Am I doing Something Wrong?

I feel like I'm missing a piece of the puzzle. I've had a strange affair with this game since 2009. On and off, on and off again. I quit last time right before going rogue. I can't really explain what drew me back in this time... boredom perhaps. I think I keep coming back because this is one of the few MMOs that isn't an endless grind and I'm not gimped if I can't raid for that 0.001% drop rate class item that makes my character viable, but that's another story entirely.

Two months (and six or so pack purchases) into my new sub and I already find myself back to my old habits. Asking tons of questions on the forums, rolling a dozen characters, and not following through with any of them.

I've tried this before and failed miserably, but I'd hate to throw in the towel on what is a really great game. Those first 20 levels are great, and than I plateau. I hit a wall. It happened with my first (MA/WP scrapper), my second (Bots/FF Mastermind), and my latest (Arachnos Soldier).

I look at what others have created, stare in awe, and then quietly weep... There's something missing. My first batch of characters were my "easy" characters. I did have a loose concept for the Scrapper, but it quickly fell by the wayside. My Soldier, is... well, what he is... and the Mastermind, bubbles drive me crazy (kitchen timer anyone?) and he seems so one dimensional, I tried the whole "mad scientist" route, didn't really pan out.

I was hoping to use the new Praetorian thing as a fresh start. I went through the motions. I a half dozen characters that don't seem to be taking off. I tried the "recommended" powersets... Fire/Ice Blaster, Ice/Ice Tanker, Demon/Dark MasterMind... the list goes on...

The more I think about it, the more I believe it has to do with the way things feel. I guess I just don't feel so "super" at all. I have yet to think up a genuine character. I've tried before. My scrapper had the most concept out of all of them, and I can hardly remember what that was now.

I know it's possible. I read about those heroes all the time on these forums. Heck, I'd have a tough time even making a second costume for any of my characters, they're that lame.

I would love to cook up just ONE character that I can sink my teeth into, but I'm at a loss on how to do that. For one, I get hung up on game mechanics and have a thing for jumping at the "easy" sets (Willpower comes to mind). I'd also like to break out of these characters that are one-dimensional. My scrapper relied on a power suit to control his motions and enhance his power. So I had street clothes as one costume, and the suit as two. Not much else going on there. The one thing that's caught my eye lately is "Golden Age" costumes. I can't think of how to work one out, but they just seem cool. I guess I'm a little bit of a sucker for capturing that whole Caped Crusader thing.

I just don't know what to do. Is creating a memorable character rocket science? Maybe I just needed to vent. I really don't want to quit again. I may keep a sub open just because of the forums.

It all starts with a great costume and a good backstory with clear view of what you want your character to be.

When your thinking of a backstory, try starting with this;

For one thing, most character don't take off until level 26, especially masterminds, defenders and controllers, in general. The other thing I would suggest, alt alt alt, until you find a primary/secondary pairing that clicks.

COX is a bit different because you do have so much freedom to build a character. That can actually be to much as you are finding.

One key is find a name, look, or concept that grabs you. Even a simple back story and then set out to build that character using the tools provided by COX.

The key to remember here is that once you have a character you want to play you can make him/her as you want but you are constrained by the nature of the world you find yourself in. And in this case that means you aren't the biggest and baddest thing around for a long time. You will constantly be fighting the agents of others and the others who are just as tough as you are.

The problem is that COX is not a sandbox. It is a structured world. So long as you work with the worlds structure you are fairly free to create as you want. When you fight it then you tend to get the feeling of not being a villain or hero. The issue is that characters are not 100% free agents in COX. This is a world that has found a place for the heroes and villains and fits them into itself as part of the whole world concept. So to make a shining character you need to be aware of the limitations of the medium and then rise above them.

A powered suit of armor is a great concept for just about any character. If you like that concept, stick with it. If not, just come up with another.

Superhero concepts can vary widely. From magic, to science fiction; from normal humans with great skill, to aliens from other planets. Superheroes comes from all kinds of places. Read some comics or check out wikipedia entries on comic heroes for inspiration.

As for costumes, I like to imagine my character through the years. I'll create separate costumes for the golden age, the modern era and the future. I'll also make costumes for alternate dimension versions of him, a space hero version, good and evil costumes, etc. I think that really makes the game fun and helps me strengthen the character's overall concept.

Choose powersets that you think will be fun and don't worry too much about being ineffective.

Most importantly, have fun! Once you find a powerset that you really like and a concept to go with it, you might level a character into the 30s, the 40s and even to 50.

