Omg why are IOs so expensive

[Seed22]

On 8/4/2021 at 4:53 PM, Killing Legacy said:

You Greedy bastards

Ohh you didnt play when IOs were around back in the day eh? Waaay back, IOs were roughly a couple bil( Gladiators, Shield Wall, LOTG..etc). Here’s my question; How many alts do you have not at 50? That’s a big reason why you may not be able to afford them. I can always send a full build in the mail to any new 50 im going to make because I use the others to fund them, without having to no-life the game. 

[Seed22]

On 8/6/2021 at 8:33 AM, roleki said:

 

The weird thing is, the more I do to earn inf, the less I need inf.  In fact, if I'm kitting out a new 50, when the process is over I usually have more inf than I started with.  The only thing I buy off the market are Converters, Hero\Villain Packs, and lately, Kismets.  The only thing I dump on the market are orange recipes, white salvage, and catalyzed ATOs. 

 

How Why anyone makes it in this game with only a single account is a mystery to me.  

Yknow I’m always tempted to make a 2nd acount but all my needs can be met in one account. Got the farming brute, the oodles of merits and IOs, and spare inf for new 50s. If I had it all, I think I’d get bored to be honest(i.e. billions in purps stored). I like being what’d I’d call upper-middle class 😂

[Seed22]

12 hours ago, Ghost said:

Or actually play the game.

Amazingly you can earn enough inf/merits from running missions/TFs to kit out a 50

I’ve done it with every one of my alts.

Hey guess what? They ARE playing the game. Crazy right? I say this because people think doing TFs over and over is somehow “playing the game” more than being smart with your time/playing the market & farming. Both work, both are playing the game

Edited August 8, 2021 by Seed22

[Miss Magical]

The idea that you need to farm or market to afford things sounds like a bad joke to me. You can afford anything and everything you want by just playing the game.

 

When I say playing the game, I mean playing the game. I don't mean running TF's repetitively, though you can certainly do that if you enjoy it! I mean you can do practically anything you want, and a complete IO build with all the purples you want will fall out of the sky like manna from heaven, because this game just throws money at you like that. I think the only activities that don't make stacks of dollar bills appear are PvP and radio missions, because they don't award merits. Now that you mention it, I often see people advertising +4 PI radios - maybe that's why they're all poor and "need" to farm.

• Showed up for hami? 120 reward merits (80 reward + 4 empyrean) and maybe a windfall from a Hamidon enhancement.
• Maybe I'll do a storyarc to level up! That could range from a dozen or two merits for a quickly speeded one or 50-60 for an hour.
• Tip missions? 50 merits for 10 easily speedable radios.
• Incarnate trial? Hey, I got a VR component - saved a ton of empyreans  that I can spend on the market instead!
• WST starting up? Another 50-100 depending on which one it is.
• Oh look, I randomly leveled up again and 20 empyrean merits fell out of the sky - that's 200 reward merits, or 40 million.

It's my 7th week in game and I already make inf faster than I can spend it. If someone "needs" to farm to afford things, I suspect they're not being very smart with their money and time.

 

Forget the silly farmers worrying about inf/hr, and think more about your fun/hr.

[Seed22]

2 hours ago, Miss Magical said:

The idea that you need to farm or market to afford things sounds like a bad joke to me. You can afford anything and everything you want by just playing the game.

 

When I say playing the game, I mean playing the game. I don't mean running TF's repetitively, though you can certainly do that if you enjoy it! I mean you can do practically anything you want, and a complete IO build with all the purples you want will fall out of the sky like manna from heaven, because this game just throws money at you like that. I think the only activities that don't make stacks of dollar bills appear are PvP and radio missions, because they don't award merits. Now that you mention it, I often see people advertising +4 PI radios - maybe that's why they're all poor and "need" to farm.

