What are your tips for managing a large character roster?

[oedipus_tex]

Hey all, I have at the moment over 180 characters. Most are "trial runs" where I tried a combo up to a certain level, decided it wasn't my fave, and rerolled the same costume/bio into a new design. This has led to a huge roster with enhancements, influence, recipes, and merits spread out over an increasingly difficult to manage stable of characters. For the longest time I passed enhancements between them using email. I was always pretty sloppy about it though.

 

Go ahead and laugh, only recently did I realize how much easier it is to create a supergroup for all the alts to join and single source their enhancements into a storage bin rather than emailing stuff. This has allowed me to see much better which enhancements I have  and efficiently manage my resources. 

 

I have a feeling there's a lot of good advice out there on managing a big roster that for would be helpful. What are your tricks?

[The_Warpact]

A large base full of storage containers, labeled by type to handle IO'S. 

I give them a time period and my pages are oriented towards keep and the sliding scale to strip and delete. 

I have altitis and while I do keep some for a period of time they all eventually will face the void.

[Hyperstrike]

Just surrender to the madness.
Altitis Forever!

[Without_Pause]

I freely delete characters versus keeping them around although I do have a single page for ones I put on a backburner. I have 30+ characters. I will likely trim that down at some point. My current goal is to find 16-20 worth getting to 50 and investing in. I run a solo SG. I have numerous bins for everything and organize IOs. I have been known to use one of them for enhancements and load it up for a specific character I am working on so I know where to go. I only have Inspir storage for team based ones. If I need a costume for later, I just save it versus keeping a character around.  I'll honestly cut down on my storage by half when I get around to it. 

[Troo]

ahhhhh..

creating a new dark dark when you already have 2 other dark darks,

AND,

knowing you have a character somewhere but can't find em.

• A personal SG helps.
  • '/altinvite' is your friend.
  • One bin for heals, another for defense, another for ATOs, another for purples, etc. If we need a second bin for one category we may be hording.
• Email to @yourglobalname. Then after a successful email, REPLY to the email that worked. This can help avoid mistakes.
• Word is we can edit our character list offline (I have yet to feel compelled do this).
  • Alternately use the 'search' function on the character list page, it works pretty well.
• Merits.. cash em in on Convertors. Infamy and influence are easier to manage and send to an alt. When managing infamy becomes a problem we really don't have any problems.

[SeraphimKensai]

I have a personal SG with the vast majority of my toons in it. Otherwise I use an excel spreadsheet for keeping track of a few variables for my characters. But I may be crazy and possibly have ran regression analysis on several different variables for my characters.

[Ukase]

No question a personal SG is the best path, but as far as "managing" hundreds of alts, this is quite the time sink. It's by far easier to just move inactive alts to a different page. Inf has never been an issue for me, once I learned ways to turn merits into influence. The idea of removing enhancements from an alt for another alt is just a waste of time for me. I have, however, done a full respec of characters that I definitively know that I will never play again, and stashed those enhancements into my sg bin. 

The problem for me is determining how to organize the bins. 

I've thought about having one SG for characters 1-24, another for characters 25-40, and another for 41 to 50. 

I've thought about having one alt remain in the sg base to distribute items as need be - and collect them. Instead of moving 50 feet to the workshop, just target them and press G to give them whatever I'm trying to unload. But this seemed to create more work than I really needed to do. 

Now, I plan the build out for a character, stash the IOs in a given bin and the character picks them up as needed. Occasionally, changes are made, but that's infrequent enough to handle without too much fuss. 

 

Like in real life, money (or inf) results in more choices. No sense spending time unslotting characters of their enhancements, really. Inf is way too easy to make. The time it takes to unslot a character and transfer these IOs, even in a base, you could make most of the funds needed for most new characters. Obviously, if you want to go whole hog, you may need more time, but if leveling the character organically, no reason that you can't get the resources in 15 minutes a day, if it's well spent. Maybe 30 if there's not many folks on. 

[Bionic_Flea]

I tend to make a character and play them all the way to 50 and usually 50+3.  I currently have 40 level 50s.  They all belong to the same SG and, as others have said, I use the Bins for storage of frequently used or very rare IOs (eg. ATOs, HOs, PvPIO procs, etc.).  I also use my only salvage storage for catalysts exclusively.  It's super convenient to hit 50 and then run to the base to grab a dozen to several dozen catalysts to make my ATOs and WinterOs superior.

