Andreah

I read the (edited) OP as a standard thing a player working the market would do, not as a GM effort. The person saw an item that had no current bids to buy, and that had last sold at a very low price. Imagine this is some useful unique thing, and the history says they're going for a few thousand each, and there's hundreds and hundreds for sale, and no one is bidding for them right now. Could be a stats blip, sure .. but if it's not -- OMG what a deal!! Time to work the magic. You do a few trials bids and buys, and convince yourself it's not a market stats blip. So you buy up every one that's listed real low like that, and you -know- they'll sell for millions. So you need to get that history cleared. You put in bids for a bunch in the modest million just to prime the pump as it were. You set it up and then log for a while, very pleased with yourself! Muahaha! The cackles and mustache twirling are epic! And then you forget. Log in days later, you've bought a mess of these things at your pump-priming price, and omg, the going price dropped back down before you could strike and sell your stash. Buy high sell low ... wait, that's wrong. Your monocle falls to the floor as you realize the scale of your mistake! Fortunately, the story is entertaining and self-deprecatingly funny, so you write it up and post it in the forums for others to enjoy. --- Edit: Why does anyone bother with stuff that sells at 1K? Or even 10K? Even at 10K, and flipping 200 stacks of ten, that's not really a lot of profit for the effort.

It's like a school of shark-AV's, all ready to frenzy feed if you make a mistake.

... you could repost them for sale at 1. 😄

Perhaps your keyboard was fluttery and just by barely touching the key, it did key repeat 22212 before the last two zeros. I've made mistakes in the AH myself; I lost 700 million once when I hurried when I shouldn't have. I doubt whoever got the windfall is watching these forums. And if they are, given human nature, they would probably silently keep it. All I can say is to repeat the carpenter's creed: "Measure once, cut twice. Measure twice, cut once."

Also, IIRC you can only have two patrol experience boosters' worth of patrol XP at a time, so don't use more than two until you see the patrol XP burn down a ways.

As long as someone is bidding more, those low bids will never fill. The market has a lot of low bids and a lot of very high asks that will never fill on many items. The AH has some issues (bugs) where it might not report stats correctly for an item, and I believe it's possible it might hiccup and fill a bid out of order, but withstanding those, if someone were to bid for thousands of rare salvage at, say, 300k, and keep those bids refreshed frequently, then no one would ever sell a rare salvage and get less than 300k for it, not have it not sell instantly at that price. And if that person consistently relisted them at 333.334K (the first increment over exactly the market fee), then no one who wanted to buy a rare salvage would pay more than that. All the purchase bids lower than 300k would fail to fill, and all the sell bids over 333.334k would fail as well. The person doing this would become the "Market Maker", and control rare salvage at that price point. People could buy higher that the market maker, but not resell at a profit. If the market maker has sufficient inventory and liquidity, they can outlast anyone who tries to challenge them. This is hard when there's a fixed amount of rare salvage you can store. It would require using some alts and shifting inventory around a lot using shared base storage. The problem is, unless that price point was very carefully chosen, monitored, and occasionally adjusted, their inventory that backs it would get unbalanced (too many bought at 300 and not enough sold at 333; or too few bought at 300 and too many sold at 333) and they either get flooded with goods they can't sell or run out and can't maintain their sell position. Getting on this horse is not difficult -- try it some time! The ride can be a lot of fun ... but getting off without breaking something is tricky. Staying on topic, sort of, one could do this to an ATO as well, and deliberate push the price up. But this is really not practical. There's too much supply, and with converters your low bid price would end up tied to the price of the cheapest ATO set plus the price of a few conversions.

I recall a few weeks back, or maybe a month or two, (time flies), someone in /general was complaining they'd listed rare salvage at 1, and it was bought at some silly low price -- less than 100k iirc. Chat was kind of mean, you know how that goes, people said the person would take "1" for it, so be happy they got more than 1? Rare salvage sells pretty consistently between 350k and 450k, depending on whether winterpacks are on sale. (I think brainstorms from pack drops are a big part of rare supply). So I thought, does it hurt me at all to put in a mess of bids at, say, 200k for rares, and keep those refreshed? I can relist for 222k, get my money back, and ensure someone listing for 1 doesn't get burned hugely. Heck, one could probably put those in at 300k, and still set a bottom for the market.

