Ukase

I get about 3 to 1 common to all other categories. In an hour of afk, I'll get roughly 30 of the commons recipe drops. That's about 3M I wouldn't otherwise get. The only way I turn those off, is on a badge character looking for rejection badges. If you're crafting/selling between maps, you'll never need the space. For those farmers that don't craft, I still don't think it's a good idea. Every bit helps. Seems crazy to turn 'em off.

@Yomo Kimyata I sent you a DM for a look behind the Ukase farmarketing curtain. Some things are not for the general public to view, I hope all will understand.

Unfortunately - we have no idea if this statement is true. A reward merit could drop or rise in value at the whim of the HC dev team at any time. Remember invention salvage got seeded? I had a lot of rare salvage to pull off the AH. Not a big deal now, but it demonstrated to me that nothing is set in stone and to not put all the influence eggs in one basket. Right now, 1 reward merit = 3 converters. Back on live, if memory serves, it was closer to 10 reward merits for one converter. The converter is by far, the most useful of currencies in my mind. It can turn trash into gold and make a poor player rich very quickly. But there is something to be said for keeping the merits for hard times, because you can keep them, or convert to hero merits. I don't know for sure the cap on hero (or villain) merits, but you can certainly store more reward merits by converting to hero/villain merits. Though, I'd much prefer an account based bank system so my characters can withdraw (or deposit) from the family account.

In all seriousness - as I wasn't being entirely serious before - it's April 1, right? I think we have plenty of currencies. And as much as the idea of having a safe place to stash influence pleases me, I think we need worthwhile things to spend our influence on. Like a portable p2w for 10 Billion. A vanguard computer for the hvas, etc for 5 billion.

I am quite certain more people would use this than you think. I'm guessing most people have about 10 billion or so at least. It's outside of my imagination how they couldn't, unless they just started. But, I may have an entirely unreasonable perspective.

The p2w ranged summons (positron shadow/simulacron) makes light work of every Task Force Commander Accolade tf, including Sutter. I've done them with a brute, a scrapper, blaster, corruptor, controller, defender. Even Market Crash and ITF. I do make liberal use of Super Reds & team reds. The most difficult so far has been that big robot in market crash because of the gens - when you take time to take out the gens, the robot regens. So, had to use a LOT of reds.

In case our OP returns to the thread: The zones that offer bonus merits for completing the arcs in that zone are: Mercy Atlas The Hollows Faultline Striga Croatoa RWZ Except for Kallista Wharf, Pocket D and Cimerora, all zones offer 8 exploration badges only. Get all eight, you get an accolade badge and 5 reward merits. In Pocket D and Cimerora, there are only 2 explorations each, and in Kallista Wharf only one. Recently, we've been able to use a new power called Long Range Teleport for getting all the badges in a zone. This works for Pocket D and Kallista, but not for Cimerora. So, other than just being a badge nerd, there's no motivation to get those badges in Cimerora. There are a few other zones lrtp doesn't work for, but that's a tangent issue. If you think about the number of zones we have in game, and the ease in which you can swap alignments, there's a lot of low hanging fruit.

I think what's missing is not a coalition for the sg, but a coalition for the player. The leaders of my SG may have a history and fondness of the groups the sg is in coalition with, but I don't know who any of them are, save a couple, and one of them is in our sg with an alt. I can't fathom the type of headache this would cause in the coding, though. It's a nice to have kind of thing, but I don't see dev time being spent on it, as there are other things that likely will return more value. Opinions will vary on that of course. It's tough for a lot of us to have a real clue as to what would take too much time and what wouldn't if we're not looking at the code, and don't know null pointer exception from a garbage collection method. Many times a simple solution seen by an experienced programmer can result in a lot of uncompilable lines by one not so experienced. Kind of like playing a dark defender in pvp. In the right hands, quite efficient. In the wrong hands, chum bait.

I understand this limiting feeling you're having. When I use my base tp power and have to enter my own Personal SG passcode because the characters in that very large, lag-infested SG with teleporters that are further away from the entrance/exit portal than in my own, it annoys me that I can't simply choose my own base, but must enter in the pass code, or, alternatively, load into the character's SG base, then use my personal sg macro. Only takes an extra 10-20 seconds, but it still annoys me. But, as we know, coalitions are limited and not chosen by the membership, but by the leaders of the SG. So what solution is there? Try this: Make a character, and have no intent to actually play them. Put that character in the big sg you belong to, being sure to simply log it in once every week or so to keep it looking "active". Pull your main character out, place him in your own personal SG, then form coalitions with those groups you seek to coalition with. You would still be welcome to team with the SG you currently belong to with your main. You'd still see the big SG chat in the private channel they have given you access to. It's not a perfect solution, but it's a bit of a workaround. You'd still have to form your own coalitions with the type of SGs you mentioned, but you'd have that option. The only thing missing would be the name of the big SG that you currently belong to. You'd still have access to the SG base with the macro found in the discord, as well as your own base, and any you're in a coalition with that allows it. I wish I could come up with a better solution, but that's the best one I have.

