Problem entering AE and living to tell the tale

[Glacier Peak]

5 minutes ago, Without_Pause said:

Tough to miss posts which don't exists.

@arcane I was almost certain we had a potential "gone the the americas!" on our hands, but Diantane has responded more lately, so no joy 😂 

[Diantane]

Many players may say they make influence when they farm, but it's costing me. The enhancements I use (SO's) have to be replaced every 5 levels and gets more expensive every time. It's costing me millions just to level. When I run arcs I get merits which are spent on enhancement boosters and sold on the AH for millions which pay for the expensive SO's and just a little extra ). This is mostly why I don't level a character past 42 (those SO's are just too expensive. I will be paying for them this time only (all I can afford)). Get no merits for leveling when I farm.

 

So why do I do it? To me it isn't boring (yet). Its actually pretty interesting as it is something new. I can afford getting a character to 50 this way (once). Then I'll have to go back to arcs to finance my play here.

[Spaghetti Betty]

30 minutes ago, Diantane said:

Many players may say they make influence when they farm, but it's costing me. The enhancements I use (SO's) have to be replaced every 5 levels and gets more expensive every time. It's costing me millions just to level. When I run arcs I get merits which are spent on enhancement boosters and sold on the AH for millions which pay for the expensive SO's and just a little extra ). This is mostly why I don't level a character past 42 (those SO's are just too expensive. I will be paying for them this time only (all I can afford)). Get no merits for leveling when I farm.

 

So why do I do it? To me it isn't boring (yet). Its actually pretty interesting as it is something new. I can afford getting a character to 50 this way (once). Then I'll have to go back to arcs to finance my play here.

The real inf will start rolling in once you hit 50 and keep on the grind, since you won't have to refresh your enhancements. Even if you don't like playing 50, it might be a good idea to have one just so you can load them up when you need to build your finances.

[Albion]

1 hour ago, Diantane said:

Many players may say they make influence when they farm, but it's costing me. The enhancements I use (SO's) have to be replaced every 5 levels and gets more expensive every time. It's costing me millions just to level. When I run arcs I get merits which are spent on enhancement boosters and sold on the AH for millions which pay for the expensive SO's and just a little extra ). This is mostly why I don't level a character past 42 (those SO's are just too expensive. I will be paying for them this time only (all I can afford)). Get no merits for leveling when I farm.

 

So why do I do it? To me it isn't boring (yet). Its actually pretty interesting as it is something new. I can afford getting a character to 50 this way (once). Then I'll have to go back to arcs to finance my play here.

And there is the one we were waiting for, at least now there is a development towards it, makes it easer to digest.

[Without_Pause]

4 hours ago, Diantane said:

Many players may say they make influence when they farm, but it's costing me. The enhancements I use (SO's) have to be replaced every 5 levels and gets more expensive every time. It's costing me millions just to level. When I run arcs I get merits which are spent on enhancement boosters and sold on the AH for millions which pay for the expensive SO's and just a little extra ). This is mostly why I don't level a character past 42 (those SO's are just too expensive. I will be paying for them this time only (all I can afford)). Get no merits for leveling when I farm.

 

So why do I do it? To me it isn't boring (yet). Its actually pretty interesting as it is something new. I can afford getting a character to 50 this way (once). Then I'll have to go back to arcs to finance my play here.

Level 25 common IOs can be done for dirt cheap and don't need to be switched out. Once you are done with a build, you can do a respec on the build and store those IOs for the next character. At some point, you shouldn't have to really buy anything.*

 

* The same can be said if you use the rarer IOs, but that's a much larger task.

Edited December 21, 2021 by Without_Pause

[Ukase]

3 hours ago, Diantane said:

Many players may say they make influence when they farm, but it's costing me. The enhancements I use (SO's) have to be replaced every 5 levels and gets more expensive every time. It's costing me millions just to level. When I run arcs I get merits which are spent on enhancement boosters and sold on the AH for millions which pay for the expensive SO's and just a little extra ). This is mostly why I don't level a character past 42 (those SO's are just too expensive. I will be paying for them this time only (all I can afford)). Get no merits for leveling when I farm.

