. He’s also my Allagan WoL from the 4th Age, which is a fun bit of stories that I’ve dabbled with on the side. I’m not sure where those stories are going, but I’d love to continue to develop them in the future.
The Everschade Crew
Above are my characters on the Mateus server. On Coeurl, I have a whole nother FC that contains a number of alt characters! In fact, I’ve gone through and deleted many of these alts lately because it’s just getting to be all too crazy!
I won’t go into details on who is who too much because some of these will be repurposed later, I have a feeling.
- Iva Everschade – Originally rolled to see what Amon’s mom would look like. I might turn her into a Viera character come Endwalker. Haven’t decided.
- Fljot Radljost – My female Viera character that I haven’t done much with. I’m changing her to male Viera come Endwalker with several ideas for his future.
- Meecece Meece – She’s been an unused character for so long, originally my attempt at a cute Lalafell. I’ve not done much with her, but I’m holding on to her progress for female Hrothgar if I find their design to my liking.
- Noah Atlin – Spot of Mummery possible cast member – if I were to ever separate Koh and Noah. We’ll see if that ever happens.
- Sebastian Kitasch – A Hrothgar I created in honor of my late flame point cat, Sebastian. He’s a Fisher main with a Bard battle job. I’d like to work on progressing him more some day.
Aside from these, I have a few other alts floating around, but are more situational. Some just exist but I’ve not logged into in forever.
Overall, these are my FFXIV characters and the reasons why I created them and continue to play them. I know, I’m crazy. But not being a raider or really a dungeon runner, I get my joy through creative outlets in the game. Alts are just a part of that.