Weird rules you make for yourself

1) All my heroes have to train at in Striga for level 50. I just like it there better.
2) My villains must level up to 50 in whatever zone they're in, no matter the trainer.
2) Even if I never write a bio, I have to have some sort of story or explanation for the character, why they exist, and their power combo.
2a) All concepts have to be followed as much as possible.
3) I do all the costume/aura/cape mission(s), even if I never use past the first costume slot.
4) If I can I like to get really, really close to the next level, then log off the character. That way, when I log back in, I get excited to play cause "ooh, level!"

I thought everyone would be listing weird rules like my hero who draws his power from darkness and thus cannot use anything other than brawl when the sun is up (although he's ok in caves, etc, during the day.)

Another one in the "sets weird rules for themselves" camp here.

If I'm having a 1 to 5 (on a 1-10 scale) amount of fun on any character after a single mission I immediately find the nearest day job and commence alting.
-If I'm not having a blast I'm just not digging it.

If on a team (PuG or not) where there is a mission/goal (RPed or not) I won't leave till the forces of nature take me down! *shakes fist skyward*
-I'm a Defender through and through no matter what the game says my AT is.

I don't believe in hide mode.
-If you took the time to /tell me I will do my damnedest to respond (assuming I didn't miss it outright) even if my response is nothing more than "I'm busy/FIGHTING!" or "I would rather not talk to you" and ignore if need be.

I can't get through character creator without some kind of inner story for the character and if a name can't be had in under eleven guesses I deem the concept backburnered.
-Even if there's nothing in my bio description yet each and every one of my characters are themselves For better or for worse, it's where I find my fun.

I always go "character idea" then power sets to fit in creation page.
-Admittedly I've not done this twice. Coming from the forums after seeing something strike my eye about this power or that temptation to take a hit off of the character creator I've started the process but could never get past the naming.

Despite loving team action for 85% of my play I will pass up PuGs for several invites if it looks like one of my friends are "about to" get something together.
-Except in non Virtue servers where my lists are much smaller so my solo/AE time skyrockets.

I've not played characters because I've been upset at some of "their" choices.
-I'm weird?

Having to delete a character to make a new character (I just won't pay for more slots although I'm looking forward to those GR slots like a ***** to kneepads) I rate all of my characters on a sliding scale of worth based upon my closeness to the character's name/concept/play time/costume.Those on the bottom of the list know it's only a matter of a time till they get voted off (barring an aberrational log in resulting in a mindblowing "11" of fun had, that will automatically save them!).
-I like to rationalize. It makes me feel better about my shameful weird rules I've set for myself.

Thank you all for making me feel a whole lot more normal and for giving my OCD some new ideas for rules I've read from you that seemed like they fell right from head.

* I only play on Virtue. (Purely experimental characters may be rolled on Test or, rarely, Infinity.)

* I have characters, not "toons." Every one has a name, a personality, goals, and a backstory.

* No imported or "inspired by" characters that just don't fit the superhero genre or setting of Paragon City/the Rogue Isles.

* All of my characters must be physically and mentally capable of teaming with others. (I added this one after realizing that my first attempt at an Elec/Elec brute, a sociopathic android, would be incapable of cooperating with... well, anyone if played fully IC.)

* I try to avoid deliberate misspellings, punctuation, etc whenever possible. I do not believe that all of the good names are taken. In a few cases, however, the concept demanded a certain name; in two of those, I added an unostentatious period at the end, and in the last (a larger-than-life character with a short name) I put it in all caps and spaced it out, as it might appear on a marquee. I do check from time to time to see if the unpunctuated forms have opened up.

* All of my characters have badge titles that suit them somehow.

* I don't re-use powersets (one notable exception: I have an Inv/SS tank and a SS/Inv brute).

* All of my characters start with or acquire in the course of their careers one or more NPC enemy groups (Vahzilok, Sky Raiders, Longbow, etc) as personal foes.

* My characters train level 50 (and often many others) by visiting a trainer that has some special significance to them - usually Ms. Liberty or the Brawler, but sometimes another.

* I always try to log off in some Day Job location, even if it's only the top of the tram.

* I don't farm and I don't play the market; I sell my drops and buy what I want for my characters, that's it.

