The Officially Unofficial Weekly Discussion #60: When do you abandon a character/concept?

[DougGraves]

In character creation do you abandon if you cannot come up with a costume or name you like?

 

How many levels do you go before you decide a character isn't for you?

 

When you abandon a character do you delete it, or just leave it now that we have 1,000 slots?

 

Do you expect to go back to old characters or once you move on are the old ones dead to you?

[lemming]

I got up to around 200 characters and am currently at 96.   If I don't delete them, I tend to go CDO about certain things about them.

 

Most of my characters derive from a name and then I see if the powers can work.   If I don't enjoy playing them much, or they don't fill a certain niche, I'll delete them after stripping them.   Frees the name up for someone else and I have seen a couple later in the wild, so that's cool.

 

Almost all of them hit 50 first.  

[Snarky]

I have themes i have explored.  Mutants, strongmen, robots, and of course undead.   Then i pair that with in game interests, Brute playstyle, tanking, blasting, leading inevitably to Corruptors and Doms.  A few trollers, a scrapper or two, and a stalker or two.  Then i thematically pair.  AR blasters are tech for i stance.  Erm, except the robo-lich….which is ….both?   I have maybe 30-40 of these 50d and with full builds.  My absolute favorites have alt builds for different content.  I have many many pages of non 50s.  Quite a few with IO builds.  Then I have 40-50? 50s that are stripped as redundant or boring.  But not deleted.  

[drbuzzard]

I level something up to 50 and deck it out with IOs and at least T3 alpha before I abandon a character. Then I strip it down of IOs and let it sit. With 1k slots, it doesn't really matter. 

[ZekeStenzland]

Abandon during character creation? Hell yeah. 
 

Typical level range to abandon? Usually in the 8-30 range. But I’ve deleted 50s before. 
 

I’ll often just shelve them, in case I change my mind, find a better build, etc. But I have no problem stripping & deleting them. 
 

I do go back and revisit abandoned characters occasionally. Sometimes it’s even successful. 

[Coyotedancer]

If I get something into the mid- or late-30's and just don't find it fun to play, the odds are good that I'll strip out all of the toys I gave the character and then delete it. And then reuse the costume and general character idea with different power sets. 

 

I've gotten to be pretty ruthless about that over the years. I'm not keeping a character that isn't fun for me to play.

[FupDup]

Once I've started leveling a toon I've always stuck with them until the "end" (T4 incarnates). After that I kinda feel like there's not much to do, and since T4 can be a bit of a slog, I tend to take a break for a while until the next alt. I rarely revisit "completed" toons. 

 

I do have a lot of level 1 alts collecting dust in the character list (to reserve names), some unused costumes, and builds in Mids that might not ever get used. 

Edited December 28, 2023 by FupDup

[cranebump]

If my stable is any indication, somewhere in the 20s. No rhyme or reason outside that. Stuff I've dumped early on: Kheldians (didn't even reach 10), various trollers and defenders I tried to solo with subpar powersets for soloing (because I am smarrrrrrrt).:-) i recently deleted a slew of abandoned characters. Stripped and sold everything, pooled about 500 mill then gave it to a single “sugar daddy” character to dole out as small parcels of seed money for my trad solo play toons. That’s what I’ve been running lately. Solo, story-arc, slow play. 

Edited December 29, 2023 by cranebump

[Luminara]

My first character here was a Grav/TA/Stone controller.  Built it to pick up an entire spawn, drop them right in front of me and beat them to death.  About a year later, I decided to try a Grav/Fire dominator, expecting that it would be even better.  Leveled it to 50 the slow way (wasn't using 2XP then), went all the way to the 4th tier Alpha slot, and finally gave up.  Single-target damage was fantastic, but I don't play single-target characters, I'm an AoE whore, and this lagged so far behind the controller that it was excruciating.  After a dozen respecs, I couldn't drag it up to my expectations.  I'm done with it.

