Seriously: Alt-itis, What To Do? A Discussion on Self-Control

[tripthicket]

Alts. Alternate Characters. 1,000 slots per server. It's a fact that making numerous alts is a large part of this game's appeal, as there are SO MANY different types of characters one can play, almost all of which can be enjoyed and played successfully to a greater or lesser degree. Reading these forums and more especially playing with others exposes one to new ideas, to new powerset combinations, that keep sparking that interest in playing. And off one goes to character creation! Then the tutorial (or not). Then a DFB or three, maybe some AE leveling, on into Posi 1, etc. By this time, someone with (what they call) severe alt-itis will have seen yet another powerset they start salivating over, and back to character creation. Some of these alts may get picked back up again, and get a few levels. Some languish while the roster of low-level alts grows. Any characters that make it to 50 will likely be just the ones that one enjoys playing the most (which is as it should be).

 

Obviously, the behaviors above describe me, or at least a good chunk of the way my time for playing is spent. Back in the day, I know I made many dozens of characters, spread over almost all of the servers. In the past year, I've discarded dozens of characters that ended up not being played. Some got remade, perhaps the same concept with different powers. Even so, I still have dozens, spread over 2 servers. 6 or 7 50s. 15 to 20 lvl 35 or a little higher. The majority are under lvl 20. In March, I think I made around 25 new characters, with 1 or 2 days where I made 2 in one day. That means, among other things, that despite the differences in the powersets and the needed playstyles for each, I'm running the same small pool of content over and over and over again. That's a great recipe for burnout, so I'm stepping back and assessing things. I love playing this game, but if i get to a point where I don't care much about playing (the same ol' stuff, again), then that's a problem.

 

The obvious solution would seem to be picking up one (one!!!) of my more-developed characters and playing it exclusively for a while. Another thing I'm doing is opening up this discussion. How about you? Do you find yourself making alt after alt (after alt!), never seeming to get anywhere, running a boring treadmill? If so, did you recognize your growing dissatisfaction and decide to do something about it? Yeah? Like, what, dude?

 

I want to make clear that I do believe making numerous alts is a legitimate part of having fun in this game. I'll likely never stop doing it, nor am I advocating that for anyone. Just hoping to see other people's perspective on the 'problem' of (my) poor self-control. 😉

[ShardWarrior]

I have a very similar play style as you.  Personally I do not see creating alts as a problem.  It allows me to have different characters and builds available so I can bring whatever may be needed when we team up for TFs and such.  I may play some more than others, however I usually like to have at least one of each AT available.

[tripthicket]

I think my problem lately is that I seem to be doing little else than creating new alts, playing them through the same content, spotting a new shiny, creating a new alt, playing it through the same content, spotting a new shiny, etc. None of them get played very much, and with double XP, no money is coming in for outfitting higher-level characters. As an aside, I'm starting to doubt the benefit of the double XP booster to the big picture. Lower-level characters will need to be bankrolled by (not-being-played) lvl 50s or a farmer (which I have but only sporadically use). So while I'm currently sitting on hundreds of millions, even that won't be enough to kit out (potentially) dozens of 50s that would be getting there twice as fast, thanks to the boosts. One idea I've been kicking around is just getting rid of xp boosts (for me) at lvl 35--let that character then start providing for itself!

 

Also, yeah, I too like the idea of having one of each AT (well, the ATs I like, anyway), and in fact, I do. Most of them lower than lvl 15...

 

ShardWarrior, how often would you say you create a new character? What do you think most often influences your decision to make a new alt?

[Greycat]

11 minutes ago, tripthicket said:

The obvious solution would seem to be picking up one (one!!!) of my more-developed characters and playing it exclusively for a while. Another thing I'm doing is opening up this discussion. How about you? Do you find yourself making alt after alt (after alt!), never seeming to get anywhere, running a boring treadmill? If so, did you recognize your growing dissatisfaction and decide to do something about it? Yeah? Like, what, dude?

Never a "Boring treadmill," and I"m never dissatisfied. I had multiple accounts and hundreds of alts on live.  I don't think the game would have kept me around as long as it did if it *weren't* for alts. Having only 3-5 characters? Just a few powersets? Looking like everyone else? I've walked away from *that* in numerous other games.

 

Ignoring the occasional base-builder character (typically a level 1 Peacebringer, because fly,) or RP-centric "practically an NPC," the characters that get concentrated on tend to have "something going on." Either part of a recurring group (SG, "super team," theme team, that sort of thing) or I have some sort of project or other reason to concentrate on them (like the one I just got to 50 - remake of my first 50 on live, she was going to be my first 50 here.) On occasion I'll set a goal - get all the lowbies up to X level. Get all that are in *this* level range to *that* level. Alternately, you can give yourself projects - on live, for instance, I did "one of each control set to 50."

