Does your character have an actual "concept?"

[Thrif]

Surprised that so many voted yes, I was under the assumption a majority of the players here were minmaxers. I mean sure, one doesn't necessary exclude the other, but still.

Personally no, I don't really have a concept for my characters. Sometimes I let them have one, but it can change between expansions, and they're all subject to faction/race/namechanges whenever I want, so the concepts are more like fleeting headcanons and I don't think they count in this context.

[Xilurm]

All of my characters kinda do. I don't go as far as writing paragraphs of background lore because I'm not good at it, but in my mind every character I have has a concept. And that's basically how I'm going to choose which covenants they go in.

[Soeroah]

Most of my characters do have a concept, mostly along race/class lines, though my belf girl rogue, demon hunter and mage are all related, the void elf is an estranged sister and the nightborne is their ancestor. My Mag'har warrior is the alt universe version of my DK.

However, last night I changed the covenants I had planned for my characters because it turned out I had two of the same armour type in each covenant, and as a collector (and a lazy one) I don't want to have to grind on too many extra alts to unlock all the armour and tints, so I reworked them so now I have no crossover and I only need four additional alts.

I can mostly be happy with where they are now, Mage aside, but I would have preferred my original plan... but I don't wanna do that much progression without getting the maximum collecting benefit. I can always change after I finish the collecting.

[Omedon]

Surprised that so many voted yes, I was under the assumption a majority of the players here were minmaxers. I mean sure, one doesn't necessary exclude the other, but still.

Not only is there bound to be overlap, but with how standoffish this site can get I imagine the silent lurker population is rather abundant, and I purposely kept the vote private! Either way, it’s an encouraging, heartwarming result!

[Ryzek]

Yes, my character does have a concept in my head, this pretty much determines race, class, name and transmog for the most part. Usually when I race change its due to a shift in concept, instead of re-leveling another character.

[Psykho]

Eyup

Hell, I have a Worgen Rogue I'm planning to level basically he's from Kul'tiras who stowed away on a ship to Gilneas to escape his mother who is essentially a Fagin type character though he did have some (orphan)friends he left behind under his mothers thumb, and some family he didn't meet until around the 4th war including twin younger sisters and a father whos basically a big jolly guy with a penchant for naming his kids after birds, and my rogue was a minor from cata to WoD and was effectively illiterate until he spent MoP getting a basic education from the lorewalkers

And that example is just an alt I'm planning to level, can you imagine how my mains are

[Lionwoman]

Some of them yes, others not that much.

[Destinas]

Yeah, I make internal stories for all the characters I create. I usually try to bend the lore when I can. Or, I'll at least give them different origins than the norm, while still within the parameters of lore.
-I imagine my Mechagnome DK isn't actually a DK, she just has cryogenic machinery that she uses.
-I imagine my Vulpera Warlock started out by finding a cursed relic in the sands of Vol'dun that opened a nether portal, and the relic bound to him forever.
-I like to imagine my Zandalari shadow priest is a priestess of Bwonsamdi, and she's only collecting souls for her Loa from wherever she can.
-My Nightborne once worked in the Nighthold's obsevatory, and she was exiled originally for speaking out about her findings. After Suramar was liberated, she realized that she had seen so much of the stars, but not much of her own world, so she set out to adventure.
-My Draenei was once a vindicator on Argus, but she lost connection with the Light through an act of violent vengeance. Now, she is a simple warrior, searching for her siblings.
-My Draenei's siblings are my Draenei monk and Lightforged paladin. They all wound up being separated on different ships and worlds. I imagine my monk became a Broken, so I keep him in gear that covers most of his face.
-My Kul Tiran mage is a Tidesage. I always use a tidesge set, weapon, and water elemental on him.

I don't play all those characters all the time, but I do like thinking of different things like that when I level a new character.

I guess I will say that I think there are certain Race/ Class decisions I make based on Lore like I will never make anything other than a Human or Undead DK since they were all dead Orc Warlocks reanimated in Dead Human Soldiers Bodies.

Well, that was the first generation created in the Second War for the Horde. The DKs we play are the second generation created by the Lich King, where he raised anyone and everyone as DKs. They are different things, they just share a name.

Though you absolutely could have your character's lore being one of the original Horde DKs with a Forsaken DK, breaking away from the traditional Scourge DKs we play, while still making sense.

[SniperCT]

I have 21 alts and most of them have concepts and most of these concepts have evolved as I've played the game and my characters go through new things.

When I rolled my nelf rogue in 2004 I had a concept of someone who follows a path of no path. She rejected the sentinels and became a wanderer,and developed a strong identity over the years. My warrior is a berserker heavily influenced by Rohan in Lord of the Rings, she's attached to Stromgarde.