 

Also about to give up on a 50+2 Elec/Fire sentinel.  The survivability is where I want it to be, the damage is more than acceptable, but I have to chase runners far more often with this character because of the endurance drain.  It annoys me.  I'm not playing to be annoyed, I'm playing to be entertained.

[Healix]

I usually abandon/delete the ones that are not fun to play.

[ZekeStenzland]

I was thinking about this a little more and found this.

 

If I like the bio/name/costume, then I’m more likely to shelve the character until I can find a better build, or delete and recreate as a different AT or power set.

 

If I like the powers but not the RP aspects, I’m more likely to just delete the character. 
 

[kelika2]

Many alts get abandoned on character creation.  Taken names is the biggest offender

I do not delete alts anymore because buffs happen randomly.  Deleted an elec/elec blaster years ago and regretted it when elec sets got buffed.  but this also means I have 10 regen scrappers living in denial.

[twozerofoxtrot]

14 hours ago, DougGraves said:

In character creation do you abandon if you cannot come up with a costume or name you like?

 

Frequently. 

 

14 hours ago, DougGraves said:

How many levels do you go before you decide a character isn't for you?

 

My decision isn't tied to levels. That said I don't think I've ever given up on something prior to running Posi, or on Red prior to completing the clone arcs.

 

14 hours ago, DougGraves said:

When you abandon a character do you delete it, or just leave it now that we have 1,000 slots?

 

Delete. I recycle the biomass for new characters.

 

Recently I've moved a few venerable characters that simply have gone unplayed for years but that I like to less important shards like Torchbearer, Indomitable, and Excelsior. 

 

14 hours ago, DougGraves said:

Do you expect to go back to old characters or once you move on are the old ones dead to you?

 

Hard to go back to something I deleted. Which is a perk, I have found.

[MonteCarla]

If it all goes well - I come up with a character idea based around a name, a look and powersets. I workshop them in the first few levels, maybe team up with some other players and chat in character to help that process along, and it all comes together. They then carry on with that costume and backstory until 50. This happens with like 80% of my creations, with 20% going on beyond 50 to Incarnate out because I want to keep playing as them.

 

Sometimes it doesn't quite work out.

I'll retire a character in their 20's or 30's if they haven't quite taken shape. This is usually that I haven't figured out who they are, or they're no fun to roleplay.

Sometimes I dig them out again and rename them, or give them a new costume, often changing the backstory into something that I like more.  The gap can be as big as years.

 

And for whatever reason, Scrappers often stall at 40 for me. I think its the lack of desire of anything from the epic pools, whereas others are hanging out for their epic armor, or a big melee attack for Defenders, or something that fills a hole.

[JasperStone]

I am currently working way through all my alts, spending a month on one alt.

Trying to get as far as I can build-wise, badges, incarnates, etc.

 

Several ATs were...meh

While others made me go wow...I see why people play these combos.

 

I tough it out...no matter how bad/tough it gets

 

 

 

[Go0gleplex]

I get curious or bored and play with different combos fairly often. Within the first 10-20 levels is when I either still enjoy things or just get bored with them and end up deleting them once I lose all desire to play those particular toons. 

[SeraphimKensai]

I typically come up with a concept in my head for a pairing to make, or occasionally will get inspired by a discussion on the boards, and even have left it all to chance by using a random number generator to pick my AT & powersets for me.

 

I have been known to take up to about 2 hours in the costume creator, but now a days I'm much more efficient. I've made some saved costume files that I can use as a base to expand off of in addition to the templates that the costume creator has already.

 

Name wise I usually don't bother thinking up a name until after I know what AT/Powersets/Costume/Origin I'm going to roll with and then I'll come up with something that feels like it could reasonably be a name for a superhero/villain. I usually try for simple names like "Hitpoint," "Butane", etc. but if I'm feeling witty I have done stuff like "Catch of the Day" for a mutant fish monster character.