• Showed up for hami? 120 reward merits (80 reward + 4 empyrean) and maybe a windfall from a Hamidon enhancement.
• Maybe I'll do a storyarc to level up! That could range from a dozen or two merits for a quickly speeded one or 50-60 for an hour.
• Tip missions? 50 merits for 10 easily speedable radios.
• Incarnate trial? Hey, I got a VR component - saved a ton of empyreans  that I can spend on the market instead!
• WST starting up? Another 50-100 depending on which one it is.
• Oh look, I randomly leveled up again and 20 empyrean merits fell out of the sky - that's 200 reward merits, or 40 million.

It's my 7th week in game and I already make inf faster than I can spend it. If someone "needs" to farm to afford things, I suspect they're not being very smart with their money and time.

 

Forget the silly farmers worrying about inf/hr, and think more about your fun/hr.

I do all of this, and I get where you’re coming from. All I’m  saying is for those who want to farm, they shouldnt be considered not playing. 😀 also no one needs to farm and if I wanted to be smart with my time? I’d log into one of my 50s with loads of merits, convert and sell, and within 15 minutes at most, have over 130mil. And thats just one of my 50s.  No TF, no hami, 15 minutes of half-assed thinking and selling.
 

But all that aside, I agree with fun/hr over inf. Just not the farm hate since a lot of the haters inadvertently benefitted from farmers way back when the servers came back. 

Edited August 8, 2021 by Seed22

[Ghost]

5 hours ago, Seed22 said:

Hey guess what? They ARE playing the game. Crazy right? I say this because people think doing TFs over and over is somehow “playing the game” more than being smart with your time/playing the market & farming. Both work, both are playing the game

No offense, but I don’t think “sitting” in AE is playing the game.  Maybe that’s just me.

 

Not complaining about it.  People can do what they do.  I was simply offering another suggestion on how to get influence.

 

 

[Miss Magical]

2 hours ago, Seed22 said:

All I’m  saying is for those who want to farm, they shouldnt be considered not playing.

 

 

Now, now: as an adult you are free to play the game however you please (within the rules of course).

 

But claiming that farming is playing the game is like claiming that candy is food.

[Troyusrex]

On 8/4/2021 at 6:50 PM, GraspingVileTerror said:

Hell, I saw some pieces of an Uncommon Stun Set going for 2 Inf last week!

 

I dump a LOT of recipes into the system, all at 5 inf (since that's the minimum Wentworth cost and it's one thing to give recipes away and another to subsidize them!) and I'm amazed at how many DON'T SELL. It's probably less than 5%, but still...

[GraspingVileTerror]

Oh, I don't mean the Recipe, @Troyusrex.

These were the completed Enhancements.

 

But, yeah.  Recipes are dirt cheap.  Back in 2019, before I realized how silly it was to do, I would buy level 50 Recipes for 500 Inf or less, and Vendor them.  Not a productive thing to do, but still profitable, even today.

[roleki]

 

7 hours ago, Miss Magical said:

 

Now, now: as an adult you are free to play the game however you please (within the rules of course).

 

But claiming that farming is playing the game is like claiming that candy is food.

 

Yes, because nothing could be less like clicking a contact, acquiring a mission, finishing that mission, and going back to that contact to get the next mission than AE.

[TombTyrant]

They super aren't.

[Doomguide2005]

Hmmm

<insert farming rant here>

<insert AE rant here>

<insert knockback rant here>

Nerf Regen

<insert soft cap/defense rant here>

<insert Healorz rant here>

<insert Trinity rant here>

Nerf Regen!

<insert aggro rant here>

<insert difficulty rant here>

<insert rant of the week here>

 

About cover it 🤪?

 

PS: Nerf Regen

[PluckySidekick]

On 8/8/2021 at 8:55 AM, Miss Magical said:

...I suspect they're not being very smart with their money and time.

 

*Raises Hand*

 

I feel seen.

