Yomo Kimyata

One of us! One of us!

Sorry, just wanted to avoid confusion.

Bless you for this, especially since I am a net buyer nowadays thanks to your work! I cannot imagine how tedious this would be -- I generally don't post more than 50 IOs at a time because of ADHD burnout!

On an aside, I agree with @Lockpickand @Sir Myshkinhere -- I feel like the billion inf build is mostly a mythical beast nowadays. I mean, sure, you CAN spend a billion inf, but even at buy-it-NAO prices I think most high end builds cost 1/2 to 2/3 of a large, especially if you are crafting and converting on the way.

My play style is primarily what I call Accelerated XP Mission Content (AXMC, trademark pending), so I build alts quickly and equip them with IO sets as I go, usually starting at lvl 17. I'd say that by level 17, each of my characters has need for about 200mm in inf for staples like Miracle procs and ATO sets, and I can generally make that in the AH from scratch by the time I level to 17. So it's safe to say that I'm accumulating inf a lot faster than I need it. I have about ten 50s, and the only real difference between my lvl 49 builds and my lvl 50 builds are purples if I want to swap out sets and catalysts, and I've never not had enough cash on that character to buy them as soon as I ding 50. I don't think I'll start PLing to 50, since I don't enjoy the end game as much as I do the rest of it, but if I did, I'd say I think that a "correct" length of time it should take to kit it out would be a week or two. I'm pretty much just making that number up, but it feels right to me.

I made this the other day, but lost interest...

The latter. Also, if you are buying in merits one is significantly cheaper and occasionally gives converters a run for its money in terms of monetizing merits.

Identical demand, but it is way easier to get the Steadfast. Supply!

Nerf prose.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, nerf regen.

I'd like to open this to all requests, but my specific beef is with ATOs and Winter Os. It seems silly to me that they cost the same amount in terms of merits, while the cost of the packs that generate them are so different (most of the time, exception of course during the winter Winter events). I don't particularly care if the cost in merits of Winter-Os goes up, or if the cost of ATOs go down, but if we got closer to a 2 or 2.5 to 1 ratio, I think we would see more people using merits for ATOs. I would find this to be interesting and engaging.

I am incredibly suspicious of this thread! Where are the calls for a toxic damage aura, or a bio armor type toggle?!? I guess it's working as intended!

And yet, purple recipes and IOs have plummeted. It's almost like there's too much supply!

I seem to have four distinct mental values of converters in my head at all times. From lowest to highest, first is where I can buy them in bulk on the AH, which is on the low end of 60-80k a piece. Next is the mental accounting of 100k per converter when I'm trying to decide if it's worth converting within a set to get a particular piece, or within a category to get a particular set. That's just a rule of thumb left over from when converters were worth that, and it's a nice round number. Next is the merit value of 333,333, which is simply the cost of buying a merit with cash and converting to converters. That feels like a pretty good of thumb as well for "what is the value added of a converter," albeit on the low side. Finally, there is what I think the real value in inf is of the converter, which ranges in my head from 500k on up. I can rarely bring myself to buy converters with merits, simply because I feel that I'm always better off using the merits for something else, even though I never do. Like I said, i have the hoarding disease.

Let me ask the question to the farmers out there: what’s your end game? Is it to amass just enough inf to equip an alt you are trying to build, or is it to just build big piles of inf, or other? Do you farm to buy something in particular, or do you find it peaceful and fun, or other? It is clear that Jimmy et al are concerned about inf entering the system, and the fastest way that happens is through 50s farming. The venom towards AFK farming is clear, and I personally agree. It is detrimental to the system, but it benefits the individuals who engage in it, so the way to avoid moral hazard is through fiat. That sucks if you were benefitting, and I realize it’s cold comfort to hear it’s better for everyone when it’s not as better for you as it used to be.

I've got a lvl 50 BA/Shield brute, and he would probably run better as a scrapper, but he's pretty awesome as a brute. I suggest building for recharge. You can put a Force Feedback +recharge in just about every attack, but I only do for the AoE attacks. It's pretty easy to hit soft cap positional defense numbers on melee and ranged. You can probably hit it on AoE as well, but it didn't seem worth the effort for me.

A tutorial like the crafting one would work wonders.

@JimmyI was with you 100% until this last paragraph. Personally, I don't think that any of those adjectives are accurate for the current system. It is a very simple system, and if you made it simpler, which I am not opposed to, then a month later you are going to get the same people saying the same things that they choose to not use the system. You want to democratize this? I thought we were already there, but here's what I will do. I was already giving away 20mm inf to anyone who sent me an in-game email at @Yomo, but I'll also post a ridiculously simple system that will guarantee* 1bn in profit over a no more than 30 day period and with no more than 20,000 clicks. Here's the system: Buy 10 yellow recipes that do not require rare salvage at a level under level 50. Buy 100 converters, or 10 per recipe. Craft the yellow and convert by category until you have a rare. If the LOWEST price in the last 5 is over 1mm, post the IO at 1mm. If not, convert by rare until LOWEST last 5 is over 1mm. Wait until things sell. Repeat 100 times. This is a stupid system and is far from obscure or unintuitive or difficult. It is, however, time and click intensive. That is what people are paying for. *Not a guarantee

Good to see that you are doing your part. Would you like to learn more?

Jimmy, stop stealing my material!

And that, my friend, is exactly why it is so incredibly profitable in terms of make-believe money. If you don't want to spend years going to space medical school to become a rocket surgeon because it is admittedly a lot of work, don't expect to earn space rocket surgeon money. The difference is that you don't have to pay a penny in terms of time or investment to learn to market. If you choose not to, that's fine!

The wisdom of portfolio diversification!

I want to make sure I am not misunderstanding you. Your answer to my first question which I will paraphrase as "How is success in terms of easy inf generation not achievable by anyone?" is "Choice." One chooses not to be successful. Ok. To each their own. Your answer to my second question which I will paraphrase as "How have players who don't play the markets been adversely affected?" is "Choice"? That one I don't get.

I agree and there are two aspects of it. One was the removal of the exempting double xp, which was an exploit. The other was the removal of double inf, which was done, I think, for the greater good. I'm not going to argue that, since it's an Econ 101 topic.

I'm asking you specifically, since AH didn't address either of these questions (which are distinctly different) and that YOU posted: How is my or anyone's success not achievable by anyone? I ask this one because I think I, and many others, have put forth a lot of good guides that take you from zero to billions. How are players who don't play the market and make use of internal drops and fixed price purchases SERIOUSLY impacted?