"I can't afford enhancements." A simple guide for making money at lower levels.

[Silk]

...snip...

 

  Getting buffs from your base can help too (particularly Invisibility, Recovery and Knockback Protection).

 

...snip...

 

What is this buff station you speak of?

[Zolgar]

...snip...

 

  Getting buffs from your base can help too (particularly Invisibility, Recovery and Knockback Protection).

 

...snip...

 

What is this buff station you speak of?

 

Under crafting there are stations, I dont recall what they're called off the top, that you can use salvage to make temporary buffs that provide small bonuses to resists, damage, accuracy, etc.

[Robotech_Master]

And crafting buffs at those stations also counts toward the 1,000 crafted items badge you need for Field Crafter.

[Silk]

Oh nice! I will have to take a look at those.  ;D

[dtj714]

I hate crafting. I also hate playing the auction house. So, for a person like me, my take-away from this is that the most straightforward way to make decent influence is to earn merits (in whatever fashion), use those to buy enhancement boosters/converters (which is better?) from the merit vendor, then sell those on the AH, potentially for millions of inf. Does that sound about right?

 

As far as enhancements go, my plan would be to use the influence to buy level 25 IOs (which are roughly 95% as effective as an even level SO) and not worry about enhancements again until level 50. I’m guessing a few million inf should be enough to fill up on lvl 25 IOs at level 22, then it would just be a matter of buying more to fill new slots while leveling.

 

Does that sound both both simple and effective?

[Zolgar]

I hate crafting. I also hate playing the auction house. So, for a person like me, my take-away from this is that the most straightforward way to make decent influence is to earn merits (in whatever fashion), use those to buy enhancement boosters/converters (which is better?) from the merit vendor, then sell those on the AH, potentially for millions of inf. Does that sound about right?

 

As far as enhancements go, my plan would be to use the influence to buy level 25 IOs (which are roughly 95% as effective as an even level SO) and not worry about enhancements again until level 50. I’m guessing a few million inf should be enough to fill up on lvl 25 IOs at level 22, then it would just be a matter of buying more to fill new slots while leveling.

 

Does that sound both both simple and effective?

 

This should work for you, make sure you take the time to see which will offer you the most influence per merit spent.

 

On Everlasting right now:

Converters 100-150k each

Unslotters 100-150k each

Boosters 1.3-1.5m each

catalysts 3-3.5m each

 

Converters are 1 merit for 3.

Unslotters are 1 merit for 2.

Boosters are 5 merits for 1.

Catalysts are 20 merits for 1.

 

So let's break it down at 20 merits:

20 merits will net us 60 converters, which will get us 6-9 million. If we average to 7.5 million that is 375k per merit.

20 merits will net us 40 unslotters, which will get us 4-6 million. If we average to 5 mil, that is 250k per merit.

20 merits will net us 4 boosters, which will get us 5.2-6 million. If we assume you go market high, that is 300k per merit.

20 merits will net us 1 catalyst, which will get us 3-3.5 million. I don't even feel like doing the math, but it's going to be less than any others.

 

While the market does fluctuate a lot, it seems to me that converters are almost always the best bang for your buck, at least on Everylasting.

 

Now, as for how much it will cost you to buy 25 basic IOs..

 

Market average right now on Everlasting seems about 50,000 per level 25 basic IO. So, if you wanted to use them and all the way up to 50, you would be spending around 5 mil total.

[Shinobu]

I think the market is cross-server?  I haven't actually checked that, I just assumed it was.

 

 

[csr]

So let's break it down at 20 merits:

20 merits will net us 60 converters, which will get us 6-9 million. If we average to 7.5 million that is 375k per merit.

20 merits will net us 40 unslotters, which will get us 4-6 million. If we average to 5 mil, that is 250k per merit.

20 merits will net us 4 boosters, which will get us 5.2-6 million. If we assume you go market high, that is 300k per merit.

20 merits will net us 1 catalyst, which will get us 3-3.5 million. I don't even feel like doing the math, but it's going to be less than any others.

 

You forgot to subtract the 10% commission to the AH.  I'm averaging a net of about 324k/merit on Converters, Unslotters and Boosters, but the latter two take longer to sell (overnight, usually) at my price.  Simply doing badge Task/Strike Forces should pay for common IOs from 22 on (using 25-40 level ones as you can).

[Herotu]

Yeah, but you do have to get there with one character first. :)

 

I can't emphasise enough how amazing it is to have a L50 to bankroll all my other toons enhancements.

