Poll: Do you Min-max with your RPG parties or do you pick what looks cool?

[Strain42]

...I'm not gonna lie, I have NO idea what min-maxing is...

But in 9/10 RPGs I play, I usually just use whatever I personally like best, and usually the last one is just me choosing whatever fits the game better (for example, in Persona 1 I like to use Reiji as my 5th party member because I think he makes the story better)

Pokemon, party members, whatever the case. I just use whatever catches my favor.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

always flowing (to a point, i'm not gonna level up all my shit in melee and heavy armor if i'm a long distance player or as such.) but i'll pick the cool looking armors over the best ones, and i'll play to whatever my character is feeling like (usually i like to have my persuasion and stuff high, as i like to talk myself in/out of situations for lulz)

but yeah, just...don't really care to min max, i don't need to be "internet tuff guy #365" saying "LUL THAT GAME WAS SO EASY. WHY DIDN'T YOU MAGE EVERYTHING MAX BRO? INSANITY IS SO EASY, BEAT THAT IN LIKE AN HOUR."

 

[Fr]anc[is]

I always pick my party based on how much I like them. I usually manage to end up with a semi balanced party, but far from the optimal one.

 

[justnotcricket]

I play my character. If this makes me an awesome combat god...yay. If not...also yay. It's worked out rather well for me...and with quite a few very capable and successful characters. Sometimes at battle, sometimes at other things...sometimes at just about everything they touch. *shrug* I'd rather follow where their roleplay and the story takes me. Now, am I going to play someone that's utterly useless intentionally from the get go for 'RP'? No. Those 'RP Purists' who believe actively screwing their character over and making them useless means they're 'better roleplayers' are idiots.

Funny you should mention the 'RP-purist'...I've started to pick up actual D&D (as in, tabletop - technically I've had exposure to it in the form of Baldur's Gate etc), and I'm quite enjoying it. The people I know who play D&D are mostly RP types, and as such, I've had my introduction to the phrase 'power gamer' spat like it's equal with 'Nazi'. In fact, it was spat at me, when someone asked me what character I might play, and I (off the top of my head) said 'halfling rogue', because I like rogues, and I'd learned from games that halflings make good ones. I've only just begun to get to grips with the staggering variety that actual D&D offers in terms of race/class combos. Needless to say, I was a bit taken aback, and before I could ask what the problem was I got a tirade about people who just go for optimal stats (what I assume this 'min-maxing' business is about) over actual roleplaying experiences, and how such people should get away from the tables and go back to their videogames.

When I gently pointed out that the fact that 'powergamers' choose to actually play tabletop over just playing a videogame suggests that they do actually appreciate the human-interaction/ropleplay, silence reigned. I think if the conversation had continued much longer I might have discovered that the person I was talking to was one of these 'RP-purists' you mentioned...

Besides, I agree (as your post implies), that having a statistically optimised character and RP are *not* mutually exclusive, and that gimping your character because you think it makes you a better RP player is bewilderingly pointless. Sure, a statistically disadvantaged character might provide a different set of RP material for you to exploit, but they also potentially hamper a group's progress and make the DM's life harder just to satisfy the ego of the 'purist'.

Hm, that was a bit of a wall o' anecdote...sorry. What you said just touched a chord!

OT: I don't make a point of min-maxing, because I like my characters to fit the personality I assign to them based on their appearance. However, I don't usually like to make my life unnecessarily difficult, as I find it gets in the way of me enjoying the story.

 

[krazykidd]

I made a dual dagger wielding warrior in WoW before cata came out . What do you think? And i manage to top the dps charts in instances up til lvl 70. Fun times . Then at lvl 70 people kept kicking me and calling me a noob because they couldn't take a dual dagger weilding warrior seriously . People have no sense of adventure!

 

[Swny Nerdgasm]

I min max the shit out everygame I play, computer or pen and paper.

 

[Alexias_Sandar]

I've had plenty of fun with plenty of characters...both some that were quite solid, and some that were focused in less battle intensive areas... right now I'm having a lot of fun with a Doctor/Crafter/Sorceror type in Exalted, No Moon Lunar in a Table top Exalted game. Not the best combatant, but they can stay alive, and are good at keeping EVERYONE ELSE alive. Plus...have a very interesting story and good interaction with the other characters. Similarly...other characters...well. I've had a lot of fun with war heroes, soldiers, leaders and the like...thieves, criminals, scholars...spies... even a bartender once. It all depends on what's interesting for the game.

As for the 'purists' types that screw their own foot... well. Honestly? 95% of the time I've noticed they aren't actually the best roleplayers at the table or in the LARP or on the server or the like. Often...they're some of the WORST, looking for an excuse to make themselves feel they're better. And if they can't get respect either through power building...or through being interesting and fun to interact with...then they'll screw themself over and instead focus on having a complex about how they're a 'better roleplayer because they're playing a useless nit who shouldn't be involved in the first place'. Which generally has me asking 'Uhm, so, if you're such a good roleplayer, why is your character that's so helpless not doing the sensible thing and getting out of this situation where everything is trying to kill them, maybe settling down to a safe, simple life...'

