When do you shelf a character?

[Cecily]

I consider a character shelved when I meet specific goals with them. My rogue was shelved for about a year in Velious, because I didn't find rogue itemization very interesting and wasn't inclined to sacrifice sleep anymore for minuscule upgrades. I was happy with Cecily and my Kunark gear was enough to survive anything in Velious.

My goal with Wyntir was 250 tailoring, make a bunch of money, complete Tunare / Shawl quests. Done, done, done, and done. Shelved forever.

Zalea's goal was a Baton of Flames or a Salindrite. I got the Baton... somehow. Shelved.

Cecily got unshelved because I got a Claw of Lightning... somehow. Ty Jumba! That made playing a rogue fun again for precisely 6 months. I'm top tier DPS and the only upgrades are primal / vyemm's fang or mrylo dagger / Doze quests. Gonna pass on those. Beat EQ, shelved again.