Characters vs World Saves - I'm confused!

[Captain Canard]

I just discovered that characters are separate from saves. I'm a bit confused how this works in practice. For example, if I bring a new character into a world where I have a base and various NPCs are unlocked, am I not sacrificing all the various skill points I would get from running these quests in a new map with my new character? I mean it's cool that I could have an advanced character gather top gear to give to my new character (by storing in a chest), but that new character is still way behind in skill points.

Conversely, if I take my seasoned character and drop him into a new game, what prevents me from easily stacking up extra points by running all the easy beginner quests using my OP character?

The reason I created a new character was mainly cosmetic (I wanted to change my appearance), which is something I wish the game allowed. But now I'm trying to determine if it's better starting a new save with the new character, or injecting that character into a current save and figuring a way to level them up without the starter quests.

[Captain Canard]

Oh, it also dawns on me that I can give my new character(s) high-level armor and weapons from my main world, and then use those new characters in new worlds to run through their own starter quests but with good gear. I'm not sure I want to go through all those quests again, so I wonder if there is another way to quickly gain levels and skill points.

I also wonder what stops someone from creating a bunch of new world saves, getting those easy beginning skill points, and rinse / repeat to level up quickly..

I told you I was confused!

[Kosevich]

Each character has a quest log.
In those quest log all quests are separate in 2 categories:
- local world quests (tied to world);
- character quests (tied to character).

For example skill points gained from shroud roots are tied to your character, not world. So there is no way to gain additional skill points.
Every character has a skill point hard cap.
Around 130 skill points (not actually remember exact number).

[OAN]

Originally posted by Kosevich:

Each character has a quest log.
In those quest log all quests are separate in 2 categories:
- local world quests (tied to world);
- character quests (tied to character).

For example skill points gained from shroud roots are tied to your character, not world. So there is no way to gain additional skill points.
Every character has a skill point hard cap.
Around 130 skill points (not actually remember exact number).

So I'm curious, could you start a new character in an existing end-game world and still get all of the skill points you would/could get in a fresh world?

[Captain Canard]

Originally posted by Kosevich:

For example skill points gained from shroud roots are tied to your character, not world. So there is no way to gain additional skill points.

Okay, but I'm guessing that cleared Elixir Wells are tied to the world, not the character, so that would mean I need to put my new character in a new world in order to get the skill points for clearing wells. Is that right?

Also, I notice that flame points are tied to the character rather than the map, which means I would need my new character to build his / her own flame alter and upgrade it, despite an established flame alter being already in the world. Are flame alters "owned" by the character that creates them, or are they basically open to all players? I haven't checked, but I wonder if my existing flame alter (main base) shows as level 1 for the new character, despite being improved for my old character.

[Silent Warrior]

Originally posted by Captain Canard:

Originally posted by Kosevich:

For example skill points gained from shroud roots are tied to your character, not world. So there is no way to gain additional skill points.

Okay, but I'm guessing that cleared Elixir Wells are tied to the world, not the character, so that would mean I need to put my new character in a new world in order to get the skill points for clearing wells. Is that right?

Also, I notice that flame points are tied to the character rather than the map, which means I would need my new character to build his / her own flame alter and upgrade it, despite an established flame alter being already in the world. Are flame alters "owned" by the character that creates them, or are they basically open to all players? I haven't checked, but I wonder if my existing flame alter (main base) shows as level 1 for the new character, despite being improved for my old character.

The skill points from clearing Elixir Wells are tied to your character, same as Shroud Roots.
When you start a new char, he needs to discover all this roots and Elixir Wells on his own, and clear them.
Your char can get 149 skill points all together, and it doesn't matter on which map.

About flame altars: there is a difference between Flame Level and Altar Level. The Flame Level is bound to the world, and once upgraded, this level will count for the whole world and for all chars in this world. The maximum is Flame Level 8 at moment, which you can reach after killing the dragon boss in mountain biome.
You can delete or replace altars, but the Flame Level will stay.

Altars also don't belong to a certain char. Every char can see all altars and use them for fast travel, even when he didn't explore this area yet.

Personally I wouldn't recommend this, especially when you are new to the game. When a new char starts to play in an old world, he gets access to everything, what was found there already. NPCs, dialogues, crafting recipes, and so on.
Yes, he can replay the main quests, but also he'll miss a lot, skip quests and progression....it just causes confusion. Imo you should only do this, when you have already much experience with this game and it's quest progression.

[Captain Canard]

Originally posted by Silent Warrior:

The skill points from clearing Elixir Wells are tied to your character, same as Shroud Roots.
When you start a new char, he needs to discover all this roots and Elixir Wells on his own, and clear them.

This kinda confuses me, since destroying a root feels like I'm changing the world, yet it's tied to a character? So if I take a new character into an old world, the roots / wells are all reset for that new character?

About flame altars: there is a difference between Flame Level and Altar Level.

Huh... I guess I better research this more. I assumed they were the same (because numerically they are for me right now).

Personally I wouldn't recommend this, especially when you are new to the game. When a new char starts to play in an old world, he gets access to everything, what was found there already. NPCs, dialogues, crafting recipes, and so on.
Yes, he can replay the main quests, but also he'll miss a lot, skip quests and progression....it just causes confusion. Imo you should only do this, when you have already much experience with this game and it's quest progression.

My thinking is that I'm using a new character basically to change the appearance of an older character (only level 10 right now), so that if I can level this new character to be where my old character is, then I can basically swap the new in for the old. Inventory is easy, and skill points can be kinda easy if I temporarily tweak the settings, but things like lore books and quests and such are tied to the character, right? That's where it feels like I need to redo all my progress, in which case starting a new world might make more sense. The good news is that I can go to the old world, get some good gear and supplies, then go back to the new world and speedrun all the old quests to catch up to my original character.

I still wish the game would just let me edit my existing character. I hate it when games force you to commit to a specific character design before you can see what that character looks like out in the real world. I'm guessing the save file isn't some nice XML that would let me import the looks of one character into the saved progress of another... Anyway, that's why I'm asking all these questions, taking the long about road to try to do something that should be simple.