 

So why do I do it? To me it isn't boring (yet). Its actually pretty interesting as it is something new. I can afford getting a character to 50 this way (once). Then I'll have to go back to arcs to finance my play here.

@Diantane 
When HC brought Coh back, I didn't farm. The main reason I didn't farm was because I remembered on live that it just wasn't that much fun. I would find a large map, usually Freaks, a mission given out by Unai Kemen. With a boss or two in each group, and their tendency to self-rez, I would often get Tank Smasher (badge for beating 100 Freak bosses) in one map. It was interesting at first, particularly when I'd see the flash of purple letters flash across my screen. A purple recipe on live could sell for over 200M uncrafted, just as is. Sometimes as much as 280M. 

Expense in this flavor of CoH is relative. You may think they're expensive, and I think they're great up to level 30. After that, they are fairly without value. The reason I say this, is if you're level 30, and the SO is level 30, it will boost certain powers (depending what they are) 33% or 20%. But the common IO will boost it just a smidge more. 

So let me illustrate, if I can sort out how to showcase this. 
My character is level 25. 

In Hasten, I have just slotted these two SOs. 
 

 

Hasten, with nothing slotted has a stated recharge of 7:30. Two even-level SOs, as shown will reduce the recharge time to 4:30. I'm not going to get into the math, I'm still having my first cup of coffee. But, pictures, I can try to do. 

 

 

Cost of these enhancements at an NPC Quartermaster 27,900x2= 55,800 inf. 

Now, with two common IOs instead: 

I lose 4 seconds of recharge! Boo! 

The cost of these two will vary greatly. (As would the two Recharge SOs) Getting either from the market will be cheaper than at the vendor. 
But, from the crafting table: 

 

99k inf for both. (Fun fact: I bought these two for this illustration from the AH for 20k each. You could pay as low as 1 inf or up to 50k, depending on what's going on. If you bid on them a few levels before you need them, you can get them MUCH cheaper! Patience wins in the Auction House. 

But what happens at level 26? If you want to know that - I cannot illustrate that, because my character is only level 25. And the servers are gonna close for maintenance, so no PL to 26 just to illustrate this. 

But if you go here: https://archive.paragonwiki.com/wiki/Enhancements#Relative_Enhancement_Values
There's an extensive list that shows the values. It's a bit confusing if you've never read it before. 

At the top of the list, on the left column is the boost % of each enhancement. Remember the question? The question was what happens to the value of the two level 25 SOs when you get to level 26? Per this table, a -1 SO will only boost 30%. Obviously, this is less than the 32% of the even level IO. 

And the good news is you keep the 32% until YOU decide to put in a higher level common IO, at say level 40, or even 50. Click that link and you can see how much better a common IO is compared to an SO. Over time, you can get a lot more utility for your inf by using IOs. 

So, in conclusion, with SOs, yes, nice % boosts. But they are short lived. The advantages quickly fade as you're learning. Now, the common IOs, they can be expensive. This is why you look on the AH for these recipes! Craft them yourself, and you WILL save a LOT. 

Going into this is a bit beyond the scope for this thread, but I can if you want. But it's been covered far better in some of the guides. 

[Without_Pause]

15 hours ago, arcane said:

You haven’t been with us the entirety of the Diantane saga, obviously 🙂

Curious, have you teamed with them? I have. It is why at no point have I flat out said they are a troll. They have built in ideas of how games like CoH should be played. Unfortunately CoH doesn't play in those ways. They are also fundamentally ignorant of various aspects of the game. See them asking about the recharge time on an auto power. They have also responded to posts in General and in AT specific ones. You know this because you even gave a reaction to a post in which the OP was adding replies to one of their threads. Said thread was created even before this one which makes your comment about them finally responding to replies being a bit odd. They also don't directly respond to claims of them being a troll. Even in this very thread they quoted you about their finally responding to people and they mentioned getting back to the topic at hand. You may think whatever you will of them, but they do actually want to talk about the game and learn about it.