* If my character has/needs a travel power that doesn't fit within the rest of their concept or powersets, it's roleplayed as a gadget or something. (For example, one of my defenders has a SERAPH-issue remote control for the city teleport grid to explain Recall Friend. Another, a natural stalker, used her Zero-G pack until it finally ran out and then bought SJ defined as the same thing. Yet another would not use Ouroboros ICly, but has his own method of rapidly getting from one part of the city to another.)

* Whenever possible, I slot IOs of levels 30-40, preferably 35, for the best balance between replacing SOs and retaining set bonuses when exemplared (below 32, I won't have all of my primary or secondary anyway). Until then, I slot SOs and sometimes DOs; the bonuses offered by TOs and the time spent in that range are usually too little to matter.

* I almost never go to Pocket D. Most of my characters have better things to do with their downtime, let alone their "working hours."

* I only have Hasten on two characters - one's a speedster, and the other has a short-term overdrive mode. Concept over being "uber." (I also don't build for perma-anything.)

* Like many others, I avoid deliberate misspellings, letter substitution, and l33t speak when naming characters. Unless I just have to play the character right that second, I'll save the costume and power customization and come back at a later date. Otherwise I'll refer to online name generators (Seventh Sanctum) and a thesaurus to try and come up with alternate ideas.

* Always have at least a simple character concept and background, even if it would only be a couple of sentences in the characters description.

* All heroes start in Galaxy City. It's so much quieter there.

* Level 5-10 heroes when choosing new contacts will not chose an Atlas Park contact if it can be avoided.

* At level 10, all VEAT's upon getting their bonus costume slot from the VEAT contact mission, must use it to make a 'Heroic' costume. It's part of the contacts story arc to pretend to be a hero so it just makes sense to look like one.

* Flyers will turn off fly when entering non mission buildings, unless entering the building as part of a mission. Flyers also turn off fly when interacting with NPC's.

* Characters will turn off toggles if they are going to be interacting with NPC's for an extended period of time, like buying/selling at the market. Usually accomplished by using the 'Walk' power. Personally, I love the power suppression in the Praetorian market. It's so nice and quiet in there.

* No repeat AT's on Justice

* No non Stalker on Freedom

* Avoid repeating power sets on the same AT (especially primary sets), unless it fits the characters concept/background.

* Always do the badge missions from each tier.

* Always do the zone story arcs (Faultline, Croatoa, Stirga, Hollows, etc...).

* No taking Vet powers unless it fits the character concept/background.

Hm. Okay.

1) The first thing I do when logging in to a new character is load my keybinds, and macro setup. This is custom, allowing me to use the same keys but they do different things for each character. I also turn up the autoleveling to 50 (turn off the prompt) turn off email except from friends, and set my GUI size to 90%. Now I'm also turning off the Help Popups. Much of the latter I still have to do on characters I haven't played in a while.

2) I never open the Power tray to more than one tray. I have one second tray, which is "torn off", set to 6x2 dimensions, and placed right under the Targetting window. My other windows are right where they are by default. (For a while, I had two extra trays running down the right side of the screen, but I got rid of them when I started using the Popmenu command)

2a) Masterminds are the exception. They always have two trays, and the second is for the summoning powers.

3) I must never have more individually activated Powers than can fit in one tray. In other words, I never use anything but the keys 1-0. All other powers must be activated by keybinds. (Again, my macros allow me to personalize this to each character. In extreme cases, hitting the + or - keys will activate several different Powers in sequence. I also have all travel powers tied to Left and Right Control)

4) I always activate Inspirations by mouse click. For this reason, my Inspiration tray is always open unless I am managing Powers or Enhancements.

5) I always activate the Chat window by mouse click. I got irritated with pressing keys and having the chat window open on its own, so I disabled that.

6) I must empty my Enhancement trays and Salvage when they get full.

7) I MUST clear every speck of grey off every map I am on. This is more an obsession than a rule, and I mainly do it solo, although I often find myself running down a dead end passage on a team for no other reason than to mark it.

8) Each of my characters must have a defined bio, a defined main costume, including power colors, and various "chat" binds that indicate his personality. I almost never change a costume once I have designed it. Among the chat binds are a set of 10 rotating "taunts" that, in the case of a character that has Taunt, will activate that Taunt while saying something appropriate or using an appropriate emote. If the character has no Taunt, the binds will just be used to establish personality. (I'll just use them randomly in battle)

9) All of my Dominators must have a second costume that they change into when activating Domination. Many of my other characters also change costume in combination with various powers. (For instance, I have a "battle damaged" costume I use for one of my Scrappers to indicate when her Unstoppable is about to expire)

10) I will never choose a power which does not fit the character concept. I may role play the power in a certain way if needed, for instance I have an Illusion/Kinetics Controller that I pretend uses gadgets for his Kinetics powers, but the power itself has to fit. My main, Jade Dragon, does not have X-Ray beam for this reason (his power doesn't come out of his eyes) and I resisted taking Dull Pain on my Tanker, Blue Diamond for a long time. I eventually explained the latter as his "reinforcing his shields" instead of healing, but I still keep the power unslotted and use it only rarely.

