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Rajaah

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Seems like the primary use-cases are:
  • Main switching (How I plan to use it)
  • Utility (FD, ports, coth, track, sneak etc)
  • True 'alt switching' where you can bring one of multiple characters to a group
I don't think they'll facilitate fast-switching where you can switch in combat. Where APs are superior to alts is the speed at which you can switch and the ability to share character benefits like Artisan's Prize, Heroic AAs, etc, along with gear. I still think alts and boxes will have benefits for a lot of people.

Yeah, that's why I'm thinking of this setup:

SK (max level, to main)
Mage (55 or so, to COTH a group after FD flopping to a location)
Bard (30 or so? to sprint and use best drums)
Cleric (55 or so to be able to full ress people in non-merc situations)
Necro (max, to solo with or DPS in groups that have a tank already)

If nothing else I'll use it for main change to SK. I used to run a Zerk/Ranger/Bard box with mercs and it wasn't the most effective thing. Could probably switch that to SK/Shaman/? respectively. Like the Bard is fine but maybe I'll have him run Mage or something to be able to sprint and COTH.
 

Tuco

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Yeah, that's why I'm thinking of this setup:



If nothing else I'll use it for main change to SK. I used to run a Zerk/Ranger/Bard box with mercs and it wasn't the most effective thing. Could probably switch that to SK/Shaman/? respectively. Like the Bard is fine but maybe I'll have him run Mage or something to be able to sprint and COTH.
sk/sha/mag will continue to be very strong in LS. I think monks might be pretty good too.

Right now I'm planning on making my mage have a rogue Persona, so I can sneak passed see-invis mobs and then summon. I'm also planning on doing an enchanter persona on my bard and a druid persona on my shaman, with the hope that I can swap personas, pop Illusions of Grandeur and Group Spirit of the Great Wolf and then swap back and have some partial burns available. It'll be a bit annoying to switch and I doubt they'll add commands like

/persona enchanter

or something to swap quickly.
 
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Tuco

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[IMG]






Alternate Personas allow you to swap to another class while retaining your name, inventory / bank, crafting skills, keying and much more!



Q: Will this be just enhanced shrouds i.e., different versions of classes?

A: No



Q: Will it allow you to swap to another fully functional class?

A: Yes



Q: Can I absorb existing alternate characters to gain the equivalent level Alternate Persona including gear, AA, tradeskills and inventory?

A: No, not currently. It’s something we're considering for the future, but not right now.



Q: Is there any risk to moving evolving items to have homogenized stats between the class archetypes and moving them all to all/all, so you are spared from having to level it multiple times and avoiding lore group issues?

A: There's always risk associated with item stat rebalancing of existing items and not something we are planning to do at this time.



Q: Will you be able to choose an individual race for each persona?

A: Yes



Q: What will the process be to change into the other personas? Certain zones, NPCs, timers, etc.

A: You may not change personas if you have an out of combat timer, and you must be in a zone that is a fast camp / non-combat zone or a starting city.



Q: Will disciplines that share a timer group be cleared when moving to a new persona if they share the same timer?

A: Timers are separate for each persona. As an example, you could use Deftdance as a Bard, swap to a Ranger and use Trueshot, then swap to a Warrior and use Final Stand. When you changed back to each previous class, you would have the expected reuse timer that each one normally has.



Q: Can I divert experience to one of my personas?

A: No.



Q: If you can absorb alternate characters, can you take their epic weapons or other items?

A: No, the only items that can be shared with existing characters are those with the Heirloom flag. Another character on your account with an epic cannot provide that to another character’s persona, only their own.



Q: If you make a wizard Alternate Persona, if my understanding is correct, you get all the binds (assuming you got the AA's)? So, one can switch to a wizard, gate, or teleport, then just switch back?

A: If the originating zone and the gate or teleport takes you to a non-combat zone or a home city then yes.



Q: Do you expect Alternate Personas to be released with Laurion's Song?

A: Yes.



Q: Do Alternate Personas share achievements with the base character? Will the Alternate Persona share the same lockouts and timers with the base character?

A: Yes – achievements and lockout timers are shared.