 

[Vuliev]

When it comes to gear, I look for whatever's better than mine, but I don't generally do much beyond that. The most I usually ever do is use console commands/character editors to fix some of the skill points I misused over the course of a game. In emergency cases like my paladin and assassin from Lord of Destruction, I will full-out re-gear/re-spec them. Seriously, they couldn't handle Acts IV/V on Nightmare, and it made me sad.

 

[Gardenia]

It all depends. Guild Wars was nice in this respect because (almost) every weapon skin and armour could have max stats. But I guess that I am guilty of min-maxing. My business is the numbers, and business is good.

 

[Thanatos5150]

I play my character. If this makes me an awesome combat god...yay. If not...also yay. It's worked out rather well for me...and with quite a few very capable and successful characters. Sometimes at battle, sometimes at other things...sometimes at just about everything they touch. *shrug* I'd rather follow where their roleplay and the story takes me. Now, am I going to play someone that's utterly useless intentionally from the get go for 'RP'? No. Those 'RP Purists' who believe actively screwing their character over and making them useless means they're 'better roleplayers' are idiots.

Funny you should mention the 'RP-purist'...I've started to pick up actual D&D (as in, tabletop - technically I've had exposure to it in the form of Baldur's Gate etc), and I'm quite enjoying it. The people I know who play D&D are mostly RP types, and as such, I've had my introduction to the phrase 'power gamer' spat like it's equal with 'Nazi'. In fact, it was spat at me, when someone asked me what character I might play, and I (off the top of my head) said 'halfling rogue', because I like rogues, and I'd learned from games that halflings make good ones. I've only just begun to get to grips with the staggering variety that actual D&D offers in terms of race/class combos. Needless to say, I was a bit taken aback, and before I could ask what the problem was I got a tirade about people who just go for optimal stats (what I assume this 'min-maxing' business is about) over actual roleplaying experiences, and how such people should get away from the tables and go back to their videogames.

When I gently pointed out that the fact that 'powergamers' choose to actually play tabletop over just playing a videogame suggests that they do actually appreciate the human-interaction/ropleplay, silence reigned. I think if the conversation had continued much longer I might have discovered that the person I was talking to was one of these 'RP-purists' you mentioned...

Besides, I agree (as your post implies), that having a statistically optimised character and RP are *not* mutually exclusive, and that gimping your character because you think it makes you a better RP player is bewilderingly pointless. Sure, a statistically disadvantaged character might provide a different set of RP material for you to exploit, but they also potentially hamper a group's progress and make the DM's life harder just to satisfy the ego of the 'purist'.

There's actually a name for what the other guy was doing.
We call it the "Stormwind Fallacy".

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

Practicality over aesthetics. Min/maxing is what makes a game enjoyable for me because I can wreck everything in my way if I do it to enough of an extent.

 

[BENZOOKA]

Rather balanced choices based on what I need, want and will use.

 

[Versuvius]

It occurs some people (not necessarily people in the thread) but people you reference don't quite know what minmaxing is. Mostly prevailent with point-buy to make a dump stat as low as possible (like charisma for anyone not a cha based caster) and then making an intentionally broken build by shuffling around prestiges and feats. Pun-Pun being the most iconic one (Ultimate cosmic power at level 1 or so abusing various source books) or the hulking hurler that can throw planets. A halfling rogue isn't minmaxing because it gets a dex bonus. Picking a race with good dex is just choosing your race intelligently, dodge bonus is sexy too. Not necessary later on, i mean, whats a +1 to attack going to do in the long run? Not much. Unless you're playing 4ed. Then it is vital. But i don't like 4ed. Makes me rage.

http://1d4chan.org/wiki/D%26D_Optimization here is why.

 

[V da Mighty Taco]

I generally min-max according to what type of character I want to play as. For example, in New Vegas if I'm on an Explosives run I'll min-max almost everything to make the class as effective as possible at blowing things up. However, I'll avoid taking things that require me to go against who my character is (such as killing off innocent people in order to get some uber weapon / armor / perk even though my character is meant to be peaceful). I also will sometimes take or use something entirely out of whimsy or because I feel that it fits the character, even if it's not the best choice from a statistical point of view.

TLR I usually min-max whenever possible, though staying true to who my character is comes first.

 

[Gabanuka]

I go for whats fun to play really, and I do try and make my armour look cool otherwise I don't like playing it it and the experience is ruined.

 

[infinity_turtles]

I pick a character-concept, decide what I want the character to be able to do, and then optimize around it.

 

[veloper]

Since the OP is talking min-maxing parties in computer games, there's absolutely no reason not to do it.
Well, maybe just the one and that when you want a greater challenge. Even then I pick limits beforehand and then min-max within the extents of my new set of limits.

Anything else in a CRPG is playing not to win, but just to fool around.
A computer doesn't respond to what is cool or plays nice with your gimped characters.

In an MMO people will respond to your pretty gear at best and if anyone's concearned with your build or stats, it's about how yours isn't optimal enough for the party and not the other way around.