[arcane]

On 8/8/2021 at 8:59 AM, Seed22 said:

Ohh you didnt play when IOs were around back in the day eh? Waaay back, IOs were roughly a couple bil( Gladiators, Shield Wall, LOTG..etc). Here’s my question; How many alts do you have not at 50? That’s a big reason why you may not be able to afford them. I can always send a full build in the mail to any new 50 im going to make because I use the others to fund them, without having to no-life the game. 

Man, I used to regard PvP IO’s and sometimes Purples as plain and simple out of reach stuff for the Bill Gateses and Jeff Bezoses of Paragon City. LotG’s were as expensive as I would even bother with. Now I have at least ~70+ of my level 50’s all purpled to the teeth. Yep, *nothing* is expensive in HC, put in relative terms.

Edited August 10, 2021 by arcane

[arcane]

On 8/8/2021 at 3:48 PM, Miss Magical said:

But claiming that farming is playing the game is like claiming that candy is food.

Kindly go to hell, love ❤️

[Ukase]

On 8/8/2021 at 9:18 AM, Seed22 said:

Yknow I’m always tempted to make a 2nd acount but all my needs can be met in one account. Got the farming brute, the oodles of merits and IOs, and spare inf for new 50s. If I had it all, I think I’d get bored to be honest(i.e. billions in purps stored). I like being what’d I’d call upper-middle class 😂

To be fair, I think you're right. A lot of us who have marketed well and have more than we know what to do with are bored. So, we just make more, lol. 

[arcane]

On 8/8/2021 at 9:18 AM, Seed22 said:

Yknow I’m always tempted to make a 2nd acount but all my needs can be met in one account. Got the farming brute, the oodles of merits and IOs, and spare inf for new 50s. If I had it all, I think I’d get bored to be honest(i.e. billions in purps stored). I like being what’d I’d call upper-middle class 😂

I didn’t cave on account 2 until after 30-something 50’s. There’s still time 😉

[Carnifax]

On 8/8/2021 at 3:18 PM, Seed22 said:

Yknow I’m always tempted to make a 2nd acount but all my needs can be met in one account. Got the farming brute, the oodles of merits and IOs, and spare inf for new 50s. If I had it all, I think I’d get bored to be honest(i.e. billions in purps stored). I like being what’d I’d call upper-middle class 😂

I have one. Not for farming though. That's the account for "I think this will be fun at 30 but I'm not running 1-30 with them" characters. 

 

So I just PL them with my Fire/Claws Tank to 30ish and play as normal then. I don't bother farming. Convert Marketing makes me enough cash to keep things happy (like I said before I don't bother with Purples or Winters bar for one or two chars). 

[Ironblade]

On 8/8/2021 at 10:18 AM, Seed22 said:

Yknow I’m always tempted to make a 2nd acount but all my needs can be met in one account.

It depends on your needs.  I have three, just like I did back on live.  To be fair, though, the third account was FTP while the first two were subscription accounts even after the game went FTP.

[Bill Z Bubba]

If I need inf, I'll farm DA repeatables solo with my main. It's both fun AND lucrative. I use my claws/fire brute on my 2nd acct to PL alts on the 1st and there's a couple alts on the 2nd as well like the tank version of BZB.

[Snarky]

I just slapped around 100 i/o on the market.  I shoot for 70-90% of current avg sales.  Buckets of Numina's Regen/Recovery and Perf Shifter plus Recovery at a hair over 3 mil.  Buy some.  Oh, and shaddup.

[Yomo Kimyata]

I've said it before, but I'll say it again.  If you need inf that for some reason you cannot get for yourself, just ask.  

 

I'm not going to track down every single new player, ask them if they need inf, and do a silly dance.

[Sovera]

On 8/6/2021 at 10:07 PM, RageusQuitus2 said:

What if SO, DO, etc were free?  Or SO was the bottom (no DO and lower)?  I think yall forget how sucky your first toon back can be.  No fun managing enhancement and seeing a bunch of empty slots or outleveled enhancements.