 

Or just enjoy them wherever they are. It's not a race, and the only person whose judgement matters is your own.

 

[tripthicket]

5 minutes ago, Greycat said:

Or just enjoy them wherever they are. It's not a race, and the only person whose judgement matters is your own.

 

Good advice, this, which I'll be taking. What I'm most bemoaning, however, is not that I'm 'losing the race' to get characters to 50, but that my behavior lately has gotten me stuck doing the same small pool of content (create character, tutorial, DFBs, and little else). I do like the idea of setting a goal, like the ones you describe.

[Seigmoraig]

32 minutes ago, tripthicket said:

I'm running the same small pool of content over and over and over again. That's a great recipe for burnout, so I'm stepping back and assessing things. I love playing this game, but if i get to a point where I don't care much about playing (the same ol' stuff, again), then that's a problem.

After I got 20 characters through DFB I decided I'd had enough and rolled up a second account and made a SM/Fire farmer Brute. I use him to farm (duh) and to powerlevel my alts to level 23 where they are ready to buy the level 25 generic IOs and go about on their own.
I don't mind doing Posi 1/2 and all the other TFs a lot but DFB and DiB get real old real fast.

[Nemu]

I'm going to guess your knowledge of the game is at the point where you don't have a feel of the design formula (not the actual math/numbers, but a general sense of what various powers do without needing to play the set) and that you are not a min maxer so you can't assess the full potential of the toons you make. So you want to try everything.

 

There are a few things that allow me to focus on a character, a solid build goal which enable setting milestones that you can look forward to, and a good bio/concept. It's a lot easier to stick with something if you know what you want and what the toon will ultimately be able to do and that drives you to get there, otherwise you are always looking for the next high.

 

You may not be there yet, so pick something that really endears you, ask for build advice on forums and also ask "what can I look forward to and when do I achieve what I'm looking forward to?" with the build people supply you so you understand the milestones.

[tripthicket]

I have a (mea culpa) Spines/Fire Brute on a second acct that I use for farming Influence and powerleveling characters on the main acct. I rarely run it just for the Influence anymore, especially since the 'nerf.' Maybe that can be one of my goals: run it however many times to get X amount of Inf, instead of just 'Run it to get Inf.'

[Yoru-hime]

I've run into that problem before, having a group of characters all get caught in the same level band so trying to run the same content. I feel like for me it's around 20-30 when they all start feeling funneled into Striga and/or Croatoa to unlock TF contacts.

 

I try to vary the starting path for my characters if I can. DFBs, Habashy/Stockwell, origin contacts, AE EB farms. Might even try red or goldside now and then if I get really desperate.

[tripthicket]

1 minute ago, Nemu said:

<snip>

 

...otherwise you are always looking for the next high.

 

 

Not trying to take you out of context, but this phrase really struck me, because I kinda believe this about my behavior. I just haven't stated it so explicitly.

 

"BEAM RIFLE! Wow, that looks neat! I gotta get me one of those!"

 

"Plant/Kin Dominator! Wow, this post I just read makes this sound so delicious! I gotta get me one of those!"

 

"/Sonic Defender! Everybody says they're great! I gotta get me one of those!"

 

I really have been like this. I needs to get offa this merry-go-round.

[MTeague]

I have 32 characters. 

• 2 are lvl 50
• 1 is lvl 43
• 5 of them are in their 30's
• 8 of them are in their 20's
• 10 of them are in the teens
• the rest are single digits

I see zero "problems".   Nothing wrong with playing lots of low level characters and not rushing them to 50.  If I only ding one 50 every few months, I'm okay with that.  It ain't a race.

[Seigmoraig]

15 minutes ago, tripthicket said:

I have a (mea culpa) Spines/Fire Brute on a second acct that I use for farming Influence and powerleveling characters on the main acct. I rarely run it just for the Influence anymore, especially since the 'nerf.' Maybe that can be one of my goals: run it however many times to get X amount of Inf, instead of just 'Run it to get Inf.

The Nerf isn't as big people make it out to be. You got a nerf to the inf you get from kills sure, but a large chunk of the inf you get from farming comes from selling recipes, salvage mats and from crafting big ticket recipes. Globally it's not as catastrophic as it looks.

Edited May 7, 2020 by Seigmoraig

[Greycat]

29 minutes ago, tripthicket said:

Good advice, this, which I'll be taking. What I'm most bemoaning, however, is not that I'm 'losing the race' to get characters to 50, but that my behavior lately has gotten me stuck doing the same small pool of content (create character, tutorial, DFBs, and little else). I do like the idea of setting a goal, like the ones you describe.

