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Who here isn't a altaholic?

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  • xmyuikixxmyuikix Posts: 83 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    jonsills wrote: »
    Heck, I have characters with clashing backstories.

    Blackwing, for instance, used to be Spider-Bat's protege, until realizing the old man was completely nuts. Now he's out on his own, and while he won't ignore any hero who needs help, he certainly doesn't have Peter Wayne on his speed-dial or anything...

    I laughed louder than what I should of. :mad: Curse you Jonsills! *shakes fist* Curse you!
  • meedacthunistmeedacthunist Posts: 2,967 Arc User1
    edited December 2013
    I have two characters linked to Haywire, as he was initially an ingame nemesis to one of them. And is a creator of another one.

    Thing is, all these characters are at odds one with each other and are very unlikely to give any mutual help.

    There's little love in this "family".

    I don't like to have too many characters in my current play rotation, though. Because of RP.
    I don't like contributing to any RP story on a character who's only a secondary distraction for me. This character will not be able to give more of its time. It will be only a waste of attention that could be directed at someone's other primary character.

    I'm keeping secondary characters withdrawn from longer storylines as taking them into showlight just doesn't feel fair to me.
  • r9xchaosr9xchaos Posts: 532
    edited December 2013
    wrathsoul1 wrote: »
    Am I the only one who favors quality over quantity?

    well i have 6 chars.. 5 of them i created and leveled beofre we could have freeforms as silver users.. and now since i have freeform i only play her... lol
  • spinnytopspinnytop Posts: 16,467 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    I don't hate anyone for being an altaholic. I'm honestly glad they exist, because usually altaholics are more knowledgeable about powersets and builds than anyone else.

    Now, despite that? I dislike RPing with altaholics. I don't dislike them, I just dislike playing with them. Why?

    1- In many cases, the 'Altaholic roleplayer' has a collection of characters that all totally know one another and any one of them can call on another to deal with a specific problem. This is poor roleplaying, in my opinion- and it degrades the necessity for a character to build relationships with others by having a default prepackaged relationship with the main/alts- which really doesn't make them 'characters' to me as much as simply 'extensions of one character' or 'Deus Ex Machina'. I am also convinced that this happens as a reaction and these alts and their relationships (and sometimes, abilities, as you will see below) to another character are made up as needed.

    Example: My character is a cyborg, and clashed with a supernatural-themed character. Despite my insistence that I was fully capable of accepting a defeat in a standard battle as long as it was well-executed and within the scope of reason, this player decided to 'alt'. All of a sudden, I'm being forced to confront someone out of nowhere that just so happens to be a technopath willing to risk life and limb for a friend. It should also be noted this technopath was without any bio information and dressed in no way that made me think 'technopath'- it was just a cheap way for an unimaginative dolt to 'insta-win'.

    2- Too many Supergroups are just a small group of 3-5 players with countless alts padding the roster. These SG's quickly become an alt dump, and there is no way whatsoever to 'field the whole roster'.

    Example: I quit a SG once because I felt I had no place in it, simply because the other members had their entire alt roster shoved into it.

    3- It's too easy for roleplayers to metagame. I have a personal rule that none of my 3 characters I frequently use know one another, except in passing. There is no 'alliance' between them, just a small degree of recognition. Too many players will find it easy for their alt roster to all be on the same sheet of music and share knowledge- essentially making them all the same thing.

    Example: A player I knew once had a character that hated mine due to him losing a battle of wits. Every single character he has ever made has an amazingly absurd hate for my own, even those that have no reason to or have never even met him. On countless times have I noticed that all his characters know the same amount of information regarding my character, despite that being impossible by any means. Now, I avoid the player entirely.

    4- Too many obligations. It's unfair to me to commit a character to a mission, cause, relationship, or story and only give 10% of your time to the commitment. I'm not so rude as to demand 100% full time dedication- what I'm saying is that it becomes a problem when that person is trying to do something with 10 characters that most people can only do with one and the commitments are broken, blown off, or cheapened.

    Example: Someone once was a part of an older story I was involved with. We were continually having to hold off on progressing the story so that this player could play 'date night' with his RP lady-lover on an alt character or involve another character in another story. None of this was 'wrong', but he had chosen to commit himself to us, and it wasted our time because he threw us a D-string character just to have some association with us.

    5- Too many times the characters are just the same thing with a different face. Sadly, most people can't play multiple roles in the same setting. I can't do this very well. Nothing is more absurd to me than 10 of the same thing with the same values and personality (and usually the same body).

    Example: I know a player whose entire roster is a collection of obese women with the same personality. Also, they fart and belch. ALL OF THEM.

    You should have indicated in your OP that this is all about Roleplaying.

    Seriously, your OP was missing nearly all relevant information.
  • chaelkchaelk Posts: 7,746 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    I don't hate anyone for being an altaholic. I'm honestly glad they exist, because usually altaholics are more knowledgeable about powersets and builds than anyone else.

    Now, despite that? I dislike RPing with altaholics. I don't dislike them, I just dislike playing with them. Why?