Q: If Alternate Personas share achievements, how will leveling to 115/120 be handled, which draws heavily from achievement experience?

A: For these levels you will need to kill NPCs and use repeatable quests with experience rewards to gain levels.



Q: Will Epic 2.0s be released from Epic lore groups?

A: Yes. Epic 2.0s have been moved to their own lore groups, so a player may obtain every epic in their inventory if they meet the class requirements to obtain each.



Q: How will corner cases for items that have an outsized impact on Alternate Personas be handled, specifically:

A: Generally, they'll be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Specifically:

  • Q: Lore Group: Epic Weaponry
  • A: Epic 1.5 and 2.0 weapons have been moved to unique lore groups per class (see above).
  • Q: Caster/melee lore groups for augments (Example: Grisly Skull of Might and Spittle Pocked Yttrium Coin)
  • A: Currently, no changes have been made to lore groups other than the Epic 1.5/2.0 items. You will have to decide which augment you want to keep, but it can still be shared amongst all your personas.
  • Q: Archetype based evolving items, Example: Convoker's Cloak of the Selenelion vs Protector's Cloak of the Selenelion
  • A: No changes have been made to the evolving cloak or earring at this time.
Q: Will it be possible to loot augments in the same lore group such as Spittle Pocked Yttrium Coin?



A: Currently, no changes have been made to lore groups other than the Epic 1.5/2.0 items. You will have to decide which augment you want to keep, but it can still be shared amongst all your personas. It is possible this change could be considered in the future.



Q: How will race limitations be handled?

A: When you go to create a new Alternate Persona, you select the class that you want that to be and will be restricted to the races that have the selected class as an option.



Q: Will Banestrike (and other Special AA like Hero AAs) be shared between characters?

A: They are intended to be shared, though they may not be working right away.



Q: Will having additional personas have a material impact on your character's zoning speed?

A: This isn’t something that has been measured, but personas do add a lot of additional data to your character. We are continuing to make performance improvements as we have time.



Q: How will Type 3 augments be handled between personas?

A: Personas share the same pool of items, including type 3 augments. You can swap between two personas with different type 3 augments in the same earring, if you’ve saved an equipment set with this setup initially.



Q: How will saved spell sets be handled between personas?

A: Each persona has their own spell book and will have their own spell saved sets.



Q: Will each persona have their own bind or origin points?

A: Each persona has their own separate set of bind points (including Origin).



Q: How will tribute setup be handled between different personas?

A: Each persona has their own separate tribute.



Q: How will fellowship experience be done, will each persona have its own vitality, or it shared across them all?

A: Fellowship experience may not work as expected when personas first launch. Currently, all personas share the same pool of vitality. When you log off, the last persona used will have its level apply to whatever shared experience may be available.



Q: If you make a rog/shaman/gnome persona, will you be able to make poison / alchemy / tinkering?

A: While you are a rogue, shaman, or gnome you will be able to use the appropriate tradeskills, but not otherwise. Tradeskills are shared amongst personas, but tradeskills that your class/race cannot use will not be visible.



Q: Will you be able to delete a persona?

A: Currently there is no way to delete an existing persona, only the base character (and all its personas).



Q: If you can delete a persona, will you be able to reuse the slot?

A: The persona slots you have available on your account affect all characters on all servers for the same quantity – for example, if I have 10 alternate persona slots, I can make 10 personas on all my characters if desired.



Q: Will the persona have the full functionality of the picked class?

A: Yes.



Q: Will the unlocks only work on 1 character on 1 server?

A: No. The unlocks apply to every character on every server.



Q: How many personas per character can be created?

A: Up to the number of slots you have unlocked with a cap of 15.



Q: Part of the fun of leveling alts is doing the progression, will non repeatable quests be made repeatable on a persona that hasn't done them?

A: Currently, quests that are not repeatable cannot be repeated on other personas.



Q: How will the inventory be handled? There are items I use for one class that I can't use on others.

A: The inventory of your personas is shared – you can use the same item from one class on another (if they are usable by that class/race/deity).



Q: Are no drop items usable by all personas?