 

Most characters these days are for me. I have a habit of taking lesser used powersets and making a custom build for them to make the character perform decently enough. Each might not be fire/fire blaster levels of damage or stone armor/ice melee levels of damage mitigation but at this point I can make anything functional. Way back when the game first started I even mained an Empathy Defender, despite my previous experience with other MMOs as typically DPS or a MT. The one AT in the game I had issues getting into and feeling good about was always MM's as although during live I had at one point access to 382 lvl 50s, not a single one was a mastermind. Luckily enough I've overcome that emotional hurdle since the release of private CoH servers.

 

Most the characters I roll I get to 50 and fully load them with IOs before I start making a determination if I really like the character or not. If I don't like it, I usually just let it sit there and collect dust. Sometimes that happens unintentionally these days as I have a lot of great characters but due to diminished playtime or waning interest, or waxing interest in something else they might sit there. For instance I have a tank that's a DA/SS tank and it's really strong, has great synergy between oppressive gloom and handclap and a fast recharging footstomp with double stacked rage.nthe toon works great but it's been probably a year or more since I really played it.

As a benefit of getting a character to 50, I'll make a bio for it. It's no secret that I play on Everlasting despite not being a role player in game, I find it almost criminal not to make a bio for the toons I've invested enough time to get to 50 and slot it to the gills with IOs.

 

I do tend to go back to characters from time to time. I don't truly have a main these days, but I have three accounts full of toons at this point. I do like to join a pug and ask the team if they need anything in particular because at this point I likely have available (I like to be able to fill any role needed). My favorite ATs of CoH by lore design alone as always been Kheldians despite the fact that they tend to get disregarded and need a QoL pass at the very least. So yeah once the live servers died, I was often thinking about how cool Warshade were so that was one of the first characters I rolled when HC launched, and I do cycle back to it fairly frequently (despite the fact that Larian Studios stole my character's name for one of their characters in BG3, oh well I didn't trademark it, and their character is significantly different than mine that I'm okay with it).

 

Thanks for keeping up with these @DougGraves and Happy New Years everyone.

[DougGraves]

2 hours ago, JasperStone said:

I am currently working way through all my alts, spending a month on one alt.

Trying to get as far as I can build-wise, badges, incarnates, etc.

 

I tough it out...no matter how bad/tough it gets

 

So you tough it out for a month - not a particular level or achievement?

 

Why a month?

[Yomo Kimyata]

23 hours ago, DougGraves said:

In character creation do you abandon if you cannot come up with a costume or name you like?

 

It depends on how the inspiration came about.  If the name is the inspiration, and if it is already taken, then I move on and don't even start.  If the powers are the inspiration then I work until I find something I like.  I frequently end up changing costumes and names.

 

23 hours ago, DougGraves said:

How many levels do you go before you decide a character isn't for you?

 

I like to get to 7 or 8 right away.  It doesn't take very long, especially with double xp, and I've got a pretty good system for those early levels.  Even though they have not instituted any name givebacks yet, I like to get them above the short level break (5, I think?).  

 

23 hours ago, DougGraves said:

When you abandon a character do you delete it, or just leave it now that we have 1,000 slots?

 

I've got a short attention span, so when I stop spending time on a project it's usually because something else more pressing has come along.  Sometimes it's even outside of this game!  Recently, I've started pruning characters, but those are mainly theme or challenge characters that stopped being interesting.  I only delete it if I can honestly say to myself, well, never gonna play THAT one again.  

 

On 12/28/2023 at 1:20 PM, DougGraves said:

Do you expect to go back to old characters or once you move on are the old ones dead to you?

 

Never say die!  Sometimes I come back to old concepts that have new life due to changes either in the Homecoming rules or in my increased understanding of the mechanics.

[Greycat]

On 12/28/2023 at 12:20 PM, DougGraves said:

In character creation do you abandon if you cannot come up with a costume or name you like?

 

How many levels do you go before you decide a character isn't for you?

 

When you abandon a character do you delete it, or just leave it now that we have 1,000 slots?

 

Do you expect to go back to old characters or once you move on are the old ones dead to you?