    1- In many cases, the 'Altaholic roleplayer' has a collection of characters that all totally know one another and any one of them can call on another to deal with a specific problem. This is poor roleplaying, in my opinion- and it degrades the necessity for a character to build relationships with others by having a default prepackaged relationship with the main/alts- which really doesn't make them 'characters' to me as much as simply 'extensions of one character' or 'Deus Ex Machina'. I am also convinced that this happens as a reaction and these alts and their relationships (and sometimes, abilities, as you will see below) to another character are made up as needed.

    Example: My character is a cyborg, and clashed with a supernatural-themed character. Despite my insistence that I was fully capable of accepting a defeat in a standard battle as long as it was well-executed and within the scope of reason, this player decided to 'alt'. All of a sudden, I'm being forced to confront someone out of nowhere that just so happens to be a technopath willing to risk life and limb for a friend. It should also be noted this technopath was without any bio information and dressed in no way that made me think 'technopath'- it was just a cheap way for an unimaginative dolt to 'insta-win'.

    2- Too many Supergroups are just a small group of 3-5 players with countless alts padding the roster. These SG's quickly become an alt dump, and there is no way whatsoever to 'field the whole roster'.

    Example: I quit a SG once because I felt I had no place in it, simply because the other members had their entire alt roster shoved into it.

    3- It's too easy for roleplayers to metagame. I have a personal rule that none of my 3 characters I frequently use know one another, except in passing. There is no 'alliance' between them, just a small degree of recognition. Too many players will find it easy for their alt roster to all be on the same sheet of music and share knowledge- essentially making them all the same thing.

    Example: A player I knew once had a character that hated mine due to him losing a battle of wits. Every single character he has ever made has an amazingly absurd hate for my own, even those that have no reason to or have never even met him. On countless times have I noticed that all his characters know the same amount of information regarding my character, despite that being impossible by any means. Now, I avoid the player entirely.

    4- Too many obligations. It's unfair to me to commit a character to a mission, cause, relationship, or story and only give 10% of your time to the commitment. I'm not so rude as to demand 100% full time dedication- what I'm saying is that it becomes a problem when that person is trying to do something with 10 characters that most people can only do with one and the commitments are broken, blown off, or cheapened.

    Example: Someone once was a part of an older story I was involved with. We were continually having to hold off on progressing the story so that this player could play 'date night' with his RP lady-lover on an alt character or involve another character in another story. None of this was 'wrong', but he had chosen to commit himself to us, and it wasted our time because he threw us a D-string character just to have some association with us.

    5- Too many times the characters are just the same thing with a different face. Sadly, most people can't play multiple roles in the same setting. I can't do this very well. Nothing is more absurd to me than 10 of the same thing with the same values and personality (and usually the same body).

    Example: I know a player whose entire roster is a collection of obese women with the same personality. Also, they fart and belch. ALL OF THEM.

    part 1- agreed. In tabletop, unless that character has written in, they are allies. Thats just cheating.
    part 3- agreed. Thats not RP, thats poor loser.

    part 4-agreed- If its all in game. Mine is by mail due to time differences, so we can have several stories running at once.
    part 5- yes some people have that problem. I have some having raging arguments with each other and one who is currently trying NOT to get arrested by another one.
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  • jellycupsowbugjellycupsowbug Posts: 378 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    That stuff, above, is part of why I wouldn't even consider RP with most of my characters. When you add the fact that I make a lot of characters with backgrounds that I don't have much personal experience with, it's nearly impossible to do a good job.

    I already find immersion difficult when I'm online. That makes the necessary improvised acting for RP difficult, even when I have a character that I know.

    Sometimes someone will want me to RP one of those characters, and it's kind of hard to explain that I really don't know how.
  • kemmicalskemmicals Posts: 863 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    I'd be a big, fat liar if I said I didn't have a metric **** ton of alts.

    Personally, I only really have about three characters that know each other, mostly due to an agreement between two of them to act as a bodyguard to the third one. Every other character either doesn't know either of my characters or just doesn't like them and refuses to acknowledge or bring them up in conversation.
  • cybersoldier1981cybersoldier1981 Posts: 2,501 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    spinnytop wrote: »
    You should have indicated in your OP that this is all about Roleplaying.

    Seriously, your OP was missing nearly all relevant information.

    I thought it was painfully obvious. Especially after #1.

    (Seriously, like there's anything else to do in this game after 4 months)
  • chaelkchaelk Posts: 7,746 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    2 years and still levelling characters, ok weirdos. including were-do a wolf were
    Stuffing up Freeform builds since Mid 2011
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  • spinnytopspinnytop Posts: 16,467 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    I thought it was painfully obvious. Especially after #1.

    (Seriously, like there's anything else to do in this game after 4 months)

    You're not even the OP u3u wtf
  • jennymachxjennymachx Posts: 3,002 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    spinnytop wrote: »
    You're not even the OP u3u wtf

    What cybersoldier has posted is relevant to the OP's question from a roleplayer's perspective and topic at hand. Enough nitpicking just for the sake of nitpicking.
  • spinnytopspinnytop Posts: 16,467 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    jennymachx wrote: »
    What cybersoldier has posted is relevant to the OP's question from a roleplayer's perspective and topic at hand. Enough nitpicking just for the sake of nitpicking.