A: Yes, if that persona meets the requirements to use that item.



Q: There has been an issue in the past with creating items by inserting an augmentation that results in an item not usable by your class, will they now be usable?

A: Yes, however you will not benefit from any stats on the item if you are not the correct class. This should function the same way as if you were wearing an item that did not match your current race or deity.



Q: Will personas have access to tradeskill depot, Dragon's hoard, and housing?

A: Yes.



Q: Will personas be able to use tribute and trophies?

A: Yes.



Q: Can a persona have the lore item the main character has?

A: All items are shared amongst personas, so if you have a lore item on your original character, you cannot loot another one on a different persona. You can, however, use that same item on your other personas.



Q: Does each persona have their own bank?

A: No.



Q: Does each persona have their own platinum?

A: No.



Q: Can you have multiple personas of the same class?

A: Not on the same character, you can on a different character.



Q: Is there an experience bonus for leveling multi personas, like characters on Oakwynd?

A: No.



Q: Will we need to clear out socials to make room for different sets of socials for all our personas?

A: No, each persona should have their own separate UI. This will be a lot of work to set up the first time, but we hope in the long run it is a better solution than sharing the same UI.



Q: Can all classes be played as an alternate persona on all races (ex. Gnome Monk)?

A: No, existing race/class/deity restrictions still apply.



Q: Will this be available day one on all Time-Locked Progression servers when the expansion comes out in December, or will this only be available on Time-Locked Progression servers when they unlock this expansion?

A: It will be available on Time-Locked Progression servers when this expansion is launched in December.



Q: On the Oakwynd server, how will the alternate personas affect (if at all) the legacy character system? (example will having 3 Alternate Personas at current TLP max level count as having 3 characters on the server at the current TLP max level giving your other alternate personas and characters on that server an additional 30% experience gain?)

A: It won't affect the system at this point. It's something we're considering for the future.



Q: Will each alternate persona have its own inventory slots? (example Shadow Knight persona has his breastplate, leggings, sword, and then your Cleric persona has their own breastplate, leggings, weapon)

A: We'll remember which items were worn for each persona, but their equipped slots will not be new additional inventory space.



Q: When you swap between personas, will all the gear for the previous persona be put in your bags, or will they stay in that persona's inventory slots?

A: They'll go to your bags to match your new persona's equipment slots.



Q: Will personas have race options different from the main?

A: Yes. When creating an Alternate Persona, you'll first select the class then will have the selection of valid race options for that class (which may or may not be your main's race).



Q: Will the "shared tradeskill" thing with personas apply to class/race specific tradeskills?

(i.e., can a Human Paladin with a Gnome Rogue persona use Tinkering and Poison Making?)

A: A paladin with a gnome rogue persona cannot use Tinkering or Poison Making, you must change to that persona to use those tradeskills.



Q: Will Personas have persona-specific Buff bars (including short term)?

A: Yes.



Q: I think class specific Type 3 augments are a concern for sharing of gear between characters, and a question on the treatment of this has been mentioned. Will there be a way to easily share the same gear, but with different augments?

A: Yes.



Q: Will switching personas involve some type of zoning/loading time?

A: Not the same way normal zoning/loading works, but there will be a delay while your new persona and its UI are loaded.



Q: Are the keyrings available on all personas?

A: Yes, your keyring items and space are shared amongst all your personas.



Q: Currently we get various rewards for completing achievements, will these rewards be available per persona, or do you have to pick which character the reward is on?

A: Since there is one shared inventory among personas, the item rewards will be an item available to multiple personas. Experience and other similar intangible rewards will go to the persona that claims it.



Q: Is Heroes forge available across your personas if you have bought it on your main?

A: Yes.



Q: When you log out do you log out as your main or your persona?

A: You logout as who you were (main or alternate persona).



Q: With the standard expansion, you get 3 Alternate Personas. But is that in total, or 3 per each character you have?

A: If you have 3 Alternate Persona slots, each character on your account can make 3 personas, on any server.



Q: Can you give vitality to yourself?

A: No.



