Reward Merits

[DeathsServant]

So, I'm a level 44 blaster. I have 850 merits. What is the best way to use these damn things? Thanks for the help in advance.

[ZekeStenzland]

IMHO, there are two main uses for reward merits for the casual player. 
 

First, purchase Enhancement Converters and sell them on /ah for inf to build up a couple million inf to purchase stuff you want. 
 

Second, when you have sufficient inf to craft and sell stuff, purchase Enhancement Converters for your own use. Craft every recipe that drops and convert it to something that either you want to equip yourself, or something that sells well on /ah. Use the inf from sales to buy cool stuff for yourself. 
 

Just my 2inf worth. 
 

While it’s possible to buy recipes for 25-250 merits, that’s almost always way less efficient than converting merits to Converters, selling them for inf, and using the inf to buy the thing you want. So it seems to me at least. 

Edited March 4, 2021 by ZekeStenzland

[Saikochoro]

The fast and easy way: buy enhancement converters with the merits at a merit vendor. Sell converters on the market for usually between 60-70k. I personally always put them up for 1 inf each to get the sale instantly and have never gotten less than 58k per converter and usually it is 65k+. Use the influence to then buy whatever you want. 
 

The slower, harder, but much more lucrative way: buy converters with the merits. Buy yellow recipes and required salvage off the market. Craft the recipes and use converters to convert them into desirable rare IOs. Can make lots of influences with even just basic knowledge of the market (plenty of guides). It will make you much more influence, but does require more time and effort than just selling the converters. 
 

The real question is: how much time do you want to spend in the auction house? If the answer is as little as possible, then I suggest the first method. It can still easily fund lots of expensive builds in a relatively quick manner. 

[Andreah]

Converters are 3/merit, and sell for about 70,000 each on the /ah currently. That's 210K per merit, before auction fees.

Catalysts are  1/20-merits, and sell for about 2,000,000 each on the /ah. That's 100K per merit, also before fees.

Unslotters are 2/merit, and sell for about 120,000 each on the /ah. That's 240K per merit.

Boosters are 1/5-merits, and sell for about 1,200,000 each. That's also 240K per merit.

 

Prices change a lot, so look and see where they are before committing a lot of merits. Selling at a good price also depends on your ability to effectively set your asking price smartly, and how patient you are.

 

Your mileage will vary on using merits to buy enhancement recipes, but the rule of thumb is not the value of the final thing you make, but what the substitution cost would have been if you bought the recipe using inf off the auction instead. 

[Mahomes]

I keep waiting for an "if that looks like a lot of work" response to look like a lot less work. I guess my lazy self would just reward roll them for orange recipes and be done with it.  I can't imagine spending that much time trying to turn free money into more free money. 

[Techwright]

5 minutes ago, Saikochoro said:

The real question is: how much time do you want to spend in the auction house? If the answer is as little as possible, then I suggest the first method. It can still easily fund lots of expensive builds in a relatively quick manner. 

I'd definite understand this in light of just getting up and running.  Once you've got a "rinse and repeat" pattern figured out for crafting for the AH, though, you can spend a fairly small amount of time for relatively big rewards.  I do crafting in off-hours when most are not online.  I've often spent a mere 1/2 hour crafting and posting in the AH to get 40-50 million inf by the time all postings sell out.  I'm sure there are crafter-sellers out there with much better results than mine.

 

[Andreah]

3 minutes ago, Mahomes said:

I keep waiting for an "if that looks like a lot of work" response to look like a lot less work. I guess my lazy self would just reward roll them for orange recipes and be done with it.  I can't imagine spending that much time trying to turn free money into more free money. 

Short answer, go to a merits kiosk, convert them into Boosters, Converters, or Unslotters; whichever strikes your fancy. List them for 1 inf on the auction, and they'll sell instantly, and won't be too bad a deal.

 

Don't convert them to catalysts -- those don't pay well enough. Don't convert them to recipes -- that's too much work.

Edited March 4, 2021 by Andreah

[Yomo Kimyata]

Are you looking to exchange them for inf, or are you looking to get items you need, or other?

 

[Saikochoro]

52 minutes ago, Techwright said:

I'd definite understand this in light of just getting up and running.  Once you've got a "rinse and repeat" pattern figured out for crafting for the AH, though, you can spend a fairly small amount of time for relatively big rewards.  I do crafting in off-hours when most are not online.  I've often spent a mere 1/2 hour crafting and posting in the AH to get 40-50 million inf by the time all postings sell out.  I'm sure there are crafter-sellers out there with much better results than mine.

