Influence sink...good? bad?

[Ukase]

So, I have a thought, and left to my own devices, I'd implement it, and not sweat where it would lead. 

But, that's probably why I'm not emperor of the universe. Or even mayor of my own humble city. 

I've got billions (of inf) And billions. like about 400 of 'em. I ask myself, where can I spend this? My characters already have the usual - TT, ATT, Base TP, Summon pets, etc. My email is quite full of winters/ATOs, and the goodies that come with winter/hero packs. So much so, that while I do have bids for 10M on winter packs, I really don't need any. The ones in my inventory and stuff in my character email will likely last me until December 2022! 

So there is one thing I find myself wanting in game that I have to "Grind" for, and would rather not. I mean, I do it, but I'd rather not. And that's doing the same stuff for emp merits. Aside from doing them for badges, I'm simply NOT going to do an iTrial, nor am I going to do any DA arcs. I refuse. I've done them on over 100 characters, and I'm weary of the same dialogue, same story. 

It begs the question, if I'm not going to do those trials and arcs, what do I need emps for in the first place? Well...to get t-4, of course. Can't really be complete without getting t-4 in all, now can I? 

My dilemma is there are 6 incarnate slots. The very rares cost 180 emps. That requires vet level 30. That's a long time in a farm. And what happens in that farm is I make even more inf. The pile keeps getting bigger. 
Now, I could just force myself to do content and let threads drop and drop...but in my head is the idea that I want to do the content with the t-4, not enroute to earning it. Maybe I'm being unrealistic. 

Anyway, I thought - wouldn't it be nice if I could buy a transcendent merit for a billion inf? Is that too much? Not enough? Or is the idea of being able to buy them simply too ...crude to even contemplate? 

I could put this in suggestions, but before I made the suggestion, I figured I'd ask what other thought about the idea. 

[Psyonico]

Feel free to just mail me inf 😁

[Ukase]

I'm not opposed to giving inf away. But, 

1. It has to be my idea. Nothing is more stinky and creepy than a beggar. 
2. Anecdotally, the only time I've given inf away and that player kept playing the game is once - and despite my telling them it was a gift, they repaid me in a few months. It's just anecdotal, but folks I've given large sums of inf to - they just stop playing. 


I should add, it's clear you're not serious (although you'd likely accept it, lol). So I'm not labeling you as stinky & creepy. 

Edited October 25, 2021 by Ukase

[Xandyr]

3 minutes ago, Psyonico said:

Feel free to just mail me inf 😁

Beat me to it. I could use some!

[TheZag]

You generally get very opposed views on these types of topics.  Im not for or against it but im fairly certain it wont happen.  All of the 'higher' currencies can convert into 'lower' currencies but not the other way around.  

 

Those who dont like running itrials and raids will tend to agree while those who feel trials will 'die' if you can get emps for influence will disagree.

 

I can say with a fair degree of certainty that if a hard to get item suddenly became available from an easy to get item that the easy to get item would have its value significantly changed and the entire economy would change with it.  Some digging should reveal a post from a team member stating that they arent making changes that will significantly effect the economy.

[ZemX]

23 minutes ago, Ukase said:

Or is the idea of being able to buy them simply too ...crude to even contemplate? 

 

Eh... you can already dump inf into converting stuff for alpha components, so why not the rare and v.rare thread components?

[EmperorSteele]

The only issue i see with that kind of inf sink is that players who don't have billions of inf won't be able to partake.

 

Also, the grind is what keeps people doing i-trials, and incentivizing fire farming over raiding seems kinda counter intuitive for an MMO.

 

That said, I'm not against the idea, just pointing out its downsides 😃

[0th Power]

Typing while im thinking about it here, so if it is incoherent, thats why:

 

Inf sinks would either be something small that very few players would bother with and thus be a waste of time, or be desirable and would lead to either more people farming or more into the market (or more people complaining).  

 

I would hate to see more farming than there already is, but an increase in market participation could be interesting.  

[Without_Pause]

If I had that kind of currency, I would go around the game handing out 100 mil to people I came across. I don't know the reasonable amount of max currency is in this game, but people can absolutely hit it. It is partly why the longer I play the game the more casual I get with the market. 

[Ukase]

Ah...the price would incentivize more farming...I didn't think of that. But, without it - I'm farming for the emps. Either way- more farming. 

The only way I'd do a trial without a badge on the line would be if the league was formed up and ready. I just can't stand all the waiting around in ouro or pocket d. It's just too boring to wait around  and ..do nothing. 

Maybe I just need a break from the game. 

[Shenanigunner]

I don't and probably never will understand playing CoX like it's a bitcoin generator: that the only purpose and goal is to grind out a max load for every alt, one after the other, working into stratospheric generated 'income' to do so.