Everything that I get in normal content I list back at 1. In my case, I want it to sell fast. Secondarily, people who want to buy and use or resell benefit and I'm happy with that, too. When I'm doing market arbitrage, upselling items I've crafted or converted, or selling drops from packs I've paid for is when I'm careful about the prices I list at.

Being rich from marketeering lets me help people and I enjoy that. I get the inf from people who are impatient, who're unwilling to risk pack opening RNG, or who don't care enough to bid incrementally and get good value for the auction-house spending. I give away large amounts of inf to friends, sg-mates, and even to strangers in /help or /general frequently. Just today I sent a tidy little sum to a player I never met before who seemed to need it from banter in /z chat. For a lot of people, especially new players, it's hard to get inf for those enhancements or for the very helpful items in P2W. I help them out, and I enjoy being able to do that without skipping a beat in my own play -- a few million is nothing to me, but everything to the right recipient. I can also pass money to people running costume contests when I think the theme is one I like. Those I like especially, because they help build community. Some of it I keep for myself; I can make and gear those new alts when I want to, with no hesitation. And more is for purpose of score, because it's a game, and nothing says you're winning quite like being a trillionaire. Not that I am. >.> Yet.

If one is listing ATO's, and some are not selling for at least Bopper's 5.84Million, one can use one or more converters on each one to convert the to ones that do. So long as the sale price increase on the converted ATO exceeds the value of the converter used, then it's worthwhile. Just do the out-of-set conversion for one converter to make another randomly chosen ATO.

Thank you, Bopper. That confirms in detail what I had seen in bulk bottom-line averages selling drops from many, many packs. Free tailor sessions, for some players, will be a pretty big value. If you open enough packs consistently, they would never pay a tailor fee again. Windfalls are quantfiable after the fact, too. Write down your inf; run an hour of content with a Windfall active, sell everything, and check your inf. 1/3 of the difference would be on account of the windfall -- it's a 50% bonus to virtually all drops, and when you get 150% instead of 100%, then 1/3 of the 150% is the value. All the little bits and bops inspiration drops are not easy to quantify. But if one were patient one could sell them and total it up, but the tedium, ouch. Experienced powers either speed on even faster to level cap, which gains on increased inf drops at cap for the leveling time saves. Or they increase the rate of gaining veteran levels, and the Emps/Threads those drop. That's harder to set a inf value to.

I use those, and I'm always fully amplified while I'm running missions. The defense, offense, and survival amplifiers together are probably about the same in total as being a level higher. Then, you also get "Windfall" temp powers which for an hour greatly increase drops from content. I don't use them always, but I use them often. For example, an ITF being run with your character amplified, running Experience, and also Windfall is hugely fun and even more rewarding that normal. There are also temp powers you can claim to rez yourself and teammates, and you'll have all the Team-Dual inspirations ready to claim from email to boost the whole team when you're in a tight spot. Some of this stuff defies a straightforward inf valuation, but is clearly very useful and beneficial to gameplay.

Well then, I will answer you directly. I have bought thousands of super packs, and will buy thousands more. I make approximate a 20% margin selling the pack drops. The packs drop a lot of valuable items in addition the ATO's. They drop Brain storms, which one can easily convert to rare salvage and sell, enhancement boosters, catalysts, converters, and unslotters one can sell; reward merits which can be used to exchange for items to sell, special inspirations which can be sold (but generally not worth the effort), and a lot of temporary powers which have value even if they cannot be directly sold. The most valuable of these, imo, are the three amplifiers and the Windfall power; those in concert improve the rate of drops from content or farming which has a substantial value. It would be easy for an inexperienced person to lose money on packs by not pricing their sales on the Auction wisely. Once one understands how the auction works and how to price ATO's especially, then it's not difficult to make consistent profit. In addition, one can use the converters that drop from the packs to change the less demanded and lower priced ATO's into better ones to sell, and increase profitability. That's not necessary, but improves results.

