Stormwalker

Excuse me, Captain Pedantic. Fine, it takes a trivial amount of effort. 1). Go to Merit Vendor (which you have to do to spend your Reward Merits on anything, regardless of what you do with it). 2). Buy converters. 3). Open Salvage Window (one click) 4). Open AH window (type /ah in chat) 5). Drag converters from Salvage Window to AH window. 6). Drag slider to "10". 7). Click OK. 8). Type "75000" in price window. (Yes, I always sell them at the same price. Always. I did say I wasn't willing to invest effort in the market, didn't I? I don't even bother to check what the last 5 prices were!) 9). Click "Post" 10). Repeat steps 5, 7, and 9 two more times (because it saves the quantity and price, so I don't even have to repeat Steps 6 and 8). 11. ??? (go do something else, anything else, run missions, log in another alt, it doesn't matter, until converters sell.) 12). Profit! What part of this is "City of Accountants?" Good freakin' grief. It took me more time to type up this comment than it does to sell a dozen stacks of converters! None of this has anything to do with the actual point of my original comment, anyway, and I should have just ignored your response to begin with because it's not relevant to the discussion at hand.

I don't consider a straight conversion of Reward Merits to inf with one intermediary step (converters) to be actual effort or "playing the market". Buying a stack of converters and listing them on the AH takes literally seconds. When I talk about "playing the market", I mean activities that require actually doing market research, which I don't hace the patience to do.

I think the point that tidge is trying to make is that getting Reward Merits is easy enough by other means that it's more efficient to earn your Reward Merits for this sort of market activity directly rather than converting Emp Merits for it, and to use your Emp Merits for other things (though I suppose that this depends somewhat on your playstyle).

I am guessing that you didn't read the comment earlier in this thread that explained how someone could AFK farm so many Empyrean Merits in a fairly short amount of time that, by converting them to Reward Merits, they could flood the market with items purchased with Reward Merits to the point that they crashed the value of all those items, and the result of this would be that Reward Merits would essentially lose all their value in terms of inf? Because that would be a very bad thing. For everyone. Reward Merits are currently (assuming you spend them wisely) one of the most efficient ways to make influence in the game. Even for those of us who don't put any effort into playing the market, just buying enhancement converters with Merits and selling them on Wentworth's will net you ~2.1 million inf (more, if you're willing to list high and wait for them to sell) for just 10 Reward Merits. If you DO play the market, you can make a whole lot more than that for your Reward Merits, by taking those converters, buying cheap enhancements (or cheap recipes, and crafting them), and converting them to much more valuable enhancements to sell for much higher prices. Truth be told, if more people actually put the effort into converting enhancements, the value of converters would be much higher, because the profit margin on converting enhancements is huge if you are smart about it (of course, if more people did it, the profit margins would decrease somewhat as there would be more competition selling valuable enhancements and the prices would drop, but even then the profit margin would still be pretty large, and the increased demand for converters would drive prices up). That said, it's a pain in the rear end, mostly because you have to do some research into which conversions will yield the most profit, so lots of players aren't willing to do it even when the rewards for doing so are enormous. Admittedly, I'm one of those players. I know I'd make tons more inf that way, but I'd rather spend my time actually running missions even if the rewards are less. Fun is its own reward, after all. But if someone floods the market with converters (and catalysts, and unslotters, and the other valuable items you can buy with Reward Merits) so that the supply vastly outstrips the demand and those items lose their value, one of the best ways for even a casual player to make inf vanishes. This hurts everyone. In the long term, it would even hurt the player who did it, which is probably why nobody has actually done it yet (well, that, and the fact that doing it would take an enormous amount of effort way out of proportion to the reward you'd get for doing it). But we can't just assume that someone won't do it, because people do stupid things for stupid reasons (like pure and simple spite) sometimes. This is the sort of thing that even the potential that someone could do it - even if it seems unlikely that they actually would - is very bad and needs to be fixed. And yet, we don't even know that this is why they're considering these changes. It's merely one possibility (albeit a fairly likely one). It's possible the devs have discovered an even worse (or at least equally bad) problem that they haven't told us about yet. Point being, these changes are being considered for a reason. And it's probably a pretty good reason. Now, we can argue over the side effects of these changes, and what change might address the problem while causing the least side effects (any change to address the problem mentioned above is going to have side effects, the question is how to minimize them), though until the devs actually tell us what their objective for these changes is, we are stuck speculating about it. What isn't really arguable is that some change is needed. It's merely a question of how to solve the problem while causing the least amount of adverse impact to the player base as a whole.

