Poll: Character design follow a build or make your own?

[ka243 3]

So, what do you think? I'm going to vote for in sacred games designing the character is more fun than actually playing. I find the character design to be very developed and the gameplay experience to be somewhat lacking (except in the goal of testing character builds). For me a good rpg is one that is very fun both to play and with regards to character design. I think sacred scores better in the first department than the second.

 

Concerning builds, I would like to be able to make my own builds without consulting any resources but the game is way too ambiguous to do that effectively without community resources. So for this game and for me, at first the only way to enjoy it was to play a build by someone else to learn game, then do research, then make own builds.

Edited December 22, 2009 by ka243

[Numerii 1]

After tanking in MMOs for nearly a decade now I can't play games like this without doing extensive research. Unless you are extremely gifted I don't see anyone being able to figure out every secret mechanic in games like this and as anyone who's ever been a successful tank can tell you, it is such an extremely competitive archetype to play in MMOs as there is usually only room for 1 or 2 in every raid.

 

So I started using a build that sounded fundamentally sound, researched my ass off and later deleted the build and started making my own. As you said, the game itself is rather lackluster and boring but seeing your own builds play out and become successful is what drives me to play.

[ka243 3]

Agreed that it is not possible to optimize without doing research. Some people may not care about optimizing prefering to just "play for fun". The problem with this game is that its not "fun enough" to play for fun without researching I guess so a lot of the fun is in the character design, trying to make a better character and impressing others with your character design (ladder feature).

 

It would be nice if there was a little more focus on gameplay and storytelling in the next installment via more choices that make a difference in how the game plays out. I feel no emotional connection whatsoever to my characters or the quest they are doing and I never read the quest descriptions, just following the yellow arrow. I also hardly ever did any sidequest because I feel the rewards were for the most part worthless.

 

At least the character design part is fun .

[Knuckles 904]

I'm one of the guys who will just wing it. I'll build a toon and select skills/Combat Art's up to a certain level. Usually around level 30 I know whether I like the build, if I selected the right Combat Art's or skills, or even just like that particular character. I'm often rebuilding the same toon over and over as I learn about it's strengths and weaknesses.

 

I don't get too caught up in stats other than making sure I select the appropriate skills. Number crunching for me isn't fun. I don't try to maximize or optimize the build/skills. So most of my characters will have some small flaws to them. For me it's more fun learning as I go. Usually why I don't write guides. Most of my builds have a couple things that could be done better. I don't worry about socketing or finding the best equipment. Half the time my sockets are empty and my gear is 20+ levels below my clvl

 

yes I'm lazy lol

[Chareos Rantras 0]

At the beginning I just played a random build, afterwards I would check in on the SIF & read some guides, after getting better at Sacred 2, I think the most quality came out of making a random build that's special and hasn't been done before.

But now, a year later the best thing is just make a build which I like & stick with it for maximum FUN.

 

 

cheers!

Chareos Rantras

[wolfie2kX 528]

For me... It's all fine and dandy to read the sage advice posted here - but until you've actually PLAYED the game for a while with multiple characters a bit, there's an element missing. It's like not having your enough of your own personal experience points - know what I mean? My first charcter was a temple guardian - and he was a shot in the dark, fumbling blindly for the most part. He did OK until I got up to that big nasty dragon in the caves under the ocean.. My beginner's luck ran out and eventually, the game got hosed. Needless to say - it was worth the learning experience.

 

Anyhow..Now that I've played the game for a while, my understanding of things is much better. Now, when I read discussions on skills or CAs or whatever, I have a much better grasp of what's being said and I can actually make use of the info in the articles. I'm now at level 47 on the Dryad Islands. With any luck I'll be done with the quests soon and will be off to the wastelands and the final challenges in the next week or two.

[podgie_bear 184]

My first character was just for fun and I built it as I played it, purely by instinct. Since then I have done a lot of research, read other peoples builds and tried to 'scientifically' make a super build. However, although they tend to be pretty good, none of them has been as much fun to play and as butt-kickingly spectacular as that first 'instinctive' build.

