Alt Alt is an abbreviation for " alternate " character , or " alter - ego " . Virtually all MMORPGs permit a player to create more than one player character on his or her account . An alt is a character to which a person devotes less time and effort than the person ' s main character . What constitutes " less " time and effort can be subjective with respect to the player . For most players , the main is the most powerful , highest - level , or simply the oldest character on the account while some refer to all of their characters on their main server as " main s " while their characters on other servers are referred to as " alts " . A few players may play multiple characters simultaneously , keeping them roughly equal in power . In those cases , players often simply use the term " alt " to refer to characters they are not currently playing . Uses . Alts are created for a variety of reasons . Variety . Some players create alts to have a different social experience . In some cases , the change is minor , being simply a second character with a slightly different personality and / or abilities . In other cases it can be drastic , as in being a member of a different race or gender . Alts may have wholly different circles of friends from the main , or no friends at all . In WoW , many players create alts to try different classes and professions , to enrich their gameplay , or to remedy boredom . People who bought the game when it first came out typically reached the maximum level of 60 within a few months , and started alts . WoW does well in this regard , by providing ten different race s ( twelve after the Cataclysm ) , ten class es ( 12 including the death knight and demon hunter hero classes ) , and four realm types ; it ' s easy to encounter a completely different gameplay experience . Reinforcing other characters . Some alts are created on the same realm to increase the power of a player ' s main , or to create a team of characters all mutually reinforcing each other . Many quest s and recipe s in the game require materials not available to single characters without help . For instance , a tailoring recipe may require ingredients obtained only by skinning or mining — or both — while a single character may possess only two of those types of profession s at a time . With alts , a person can work other professions , and avoid problems with availability of materials , at the expense of spending extra time leveling up . Farming Alts . If you are rerolling on a new realm or on the opposite faction on the same realm as your main , it is worth considering creating a Death Knight purely for the purposes of farming , provided you meet the initial level criteria and do not already have a Death Knight on that realm . Since the character starts at level 55 , and enters the standard content at level 58 with a very fast mount they will be able to gather resources such as ore , herb s , leather and even cloth with much greater efficiency than a starting character . Furthermore , having a dedicated farming alt will allow more unusual profession combinations among the player ' s other characters , such as blacksmithing and jewelcrafting or leatherworking and enchanting . Ideally a farming alt would have two of the three gathering professions , skinning , herbalism and mining and whatever resources are not used by the player ' s other characters should be sold at auction to provide much needed gold . Bank Alt . A bank alt is an alternate character that is usually level 1 and sits in a trade city . This character ' s primary use is for : Other reasons . Some alts exist primarily : These types of characters are not always played in the normal sense ; see their respective pages for more information . Same account . All accounts may have up to 50 characters at a time . Abilities . Alts on the same account and faction can mail item s to each other . Alts on the same account and faction can be in the same guild and use the same guild bank . If their individual privileges within the guild allows them to , they can trade cash or items through the guild bank ; there are no account based restrictions . Restrictions . Alts on the same account cannot both be present at once . So alts on the same account cannot trade with each other using the trade window . Alts on the same account cannot buy each other ' s auction s . This prevents direct transfers between Horde and Alliance alts on the same account on the same server . Conjured items cannot be sold at the Auction House , mailed nor put in a guild bank tab , but can be given , sold , or traded with other player characters using the trade window . Unfortunately , that means you cannot pass these directly to an alt on the same account . Benefits . items bind to account and can be handed down to alts on the same account . This is also true for Collector ' s Edition companions and the . Item delivery via mail between alts on the same account has no delay ; between player character s there is a one hour delay . As of Patch 3 . 3 , it is possible to mail bind to account items to cross - faction alts residing on the same server . As of Patch 5 . 4 . 2 , Bind to Account items can be sent cross - realm . Allowing heirlooms to be used in a galaxy far , far , far away . Separate accounts . There is no restriction on the number of accounts you can have , but each costs an account fee per month . Alts on separate accounts circumvent the restrictions placed on Alts on the same account , and also lose the benefits . Few players run a separate account just to occasionally trade items . The primary use of alts on separate accounts is Multiboxing . Trial Accounts . You could run an alt on a trial account , but that trial account would not be able to trade , use the auction house , nor mail or receive items , so a trial account alt cannot get around the trading restrictions of a same account alt . You can Multibox with trial account alts , but gearing your alts is a problem , since you cannot directly share . The best you can do is run as master looter on your main to allocate items that drop . You will also quickly exceed the level limit for trial accounts . Anyone serious about Multiboxing will probably prefer to run paid accounts . Alt - itis . Players who have a large number of mid - level characters rather than a few high - level ones are sometimes jokingly accused of suffering from " alt - itis " . Symptoms include : This term is almost always used in good humor , despite the usual implication that it ' s a sign of indecision . The most common causes of alt - itis are : Many sufferers of alt - itis are proud to wear the label . An example is the Account SirTristramHell , in which he has twenty - eight characters , fifteen or more constantly changing . He ' s had the account since WoW came out , and the highest level he ' s reached is 38 . Alternate terms include :