Yeah, on the RL point, I am personally of the opinion that the Federal Reserve meddles too much and sometimes causes more problems than they solve. Economics is complex and sometimes difficult to predict (because human behavior is not always logical) and the government trying to meddle in it is usually (but not always) a bad thing in the long-term... but that's off-topic, so I won't rant on it. And while I think many of us are assuming the thing that the devs are trying to address is mass farming/converting of Emp Merits in AE (because this is the one thing I can think of that both of their moves so far would actually address), it's entirely possible that there is some other problem or possibly an exploit we don't know about that needs addressing (and if it is an exploit we don't know about, I can understand their reticence to talk about it until the plan to fix it is in place). (And for what it's worth, I didn't really care if people were farming/converting massive amount of Emp Merits in AE to begin with, until it was pointed out that someone could potentially crash the value of Reward Merits that way, and that really would be a problem - for almost everyone. For the most part, I don't really care what other people do in the game. I don't care how rich they are. I don't care if they have 100 characters who are more powerful than any of mine. It just doesn't matter to me, because it doesn't affect my ability to enjoy the game. But one person even potentially having the power to wreck the game economy by themselves is bad for everyone. and does need to be addressed!)

This is exactly the sort of thing a casino would do in RL, though. They'll throw free stuff at you to get you to stay, but if you want to leave it's gonna cost ya.

Yeah, I think we're stuck in a useless cycle of endless speculation until it happens. Because what the right answer is really depends on what they are trying to accomplish. And while i think many of us think we know what they are trying to accomplish, that's not the same as actually knowing.

Should have gone for Julianne Thompson. Though that one's probably not obscure enough, even. Most of us have done all the story arcs too many times.

Honestly, even as someone who has been exclusively a solo player up to this point (that will change somewhat when Page 4 goes live, though), I don't find Reward Merits to be all that hard to get. Except for the Emp merits from Veteran levels, I find Emp merits significantly harder to come by as a soloist than Reward Merits. Which is why I use my Emp Merits for my Incarnate abilities. Of course, this probably has a lot to do with the fact that I solo my characters from 1-50 through story arcs, which means by the time I get one to 50 they tend to have a pretty fair reserve of Reward Merits already. I mean, they spend some of them while leveling, but the pieces they spend them on are parts of their eventual build, so they don't go to waste. It's not the fast way to level, but it's the most fun and most rewarding, IMO.

I suspect the underlying tech to do this (the ability to have multiple alternate animations for drawing a weapon in a particular powerset) doesn't exist in the game at this point, so it's probably something that would have to happen in a future update, but I'd also like to see options like this.

Exactly. Also, I didn't enjoy the Dark Astoria arcs the first time. Horror is not my thing. I sure as Hell do not want to have to run them over and over again. Especially since that would require turning my difficulty down to complete them faster to actually get rewards, which would then also make it tedious and boring as Hell. At that point, I might as well be farming. And I don't farm, because I hate tedium. But that would be even more tedium. (And before someone mentions the new Cimeroran repeatable Incarnate missions... Ancient Grome is also not my thing. I mean, it's definitely better than horror, and I certainly will do some of it, But why is it that in a superhero game none of our endgame content involves doing superhero stuff?)

The current proposed change (removing the exchange of Emp Merits for Reward Merits) doesn't bother me at all. I don't think it's the best option, for a few reasons, but I could live with it. What does bother me is people suggesting as an alternative that Emp Merits no longer be rewarded for Veteran levels. That was what I was arguing against.