11) I don't take Hasten, Stamina, or any other power because "I have to". My only characters that have Stamina are robots, or folks who are physically fit. Likewise, my Leadership characters are all leaders. If I take Tactics, the character must be very perceptive. (i.e., a detective)

12) My character Sandy, who has Super Jump, travels over flat terrain by making short jumps that make her shoot along just above the ground.

13) My character Rachel uses Walk as much as possible. She also has particularly funny "flirting" taunts that are different for men, women, and robots. (I have a special key I use to switch between the three) She also has a "transformation", like an Anime character, that I have to use at the start of each mission.

14) My character Genie Gold must always turn on Stealth (she "turns into air") before Hovering, and grow wings (she changes costume, complete with the "poof" alakazam animation) before turning on Flying. She also MUST activate Blind from melee range. (It's limited to touch)

15) My character Joe Everyman switches costume every time he goes Invisible. This is supposed to represent him posing as an "ordinary person" to hide his true identity. He has no actual costume. I previously mentioned that I role play his Kinetics as gadgets. He must also take as many powers as possible from the Power Pool. At the moment, I have limited him to 4 powers from his Primary (Blind, Decieve, Phantom Army and Group Invisibilty) and 4 powers from his Secondary. (Siphon Power, Transfusion, Transference and Fulcrum Shift) However, he also has Speed Boost for teaming. This is really a "he shouldn't have this because it isn't concept", but I mostly solo with him anyway, so the power is mainly a placeholder.

16) I DO try to avoid using the same power sets, unless it is the same character. There are exceptions, though. When I first created Loopy Loup Garou, I made him Invulnerability even though I already had played Invulnerability as Blue Diamond. When Willpower came out, I solved the problem by recreating him as Willpower.

16a) However, if it is the same character, the exact same power sets are fair game.

All characters must have a connection to something within the game lore, no matter how distant the connection is.

While there are some things I just always do, like think up a bio (even if I don't always write it in) or the way I think up character names, I think the only personal game rules I have are that one: I don't respec before 50 except under very rare circumstances, and only if I have a use-it-or-lose-it freespec I need to burn before a new one is pushed out (and even then: the number of characters I've respeced before 50 is exactly two), and two: I don't twink between characters before 50, I play with what that character earns herself.

I don't "match" sets; i.e. Fire/Thermal, Cold/Ice, TA/A... with the exception of my Dark/Dark defender and that's only because I have a Dark/? character for each secondary (plus Fire/Dark corrupter).

All toons must keep and never use the Tier 3 Red Inspiration that they get given in Outbreak/Breakout/District 5.

That's my big weird self imposed rule, and it started out as 'I wonder how long I can take playing this Stone/Fire tanker as a scranker and keep that inspiration'. I keep trying to preserve the Tier 3 Green, but I've not gotten past level 27 or so before I find myself burning it in a usually futile attempt to stay alive and fighting.

I try not to repeat powersets at all, but I've got two Willpower toons, a Scrapper and a Brute, because the powerset was the best fit for their concepts. I also tend to shy away from powersets that friends have played alongside me.

I was going for at least one toon of each AT, but I got that a few months ago (I class PB/WS as the same AT, just different powersets, hence why I've got a WS, but no PB. The same with Arachnos, Widow but no Soldier yet, he's at 32.)

I don't tend to respec my toons, but that's more because of a mixture of finding the respec process a complete faff on, and the fact that the builds I have, 'errors' and all, are part of the character of the toon, and changing that to me feels like I may as well be rolling the toon from scratch again.

Hence why my Robotics/Traps MM is non-Stamina, non-IO'd and haemorrhages Blue like you would not believe, but can still walk out of situations that leave other alts face down... <shrug> It's amazing what 5 years of playing a toon can do for learning how to handle it and exactly when is the time to turn around and run like a scared little girl...

