How long have I been playing this and why am I still so bad at it?

[khadgar]

The answer to both question is "I don't know".

Step 1: Spend 2 hours idly watching tv while gathering upgrade stones.
Step 2: Upgraded as you go (It saves time)!
Step 3: Die a lot while gathering stones.

Final tally: 9 upgrade stones. I upgraded as I go (it saves time!)!

I suck at this game!

[Lancefighter]

Dont worry, most of us are pretty bad. The guy I play with semi regularly berates me on how often I die.. Which is pretty sad, given the amount of time I've put into the game already >_>

[Professor Paul1290]

The answer to both question is "I don't know".

Step 1: Spend 2 hours idly watching tv while gathering upgrade stones.
Step 2: Upgraded as you go (It saves time)!
Step 3: Die a lot while gathering stones.

Final tally: 9 upgrade stones. I upgraded as I go (it saves time!)!

I suck at this game!

Yikes!

You mean you're upgrading each character and had them die getting upgrade stones, thus using up the upgrade stones you just found?

Haven't had to say this to anyone yet, but that sounds like you might need a difficulty reduction. 

On that note, what difficulty are you playing on?

[Wanderer]

GYEAHHH!!!

Don't do dat!

no, seriously.  don't do dat.

Pop in 1/2 upgrades to balance your dude off at first.  Now, go hunt.  Hit 200-300.  NOW upgrade when you're not swapping your dude out all the time... congratz, good char. Go kill a boss.

[khadgar]

Well obviously that's the smart thing to do! Which is why I said I'm bad at this, because I haven't learned my lesson yet. I'm still doing it, because I want my ugprades NOW.

At least with the new upgrade stone mechanics this isn't a completely futile effort.

[nobody]

I usually raid a few stash rooms in the random buildings on the surface to get my character up to where I want.

What really annoyed me was I went to try something riskier so I used the scroll that lets you change characters, but when the guy i switched to died, my fully upgraded character was no where to be found

[khadgar]

nobody, that would be a bug. I've noticed the settlement residents not displaying in the settlement correctly at the moment. I haven't figured out why it happens, or under what circumstances, but I've seen it happen quite a bit. Have you tried looking at the settlement resident menu, to see if your guy is technically a resident?

Main Menu > Planning > Settlement > Residents, or something like that to see a list of everyone in the settlement. If your character is still there (the one with used upgrades, I presume), there's a way to get him out, someday. It'll right itself soon enough.