You have 14 "toons" and complain about getting burnt out....

archer01

I have to say that while in my opinion, too much repetition is an issue in this game, I am simply baffled by people who say they have 8, 10, 14 or how ever many characters and then complain that the game has burnt them out. All I can think is, "no TRIBBLE..."

joc

Do not complain about no-lifers, they TRIBBLE pay for your right to grind.

fovrel

The game has made a turn arround. Before DR it was very easy to get a character at level cap, 50. After that you could polish it with ship, gear etc. at your own pace. It was all doyable. That is no longer the case. I am own of those players that have multiple characters. 20, with 4 queued to be deleted. So my goal is 16. Probably non of those will ever get a specialization maxed out, Some of them will not have all the reputations done. I can live with that, but it looks like the game can't. At some point I will have characters that are not fit for all the content, which makes them B characters, you will tend to play them less and less.

Why so many characters and how many should one have. I say, first it is up to the player, but 9 characters, each class, each faction, is defendable. You may say there is no point in having many characters, well what is the point in having to upgrade everything from time to time, to play exactly the same kind of content.

Right now I am playing GW II. A fun game and looking very good. However I am back in that same pattern to check my characters gear if it fits with the level of the character, just to beat mobs that are only named different and look different.

You are right though. There is no point in complaining about having to many characters. The problems that come with it are self-inflicted. The question is however, should a game be alt-friendly, why and how.

joc

> @fovrel said:
> That is no longer the case.
Exactly, it's all about the TRIBBLE moeny and the sooner you realize it the better you will be. Those TRIBBLE devs have to pay for their NvDia Geforece 950 GTX video cards, their toyota leads, the god damn pizzas, their damn new clothes. DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THEy'RE MAKING A LIVING OUT OF YOU?

joc

The sooner you realize that you can make them work to make them earn their living the better the STO community will be.

dalnar83

I have several toons, but always only play one. I know I'm missing dilithium each day, but on the other hand I do not feel like slave to the game and just do whatever I want, instead farming dil on each toon so I can process it.

But if someone has time to play 14 toons, well it's their time after all.

I always wondered why there is no account cap for dil processing (except character slot caps). But I do not want to give Cryptic crazy ideas

joc

You are still a slave dalnar83.

laferrari1

I have eight characters and STO isn't on my computer anymore. The "repetitive" content goes way beyond leveling alts. Add to them countless PvE queues you've grown to memorize word-by-word to the point you already know what's going to happen, a story that won't end and keeps getting milked even now, buy ships that many times cost more than a retail game and grind to buy things you don't need to make those PvE faster, in order to get the rewards to buy those things.

That's how I see it, and I feel sad for the few on my friend list that keep logging in in the hope of doing something: right, because 90% of it doesn't log in anymore after DR.

bobbydazlers

fovrel wrote: »

The game has made a turn arround. Before DR it was very easy to get a character at level cap, 50. After that you could polish it with ship, gear etc. at your own pace. It was all doyable. That is no longer the case. I am own of those players that have multiple characters. 20, with 4 queued to be deleted. So my goal is 16. Probably non of those will ever get a specialization maxed out, Some of them will not have all the reputations done. I can live with that, but it looks like the game can't. At some point I will have characters that are not fit for all the content, which makes them B characters, you will tend to play them less and less.

Why so many characters and how many should one have. I say, first it is up to the player, but 9 characters, each class, each faction, is defendable. You may say there is no point in having many characters, well what is the point in having to upgrade everything from time to time, to play exactly the same kind of content.

Right now I am playing GW II. A fun game and looking very good. However I am back in that same pattern to check my characters gear if it fits with the level of the character, just to beat mobs that are only named different and look different.

