A question to veteran players…
I have a Death Seal Lich and I’m very happy with her. I’d like to test another Lich build and I was wondering, should I level a new one or respec current one and lose her current performance?
If I level a new one, I’ll lose the benefits of the five blessings the first has. But if I respec the first one, I’ll lose my highest performing hero that brings me tons of shards.
From you experience, what do you prefer? Keeping at least a high level hero and level a new one, or have one only hero for each mastery?
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Personally, I make new characters. For me, the journey is more important than the destination though I know others will feel differently.
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Agree with Llama8, i am definately finding more fun in leveling new toons than in keep running the endgame.
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I am also in the camp, that usually plays a new char, because growing with the build is a better experience for me.
There are some rare cases, where i am absolutely not statisfied with a given build and i might swap it over entirely.
But if you are statisfied with the current build, you should definitely play a new char, so you don’t need to switch, and then switch back again.
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Not an LE veteran, but for me ‘endgame’ always feels anticlimatic. It’s the point that when reached, you realized is a bit pointless, and it was the chase that was thrilling. Having said that, I hate to loose stuff I have, so respeccing to try something new without a guarantee (not to mention the time wasted doing it) of going back to where you were, is a no-no, so releveling a new character is the way to do that.
The best solution is that in Grim Dawn, where you can just duplicate your character and change that build, though. Having been forced to redo things I do not want to (if I do not like to repeat the leveling), is not a good way to prolong the time a gamer interacts with the game in my opinion.
I (and some others) already suggested some alternative ways of leveling chars.
This thread here contains some really good suggestions.
It does not necessarily needs to be waaay quicker than the story, just some variety and options.
“Duplicating” a char would not give me the statisfaction of achieve progress with a new build though.
I do not want to have stuff “gifted to me”
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And that’s perfectly valid personal preference. The option does not need to be used by those who do not want it, but is nice for those who do, though.
You’re right about that other thread, didn’t mean to restart a discussion on that topic in this thread.
i always reroll. for my current main char i did it even for some minor bad gear choices without planning that kind of locked me in. so instead of 2 hours of gambling to fix my gear i rerolled.
there was always something i could learn about the game when i started fresh. best way to level a skill to get the most out of it early, same for passives, to name a few examples.
in the end its always about killing monsters, so for me it doesn’t matter that much at what level.
i also enjoy the early levels because there’s always something to look forward to.
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It depends for me. I like having a character of every class. So if I get tired of my Void Knight and want to do Druid, I would prefer to make a new character (if respec were an option I would still make a new one). If I have a Void Knight and some new stuff happens and I want a different Void Knight, I would prefer to respec. I don’t want to level the same character again, with only minor changes.
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Yeah, that’s a fair point. If someone found out a more effective skill tree for a skill I was using on an existing character, I’d probably just respec it rather than building a new character.
That’s kind of what I was thinking of. But it’s good to have one trustworthy hero who almost never changes, and who we use when we need gold, shards of specific gear quite quickily.
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I’d keep the good performing character. The transition process can be a bit of a chore. I regret respeccing some of my characters.
Even if everything is fine and you like your new build, you might miss the old one.
If you relevel a new toon, you grow with your build. And you can swap your builds depending on your mood.
I make theme based characters, so I can change/tweak builds but don’t need to switch out too much gear:
- Melee crit Paladin
- Throwing Paladin
- Ailment FG
- Fire / Lightning / Cold Sorc
- Throwing Rogue
- Melee Lich
- DoT Lich
- …
If you find a theme that can be used for several different builds, the respeccing is much easier.
May I ask, what your current Lich build us about? And what build do you wanna do next?
She is a Death Seal Lich. I’m very happy with this build, pleasant to play and powerful.
And I’d like to test a melee Lich, probably based upon Harvest.
I like your idea of theme based characters.
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Thanks to all for your thoughts!
I will keep my Lich as is and level a new one. Then, I’ll always keep safe one powerful hero and I’ll probably respec some others. Right now, I have one hero for each mastery (Forge Guard ongoing).
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Personally, always make a new character. But I also only play on SSF, because the hunt for gear from scratch is part of what I enjoy.
Besides that, I find that trying to learn a different skill set up from a high level messes with my muscle memory that is gradually built up with leveling a character. But maybe that’s just because I’m old 
Outside of that, I find that the levelling process is part of what I enjoy, so it seems silly to skip it, it just cuts a lot of the longevity out of the game for me.
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But if you have for example four Paladin builds that you want to test, you level four paladins?
I’m probably an extreme outliner but I tend to just make new characters. Like Llama I enjoy the journey more than the power flex at the end. Unless I’m adjusting a few passives here and there, I just scrub and start over. I guess I’m just accustom to that mentality of playing D2/LoD for far too many years back in what you would call, ‘the day’.
I also completely empty my character list with every major patch (only keeping level 100s for trophies, like my Mirror of Kalandra), as I treat them like new seasons/leagues. I keep gear, idols, and crafting goods. But some of the balancing and changes made to the campaign or leveling section of the game, are just as important to test.
So all I can say is, do what you’ll get the most enjoyment from. I don’t mind the campaign and progressing through the MoF again as the arena (like GRs or Delve) is my least favorite part of the game. That being said, I do understand the other side of the situation. I’m sure I’d be more inclined to just respec an existing character if my time was more limited and other real life factors.
I literally have 3 paladin characters, actually, each levelled individually in SSF. I have a shield throw pally, a “regifter” pally, and a new experimental build I’m trying using rebuke and focused on reflected damage. All three are in the late 70’s or low 80’s.
So yea, I just make a new character. Like I said, I enjoy the journey and learning the playstyle, rather than the (as Deimos put it) “power flex” at the end. I also have 2 liches, 2 spellblades and 2 rogues. I have some primalists lying around too, but don’t care for the character model much so I don’t tend to play that class much.
+1 to making new characters
i have completely respec’d characters once or twice, but they were ones that i didn’t enjoy very much and found interesting build ideas for on the forum. i don’t usually delete old characters but i almost never play ones that were made on previous patches, especially when there are significant changes to gearing (like all the characters who had set glancing blows gear when that affix was taken out of the game).
personally, ive always gone with lvling different toons of the same class.