Are you in a SG, or with a group you normally play with? If not, get one started. Not only will you get through the "I've seen it" content faster, but (for me, anyway) the back and forth with others lends its own spin to whatever you're playing.

[Mr. Vee]

I'm much better on HC than i was on live. I usually try to have one 50 i'm working on inc stuff for and one character i'm leveling. On live I was more of the 10 different alts at various stages of leveling kind of player. Oddly the thing that's made me better at altitis is I don't seem to enjoy making builds like I used to. Back in the day I spent nearly as much time in mids as I did playing but now not wanting to make a build has gotten to be the limiting factor in my making characters. (Though I did make 8 new toons to take advantage of experienced charges being free for the anniversary and I'm 7/8 done with their builds.) New alts get 500 million seed money, and all the prestige goodies. They then ride with my farmer for one meteor map which takes them to just shy of 18. Working on accolade stuff gets them to 20 at which point i run invader and finish the team tp mayhem mish. I pretty much TF the rest of the way to all tier 4s if I like the character. If I don't care for it i do a lot of speeding heathers to get it there. At 35 tier 4'd 'done' characters, a 50 working incs, a 31 and 7 of the new toons, only 2 of which have been played at all. Trying to keep it that way because if I play more I'll end up being live me with tons of toons I have to relearn every time I log on to them.

[tripthicket]

Greycat, I should have mentioned that, as you're right, playing with others makes things more interesting almost as a rule. Certainly faster. 🙂

 

I retyped this sentence three times to reflect that I mostly solo, but that's not really true, once I think about it. Maybe 90% of my play (or more) lately consists of: DFBs, PI radio/mission PUGs, and mothership raids. I don't currently belong to any SGs (aside from my personal SG, with base used for storage and transport hub). I was a member of 3 or 4 last calendar year (1 at a time), but I chose poorly, and my time with them was inevitably fruitless. frustrating and short. I have not 'fallen in' with a company of people I could connect with and run with on a regular basis. I blame my own reclusive nature for this.

[GM Miss]

I've always held true to the fact that alts are one of - if not the biggest "end game" aspects here - if that even makes sense. Hundreds and hundreds of combinations make the same maps feel new and I enjoy seeing how new combinations of powers will handle themselves in situations I am already familiar with. Alts are fun, enjoy them!  

[Seigmoraig]

6 minutes ago, tripthicket said:

I retyped this sentence three times to reflect that I mostly solo, but that's not really true, once I think about it. Maybe 90% of my play (or more) lately consists of: DFBs, PI radio/mission PUGs, and mothership raids. I don't currently belong to any SGs (aside from my personal SG, with base used for storage and transport hub). I was a member of 3 or 4 last calendar year (1 at a time), but I chose poorly, and my time with them was inevitably fruitless. frustrating and short. I have not 'fallen in' with a company of people I could connect with and run with on a regular basis. I blame my own reclusive nature for this.

I understand this. Me and my friend have our own little SG that we use to bank enhancements and have a centralized place for various vendors and portals. Having a place to call your own if only for  /enterbasefrompasscode is a game changer.

I've never really felt the need to be part of a SG, I can always get people to do content with by spamming the LFG channel. Granted I lead most of what I do but I can always form a team to do the content.

Edited May 7, 2020 by Seigmoraig

[Bastille Boy]

I have a bad case of altitis: 7 level 50 characters, 11 mid-level characters (levels 30-49), and 16 lower-level characters (levels 1-29).

 

The availability of anniversary badges this month has put my altitis on hold. I've decided to concentrate on one character, my Rad/Sonic defender, and try to get enough reward merits to get him all the anniversary badges. Now that I have a badge collector, I expect that I'll be focusing mainly on this toon for a while.

 

That said, I probably won't be able to avoid the temptation to spend some time developing my new blaster (I have yet to get a blaster to 50) and my tanker proc monster.

 

 

[Saikochoro]

I actually made similar thread to this a while back explaining the same problems. I had altitis such that it wasnt unheard of for me to make 3-5 new characters in one play session. I also didn’t have any 50s at that time and hardly any influence and thus no IO sets.  
 

I was able to “cure” my crippling altitis with the following:

1. Enhancement conversion to earn influence. This enabled me to start investing more into characters. 
    
2. Mids Reborn: I had never used this before. It was fun to plan out a build to make a character several times more powerful and reduce any inherent annoyances. 
    
3. The combination of the two above things made me want to get a toon to 50 just to try it all out.  My first was a tanker. 
    
4. I used my tanker to power level an alt account brute to in turn power level all the toon on my main account. My burn out always occurred at low levels as I don’t enjoy them, but it took up a significant amount of time because of my altitis. 
    