Sometimes they surprise even me! My hunter was young and naive until she went to northrend and then she proved she's pragmatic and a little cold when she was the only one among her friends willing to go as far as possible to get needed information (torturing the mages during the nexus unlock quests)

I know which covenants mine lean towards but I don't know ultimately what they'll pick until I get there on at least one character (I'll have a better idea once I've done the questing once)

[kabshiel]

Yes my characters all have a “concept”. But I’m willing to sacrifice it for gameplay if necessary.

[Toybox]

Not in the slightest. I have a character on Argent Dawn (EU) that I do have a story in mind for should someone talk to me, but that character has less than a few hours /played, so it's not really a concern (yet).

[Tatersakk]

Nope, my characters are literally just robots that I press buttons on to kill bad guys.

[Jujudrood]

About half of my characters have a legit concept, where the character is named something befitting of the class, with mog that matches the theme/concept, but that's about as far as I go in concept (name/mog).

The other half, well, those tend to have silly names and wildly mismatched mog to look like a clown.
I guess you could say they have a concept of sorts, but nothing real in terms of an RPG, but rather more out of boredom.

In terms of Covenants, I'll probably just pick the one that fits: aesthetic, convenience, rewards
For example, if Necrolords mog would look dope af on a druid, and the hub is a nice layout, that'll be the one.
If Night Fae end up making one of my clown suits even better, you can bet that's the choice for one of those silly bitches.

[Venziir]

Nope, I just like to do dungeons and Raids I play Zoomed out to max with sound Muted so I can hear other people in Discord talk. I despise Leveling and have since Day one want to get to Max level ASAP so I can start doing Dungeons, I have the same Transmog on all my characters I have had since It was available which is for the most Part either T5-T6 on nearly every spec with the exception of DK at T10 and Pally at T8. I have a sense of investment into my Druid who has been my semi Main since Middle of BC and my Hunter who was my first character in 05. But beyond that I could honestly care less whatever lets me do my job on my preferred class better or easier Is the choice I will always make regardless of Lore or whatever.

I guess I will say that I think there are certain Race/ Class decisions I make based on Lore like I will never make anything other than a Human or Undead DK since they were all dead Orc Warlocks reanimated in Dead Human Soldiers Bodies. And wanting Undead to be able to be any spec that they were while they were alive I, cause it makes no sense that they magically forget how to do things when they die, No reason I cant be a Paladin as a Forsaken, you could want to punish others as well as yourself for your cursed form.

Those were the original Death Knights, the first generation ones. The player Death Knights are the second (and third now thanks to the addition of allied race and pandaren death knights). Huge difference between those.

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah, I make internal stories for all the characters I create. I usually try to bend the lore when I can. Or, I'll at least give them different origins than the norm, while still within the parameters of lore.
-I imagine my Mechagnome DK isn't actually a DK, she just has cryogenic machinery that she uses.
-I imagine my Vulpera Warlock started out by finding a cursed relic in the sands of Vol'dun that opened a nether portal, and the relic bound to him forever.
-I like to imagine my Zandalari shadow priest is a priestess of Bwonsamdi, and she's only collecting souls for her Loa from wherever she can.
-My Nightborne once worked in the Nighthold's obsevatory, and she was exiled originally for speaking out about her findings. After Suramar was liberated, she realized that she had seen so much of the stars, but not much of her own world, so she set out to adventure.
-My Draenei was once a vindicator on Argus, but she lost connection with the Light through an act of violent vengeance. Now, she is a simple warrior, searching for her siblings.
-My Draenei's siblings are my Draenei monk and Lightforged paladin. They all wound up being separated on different ships and worlds. I imagine my monk became a Broken, so I keep him in gear that covers most of his face.
-My Kul Tiran mage is a Tidesage. I always use a tidesge set, weapon, and water elemental on him.

I don't play all those characters all the time, but I do like thinking of different things like that when I level a new character.



Well, that was the first generation created in the Second War for the Horde. The DKs we play are the second generation created by the Lich King, where he raised anyone and everyone as DKs. They are different things, they just share a name.

Though you absolutely could have your character's lore being one of the original Horde DKs with a Forsaken DK, breaking away from the traditional Scourge DKs we play, while still making sense.

Unlikely, because those few death knights who followed Ner'zhul into the Twisting Nether were turned into liches. And aside from Teron Gorefiend no known "original" death knights are known to have survived or remain.