Other than that the only other rules I stick to are that I don't Powerlevel, I don't give inf to beggars so they can 'list this PvP recipe I got' (yes, I was asked that once, they wanted me to give them 25 million so they could list it... o_O), and generally I don't appreciate people asking me to help them shortcut their way to rewards that I had to put in the time and effort to get.

My major rule is that any characters I make will leave character creation in the costume that will be their costume for all of their career. For me, Supes going back to the old togs after the (imho) travesty that was Superman Red and Blue....yeah. Why change what works? It's iconic! They will always be instantly recognizable for who they are if someone glanced at them in a comic book. Now, the costume can be *tweaked* as better costume elements than the ones I have are unlocked (Capes, Vanguard gear...) or get dropped upon us by SexyJay and Pals, but for the most part it'll never change.

Of course, this means I can spend HOURS costume designing before I hit Outbreak. And then quite quickly say "Nope, ain't working" and start over again when I see them in actual gamelight. (And no, sometimes the light adjuster in the creator just doesn't seem right and I miss stuff. That SUCKS.)

Except for street clothes in slot 2 (when I actually remember to give them some), I just don't use the other costume slots at ALL. I practically forget they're there. (Radical Girl, my first character ever, is the exception to the rule - I went nuts costuming with her)

Even if I never actually add the background? Be assured, they have a background filed away in my head, and I could tell it to you if asked. Also, all my characters are connected to my husband's characters in some way, being friends, lovers, or mortal enemies.

I always do the tutorial with all my characters.

If I'm playing a Natural origin character then I don't take obviously super Travel Powers (I don't like justifying TPs with gadgets either, feels like cheating).

I gave it some thought and I believed I didn't have any rules. But, as I rolled new alts, I stopped dead and realized that I do have rules/rituals for the game:

1.) As soon as I roll an alt, I have to remove EVERY power from the trays and set up 4 power trays. I then go into my Veteran Rewards badges and claim every power I use. Once I claim all the powers, I then set up each power tray, each row having a specific purpose (ie. tray 1 is primary, tray 2 is secondary plus hasten, tray 3 is armors, tray 4 is temp powers and any teleport powers.)

2.) I reset all chat window and load my custom chat file, which has multiple chat tabs, separated in order of frequency of use.

3.) I set the UI colors all to 50% and the transparancy to 95% and set the UI size to 82%

4.) I can not leave the tutorials without getting all badges, even if the alt is a throw away that I'll only keep for a day or two.

5.) Every IO salvage and IO recipe I sell at 1 inf. (except for PvP and Purples, which I craft and store in my base)

If I come across more, I'll post

Let's see.

All powers up to the level 35 slot (used to be lvl 30) are slotted with lvl 33 IOs. Only exceptions are global ones, which can be lower. Relic of my Siren's Call days.

All active characters have to be arranged by level, then by order of achieving said level. All not played characters are to be moved off-server or kept in the third pane.

No matching sets if I can help it. It makes me feel like I'm not original enough.

All characters need to have a concept, though building a concept around a powerset I want to try out is okay.

No Hasten. It kills my will to play a characters.

All characters should have a fitting badge title.

After reading whole thread, it seems I may have a unique compulsion.

All my guys are "circumnavigationalists". They must eventually circle each zone so that the outside edge is fully exposed. This is still done even though I have the Reveal vet power now. I'll use Reveal to expose a zone, but only after it has been circumnavigated.

The only zone that I cannot circumnavigate is Peregrine Island. (There may be one in Praetoria also, but haven't tested thoroughly. All I know is when I went near edge there, I started dieing quickly.) PI has no edges. The only way you know you got to an edge is when you already got zoned to Talos Island. So instead of circumnavigating the edge in PI, I circumnavigate the main island instead.

Weird enough for ya?

I think I have a KO blow winner here...

Despite the fact that I got Going Rogue pre-ordered almost as soon as it came out...

Despite the fact that I adored nearly everything about Praetoria during the closed beta...

Despite the fact that I have revamped all my spreadsheets I use to track CoH/V/U(ndecided) statistics, etc...

Despite the fact that I have just re-started my tournament... deleted ALL my characters and "re-rolled" them...

None of my starting characters will be created in Praetoria... I likely won't actually play a character in Praetoria until they either 1) allow non-Praetorian characters to visit or (2) I get two or three characters on a single server to level 40 first...

... all because of my "weird rules" I make for myself...