If you find yourself bored on these kinds of teams, there are a number of solutions, but they require effort on your part. 1. Host specific challenge teams, whether it be a max of 4 players at a difficulty level you feel comfortable with. 2. Use Discord or some other voice platform. This way, even if the game play is boring, you can listen to the idle chatter of teammates who are more likely to talk than type while fighting. 3. Join or form a supergroup. Pin down the kinds of teammates you're looking for, and recruit those types of players if you form an SG, or share what kind of experience you're looking for and join a group that would be synergistic with that style of play.

I think dev time is better spent on other things than fixing something that seems to have an easy solution. Train up before doing a respec. Perhaps it should be written into several different places so more people are aware of this prior to doing a respec. Like a pop-up window that says "Be sure you're leveled up before you're trained". I couldn't say for sure, but it would seem (to me) that would be easier than testing, testing and retesting to determine a root cause and implement an eloquent solution.

Lord help me, but I had a thought about an influence sink. Experienced temp powers should be seeded by the devs on AH or at p2w. As for how much they cost, I believe a scaled cost of 500K for a new character up to 10M for a 50.

To me - for sheer efficiency's sake, it seems beneficial to wait until 50 to do the gold side stuff, primarily because the arcs are so short, you can chip away at them a little at a time, and since almost all of them are only 4 missions long. If you had to quit the arc, you wouldn't lose that much, unlike something like Freaklympics, which would take a fair time investment. Still going to have to do 3 of the 4 patrons' arcs through ouro, but it may be worth it to try and get one done at 35, work through that, then visit rwz for those arcs you can do before you hit 50. A friend pointed out that every badger should do Pither's Efficiency Expert as soon as possible, simply because if you have an issue (like your video card melting - true story, it happened to an sg mate.) you don't want to be 1400 badges in and realize you're going to miss one. The more I think about it - I don't think there is going to be one right answer for an efficient path for everyone. But I'd appreciate everyone's thoughts just the same.

I mistakenly put this post in the Guides section yesterday and have since hidden it because I couldn't move it or delete it. At least, I wasn't smart enough to figure out how. But, anyway - If we're in here, it's presumed we're a bit nuts about badges. There's a number of folks making their way through their first character to the current badge count of 1547. There's a smaller number making their way through a second, third, even up to a 5th or 6th badge character. I've completed one, have two waiting for Luna & her event badges, and 3 more bringing up the rear, with one of those three having just over 1400. But, I got to thinking...maybe there's a more efficient way...a path. Not just focusing on arcs and Accomplishments & Accolades before worrying about Achievements & defeats, but outlining a path where a majority of badges are earned just through game play, as opposed to farming or hunting. I set out to make a document, with timely turning off of XP, to ensure not out-leveling contacts. It then occurred to me that this isn't terribly efficient. It takes the character a long time to level up (not a big deal), but if the character starts gold, it would still have to do the blue and red content through ouro. And of course, there's still the challenge badges. There is no clear path. And I'm not sure there's a complicated one let alone a clear one. But, before I just opt to level a character fairly normally, and then just do the ouro arcs from low to high, one alignment at a time, I would just ask if someone has laid out a fairly efficient path so I don't have to reinvent the figurative wheel. If leveling through content, as opposed to AE, do you all try to do the zone arcs (Hollows, Faultline, Striga, Croatoa, RWZ), and go back and tackle the Mercy Island arcs through ouro? Or level up gold side, and then do blue and red through ouro? What's your approach?

I think I know the problem the OP is trying to solve. I've seen it so many times. Team leader is IO'd to the gills, and armed additionally with a lot of experience running a given trial, tf or story arc/mission. A couple other teammates have similar experience and proficient builds. One or two teammates might have a celerity in stealth, but they don't have super speed, and their stealth is insufficient to get past the groups of mobs that are in the way. They are faced with three options, none of which are enjoyable to them. 1. Attempt to fight through 2. Sit at the door 3. Quit the team and look for something else to do. The dilemma is simple to identify. For whatever reason, some players think a character is better enjoyed by them if it "fits" a theme they have in mind. They take flight, which currently gives vertical, but no real other advantage. They like hover, for reasons some of us can understand, but they don't take the invis pool, and for other reasons, they simply cannot stealth. A number of players could take the typical combo of cj/ss with celerity in stealth, but for reasons of their own, they think they shouldn't have to. There's a true disconnect between these two players, regardless of how well they may get along outside of these tfs/missions done in a speed fashion. The disconnect is caused in some cases by a lack of knowledge, a lack of influence, or a lack of desire to play in the speedy style, or a combination of all three. The thing the OP is not thinking about is the players who speed through - they don't need the paltry xp boost. They're playing for the adrenaline, I think, the challenge and joy of steamrolling through everything in their path with little thought to their characters health or endurance. They may want the merits, but most are wealthy enough to not slow their game down for a paltry influence gain. Just my opinion of course, I may have misunderstood completely what the OP was trying to achieve. The only solution I have would be for the slower/kill all type folks and the speed type folks to appropriately identify themselves as such - the same way we might flag ourselves as helper/non-helper. And for those that enjoy both, flag as such.

