DFB Question

[Intermipants]

I was midway through a DFB with an alt this evening and it became evident that this toon was just not going to make it.  The delete button was merely five minutes away for this poor fella and it struck me suddenly how absolutely brutal a DFB run really is. 

 

What proportion of characters on any given DFB run will make it to 50?

 

My guess, using an n of 1, is that it's about 8% (on a good day).

 

What say ye?

[lemming]

For me, I tend to get chars up to at least to their 30s before thinking about retiring them.   Most of mine get to 50 and if I can figure out a fun viable build for them, they get to stay.  DFB has very little to do with it.

[Scarlet Shocker]

If you're judging a character's performance on the DFB you're not giving it a chance. The whole point of DFB is to get a solid XP boost to get you past the starting levels in a hurry. It's not meant to be too testing, but to get your character to a level when you can start evaluating the whole character in the round. 

 

If you delete it at such an early stage you'll never know how well it would bloom at later levels. 

[Ghost]

I’ve had a couple toons that while in the middle of a DFB, I realize that I just don’t like the set.  Then it’s just a matter of hurry up and finish so I can delete.

The vast majority of the time though, I’ll run through 2DFBs and both Posi’s before deciding.

[High_Beam]

DFB is literally nothing in the scope of things to me, the only thing I use it as a judge of it is weather people can listen to direction about and weather MMs can control their henchmen.

 

Its nothing to get to level 20 so that is when I start deciding if I like the character.

Edited Friday at 12:23 PM by High_Beam

[Uun]

DFB limits you to using your lvl 1, 2 and 4 power picks in the first section, adding lvl 6 and 8 picks by the final section. I don't think there's any combo in the game that can be fairly evaluated based on only 3-5 powers.

[Snarky]

1 minute ago, Uun said:

DFB limits you to using your lvl 1, 2 and 4 power picks in the first section, adding lvl 6 and 8 picks by the final section. I don't think there's any combo in the game that can be fairly evaluated based on only 3-5 powers.

Especially really low level power picks.  Unless you really do not like the sounds/animations/style.  

[Ukase]

DFB's are simple, regardless of what level you're at, regardless of AT. They are designed as such - unless you're a newer player. 

So, there are some things that experience will teach you that aren't obvious. 
If your character doesn't have armor, being the first into the fray is a bad idea. 
In the DFB specifically, there's a lot of mobs, and they're not obvious when you approach. 

There are proximity bombs with a 10 second counter. I'm not sure what the proximity it - but they're in a hallway that you have to go through to get to the next stage. Often times, these can leave your health fairly low, making you an easy kill for some of the npcs. 

There's a theme around a lot of content as you level up, "avoid XYZ". In this case, it's avoid green bubbles at your feet when fighting the two heads at the end of DFB. A good team lead will tell you this. But anecdotally, those are maybe 1 in 20 that will relay various tips and tricks for better results. 
The key here is to not do a longer animation like Sands of Mu until after you've just avoided green bubbles. 

There's also being smart about using the jetpack you got at level 2 to avoid cadavers when you're a character without armor. Most teams go for that Cadaver Cleanser badge - so you have to avoid killing them until Meinst gets defeated. For ranged characters, this is kind of common sense - use the jet pack and spam your single target ranged attacks at the AV. 

 

Anecdotally, I would say 95% of my characters make it to level 50, t-4. 
That said, maybe 20% of them will get a final respec and be finely tuned to do what I want them to do, whether it's Labyrinth, Hami, or certain SSA arcs every week. The rest will sit idle, unless there's a reason for them to not sit idle. 

[Scarlet Shocker]

On 11/21/2025 at 11:05 AM, Ghost said:

I’ve had a couple toons that while in the middle of a DFB, I realize that I just don’t like the set.  Then it’s just a matter of hurry up and finish so I can delete.

The vast majority of the time though, I’ll run through 2DFBs and both Posi’s before deciding.

 

 

I'd say if you decide you don't like the set on a DFB run you've hardly given it a fair shake. My personal feeling is that you can't tell how good (or bad) a set is going to be until you're about 30ish.

 

But on the other hand I have little compunction against deleting a toon whatever its level from 1 to 50.