    The heck are you even responding to? All I said was that cybersoldier isn't the OP... try reading previous posts related to that one to gain some perspective, and you would realize it has nothing to do with claiming that his post isn't relevant. After all, if a post not being made by the OP means that it's not releveant, that would mean the majority of posts in a thread, even those on topic, aren't relevant... how does that even make sense to you? u_U
  • jennymachxjennymachx Posts: 3,002 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    spinnytop wrote: »
    The heck are you even responding to? All I said was that cybersoldier isn't the OP... try reading previous posts related to that one to gain some perspective, and you would realize it has nothing to do with claiming that his post isn't relevant. After all, if a post not being made by the OP means that it's not releveant, that would mean the majority of posts in a thread, even those on topic, aren't relevant... how does that even make sense to you? u_U

    Going to address what he said here:
    I thought it was painfully obvious. Especially after #1.

    Correct me if I'm wrong but you came to the conclusion that the "#1" in his post is refering to the OP in the thread and not his OP, hence your "you're not the OP" comment.

    Anyway forget what I said. Some misunderstanding involved on my part.
  • decorumfriendsdecorumfriends Posts: 2,811 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    All my characters have pretty filled out backstories. That's part of creating them (although a lot of it isn't written down, it's all in my head). And they're all connected, at least through The Conclave, a "non-superteam" in the style of Marvel's Defenders that acts as a clearinghouse for help and information for those who would rather avoid the more...ahem..."official" super-hero types. Many know each other outside of that, and often figure in each other's origins. For example, Adam Arcane figures in High Wire's origin, while High Wire figures in Stinger's origin (they have a Booster Gold/Blue Beetle type of buddy relationship). Neon created The Morrigan's costume and armory, while Neon met and gets aid/mentoring from Professor Kilimanjaro for his moonbase. Super-hero comics are often a big web, and since I'm emulating the comics more than the games, it's a fun game for me to play.
    'Dec out

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  • avianosavianos Posts: 6,200 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    Except of Creativity and Imagination
    , it also the fact that I LOVE playing with Different Fighting Styles

    So far with my FreeForm toons, I have enjoyed playing with
    Range TK-Blades
    Melee TK-Blades
    Wind and Electricity
    Might and Earth
    Unarmed Martial Arts (Both Hands and Feet-themed)
    Gadgeteering
    Single Blade with Bleed mechanic
    ICE powerframe to it's finest
    Power armor and Sonic Based Damage powers (Thanks to thebuckeye Sonic Build which is AWESOME and Fun to Play! :biggrin: )
    Bestial Supernatural & Infernal in my 2 latest characters with a Touch of Support-Debuff and Tank-DPS

    Sure I could have only one character with a Cookie Cutter OP FF Build (See Two-Gun Mojo, AoPM, Ebon Ruin, Strafing Run and Ascension builds with the Psedo Gun-Fu Magicians with Dark powers who apparently can call Air Strike with Angelic powers... :rolleyes: I think I just made a theme character that fits this Build! :eek:)

    (Speaking of Two-Gun Mojo, I need to remake my Specialist into FF Gunslinger one day)

    But that would be No fun for me, I want to have Variety on my characters :/

    If I was GOLD with the Luxury to make as many characters as I can... I would be Doomed ._.
    POWERFRAME REVAMPS, NEW POWERS and BUG FIXES > Recycled Content and Events and even costumes at this point Introvert guy who use CO to make his characters playable and get experimental with Viable FF Theme builds! Running out of Unique FF builds due to the lack of updates and synergies! Playing since 1 February 2011 128 + Characters (21 ATs, 107 FFs) ALTitis for Life!
  • biffsmackwellbiffsmackwell Posts: 4,743 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    Well I'm going to enjoy my 80 Christmas gifts per day...
  • chaelkchaelk Posts: 7,746 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    just levelled fire and guns, then started on ice/fire/lightning
    now doing bestial

    so what was the question?
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  • crosschancrosschan Posts: 921 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    As yet another exception to both wrathsoul and cybersoldier's points I thought I might weigh in for a momment.

    Ello, I'm Cross, and I'm an altaholic. Almost every one of my toons has a bio(some have more on txt files and such not on display ingame). The only thing I am actually guilty of is that I have never gotten around to properly formatting my toon bios(it's alot of work, I'll get to it eventually).

    The exceptions to this rule are 2 mule characters who had conepts but the game changed to kind of eliminate them(in my eyes), Contestant X(whose sole purpose is CCs), and Manacle whose build was pretty much destroyed during the Supernatural Pass and has been living in PH V2 all this time(perhaps she will leave someday).

    Almost all of my toons are in the same SG and are employed by said SG(for hire hero team). I only ever "alt" in RP when it would be amusing to use a different character or if I am requested to do so for a particular storyline. I detest godmoding in any form and have resorted to "RP Duels"(where the loser is deleted or dead in RP) on a few occasions.

    As for "Same old Same old Toon Syndrome"....well, he's a taste of what I run with...

    -Crosschan: Gun-toting, foul-mouthed dwarf raised in a far off land. In a battle with a power sorcerer she was plunged into a portal. She had always thought that the portal merely dumped her in this world of Champions but further evidence has shown that Cross was split into many "fragments" and each one ended up in different worlds, times, and at different ages. This cause Crosschan(Prime) to often have sleepless nights and bizarre dreams...which she often writes off as simply drinking too much.