And I do that. I mean, I only started playing... six weeks ago? And of my two 50's, one is already in the Vet level 30's, and the other is at Vet level 15. I do play my 50's quite a bit. I also play my lowbies quite a bit. And I run missions at high spawn sizes (usually x6 or x8), so I get lots of xp, which leads to gaining lots of Vet levels (and thus gaining Emp Merits). And I don't farm. At all. I also don't team very much. Partly because of the sound issues, but even after that's fixed I'm still probably going to solo 75-80% of the time, because I like to play at my own pace. I'm very much looking forward to having the option of teaming, because I do like running the occasional TF with a team, but it's never going to be a large percentage of my playing time. The only reason I have the Incarnate powers crafted that I do (3xT4, 3xT3 on Kitten America, 1xT4, 5xT3 on Stardriver) is because of Emp merits earned from Veteran levels. So I don't take very well to it when people suggest that we shouldn't get Emp Merits for Veteran levels. Because without those Emp Merits I wouldn't have any T3's unlocked at this point, much less any T4's. I sure am not going to be able to accomplish it by doing Incarnate story arcs, because I've done several and the rewards for those suck.

I've managed to craft three of the six T4's on one of my 50's using entirely threads obtained from drops and Emp Merits obtained from Veteran levels. Well and a little bit of stuff from running Incarnate story arcs (but not much). I had to do it this way, because of the sound-stacking problem (which is, thankfully, fixed in Page 4) making teaming a very unpleasant experience for me (sound sensitivity issues, and so on). I'll have the ability to actually do some of that content once Page 4 goes live, and that will certainly be nice, and I will certainly make some Emp Merits that way. But I have 37 characters, and only two of them are level 50 right now. I'm going to need a whole lot of Empyrean Merits to craft all their Incarnate abilities when they get to 50! So every single source of those Emp merits is valuable to me, and I"d be very unhappy if something that players have been able to leverage since HC launched that enabled them to get their Incarnate abilities built out, was suddenly taken away now just as I'm beginning to benefit from it. But the point is, many, many players in this game have massive stockpiles of Emp. Merits. They can craft all the T4's for a character as soon as they have the slots unlocked. Because they've been playing a long time and earning Emp. Merits for a long time. They got that in part because they had access to those free Empyrean merits from veteran levels. Those of us who are relatively new don't have those stockpiles, and if you take them away you're just creating a massive mountain to climb that previous players didn't have to. On the flip side, I honestly don't care if they take away Empyrean Merit to Reward Merit conversions. I'm not going to be converting Emp Merits to Reward Merits anytime soon, because I need all the Emp Merits I can get. And Reward Merits are easier to earn, anyway.

Oh, I'm actually not terribly bothered by not being able to convert Emps to Reward Merits anymore (though it's not an ideal solution, and I like some of the ideas on having a cooldown on conversions much better). I was responding to the person who suggested removing Emp merits from Vet levels entirely.

As you might imagine, those of us who are relatively new (and thus don't already have massive piles of Emp merits with which to craft Incarnate abilities for our alts) would be... less than thrilled with this solution. For that matter, forget alts, I still don't have T4 on all slots on the two 50's I already have!

Thanks for the detailed response. Just want to point out again in respect to this that how much a player prioritizes getting their toggles back up is going to depend on two things: What set are they playing, and how important are those toggles to their own personal survival/the team's survival? As an example, I come back to Rad, because it's the set I have personal experience with. A Rad Defender with his or her toggles down, lacking the benefit of the -ToHit and -Damage applied to enemies from Radiation Infection and Enervating Field, is a sitting duck. This is doubly true given that the fact that you got mezzed to begin with means either you have aggro, or you're being AoE'd, meaning more damage is likely incoming! Getting those toggles (or at least one of them) back online is definitely Priority #1 unless the enemy pack is almost wiped out already. This may be less true for other sets that don't depend on their offensive toggles so much for their own survival. Touched on in the above note: What's the combat situation? If the enemy pack is almost wiped out, then sure, getting toggles back up is not necessarily a priority. If you got mezzed right at the start of the battle, though, and then quickly unmezzed, you'd want your toggles back up ASAP so you're actually contributing to the fight.

I just have to say here that I love this character concept. And as the above poster said, I'm not a GM, but I don't think this would be a problem.