 

I understand this as I have done many forms of marketing. There are some people that just don’t enjoy spending time on the market though. So selling converters is a practical way for them to make decent money with very minimal time on the auction house. 

[Mr. Vee]

6 hours ago, ZekeStenzland said:

Second, when you have sufficient inf to craft and sell stuff, purchase Enhancement Converters for your own use. Craft every recipe that drops and convert it to something that either you want to equip yourself, or something that sells well on /ah.

I wouldn't get used to the bold bit of this (my emphasis) as you'll be 50 soon and the crafting cost of a level 50 recipe takes too big a chunk of your profits. Better to sell off the level 50 recipes and buy cheap converting fodder. The only things I craft a level 50 drop of are purples (which only exist at 50) and pvp (for hoarding). There are plenty of guides to the craft/convert game if you want to go that route, including Yomo's entertaining current thread 

 

[DeathsServant]

Thanks for all the responses, I really do appreciate it. I did not know there are guides for this problem. I will check those out. 

[DeathsServant]

6 hours ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

Are you looking to exchange them for inf, or are you looking to get items you need, or other?

 

I am looking to eventually upgrade my enhancement sets to purples.

[Rejolt]

Step 1: Sell Converters or Boosters for cash as you level up. If you're running x2 xp you're not earning influence. Yes, you can email INF from other characters but not everyone is that deep into their rosters yet.

Step 2: Cherry pick specific IOs you need but don't see in your price range. The Steadfast resistance/+3 def is universally useful and is only 20 Reward Merits. I like buying this as a level 30 recipe so it can be +5 boosted later. The Merit cost is roughly equal for you'd get for selling boosters/converters so up to you if you want to buy with INF or merits.

Step 3: Make sure your MidsReborn is build is done before you go In on 100-merit IOs. Search the auction house (/ah command) to make sure some IO you need isn't 10 million or less when you could sell 20-22 mill worth over converters and buy twice as many IOs instead. Attuned ATOs and Winter sets are already created on purchase so technically they're a bit cheaper than Purple or PVP IOs so if you really need.

[Yomo Kimyata]

4 hours ago, DeathsServant said:

I am looking to eventually upgrade my enhancement sets to purples.

800 merits will get you 8 purple recipes of your choice, and each of those will cost you about 2mm to craft.  People may tell you that's a dumb way to go about it, but there's nothing wrong with it.  It may not be the most cost effective way, but it's the quickest and the most certain.

 

Another option is to trade in those merits at a merit vendor for various goods that you can trade directly on the /AH.  Converters are tried and true, and 100 merits gets you 300 converters, which you can sell in 30 blocks of 10.  Let's say you offer them at 70,000 and sell them there.  That's 21,000,000 inf before the AH takes its vig, so 18.9mm after taxes.  That's enough to directly buy an already crafted purple with probably a little bit left over.  There are lots of other things you can trade in merits for as well, some may net you a little more, some a little less.

 

A third option is to convert all the merits to converters and use those converters yourself to change less valuable items into more valuable items.  They are really magical, and converting is a great way to make lots and lots of inf.  There are a bunch of guides available.

 

Good luck and happy hunting!

[Rejolt]

55 minutes ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

800 merits will get you 8 purple recipes of your choice, and each of those will cost you about 2mm to craft.  People may tell you that's a dumb way to go about it, but there's nothing wrong with it.  It may not be the most cost effective way, but it's the quickest and the most certain.

 

Another option is to trade in those merits at a merit vendor for various goods that you can trade directly on the /AH.  Converters are tried and true, and 100 merits gets you 300 converters, which you can sell in 30 blocks of 10.  Let's say you offer them at 70,000 and sell them there.  That's 21,000,000 inf before the AH takes its vig, so 18.9mm after taxes.  That's enough to directly buy an already crafted purple with probably a little bit left over.  There are lots of other things you can trade in merits for as well, some may net you a little more, some a little less.

 

A third option is to convert all the merits to converters and use those converters yourself to change less valuable items into more valuable items.  They are really magical, and converting is a great way to make lots and lots of inf.  There are a bunch of guides available.

 

Good luck and happy hunting!