    -Crosschan(NW): Washed up on the shores of The Dragon Isle, Crosschan has very little memories of her life before that momment. She still remembers how to fight and has bizarre dreams about a seemingly distant life where that seems familiar to her yet is obviously not of the world she lives in so she usually dismisses them as merely dreams. She does, however, have a distrust of most magic users for reasons she cannot properly express.

    -Crosschan(STO): A Romulan who, according to most of the fragmented records of that time, did not exist before the destruction of her settlement. One day she simply existed. Though she, herself, has very little memories of her own aside from strange dreams of another life which she cannot quite piece together, she has put this aside and risen to command of a ship in the Romulan/Federation Alliance. Although it nags her somewhat, she is confident that a time and place will come for the confrontation of her mysterious past.

    -Marionette: The Marionette V7 is a seventh generation government project to both control and harness the abilities of telepaths. It's combination of child resources, cybernetics, brainwashing, and drug regimes create the perfect killing machines with unimaginable power. For whatever reason this model has been sighted performing various heroic actions. Whether it is aware of it's actions or it's controller has a soft spot remains to be seen. This might just be part of the testing phase...

    -Short Bus: You know the story of the ultimate robotic weapon that is unrivaled in power and stands as a technological marvel? Yeah, this is the other prototype that didn't pass the tests with flying colors and, after the death of his family and theft of his "superior" brother seeks to find his place in the world.

    -Clockwork Archer: Created in the early 1900's as part of a traveling exhibit of heroes from various times by the genius Dr. Gerrard, the Robin Hood was 1st in a series of projects to make the doctor's creations perform better by giving them artificial sentience. Eventually the good doctor would succumb to time and his show would be put into storage. In 2009, a random falling box started the gears turning again. Calling himself Clockwork Archer, an old hero fights for a new world.

    -Vitae Fortia: There are things in this world which science cannot explain. Cosmic forces which tie everyone and everything together. What would happen, then, if those forces were to somehow manifest themselves into a being? An entity who, by increasing the very life energies of the universe, could maintain itself as a sentient construct? A living breathing piece of the very life force of the universe. How would it interact in our world? What could we learn from it? What would it learn from us?

    -Tempest: Mirko Gudonov was a prominent Russian dancer on the fast track to international stardom until a car accident ended his career. This, however, would not be the end of his service to the motherland. Using state of the art cybernetics, Mirko's body was reconstructed. As Tempest he serves as the motherland's posterboy for Russian Heroes.

    -Stormsong: Svaha Stormsong never thought the stories her grandfather told her were much more than stories. All of that changed on her 16th birthday. It was then that Svaha learned that she had been chosen as The Avatar of The Ani Yun Tikwalaski to be both a defender of the Tsalagi(Cherokee) and Mother Earth itself. To aid her in this daunting task Svaha has been granted the powers of the storms themselves and the spirits which guide her. Tech savy and ancient wisdom guide her on this quest.

    -Black Watch: Colonel Sir Rory Ferguson was the portrait of a soldier. Even as a small child all he wanted to do was to serve his country(Scotland) to the best of his abilities. On his final mission in WW2 his unit was among the 1st to cross the Rhine into Germany. On that day it was said that he fought like a demon from Hell itself...and then things got all fuzzy. When he awoke he found his surroundings unfamiliar to him. Later he would discover that he had somehow come forward in time to the year 2010 and was in America of all places. After an update to his ordnance he set out on a mission to discover what had happened to him.

    -Steel Dragon: Kaede Yamora was just your normal university student. On a field trip into the mountains she fell through a sinkhole into an underground cavern and discovered a strange ship that had, seemingly, been there for decades. Upon further exploration, she found a room with 4 bands and a belt. When she touched them they attached themselves to her body and granted her amazing agility as well as other powers. From that day forward she fought crime as Steel Dragon.

    -Godai: Famous Japanese scientist, Dr. Ito Hitori, created many things in his career. His greatest accomplishment was an attempt to merge the elements themselves and create the perfect being able to harness Fire, Wind, Ice, Earth, and Lightning. Suffering from a bit of a God Complex, he compulsively pushed himself to his very limits and beyond in the chasing of this dream. On one stormy night he succeeded. It was on that night that Godai was created. Ito raised the infant as his own and kept the secret from all others. Ito and his newly "adopted" son, Hiro, lived a normal life until one random night when street thugs attempted to rob them and Ito was injured. It was at that time that Hiro learned of his abilities as they all awakened simultaniously. This both annihilated the thugs....and everything in a 2 block radius. Grief stricken by his actions he ran home, gathered his father's notes, and ran away to America in search of people like himself from which to learn both how to control his awesome powers and not harm innocents anymore. His journey lead him to Milenium City.

    Ok, that's just some of them I thought I would share. Until next time. ;)

    Note: A few of the bios here would make some people think "godmoder" but that's where the right set of "merits and flaws" come into place to make them not godmoders...they're just kinda strong in combat is all. ;)
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  • jonsillsjonsills Posts: 6,334 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    Crosschan is a "gun-toting, foul-mouthed dwarf"? I'm surprise the STO version didn't end up as a Tellarite tac officer... :smile:
    "Science teaches us to expect -- demand -- more than just eerie mysteries. What use is a puzzle that can't be solved? Patience is fine, but I'm not going to stop asking the universe to make sense!"