 

FYI, trolls don't respond positively to helpful information which the OP has. They also don't tend to come back and report updates of using said advise.

Edited December 21, 2021 by Without_Pause

[Diantane]

Thanks with the information on the difference in cost with IO's over SO's, Ukas. I used IO's once and buying recipes and savage I spent much more than I do for SO's plus it took a couple hours. Then ten levels later the were obsolete (difference between 34% and 38% is not that much at the time. I eventually replaced them with new IO's, but it took me as long time as I didn't have the influence to upgrade all of them at once. And this is just for regular IO's. Those sets are ridiculous.

 

Without Pause, I ignore Trolls and move on to the constructive replies.  

[Without_Pause]

3 minutes ago, Diantane said:

Thanks with the information on the difference in cost with IO's over SO's, Ukas. I used IO's once and buying recipes and savage I spent much more than I do for SO's plus it took a couple hours. Then ten levels later the were obsolete (difference between 34% and 38% is not that much at the time. I eventually replaced them with new IO's, but it took me as long time as I didn't have the influence to upgrade all of them at once. And this is just for regular IO's. Those sets are ridiculous.

You can earn crafting badges for the common IOs. This means you won't need the recipe and the crafting cost goes down. You ultimately are looking at 2-3 pieces of common salvage which can be had on the market for cheap and the reduced crafting cost. There was a decent market for getting the badges and selling the IOs on live but not so here.

[Aurora_Girl]

Teach a man to make a fire once, he's warm for the night. 

 

Set a man on fire, he's warm for the rest of his life. 

[TheZag]

Past road bumps aside,  this thread seems genuine with information being given and received.

 

Back to common IOs as shown in the pictures above from ukase,  the level 25 ones are just barely weaker then SOs.  The level 30 ones are just barely better then SOs and the lvl 35 ones are clearly better if you arent going +3 of your level. The level 40 ones are always better then a SO.

 

Buying common IO recipies and crafting them yourself could potentially be cheaper than upgrading your SOs.  Even buying already crafted lvl 35 or 40 common IOs is probably cheaper then upgrading SOs twice.  IO bonuses dont diminish when you outlevel them so the savings are huge after the initial purchase.

[Albion]

1 hour ago, Without_Pause said:

Curious, have you teamed with them? I have. It is why at no point have I flat out said they are a troll. They have built in ideas of how games like CoH should be played. Unfortunately CoH doesn't play in those ways. They are also fundamentally ignorant of various aspects of the game. See them asking about the recharge time on an auto power. They have also responded to posts in General and in AT specific ones. You know this because you even gave a reaction to a post in which the OP was adding replies to one of their threads. Said thread was created even before this one which makes your comment about them finally responding to replies being a bit odd. They also don't directly respond to claims of them being a troll. Even in this very thread they quoted you about their finally responding to people and they mentioned getting back to the topic at hand. You may think whatever you will of them, but they do actually want to talk about the game and learn about it.

 

FYI, trolls don't respond positively to helpful information which the OP has. They also don't tend to come back and report updates of using said advise.

I think the issue lays in his past attitude and the reputations that built, pretending to be an old timer with extensive knowledge of the game mechanics and dissing others opinions or berating their approaches to play, I did teamed up a couple times before and in no way was an enjoyable experience, but there seems to be a positive change now which is very welcomed, honest exchanges and willingness to learn are to be encouraged and congratulated. Noticed as well all of their conflictive threads are gone, may be a step in the right direction. Time will tell.

Edited December 21, 2021 by Albion

[Diantane]

29 minutes ago, TheZag said:

Past road bumps aside,  this thread seems genuine with information being given and received.