Basically this. You'll notice on the March 2020 player statistics is that players afk or actively farm on Spines/Fire or Rad/Fire Brutes and earn lots of money and IOs . They craft and convert. The thing that doesn't drop as often in farms (some, not lots) is Converters. So there's a steady market for them.

Edited March 4, 2021 by Rejolt

[Ironblade]

On 3/3/2021 at 9:01 PM, ZekeStenzland said:

First, purchase Enhancement Converters and sell them on /ah for inf to build up a couple million inf to purchase stuff you want.

I would agree this is the best course of action for someone who only has 850 merits.

Watch the price to see how much it fluctuates day to day and you'll be able to price them to get as much inf as possible with them selling in 1-2 days.  If they insta-sell when you post them, you're letting them go too cheaply.

 

On 3/3/2021 at 9:01 PM, ZekeStenzland said:

While it’s possible to buy recipes for 25-250 merits, that’s almost always way less efficient than converting merits to Converters, selling them for inf, and using the inf to buy the thing you want.

While this is what I do, since I have many thousands of them and can't be bothered with the extra steps of getting the converters, selling on the AH, etc.

[golstat2003]

On 3/3/2021 at 9:39 PM, Saikochoro said:

The fast and easy way: buy enhancement converters with the merits at a merit vendor. Sell converters on the market for usually between 60-70k. I personally always put them up for 1 inf each to get the sale instantly and have never gotten less than 58k per converter and usually it is 65k+. Use the influence to then buy whatever you want. 
 

The slower, harder, but much more lucrative way: buy converters with the merits. Buy yellow recipes and required salvage off the market. Craft the recipes and use converters to convert them into desirable rare IOs. Can make lots of influences with even just basic knowledge of the market (plenty of guides). It will make you much more influence, but does require more time and effort than just selling the converters. 
 

The real question is: how much time do you want to spend in the auction house? If the answer is as little as possible, then I suggest the first method. It can still easily fund lots of expensive builds in a relatively quick manner. 

For the number of times I've stated this to folks in and out of game when someone says "making inf is too hard", I'd have a billion inf myself by now.

[Clave Dark 5]

On 3/3/2021 at 7:42 PM, Andreah said:

Converters are 3/merit, and sell for about 70,000 each on the /ah currently. That's 210K per merit, before auction fees.

Catalysts are  1/20-merits, and sell for about 2,000,000 each on the /ah. That's 100K per merit, also before fees.

Unslotters are 2/merit, and sell for about 120,000 each on the /ah. That's 240K per merit.

Boosters are 1/5-merits, and sell for about 1,200,000 each. That's also 240K per merit.

Huh, usually when I'm checking, the catalysts are only about 1.5 to 1.25 mill range.  But I often game at odd hours, maybe the market's cooled down some.  That's still the route I go, I can be in and out after pricing them all at 1 Inf in like two minutes, if even that.

[Snarky]

On 3/4/2021 at 6:10 AM, Yomo Kimyata said:

800 merits will get you 8 purple recipes of your choice, and each of those will cost you about 2mm to craft.  People may tell you that's a dumb way to go about it, but there's nothing wrong with it.  It may not be the most cost effective way, but it's the quickest and the most certain.

 

Another option is to trade in those merits at a merit vendor for various goods that you can trade directly on the /AH.  Converters are tried and true, and 100 merits gets you 300 converters, which you can sell in 30 blocks of 10.  Let's say you offer them at 70,000 and sell them there.  That's 21,000,000 inf before the AH takes its vig, so 18.9mm after taxes.  That's enough to directly buy an already crafted purple with probably a little bit left over.  There are lots of other things you can trade in merits for as well, some may net you a little more, some a little less.

 

A third option is to convert all the merits to converters and use those converters yourself to change less valuable items into more valuable items.  They are really magical, and converting is a great way to make lots and lots of inf.  There are a bunch of guides available.

 

Good luck and happy hunting!

Yeah, no.  800 merits for 8 purple...recipes.... ooof freaking duh.

 

800 merits nets 2400 enhancement converters.  off the top of my head i think that would be somewhere around 250-350 enhancers created using the method i favor (learned from boards)  those enhancers will bring in 2-5mil a pop.  lets just call it 800 million.  I am almost sure it would work out to more but i havent tracked specific numbers.  I just grab ECs and twiddle while reading LFG chat between TFs.

