When do you shelf a character?
 

When do you make the decision to shelf a character?

Once shelved, do they remain completely untouched?

When and why might you go back to them?

When I feel another character exceeds my previous character's power.
No, dabble with my characters, though I do play one more than the others.
I go back to them because each one can do something the other's cannot.

When I'm not having fun with them any longer.

I have 4 characters currently on P99. 60 Monk, 58 Necromancer, 52 Bard, 19 Druid. I use my highest level character to twink the next and so on and so forth.

Monk - My first P99 char - I raid and accumulate DKP on my Monk and rarely play him outside raiding. Decently raid geared - I will take him and "park him" in zones where raid spawns occur so I can quickly log onto him in the event of a spawn. Not retired, but also not really used much. I take him to Sebelis for Fungi Tunic farming when I am able since people love melee dps and monk pulls.

Bard - I made him originally as a Naggy alt (thus 52) but I have found I never play him at all. I spent probably 30k on him and have also got some PoG/Hate/Sky items...I would love to play my bard more but I honestly don't think I ever will. Maybe one day I will revist him and get to 60 and do my epic, but this char is "shelved" for the time being due to me just not really liking bards and how hard it can be to get a group.

Necromancer - My love child - heavily twinked (Zlandicar Heart for example) and I have bought most of his expensive spells already for when I get to 60. My end goal is to use the necromancer to replace my Monk as my raid character so I can go and roleplay on my Monk and help newbs out in Blackburrow. I will probably use the Necro to help farm items to give away though.

Druid - Wutaang - My newest project because I have never had a porting class. I am not so sure I will get him 60 but you never know. Main goal here is to reach 50 and be a port machine. I really like him so far

Future project - Some of the most fun I had was leveling my Bard because he was super twinked - I think I may make a Shadow Knight/Pally/War geared to the teeth (Fungi/CoF/BadAssWeapon)

I play til I dont feel a usefulness but I never really put it away. I rarely play my bard but when I do he is still beast mode eventhough he isnt fully geared anymore.

If I roll an alt and dont enjoy it by 12-20 ish I shelve forever or make it some sort of mule. Ive tried six classes and only enjoyed three.

That's a great point I'd like to quote. I too have a 52 character that I keep for vox/naggy. But since I've never been in a guild. I've never done vox/naggy with that character.

So my point is,. Here I have a character that is "shelfed" and I can pull it down for a specific purpose. Like a druid alt for if you play with RL friends which can be trusted to sign into your main account so you on the druid can port the group to a destination.

I think I recall reading something about guilds having characters parked at specific spots to see if raid mob pop? I'd consider those shelfed characters. I think TMO in their hay day had the most shelfed characters.

Kinda makes you wonder just how many level 60's there are inactive at the moment. :)

Early 50s seems to be my clutch point, the thought of KC..,

There are other places to level at 50 other than KC lol

Yes, yes there are. But XP at 51 makes it a grind and when there's other alts you can get easier levels on I find myself switching.

I know it doesnt make a lot of sense :D