 

I think I may have made a mistake in trying to build great characters that do not necessarily suit my play style, rather than building characters that suit me even if they are not quite so 'planned'.

[S-P 6]

Going with the builds that other people have made is OK, but may not fit in with my own play style. So I tend to go with my own builds with some elements of the builds done by the pros, if it don't workout that well I start over and try something else. That's the good thing with Sacred 2, you can always come up with new ideas.

[claudius 104]

I find the gameplay portion to be relaxing activity. Something to do with my time. I said equal but in truth the designing is probably my favorite since I get to explore my creative side. Its like a puzzle. So why did I say equal? To me its like cooking something and then not eating it if I design a build but never get to see it. They go together in my eyes. I also enjoy the gameplay and forum portions aspect in seeing other people; the social side of things.

[Shattered Rift 2]

For me... It's all fine and dandy to read the sage advice posted here - but until you've actually PLAYED the game for a while with multiple characters a bit, there's an element missing. It's like not having your enough of your own personal experience points - know what I mean? My first charcter was a temple guardian - and he was a shot in the dark, fumbling blindly for the most part. He did OK until I got up to that big nasty dragon in the caves under the ocean.. My beginner's luck ran out and eventually, the game got hosed. Needless to say - it was worth the learning experience.

And this is why I suggest, to people new to the game, that they create a "throwaway" character and play on their own before they delve into the research side of things. Having a feel for the game helps immensely.

 

Personally, I started off with a Shadow Warrior with my brother, and I kind of just slapped a few skills onto him that were... sub par. Speed Lore, for example, x.x. It's a shame that there are so many "useless" skills for certain classes. It would be nice if things had been a bit more balanced and that we had more of a choice than we do. My next character was a Temple Guardian. I started towards Lost Fusion, but I found myself unable to beat Gahanka, so I chose Hafted Lore and Tactics Lore, screwing up my build. Did some research (finding Vaclaf's Fallen Angel build, I believe) and tried to "fix" the toon, but I ultimately scrapped him at Level 50 in the Desert.

 

I find the design as much fun as the gameplay... though I probably spend a near equal amount of time with each, which means I'm probably spending way too much time designing. Originally, I took each toon to Level 15 before researching their builds. I wanted to get a feel for the CAs and know what I wanted to run. Then it was easy to find builds that lined up with that, and I evaluated the builds in my own mind and made any tweaks I thought were good.

[mr.ioes 0]

I really like to play my char and adjust it every now and then with character editor. because you can play more than one style then and even if cheating like that may ruin the fun normally, in sacred 2 it doesn't for me.

 

I enjoy finding good combos myself

[Steerpike1 53]

I thought when I started with Sacred 2 that I'd know what I was doing. Thus was born Dorcas, my first Dryad, the one with suicidal ideations. A few builds later, I hit upon a Seraphim build I call the Simone build (of my own making, no less) which can get to Niobium and rock no trouble. Whilst it is possible to find builds for characters online, I find it better to play around myself and figure out how things work. Naturally, that means I just wing it at first. I pity my first seraphim in S1, who ended up with a regeneration rate to her Attack CA (Pelting Strikes for you Sacred 2 only players), which took about two minutes because I hadn't got the grip of regeneration time - yes it hit for a gazzilion points of damage on use (particularly in the initial release when CAs always hit), but you try waiting for two minutes in combat for your special move to come back. Not nice, not nice at all!

[Stormwing 40]

For most of my chars I follow the builds at present. As they are deffo working once you get all pieces together.

Some are of my own desing, though those are moslty somewhat general, like essjayehm's TG-concept. You could slap it together as you'd like after couple of must skills, and it would be pretty much viable in the long run.

But I'm sure once I'll get a good burst of creativity I'll try out something totally new.

[mr.ioes 0]

oh and btw... if you use the character editor tool, you are able to use builds you usually aren't to

 

e.g. take armor skill but not having any point into one of the required skills for that.

[Mistle 0]

being this game has a hella wicked learning curve, it has been brought to my attention making your own character and suffering through every last bit of the trial and error that is leveling it is the best way to play this game then taking a char that might have been tweaked by a Vet player that knows the in's and out's of the game and trying to make it your own.