You may get some inspiration costume-wise from these threads:
Post your best costume designs here!
-and-
The Costume (Re-)Design Thread

I'd recommend starting with the most recent posts and working backwards since both threads (especially the first) started a long time ago and before we could post images so the first pages are full of old broken Imageshack links and the like.

You have gotten a lot of great advice so far.. follow it. Find a bio you love and a costume and build from there. Don't be afraid to experiment... I had 2 years in when it dawned on me i still didn't have a single 50 level. Something inside me just sort of clicked out of a combination of desire and mild embarassment and I picked a character i enjoyed and stuck with her until I hit 50. The best part of that was when i hit those higher levels for the first time I enjoyed the story arc I was involved with, the villains I was battling and the strength my character now had to deal with it all. I have 5 and a half years in now and 24 characters at 50 or higher (incarnate level shifts )

The early 20s are tough for any AT... Until 22 you are still only able to use DOs and suppliment a bit with 20 level IOs. Your powers are still only partially slotted depending on how you go and it does seem like the woman in Atlas battling the Helllion for her purse could kick your butt at times. Once you pass 22 and can slot Single Origins things start to improve drastically. once you hit the 30s you start getting 3 slots per level and can really start to enhance powers and make them shine. Also around 32 to 35 you can start slotting IOs again.. I generally skip the 25 and 30 level ones since SOs are more powerful but by 35 it begins to even out and by level 37 you can slot 40s.. a 40 level IO offers the same amount of power as a 50 level SO. After that is just gets better

I don't know what you enjoy doing but my suggestion would be to TEAM your way through the 20s and get passed them quickly. Do the task Forces .. Sister Psyche at 20, Moonfire at 22, Citadel around 25 .. on a good 8 man team you can quickly find yourself pushing 30 level that way and you have picked up a few badges that lead to accolades like .. the Atlas Medallion and The Freedom Phallanx that will make you even stronger.

Its funny you mention enjoying the first 20 levels but then stalling.. Most players seem to complain about the opposite. The hate those lower levels and find them boring and will do anything to push through them fast and get to the better stuff. I think if you can find that character you enjoy playing you'll get past the rough spots and by 35 be having a blast.

I'm not a role player. My characters don't have a background. They are not me and I am not them. I play the game to play the powersets. Each new power will add additional dimensions to my play style. I will try to figure out the best ways to use the powers, individually and in combinations, in all circumstances, in particular when the situation is just chaos. My only goal is to achieve the confidence to know that whatever train wreck of team I join, I can cover any deficiencies there may be. I can be their backbone regardless of what character I am on with at the time.

OK, all that being said, I am going to suggest that you may want to ask someone to power level one of your characters to at least the mid-to-high 30s.

Based on your statement that you've only really played up to about level 20, I am going to assume you've only ever played using TOs and DOs. I don't get the impression that you've spent the time to make use of IOs. I recommended the mid-to-high 30s because that's usually where I start feeling that my builds are finally maturing. All my core powers now have enough slots allocated (4-5) and are filled with SOs/IOs so that they do not suck. Upgrading from DOs to SOs produces a really noticeable performance increase. If after using SOs for some time on this character doesn't perk up your morale and boost your enthusiasm, well then, I'll have to differ to the others.

My hope is that you can see and feel what you've been missing out on in the higher level game when you've so far been abandoning your characters while they were still under developed. Perhaps this will have you wondering what your other characters could have been and you can pick them up again.

See if this helps you, for one. It's pointed at altaholics, but may help with what you're trying to do, as well.

See my Guides and Tutorials

Great advice, I appreciate all of it. I'm thinking I might make Virtue my "Project server" and get off Freedom for awhile. Now all I have to do is get that one character out of my mind and on paper (harder than it looks). I had a hard enough time back when they wanted to play D&D...I was a fighter.. I smashed stuff...I never bothered with anything more (even though other wished I would, probably why I don't play anymore). At least now I have somewhat of a choice in the matter as to what form it takes. If only I was a creative individual.

Great advices you have been given.
It helps to know your character, who he/she is. The more fleshed out the character becomes the more alive he/she becomes.
f.ex. I started on a trial account and made Lady Arete for the first time, sure I did not know much about her. But one thing I did know. She hated the Circle. Once I began asking why, her story unfolded for me.
Much later, after a time in a sci-fi mmo, I came back to CoX and played it proper, by this time the backstory was all there.

Cyrene on the other hand (emp/son) was my first proper rp char. She developed through gameplay. I joined a rp supergroup with her and through interaction with other playes and creativity, her story began to unfold as well.
And everytime I now play her, I feel all bubbly and fuzzy. She is a happy char for me
While Lady A, is the serious hero with a grudge.