 

 

Edited October 25, 2021 by Shenanigunner

[gamingglen]

Some people and their so-called "problems".  🙄

 

 

[Yomo Kimyata]

I would be over the moon if they put in any sort of large scale influence sink, but I keep coming back to the same issue I see a lot in the Suggestions forum:  it's a fair amount of work on the devs' part, and how many people would it really help?  2?  10?

 

Once you and I are both over 500bn, we should have a winner-take-all dance-off.

[JnEricsonx]

1 hour ago, Psyonico said:

Feel free to just mail me inf 😁

What they said.

[Ukase]

2 minutes ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

Once you and I are both over 500bn, we should have a winner-take-all dance-off.

There was a movie I saw with John Wayne, when I was a kid. Can't recall the name of it, but his character said, 
"I don't dance. I don't trust men who do, and I don't trust women who don't." 

When I was a kid, it seemed like a perfect excuse to avoid dancing. As an adult, I'm not quite sure the comment makes any sense, but the case remains - I do not dance. And I ain't giving you 500B just cuz of that. 

[Bill Z Bubba]

As Krimson mentioned, transferring threads to emps would please me. Buying threads with influence? Sure. There's already an inf cost toward building greater components from lesser components, why not have it go all the way?

 

As it is now, I cranked up a new db/nrg scrapper, PLed her to 32, played into the 40s with basic IOs, and go her to 50 tagging along on some max diff ITFs. It took looking through just a few alts to get her 3 transcendents (150 emps) to get her started and I've easily got enough on other alts to finish her out should I desire. Total process time? Couple days?

 

So none of this is a NEED but we didn't NEED access to capes at level 1 either. Some things are just pure QoL and being able to utilize our ill-gotten gains (that's tongue in cheek, my gains ain't ill) to hasten our ability to get T4ed sounds lovely.

[Luminara]

11 minutes ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

a winner-take-all dance-off

 

A winner-take-all-off dance would be more entertaining.

[GraspingVileTerror]

Who ever wins, we lose.

[Without_Pause]

37 minutes ago, Krimson said:

There was a sort of similar thread to this earlier, the idea of being able to use threads to get Empyrean merits. At first I thought it could be disruptive. You could potentially have thousands of toons being fully Incarnate, limited by how fast you can click a mouse.

It isn't as disruptive as you think as this is one person having that many alts and only being able to play so many at one time. It is closer to what would happen if people had the chance to always play a fully Incarnate build. Well, on sub level 45 content it doesn't mean anything. 

[Bill Z Bubba]

4 minutes ago, GraspingVileTerror said:

Who ever wins, we lose.

 

Took me a second.

[GraspingVileTerror]

Sorry.  I put a superfluous space in there.  Apologies.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0370263/taglines

[Shred Monkey]

They should sell "Put your name on the blimp for a day." 

 

 

(and a few other notable locations to make sure it gets seen)  

[Riverdusk]

 

I've been playing on HC for most of the time it has existed.  I play a decent amount.  I've yet to ever reach the inf cap on a character even a single time.  I probably have maybe 300 million right now across all my characters for inf on hand.  Although, I do have quite a few decked out characters and quite a lot of enhancements in storage.  But to this day I don't feel like I have an overabundance of inf yet.

 

Maybe because I don't farm?  And I only play the market once in a while.  Not overdoing either of those things and this isn't a "problem".

[Marine X]

Donate a slew of superpacks to @Dacy to give away for Halloween at her Witch's House, that might make a dent.

[Ukase]

I just remember the first July when HC opened. I'd reached 50, and I looked at the prices of the items I wanted. I knew how to market, was familiar with farming from live. But I lacked the resources to really do either with any efficiency. 

I think I got lucky, when I'd stumbled upon Catalysts. I saw they were selling for 5M a piece. So, I used some merits and sold a bunch of them - and then I discovered the price difference between an ATO and the superior counterpart. 
At the time, given the hassle of unslotting after making them superior, it was barely worth it. But when the cat prices dropped to 2-3M, it was certainly worth it, and that was where I made a quick ton of inf. And it was tedious. I didn't really enjoy it. But it seemed necessary to outfit my characters in the manner in which I deemed them worthy. 

I had a choice. I could nickel and dime as I went along, just getting by, or I could just invest the time and make enough where I don't have to do it anymore. It would seem I was there quite some time ago. But, when they changed the AH experience by seeding salvage, and later by putting winter packs on sale - I had concerns. At any time, they could change things. Email could stop holding influence, or it could disappear. 
Items that were or are selling for X, they could suddenly be seeded by the HC devs for less than the price I've been expecting things to be. Bittersweet - as the resources I have would go further, but the time I'd invested would have been wasted. 

So, I opted for "FU" inf. No longer do I feel compelled to do a weekly TF with a pug with folks I don't know. I can choose what I want to do, when I want to do it. Seems to have worked out. I just didn't stop soon enough, and well, someone has to keep Yomo in check.