PatternGhost

Yeah, I think if you get Origin matching drops (maybe only up to a certain level), you largely solve the problem. A player can sell the drops they don't need to get the ones they do, but will still have a supply of "free" Origins to equip as they level.

Enhancements aren't the only drops to sell. Also, you'd have less to buy if you only got usable drops. Edit: Actually, just making all drops match your Origin would solve the problem for the most part.

On the one hand, the OP could have simply asked "How do I make enough inf to keep myself stocked with Enhancements?" and instead came here to ask for the game to change because he felt entitled to hours of work being put into changing the game to suit his unwillingness to ask for basic help. On the other hand, drastically lowering the price of DOs so that anyone can keep updated with them seems like a reasonable thing, since games inevitably have players who don't seek help for various reasons. You can point out all the ways people can get help (/help chat, 'Help Me' flag, asking on forums, looking at YouTube, etc.), but not everyone will avail themselves of these options. Some people are socially awkward, some are tech challenged, etc. So, make DOs cheap, and let players figure out how to get the 'good stuff' after they've had some engagement with the game and are more invested, and more motivated to go get the help to figure things out. Seems reasonable. Not sure what dev time would be required, but likely it's changing some numbers in a spreadsheet or database, with perhaps some research to see how much an average new player generates through their normal routine. Another option would be to make all drops of Enhancements usable by the player, where right now it's maybe 10-20% (wild guess). That way, they can equip their drops, vend what they don't want, and buy what they need.

Then maybe you should have quoted yourself? 🤷‍♂️ I agree this would be a good thing.

More explanation of the basic systems (where to find your Salvage tray, what Salvage is, how to use the AH, etc.) would be a good thing. The player-driven economy not so much, because it's subject to change. It's up to the player to figure out how to best use the systems, or to seek out information from veteran players. That's a core aspect of an MMO, player interaction. Having some lower-priced options for Enhancements that are easier to access and acquire up until the player becomes educated would be nice. If you're relying on selling your drops and influence drops (if you don't have boosted XP), even DOs are prohibitively expensive at some point. That's a reply to nothing I said. I said "make the most of." I agree with you that basic systems should be presented in game, in an obvious way. I disagree that most MMOs accomplish even this.

And yet here we are, because a new player went to the forums. 🤷‍♂️ (For that matter, they could have gotten the same response in game, by asking in /help) I'd argue that the game should not teach someone how to convert Merits to Converters. It should teach them the game systems, yes. And all MMOs have that problem when it comes to balancing how much of core game systems knowledge it conveys, but the Merit to Converter flipping is emergent gameplay. Learning how to best use the game systems is better done by asking the player base. This is not evergreen knowledge, as future updates could change it, and shouldn't be part of the in game tutorial system. The MMORPG genre is one that requires players to do some research or ask for help make the most of their gameplay. It's an inherent feature of the genre, for good or ill.

It's really not this bad. I gave detailed instructions because the player is new. I haven't played since 2012, FWIW. This is a very simple process: 1. Get Merit Badges. 2. Buy Enhancement Converters with the Merit Badges. 3. List them on the Auction House. That's 3 steps, not 300. We're not talking about getting deep into the crafting system or AH item flipping, or anything at all that requires a deep understanding of the in game economy. It's FAR easier to make in game currency in this game quickly than in any other MMO that I've played, and I've played many. What I outlined lets a new player self fund SOs while leveling, so they can learn the Enhancement system, including experimenting. The answer to the problem isn't to bring costs down, it's to learn to play the game. Can the game help with this? Certainly, more in game tips or tutorials would be nice in many areas. There's also a friendly community here who's willing to help. It's much easier to fund oneself while leveling here than it was on Live. I haven't capped a character yet, but apparently end game builds are also much cheaper. So, the costs seem to have already been brought down.

I was right with you until this. 🤣

Influence is actually pretty easy to come by. I've been leveling with the XP boost, so not getting influence from kills. Yet I have plenty of influence for SOs as I level. Here's how. I run through the storyline quests in Atlas that start with Matthew Habashy, and usually King's Row, too. Story quests marked "Hero" or "Villain" give Reward Merits at the end of the quest chain. These will appear in your Salvage inventory (above your power bar, to the right of Inspirations and Enhancements). You can also get them from task forces. DFB doesn't give them. I think that DIB doesn't either, but I'm not sure. Anyway, you do stuff, you will accumulate Reward Merits. Take those Reward Merits to a Merit Vendor. I buy the Enhancement Converters (in the Salvage category). You get three per Merit. They sell on AH usually from 60k-70k. After you get your Converters, type /ah in the chat to open the Auction House interface. Drag one of the Converters into the lower section. List it for 1 Influence. Assuming they're going for 60k, you'll now have about 55k influence after AH fees. Now, drag the rest of your converters all at once (slider on the bottom, or type the number in the dialog that comes up when you drag to AH). Post those for 1 influence. Atlas Park quests give a total of 9 Reward Merits. You can also tour the zone for an easy 8 more. That's 17 Merits from the starter zone, or 51 Converters. 55k x 51 = 2.8 million + Influence. You can also sell other things, like Enhancement Unslotters for 800k (always around this price when I check, though ppl on forum always say a million each) at a price of 5 Merits/1 Unslotter. Just check the AH prices with the FIND button and see what's selling for more. Pretty easy way to keep funded as you level, and pretty low effort. It's not the most efficient, maybe, but it's been working OK for me. As for the Enhancement System while leveling. I'm keeping it simple by using Single Origin Enhancements from the vendors. Only a few things to keep in mind: 1. Remember to scroll down to the SOs on the vendor list, they're the more pricey ones, and as the name suggest, they'll only have one Origin (Science, Magic, etc.) in their description. The first SO is Accuracy, so scroll down to until you see Accuracy again, at a much higher price than the stuff above it. 2. Enhancements have seriously diminishing returns after the first three. So, don't slot more than 3 of any one Enhancement. 3. I slot my attacks for 1 Accuracy, 3 Damage, 1 Recharge Reduction and 1 Endurance Reduction in that order. Other things, I give what they need, based on what I observe. Cooldowns might get some Recharge Reduction, high End powers might get Endurance Reduction, etc. 4. Remember you'll be moving on from SOs later, but by then you'll also know more about the game. 5. You get a free respec every 10 levels, so don't worry about making any mistakes as you learn, and don't be afraid to experiment. You don't lose any Enhancements when you respec, unless your Enhancement inventory doesn't have space for them.

