More to Buy and Sell on the AH: Introducing Dayjob Salvage (and Recipes and IOs!)

[EmperorSteele]

People over in the Market forum (such as @Yomo Kimyata specifically) have expressed desire for more things to buy and/or sell (mostly just sell =P) on the player market. So I thought it might be a good idea to introduce a new tier of Salvage and Recipes to shake things up a little bit!

First is the Dayjob Salvage, and it's exactly what it sounds like. When you have the badge for a given dayjob location and log out there, logging back in after a certain amount of time will drop a specific piece of Dayjob Salvage that is thematically tied to that Dayjob location. I've got a whole list below, but it's basically things like a "Kora Fruit seed" for logging out in the Shadow Shard or "Classified Documents" from the Intern dayjob. If you have the associated accolade, you have a small chance of gaining the salvage from the related dayjob as a bonus drop, as well. For example, if you have the Time Lord Accolade (Cimerora and Ouroboros) and log out in Cimerora for the "Magic Pot" salvage, you may also get the "Shard of Ice and Flame" salvage from the Chronologist dayjob, as well.

Each piece of salvage would count as "Uncommon", and only drop after 72 hours (Non-consecutive) of dayjob time, and only one piece would drop at a time (so you wouldn't be able to stay logged out for 2 weeks to collect multiple pieces of salvage). 72 hours may seem like a long time, but I don't want people with tons of alts thinking they have to log in every character every single day to get the most rewards. This would allow them to rotate which characters they log in with every 3 days. 10 characters one day, 10 character the next, 10 characters the following, repeat. Or don't even bother with that and just focus on your mains or a bunch of alts when you have a chance.

 

Anyway, there would be 33 pieces of Dayjob salvage in all, one for each current Dayjob. And what do you do with these? That's where the Dayjob IO Recipes come in!

There are 22 DJ Recipes in total, and each requires 3 pieces of salvage, meaning each Dayjob Salvage piece has two different recipes it can be used in. There are four "Dayjob" sets all together; two of them are 5-piece sets, and the other two are 6-piece sets. Recipes would randomly drop after a certain amount of time at any Dayjob location EXCEPT Criminal/Patroller. You are guaranteed an Uncommon drop after 3 days (72 hours, non-consecutive, of course), and the longer you spend offline between log-ins, the higher chance you get for a Rare, or Global/Proc/Special. However, I also think the chance for Rare or Special should decrease after a rather long period of time, so that the optimal time to get one would be maybe at the 1 week mark, and after that, the chances start going down again (no reason to reward characters who haven't been getting any playtime in 6 months).

The big problem with the above is that it punishes players who like to, well, actually play the game. The only option I can see there is to grant some kind of token after every x number of off-line hours, and the tokens can be spent on random rolls (more tokens = higher chance of rare), but, that's getting into introducing yet ANOTHER piece of currency, and we have enough of those. I'd like to hear some ideas on how to create/distribute recipes 😃

These items can NOT be vendored, would NOT be seeded, and would NOT be available from the Merit Vendor, and would NOT be subject to Conversion. These are purely to be traded on the market for people to create IOs and then sell the finished product back on the Market (at a reasonable profit!). Perhaps if this WERE implemented, and there wound up being a huge gulf in availability of come things vs others, we could relax these restrictions a bit, but long-term, I think it would all even out!

Here's the list of dayjobs and the Salvage you'd get from logging back in while standing there:
 

Spoiler

Arachnos Agent: Shockmace Energy cell (This combination of electricity and venom makes for an effective power source... when weaponized, at least!)

Arachnos Official: Political Blackmail (The best way to keep politicians honest is to keep meticulous track of all their dishonesty!)

Architect: Game Code Snippet (How does this convoluted mess function?!)

Banker: Cold, hard cash (What? You earned this, it's not like you stole it.... right?)

Caregiver/Pain Specialist: Vial of Wound-Wise (This Crey-Manufactured medicine does wonders for all sorts of injuries. The redacted list of side-effects includes addiction, DNA-reconfiguration, an unwavering love for all things Crey, and mild diarrhea.)

Chronologist: Shard of Ice and Flame (As if a flame existing in a chunk of ice wasn't paradoxical enough, the ice feels warm and the flame feels cool...)

Cimeroran: Magic Urn (Julia Pria TOLD you this ancient piece of pottery had arcane properties, but the "Made in China" sticker is giving you some doubts...)

City Official: City Council Meeting Transcript (After spending all day discussing the minutia of zoning laws and taxes, it's no wonder you spend your free time punching people in the face!)

Clubber: Catperson DNA (...No comment.)

Cold Hand of Death: Banished Soul-Shard (The arcane power that gives unlife to the deceased sounds like a perfectly safe thing to carry around!)

Commuter/Pilot: Metro Pass (Nothing screams "All-mighty Super-Hero!" or "All-Powerful Super-Villain!" like having to take public transportation!)

