Do you Exercise Purposeful Gimping?

I wouldn't call it "purposeful gimping." Do I build to concept? You bet. I also rationalize a lot within that concept and try to build the best build I can that still fits my concept.

Does this sometimes mean some slight tweaks to my concept? Sure. But a big part of my concept working is if the character is fun to play. And I try to fit my concepts into what I've got available in terms of powers and resources available to me and the game world.

It's not something I've really run into much, like having to skip major powers or travel powers because they don't fit. Most of the incarnate stuff I can handwave, since I really don't play my incarnates as demigods or make much reference to that element. They're just that badass that they can go toe to toe with demons, monsters, and giant robots using the powers they got, guts, skill, and sheer grit. Easier to write for, and more fun for me. I like my characters to have to work for their victories, and do awesome stuff getting it.

Like Vorpal Judgement on my low powered scrapper? She's low powered, yes, but she's also dual blades and capable of blindingly fast bursts of movement. The Lore Warworks pets become her training program. On my Kheldian powered robot, the Clockwork pets become Kheldian energy constructs, created by him briefly shoving his fist into a Clockwork and briefly surging Kheldian energy through it to learn how to reconstruct it on the fly.

The only one that gives me trouble is Destiny on my scrapper, and that I just handwave as kind of her sheer superhuman toughness going into overdrive or an abstract "grit your teeth, dig in your heels and keep fighting."

Actually, the one time I've skipped a power was on my Titan/Electric Brute. I skipped the tier 9 Electric Armor power because turning into a gremlin really didn't fit my heroic automaton's concept.

I don't find characters interesting because of their flaws and weaknesses, personally. It's just not something I enjoy. I find characters interesting for their powers and their successes, while finding them "deep" for reasons entirely unrelated to their powers and of a much more metaphysical nature. When characters broach concepts of "purpose," "morality," "ideology" and otherwise demonstrate that there's an actual person with actual feelings and emotions behind the costume and powers is when I consider them to have some kind of depth.

What this means is I find no reason at all to limit my characters' abilities intentionally. In other words, I will never say that a character is "too strong" for his concept, because everyone's concept that I make includes somewhere in it the door to amazing power in one form or another. The inverse, however, is also true, in that I almost never have a reason to shoot for absolute maximal power at any cost, especially if that's a chore to achieve (i.e. inventions) or does not fit with the character's concept (i.e. Fighting pool on everyone and anyone). What I shoot for is "enough" practical power for the character to survive his or her own content and then on top of that enough power for the character to have a somewhat easy time on a somewhat easy difficulty setting so I can claim he's "very powerful."

The only time I'd ever min-max a character is I feel this character is underperforming in relation to gameplay and thus feel I have no recourse but to optimise. However, if a character is doing just fine and ticking all the boxes, then I will instead "waste" performance on superfluous powers and slotting, like grabbing Challenge on a Stalker because I want her to be cheeky and annoying to her enemies. Moreover, I will only ever min-max a character within the confines of that character's concept. If the concept calls for all fire powers on a Scrapper, then I'm taking Fiery Melee, Fiery Aura and Pyre Mastery even if Body Mastery may be better and even if Fiery Aura isn't seen as very good.

Luckily, City of Heroes is one of the few games out there which is so generous with "enough" performance.

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.

I always build for concept first. If that means skipping certain powers, or taking weaker ones when a better option is available, I will. Once I've met my conceptual requirements, I'll min/max the build as much as possible.

If there are certain things that I can't do within concept, that truly gimp the character, I usually won't play the character. But a minor loss in power to stay within concept is totally acceptable.

One thing I don't really do is make a thing out of the Incarnate stuff. I never refer to my characters as Incarnates in-character, nor do I claim they're becoming super-powerful because of it or say they're empowered by the Well or whatever. Like in Dark Astoria when I ran into another roleplayer and we just started chatting he mentioned the whole Incarnate thing, my character (who's rather cheeky and has an ego with it's own gravitational field) just grinned and said she's just that awesome as to be able to take on monsters the size of a bus.

This is entirely a stylistic choice of my own, since I've always preferred plucky, determined badasses over raw power. They're the ones who come out with blood on their faces and knuckles raw and a look in their eye that tells you they'll take on the world, and they're stubborn and determined and crazy enough they'll win. I prefer to be Odysseus and Theseus and Hercules and Spiderman and Captain America over Zeus and Superman. I find it a lot easier to roleplay and write, as I find too much power hems me in. I can't, say, send a bunch of ninjas or Fifth Column patchwork supersoldiers at a Superman and have it feel like a threat. But at a less powerful character, sure!

But this is entirely a choice of my own based on my own tastes and style.

The main thing I can think of that I do to gimp/limit my characters is that I won't mix powersets that to me, don't mesh visually. Like say any Fire powerset with anything other than stuff like Traps or other Firey powers.

good luck D.B.B.

Like Memphis Bill, I kind of object to the notion of "Gimping" but perhaps for a slightly different reason.

In simple terms I play the character I want to play and if I get into it then it goes a long way. If for whatever reason I cannot relate to it, whether or not it's technically good it gets consigned to the great hero dustbin in the sky. If however I enjoy it, whether or not it's good on paper, it sticks around and continues to be developed over time.