Q: Each Persona needs their own UI Layout, so they will need a separate UI file in the Directory. Would the solution be to just add Class to the File name, so instead of UI_Charactername_Server it would be UI_Charactername_Class_Server?

A: This is how it’s been set up.



Q: How much will the persona slots be sold for?

A: 1500 Daybreak Cash



Q: Do buffs transfer between personas (Example can you buff yourself with your other personas)?

A: No, each persona has their own separate buffs.



Q: Will switching personas load different hot bars?

A: Yes.



Q: Will it be possible for my main to plant a campfire and switch to a persona to use that campfire, and will it be on the same timer?

A: Yes, any clicky item reuse timer is still active even after changing to a different persona.



Q: What relative power level to the normal class will personas have? 100%? 90%? 75%?

A: 100% for that class.



Q: If you die while under an alternate persona, change to another alternate persona, and then get a rez, would you receive the exp back under the persona that died or the one that was active at the time of the rez?

A: You can't rez a corpse from a different alternate persona than the one you're currently on.



Q: Is faction shared between alternate personas?

A: No, each persona has their own separate faction.



Q: How do mercenaries work with alternate personas? Does each Alternate Persona have its own mercs or could you feasibly activate a level 1 Alternate Persona before your mercenary timer hits to get a free tick and then swap back to your main class?

A: When you change personas, your current mercenary is suspended. Each persona has their own separate set of mercenaries.





Q: If I camp out my main in the guild lobby, will my persona log in there or will they be where they were last logged in or the start zone where they were created?

A: They will log into the same place you camped most of the time. The only time you'll appear in a different location is on alternate persona creation.
 
Does anyone happen to have a copy of the original Everquest manual?
Not the ones that came with the expansions(Kunark; Velious) or the trilogy manual, but the original one. I've looked all over for this.
 

hory

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So the only selling point to persona is I don't have to do trade skills and the artisans quest on other toons? In 2 more expansions all the "hard" legacy quests will be obsolete anyway.

What is the reason to use persona? How much time did they waste coding this ?
 
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Rajaah

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So the only selling point to persona is I don't have to do trade skills and the artisans quest on other toons? In 2 more expansions all the "hard" legacy quests will be obsolete anyway.

What is the reason to use persona? How much time did they waste coding this ?

It's going to add a ton of replay value to the game and get people into the leveling content again, making the game friendlier to new players. People with box groups will be able to try different combinations.

I mean, if this goes off without a hitch / being completely broken, it's a huge net positive to the gameplay.

At least for one-character people like me who love the multi-classing concept.

Chris Chris Wasn't multi-classing in FFXIV similar to this? How did that work out from a replay value standpoint?
 

DickTrickle

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So the only selling point to persona is I don't have to do trade skills and the artisans quest on other toons? In 2 more expansions all the "hard" legacy quests will be obsolete anyway.

What is the reason to use persona? How much time did they waste coding this ?
I think it will have any keying shared between characters, so that's something. Still not as useful as it could have been.
 

Folanlron

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That must have been a headache to put together, interesting they are basically taking 14s Job system and hacking it into something that resembles that. lol
 
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Ambiturner

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It's going to add a ton of replay value to the game and get people into the leveling content again, making the game friendlier to new players. People with box groups will be able to try different combinations.

I mean, if this goes off without a hitch / being completely broken, it's a huge net positive to the gameplay.

At least for one-character people like me who love the multi-classing concept.

Chris Chris Wasn't multi-classing in FFXIV similar to this? How did that work out from a replay value standpoint?

Why would it do any of that?
 
That must have been a headache to put together, interesting they are basically taking 14s Job system and hacking it into something that resembles that. lol
A special server with 11's job system would have been cool.
For those that didn't play, you could dual-class and the dual-class was limited to half the level of your main class.

Can only imagine how many bugs that would introduce tho. Probably about as many as alt-personas will, I guess. Expecting this to be a disaster.
 

Chris

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It's going to add a ton of replay value to the game and get people into the leveling content again, making the game friendlier to new players. People with box groups will be able to try different combinations.

I mean, if this goes off without a hitch / being completely broken, it's a huge net positive to the gameplay.