 

Back to common IOs as shown in the pictures above from ukase,  the level 25 ones are just barely weaker then SOs.  The level 30 ones are just barely better then SOs and the lvl 35 ones are clearly better if you arent going +3 of your level. The level 40 ones are always better then a SO.

 

Buying common IO recipies and crafting them yourself could potentially be cheaper than upgrading your SOs.  Even buying already crafted lvl 35 or 40 common IOs is probably cheaper then upgrading SOs twice.  IO bonuses dont diminish when you outlevel them so the savings are huge after the initial purchase.

 

Well right before you posted this info I upgraded my SO's to level 40 😞 Should I make common 45 IO's at 42 or wait until the 50's. No way can I afford sets (even level 50 recipes might be out of my reach, but I can do some of them and work up to the rest).

[Glacier Peak]

1 minute ago, Diantane said:

Well right before you posted this info I upgraded my SO's to level 40 😞 Should I make common 45 IO's at 42 or wait until the 50's. No way can I afford sets (even level 50 recipes might be out of my reach, but I can do some of them and work up to the rest).

If your concern is influence, send an in game email influence request to @Yomo Kimyata . I did this many months ago one of my characters to get the basic IOs and helpful global procs.

[Diantane]

20 minutes ago, Albion said:

I think the issue lays in his past attitude and the reputations that built, pretending to be an old timer with extensive knowledge of the game mechanics and dissing others opinions or berating their approaches to play, I did teamed up a couple times before and in no way was an enjoyable experience, but there seems to be a positive change now which is very welcomed, honest exchanges and willingness to learn are to be encouraged and congratulated. Noticed as well all of their conflictive threads are gone, may be a step in the right direction. Time will tell.

I do apologize for any mistake I may have posted before, but it was never in bad taste for this experience (CoH). With all the bad remarks I have heard before (maybe this game is not for you or you should learn how to play this game), I'm still here (and learning). I'm resilient i.e. it got me through the Vietnam War and this is far easier. I've finally crossed over a barrier in this game that I've never gone near before. It took me several months of running teams and doing about a thousand arcs (up to 9 a day) and up to 18 hours straight; earning merits to be able to finance such a project. I still have some characters that may have unspent merits on them. Meanwhile I am learning as fast as I can. More questions will come.

[Albion]

5 minutes ago, Diantane said:

I do apologize for any mistake I may have posted before, but it was never in bad taste for this experience (CoH). With all the bad remarks I have heard before (maybe this game is not for you or you should learn how to play this game), I'm still here (and learning). I'm resilient i.e. it got me through the Vietnam War and this is far easier. I've finally crossed over a barrier in this game that I've never gone near before. It took me several months of running teams and doing about a thousand arcs (up to 9 a day) and up to 18 hours straight; earning merits to be able to finance such a project. I still have some characters that may have unspent merits on them. Meanwhile I am learning as fast as I can. More questions will come.

I got to applaud you, sometimes we land on an already stablished crowd with our own personal way and there is clashes neither side could be proud of, takes strong character to steer the wheel away from such courses, thanks for the reply and will be looking forward to what you can achieve in our loved game, if you need some inf to slot the basis of your end game and happen to be on Excelsior let me know.

Edited December 21, 2021 by Albion

[TheZag]

12 minutes ago, Diantane said:

 

Well right before you posted this info I upgraded my SO's to level 40 😞 Should I make common 45 IO's at 42 or wait until the 50's. No way can I afford sets (even level 50 recipes might be out of my reach, but I can do some of them and work up to the rest).

 

On a budget you could slot lvl 35 and wait till you have enough money to upgrade to lvl 50 common IOs.  You can still slot any crafted IO even if you are more then 3 levels above.  As glacier peak suggested,  if you never sent yomo kimyata an ingame email for starter cash then you can do that and get 20 million.  I think his ingame global is @yomo.  

