When is a character "done" for you?

Interesting concept, a character being done.

For me its about story. Each character has one, a good lot of them are tied to other characters and that causes me fustrations for me sometimes, but thats a different story.

I don't have a character/toon thats done yet, its only a matter of time I guess.

Valor

The primary factor for me is when they get boring. Assuming, they've stayed entertaining from 1-50 then I like to IO them out. After that, I bring them out on occasion for tf's or exemp'ing. With the new difficulty settings it's given a lot of old toons new life in that I can test their breaking points then try to build to surpass those.

when I pick out a suitable name :P

Hitting level 50 for any alt is the primary goal for me and once an alt hits 50, its onto leveling another alt.

That said, I continue to play my 50s on tfs/sfs and each alt will eventually hit the 'complete' milestone after I completely IO them out to my satisfaction (purples are not a requirement).

I do certainly favor certain alts over others but the only difference between them is the level of 'investment' as far as IO sets go.

For me, my characters BEGIN at level 50.

I enjoy the end-game content that CoX offers (and if you don't think there is any, you're fooling yourself). I really like playing a toon that has ALL (or nearly so) its possible capabilities -- that's what makes me feel most heroic (or villainous, as the case may be). I create a toon for a perceived future need -- a debuffer, a Tank/Brute, a damage-dealer, a buffer, etc. Then I have that character available in my "toolbox" of 50s and can bring the most appropriate one to whatever team I'm joining.

I really prefer being able to bring a character to the team that contributes to the team's synergy in the best possible way given the circumstances.

So the answer for me, I guess, is that my character is never really "done", but may be called upon depending on situational need.

QR
When I just can't bring myself to log into them any more.

If I still play them, they are never done.

Mine are like comic book heroes...never "done". Issue #300 is followed by issue #301.

I honestly play my 50s about 99% of the time now. I understand how others feel, but I can't relate. A lvl 50 has all their powers and is more fun to me than a non-50. Why would I want to spend all my time training to be Spider-Man/Thor/Batman/Iron Man when I can spend all my time being Spider-Man/Thor/Batman/Iron Man? That's an easy choice for me.

As for the "building aspect, my most decked-out character that I really did think was "done" (building, not playing) just got another purple recipe slotted last week from a lucky drop. (What are the odds you get the one you can use?) If she isn't "done" none of them are.

I started a new Scrapper a few weeks ago, and with the help of double xp weekend, got him to 50. (yay) He's just beginning in my eyes. I worked out his build with Mids and now he's ready to go. I'm loving that character. (Good grief...why didn't I play a BS/SR Scrapper before?)

Contrast that with my very first character, a lvl 50 En/En Blaster that I haven't played in years. I really didn't like that character very much in hindsight....but I won't delete it because "you never know"...I may just get the itch to play him again. (He's not taking up any room on my server anyway, so no harm)

I don't think any of my characters are ever "done". But I do like to say most of my characters are "complete" at 32. That's when, most of the time, I have gained most of the signature powers I wanted to define that character, and from then on playing the character becomes just playing for the sake of playing, and not building the concept.

It varies a lot, of course. I like to say that you have a good idea of what a character will finally be at 20. You may not have all the capabilities yet, but you essentially know the basic style you will be using to play it. For most ATs, the first defining power comes at 12. This is when I feel the creation stage is over, and it becomes more about filling in the blanks. And as I said, 32 is when you get your Primary Tier 9 power. A couple of levels after that, once that power's slotted out, is usually when I feel the character is "complete", depending on the Tier 9. (Sometimes I'll got with the Secondary at 28 or 35)

Jade Dragon, my FF Defender, he was pretty much complete from the 20s. Repulsion Bomb was changed when he was around 35 and I respec'ed into it, and it made a big difference. Adding the Epic Powers past 41 made a big difference too. But mainly I felt he was complete at 30 when I finally got his aura and could surround him in a cloud of "mist", which was my concept for his power. Considering it took me essentially the whole history of the game since release to level him to 50, he was really effected a lot more by cosmetic changes and tweaks to the game than his own Power Sets.

Blue Diamond, my Inv/SS Tanker, I won't feel is complete until he gets Energy Torrent. Although I felt he was pretty much where I wanted him once he got Unstoppable, his concept is that he stores and uses energy to give himself his strength and invulnerability, and he has always been intended to have the ability to fire energy beams as a secondary attack. So he'll be "complete" when he finally gets that.

Bloodwolf, my MA/SR Scrapper is complete right now at 38. Elude certainly finishes off his concept, but it's not really a defining power. He's more about Stealth, which I got early on, and just the basic feel of his powers. In fact, while I could go into the Epic Pools and get Web Grenade and Caltrops, if Ninjitsu came out for Scrappers tomorrow, I would delete him and recreate him right away. (And not for those powers, more for the concept. I'd recreate him AGAIN if the devs later came out with Staff)

Sandy, my Electric/Fire Blaster will probably be finished at 47 when I get her Force of Nature. Although it's not totally necessary to her concept, she's supposed to be really fast and agile and that's the closest I can get to giving her such defensive agility even if for a short time.

Joe Everyman will be finished at 38, when he gets Fulcrum Shift. Then I will have to get the versions of him on all other servers to 38 as well. (Only half joking, there...)

Just to mention a villain, my Bots/Dark MM was done when she got Dark Servant at 38. Or 39, to slot him well. The Dark Servant was definately intended to be an important role in her cast of henchmen, so she needed him. Amusingly, the last power she got, at 49, was Teleport. I went from 1 to 49 on the jump and jet packs and held onto them until the very end. The Teleport is actually her Dark Servant's power, though, not hers, so I had planned all along to only get her travel power after she got Dark Servant.

Its over when you delete them or they face of with a kitty cat and lose.

When they are no longer fun and I can't think of anything that would make them fun again.

I'm not sure I can delete anything over 40, but I can permanently park it.

Hmmm, never had the problem with having to retire a toon, but I think the time would be when you've put the best enhancements in every slot of every power that could possibly be gotten for that build?

I've only taken two toons to 50 so far and they pretty much stopped getting played after that. What usually happens to me is I start a new toon and get all excited by that one and tend to shelve the rest. I recently realized I had nearly two servers full of toons that I loved but had never taken past say 35 on average and I should concentrate on them.

Since that time I have started at least three new toons. :P

It really depends, if I still like playing the character then it is never done in my eyes.
Hence why I still play both my l50 hero tanker and l50 villain brute, and I havent even begun slotting them out with orange and purple recipe's yet.

However, when I totally loose intrest in a character then he can be done as early as level 20.
I have a mastermind who was created in 2006 as he has the 2 year anniversary badge, and he got 1 level in the last 18 months, from nothing but auto mission complete bonus exp. (21 to 22)