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  • crosschancrosschan Posts: 921 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    Romulan were new, I liked them, they're not as hideous as Tellarite...and they came with the hair cut. :biggrin:

    I am kinda sad the short wasn't short enough but then I usually find myself disapointed with the creator/tailor in STO. <shrugs>
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  • borg10f9borg10f9 Posts: 116 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    I am of the mindset that having only 1 toon would artificially limit myself. I spent the money, one of the benefits is getting more characters. I use the heck out of that!

    I enjoy creating new characters, new bios, new costumes. I enjoy it enough that I've got over 40 now, each complete with 12 costumes and a bio. I can't imagine if I had only one after almost 3 years... I'm pretty sure that I'd have quit by now. Not enough to do with a single character for years.

    But to those who do, congrats! You've got a focus I lack.
  • joybuzzerxjoybuzzerx Posts: 882 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    avianos wrote: »
    I will never understand people who went LifeTimers but only play with 1 character... only 1... they have the power to create as many characters as they want but they play only as 1 :eek:

    I'm Silver and I STRUGGLE to make More of my characters ingame! :rolleyes: (currently playing with 21) I want to play as a LEGION of characters

    I have lost the ability to have a Main character anymore

    Well, LTS at day one was just a good idea. :p

    I have my one main who gets retconned through powers (generally all within the same concept, but it is a bit of a flexible concept).

    While I have a few I play around with, generally, I make a character for a concept, get to 40 then go back to my main.

    I like leveling up and don't find CO's end game to be all that.
  • flowcytoflowcyto Posts: 12,859 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    About the only cases where having less characters is even remotely related to any perceived "quality" are character story oriented RP and PvP, indeed.
    Developing RP character takes some time, events and interaction. Too many active RP toons can dilute.
    People playing PvP are optimising their build and gear. It also takes time.

    In any other case, having more characters, especially freeforms, is only for the best. You can test and tweak more builds and concepts.

    Quantity and quality aren't very related in CO.

    Pretty much this. I don't RP or PvP, and in other games like WoW I typically invested in 1-2 mains 80-90% of the time due to raiding. But CO:
    1. lacks the content and gearing commitment of that level for me to justify that amount of focus
    2. has one of the best (if not the best) character creation options of any MMO- part of CO's PvE draw isn't content, but fiddling w/ the vast creation options and seeing what happens- like a kid going to a drink fountain and mixing diff flavors
    3. puts a very steep price on re-training if you just want to use a few characters to try out diff builds- its just too costly and impractical. And..
    4. I spent good money to unlock limitless character slots; I mine as well use some of that money ><
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  • zedbrightlander1zedbrightlander1 Posts: 3,811 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    I favor quality combined with quantity. They are not mutually exclusive concepts, especially in this game.

    If you have any doubts that it's possible then just check out Kenpo's creations at his - Freeform Builds Directory.

    As for me, once I noticed that I still had not leveled a single hero to 40th level after playing the game for nearly two years, I dedicated myself to getting all five of my heroes there. It took me a while, but once I did that, I promised myself that, from now on, I'd try to limit myself to only two new heroes/builds at a time.

    That said, I like to experiment in the Character Creator, and probably have enough for 40 or 50 heroes and ideas for a hundred more, but I expect to create them about two at a time.

    All of that said, I sure that there is room in this game for both kinds of players. Some want a single, perfect hero that suits all of their ideas of what a hero should be like and others want many heroes for their many heroic moods.

    As my old man used to say, "It takes all kinds of people to make this world and to keep it interesting." :smile:
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  • spinnytopspinnytop Posts: 16,467 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    If you have any doubts that it's possible then just check out Kenpo's creations at his - Freeform Builds Directory.

    That's a bad example. Kenpo makes lots of builds sure... but he doesn't actually make lots of good builds.
  • stergasterga Posts: 2,353 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    Well I'm going to enjoy my 80 Christmas gifts per day...

    Didn't know you liked socks so much.


    When I start a new game, I normally try out everything. Which leads to a bunch of alts. After that, I settle on a character as a main. I don't see how only having a few or a ton of alts is an indication of quality or not as that isn't how I play games like CO.

    I consider Sterga my main because I love how her character turned out. But she doesn't have a very strong power theme. It's very loosely a stab and shoot build. And I've respec'd her SO many times. I love to experiment. In CO's case, that's mostly with costumes since the power creativity is greatly lacking.

    From my point of view, a ton of alts is how I end up with quality.
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  • towershield#4714 towershield Posts: 1,232 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    spinnytop wrote: »
    That's a bad example. Kenpo makes lots of builds sure... but he doesn't actually make lots of good builds.

    Subjective to the max. What qualifies as a "good" build to some may be a garbage build to someone else and vice versa. Were you gonna follow up this statement with examples to illustrate how these builds just don't measure up? Or is this just the same old routine of pointless and unwarranted snark?

    There are a lot of theme builds in there and I know that sort of thing really doesn't appeal to certain crowds, but theme doesn't automatically mean it's "not good". I've yet to come across a Kenpo-authored build that offered subpar performance in their tailored area of focus, including the theme builds.
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  • meedacthunistmeedacthunist Posts: 2,967 Arc User1
    edited December 2013
    spinnytop wrote: »
    That's a bad example. Kenpo makes lots of builds sure... but he doesn't actually make lots of good builds.