You are right though. There is no point in complaining about having to many characters. The problems that come with it are self-inflicted. The question is however, should a game be alt-friendly, why and how.

the point is as you say the game has changed but it up to us to change with it if we want to keep playing.
being alt friendly is fine to a point but you cant have it that character A will instantly have everything that character B has and vice versa or what is the point of having more then one character if they are all gonna have the same ships and the same weapons and the same stats just like cookie cutter gingerbread men and as specialization are now a part of the levelling process it would be as pointless to immediately grant any new character all the specialization without earning them for himself just as it would have been pointless to create a character and have him instantly elevated to level 50 before the change.

players need to play their alts smartly for example once a character is lv50 you don't have to play many of the latter missions if you don't want to or do the reputation or worry about levelling any higher and you certainly don't need to worry about specializations, you are free to do just about what ever you want to do that is available to you at lv50, if you want to do everything that is your choice don't complain its too much for you if you do.
there is plenty of game in sto for a lv50 character and so little in comparison that is only available at higher levels but at some point you will hit lv60 then the game is your oyster and you can play it all but you still do not have to bother about reputation and specialization if you think its too much.

at the end of the day specializations only add bonus traits and not one of them is essential.

aesica

I have about 8-10 (forgot exactly) "characters" at 50+, but in fairness, all but my delta recruit were there before Delta Rising drove a stake into my alts' collective heart. The character pictured in my display pic & signature is the only one I really play anymore. (Except during this CE event--it's quick, and who in their right mind would pass up the dilithium motherlode so many characters can bring in?)

Its' the only way I can play the game in its current state without getting burnt out, because I seriously can't even begin to imagine how awful it would be to upgrade the gear for so many "characters" to Mk XIV, grind out specialization points, etc. TRIBBLE that, I'm here for the Trek, not the treadmill.

sunfrancks

I have 2 mains with 3 alts, and I consider that too many for me.

Back in they day I had something like 30+ spread over 2 accounts...

taylor1701d

I have 2 mains, a PvP Sci, and PvE Tac
and 3 alts I "Doff" and run events with.

Truth is I have 6 other characters gathering dust. I don't know how people manage 10+ toons lol. That's dedication.

supergirl1611

It's good business for cryptic to make a alt supported game. No matter how many ships they release if you only play 1 character you can only fly 1 ship and are unlikely to spend £££ on multiple ships in the c-store. I have 15 characters and treat them all as mains and setup each one in a different ship. That's 15 ship sales there and more (fleet ships).
It's the levelling to 60 and the specialisation trees that make it unfriendly. Tbh thou once you've made it to 60 it becomes easier as spec trees are not mandatory to complete stfs so pace yourself.

dalolorn

One main character to run the FEs with, four other 50+ characters that have ran the last Mirror Invasion and are now about to finish this Crystalline Entity event (skipped the previous one due to the combined efforts of the Winter Wonderland's account-wide ship unlocks going haywire and the whole of Delta Rising), a Reman I started right around DR sitting in the mid-forties, and three Delta Recruits (one for each faction) gathering dust at levels 10 through 40.

Amusingly enough, the month or so prior to Delta Rising had me playing more actively than the following year...

burstorion

Having many alts is possible if you have a reason for them - if one makes a point to have different characters with different builds (like for ground play I have a full healer, debuffer, all out flamethrower user, close range combat specialist, insane bomber, ect while in space I have my 'wizard' sci, tank, rediculously fast torpedo bomber, drain specialist, dhc jockey, faw barrage ship, carrier command and my beloved jack of any trade bop, among others) you can keep the 'toons' fresh

Of course, with such numbers one can't waste resources on things such as lockbox ships, ect and the latest flashy new toy (unless its cheap) but thats why I like c-store/event ships and gear - buy/grind one and everyone gets it. The main point is though that as you are spreading your resources between mulitple characters, you have to be frugal and economic but in return you get to explore the game from multiple angles (plus alts let you accrue resources a heck of a lot faster, such as with the kdf discount commodities)

(Edit: I have 13 drones, sorry, 'toons' btw)​​

orangeitis

14 characters?!? That's insane!

dalnar83

Just out of curiousy, how many hours per day does it take "to manage" 14 toons ?

monkeybone13

I have 15 characters and enjoy them all. Playing on 1 character only would really burn me out. With 15 I always have stuff to do like work on reputations, complete all the story arcs, and uhh, stuff.

And holy cow the profanity filter on the forums is busted!

Stuff broke after the recent "Forum Maintenance" Pfffft! LoL

sennahcherib

i have 9 toons, before today i had 10. i have deleted a sci rom. yeah, there is too much grind, but like someone said you don't need to upgrade the gears for all your toons. personally i take my time for upgrading the gears and for grinding the spec points. but when sometimes, i'm really fed up by this game, i make a break at least 3 months.

