I generally play according to a personality and setting wants and needs for the character, rather than applying the generic DnD alignments to the character.
If I create a character that leans more towards an evil nature I tend to make them intelligent and manipulative rather than stupid evil. Relationships, trust and loyalty are commodities that can be valueable, even to a selfish and narcissistic person. So they don't make enemies or create friction with other people just for the sake of being "evil".
My noble and altruistic characters will still have flaws. Maybe, like Wyll, they are tempted by easy paths to power, believing that such power could be used for the greater good.
A compelling story arc with changes and growth to their personality is also very fun. So instead of locking myself to "this character is a chaotic neutral person that abhores authority", they might come into the story with experiences that makes them inherently distrustful, but through the story and connection with other characters they learn to overcome that distrust and that what they really needed in their lives was to have trust and faith in something.
Pre-determined alignments are far too restrictive to me. But generally I choose the more civilized paths because they usually just make more logical sense, that still doesn't mean that the character's end goal is noble and good.
