Now what exactly is a bank alt?
Well, you more then likely have one or more level 80 characters by now. Wrath of the Lich King has been out since November now and thats given us plenty of time to get our butts up to northrend and kill enough stuff to ding the big 8-0. Now you probably have a main character that you put all your focus into and its more then likely decked out with a bunch of huge bags and many bank slots. However, even the biggest bags and the most bank slots sometimes isn't enough for all the cool stuff you want to keep. I myself am a warcraft packrat. I keep everything that isn't a common junk item that I will get millions of while playing. I found that soon after hitting 80 I was running out of space all the time and had to do little inventory checks all the time and make room for more and more items.
Things such as old tier 4 and 5 pieces that I cant bring myself to delete because its still nice to have them for the memories of when they were awesome, as well as all the cool items I pick up each holiday are items I want to store but take up a HUGE amount of space that I need for gems and off set level 80 gear. So I thought about making a bank alt to alleviate the cramped mess that was my bank and bags.
This sounds like a good idea right? Well thats not even the best part! After making my alt I realized the main selling point of bank alts other then a nice new set of bank slots. The ability to have a character parked in a main city that always has access to the beloved auction house! What this means for you is that you can simply log off your main character and on to your bank alt, run to the AH which is right there in front of you, buy something, then send it to your main at the mailbox which is also right there!
Let's take Orgrimmar for example. I found that this is a good place to park a bank alt for the horde side. When I log on, my little banker is right there at the mailbox and about 5 steps from the bank and about 20 steps from the auction house! It's great for characters you may be leveling that need something from the AH but unfortunately are not anywhere near a main city.
A good example of this would be a character that just broke into Northrend content. Let's say your in the Borean Tundra. To get to an auction house you would need to either have your hearth set to a capital city, or go all the way back to Warsong hold/Valiance keep and hop on a transport back to the main city. This wastes a ton of time that you could be grinding out quests with. This game is about fun and no one I have ever talked to has too much fun sitting on a zeppelin waiting to get to Orgrimmar. Or even waiting for the darn thing in the first place! Don't waste your valuable playtime waiting. Just log out near a mailbox, jump on your banker, walk over to the AH and buy what you need and send it over to your character waiting in Borean! This feature alone is enough to show that any good WoW player should invest the small amount of time it takes to make a bank alt.
So how do I make one? Here's a few easy steps to start you on your way to shaving loads of time off of this tedious task.
First, you want to decide whether a level 1 character will do or if you want to use an already existing character you have. Sometimes people find that they level a character up and then don't really fancy it too much and stop playing it. This is also a good candidate for a bank alt. But let's say you love all your alts and want to start fresh. Ok, log into the game and go to the create new character screen. Pick a race, pick a class (this is unimportant as you wont be needing any of the skills) pick your hair, pick your face and all that stuff.
Then you want to pick a name. Now while this seems unimportant, you may want to consider giving it a name that relates to your main character. I find myself sitting on my bank alt for long periods of time and don't want to miss out on anything important that happens with my guild. Plus I wanted an easy way for any of my friends and guildies to contact me if they need to. It's also beneficial to ask an officer in your guild to invite your bank alt so that if someone is looking for you in game for something and you happen to be taking care of business on your banker, they can clearly see your name and contact you that way. Soooo, a good example for a name would simply be "your characters name" then the word "bank". My main character's name is Meach so my bank alt is called Meachbank. Sound simple enough? Thought so!
Ok so you have created your new bank alt and given it a name that will tell people who you are while your taking care of your financial and storage business. Your halfway done! Hooray! But the next part involves a bit of work. As most of you know, when you start a character they are in a tiny little noobie town that is nearby your races main city, but not quite next door. So you have to make the bank alt jog. Just ignore the guy standing in front of you offering you your first quest. You don't need it. Tell him thanks but your not a hero, your a banker! And start running. This doesn't take too long so sit back, relax, enjoy the sights as you make your way to your city of choice.
Once you arrive, you are ready to get down to business! The first thing I did was run over to the mailbox where I had about 100 gold mailed from my lvl 80. Why? for BAGS! Unless you have a tailor or are close buds with someone who is a tailor, your gonna need to buy your bags. I found that for me and my decent but not huge amount of gold, buying the biggest bags on the AH was not a good idea considering I didn't want to blow all that gold at the time. I bought the respectable 16 slotters and equipped a couple in my inventory and the rest I took over to the bank where I moved on to the next step.
Talk to one of the bankers in there and pull up your bank inventory screen. At the bottom, there should be a button to buy more bank slots. Now this option is based on your personal situation. How much stuff do you need to store? I know for a Leatherworker, being able to send all those stacks of Borean leather and fill up bags and bags is a nice thing so that my hunter has some breathing room in his own bank. Purchase as many as you like and equip your new bags into the slots. Guess what, YOUR DONE! You now have a bank alt that can store all non soulbound items, materials for professions, eternals, potions, fish, RP items and soooo much more! That's pretty nice right? Not only does he have a whole new set of storage space but he can also be your personal Auction house guy and you'll never have to haul your butt to a main city to trade on the AH ever again.
Now for those who want to take it one step further, dress your banker up! If you have a lvl 1 bank alt, your choices of clothes are limited due to level requirements, but a good choice I found is the Tuxedo shirt and pants from Noblegarden which just passed this week. What's great is that if you missed it on your bank alt but attained the items on your main, they aren't soulbound so send them over to the bank alt and put em on! You'll not only have a professional banker, but he will look pretty snazzy while doing it!
So that's pretty much bank alts for ya. I find that its a great way to keep your valuable bank slots and bags open for new items. The more you play, the more stuff your gonna get and it's always nice to have somewhere to send it. So get out there and make a bank alt. Or if your that hardcore, make two!
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