They're in Japan. They take the subway like everyone else. Or get rides from someone who has a car. But a lot of those sort of characters are also athletic enough to roofrun, which is exactly the thing that Ninja Run approximates. The point is, travel powers are already superior to Ninja Run/Athletic Run/Beast Run across the board. If my character concept allows me to take a travel power, I take a travel power. I'm not skipping travel powers to squeeze extra powers into my build, I'm skipping them because I can't justify that character taking one. Probably 70% of my characters take Fly (just to be completely accurate here, by this I mean those characters either have already taken Fly, or it's in their planned build, usually somewhere around level 14 -18. Many of my characters are still lowbies, because I am relatively new to HC). The rest of them are a mix of Ninja Run, Super Jump, Infiltration, and Super Speed. And I can testify that having a travel power beats the Hell out of not having one. Having a travel power provides a tangible advantage to a character that is worth the power investment, and anyone who says otherwise isn't looking at all the facts. Fly provides vastly greater vertical mobility, enables "as the crow flies" routes which shorten travel distances, and is still ~15mph faster before Afterburner which adds another 17 mph (and which you get for free). Mystic Flight is the same as Fly except instead of Afterburner you get a free teleport. SJ provides vastly greater vertical mobility, especially with Double Jump (which you get for free), and is substantially faster. Super Speed is vastly faster and gives you Speed Phase for free. Infiltration gives you free Stealth I've never used Speed of Sound, so I can't speak to it, but if it's not better than Ninja Run it needs to be buffed, because all the other travel powers are. Teleport... I don't use it. It's still the fastest, but it's a pain in the rear end. But that isn't Ninja Run's fault. In addition, all of these can slot enhancements, either for more speed, or for effects like Stealth, Slow Resist, etc., which Ninja Run/Athletic Run cannot. If you don't take a Travel Power, you are already slower than anyone who does take one. Travel powers provide a tangible advantage for taking them. The objectives laid out by the devs for making pool travel powers superior to free travel powers have already been met. There is no need here for nerfs.

They're not in the concepts for the characters, though. I mean, for example, one of these characters is a high-school girl whose concept is derived kinda loosely from Ryouko Mitsurugi of the Real Bout High School manga. Where's she going to get a jetpack? She fights crime in her school uniform! And even if someone gave her one, she wouldn't have the first idea how to use it, how to maintain it, wouldn't have a place to keep it... it's just completely not in concept for her. Comcis and manga are full of characters who operate purely at the street level, who don't have fantastic resources any more than they have fantastic powers. What they have is skill. These are the characters for which Ninja Run and Athletic Run exist.

I'd really rather they didn't. Natural characters need a way to get around, and Infiltration isn't an option for every Natural (not all people are good at sneaking around!). I already groan every time one of my Naturals gets a mission in Independence Port (which can involve a 1.5 mile+ hike to the mission door if it's in the Northwest corner). They don't need to be any slower.

Speaking as somoene who uses both extensively, I have to disagree with your contention that Fly is not significantly faster. Sprint + Ninja/Athletic/Beast Run gets you a running speed of ~70mph Fly with a single Fly Speed enhancement gets you to the Fly speed cap of 87 mph which boosts to 102 mph with Afterburner. Alternately, you can get that speed without the Fly Speed enhancement (enabling you to put Slow Resist or some other travel power IO in Fly) by taking Evasive Maneuvers. Additionally, Fly can take direct routes that shorten the distance and isn't hindered by vertical obstacles in zones like Faultline. And that's just blueside. On redside, it is no contest at all, because of zones like Mercy and Grandville that vastly favor Flight over any kind of running power. This is especially fresh in my mind because last night I was trying to get to a mission door high up on the Tangle in Grandville with my redside DB/WP street samurai scrapper, who uses Infiltration (to reflect her thermo-optical camouflage) and Combat Jumping, and I had to take an incredibly roundabout route when with Fly I would have been there in 20 seconds, tops.

Given the rumors of /Inv and /Energy Aura types getting folded, spindled, and mutilated by Lord Recluse in closed beta, I suspect the changes are specifically intended to counter excessive vulnerabilities in those sets exposed by the attack type changes. Has anyone been testing Electric Armor's performance in the beta with the attack typing changes? If not, probably a good idea to do that. If people find that it's being crushed, then that might constitute cause for closing it's Toxic hole also.

While we're at it, why not add the various /flypose emotes to the Stance system to use with Flight?

Oh, I definitely do have my share of sound mods installed. But at the same time, some of the default sounds are quite good. Just... not all of them.