I stopped to buy ships. 30$ for a virtual object, no thx, and the whole game doesn't worth this price. + my current ships are enough for doing ISA again and again

goodscotch

Lets face it...games like this are an unbelievable waste of time and money. Great fun on occasion, but an unbelievable waste of time and money. It's all expendable entertainment dollars. I have two characters...one is human Federation level 15 who I hardly ever use...and the other is a level 60 Klingon. And where the heck is the T6 K'tinga?! Sheesh!

I'm now at the point where...when I play...I'm on for maybe an hour or two. I only like to play advanced or better instances because regular are so easy I could sleep through them and come out shining like tiffany cufflinks.

STO reminds me of a Hartford Whalers team roster...it always looked like it had tremendous potential...but consistently underperformed. They have a game engine that can only do so much. The question is...will they ever break the mold so that it can do other things...or will they just keep coming out with a new instance or two every other season, a new storyline and a handful of new ships? Exploration sounds promising. But...what will that equate to in the game?

artan42

I have 6, three delta recruits and three others, I generally only play the 4 I have at 60, my last two DR are still stuck at 40ish and I really don't have much time or inclination to get them to 50 never mind 60.​​

burstorion

dalnar83 wrote: »

Just out of curiousy, how many hours per day does it take "to manage" 14 toons ?

Not that long... thanks to Cryptics fiddling of the doff system, theres no need to search for the juciest doff tasks so I position my ships on the border between two sectors and fill up on one sector then move to the other to fill the rest of the slots before reversing back - as to gameplay, I do what I like when I like on whom I like - Like yesterday I spent a large chunk of my time on sto flying my torpedo fleet norgh in borg stfs ( while my 14 drone cca runs have been about an hour and a half, possibly two, so thats manageable too, if gruelling)​​

duncanidaho11

fovrel wrote: »

The game has made a turn arround. Before DR it was very easy to get a character at level cap, 50. After that you could polish it with ship, gear etc. at your own pace. It was all doyable. That is no longer the case. I am own of those players that have multiple characters. 20, with 4 queued to be deleted. So my goal is 16. Probably non of those will ever get a specialization maxed out, Some of them will not have all the reputations done. I can live with that, but it looks like the game can't. At some point I will have characters that are not fit for all the content, which makes them B characters, you will tend to play them less and less.

Why so many characters and how many should one have. I say, first it is up to the player, but 9 characters, each class, each faction, is defendable. You may say there is no point in having many characters, well what is the point in having to upgrade everything from time to time, to play exactly the same kind of content.

Right now I am playing GW II. A fun game and looking very good. However I am back in that same pattern to check my characters gear if it fits with the level of the character, just to beat mobs that are only named different and look different.

You are right though. There is no point in complaining about having to many characters. The problems that come with it are self-inflicted. The question is however, should a game be alt-friendly, why and how.

I brought myself down to 4 (3, each faction and profession and one delta recruit).

I think the issue, if such there be one, is that the game's depth has increased dramatically. When I started (the F2P release) there were comparatively few ways you could spend your time over the long term. We had the borg STF's, STF gear vendors, mission up to the 2800 series, and a lot fewer abilities, traits, and equipment to choose from. It was easy to "complete" a character. Now though there's options for continuous development (see. design of specialization system, frequent addition of new gear, traits, abilities, new missions galore, good foundry missions, ect.) which make more playtime on a single character not only viable but more productive than spreading it out between N redundant alts (which might only get you characters on par with old STO, because you're still using that playstyle.)

That's great for those who either start up now or can adopt new playstyles, but for people applying the same old approach there's definitely a lot of potential for fatigue. But there's really nothing that can be done about that because, as you say, the problem is self inflicted. You could try changing the game to make things easier for alt-happy players but the problem there is that any change which benefits them will likely result in dragging the game back by some distance to it's older, more rudimentary, condition (with limited objective benefits, if any).

