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What kind of theme builder are you?
spinnytop
Posts: 16,450 Arc User
So I made this big dumb chart and then I started wondering how us forum folk actually fit into it. So then I made a poll. Also I made an improved chart. What a riveting story o3o
Visuals Focused
This includes both costume and power VFX. You care about your character's overall appearance matching up to your vision of them, so no VFX that shouldn't be there. Can be as extreme as "I refuse to use Conviction because my character doesn't randomly glow".
Playstyles/Dynamics Focused
When you create a character do you have a particular playstyle/dynamic in mind or are you willing to adapt to whatever the playstyle/dynamic becomes in pursuit of getting the appearance/performance you want? How it plays includes things like pacing ( a fast build with lots of decisions and button presses coming at you fast vs a more laid back spammy build that is "less thinky" ), offensive vs defensive, or even wanting a specific dynamic ( i.e. I want a rotation, or I want everything I do to cause a heal ).
Mechanical Strength Focused
Do you care about your build being "viable", which includes things like being able to reach a certain benchmark when playing a role ( meeting minimum dps requirements for dps checks, being able to tank cosmics, etc ) being able to solo endgame content/not have to rely on other players in group content. Or do you not care about that and you'll just play the toon in whatever content it ends up being able to do so long as you get the look/playstyle you want.
Care About High Scores
This is another category within the mechanical strength category. There are people who want a viable character, and then there are people who go beyond viable and want to make one of the strongest characters in the game that will get a top spot in any scoreboard they're on. This could even be relevant to your theme, as in "This is one of the strongest heroes in the world". On the poll the types that fall into this category are represented in parenthesis next to their "dont care about score" types. The poll only allows 10 choices so that's why I did it that way, so just choose that choice if you fall into either of those colors.
NOTE: When it says "being strong isn't important" that does not preclude a character becoming strong incidentally, or "by accident" as it were. It just means the character doesn't have to be strong, not that they won't be strong. I don't imagine anyone purposely sets out with the objective of making a weak character.
Visuals Focused
This includes both costume and power VFX. You care about your character's overall appearance matching up to your vision of them, so no VFX that shouldn't be there. Can be as extreme as "I refuse to use Conviction because my character doesn't randomly glow".
Playstyles/Dynamics Focused
When you create a character do you have a particular playstyle/dynamic in mind or are you willing to adapt to whatever the playstyle/dynamic becomes in pursuit of getting the appearance/performance you want? How it plays includes things like pacing ( a fast build with lots of decisions and button presses coming at you fast vs a more laid back spammy build that is "less thinky" ), offensive vs defensive, or even wanting a specific dynamic ( i.e. I want a rotation, or I want everything I do to cause a heal ).
Mechanical Strength Focused
Do you care about your build being "viable", which includes things like being able to reach a certain benchmark when playing a role ( meeting minimum dps requirements for dps checks, being able to tank cosmics, etc ) being able to solo endgame content/not have to rely on other players in group content. Or do you not care about that and you'll just play the toon in whatever content it ends up being able to do so long as you get the look/playstyle you want.
Care About High Scores
This is another category within the mechanical strength category. There are people who want a viable character, and then there are people who go beyond viable and want to make one of the strongest characters in the game that will get a top spot in any scoreboard they're on. This could even be relevant to your theme, as in "This is one of the strongest heroes in the world". On the poll the types that fall into this category are represented in parenthesis next to their "dont care about score" types. The poll only allows 10 choices so that's why I did it that way, so just choose that choice if you fall into either of those colors.
NOTE: When it says "being strong isn't important" that does not preclude a character becoming strong incidentally, or "by accident" as it were. It just means the character doesn't have to be strong, not that they won't be strong. I don't imagine anyone purposely sets out with the objective of making a weak character.
What kind of theme builder are you? 46 votes
Brown - My theme starts with how my character looks. The playstyle is determined by what powers fit the look I want, and being strong isn't important.
6%
3 votes
Pink - My theme comes from my build, or rather it is my build. I make a build, and then I think of a costume for it matching the costume to whatever power visuals/playstyle the build produces. Being creative with builds is what's important to me, not making strong builds.
4%
2 votes
Orange - First I make sure my character is strong by picking a strong combination of powers. How it plays is a result of that, and the costume will match up to whatever I needed to take to be strong. STRONG!
0%
Yellow - When I make a character I have both an appearance and how they play in mind, after all a character is both how they look and how they move.
13%
6 votes
Violet(Dark Green) - My theme starts with how my character looks, but my theme is always "powerful hero" so they need to be strong in the game. I don't care what the mechanics/playstyle of the character are so long as they make my hero as strong as they should be for their theme and match up to their appearance.