Just like back on live, there is a lot of "Dead" Inf. Inf that lies on characters who are no longer played by inactive players. Inf that is being kept for purposes of bragging rights or "Score", Inf that's being saved for non-specific future uses, and so on. Between that and the fixed price seeding of superpacks, I don't see there ever being an inflation problem. The excess inf-supply will funnel into dead inf before it can create a general rise in prices. Finally, I would turn the OP's question around for more insight: Given that ATO's sell for less than 10 Million inf each, why does anyone buy superpacks? 😄

Create a rikti "Monkey Master" who occasionally teleports-in at the rim of the bowl, and then tries to move down into the center where it will summon a bunch of monkeys. Stop it before then, and no monkeys will spawn.

I suppose one would need to define what magic is, and draw a clean distinction between it and non-magical normality. Science, technology, and mutation all are representations of the natural world too, so if we parse the definition of "natural' too broadly, it takes us to a place that might make sense, but isn't useful.

That's what I was taking some pains not to tell everyone. 😃 It's expensive (typical price is ~1Million in the AH), and only lasts for a short time (two minutes? Enough for two or three Fold Spaces unless you have a lot of recharge). But it works, and is awesome. Giant monsters apparently cannot be teleported, so Ukon'Grai is not affected, but all those Rikti battle suits and boss yadas take a quick trip to the rikti-grinder in the bowl. It's also useful in some specific task force situations. I have yet to try it against level shifted bosses and EB's in iTrials. And I assume purple triangles also apply to AV teleport resistance. And finally, this Ultimate technique also applis to Gravity's Wormhole power, which makes it extra awesome, too.

I was idly thinking about the several magically themed characters I roleplay with, and it occurred to me there are four main kinds of magical origins they have. There are those who are classical Magicians - They started life with no magical ability, but learned how to cast spells and access magical power through study and intellect, and could be considered scientists or engineers of magic. These ones are Magic for what they know. There are those who have magical items. A magical outfit, magical talismans, a font of power secreted away that is 'theirs', so on. These people are Magic for what they possess. Then there are those who are innately magic, either from birth/creation or from a transformative event. They have magic in their blood, soul, mind or body, but may not even understand how it works. They may be from another dimension (e.g. demons, etc.). These people are Magic for what they are. Then there are those who can use magic granted to them by another sentient power with magic. The character may be the priest/priestess of a deity, or have a powerful friend or ally who allows them use of their power. These people are magical for who they know, or who knows them. There's quite a lot of crossover and mixes. For instance, a demon with some innate magical power may come to our dimension, then expand their abilities through study and spellcasting, then create magical items to simplify or expand their spellcasting, or create enduring charms or spells (buffs), and then finally, achieve a connection to the Well of the Furies and become magic incarnate. So, is my basic list of four exhaustive? Are my admittedly short definitions accurate? How do your own magical characters fit into one or more of these categories?

And a sad looking NPC named "Charles Marron"

I happen to ABSOLUTELY LOVE Fold Space on my tanker. I built this character to use it (and to a lesser extent Combat Teleport, and even Teleport Target) and have spent some time thinking about how it works. I think it's in a good spot. It's not utterly overpowered, which if it hit too many enemies, or teleported high level/leader mobs easily, it would be. It requires line of sight, so you can't teleport them through walls. It generates a lot of aggro, and is useful for that, but also dangerous on account of that. It has range, and can un-knockback after powerful knockback occurs, making Knockback easier for teams to work with. It -can- boost up in power nicely under very limited circumstances, but these are going to be rare. It does not take set IO's, and has a long recharge cycle. It causes no damage and has no mezz with it, and I don't think it even interrupts mob powers in animation (still watching that to be certain.) This is a tactically very powerful tool, but one with limitations that keep it from being over the top. In the mean time, I recommend other Fold Spacers slot it for accuracy, and then also for recharge, and don't expect it to teleport +4 bosses around willy-nilly. It will gather up minions it hits, and Lts if they're not too far above your level, if you have the accuracy to hit them. Also, look at your insp tray, and pop a medium or large insight right before using it.