I prefer to keep it simple. It should be called, "17th anniversary badge". And badges for 1-16 should be appropriately renamed to 1st -16th anniversary badges.

I should have been born an Australian. This is a comedy bit in the making, the things we Americans won't say because we're concerned about being labeled this or that.

I don't disagree, but I think the point was, new characters/players start in Atlas. They find themselves being invited, sometimes randomly, without a tell. They go in the mission and are level 17 to 25 in short order, depending on the size of the team and the map. Some farmers even tell the new players to visit p2w and get 2xp, and neglect to explain that there's no influence as a cost for the "free" xp buff. If somebody wants to farm, that's great. The economy needs farmers to keep things inexpensive. But there's absolutely no need to level up any new, inexperienced players who have never fought Frostfire. If it weren't for the creativity some of our players show in mission creations within the AE framework, I'd suggest they shut it down. XP is better outside of AE anyway, provided you have the right missions geared towards your farmer's strengths.

I seldom use BFR. I get that some like it for procs, but the animation takes too long to suit me. If I'm solo, I will open with it, follow with FR, then BiB, depending on the targets involved. While some may say no to ice having a snipe, there's no gun to the head saying it must be selected. I think ice should have a snipe. And I can only somewhat go along with the reasonings it doesn't. I find it comical. There's a line from "Guys and Dolls" I recall somewhat clearly. "why does a doll when she loves a guy want to take him in for alterations?" You've found this game you love, now you want to change it. That makes no sense to me.

If you have the resources/farmer, a faster way to get the recipe rejection badge - do AE missions for tickets. My farmer will get me 1K tickets in about 2 minutes or so. Each random recipe roll is 60 tickets in the 15-19 Bronze category. When Null has you set to reject recipes - you don't get these, but you do get credit towards the badge. (assuming you're rejecting rares and uncommons)

This is so beautifully and accurately stated.

XP in this game is all but meaningless. It will come, eventually. Start it, finish it. In Yin, there's a mob of freaks, a mob of freaks with civs to be rescued, a mob, and then a mob of freaks with more civs...I ignore them if there's no reason to mess with them. There's nothing to be gained. XP? I'll get that when I clobber what needs to be clobbered. And, because I finish quickly, I'm off to do the next thing speedily, and make xp as I go. I see no reason why anyone would pursue it. It will come eventually. But the merits, the badges, the sooner you get those, the sooner you're off to the next set of merits and/or badges.

For me, the primary reason I don't lead as often as I might: I don't want to wait for people to join the team. More often than not, I can do it solo faster than I can form the team for it and do it as a team. Take something like a Numina. I can solo it in about 30 minutes. Last time I formed a team for it, it took 7 minutes to form, and 26 minutes for us to finish. Why wait? Yin TF? 5 minutes to form, 22 minutes to finish as a team, 21 minutes to solo. Why wait? Obviously, an MoITF takes a lot longer to solo. Took me about 90 minutes. But nobody died.

If it were an account wide badge, I wouldn't hate it. I've suffered through a bit of tedium just to accumulate 250 billion. To give it all away for one badge...and then have to reduplicate my efforts x 4, and then reproduce that 5 more times for my other badgers...I'd rather not think about it.

Winter pack count 3-Feb-21 3498 Winter pack bids 3-Feb-21 2479 Avg. Price 19.5M Winter pack count 2/4/2021 3269 Winter pack bids 2/4/2021 2480 Avg. Price 19.5M Winter pack count 2/5/2021 3203 Winter pack bids 2/5/2021 2470 Avg. Price 15.3M Winter pack count 2/10/2021 3457 Winter pack bids 2/10/2021 2488 Avg. Price 19M Winter pack count 2/19/2021 4141 Winter pack bids 2/19/2021 2511 Avg. Price 2/19/2021 20M Winter pack count 3/1/2021 3952 Winter pack bids 3/1/2021 2524 Avg. Price 3/1/2021 20M Winter pack count 3/11/2021 4157 Winter pack bids 3/11/2021 2514 Avg. Price 3/11/2021 20M So, there's a copy of my data, Like my IRA, I don't look at it every day, but every so often. If you're not familiar, the Winter Pack Count is the number of packs over the dev-seeded 10 million packs. Overall, most of our marketers aren't greedy. I think most feel 2x your inf back (less fees) is quite reasonable. What's surprising me is how fast the Winter-Os have rebounded in price. Not all the way in some sets, but closer than I thought they would be.