[RoKPaNda]

Character concept? Nope. I can go to the barber and change my gender 100 times a day if I want to. I can go from being 200 pounds to 100 pounds and back by the click of a button. Character identity in WoW is shit.

I actually prefer this immensely to the traditional way of being locked completely into a choice you made at 4AM 15 years ago unless you invest a stupid amount of time to completely make a new character.

[Soluna]

I have a blood elf warlock, and well, honestly for me when I saw the Venthyr aesthetics and the like, I thought 'Hmmm, this feels like home'.

I guess because a blood elf warlock would most likely be slightly evil imo, and then the vampire aesthetics and kinda evil nature of Venthyr would suit her like a glove. Kyrian/Night fae are out of the question, too nice/pretty looking for a blood elf warlock, and as for necrolords, an okay aesthetic, but not what I'd expect my warlock to me.

I would really love to make my choice based on that, but for me the most important thing is gameplay fun. Not numbers or anything mind you, but fun, and necrolords is the only covenant whose ability is actually fun to press for 2 out of 3 specs for warlocks, and has some really neat interactions with the class. Therefore my choice is less about abilty + looks vs ability + looks, but instead a looks vs ability. And well, I thought that gameplay felt pretty meh in bfa overall, so I will definitely take every chance to improve my gameplay in shadowlands, rather than go for looks and get burnt out with boring class design (at least personally).

[StillMcfuu]

I have an internal story and carry out a little bit of a monologue with my characters and the story. That being said I really only do that with 1 or 2 characters, most of my alts don't really get that kind of rp attention. And I don't RP with other people.

Basically of my couple of characters I have stories for its all done personally, played out in my own head.

Its also not some hard RP. That nonsense is a massive turn off.

[schwank05]

Character concept? Nope. I can go to the barber and change my gender 100 times a day if I want to. I can go from being 200 pounds to 100 pounds and back by the click of a button. Character identity in WoW is shit.

Yup, I agree here I could care less what my character looks like other than they are all Males, it just feels weird to play a female as a Male. But, as far as looks go aside from certain races looking great I love Forsaken. The only look I get at my characters is on the Login screen, otherwise they all have armor on and you cannot see their faces ever because you are staring at their ass the whole time.

[Aggrophobic]

Yes: I want it to do the best damage possible in whatever content I do. That will be impossible in Shadowlands, making the expansion a fail in my book before it's even released.

Will I be playing a covenant that fits the class/rase or so on? Heck now. Even the armor and mount that comes with it looks horribel and I'll never ever use it.

[Aragoth]

As I've stated in other threads, and have had recently had confirmed by the devs, it's clear that they are building shadowlands assuming everyone has a concept to their character, a sense of "who they are" meant to inform a choice like covenants, which are meant to be a conceptual choice. I can't help but wonder how much of a correct or incorrect assumption that is among the extreme minority that populate forums like this.

I'm not asking "do you RP," because that's a loaded, misunderstood question that I don't really wanna get deeply into the connotations of in this thread. One does not need to outwardly RP to see their character as "someone" named anything from Omedon to Bob as opposed to "something" named Lovestopwn. You don't need to speak in thees and thous in /say to sit at your desk and say "nah, Bob wouldn't do that, Bob would do this!"

For me, yes, my characters have a concept, and I knew their covenants long before I knew the powers. Heck I'm actually not spoiling most of the powers, so I don't know them, and I will discover them as I choose for my "4 mains" at launch. But of course not everyone thinks like that, thus the thread.

So how about you? Are your characters actual characters, or are they more "gaming avatars" without a defining persona that guides what they do or how they dress or whatever?

Note: I Intentionally left out a 3rd briefly considered option of "yes I have a concept but not enough to inform a covenant choice over power" because, respectfully... that character doesn't have a concept strong enough to matter (and that's not Blizzard's problem in designing covenants or other choices, to be honest). Indeed, a good concept can at least narrow yourself down in the choices, giving you preferences from which you can choose for power, but if your character's actual character doesn't even come into play... yeah, that doesn't count.

Every single one of my characters has an established concept going in, and it is developed and progressed over time. As for Shadowlands itself, I have no real idea of how that'll be shaped and changed as I'm not even sure I like the material Blizzard is introducing for Shadowlands in the first place. A lot of brand new or seemingly retconned stuff. (Emerald Dream/Ardenweald, Dreadlords, Frostmourne origins, no mention of the "Light" afterlife that some npcs have ascended to, whether Shadowlands is still Azeroth-specific as it states in Chronicle, etc.)

Have no interest and never had in inserting myself into a game world, whenever games try to do that it's jarring and unwelcome. Not sure how asking if people RP is a loaded question, though.