 

I agree we all have different play styles so if somebody feels they just can't... then fine. Their game and nobody should be forced to do something they don't like during a leisure activity but I would caution against deletion unless you've made a chronic mistake build mistake (for example picking a wrong power and the respec cost is greater than the remake value) or just "ehhhhhh, not enjoying" - but the better remedy for that may be a shelf for a while then a revisit. After all, it's not like we're short of slots!

[Ghost]

44 minutes ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

 

 

I'd say if you decide you don't like the set on a DFB run you've hardly given it a fair shake. My personal feeling is that you can't tell how good (or bad) a set is going to be until you're about 30ish.

 

But on the other hand I have little compunction against deleting a toon whatever its level from 1 to 50.

 

I agree we all have different play styles so if somebody feels they just can't... then fine. Their game and nobody should be forced to do something they don't like during a leisure activity but I would caution against deletion unless you've made a chronic mistake build mistake (for example picking a wrong power and the respec cost is greater than the remake value) or just "ehhhhhh, not enjoying" - but the better remedy for that may be a shelf for a while then a revisit. After all, it's not like we're short of slots!

It’s not that the sets didn’t feel like they could be powerful.  They just felt ho-hum.  Like I wasn’t excited about playing them.

Usually when I make a new toon, the whole time I’m running through DFB I’m thinking to myself “This is it!  This is now my favorite toon!  I’ll play this one more than any other!!”

 

The ones I’ve given up on didn’t give me those feelings/thoughts, and I’d actually feel bored during the run.

 

Its rare.  Like I said it’s only happened a couple times - but it has happened.  Usually I don’t decide until after I’ve run both Posi TF and hit around lvl 21-22

[tidge]

In my experience: ATs don't begin to feel different from each other until level 10+

 

A slightly more difficult issue for me to judge (since I pretty much always level up by playing content) is if the level 50 build (using better enhancement pieces, and re-ordering powers) will have a big impact on my appreciation for the character. For example: I have a War Mace scrapper that I kinda like... but without the Global Recharge available at level 50, I found it really hard to enjoy.

[Scarlet Shocker]

31 minutes ago, Ghost said:

It’s not that the sets didn’t feel like they could be powerful.  They just felt ho-hum.  Like I wasn’t excited about playing them.

Usually when I make a new toon, the whole time I’m running through DFB I’m thinking to myself “This is it!  This is now my favorite toon!  I’ll play this one more than any other!!”

 

The ones I’ve given up on didn’t give me those feelings/thoughts, and I’d actually feel bored during the run.

 

Its rare.  Like I said it’s only happened a couple times - but it has happened.  Usually I don’t decide until after I’ve run both Posi TF and hit around lvl 21-22

 

How do you know if something blooms in late game? 

 

I do get what you're saying - some combos just feel underwhelming when you first pick them up and again, a lot depends on playstyle, AT preference etc.

 

Good example - I love Kinetic Melee. One of the few tanks I've ever taken to 50 is a KM/Rad and I love it. Are there better ones out there? Undoubtedly. But it's way better (for me) than my WP/Dark or the couple of other variants I've tried. But most will probably say "KM is junk, don't use it" and they might be right but I really enjoy mine. 

[Ghost]

12 minutes ago, Scarlet Shocker said:

 

How do you know if something blooms in late game? 

 

I do get what you're saying - some combos just feel underwhelming when you first pick them up and again, a lot depends on playstyle, AT preference etc.

 

Good example - I love Kinetic Melee. One of the few tanks I've ever taken to 50 is a KM/Rad and I love it. Are there better ones out there? Undoubtedly. But it's way better (for me) than my WP/Dark or the couple of other variants I've tried. But most will probably say "KM is junk, don't use it" and they might be right but I really enjoy mine. 

Not sure how to explain it.

Its not about feeling underwhelming, it’s like when a movie just don’t click for you.

It doesn’t hold your attention, and you end up either turning it off or wishing it would end.  You may not be able to explain why, but for whatever reason, you just weren’t enjoying it.

 

Ive had that happen with a couple toons.  About halfway through the DFB I’ll feel like “damn I made a mistake and just want this to end”