6%
3 votes
Purple(Light Green) - When I envision a character it involves how they look and how they play, and they're always strong heroes. The visuals and the playstyle and the power level must match up to my vision, otherwise my theme is not being fully expressed.
30%
14 votes
Dark Blue(Light Blue) - My theme starts with my build, and then I think of a costume to match the powers I've chosen. While being creative with builds is important to me, it's also important for my builds to be viable.
19%
9 votes
Rainbow - Any of my characters could be and have been any of these as I have no consistent approach to my characters.
8%
4 votes
Striped - I have 2 or 3 categories that fit me and I can't decide between them.
6%
3 votes
Gray - I never think about theme and my characters don't have themes.
4%
2 votes
Post edited by spinnytop on
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My super cool CC build and how to use it.
So yes, I think Pink is my color in the chart
This one is the closest for me on the diagram, but I would tweak the wording in the poll choice a little bit. They don't have to be "strong heroes", in fact most of my toons would probably be considered street-level. So, the concept isn't that they're super-powerful, but when I'm creating a character here I like for the build to be effective (solving riddles for the build is part of the fun). There are already crazy imbalances with powers*, so I don't really worry about 'how good' they are relative to other PCs or villains, just that they function well/efficiently.
*In CO-verse, Doctor Strange would get curb-stomped by Iron Fist, Electro would be one of the most powerful villains in the world, any hero with claws on his/her fingers would be unstoppable, and Hawkeye would be woefully overpowered by everyone else. Okay, that last one is appropriate, but a lot of the balance of CO powers is 'unrealistic', so to speak.
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I did it.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
On the poll, not sure I fit any of them exactly. My design paradigm is iterative:
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Block timing explained
The chart doesn't really support that.
You're a Purple.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
I then take a look over the powers and frameworks to see what powers a character like that might have. Take the example above of a vampire character. Such would have bite and/or claw attacks, possibly superspeed or flight of some kind, maybe even teleport (moving so fast they can't be seen, we can't port through walls so the power fits in that way), possibly some kind of mezz, etc. So figuring out the powers, the beastial framework has most of those or things that will pass for them so I go with that. Seeing that most of my powers are in one framework in this example will make synergy easy as the frameworks are designed to work internally fairly well (or they are supposed to - Ideally they would be able to work with any other powers regardless of framework but I'm not going to start that discussion here, I promise). I start narrowing down power choices and finding what buffs and such work best. If those buffs have a visual element, do they fit the theme? IF they don't, is there another that does? If there is no option for a decent buff or debuff that fits the theme, can I do without that for everything except endgame fights where it wouldn't be noticed anyway? Probably. Most of the main story levelling content is definitely doable with incomplete builds... it has to be since most builds aren't nearing completion until very late in the levelling process.
While choosing those powers, I try to take powers that operate the way I like to play. Click powers, maintains, etc. I tend to stay away from blast powers, though I realize they are some of the heaviest hitters in the game, it is too easy to ruin a charge if you need to block suddenly having only a partial charge or worse, if you miss a block and the power doesn't go off at all because you are knocked down, up, or back. When I press the button, I want something to happen. It's just the way I am. Ok, enough rabbit chasing. It's my preferred playstyle and the way I have fun and I am in a game for that purpose, to have fun.
Ok, so I have a theme and I have some powers and they fit my theme and work well together and, hopefully, fit my preferred playstyle. Now I start designing my appearance. Sometimes I tailor my appearance around what my powers do within the theme I picked at the start, sometimes the theme doesn't necessarily make sense to anyone but me so the powers may be incongruous with the theme. For instance, one patriot type character I have is called Belle Ringer and she uses arcane sorcery powers (if you are interested in how that makes sense, ask me somewhere else). Belle Ringer is dressed in a (heavily modified) colonial America type outfit. It fits the theme but makes little sense with the powers except inside my own head. (It's a scary place, you don't want to go there.)
The Forumite formerly known as Galeforce.
If you want my money, there is a fairly simple way to get it since I am fairly free with how I spend it. First, produce something I consider to be worth buying. Second, offer it up for sale. Don't lock it behind a gambling scam. If I want something, I am perfectly happy to pay for it. But I will not purchase a CHANCE to get it, When I pay money, I have a perfectly logical right to expect to get what I want.
You got poll trolled!
