After some games with my best 6 characters i've come to realize that the other characters where fresh from start (in terms of Basic cards and equipment). But in the other hand I was forced to chose between good cards to discard after game runs with my Advanced 6-team. So I devised kindda weird strategy:
- When you finish a scenario, and you are at the map screen, you can click the party composition button, and exchange 1 character with a newbie one. Then you fill the newbie with best cards for him or the best cards you got (no matter if they aren't the most usefull for him, he is gonna be a "backpack character" for now).
- Then you exchange again the newbies, and get back your "Top Dog" party (not as well equiped like previously or optimal but, as they are experienced, you can carry on...) As you are going to make AD3 runs with them, you'll encounter nearly the best cards availabe again in a few games, and now you don't care dropping that basic loot from the newbies.
- After a couple of runs, i got my newbie "from-scratch" characters very well refurbished, and able to overcome most scenarios easier than fresh from start.
- Also i got some of my best cards well preserved for future builds, with no need of being forced to discard those "good-but-not-top" cards that I want to include later (when a given character gets the proper power feat, as for a Heavy Armor or a Weapon, for example).
I'm amazed how fast i refurbished the "ugly ones" (the other 5 characters), and how pretty did they get.
Give it a try.