    If you consider nothing else than FoTM build good, then maybe you are right.

    For me FoTM's are a rubbish.
    If I have to play with mandatory-because-the-best powers only, I may play ATs as well. Because in the end it boils to the copypasted Frankenstein character with no identity and no fun to play for me. It's nearly as restricted as ATs, minus ATs much worse performance.

    I'd rather stick with theme builds, thank you very much.
  • kenpojujitsu3kenpojujitsu3 Posts: 1,325 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    spinnytop wrote: »
    That's a bad example. Kenpo makes lots of builds sure... but he doesn't actually make lots of good builds.

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  • purin1purin1 Posts: 433 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    If you consider nothing else than FoTM build good, then maybe you are right.

    For me FoTM's are a rubbish.
    If I have to play with mandatory-because-the-best powers only, I may play ATs as well. Because in the end it boils to the copypasted Frankenstein character with no identity and no fun to play for me. It's nearly as restricted as ATs, minus ATs much worse performance.

    I'd rather stick with theme builds, thank you very much.

    Foxi and FotM builds... don't make me laugh.
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  • biffsmackwellbiffsmackwell Posts: 4,743 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    sterga wrote: »
    Didn't know you liked socks so much./QUOTE]

    Trying to get that steampunk jet pack thing, yo.

    Also lots of permanent snowballs!
  • zedbrightlander1zedbrightlander1 Posts: 3,811 Arc User
    edited December 2013
    spinnytop wrote: »
    That's a bad example. Kenpo makes lots of builds sure... but he doesn't actually make lots of good builds.

    Well, all I can say is that the builds I've used, that Ken has created, seem well balanced and sturdy for MY purposes. YMMV

    THIS is still a Rubiks Cube to me, but I'm slowly getting it.
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  • wimpazoidwimpazoid Posts: 456 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    I'm an altaholoic too. For me, the biggest appeal of this game is the ability to create concepts, costumes and builds. They don't always follow that order, sometimes a costume idea may come first to me, or an idea for a build pops in my head.

    I'm more biased towards melee so I primarily play melee toons, and I try to avoid overused powers when I can and to keep in theme. Despite having more than enough distinctive alts, I do not think my toons suffer quality wise to lower gameplay experience.
  • tfavsb10tfavsb10 Posts: 306 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    avianos wrote: »
    I will never understand people who went LifeTimers but only play with 1 character... only 1... they have the power to create as many characters as they want but they play only as 1 :eek:

    I'm Silver and I STRUGGLE to make More of my characters ingame! :rolleyes: (currently playing with 21) I want to play as a LEGION of characters

    I have lost the ability to have a Main character anymore

    I'm such an altaholic I have 5 other silver accounts following around my gold lifetimers.
  • gurugeorgegurugeorge Posts: 421 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    I'm sort of inbetween, partly an altoholic, partly someone who likes to stick to a "main" for a while. I have a page and a half of toons, with several 40s and a sprinkling of other various levels, a varied mix of powersets.

    (As an aside: to me, this game's primary virtue is the ability to create a cornucopia of characters from your imagination, and it's a wonderful thing. But sadly, most gamers don't seem to like this kind of possibility, or don't seem to want to take advantage of it, and seem to prefer to play clones of characters invented by other people - I think it weren't so, this game (and CoH before it) would have been much bigger. I wish it weren't so, and that these types of games were more popular, but it seems to be so. Or maybe it's just that ultimately the gameplay just isn't good enough, and someone will one day invent a superhero game with similar free possibilities, but better gameplay, and it will be a smash hit?)

    I dunno, it's an odd thing, you can't always predict what toon you'll "fall in love" with. There has to be a synergy between the significance of the powerset relative to the meaning of the character, and the actual gameplay feel of it.

    I mean, I've often invented characters whose bio I adore and am proud of, and the powersets fit beautifully, but somehow they just don't click gameplay-wise, and languish. On the other hand, sometimes I might invent something on a whim, without much initial care, and somehow I get right into it, and later flesh the bio out once I've played it for a bit and gotten a feel for it.

    In effect, what this means, I think, is that you can't really effectively get deep into the game (in terms of its primary virtue of alt buildability) and build alts all of which will be personal "hits" (and therefore high quality as well as high quantity) until you've gotten fairly extensive experience with lots of combinations of powers and powersets, only then will you have an intuitive understanding when you design and start a character, of whether it will "work" both as a concept and as a playable thing.

    I guess the "quality" thing comes in two aspects - quality relative to RP and quality relative to min-max, build, gear, etc. RP has been discussed. Re. the gear side, I think for most gamers, the gear thing will be the deciding factor, because in games with a giant endgame grind, to make a toon the best it could possibly be requires a huge time investment, and there just isn't time enough in the world to lavish as much time on all one's toons, so someone who wants to make a toon the best it could possibly be will be more or less forced to stick to one or two toons.

