Multiple Builds / ATs

[Lockpick]

I have serious alt-itis and once I get to 50, finish my IO build, and finish my Incarnate abilities I start a new character.  I now have 8 level 50 characters, so the ones I have at 50 seldom get played as I play alts to try and get them to 50.

 

I was thinking today that it might be nice to have the multiple builds that we have today to allow players to select different ATs and/or power sets to new builds.  For example:

 

• A player could have a Blaster on Build 1 and a Tank as Build 2, so they could play multiple roles. 
• A player could build an Illusion/Rad Controller on Build 1, an Illusion/Ice Controller on Build 2, etc.

 

I'm sure there is probably good reasons not to do this change, but when thinking about pros and cons this is what I see:

 

Cons:

• It might impact the number of new characters a player might create
• The player may not have experience with the build if they are able to just select a new AT or power set for a new build

 

Pros:

• It might free up some names as players create fewer characters
• It might allow a character to become more familiar to the community as the player plays that character for a longer time frame in game
• A player would not have to get the accolades and badges for as many characters and in fact might spend more time badging because they have a main character that they put their time into for badges

 

My suggestion:

• Allow players to have the ability to select multiple ATs and/or power sets for their 3 builds
  • Ideally you would want a player to select Build 2 and then have to level that build as the player did the main build, but not sure if this would be feasible.
• The ability to add an AT and/or power set to Build 2 would start at Vet Level 50
• The ability to add an AT and/or power set to Build 3 would start at Vet Level 150
• The ability to add ATs and/or power sets to builds could only be allowed for one character per account

 

BTW, I'm not talking about the feasibility of doing this change as it may not be feasible.  I am interested in other players thoughts / feedback on this topic.  I think FF XIV allows the character to level various aspects, so there is some precedence.

 

[MetaVileTerror]

This is one of the longest standing requests that the game has received, and it has come in many flavours.  (Un)Regrettably (depending on who you ask) it is not something which could presently be implemented without destabilizing your character database, and causing your characters to be unplayable.  Other servers have tried, and no one has been able to get it to work.  Yet.  I'm sure they'll keep at it, though.  Maybe someone will make a breakthrough some day.

[Hero_of_Light]

1 hour ago, Lockpick said:

I have serious alt-itis and once I get to 50, finish my IO build, and finish my Incarnate abilities I start a new character.  I now have 8 level 50 characters, so the ones I have at 50 seldom get played as I play alts to try and get them to 50.

 

I was thinking today that it might be nice to have the multiple builds that we have today to allow players to select different ATs and/or power sets to new builds.  For example:

 

• A player could have a Blaster on Build 1 and a Tank as Build 2, so they could play multiple roles. 
• A player could build an Illusion/Rad Controller on Build 1, an Illusion/Ice Controller on Build 2, etc.

 

I'm sure there is probably good reasons not to do this change, but when thinking about pros and cons this is what I see:

 

Cons:

• It might impact the number of new characters a player might create
• The player may not have experience with the build if they are able to just select a new AT or power set for a new build

 

Pros:

• It might free up some names as players create fewer characters
• It might allow a character to become more familiar to the community as the player plays that character for a longer time frame in game
• A player would not have to get the accolades and badges for as many characters and in fact might spend more time badging because they have a main character that they put their time into for badges

 

My suggestion:

• Allow players to have the ability to select multiple ATs and/or power sets for their 3 builds
  • Ideally you would want a player to select Build 2 and then have to level that build as the player did the main build, but not sure if this would be feasible.
• The ability to add an AT and/or power set to Build 2 would start at Vet Level 50
• The ability to add an AT and/or power set to Build 3 would start at Vet Level 150
• The ability to add ATs and/or power sets to builds could only be allowed for one character per account

 

BTW, I'm not talking about the feasibility of doing this change as it may not be feasible.  I am interested in other players thoughts / feedback on this topic.  I think FF XIV allows the character to level various aspects, so there is some precedence.