At least for one-character people like me who love the multi-classing concept.

Chris Chris Wasn't multi-classing in FFXIV similar to this? How did that work out from a replay value standpoint?
It's the #1 reason FF14 has the best replay value.

You can keep leveling past max level by picking up other classes and gain flexibility. I have all 4 tanks and 4 healers at max level in FF14 and can switch playstyle depending on the boss or my mood.

Usually I'm Paladin/White Mage because they are easiest to learn new fights with, then switch it up with the others when I'm bored.

Keeping your socials, transmogs etc isn't to be underestimated either.
 
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hory

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That's what this isn't.

This is in no way friendly to a new player. And any returning player is better off making a free to play account, and powerleveling the class they want to try with their old main.

I don't see any value in this at all. Besides I guess keeping your name. I guess it could be good for greifing and scamming people.

These get auto grant AA I'm guessing?
 
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Juvarisx

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I imagine the biggest benefit is looting other class gear on your main persona for you others. Since live servers other then FV/Mischief are No Trade No Heirloom I could see that being a draw. Then future TLP's that dont have Heirloom system people with the persona thing have a "leg up" so to speak.

Granted if they just give every future TLP the Heirloom system from Oakwynd I have no idea why I'd ever buy the persona thing.
 

Tuco

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Leveling in EQ on late-game TLPs or live just isn't fun enough to support a system like FF14's job system where you are encouraged to level multiple characters.

On a live or late-game TLP, leveling through the first 50% of the game is boring but fast, leveling from 50% to 90% with powerleveling is easy but boring and without powerleveling it's miserable because there's no one to group with. Leveling the last 10% is fine if you can do the progression/missions for achievement XP, but you can't repeat that on a persona which means you're grinding mobs/repeatable missions for 100-200 hours. And the last 20% or so of leveling is made MUCH easier thanks to Overseer, which is just a super fast daily to get a gerbil pellet and should just be removed from the game.
 
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yerm

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I like no trade items as they provide a target-farm means of getting gear. For raid gear it means raiding mobs that drop items you want and not just the pinatas, for nonraid it means things like grinding an aug location or whatever, to get the ideal item.

Having nothing no trade meant that items were kind of meh and the only real enjoyment was a little social interaction with my thornblade guild. What you raided was kind of whatever, what you wore was often just bought, and I felt no investment into my character itself. In contrast, I really enjoyed getting even kind of shitass side items on selo (notrade) such as pursuing aug camps or buying a cool mount in a raid or whatever. I liked riding my stupid ant for example.
 

Tuco

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I'm curious if anyone likes having no-trade items and if so, why do you like it?
I've had Bristlebane as my home since 2000 or whatever, so I'm kind of stuck there. If there was a vote to make it have FV(everything tradeable) or Oakwynd (everything heirloom) rules I'd be very tempted to go along with a change.

But the advantages to notrade gear are really just the obvious: You actually have to do the content to gear your character and the game is a bit harder because you can't gear as quickly. For me personally, I really enjoy bringing up new characters (and now new personas) and integrating them into my box team, being able to shortcut the gearing stage would dramatically reduce the time I take, and arguably fun I have, in starting a new character and watching them grow. The same could be said of a ton of things I'm already shortcutting, so voting against tradeable gear is maybe just inertia.

Said differently, next year I plan on starting at level 1 with a bunch of personas and leveling to max level. I plan on mostly doing it naturally without powerleveling, heroic characters, Overseer (Depending on what the level 110->125 XP situation looks like). With tradeable gear, the massive wealth I have and the ease at which I can get new gear, the last 20% of that leveling process and the final gearing stage would be dramatically easier to the point of being almost perfunctory and I'd miss out on a lot of fun.
 
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Rajaah

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I think it will have any keying shared between characters, so that's something. Still not as useful as it could have been.

What would be ideal is if inventory carried over. For instance, having a BIS 2HS on a zerker, going SK, and still having that BIS 2HS be usable (at the appropriate level). Sounds like each persona has their own inventory, with only heirloom items carrying over, and that isn't the best.