    I think if CO had more of a gigantic hamster wheel timesink for an endgame, as is standard in most MMOs, you'd see a lot more people sticking to one or two toons and polishing them to absolute perfection. (Once again, the main problem with CO IMHO, it's just too damn short and too damn small - there's simply not enough of it, and never has been, and that's been the main cause of its relative failure; there's not enough meat on the bone for most gamers, so those of us who stick with it are perforce mostly those of us who love the feature of being able to build things from imagination.) Of course some people would still have or find enough time to complete lots of toons in this way, but a bigger gear timesink would certainly "sort out the men from the boys" :)

    Rambling now. Good question (although put in an odd sort of way).
  • jerax1011jerax1011 Posts: 974 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    Where I lack in characters I make up for in costume slots :P Bunni has 152 and any other character I make get 84 as a base due to the shared costume slots I've purchased. So there's different ways to share your creativity. I really enjoy taking a themed character and then making looks under that character's restrictions, and I'll take that over making endless builds any day. To each their own I say!!
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  • chaelkchaelk Posts: 7,746 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    gurugeorge wrote: »
    I'm sort of inbetween, partly an altoholic, partly someone who likes to stick to a "main" for a while. I have a page and a half of toons, with several 40s and a sprinkling of other various levels, a varied mix of powersets.

    *snip*

    I think if CO had more of a gigantic hamster wheel timesink for an endgame, as is standard in most MMOs, you'd see a lot more people sticking to one or two toons and polishing them to absolute perfection. (Once again, the main problem with CO IMHO, it's just too damn short and too damn small - there's simply not enough of it, and never has been, and that's been the main cause of its relative failure; there's not enough meat on the bone for most gamers, so those of us who stick with it are perforce mostly those of us who love the feature of being able to build things from imagination.) Of course some people would still have or find enough time to complete lots of toons in this way, but a bigger gear timesink would certainly "sort out the men from the boys" :)

    Rambling now. Good question (although put in an odd sort of way).

    and the rest completely ignoring the grind, as a boring, time waster.
    Yes I've played in those types of games, I did the grind once, well the first one once. then thought "stuff this for a joke" and created a new character. I have more fun trying things out and levelling.
    gear grinds I translate as masochistic boredom machines.
    and since I don't come under man or boy. I'm excused. :tongue:
    I'm a repeat offender on gold and LTS.


    and are all you offenders listed on the alt-aholics thread, under General gameplay, only need 4 level 40's to get listed.
    if you think you are bad, check out the list of how many 40's people have. Mind you, some of them use levelling builds.
    Stuffing up Freeform builds since Mid 2011
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  • decorumfriendsdecorumfriends Posts: 2,811 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    gurugeorge sees something I've noticed:

    (As an aside: to me, this game's primary virtue is the ability to create a cornucopia of characters from your imagination, and it's a wonderful thing. But sadly, most gamers don't seem to like this kind of possibility, or don't seem to want to take advantage of it, and seem to prefer to play clones of characters invented by other people - I think it weren't so, this game (and CoH before it) would have been much bigger.

    This genre in particular seems to have a big divide in the attitudes of "gamers" and "genre fans" (aka super-hero geeks).
    'Dec out

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  • towershield#4714 towershield Posts: 1,232 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    This genre in particular seems to have a big divide in the attitudes of "gamers" and "genre fans" (aka super-hero geeks).

    I don't think "gamer" is the right term here. You can be both a gamer and a super-hero geek.
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  • stergasterga Posts: 2,353 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    gurugeorge wrote: »
    (As an aside: to me, this game's primary virtue is the ability to create a cornucopia of characters from your imagination, and it's a wonderful thing. But sadly, most gamers don't seem to like this kind of possibility, or don't seem to want to take advantage of it, and seem to prefer to play clones of characters invented by other people - I think it weren't so, this game (and CoH before it) would have been much bigger. I wish it weren't so, and that these types of games were more popular, but it seems to be so. Or maybe it's just that ultimately the gameplay just isn't good enough, and someone will one day invent a superhero game with similar free possibilities, but better gameplay, and it will be a smash hit?)

    People love to go hog wild with their characters in other games. CO was not made very well and still isn't. Combat is boring. Enemies are inconsistent and break rules. Bosses are changed just to be immune to certain powers. Powers aren't balanced. Players aren't balanced. Alerts tend to have weird lag. Especially Gravitar. Controls are not polished. Lack of focus.

    I also disagree with CO being too short or too small as the main problem. Having a fantastic combat system and really focusing on customization would go a long way. The paper doll maker is awesome and I know some people live in the theater, but the rest of the game needs to work on that. There isn't much depth to building. Or the nemesis system. Or hideouts. Even vehicles have almost no customization. You can't even give them a paint job.

    Gear grinding doesn't make people give a crap about a game. CO doesn't need to be other games, but it does need to figure out what it wants to be.
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  • jennymachxjennymachx Posts: 3,002 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    sterga wrote: »
    People love to go hog wild with their characters in other games. CO was not made very well and still isn't. Combat is boring. Enemies are inconsistent and break rules. Bosses are changed just to be immune to certain powers. Powers aren't balanced. Players aren't balanced. Alerts tend to have weird lag. Especially Gravitar. Controls are not polished. Lack of focus.

    As compared to CoX's slow-paced waiting-for-that-power-to-finish-recharging-followed-by-another type of combat, DCUO's clunky combo system, or a couple of other similar examples of MMO combat systems, I highly disagree with the bolded part.
  • reiwulfreiwulf Posts: 442 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    I'm sorry vut DCUO's battle system is greatly better that we have here. It's much moire active and versatile.
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  • jennymachxjennymachx Posts: 3,002 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    reiwulf wrote: »
    I'm sorry vut DCUO's battle system is greatly better that we have here. It's much moire active and versatile.