OK, I haven't contributed much to this thread of any practical value so far, b/c I had to keep getting up and doing things. But I do have a few thoughts and maybe some of those thoughts will prove useful. A bit of background: I'm a returning player. City of Heroes was my first MMORPG. I played at launch of live up until some time in 2005, then came back for CoV, got super annoyed at losing all of my character names and stormed off (hey, I was younger then) in a fit. Then I rejoined around 2010, and played up until shut down. So, old player, but not really an "old timer" in the truest sense. I'm really happy that NC Soft has licensed the game to Homecoming, and glad to be here. I'm playing on Excelsior, so as you can imagine, I frequently get a bit stuck coming up with a name that isn't taken. So, here's my approach: First thing: We all like short, pithy, descriptive, punny, or whatever names. I like names that I can have a little head canon about, too. The problem is, at this point those are mostly taken. So, you need to loosen up a bit. But it's still possible to get some decent names. 1. Titles + The Name You Want. I made a character after one I played in a Marvel Superheroes (FASERIP) table top RPG, Striker. Obviously, Striker was taken. Guy's a super agent type. So, I try SGT, Sergeant, etc., no dice. Commander Striker, that worked. So, go through military ranks, foreign and domestic, regular honorifics like Mr., Mister, etc, jobs, especially Doc, Doctor, Dr., Professor, etc. 1a) Titles + Regular name. Sergeant Brown, Mrs. Jones, etc. (Maybe try less common names than the examples) 2. Foreign words/phrases. Frequently, someone's already had the same idea. I did manage to get Deus Irae for a Brute, which was a decent score. 3. Create a "Family." This is my fallback when all else fails. I use the Dare Family. The Dare family is a secret project in breeding for a specific gene that produces super powers, and it falls along matriarchal lines. Those women who develop powers are recruited as operatives by a -- presumably -- altruistic organization and operate as superheroes. They are all given code names with a gemstone or flower (for support types) with the last name Dare. Such as Jade Dare, Ruby Dare, etc. 4. Mythology. This is another one a lot of other folks use, but you can still get lucky. 5. Shift Concept: I wanted to recreate a character from CO named Greyhound. His concept was that he runs pretty fast and smacks people as he runs by, but he uses a billy club (cosmetic option for single sword) so he doesn't hurt his hands, and wears a homemade uniform with some knee/elbow pads, etc. The name was taken, so I made another kind of dog: A livestock guard dog. Kuvasz was available, a large, white Hungarian dog. I made my guy bulkier, outfitted him in a white armored-looking costume. 6. Adjective + Regular Name. Burning Bob, Spooky Sid, Hurricane Harry, etc. 7. Decoration, punctuation: Fairly limited here. You can't use alt escape code characters with accents or w/e here, or most punctuation. You can have a period, apostrophe, hyphen, or question mark, but only ONE of any of those. You can do xX Bob's Your Uncle Xx or drop a letter for an apostrophe (Flamin' Bob). 8. Letter substitution, AKA, leet speak. Blast3r Bob, etc. I don't use this one myself. 9. Toss a Number on the End: Roman numerals are cool here.

I did. But I fail to see anything in what you quoted that indicates that I should have. Unless you think I'm advocating for name releases. I'm not. I had my main renamed in the first round of name releases on CoH live, and it sucked. I had left for a while, came back for CoV, then found my characters had all lost their names, including some that I had close to cap and had spent a ton of time on. Doesn't feel good.

Wrong. It doesn't matter if you put two more underlines on that statement and make it all caps. WoW releases names after an account has been inactive for two expansions, and has gone through quite a few name release cycles over the years. If you log the account in, even on a low level on an unsubbed account, you keep your names for the entire account.

Lots of alts in WoW. I had 35 max level in the last expansion, about 8 in the current. They do have a much lower character limit. Currently it's 50 per account. Having 1000 characters does help enable name camping.

Just google their name release policy. It's currently set to having names released on accounts that haven't played in the last two expansions. Before that, it was something different. They've been doing it for a very long time. I've gotten old names back by waiting for release periods, and I've got a whole guild full of friends' and family's characters that have randomized names because they've been released. It's a thing.

WoW does name releases, and has for a very long time.