 

Once one of my characters hits 50 I usually get an idea for another pairing or a name that implies certain powers and start work on a new character with a starting gift of 200-300 thousand inf.  When I can't think of anything new, or sometimes just for the heck of it, I'll log in each character starting with the ones that have been logged out the longest.  I'll then check their /ah for sales and purchases and craft/convert/sell some new stuff; see if they have any catalysts to store, and then check their accolade and incarnate status to see if I want to work on those for a bit before moving on to the next old character.  I also will check their day job status before logging out using the BadgeSetList popup. See here:

 

I don't delete characters, or strip them.  In the history of CoH I think I have deleted two characters that I played - a plant/thorn dominator that I made right when CoV came out but I could never get into it, and an AR/Devices named Osama been Hidin' that got genericed and it killed the vibe.

 

Other than that, I sometimes have a craving to play a certain AT or powerset, or someone asks for something in particular for a theme run or hard TF and will use the search function to look by AT or powers.

 

Anyway, that's what I do.  It may or may not work for you.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Bionic_Flea

[lemming]

I've got 98 chars currently, most at 50, seven not, only 128 levels to all at 50.   Four different semi-personal SGs, though only two are designated at levels 1-41 and one at 42-50.  The other two are more experimental.

 

I started back on live just tracking Dayjob progress, but other data wound up also being tracked such as AT, power sets, levels, age, accolades, certain other badges, incarnates, how well slotted, etc...  All on a google spreadhseet,  It's a bit unwieldy currently so I might breakdown and build more of a DB approach...

[lemming]

1 minute ago, Bionic_Flea said:

I also will check their day job status before logging out using the BadgeSetList popup. See here:

This tool is great, highly recommend it.

 

And Flea's advice is good as well.  (not quite what I do, but similar)

[Hedgefund]

I'm in the triple digit 50 club so getting better at character inventory management has been a priority for me lately.  I can't even imagine not using a spreadsheet (Google sheets for me, it's free!).  Make a field for whatever is important to you.  For example, has the character done Market Crash?  What was the date of the last WST?  Has it defeated Eochai and Jack?  Does it have Elusive Mind?  The last one, for example, helps me when I see a Rikti invasion - I can query to see who needs Elusive Mind and log them in.

 

Not only can you have a personal SG, you can have many of them.  As an owner of a lot of stuff, I have multiple bases focused on particular stuff.  For example there's a base for defense and resist ios.  Despite that, I'm starting to simplify more.  Not to pick on the screenshot but there's just no need to store an Efficacy Adaptor.  There may be good reasons, like it's short-term storage while you wait for a character to hit a certain level but storing something like that because you  might need it later is just too much headache.  At this point I just buy anything that's not a purple, PVP, ATO, WO, Def or Res.  It was getting too onerous to look through my storage for a Dark Watchers Despair recharge/endo when, with some patience (at least a 24 hour window) I can buy it for a price I like.

 

I find it very important to have a "big daddy" or "big momma" for an account.  After a character has hit 50 and done all the boosting needed, I just "color up" my merits whenever I get more than 50 and e-mail the hero merit to the "big momma".  Likewise for Transcendent Merits once T4s are all done.  I don't convert merits to inf, they're all just an asset class to me. 

 

As for influence, I don't any marketeering so I don't have wild fluctuations for any characters so a very approximate inf amount is one of the data fields on the spreadsheet.  

[Black Zot]

Duct tape.

[Gobbledigook]

I am completely unorganised, but it is kinda nice when i log into a character i have not used in a long time to find a few hundred million Inf sat on it lol.

[Snarky]

I strip all "projects" of everything.  Enhancers, Inf, salvage, you name it I take it off.  Those go on the back pages in case ever wanted again.  Quite a few are 50s.  Characters that are my "go to" roster are first page.  Projects or unsure what to do with or the oddball 50 I love but never run are page 2 to....   I also put them in level order in both sections except page 1.  Page 1 is by play importance.

[SuggestorK]

excel spreadsheets..... or at least some spreadsheets by an open source software.

 

i do have one for powercombis.. one for tfs.. one for bank mish badges,,, and so on

[Six-Six]

I play mostly Hardcore Hobo style. Each toon to his own. What he doesn't need gets sold. No sharing between alts: salvage, recipes, IOs, merits, inf.

As for content. Each toon lives his own life, paves his own path. Not every toon does a mother ship raid, or a certain TF, or gets a certain accolade.

So the only organisation I have is thematic. Fantasy-leaning toons all belong to one SG (and one page in the character roster), galactic spacey alien things in another, etc. I recently moved all my blasters to a separate shard, but lately some Doms have made it across as well.

[ZorkNemesis]

17 hours ago, Troo said:

Email to @yourglobalname. Then after a successful email, REPLY to the email that worked. This can help avoid mistakes.