 

Hmm, very interesting idea. I think that it would be cool, as long as it's not a instant lvl 50 type of thing.

 

Some of your concerns could also be addressed by having more in game things to do after lvl 50 besides just incarnate and badges. Like unlockables of some sort, or missions that could only happen at certain incarnate levels, or  veteran levels like you recommend.

 

Maybe we could still gain exp after lvl 50, but donate it to another character?

[Lost Ninja]

I would like either or both:

 

When you hit 50 (50+ you don't need to do it as soon as you hit 50) you get the option to re-roll that character as a different (or same) AT, you keep achievements, badges, inf, IOs... basically everything you had. But you cannot use it until you hit 50 again. For every ten levels or so you get a boost that is tied to your old AT. Each AT has a specific "flavour" that carries over to the next "Incarnation" (not to be confused with Incarnate). Pretty much a rip off of the same system in DDO (and maybe D&D never played so don't know). The flavour power boost might be either a specific unslottable power (like an inherent) or a global boost. Eg if your previous AT was a Brute you get a small buff to damage ever ten levels. You can have as many past lives as you want but boosts from past lives don't stack.

 

or

 

For every fifty levels you delete (which becomes entirely unrecoverable) you get untradeable XP boosts sent to that account's character specific mail which grant you some percentage of a whole character (personally I'd say 32). Using one gives you enough XP to go from level 1 to level 32. You can use as many of them as you have, on any character at level 50 they grant Vet XP (but Vet XP doesn't count toward making new XP Boosts. (A level 50 (vet 0) deleted grants 32 levels, a level 50 (vet 100) grants 32 levels.)

 

Obviously the first one would be a significant change, probably hard to code... etc... but I think it'd be super.

[biostem]

This sounds like an idea with no tradeoff.  For instance, you pick a scrapper/brute/etc that is easier to level up quickly as 1 build, then a much more difficult AT as your secondary, and reap all the benefits of both with no drawback.  Instead, I'd rather see more hybrid ATs introduced and/or have those ATs or powersets that are underperforming looked into...

[DougGraves]

Here's what I would like to see: 

 

Divide the ATs into groups where you pick a primary: control, buff/debuff, melee dmg, ranged dmg, pets, defense (might be missing some).  Then for each primary choose which secondaries are available: i.e. control can have buf/debuff, melee dmg, ranged dmg

 

When you make your character you choose one primary and the primary powerset, then two different secondaries and their powersets.  Your builds then have your primary and the secondary of your choice from the two.

 

That way you can have a controller who has a teaming build of control electric with a secondary of buff/debuff electric, and a solo build with  electric control and electric assault.  Your character is still limited to a primary theme - you can't just play 2 entirely different builds.  But you can truly have a team vs solo character.

 

But I think this is too much work to be doable any time soon.

[biostem]

6 minutes ago, DougGraves said:

Here's what I would like to see: 

 

Divide the ATs into groups where you pick a primary: control, buff/debuff, melee dmg, ranged dmg, pets, defense (might be missing some).  Then for each primary choose which secondaries are available: i.e. control can have buf/debuff, melee dmg, ranged dmg

 

When you make your character you choose one primary and the primary powerset, then two different secondaries and their powersets.  Your builds then have your primary and the secondary of your choice from the two.

 

That way you can have a controller who has a teaming build of control electric with a secondary of buff/debuff electric, and a solo build with  electric control and electric assault.  Your character is still limited to a primary theme - you can't just play 2 entirely different builds.  But you can truly have a team vs solo character.

 

But I think this is too much work to be doable any time soon.

You do get access to different builds, so you can do things like take fighting/sorcery/etc for your solo build, and more team-centric stuff for your other one...

[Haijinx]

Why?

[Lockpick]

13 hours ago, Haijinx said:

Why?

