I have eight lvl 70s, however I only avidly play two. I don’t consider the other six an “alt” because they just collect dust. I see some ppl say they have 20+ alts but all they do is lvl to 70 and never play again. Some they don’t even get to max.
What is an “alt” to you? Because I see an alt as a character I at least get to normal raid worthy ilvl and play off and on, but not a character I get to max and never play again or not even bother getting at least catchup gear
I’m a stinky little alt, but if one day, I get the chance to be noticed by Rita, it will all be worth it!
Idk. I just actually play 2 toons. Neither are an alt to the other. Both do similar content at a similar level. Both get the same amount of attention when it comes to optimizing. My healer tends to make it farther, but that’s usually by virtue of just getting into groups nearly instantly. Alts to me would be characters I use for alternative (to me) content. My PvP alts. RP alts. Alts for multiplying raid runs. Bank and auction alts. They have function but they’re not getting into keys. And if so, low ones just for mogs.
Anything that isn’t my main is an alt.
Is that right? Mine is the opposite
To me an alt is just a character that is max level and is “just there” - they just exist. Most of the time their gear is basically still the same as when they first dinged 70
To me a “main” is a character that gets to at least Normal or Heroic tier iLvL, and it’s usually the character with the highest reputation levels (which reflects the increased time played on it). Basically a “main” is a character that you play on most days and actually has some decent “/played” time on it’s odometer
This is different from an “alt” which might sometimes go days/weeks without being logged into
I take (what I consider to be) the traditional viewpoint:
An alt is simply not a main. A main would be the one you focus on, what you normally take when you login or to the highest content, etc. This is a very limited viewpoint as you could possibly have multiple mains: A PvE main, a PvP main, a profession main, etc.
Personally, I have no main. All of my characters are alts, and I do the same things on all of them. The one that has the highest ilevel is incidental and totally based on RNG
For me, I played my main almost every day with an eye to leveling and gaining rep or better gear. Don’t have a toon that fits that category anymore.
Any other Warlock that I make/play that isn’t this Warlock. 
An alt is that key on the keyboard that is located under the shift key 
I consider any of my characters that aren’t my main an alt. However, you could separate them in to active and inactive alts. I have 3 toons that I’m actively gearing through and for PvE (although I am trying to gear a 4th so I have one of each armor type), 2 that I sometimes PvP on, I would consider those active and the rest inactive.
I think Ive got 15 level 70s and a list of alts in their 60s.
My ‘main’ is whatever character Im currently playing the most.
Alts are everything else that I brought into the current expansion and NOT playing as much.
If it’s not your main character it’s your alternative character, or alt for short.
An alt is whatever character you have that’s not your main. That’s it. No other criteria.
Those 2 are your mains, your other 6 are alts. Thats how i determine who my mains/alts are at least.
You’re probably the only one that sees it this way.
An alt has traditionally been a character you don’t play as much as “the one” (aka main.)
Considering due to my varying disabilities all I do is get to each patch’s LFR, finish it, and call it a day, my ‘alts’ are characters I have from last expac that I have not yet leveled to 70. These are usually all at level 60. They will remain alts while I do any sort of progression on my main, getting dusted off again at the next pre expansion event for gear and then shelved until the second half of next expansion.
Pretty much this. As far as I’m concerned, all of my characters are alts since I split time between all of them.
Anything that isn’t my main character. I have various types of alts. A bank alt, a farming alt, an opposite faction alt, etc.
Whatever character has the most completed on my Garrison is my main…the rest are alts.
The sad WoW life I lead haha…but I love it
Anything not my priest. Things I play seriously I consider something like a second main. But it’s still an alt in my head