How long before you have a clue?

[Lusiphur Malache]

My current project is a Pain/Earth defender.  First 10 levels went by and I had no clue where I was going with this character, defender, offender, or something in-between.  Next 10 I did a lot of experimenting.  Took powers I knew little about or slotted known powers in a different way.  Found out quite a bit in the 20s.  Don't like Enforced Morale, really liked Shared Pain.  Finally found a direction and formulated a plan in the 30s thankfully, did this toon's first ITF, unlocked Patron pool and now am sitting at level 38 and know where I'm going, I think.

 

tl,dr;  When do you normally know where you are going with a toon?  Right from the start (aren't you special)? 20s, 30s, 40s? or wherever you are at 50 is it?  Let me and others know, so I can feel great shame or joy.

[JJDrakken]

2 hours ago, Lusiphur Malache said:

My current project is a Pain/Earth defender.  First 10 levels went by and I had no clue where I was going with this character, defender, offender, or something in-between.  Next 10 I did a lot of experimenting.  Took powers I knew little about or slotted known powers in a different way.  Found out quite a bit in the 20s.  Don't like Enforced Morale, really liked Shared Pain.  Finally found a direction and formulated a plan in the 30s thankfully, did this toon's first ITF, unlocked Patron pool and now am sitting at level 38 and know where I'm going, I think.

 

tl,dr;  When do you normally know where you are going with a toon?  Right from the start (aren't you special)? 20s, 30s, 40s? or wherever you are at 50 is it?  Let me and others know, so I can feel great shame or joy.

 

I always do, with maybe some slight tweaking as a I go. But I prep beforehand majority of the time.

 

Perhaps this build will help you out?

 

Defender (Pain Domination - Seismic Blast).mbd

[Ringo]

Even if I make a build I rarely intend to fill it out until my character is 47+

 

Until then I'm playing it by ear, taking the powers and slotting them with what feels fun and/or necessary.  So I'd say somewhere 40+ is when I'm finally confident in what I like and want out of any given character.  

[arcane]

I don’t make the character unless I have a draft build planned out.

[lemming]

Somewhere between 1 and 50+.   Though I think my latest to finally put in a decent build has been vet level 14.  Oh oh, just looked at my spread sheet and one of my tanks that is marked to need a respec is vet  level 145...  (She's good, but could be a lot better)

 

Normally, I play it by ear until I hit 50 when I tend to respec, put all the lower than 50 IOs into storage and kit the character out.  I have been being better about slotting some sets earlier, but it's still not heavily looked into.

[Clave Dark 5]

Sometimes really early, sometimes mid leveling, sometimes as soon as I hit 50 and realize I have no desire to ever play that toon again.

[Frozen Burn]

I know before I even make the toon.  I'll have a build planned out and 99.9% of the time I stick with it all the way to lvl 50.

[MoonSheep]

17 hours ago, arcane said:

I don’t make the character unless I have a draft build planned out.

 

what? you mean the’ve made Mids Hero Designer into an actual game? where do i log in?!

 

my process for creation of a new character usually involves falling in love with an idea, creating an amazing build on mids then telling myself what the pitfalls of it are and deciding to never make it

Edited March 4 by MoonSheep

[Lusiphur Malache]

16 hours ago, lemming said:

 Oh oh, just looked at my spread sheet 

I probably should have a spreadsheet for all my toons, but I find that sounds like too much work. Theory crafting in Mids looks like a crapshoot until you punch a mob in the face. I've used the beta server on occasion, it serves my purpose nicely 

[Duckbutler]

There's a lot that can be sussed out before you start, especially if you tend to stick within an AT or set type. I like melee and all melee end up using the same two set types even when they put their own twist on it. And the sets have a certain amount of consistency across them. The bigger question tends to be what I want out of the character and whether I have a theme that is enjoyable and fun. I make brutes, don't invest much into them, want them to be both a tank and high damage, and then lose interest in the mid levels when I can't just ride Fury to victory anymore. The latest one I'm on the 4th iteration of the character, swapped AT to scrapper, dropped an aspect of the character concept that wasn't inspiring, and I've been pretty certain from level 1 what I'm doing on the current iteration of the character. But it also took me 4 iterations to get there.

[Ringo]

6 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

Sometimes really early, sometimes mid leveling, sometimes as soon as I hit 50 and realize I have no desire to ever play that toon again.