 

1 - no. Renames are free, as are costumes before 10.

2 - depends on the character, but it's rare for me to completely give up on a character.

3 - Even on live, I kept the character. Powers get changed all the time, and sometimes it's just a character not "clicking" right away.

4 - I tend to go back unless their story's completely told... and even then I'll revisit on occasion.

[Scarlet Shocker]

Usually I begin with a concept and run it through to at least 40. There are caveats, for example really awful power choices that borked it. But I have no issue with playing a character to 50 and deleting it. If the concept/play style/game experience didn't work for me I can be quite brutal in that sense and will rob and delete it.

 

Conversely, I do have characters I've run to 50 on a concept, decided that concept works better on a differnet AT/power set and so renamed it to something akin to "needs a new name" - letting it lie fallow until such time as a name comes to mind while the new concept gets a run out.

[PartyKake]

I have characters lying around that have collected all the day job badges and I don't even remember what I was thinking when I created them. But between costume changes being cheap or free and renaming them later if it suits me, I don't think I'll need to delete any before I hit the limit of 1000.

 

I did, however, at one point reorganize them so that they were sorted by archetype. But all that did was inspire me to create more characters until the archetypes were more equally represented.

Edited December 30, 2023 by PartyKake
typo

[Water]

I have a few parked that have never left Outbreak. Many at all levels and some get moved further to the right of the character list the less I play with them. I don't know if they are abandoned until I delete them. But as has been said, why delete if there is a smidgen of hope for them with 1000 slots per account? Even so, several poor choices have been deleted.

[JasperStone]

On 12/29/2023 at 11:05 AM, DougGraves said:

 

So you tough it out for a month - not a particular level or achievement?

 

Why a month?

Most of the alts are already at 20 at least (DFB and DiB) varying levels up to 50s.

 

The month time frame was random but after two years of doing this project, it works well.

 

The first week is just figuring out the powerset and AT, especially the ones I have not played so far.

And what the hell I was planning to do with the build. MIDS is not my thing, I don't plan a build. (nothing against those that do)

Weeks 2-3 are steadily going through TFS to get accolades, working on badges, incarnates, and costumes.

Week 4 ends up just being a coast.

 

I am having fun doing this.

Some have better synergy than others for sure.

November - Ice/Cold Corr .... yes it is true. Pretty awesome

December - Energy/Cold Corr ... initially disappointed after the Ice/Cold. As of today pretty happy with it. Just needed some slight tweaks to build and play tactics.

 

It has been a fun project.

May switch up for the new year, not sure what yet.

 

 

 

 

[UltraAlt]

On 12/28/2023 at 1:20 PM, DougGraves said:

In character creation do you abandon if you cannot come up with a costume or name you like?

 

Never.

 

On 12/28/2023 at 1:20 PM, DougGraves said:

How many levels do you go before you decide a character isn't for you?

 

All my characters are "for" me. I just play some more than other ones.

 

On 12/28/2023 at 1:20 PM, DougGraves said:

When you abandon a character do you delete it, or just leave it now that we have 1,000 slots?

 

I don't abandon characters.

I log all my characters in within like 60 days ... recently in less than 45 days.

 

On 12/28/2023 at 1:20 PM, DougGraves said:

Do you expect to go back to old characters or once you move on are the old ones dead to you?

 

I'm a character conception player so all my characters were created for a reason with their own personality and motivations.

 

I have to say that I do play with a couple of players that I know in real life and, when I game with them, I'm often locked into playing the same characters for - what seems to me to be - a very long time.

One of them has a very hard time concentrating and differentiating one character from another so has really limitations/issues with switching characters.

 

I like to alt jump and mix it up, so when I'm not gaming with them, I'm playing the character that I'm in the mood to play based the character conception, powerset, level, or archetype (to better fit on teams).

 

The characters that are the most "dead" to me are my 50's. I'm not going to making any more 50s. When I get to 49, I have been turning the xp off.