 

I got there by making a Fire/Kin Controller (always popular) and teaming my way to 50. Don't even CONSIDER levelling alone.

 

Once you are 50, it rains inf. It costs less than 2m inf to fully trick out a L22 IO build with L25 IO enhancements. Those will be good enough until you get high level.

[Adeon Hawkwood]

I think the market is cross-server?  I haven't actually checked that, I just assumed it was.

It is. It is also cross-faction.

[JakStrong]

On 5/29/2019 at 6:03 PM, Zolgar said:

Many new and returning players have been struggling with making money and lament being unable to afford enhancers as they level. I decided to share some knowledge as to a means of making a decent amount of influence.

 

This guide is not by any means meant to be an exhaustive guide to all the ways to make money, nor do I claim it to be the best way to make money. It is simply a reliable way to make money, regardless of level, build, starting influence, etc.

 

It’s also a way that does not require farming or market manipulation. Not that there is necessarily anything wrong with these practices, but some prefer to avoid them.

 

Since the main purpose of this is to show how you can make the money to be sure you can keep your character well enhanced, I started a new character (dark/bio sentinel, for the record).

 

2 hours in:

Level 17

22 merits

37000 inf

1 converter

1 piece of rare salvage

1 piece uncommon salvage

5 pieces common salvage

3 rare recipes (level 15/16, all worthless)

 

How did I get there?

First, double XP all the way, so the inf was from selling enhancers to the NPCs.

Started out with Matthew Habashy’s arc, followed by a couple DFBs, this got me to 15, so I got an Ouro portal and did the remaining 3 contacts in the Newbie atlas missions.

After that, I ran around Atlas and Kings Row collecting the exploration badges. For those that don’t recall, if you get all the exploration badges in a zone, you get 5 merits.

 

The Atlas park newbie missions take 10-15 minutes each arc, depending on your build, maybe less with a blaster or scrapper. They net you 3 merits each (for a total of 12 if you do all 4 arcs), and those done through Ouro also net you a Rare recipe drop.

 

There are plenty of means of getting merits, some quicker, depending on your level. I chose these methods because they are available to any level of hero or villain, and should be easy to accomplish solo even if you’re not a very good solo build. (The Posi TFs are another great option for merits at low levels, for example)

 

First thing I did from there was turn all my merits to converters. Well that’s a lie, I accidently clicked on unslotters once because the list shifted, so whatevs, same result.  I sold the 2 unslotters and 1 converter, giving me just shy of 500k to work with. At the time of writing this, on Everlasting, converters were going for 100k, unslotters for 150-200k. You don’t need to do this if you have seed money, I like at least 100k, 500k is a more comfortable number to work with.

 

Then I searched uncommon level 30 recipes that were for sale and scrolled down the list until I found one I could buy cheap. I got 6 Undermined Defenses of some piece that doesn’t matter for 1k each. Why level 30? Well, 30 is the largest pool of IOs that has the greatest potential for in-demand pieces while still being inexpensive to craft. At 30 you can get Steadfast Protection +def, Luck of the Gambler +rech, Numina’s +regen/rec, Performance Shifter chance for +end, etc. There are very few in demand pieces you cannot get at level 30.

 

At the time of writing this, salvage was on an upswing and cost me 66k total for them, giving me a total cost of 72k, another 44k per to craft brings my total cost to a little over 300,000 to make these. (this is why I like a decent pool of seed money. Without it you need to craft a few at a time) I could have saved probably 5-8k per if I were patient and waited for the salvage to go on a down swing again, but I didn’t want to delay writing this longer.

 

Craft them all, and convert them all by type to make them rare. Then, start converting by rarity. First rarity conversion gave me an Obliteration proc, instant 3 mil, less AH fees. A couple of lucky conversions and a few more not-so-lucky ones later, I’m sitting just short of 10mil, with another 9 mil worth of enhancers for sale on the AH.

 

At this point I still have 28 converters, so could easily repeat the process if I wanted. But from here, I am basically set for influence at least until I need to convert over to 35 IOs, possibly even then if I’m patient.

 

In total, including the time to actually write this guide, this took me 3 hours to accomplish from the moment I entered Atlas Park (it also includes talking to friends, etc.). Someone focused using something with a better kill speed than a sentinel could likely accomplish it in 2.

 

Yes, you can earn well more than 20m in 2 hours at high levels by donating into the game using services like this https://apps.apple.com/us/app/personal-loan-for-bad-credit/id6449185223 , but odds are if can do that, you don’t need a guide for how to make money, no?

 

Thx for this. I hope this guide will still work in 2024 because I want to earn more and more money during my gaming experience.