 

I dont mind earning my IOs but an empty power is no fun.  And more than half the time drops dont match my origin.

 

For funsies I did a run with no gifts and no inf transfers. It was slower and more painful than the usual leveling, of course, but when I logged off I was level 44, I had 26 million and had bought several uniques.

 

Spoiler

  

On a lark I have started leveling a new character on Excelsior and decided on iron man rules (no inf transfers). Which means starting with zero cash and like a destitute refugee (from another server).

 

A few things were immediately noticeable as I went on and it ended being that my experience in leveling with ATOs and attuned IOs made a world of difference. I mean, yeah, intellectually I knew it, but the rose tinted glasses made me remember leveling without them much easier than it turned out to be.

 

 

I leveled feeling super squishy and my damage output being no great two shakes. Burn, as praised as it is by the community, is a weak little thing when we compare its basic slotting to the procced out slotting. Just like Savage Leap of Savage Melee Burn takes to procs like fish to water. The summoning of a pseudo pet who tries to use the procs a second time, coupled with the long recharge and animation makes it an amazing host for damage procs. In its ultimate form it is a 10 second ish mini nuke and in its basic form it is a warm breeze.

 

Anyway, I will add my experiences as I leveled because new new players can certainly make use of it.

 

 

Spoiler

 

Started as level 1. Zero inf. I decided I wanted to level with amplifiers but those would cost a total of 24k (a fortune :D). While I never bothered with it in the past people had mentioned the exploration badges in Atlas as a source of 5 merits. I proceeded to the P2W vendor, bought the Inner Inspiration power (I wanted to sell the insps, but it turned out there was no market for them so I ignored it from then on), one of the free Jump Packs (the second one costs 100k) and Beast run. I pulled out the wiki (https://cityofheroes.fandom.com/wiki/CoH_Exploration_Badges) and proceeded to look for them (Edge of Chaos made me google it but the badge is inside the Atlas Hall over the DATA section).

 

Came out of it 5 merits richer. Turned them into converters and sold for 1 inf. It made me around 1 mill. Looking good!

 

Bought the second Jump Pack, bought a maximum stack of Recovery Serums, then bought a few medium sized purple inspirations from the /AH. I ended buying 20-30+ leaving the bids at 500 which filled as I played. This part is crucial and I will return to it later.

 

Did a call for Death from Below.

Spoiler

New new players can just wait for someone to call for a DFB since it is very common. But if they want to show some initiative (and I cannot stress how much showing initiative sped things up) then they can do /lfg DFB LFM! and just click the names of the persons as they show interest, then click on LFG over their chat window, choose Death from Below and then queue.

 

At each level appropriate cut off I would head to the next contact (https://archive.paragonwiki.com/wiki/Task_Force) and pick the new one. This meant I never repeated content.

 

Chose Recovery as my bonus. Was still level 7 and could not yet do Positron part one so I did Death from Below a second time and chose Damage as my second reward. Started a Positron part 1 and lucked out on having an Empath in the team. Fortitude is a world of difference. Even so the medium purples were of use.

 

Finished Posi 1, used the SG base macro of Excelsior (each server has one so just ask on /lfg for the macro), converted, sold all for 1 inf again. Proceeded to Posi 2. No Empath this time around but had an Electrical Affinity character who had joined. This time the purples were of more use. Got it done. Traded merits for converters, sold.

 

I was then past level 22 and had ample inf to buy all my generic IOs. Still terribly squishy.

 

Went to do Synapse. At this point the ATO leveling build mocks Synapse. They hurt but not much, and they sap, but doable. This was not the case on generic IOs. Even with Recovery Serums and a triple recharge Consume I was gasping for blue air. They also hurt a lot more than what I remembered with no double 3% unique IOs and none of my attacks slotted with Kinetic Combats. This is where the medium purple came in to save the day. I would eat one before combat or if I saw my HP dipping too fast and then /ah between missions and refill my tray from those 20-30 I had bought earlier and who were waiting to be picked up.