One thing that amazes me is the lack of realisation amongst a large proportion of the playerbase that there are at least 1001 ways to play this game, each as valid as each other, and none are bad per se, but it seems that if you do anything other than go for a min/max build and try to make your toon as uber as possible you will get laughed at by many.

I build almost all my characters for concept, rather than ability, and only a few turn out to be unworkable, so it's generally a case that if I like it, it'll do the job I want it to do - and I also have a quirk that makes me want to take on extra challenges within the game, just because. But to do that, the challenge has to be achievable, so I'll try and make a tough character to solo the ITF, for example - and I cannot ever imagine doing something like trying to solo the STF only using TO enhancers

So in a roundabout way I guess I've said "sort of"

"You got to dig it to dig it, you dig?"
Thelonious Monk

My main is built for concept, but I don't feel this has resulted in a gimped character despite how all the guides for Fortunatas tell you to stay the hell out of melee. Of course, I did spend a lot of time and inf on IO sets, but even so, after hearing how melee fortunatas are a bad idea... idunno. I've never played the way I'm told is the best way to do it, so I have no idea if I'm actually worse off or just playing something that's highly underappreciated.

I have encountered people that actually do deliberately gimp their characters. When it happens it's nearly always been Emp characters where the player has specifically focused on the healing powers and made a point to take as few offensive powers as possible by taking as many non offensive power pool powers as possible. A good warning sign is someone who is rockin the aura for no reason outside of combat.

Aside from my farmers who are built for performance, all my characters are 'concept' oriented. I take powers that fit my idea of them, not necessarily the 'best' options available.

I mean it's a superhero game and I want them to feel 'super', but the environment is forgiving enough that even my grav/TA controller with his idiosyncratic power choices & generic IO slotting gets the job done.

To add a point to the OP:

I don't think he's asking about 'gimping' your character just for concept because 'his bio says so'. There's more reasons for it. It's more because the game doesn't quite give every possible option you could want to customize your character to the full extent of your imagination...so you may have to use creative or alternate means to accomplish it.

Is there an option to make your character a 'protector' or local hero to a certain neighborhood? Well it's not in the character creator...and if it's anything but King's Row, Atlas or the Hollows, you're going to have to lvl up first beforehand.

What if your character isn't an incarnate or if they're an incarnate, the only use their elevated power rather than well-power? The devs haven't really given any option to do this beyond just not being *really* incarnate.

There aren't many implemented limitations on power usage (you've got crashes on some powers), but what if the concept of your character uses some sort of limit? What if they can only access some power at certain times (full moon, seasonal, after you've 'died') or under certain conditions (when close to nature, in sunlight, when they are fully possessed)? I wouldn't expect the devs to ever implement a system to take everything into consideration like that, so that is a situation where you may 'gimp' yourself instead of expecting the system to do the work for you.

That said, just because one limits their character doesn't mean the character has no means to surpass those limits...these characters are super after all. Just like the OP, he'll still use incarnate powers on incarnate content...perhaps that's a situation the character deems necessary to push pass their limitations despite the 'danger'. That some i-powers may always go unused is simply a greater limitation of the game itself limiting you to 'these handful of powers' to demonstrate your incarnateiness.

I'm sure the OP could have complained there aren't more varied incarnate powers for his character concept besides those lore pets or destiny buffs, but he didn't. He simply won't use them on some characters and I find that's perfectly fine. What about you?

I have an Invulnerability 'tanker' with no defensive toggles. I got her all the way to 50 mostly solo (by mostly, I'd say 95%). I'm going to start running her through the Dark Astoria content soon.

I started a toggle-less Super Reflexes/Martial Arts tanker, but I got bored witless by level 28.

There are oft-recommended powers I tend to skip because I don't like the way they work, and if I end up having to take them for lack of any other choices I often don't use them. Build Up and Aim, for instance. Or Clear Mind. Or that sonic Trick Arrow.

I generally don't go in for Tough/Weave, either.

And offensive toggles on characters without mez protection make me think twice, moreso if they're rather dependent on those toggles. My Fire/Rad controller has been pretty much abandoned in the 40s because of how ultimately futile they seem.

My characters tend to be heavy on concept, and "quality of life" considerations (like having exceptionally well-slotted travel powers) so they are weaker than equivalent characters that are purely min-maxed for combat power.
My supergroup also has a lowbie group that shuts off its XP for a month at a time and plays all the content at that level (currently 20).
Do I ever permanently shut off XP because I feel a character is powerful enough? No. I can always choose not to use the higher level powers and keep them off my hotbar while still playing level 50 content.

Just saw a player in the help channel tonight trying to get PL'd because he can't complete any missions on his own because his character is designed to be non combat. He said he just follows other players around casting heals/buffs.

Ugh, really?! I mean, I get that conceptually: maybe he wants to create a Marvel-esque mutant, a one-trick pony. But then turn off your xp at 10 or 12 and be a perma-healer on DFBs! People will love you!

In a sick and twisted way though, that is exactly what I am talking about i.e. taking a concept to an extreme to the point where most players would consider your decisions foolish. However, there is a smart, unobtrusive way to go about something like that. What you're describing, F_B, is NOT it.

Still going to be interesting if and when I take my 'power pools only from level 6' energy/elec brute Iron man build onto iTrials.

that is a big if though.