My completely unslotted, emptied bank account, level 50 Gravity/Trick Arrow controller stares balefully at me from the last character select page

 

There's probably a Grav/TA build out there I do want to play, but *his* build was chasing recharge for Wormhole->Oil Slick Arrow and it never worked well enough for me to enjoy it

[lemming]

3 hours ago, Lusiphur Malache said:

I probably should have a spreadsheet for all my toons, but I find that sounds like too much work. Theory crafting in Mids looks like a crapshoot until you punch a mob in the face. I've used the beta server on occasion, it serves my purpose nicely 

Beta is where I'll screw around with builds more.  I use Mids to look at other builds and use the export to load a beta char

[SeraphimKensai]

I'll come up with a character (sometimes based on some power interaction I want to play with, or more often than not a random number generator to draft my AT/primary/secondary), often draft up a build in my head, sometimes I'll put it down in mids.

 

Otherwise unless I have a overall plan for the character like running through Gold, or Red Side I'll usually PL it to 50 and slot it out then go play it through TFs/trials, ouros arcs, etc. otherwise if I'm intentionally doing a slow boat run I'll slot it out with IOs as I level up.

 

I usually don't change my game plan for a character unless a patch comes out that significantly changes something related to the character. But at this point I have so many characters it's hard to keep up with them all so if a character hasn't been online for a year or more I check their build quickly before playing it (sadly I have some toons that were fun but have been collecting a lot of dust).

[Hardboiled Hero]

I made my first character on homecoming 4 years ago .  I still have no idea where she's going.

[UltraAlt]

On 3/3/2024 at 5:19 AM, Lusiphur Malache said:

When do you normally know where you are going with a toon?

 

When I come up for the concept for the character before I even log into the game to create them.

 

On 3/3/2024 at 5:19 AM, Lusiphur Malache said:

Right from the start (aren't you special)?

 

 

 

[StarseedWarrior]

I recommend you make some toons you really love to 50 first this way you can see how others ineract in your team and give you an idea of how other combos perform as well.

[Sunsette]

ATs and/or powersets with very transferrable skills from previous played: I usually know the general thrust before I make it, though I often make major revisions around the 30s and small tweaks for several weeks after level cap. 

 

AT and/or powersets that are very different from what I'm used to?  I'll make a build going in, but it's probably level 30 before I really know where I'm going and I make multiple build redos along the way.

[Doomguide2005]

Ranges from barely a clue till 40+ to right out the door I have a strong idea both of which reflect right back to how familiar I am with the power sets and AT.  Earth/** controller I've got a solid idea out the door.  Ditto for SR or Empathy.  Darkness Control/Electrical Affinity though I'd a lot less sure till 50+ as I have yet to play either.  Mids is almost always for a "final" respec in late game, sometime after 35+ most likely unless I'm experimenting with a otherwise familiar pairing.

[Lusiphur Malache]

I've noticed that most of my builds are very opposite of their intended use. All my defenders play as offenders, corrupters as defenders. My peacebringer is uniform, so is my warshade. As long as the orange numbers are bigger and more of them, I consider it a success. 

 

Thanks @JJDrakkenI took some ideas from your build, definite improvement. 

[biostem]

On 3/3/2024 at 5:19 AM, Lusiphur Malache said:

When do you normally know where you are going with a toon?

Maybe I've been playing too long, but with the ability to see how your core powers animate in the tailor, I can get a fairly accurate picture of how the character will play.  The hard part is when I want to create a support character, as some powers, (like how you mentioned 'enforced morale'), don't have quite the obvious and immediate impact...

[plainguy]

I don't create anything unless I can get it defense capped in some way at level 50 in Mids Hero builder.. Along with the required endurance ratio needed. 

[Marshal_General]

Yeah, I try to have a clue before I create the character. I look for builds and guides, plan my version of it and often post it on the forum for advice before I touch pavement in Atlas 

[mistagoat]

Every toon of mine starts in Mids so I have a plan right from the start. That being said, plans change and sometimes adjustments are needed. I remember not too long ago I was making something (Ice controller I think) with "World of Confusion" in the epic pool. Stacking Artic Air with WoC was the whole reason I started the toon but by the time I got up to epic pool level it was apparent that it was not going to be as beneficial as I was hoping and had to change gears. Best laid plans and all that...

[DanaDark]

Some start in MIDs, some go with the flow at first before MIDs.

Atlas Park mission line -> Kings Row mission line -> The Hollows up to Frost Fire. That is usually enough to know the character. Sometimes I dislike that power sets completely, the combo of them, the concept didn't work out, or whatnot. I regularly play around with new characters, delete, try new, etc. 

But I never go to 50 and then wonder what I am doing. If they pass Frost Fire and I like them, then they get a MIDs for sure if one wasn't already in place. This is around level 16. Sometimes I will go further to about level 22 where I start collecting enhancements.

[flyingpcp]

I can't help but read this thread title in an accusatory tone... I'm working on it, okay! I'm still learning ;_;