 

My endurance woes did not lighten in the slightest even by the time I could afford a Panaceia, Miracle, Numina and Performance Shifter (around level 35-ish). Recovery Serum in both Synapse and Yin was incapable of coping in the slightest. This new experience tells me I was being too greedy with one accuracy, three damage, two recharge slotting. Leveling with ATOs and attuned IOs is a big difference than generics. That said I did detoggle a lot (especially over Yin. like, a LOT) but never died from it. It was still annoying and if I was to start over I would do two endurance reduction in each attack and cover the gaps with the use of Swipe.

 

I had to buy more medium purples as I was going through them at a fast rate since my shields were porous. But, at around 30-ish I triple slotted my shields and also bought the Shield Wall 5% resists... for no appreciable difference. Two extra resist IOs in each shield and 5% from the unique did nothing as the damage pierced me through anyway. Again, medium purple inspirations are a savior and are pretty cheap. Even bought at 5k a piece it is peanuts (the Panaceia, Miracle and Shield Wall uniques were all 10-ish million a piece, so 5k for an inspiration is really peanuts and should not be overthought).

 

I saw a Mothership Raid happening and joined. Did the Join the Vanguard mission real quick for the badge and earning vanguard merits from killing Rikti and proceeded to get bored for the next half hour. Came out of it with one level and a half and about 1k vanguard merits which could, and were, turned into 30 regular merits.

 

Did a Katie Hannon as well. Cue in more endurance woes. Also, the Lightning Storms were kicking me around as 4 -KB points weren't enough to cope. What makes it easier to deal with is a finished build with a high S/L defense which protects from the Lightning Storm attacks. Without Kinetic Combats slotted in every attack and both 3% defense uniques the storms were bating me around at their leisure.

 

Finished Numina at level 39 (accolade, got!) and missing one level to do Market Crash I joined an Admiral Sutter TF. Tough TF with all the defense debuffing which lead to two deaths. Afterwards I did the Market Crash, crafted my purple (first time doing it grants a purple IO recipe), used converters (choosing convert out of set) until it turned into a purple from a set I would use at level 50.

 

 

Called it a day at level 44.

 

I have 26 million to my name and my current build is:

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just at a glance I see I had bought both 3% defense uniques, so 3-4 million each, the Miracle unique and Panaceia proc for 10 milll each and 3-4 for the other one, two Performance Shifter proc, so 3-4 mill each, the Shield Wall 5% res for 10 mill, -res Achilles about 2-3 mill, both the -slow and -KB in Fly about 2mill each. All the generic IOs combined probably a bit less than 2 mill.

 

I still had 26 mill left and other than repeat the starter DFB I didn't repeat content. Of course that I bought no SOs. Why would anyone use those nowadays? To see them turn red after three levels? Heh.

 

Edited August 11, 2021 by Sovera

[ZemX]

17 hours ago, Sovera said:

For funsies I did a run with no gifts and no inf transfers. It was slower and more painful than the usual leveling, of course, but when I logged off I was level 44, I had 26 million and had bought several uniques.

 

I've done this twice, so far.  Once after I joined HC and once again doing the "Ironman/Woman Challenge".  That second one was a little harder since it also outlawed all P2W but by this point I had self-funding down well enough to be comfortable.  My first toon, I think I got to about the late teens before I bothered to read any "how to make money" guides and realized I was sitting on a fortune in merits already just from solo story arcs.

 

The only difference now with having rich(er) alts is that I get some of the nicer procs and things earlier.  That's about it.  Once you know how to make money on the market, the game really doesn't have TOs or DOs anymore.  You can be in SOs from level 1 to whenever you decide to start on IOs.  Even starting from nothing.

[presto2112]

I once loaned someone a billion inf, never saw them again

 

money well spent