Edited April 22 by JakStrong

[Jack Power]

41 minutes ago, JakStrong said:

Thx for this. I hope this guide will still work in 2024 because I want to earn more and more money during my gaming experience.

I'd say the guide is still valid. The inf-numbers quoted in the guide might be lower (or higher) now I can't say off the top of my head. But the ideas are still sound I guess.

 

//Jack

Edited April 8 by Jack Power
Spelling

[Herotu]

On 5/29/2019 at 9:14 PM, Robotech_Master said:

(Another trick I've heard involves getting and using Inner Inspiration, selling the mediums to vendors, using the funds from the sales to list the larges on the market. But this trick works faster!)

Inner inspiration is amazing for early inf if you're lucky and remember to keep using it. 

Larges vary wildly in price, for example;

• Righteous Rage might go for 100,000 just before prime time on a Sunday, but drop to 11,.000 in the mid-mornings.
• Another popular one is Purple Shield insp (forgot the name).
• and finally Escape (the Resist effects).
• Large Heals I sell for 20k-23k.
• Large Blues are usually ~10K, occasionally double or triple that.
• Yellows are amazing, but the farmers who buy these things in bulk don't seem to agree with me 🙂 (AKA they play farms without enemies that make you blind).
• Wakies are generally quite cheapo because nobody expects to die, Mr Bond.

 

[PhotriusPyrelus]

On 5/29/2019 at 10:07 AM, Zolgar said:

For those wondering about IOs vs. SOs, I highly recommend this guide:

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/index.php/topic,3042.0.html

I don't want to necro that thread, so I'll ask here; I don't understand why he phrases using SOs as "Typical cost to SO a character again at level X" while for IOs it's "Typical cost to add IOs to a character at level X".  The answer is probably obvious if you understand IOs, but I really don't.  I crafting was added after I'd largely stopped playing.

EDIT:  Aw nuts, this thread is also 5 years old.  x_x

Edited April 21 by PhotriusPyrelus

[Snakebit]

2 hours ago, PhotriusPyrelus said:

I don't want to necro that thread, so I'll ask here; I don't understand why he phrases using SOs as "Typical cost to SO a character again at level X" while for IOs it's "Typical cost to add IOs to a character at level X".  The answer is probably obvious if you understand IOs, but I really don't.  I crafting was added after I'd largely stopped playing.

EDIT:  Aw nuts, this thread is also 5 years old.  x_x

You out-level SOs as you level, forcing you to buy and combine every 4 levels. That gets pretty expensive in terms of both inf and time sink. 

 

Once you slot an IO, it continues to provide its effectiveness no matter what level you are. A 25 IO provides the same benefit to a level 50 as it does a level 25. Yes, a level 25 IO has a smaller bonus than a level 25 SO, but the amount is not noticeable in actual gameplay. 

 

So, you can slot everything at 22.  You never change them again until you are ready to start your final build, saving you a ton of inf.  Around level 35 you might consider upgrading some of the slots to 35s in critical powers, that's the break even point between IO and SO bonus. 

[PhotriusPyrelus]

1 hour ago, Snakebit said:

You out-level SOs as you level, forcing you to buy and combine every 4 levels. That gets pretty expensive in terms of both inf and time sink. 

 

Once you slot an IO, it continues to provide its effectiveness no matter what level you are. A 25 IO provides the same benefit to a level 50 as it does a level 25. Yes, a level 25 IO has a smaller bonus than a level 25 SO, but the amount is not noticeable in actual gameplay. 

 

So, you can slot everything at 22.  You never change them again until you are ready to start your final build, saving you a ton of inf.  Around level 35 you might consider upgrading some of the slots to 35s in critical powers, that's the break even point between IO and SO bonus. 

I knew that, but I couldn't put it together.  x_x  Thanks.  It's clear now.

[LinkAiris]

On 5/29/2019 at 6:03 PM, Zolgar said:

Many new and returning players have been struggling with making money and lament being unable to afford enhancers as they level. I decided to share some knowledge as to a means of making a decent amount of influence.

 

This guide is not by any means meant to be an exhaustive guide to all the ways to make money, nor do I claim it to be the best way to make money. It is simply a reliable way to make money, regardless of level, build, starting influence, etc.

 

It’s also a way that does not require farming or market manipulation. Not that there is necessarily anything wrong with these practices, but some prefer to avoid them.

 

Since the main purpose of this is to show how you can make the money to be sure you can keep your character well enhanced, I started a new character (dark/bio sentinel, for the record).