Honestly, what might help may be clear indicators on when "enough is enough for a low-priority alt" and tools to help consolidate characters (ex. character demotions, which transfers appropriate items and resources and installs that character as a Boff, which would also provide another angle for leveling a new character which would not require any real commitment over the long term [ie. previously restricted bridge officer choices].)

originalboodah

goodscotch wrote: »

STO reminds me of a Hartford Whalers team roster...it always looked like it had tremendous potential...but consistently underperformed. They have a game engine that can only do so much. The question is...will they ever break the mold so that it can do other things...or will they just keep coming out with a new instance or two every other season, a new storyline and a handful of new ships? Exploration sounds promising. But...what will that equate to in the game?

+1 for referencing the mighty Whale in a STO post. Brass Bonanza is playing in my head right now.

Back to the original topic, I've got 14 toons, and the way I keep it interesting is simple. When I play, I use the toon on the bottom of the list on the selection screen. I play that toon, and when I play again, the next night, I repeat the process. I only play one toon per night. The grinding doesn't really affect me because I simply choose not to bother with it. After playing a toon, I may not play that toon again for 2 weeks. I might break the pattern occasionally for fleet activities, or limited time events, but I don't find that it gets boring.

Just my 2 cents...

burstorion

Agreed...the second you quit the 'rat race' of dps and grinding (unless its for something specific as my drones still have to 'eat'), sto is a million times more fun​​

laferrari1

burstorion wrote: »

Agreed...the second you quit the 'rat race' of dps and grinding (unless its for something specific as my drones still have to 'eat'), sto is a million times more fun​​

And you do what? Over and over the same PvE?

alexsanderita

dtrekkie wrote: »

I have to say that while in my opinion, too much repetition is an issue in this game, I am simply baffled by people who say they have 8, 10, 14 or how ever many characters and then complain that the game has burnt them out. All I can think is, "no TRIBBLE..."

joc#8855 wrote: »

Do not complain about no-lifers, they TRIBBLE pay for your right to grind.

They can close the thread now, the truth has been spoken

laferrari1 wrote: »

burstorion wrote: »

Agreed...the second you quit the 'rat race' of dps and grinding (unless its for something specific as my drones still have to 'eat'), sto is a million times more fun​​

And you do what? Over and over the same PvE?

Playing episodes when there are any new, Foundry missions when there aren't, and once in a while jump in an asteroid mine, all with a single toon of choice, plus doffing 5 minutes a character.

The idea of doing that every day with 14 characters is nightmare.

f9thretxc

Heh, I have 26, and I know of others who have way more than that. Even not getting 8K dil per day/Toon I am never short of resources. It's all about playing the alts smart.

I have the big 3, who have all the equipment from reps, and then the rest have one build based around a single rep/weapon style.

The thing is, I also don't have to play each toon every day, sure , I may log in for DOFFS, but even that is not a must. I simply play at my own speed, and enjoy the toons I use as mains.​​

svindal777

I have a bunch of toons, I think 16-18, but I pretty much just stick to 3 feds, 1 in each profession. Once in a while I'll start a new one and run through the early missions again, then delete.

sisteric

I have 3 guys at 60, another 5 in the 50's and 3 more below 20. One of the 50's is a Delta Recruit. One of the guys below 20 is a Delta Recruit. I have plan to have 12 characters. And was well on my way to that before DR. Since DR, it's been hard to get through more than one guy a night. DR change the alt-friendliness of the game just because of the gearing process. It's not as manageable as it was before.

ulukayx

I think a sense of progress is an important factor here. We want to at least feel like the time we invest into an MMO matters, but at one point, a Character is bound to have max level, the best gear, and nothing left to do aside from amassing the next million EC or Dil.
And lets be honest, before Delta Rising, this point used to come pretty fast by MMO standards in STO.

So, people reach that point, but don't want to give up on the game for various reasons, so a new char is created, and I think how far this can go and still be fun is up to every player individually.

It only grows problematic when people loose control and start forcing themselves to play and level all their characters despite the fact that they have long lost all joy this game used to bring them. (You see these guys in pretty much every games Zonechat, they hate every part of the current game, the staff that ruined it, the players, and especially you, but they are still here every day to let everyone know they do so and how stupid those are who still enjoy the game. )