    If what you mean by "more active and versatile" equals being locked in a draggy combo animation until it completes before I can move freely again, no thanks. It was enough to put me off the game completely, and just at the tutorial too.
  • grazerrgrazerr Posts: 19 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    I currently play 15 toons. All of them are very different. Yes I am gold. I am a huge fan of concept toons. From the way they look to their very specific powers. I love seeing what I can do in many ways (not just damage) with powers and the synergy they have with one another.

    So each one does a specific thing. I am a huge fan of support toons. And in this game, they are very hard to make work. But I have had some success with some.
  • grazerrgrazerr Posts: 19 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    Also with the nemesis system. Granted it could use alot of work, I do use it to my advantage to tie in with my hero.

    Example:

    My hero "Captain Viagara". His nemesis is "General Cialis".

    Makes for great fun on a Nemcon.

    Oh but I forgot. No actually runs Nemcon's anymore. Just speed runs for "Q".

    Man I miss the days when people would actually run them through. And fight the mobs. And have fun.
  • zedbrightlander1zedbrightlander1 Posts: 3,811 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    sterga wrote: »
    CO doesn't need to be other games, but it does need to figure out what it wants to be.

    It's an interesting bit of philosophy. Kind of works for people, with a tiny tweak.

    You don't need to be other people, but you do need to figure out who you want to be.

    Fantastic! :smile:

    Pardon my aside. :redface:
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  • decorumfriendsdecorumfriends Posts: 2,811 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    shieldtower picks a nit:

    I don't think "gamer" is the right term here. You can be both a gamer and a super-hero geek.

    Well, of course you can. I'm just saying the attitudes are further apart than, say, your standard sword and shield fantasy game. Because of the diversity of the genre, you're going to have more people interested in the "non-gameplay" functions of the game.
    'Dec out

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  • reiwulfreiwulf Posts: 442 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    jennymachx wrote: »
    If what you mean by "more active and versatile" equals being locked in a draggy combo animation until it completes before I can move freely again, no thanks. It was enough to put me off the game completely, and just at the tutorial too.
    Well, maybe you prefer to stand around pressing the same button over and over again in this game, but I prefer more varied attacks, where you have powers, weapon skills, weapon combos, and movement skills.
    CO has many things in its favor, but combat isn't one of its strongest points, definitely.
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  • spinnytopspinnytop Posts: 16,467 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    jennymachx wrote: »
    As compared to CoX's slow-paced waiting-for-that-power-to-finish-recharging-followed-by-another type of combat, DCUO's clunky combo system, or a couple of other similar examples of MMO combat systems, I highly disagree with the bolded part.

    What Sterga means is that while the combat mechanics in CO are freakin' awesone... the actual combat you get into with them is lame and boring.



    It's like someone gives you an awesome power armor suit that can shoot hundreds of missiles and has a lazer sword and super sonic jet boots and explosions and razzles and dazzles and dings and dangs and all the coolest hyperspeed anime super fight stuff you could imagine! ....and then they tell you to go mess up some target dummies for a few hours.

    ^ That pretty much sums up combat in CO.

    This genre in particular seems to have a big divide in the attitudes of "gamers" and "genre fans" (aka super-hero geeks).

    True. But don't forget that many of us are both :3

    Well, all I can say is that the builds I've used, that Ken has created, seem well balanced and sturdy for MY purposes. YMMV

    THIS is still a Rubiks Cube to me, but I'm slowly getting it.

    I've never used any of Ken's builds... because I don't let other people make my builds because that wouldn't work for MY purposes /2cool
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    If you consider nothing else than FoTM build good, then maybe you are right.

    For me FoTM's are a rubbish.
    If I have to play with mandatory-because-the-best powers only, I may play ATs as well. Because in the end it boils to the copypasted Frankenstein character with no identity and no fun to play for me. It's nearly as restricted as ATs, minus ATs much worse performance.

    I'd rather stick with theme builds, thank you very much.

    I only play theme builds. Who told you I only like FoTM builds? They lie 2 u.
    Subjective to the max. What qualifies as a "good" build to some may be a garbage build to someone else and vice versa. Were you gonna follow up this statement with examples to illustrate how these builds just don't measure up? Or is this just the same old routine of pointless and unwarranted snark?

    Why do I have to follow it up with anything? To prove to you that I'm allowed to have an opinion? Lemme guess, you think Kenpo making good builds is a fact and that anyone who wants to say otherwise better have facts to back it up or you're gonna give them what for!

    I don't see you producing a spread sheet that proves he's a good builder. Hell I don't think I've ever even seen Kenpo himself try to claim he's some great builder... in fact I think I've seen him quite humbly state the opposite a few times. Where's your follow up?
    There are a lot of theme builds in there and I know that sort of thing really doesn't appeal to certain crowds, but theme doesn't automatically mean it's "not good". I've yet to come across a Kenpo-authored build that offered subpar performance in their tailored area of focus, including the theme builds.

    I only play theme builds, so not sure what crowd you're reffering to.




    Since when does Kenpo = Theme Builds, and Not Impressed With Kenpo = FoTM Only?
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