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
In the end, though, my interest is primarily whether I can make it look good, and whether the toon can do the things I wanted him/her/it to do. I try to tie them into the game lore whenever I can, too - Kilbern, for instance, is what's left of the Turakian Age god Kilbern Skyfather, who had been chief of the gods until he bound most of his power into his sword Auralia in order to defeat Takofanes and seal the Lich King's tomb, When Takofanes re-emerged, Kilbern, who had retired to a distant corner of Elysium, felt the reverbrations, and spent his remaining power fighting his way back to the material plane. Gods are powered by worship; there are no more members of Kilbern Skyfather's cult, so he seeks the modern equivalent, fame, in order to gain the power to defeat his ancient enemy once and for all.
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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My characters
After all, a lot can be said about a character by how they fight.
And I will always be @DZPlayer122.
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- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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Anywho, I start by making a costume and then go "kay, what powers go with this costume"
Then once I have the essential powers that the build must have for the theme covered I go "kay, how can I make the most out of this build with these powers" and start messing with specs, forms, passive in that order and then powers as a last option (example: my theme is a street fighter that uses chains so I build mostly around MA powerset, but Bladed Cyclone DPS is low, so instead I compromise and take Lascerating Cyclone for the added bleed DPS which also kinda works cause if you are getting whipped by a chain you will whip)
So far I've never ran into a scenario where I make a costume, attach a power theme to that costume and then can't figure out how to get high scores with it \o/ My motivation is not high score driven but I end up figuring a way to get it while sticking to my theme.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
For me, I enjoy the creative challenge of trying to balance theme and viability. It's easy enough to throw a mishmash of powers onto a toon for strength or looks, but there's a certain amount of pride that comes with putting thought and love into a character.
Well, the game tried the other way for many years and it produced obvious issues. Building was shallow and uninteresting, obvious imbalances led to building being an exercise in deciding how much you would sacrifice. If that had been allowed to continue when they started implementing the current endgame content it would have made the whole thing even worse with content needing to be balanced for a small grouping of ridiculously overpowered powers and largely shutting out anything else.
While it may seem counter-intuitive at first, eventually you realize that restrictions actually create more options and deeper choices. It used to be that you were really just deciding how your build looked because most powers were very samey and not mechanically distinct and had no real connections to one another, which was very shallow and not satisfying to people who wanted a deeper creative process involved in making their builds. By tying powers together in concrete ways you create a more diverse selection of pieces to build with - like instead of just having a bunch of legos that are all the same shape, you create legos that are different shapes which can make them a bit more difficult to work with because they don't all fit together in the same way but increases the number of things you can make with them.
There's also the idea that each framework should have its own unique identity, so that picking one framework or another isn't just a matter of picking visuals but also comes with certain mechanical implications. The more unique frameworks are from one another the more it feels like you're actually deciding to use a type of power, rather than just a type of visual. This identity then requires mechanics that work distinctly better with other powers of that framework, which also carries a bit of a story element where a character who focuses on one particular type of power gains greater mastery than someone who is more spread out.
So... short answer, no. It wasn't done just for the sake of doing it. It was done to fix long-standing issues and to make character building more interesting and meaningful.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
It's complicated, I would vote for all 3 of them also because I like Green and Blue
Always building to match my characters' theme, appearence, personality and background
Still building themed builds to this day but if the build is not variable with the current revamps, i Postpone it and wait for more revamps
Before I built FF characters with viable builds with using rampage Gravitar as reference for endgame
Now I use cosmics and TA as reference for endgame
That's a really nice Analytic Poll i have to say
I take this quote from a review that I agree with.
"customisation is so linear; everyone is after the optimal dps:survivability ratio with 0 reliance on other players = autonomous gameplay... Players don't need each other anymore... which in my opinion is a bad thing."
Going by the highlighted sections, I would say you're actually a Yellow, possibly a Brown? o3o
Thanks!
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
I take this quote from a review that I agree with.
"customisation is so linear; everyone is after the optimal dps:survivability ratio with 0 reliance on other players = autonomous gameplay... Players don't need each other anymore... which in my opinion is a bad thing."
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Used to be coach on the forums. Still @coach in game.
* Ice because water doesn't exist and lightning because wind is teh sux
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My characters
That being said, all my characters have to be able to solo most content. I'll give a great deal of leeway to AT's I have (silver player), but my FF characters have to be able to survive and emerge victorious...that may seem like power is my priority, but I don't see it that way; function trumps power in a lot of situations, in my opinion, though I won't skimp on power if I don't have to.
BTW--very interesting poll, Spinnytop.
There's times when I create new costumes/appearances for characters but then have no ideas for any unique builds (i.e. one outfit I created was a black and white cartoon wolf thing which would've whacked people with a big hammer. But unfortunately I have a ton of HW characters as is, so I didn't need another one.)