I have two favorite hard-mode ideas. 1) Modify the purple patch to-hits so that running at +1 to +4 mission difficulty gives the enemies a bit more to-hit: Level Diff To-Hit Bonus (Current) (Proposed) +0 0% 0% +1 0% 0% +2 0% +1% +3 0% +2% +4 0% +4% +5 0% +5% +6 +5% +10% +7 +10% +15% +8 +15% +20% +9 +20% +25% +10 +40% +40% This would make the defense softcap a little higher in +1 to +4 content. In the past, original (tetris-style) Side-kicking meant one often had a mix of levels of people below the party leader, but with Super-side-kicking, it made everyone at least party leader-1, and I think this entered into the game as an implicit difficulty nerf. I believe my suggestion would repair quite a lot of that, and it's entirely optional in that we can always choose a lower difficulty to suit the team. 2) This one's a little more complicated., but I think even more worth-while. I would give an AoE buff to Lieutenants that would buff any minions close by to them very slightly, say +1 defense and +1 to-hit. Then I would give bosses an AoE buff to Bosses that would buff both Lieutenants and minions nearby them too, say +5 defense, +5 to-hit, and +1 mezz protection. And then so on through EB's. These would all accumulate and stack. A large x8 spawn full of Lts and Bosses would present a challenge, and demand some tactical choices to separate them (Knockback saves the team! ) or at least target the bosses and Lts first. If the developers were ambitious, different leader-type mobs in each enemy group (council vs say arachnos) might provide a different mix of close buffs. A war Wolf boss might also provide a damage resistance buff to nearby Lts and Mobs, but an Archon might grant higher mezz resistance. A night widow might grant +perception and extra +to-hit, but a fortunata mistress might offer much higher mezz protection. Finally.) Higher difficulty settings would be more challenging, both with higher levels and larger spawns, with these suggestions. I'd buff end of mission rewards a little. Even grant a random chance reward table at the end of any mission, even radios or newspapers, for completing it, with increased chances for better rewards from higher difficulties and group sizes.

I agree, but more so, think they're essential for this to be useful. The vast majority of players seek out content with the best reward/effort ratio, even if the reward they're seeking is simply a badge. And springing challenge settings on Task Force invitees without telling them in advance rarely ends well. I was on a Tinpex that turned out to be on enemies buffed / player debuffed, and there were complaints in the first of the two TFs, and half the team dropped in the second when the leader didn't listen and kept them on. Afterwards, he got salty in LFG over people dropping on account of his choices and refusal to change them. A pop-up vote when the task force started for all the team members to accept or decline each challenge setting would have solved this. Even so, his TF would have broken up, most people don't enter pick-up-groups for deliberately overly-hard content with no reward up-side. But add more drops, bonus xp or merits at the end, or a special badge, and people might!

A true mechanical badass, imo, would be someone whose badassery has exceeded the norm by a fair margin. E.g., show up on the team sporting a 50+4 level shift, and I'm impressed. Otherwise, mechanically, there's two kinds of characters; those who've hit our common badassery ceiling, and those who will shortly. In RP, I'm a little more likely to extend some consideration for the mechanics not allowing a roleplayer to express their character's true power. Otherwise, I tend to the side of "put up or shut up". Your character says he can fly at 800 mph? Let go see. There's a game mechanic hard limit there, and I would hope for roleplay to either follow it or give me good IC reason why the character can't demonstrate it right here and right now. I'm not saying this is a super-turns-me-away thing to me, I just hope for in-character explanations or some restraint in roleplay, and when it's not there I'm a little peeved.

I can't disagree very hard with this. But a skilled player could do it, with some effort. It helps to actually know some very old people in real life. But this is part of roleplaying -- learning how to portray something you are not, don't have much experience with, and that may not actually exist at all. Often literature offers us a solid base of exemplars to work from; e.g., how vampires and werewolves might behave. And this is true with the super-old, too. Where I wholly agree with Konrad's point is when players don't even try. There's a counterpart I'm not fond of though -- they very young character with unbelievable lists of experiences and accomplishments. This end up as a bit of a thing with super-spies; they're very often in the physical prime of their early twenties, and yet have thirty years' and more worth of things they've done.

True, it could be misused for that. Hmm. One alternative would be to code the Super-Friends list purely by the red/blue/gold alignment status of the friend.