 

2 hours in:

Level 17

22 merits

37000 inf

1 converter

1 piece of rare salvage

1 piece uncommon salvage

5 pieces common salvage

3 rare recipes (level 15/16, all worthless)

 

How did I get there?

First, double XP all the way, so the inf was from selling enhancers to the NPCs.

Started out with Matthew Habashy’s arc, followed by a couple DFBs, this got me to 15, so I got an Ouro portal and did the remaining 3 contacts in the Newbie atlas missions.

After that, I ran around Atlas and Kings Row collecting the exploration badges. For those that don’t recall, if you get all the exploration badges in a zone, you get 5 merits.

 

The Atlas park newbie missions take 10-15 minutes each arc, depending on your build, maybe less with a blaster or scrapper. They net you 3 merits each (for a total of 12 if you do all 4 arcs), and those done through Ouro also net you a Rare recipe drop.

 

There are plenty of means of getting merits, some quicker, depending on your level. I chose these methods because they are available to any level of hero or villain, and should be easy to accomplish solo even if you’re not a very good solo build. (The Posi TFs are another great option for merits at low levels, for example)

 

First thing I did from there was turn all my merits to converters. Well that’s a lie, I accidently clicked on unslotters once because the list shifted, so whatevs, same result.  I sold the 2 unslotters and 1 converter, giving me just shy of 500k to work with. At the time of writing this, on Everlasting, converters were going for 100k, unslotters for 150-200k. You don’t need to do this if you have seed money, I like at least 100k, 500k is a more comfortable number to work with.

 

Then I searched uncommon level 30 recipes that were for sale and scrolled down the list until I found one I could buy cheap. I got 6 Undermined Defenses of some piece that doesn’t matter for 1k each. Why level 30? Well, 30 is the largest pool of IOs that has the greatest potential for in-demand pieces while still being inexpensive to craft. At 30 you can get Steadfast Protection +def, Luck of the Gambler +rech, Numina’s +regen/rec, Performance Shifter chance for +end, etc. There are very few in demand pieces you cannot get at level 30.

 

At the time of writing this, salvage was on an upswing and cost me 66k total for them, giving me a total cost of 72k, another 44k per to craft brings my total cost to a little over 300,000 to make these. (this is why I like a decent pool of seed money. Without it you need to craft a few at a time) I could have saved probably 5-8k per if I were patient and waited for the salvage to go on a down swing again, but I didn’t want to delay writing this longer.

 

Craft them all, and convert them all by type to make them rare. Then, start converting by rarity. First rarity conversion gave me an Obliteration proc, instant 3 mil, less AH fees. A couple of lucky conversions and a few more not-so-lucky ones later, I’m sitting just short of 10mil, with another 9 mil worth of enhancers for sale on the AH.

 

At this point I still have 28 converters, so could easily repeat the process if I wanted. But from here, I am basically set for influence at least until I need to convert over to 35 IOs, possibly even then if I’m patient.

 

In total, including the time to actually write this guide, this took me 3 hours to accomplish from the moment I entered Atlas Park (it also includes talking to friends, etc.) (like in real life where I found how to get fast cash now). Someone focused using something with a better kill speed than a sentinel could likely accomplish it in 2.

 

Yes, you can earn well more than 20m in 2 hours at high levels, but odds are if can do that, you don’t need a guide for how to make money, no?

 

Your guide offers a practical and accessible method for players to accumulate influence in City of Heroes without resorting to farming or market manipulation. It's commendable that you've tailored your approach to accommodate players of various levels and playstyles, ensuring inclusivity within the community. Your step-by-step breakdown of the process, from leveraging double XP to converting merits into valuable assets, is clear and easy to follow.

The emphasis on exploring Atlas and Kings Row to collect exploration badges demonstrates a thoughtful integration of gameplay mechanics that rewards players for engaging with the world beyond combat scenarios. Additionally, your insight into selecting level 30 recipes for crafting IOs highlights a strategic approach to maximizing profits while minimizing costs.

Your transparency regarding the time investment and potential fluctuations in market prices adds a level of realism to the guide, allowing readers to adjust their expectations accordingly. By sharing your personal experience and outcomes, you empower others to replicate your success while acknowledging individual variations in playstyle and efficiency.

Overall, your guide serves as a valuable resource for both new and returning players seeking to bolster their financial resources in City of Heroes. Your willingness to share knowledge and contribute positively to the community is admirable, fostering a collaborative and supportive environment within the game. Thank you for taking the time to document and share your insights with fellow players.

Edited June 3 by LinkAiris