Crey Employee: Revenant Hero DNA Sample (You're not sure why Crey would let a low-level employee like you have access to their stolen DNA samples... And why are YOU listed as a match?!)

Criminal/Patroller: Confiscated Narcotics (Good work, time to hand this over to the Authorities! ...What's that, you're going to sell it, or use it to make an Enhancement? Is that legal?)

Demagogue: SG Hit-List (You've tabulated all the forces that stand in your way, from Heroes, to other Villains, and any pithy groups in between! Huh... this is a pretty large list. Wow, it's like, everybody. Huh.)

Day Trader/Marketer: Hand-me-down Antique (What appears to the untrained eye to be a piece of junk is actually a technological and arcane wonder! Your mind races at the possibilities as you- oh, wait, "Made in China". Damn it!)

Dimensional Explorer: Kora Fruit Seed (It's inspiring how one little seed can grow in such a hostile environment, and then be used to feed so many!)

Duelist: Card from a Children's game (It's time... to DU-du-du-du, dudududdu-DUEL!)

DUST Ranger: Plasma Rifle Ammo (It's amazing how much power is packed into such a small cartridge.)

Fashion Designer: Unstable Fabric (You'd think clothing described as "Unstable" would lead to wardrobe malfunctions, but amazingly, it prevents that very thing, by making sure no matter how much of your costume gets torn up, your private parts always stay covered -if just barely-!)

Intern: Classified Documents (Portal Corp is involved in a lot of shady and morally/legally dubious activities, and you have all the evidence right here! ...Well, you would, if 95% of it wasn't redacted or covered in black marker.)

Law Enforcer: Hardsuit Schematics (This impressive-looking armor sure has a lot of weak-spots. No wonder the PPD's best are always getting chump'd by low-tier villains!)

Midnighter: Scroll Parchment (This ancient, blank sheet is the perfect canvas for crafting a master spell! It appears to have something written in very tiny text near the bottom. You're savvy enough to ignore it, though, as it'll either say "Explosive Runes" or "Made in China".)

Monitor Duty: Villain Threat Info (Protecting the City is a never-ending battle. You take down one group of bad guys, and more show up, much like the legendary hydra. Speaking of, looks like the Hydra are rampaging in Perez Park again. Sigh.)

Mortician: Sacred Soil (Okay seriously, why are you digging up fresh graves? That's just weird.)

Predator: Someone Else's Dignity (Tearing off your opponents' underwear is easy when they wear it on the outside!)

Professor: Quantum Theory Textbook (It's either that or the NecroOmnicon, as sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic!)

Psychologist: Psychoactive Paints (Even mental patients need a creative outlet. Too bad Malaise imbued the paints with psychic energy, giving nightmares to anyone who uses it!)

Scavenger: Intact Clockwork Component (This Clockwork piece still has some power left in it. Whether you'll use it to keep the Compound's lights on for one more night, or use it to knock someone else's lights out, is up to you.)

Shop Keeper: Sales Report (It seems that your clientele prefer to sell you all their junk rather than buy anything these days. It's a miracle you can stay in business!)

Smuggler: Illicit Contraband (There are some things even the Black Market won't trade. But, as long as it's packaged creatively, they'll never know...)

Survivalist: Junk Armor (Everything in the wastes of First Ward has some kind of use, and this old hubcap is no exception!)

Thief: Valuable Gemstone (Another day, another diamond. Or ruby, or emerald, it's all the same to you at this point, especially since your fence can't move goods as fast as you can acquire them. Gotta find some other use for this...)

Vanguard Recruit: Multiverse Threat Report (Ritki, Praetorians, Rularu, Battalion... the threats to Primal Earth just seem Endless, don't they?)

 

 

 

And here's the IO's they'd be used to create, along with Set Bonuses. Note that the dual-aspect IOs are all "Uncommon" and have the highest chance to drop (50% on average), while all the Tri-aspects are Rares (32.5%), and the "Specials" are another degree rarer than that (17.5%). Again, these numbers would go up and down depending on when you log back in, but that all depends on whether we go with the "random drop after X amount of log-off time" mechanic and not something else. Note that all the specials are Unique, and can only be slotted once per character.

 

Spoiler

 

"Employee of the Month"

Universal (goes into any power that accepts Accuracy, Endurance reduction, and/or Recharge reduction enhancements)
Levels 20-50. All are Uncommon, except for the Acc/End/Rech and the Global, which are Rare.