5. I then created a blaster for the first time ever and realized that was my true calling. Got a DP / MC blaster to 50 with a full build of set IOs. 
    
6. I then started participating in iTrials and other level 50 content. I have enjoyed this so much that my alt creation has slowed down probably 95%. 

I still make a new alt every so often, but I wait until I have the funds to fully outfit it in set IOs. I then power level it to get to the content I really enjoy. I also enjoy lower level content much more with set IOs as I am more powerful and can really feel like a super powered being taking on hordes of enemies. 

[Bionic_Flea]

I agree with the goal setting advice.  Some potential goals for you that I have tried:

1. Design a crazy build and make it work.  Way-back-when I wondered if you could slot a tank almost exclusively with the taunt sets and still be viable.  Surprisingly, a Rad/DM tank did well at this challenge, made it to 50, and earned a second premium build.  Similarly, I wondered if a character that took as many pool powers as possible could be viable: Yes! A Poison/Water Defender with only 2 powers from primary, six from secondary, and sixteen pool powers!
2.  Badge hunting.  I have one character dedicated to getting every badge available.  I only need a few more.
3.  Base building.  I've dabbled but can never approach what some of our creative architects can do.  I can make functional bases, not works of art.  But I tried and so can you!
4.  Level a character just by street sweeping.  I confess that I got tired after a bit and started teaming and farming.  But for a while it was great fun.  With vendors by the entrance of all the hazard zones you can stock up on inspirations and run a loop that brings you back to the vendor to start again.

[Greycat]

1 hour ago, Bastille Boy said:

I have a bad case of altitis: 7 level 50 characters, 11 mid-level characters (levels 30-49), and 16 lower-level characters (levels 1-29).

Oh, that's not bad. That's not bad at all... (and that old live listing is STILL missing some...)

 

🙂

[MTeague]

1 hour ago, Greycat said:

Oh, that's not bad. That's not bad at all... (and that old live listing is STILL missing some...)

 

🙂

Dude. That's pretty insane, considering that was on LIVE with much more limited characters per server per account.

But mostly I'm impressed at the sheer volumes of names you came up with that passed your own personal "do I like this name good enough"? test.   I'm seriously picky on names.

I may um... browse that list looking for inspiration later.  I wouldn't directly copy an exact name, but we've all been there searching for synonyms or prefixes or suffixes or puns to get something we like.

[ArchVileTerror]

Damn you, Greycat!  

Looks like I've got to get around to implementing my next diabolical plan sooner, rather than later.  . . . but I'm going to be so busy this weekend . . . damn it . . . 

 

You win -this- round, but mark my words!  I shall win the war!!!

 

*flails tentacles in an attempt to be dramatic, but instead looks more . . . confused?*

[Coyotedancer]

I had a very large collection of characters in my past City life, mostly just by virtue of having been at it for a long time and having wanted to try out a lot of different things... Most of them had made it to 50. Most of them had completed builds. When Incarnates came along, most of them ended up with a full set of iToys.

 

They were a heck of a lot of work. <_<

 

I promised myself that I wasn't going to do that again when Homecoming came along.  

 

I wasn't going to have a "cast of hundreds".

I wasn't even going to have a cast of dozens. I was determined about that.

 

*facepalms*

 

Currently, I have 30 counting Harry. (My farmer, who's the only character on my secondary account) 

That's about two dozen more than I wanted or expected to have when I started.

 

All but four are finished at this point, thankfully... Level fifty, builds I'm comfortable with, all their iToys… Which makes them a reasonably "low stress" collection, but it's still many, many more alts than I ever thought I'd make here. 

 

My tendency has been to only make a new one once I've completely finished someone else, which has helped keep the number of concurrent in-progress characters pretty low. I've also taken to jump-starting new ones to the 30s these days by tossing them into a cave run with Harry. I have absolutely zero desire to ever run the low-level game content ever again. Been there, done those same missions way, WAY too many times. XP

 

So, yeah. While I doubt I'll ever have a horde the size of VT's character list... once an alt-a-holic, always an alt-a-holic, I guess. 

I've failed pretty spectacularly at NOT being.

 

 

[Dazl]

I can understand the urge for alt-its. I have about 20 level 50's, and about 30 sub 50's. What broke me from the alt treadmill was finding characters I really liked that hooked me into not really wanting to play the other ones so much. I have about 5 characters I play all the time. So between iTrials, TF's, Hami raids, and Ouro mission arcs, I keep those characters very busy. I've also worked hard to build them out properly which makes them more fun to play and gives me a goal to work to. My biggest surprise love is my Dark/Dark stalker. Maybe if you focused on building up one or two characters for a while and running stuff you haven't been doing due to the alt treadmill, that might at least break up the rut you find yourself in.