Personally, I find that the best way to find a character you like is literally that - FIND a character you like. You need to expose yourself to as much of other people's fiction as you can. Watch movies, play games, follow series both cartoon and anime, read books and comics and discuss people's concepts with them. What you need for a good character is a solid foundation of things you like. You don't have to have a solid theory or explanation of exactly what your preferences are, but if you've seen enough things that struck you as cool or interesting, then you have a basis.

From there, I'd suggest picking a template for a character concept based off of one or more existing characters made by other people. Start with something solid, then tweak that to be even MORE like what you enjoy. It's a fact of life that we all have unique tastes and one person's character won't be an EXACT match for another person, so take a couple of characters you like, mash them together, weed out the things that bug you and replace them with other traits you prefer, instead.

City of Heroes' primary draw, at least in my opinion, is that it gives you the tool to make exactly what you like, your own action figure, as it were. You just need to figure out what it is that you like.

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I'll give you an example with my namesake character: Samuel Tow. Sam is a combination of about five different characters, last I counted.

1. My original inspiration for him was Zero from the MegaMan X series, specifically MegaMan X4. I loved the concept of one tiny dude with a laser sword being able to take on huge juggernauts by being fast, nimble and dangerous with a sword.

2. Then there's Oni's Konoko. What I liked about her story is the concept of being implanted with a genetically-engineered organism which gave her incredible strength, speed and skill, but at times served to alter her personality.

3. After that, there was Genndy Tartakovsky's Samurai Jack. Jack proved that you could have a man with a conventional (if blessed) sword fighting off evil robots and giant enemy crabs without it looking awkward, as well as giving me the concept of the hero alone against the world who overcomes it all, as well as the concept of the wanderer.

4. Afterwards, there was Sands of Time's Prince of Persia, who for the first time gave me a visual representation of what true acrobatic combat might look like when not choreographed, as well as a good sense of unknown-terrain parkour.

5. Solid Snake gave me a good idea for a look, that sort of jumble of "military stuff" as a suit, plus the attitude of the serious, professional operative.

6. Finally, there's Final Fantasy's Sephiroth, for the concept of the white-haired pretty boy swordsman who's so skilled everyone's afraid of him. I'm not a big fan of the literal character, but I can appreciate the concept.

When you put that all together, you end up with a guy who has a soldier's background, but underwent a genetic experiment to turn him into a super soldier. He's proficient with all weapons, but favours a special overpowered sword with which he can cut anything. He's functionally ageless but still mortal, and his super powers come at the cost of sanity, at the hands of a parasitic intelligence. The stronger he allows himself to be, the deeper he falls under the influence of that intelligence and the more dangerous he is to his friends. Roll all of that together into a string of difficult experiences in an alternate timeline and a fear of emotional involvement and you have a character who's pretty cool, is allowed to be overpowered, but still has weaknesses that limit what he can do, as well as shape him as a character.

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Really, my advise is to find things you like and then make things a lot like them. The trick is to make them just different enough from the source material to be unique, but not different enough to lose their narrative impact.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

bmbeeman, you seem focused on costumes and concept but not very interested in gameplay. It sounds to me like you're a creator, not a gamer, by nature. You love CoH for the costume creator and the limitless space it allows for characterization, but you're not so hot on the actual game. I'm somewhat the same way.

My advice to you is to go write a novel. Do something creative. Game when you want to relax, but recognize that your main urge is to create something and you need a purer outlet for that.

Leo chiming in,

First of all, I'll just say don't give up. You don't have to get your first 50 and stick with it and if you're trying for a really creative, cool character that people will smile and nod to, it takes time. It's a skill, really. You just have to try, revise, retread, edit, compile, revamp, throw away and retry. The first dozen or five dozen characters won't be gold, but most likely they'll be better than your first attempts. Unless you're a writer, concept artist, historian, avid reader of fiction, anything that you can draw from creatively, some of your creations just won't pop so you have to try something else.

Even though I've played for how-many years, I still think my concepts are kind of corny but I like them dearly anyway. And I don't really have many inspirations to draw on creatively except my Bachelor's Degree in CoX.