 

Buy level 25-30 Uncommon recipes off Auction.  (these cost less to craft than 50s, and the bulk of the sets you want start at 25-30) Ensure that no recipe requires very rare salvage to craft.  a very few do.  Buy 50-100 recipes.  buy salvage.  turn merits into converters.  grind baby grind.

 

craft recipes. use converters to turn all of them into defense, resists, heal, or end mod sets.  then take each enhancer and convert to another resit, defense, heal, or endmod.  You are looking for (incomplete list for comparison) Numina, Miracle, Perf Shifter, Unbreakable Guard, Kismet, Reactive Defenses, Luck of the Gambler, You have to use the clunky drop down menu on the right side of the enhancement converter on each convert to tell it you want a certain thing.  ugh. i know.

 

convert "in set" each of the ones above until you get the global or proc from the set.  Unbreakable guard you want any besides end/rech.  

 

check auction on prices, and start listing.  if you want to hold out for more that is okay, they take longer to sell and the market may bottom past you for up to a week.  Perf shifters inexplicably dropped from the 3-4 mil down to 2 this weekend.  My selling 30 or so of them prob didnt help lol.

[Andreah]

7 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

Huh, usually when I'm checking, the catalysts are only about 1.5 to 1.25 mill range.  But I often game at odd hours, maybe the market's cooled down some.  That's still the route I go, I can be in and out after pricing them all at 1 Inf in like two minutes, if even that.

The current "Sell Now" price is currently as I type this 1.6M -- that's the price flippers are paying to impatient people. They relist them at ten percent (or more) higher, and then within a few hours or a day, they resell at 2M or as high as 5M, which I saw yesterday afternoon at peak for a while. Impatient people buy too, and pay a premium.

 

For anything you intend to sell instantly, you're not going to get a very good deal. Being patient and pricing a little bit above the flipper's price and letting them sit overnight usually pays off well.

Edited March 7, 2021 by Andreah

[Uun]

The problem with selling enhancement converters is that you can only list 10 at a time (about 700k inf), so that's a lot of trades. While I do play converter roulette with dropped recipes, I find the faster route for generating inf is to use merits to buy enhancement boosters. Each block of 10 (50 merits) will net about 12 million inf before fees.

[Sovera]

It's been a long standing request to see if we could increase dumping 100 merits at a time in the AH, but, welp.

[Snarky]

45 minutes ago, Uun said:

The problem with selling enhancement converters is that you can only list 10 at a time (about 700k inf), so that's a lot of trades. While I do play converter roulette with dropped recipes, I find the faster route for generating inf is to use merits to buy enhancement boosters. Each block of 10 (50 merits) will net about 12 million inf before fees.

faster, i will give you.  but 50 merits is 150 converters.  after expenses i need to make 3-6 i/o sales to beat 12 million.  i can make a lot more than 3-6 I.Os out of 150 converters.  thats (rogh guess) 40-60 million.  yes, it does take time.  if you are obsessive compulsive it is both easier and more annoying lol.  but it makes cash.

 

to truly make cash fast you farm.  but i like TFs.  this morning i got up and did a market crash, a LGTF, A LRSF, and a LGTF.  some merits and two hami i/o.  i much prefer play to farm.  i farm randomly to test toons and if i just want to dive into non stop madness.  but mostly i like TFs.  soooooo merits lol.   and the best thing is while i wait for a good TF to advertise i sit and twiddle my thumbs crafting those i/o money bags

Edited March 7, 2021 by Snarky

[Uun]

25 minutes ago, Snarky said:

faster, i will give you.  but 50 merits is 150 converters.  after expenses i need to make 3-6 i/o sales to beat 12 million.  i can make a lot more than 3-6 I.Os out of 150 converters.  thats (rogh guess) 40-60 million.  yes, it does take time.  if you are obsessive compulsive it is both easier and more annoying lol.  but it makes cash.

 

to truly make cash fast you farm.  but i like TFs.  this morning i got up and did a market crash, a LGTF, A LRSF, and a LGTF.  some merits and two hami i/o.  i much prefer play to farm.  i farm randomly to test toons and if i just want to dive into non stop madness.  but mostly i like TFs.  soooooo merits lol.   and the best thing is while i wait for a good TF to advertise i sit and twiddle my thumbs crafting those i/o money bags

I wasn't referring to crafting IOs and converting them (which I do as well, but often requires a day or two turnaround). I was referring to those who buy converters with merits and simply list them for sale.