Acc/End
Acc/End/Rech

Acc/Rech
End/Rech
Global Endurance Discount (6%) (Exactly what it says, reduces the endurance cost of all your powers by 6%)

(2) 2.5% End Recovery
(3) 7.5% Accuracy
(4) 7.5% Recharge
(5) 4% Endurance Discount

 

"Worker's Strike"
Universal Damage (Goes into any attack power)
Levels 20-50 (Rare except Acc/Dam and Dam/Rech, which are uncommon)

Acc/Dam
Acc/Dam/End

Acc/Dam/Rech
Dam/Rech

End/Range/Rech (range only works on ranged attacks, obviously)
Proc: Chance to Unionize (Whenever you land an attack with the power this enhancement is slotted into: chance to give you and all allies (including NPCs and Pets) within 25 feet +2X% damage for 20 seconds (with a 10 second lockout after), where X is the number of allies within 25 feet. Caps at 50% damage. PPM 2.5)

 

(2) 3% Damage

(3) 3% Ranged Def (1.5 Energy Def)
(4) 2.5% HP
(5) 7.5% Recharge
(6) 3% Melee Def (1.5% S/L Def)

 

 

"Binding Contract"
Universal Mez (Goes into any Hold, Immob, Sleep, Stun, Confuse or Fear Power) *Damage won't affect non-damaging powers, obviously.
Levels 20-50 (Rare, except for Acc/Mez, which is Uncommon)

Acc/Mez

Acc/Dam/Mez
Acc/End/Mez

Acc/Mez/Rech
Dam/Mez/Rech
Chance for Expedited Consideration (Slotted power only. If the power this proc is in has a base recharge of under 1 minute, it instantly recharges. If the Base recharge is higher than 1 minute, it's base recharge is reduced to half, before enhancements and bonuses. PPM 2.5)

(2) 2.5% Damage
(3) 3% HP
(4) 7.5% recharge
(5) 3.5% Ranged Def (1.75% Energy Def)
(6) 3.75% S/L Resist (+ Mez resistances)
 

"OSHA Compliance"
"Universal survival". This set goes into both Defense and Resistance powers, though it will only enhance what the power already has (ie, equipping into Hover won't give you a resistance boost)
Levels 20-50 (Def/Res is uncommon, rest are all Rare)

Def or Res
Def or Res/End
Def or Res/End/Rech
Def or Res/Rech
Chance for HR (Whenever you take damage, there is a chance you will emit a PBAoE pulse of Smashing damage for 25pts [at level 50] to all foes within 10 feet of you. HR stands for "Harmful Reflection", what did you think it meant? PPM 2.5)

(2) 3.5% HP
(3) 3.5% End
(4) 15% Regen
(5) 3% Def (All) and Res (All)

 

 

I'm actually a bit too lazy to say which pieces of salvage would be used to create which enhancements, but generally it should be a fairly even spread. Each recipe should probably need a hero-side salvage, a villain-side salvage, and something that's either co-op or would be somewhat rare due to very few characters ever logging out there to begin with. Definitely wouldn't want something to be Commuter/Chronologist/Vanguard Recruit, or if so, something like that would be used to create one of the "Uncommon" recipes as opposed to a Rare or Special. A piece of salvage that would be used in an Uncommon would probably be a prime candidate to be used in a Special in a different set, try to even out the usefulness and viability of each piece. On the flip side, no single piece should be used in just the Specials.

 

Some of the set bonuses are a touch higher than other Rare IO Sets, just to give these a little more desirability, but otherwise they're not meant to be OMGWTF OP. Though maybe I missed the mark on that.

On that note, any details and numbers here are of course up for debate. Is 3 days too long to wait for a piece of salvage? Is it too short? Is 1-2 weeks too long to wait for a "good" recipe drop (on that note, what would be a better system for randomly and fairly distributing recipes)? What are both the short term and long-term ramifications here? Would half this stuff end up as "inventory-clogging junk"? Are some of the Special IOs or set bonuses too much or too little? Would this be too easily exploited by some? Is it, somehow, not exploitable enough?

Just remember, the whole idea is "Give characters things they'd want to sell because other characters would want to buy them", not "Give everyone everything for free" or "Let players be self-sufficient in this system with no effort". True, there's nothing stopping a person from making 30+ alts and parking them in each Dayjob location to collect the spoils every few days, but that's a not-insignificant amount of time or effort.

Otherwise, I'd like to know everyone else's thoughts on this idea 😃

 

 

[Grouchybeast]

I like it!

 

The recipes could simply be another rare pool associated with enemy defeat/mission end/whatever.  The game checks for a successful drop from that pool, rolls for a random recipe, rolls for a random Day Job, and then gives the recipe to the player *only* if they also have the rolled Day Job badge.  Otherwise the recipe drop is silently deleted.  That rewards players both for playing the game, and for acquiring a variety of Day Job badges.  The recipes would start to trickle in as soon as each character had a single Day Job, and would become more common over time if the player went to the trouble of getting more badges.

 

ETA: I do think all recipes should be available for Merits, though.  Much as I enjoy the market, I think there should always be a non-random option to buy any recipe, even if it's wildly over-priced compared to market value.

Edited April 25, 2021 by Grouchybeast