 

Another trick: put a Reward Merit in the attachment slot.  It will auto-fill your global and due to the nature of merits you can't send it to anyone else.  You can take the merit back if you don't want to move it and send something else instead.  Whenever I need to move money I always use a merit to ensure that i'm keeping the money and not just sending a quarter-million to some randon stranger.

[kelika2]

Character page?

I sort them by archtype, ranged>melee>more melee>wtf stop with the melee>and epic archetypes get their own page.  Last page are gimmicks/rerolled alts but might use again maybe/given up or reused names by adding a 1 at the end

 

As for ingame stuff, I sell off everything and pool inf on page1 alts.  list epics for 9m inf, list uncommon/rare salvage/recipes for 5k inf because im not looking up 20-50 items whenever im cleaning up.  common salvage/recipes/SOs get vendored off by spamming Right Click > E.  every time an alt gets around 10m inf I mail 8m of that to myself to pool on page1 for easier access.  after a nice kill through/most TF it really starts to add up.

[Onlyasandwich]

I just make my inf with a handful of crafts I have found reliable, repeating on my AH character here and there.

 

I don't bother with sg sharing - much easier to just send liquid inf and buy what is needed on every new character.

 

All of my many 50s keep their full builds even if not often played, though I revisit with new builds when inspired. 

 

The selection page is annoying at this point. Once one hits 50, they get organized by AT with the rest. Until then they just live on my last unfilled page. I wish there were away to make folders here.

[Luminara]

I don't manage.  I'm just not adept at it, and there are things out there which need to beaten to a quivering pulp, so I don't really have the time to manage anything.  I find it easier to glare until the situation corrects itself.

 

Messy storage bins?  *evil eye*

 

Scattered salvage?  *baleful look*

 

Disorganized inspirations?  *withering glance*

 

Incomplete base?  *menacing glower*

 

Pants scattered everywhere?  *brown chicken, brown cow*

Wait... strike that last one.

 

[Sakai]

7 hours ago, kelika2 said:

Character page?

I sort them by archtype, ranged>melee>more melee>wtf stop with the melee>and epic archetypes get their own page.  Last page are gimmicks/rerolled alts but might use again maybe/given up or reused names by adding a 1 at the end

 

As for ingame stuff, I sell off everything and pool inf on page1 alts.  list epics for 9m inf, list uncommon/rare salvage/recipes for 5k inf because im not looking up 20-50 items whenever im cleaning up.  common salvage/recipes/SOs get vendored off by spamming Right Click > E.  every time an alt gets around 10m inf I mail 8m of that to myself to pool on page1 for easier access.  after a nice kill through/most TF it really starts to add up.

Hmmm. What does Right Click E do?

[kelika2]

@Sakai

Right Click brings a dropdown menu

E is the shortcut for sell the whole stack

 

Dump Yellow/Orange/Purps on the market

Then just spam click away White stuff afterwards

Edited March 26, 2022 by kelika2

[oedipus_tex]

Any advice on consolidating merits? I actually never realized you could mail them. 😮

 

I have probably over 20,000 merits scattered across all those alts. I may be overestimating. But possibly not. I could take turns rolling through all of them and grabbing the merits. Do most folks store their merits on a single main? Being able to email them is a game changer. I guess I never thought to try.

 

I have emailed Empyrean merits, so it probably should have been obvious.

[Black Zot]

Just now, oedipus_tex said:

Any advice on consolidating merits? I actually never realized you could mail them. 😮

 

I have probably over 20,000 merits scattered across all those alts. I may be overestimating. But possibly not. I could take turns rolling through all of them and grabbing the merits. Do most folks store their merits on a single main? Being able to email them is a game changer. I guess I never thought to try.

 

I have emailed Empyrean merits, so it probably should have been obvious.

 

Convert it all down to hero/villain merits before you start mailing - unless there's patch notes I missed since last time I shuffled merits, you can only mail 1 merit per message, and the h/v's pack the most total merit per mail.

[oedipus_tex]

5 minutes ago, Black Zot said:

 

Convert it all down to hero/villain merits before you start mailing - unless there's patch notes I missed since last time I shuffled merits, you can only mail 1 merit per message, and the h/v's pack the most total merit per mail.

 

 

I am the worst about hoarding rewards. I don't think I've ever converted one type of merit to another. Usually I just use merits to buy enhancement converters to sell on the market because it is quick and easy to understand. 🙂

 

Come to think of it I have never spent a Vanguard merit. Not even sure what they actually buy.