In my original post I tried to articulate why I thought it would be a good idea, but my thoughts were:

 

• Be able to play multiple ATs and/or power sets on one character
• Fill different roles without having to switch characters
• Be able to have one character become a "main" for badges, etc.,
• Allow a character to be played longer and become more ingrained within the community
• Allows post Incarnate progression

It started because I have a character with a name that could fit a lot of ATs / Power Sets.  He is an Illusion / Radiation Controller, but it would be cool if he could switch to Illusion / Storm, or Mind / Psy Dominator, etc.  Basically, I am always trying out new characters, so once at 50 and Incarnated I rarely play my 50.  I expect many others do the same.  It would be nice to have one character I could play long term.

 

Yes, I understand I can play my current character long term and I have seen quite a few people with veteran levels that are 100+, so they are able to continue enjoying their characters post-50.  IMO, there is limited progression once you are 50 and fully Incarnate.  This would allow continuous progression with limited downside.

 

Anyway, it is just a suggestion that is unlikely to be implemented, because I expect it would be extremely difficult. 

 

On 11/5/2019 at 9:24 PM, Hero_of_Light said:

Some of your concerns could also be addressed by having more in game things to do after lvl 50 besides just incarnate and badges. Like unlockables of some sort, or missions that could only happen at certain incarnate levels, or  veteran levels like you recommend.

 

This is a good idea.  I think the main reason for my suggestion is that I feel there is a lack of progression post 50 and being Incarnated.  I think adding new items for progression would alleviate some of it.  In another thread I suggested a new badge and accolade power for completing the Shadow Shard TFs and some other badges.  Things like this would give a sense of progression.

 

In SWTOR, once you were at max level it was basically the same thing, but they had guild wars that gave individuals a weekly reward for tasks. Maybe something like that could be added.

 

Maybe I should check out PVP here.  I played PVP in SWTOR, but was under the impression PVP was not good in CoH.

[Hero_of_Light]

3 hours ago, Lockpick said:

In my original post I tried to articulate why I thought it would be a good idea, but my thoughts were:

 

• Be able to play multiple ATs and/or power sets on one character
• Fill different roles without having to switch characters
• Be able to have one character become a "main" for badges, etc.,
• Allow a character to be played longer and become more ingrained within the community
• Allows post Incarnate progression

It started because I have a character with a name that could fit a lot of ATs / Power Sets.  He is an Illusion / Radiation Controller, but it would be cool if he could switch to Illusion / Storm, or Mind / Psy Dominator, etc.  Basically, I am always trying out new characters, so once at 50 and Incarnated I rarely play my 50.  I expect many others do the same.  It would be nice to have one character I could play long term.

 

Yes, I understand I can play my current character long term and I have seen quite a few people with veteran levels that are 100+, so they are able to continue enjoying their characters post-50.  IMO, there is limited progression once you are 50 and fully Incarnate.  This would allow continuous progression with limited downside.

 

Anyway, it is just a suggestion that is unlikely to be implemented, because I expect it would be extremely difficult. 

 

 

This is a good idea.  I think the main reason for my suggestion is that I feel there is a lack of progression post 50 and being Incarnated.  I think adding new items for progression would alleviate some of it.  In another thread I suggested a new badge and accolade power for completing the Shadow Shard TFs and some other badges.  Things like this would give a sense of progression.

 

In SWTOR, once you were at max level it was basically the same thing, but they had guild wars that gave individuals a weekly reward for tasks. Maybe something like that could be added.

 

Maybe I should check out PVP here.  I played PVP in SWTOR, but was under the impression PVP was not good in CoH.

I'm also a swelter vet, pvp'd a ton there! 

 

Pvp in coh can be fun, but it's not as balanced as swtor.

Most of the time its popcorn vs popcorn

 

As it stands, what keeps me going is making the best builds I can, doing a couple incarnate things every so often, old school leveling some alts, stuff like that.

 

I would love some new costumes/powers/classes to work towards. These are very touchy subjects for some, but this game needs something more to strive for besides badges if this game will survive its resurgence. 

[Burnt Toast]

No.

 

That's all.