How and Why to Play an Alt in TERA

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What is an Alt?

Alts are secondary (or tertiary, and so on) characters on the same account as a player’s main character (“main” for short). An alt is usually not the primary focus of a player’s time and effort, unless the alt is leveling up to become the new main. The alt’s progression benefits from the main in several ways, such as unused equipment, an infusion of gold, and the skill and experience the player earned through earlier gameplay.

How Do I Choose an Alt?

Not all alts are the same, and players create them for different reasons: curiosity, pragmatism, or the simple desire to learn all of the classes. There’s no wrong reason to make an alt!

Try a Different Role

Players often start by picking a class that looks cool and feels like a good fit for their preferred play style. Many times that works out well, but even a happy lancer might want to swing a big axe sometimes or even take a crack at healing. So many players choose a role for their alt that’s different than their main’s role. It’s all about satisfying their curiosity, learning something new, and having a great time.

On occasion, a player might want to explore a different variation on the same role. Archers, berserkers, and slayers are all damage dealers, but they deal that damage in different ways. Archers and slayers are mobile and agile, while berserkers are a bit slower. Berserkers and slayers both wield massive weapons, but their skills and tactics are quite different. Exploring a different class or role through an alt is a great way for players to understand the nuances of TERA.

A Matter of Convenience

Because characters on the same server (on the same account) share the same bank space, some players create alts to handle all the business. Park an alt in Velika with some expanded inventory space to handle transactions with the trade broker. You’ll save flight time and coin, and because TERA doesn’t limit a character’s ability to craft, your little worker popori/amani/castanic (just kidding—we know castanics don’t work) can buy, craft, mail, and transfer items—and provide extra storage.

Get Your Gank On

Some players level up alts for player-versus-player content. While they may prefer playing one class or filling a particular role in a regular guild dungeon run, they may find another class more enjoyable in PvP. Leveling up a character strictly for the joy of sending other players back to the Dream is a time-honored tradition. Slay away.

The Next Generation

Creating an alt is a great way to experience TERA with newcomers to the game. Your friends signed up and are eager to play, but your character is battling argons in the Khanovar Front—hardly conducive to a shared experience. So you create an alt, exploring a different role and playing alongside your friends! For more tips on this topic, read our handy little guide to cross-level play.

How Do I Manage My Alts?

One of the virtues of playing multiple characters is that one character is building up a rested bonus while you’re slaughtering your way to glory with another. This minimizes your alts’ leveling time when you do play them.

Sharing Bank Space

The more you play, the sooner you’re going to run out of space in your character’s inventory. The bank can help with that, but because all your characters on a server share that bank space, you’ll need to be diligent about distributing gear, selling it off, or extracting raw components from it. Components stack, but equipment doesn’t, so staying on top of that will let you make the most of your space.

When Does an Alt Become a Main?

At some point, your main will write you a tear-stained letter, asking why you don’t love them anymore. It’s easy to find your alt taking up most of your time. Perhaps you decided using a lance to stab monsters in the face wasn’t as fulfilling as healing, so your mystic alt became your new main. Perhaps the needs of your guild changed, leaving you the freedom to play something different. Whatever the reason, it’s okay to acknowledge you’ve got a new main, not an alt. If you’re active in a guild, you should let your guild mates know what the score is, so they’re not confused when your lancer, Crewman.Numbersix, stops logging in while Big.McLargeHuge is dropping motes like an MMO-FO.

In the end, what and how you play is up to you. If you’re having fun, that’s what matters most.