It takes longer to get than a regular degree but hey, you can give advice about stuff on the forums with it! That's about it though...

ok, wish i had that "magic bullet" idea for you, but i don't. what i CAN say is that, keep trying man, keep trying. i've been playing since april 2007, and until 3 weeks ago, i had 1 lvl 50.......ONE!!!!, and i had just about every slot on every server filled with a toon somewhere in the 20's. i know your pain, it wasn't that i didn't like the toons, i loved alot of them (some of them were absolute garbage.....but not everything is a winner, right) but i just couldn't seem to really get any steam going to get a toon thru the slow middle levels. but, my new tonn, who is happily on his way to the top tier alpha slot right now, and i didn't deviate from playing him, i am amazed at how easy it was to run this guy thru the game and get to 50.

so, some folks will tell you that the AT is important, "find something that plays the way you want to play", but i think it's more specific then that, i think power sets, and how they play are just as important. my new main is a KM/ELA brute, and i think it may be the bestest toon ever, which is why i sailed thru leveling. but was also helped me was the amount of stuff to do now on your journey to 50 allows you to only have to focus on the stuff you REALLY REALLY want to do. quick 1-20 in Praetoria, once out start tips, 5 a day if you can, start running the WST and getting the other TF's, for the TF commander accolade, or whatever then run the arcs you really like, i made a point of hitting striga, croatoa, and some other arcs that i really like. i was 50 before i knew it and was done with the stuff i wanted to do. i actually haven't completed the TF commander acc, stupid synapse TF keeps alluding me :/

so, first, find an AT that you like, then figure out what about that style YOU like, then pick power sets that work with your likes. the Kinetic Melee set was new, had cool animations, i liked the sounds, and it fit a concept i had (by the way, the best help for backstory and concept is having years of roleplaying behind you), i took electric armor cuz it fit the concept, had end management, had a heal, i prefer res sets, and well darn it, i just like electric sets for superheroes in general. i built this guy for end, recharge, and non-stop bruting, and it worked well. i don't know if it was a "smart" build, what anyone else would recommend, or any of that, but it works for me, it works GREAT for me, i run thru x4 spawns without ever having to take a breather, and i can knock out the 5 tips a night in an hour or less. so all in all, this guy is exactly what i needed in this game, there IS a toon out there for you, you just got to find him/her.

You've got some great advice here, and some of it I may take myself. I don't tend to spend a lot of time on concept or back story or any of that. I really don't care about that stuff. I just like to enjoy what I enjoy about the game and don't get caught up in trying to do what other people enjoy (even though it's great for them, it may not be great for me), so I pick power combos that I think would be fun, that I know I prefer, or that I've seen someone else play with awe-inspiring finesse (these latter ones usually stall for obvious reasons).

Another thing that keeps me interested is setting goals for my toons--anything from getting another bar of xp on a stalled toon to purpling out one I love. Badging is another thing that can keep you going when you start to lose interest (unless you have no interest in badging, of course).

I guess what I'm trying to say is that maybe it's okay that you don't have a concept toon. Maybe you're putting too much pressure on yourself to do something that you don't really have an interest in doing. Maybe you enjoy making new toons and running them until they hit 20ish and then creating another one. If so, run with that. You said you get hung up on the game mechanics, well, there's nothing wrong with that. If that's what you enjoy, then focus on that--use mids, use the invention system to create enhancement sets for your toons, set goals to soft-cap or perma something, whatever. There's nothing wrong with that at all, and who knows, maybe you'll hit on a power combo that you want to keep playing.

It seems to me that you are looking for the balance between concept and gameplay.

They don't always necessarily go hand in hand.

I started a homage character from one of my favorite book series as a concept. I ended up rebuilding her 3 times before I even got her to lvl 50. It was a challenge to learn how to play the power combo I'd chosen for her, but I pushed through my frustrations and she ended up being my main toon.

I've also started other characters for their powersets, and created stories as flavor after the fact. Oddly, I have two characters with exact same powersets, but very different stories.. and I find myself gravitating toward one over the other. *shrug* Honestly can't explain that one.

It seems to me that you enjoy the visuals (costumes, stories), but you get hung up with the gameplay... especially 'round lvl 20.

In terms of gameplay, the mid levels are always the toughest. But honestly, I find that true for most games, not just CoH. You need to find the perseverance to push through those mid-levels. The awesome thing about CoH is, they give you some extra tools to help ya out:

You can respec
You can have 3 separate builds for your characters
You can customize your difficulty levels to suit your goals or moods
You now get FREE FITNESS (health/stamina) at level... err... 4? 6?... real early.

I don't think this has been suggested so far, but maybe consider setting up a team project with a few friends? Choose a concept, like an all-Rad team, or an all-Corruptor team, or a team where everyone has a Praetorian Clockwork costume, and arrange a regular play time every week. That will give you something to focus on beyond getting the character concept exactly right, and speed up the levelling a bit, to hopefully push you through the times where you might otherwise stall out.