 

Sometimes its more expensive to craft common IOs.  There are people working on crafting badges that make them and dump them on the AH for a loss in order to get badges.  If you put up some reasonable bids you can probably get several at a good discount after a few hours.

 

Also 2 lvl 50 common IOs are as good as 3 SOs so dont over purchase level 50s or you get hit with diminishing returns.

[arcane]

I’m just glad we’re all in agreement that Homecoming forum PvP is noticeably more manageable than ‘Nam.

[A Cat]

41 minutes ago, Diantane said:

 

Well right before you posted this info I upgraded my SO's to level 40 😞 Should I make common 45 IO's at 42 or wait until the 50's. No way can I afford sets (even level 50 recipes might be out of my reach, but I can do some of them and work up to the rest).

Just get the 45's. Don't worry about replacing them until you have planned out an IO set build and then replace them with those. The tiny difference in performance is not worth worrying about until the REAL difference in performance from sets can be used. Imo, I wouldn't even bother replacing the 25's or 30's until you reach level 50 and respec into a set build. 

[Dazl]

19 minutes ago, Diantane said:

I do apologize for any mistake I may have posted before, but it was never in bad taste for this experience (CoH). With all the bad remarks I have heard before (maybe this game is not for you or you should learn how to play this game), I'm still here (and learning). I'm resilient i.e. it got me through the Vietnam War and this is far easier. I've finally crossed over a barrier in this game that I've never gone near before. It took me several months of running teams and doing about a thousand arcs (up to 9 a day) and up to 18 hours straight; earning merits to be able to finance such a project. I still have some characters that may have unspent merits on them. Meanwhile I am learning as fast as I can. More questions will come.

Well it is good to see your post going in a positive direction and providing a constructive discussion. 

 

One thing you should really take some time to learn is the IO system. Sure it adds a layer of complexity to the game, but it is totally worth the effort. I made the same mistake when I returned to the game buying SO's. Once I learned how a level 25 basic IO (which you can use all they way to 50) was almost the same as that level 50 SO you have been building to, I never used SO's again. Once you start to understand IO set and the bonus it will be night to day for you.

 

Farming is pretty boring and not a method I would want to level up a character either. However I do use my farmer to power level new alts. Some alt's I'll PL to 50, others I may just PL to 35 and give them a decent IO build and run them to 50 normally. All you really need is one farmer on a second account and you would be set. Heck some of us might be happy to help you with that. I have no problem helping PL new farmers, just not thrilled about doing it for non-farmers just so people can level a toon faster without even trying.

 

Good on you for learning and keeping this a productive post. 

[Diantane]

1 minute ago, arcane said:

I’m just glad we’re all in agreement that Homecoming forum PvP is noticeably more manageable than ‘Nam.

LOL - Most definitely. When I was 19 serving aboard the aircraft carrier, USS America CVA-66 (now at the bottom of the ocean), I got a call that one of our utility boats would not start and it wasn't the battery. I was an electricians mate and was told to go to the island to repair the boat. Asked if it was secure and they said that all weapons were confiscated and two marines were guarding the small port. So I agreed and another boat brought me and my tools to the island (we were anchored a mile away). As I was working on the boat about 30 Viet Cong that wanted to kill us all came up with a plan. They would set the marine's jeep on fire which distracted the marines attention, and then about 25 of the Viet Cong came into our area to kill us with their jujitsu skills. Six jumped on the boat to drown me. I jumped off the boat and ran across the tarmac. Didn't get far as one of the Cong kicked the legs out from under my body and my head came down and hit the pavement (cracking my skull). I was unconscious as they proceeded to kick me around like a rag doll (as told me later on board the hospital ship by the two marines). I was bleeding everywhere, but no bones broken (teeth fully cracked from the constant kicking to my mouth (all teeth later removed). Couldn't walk for six months. Finally able to use crutches, then a cane and would finally walk again. Refused a medical discharge as I enlisted during the draft and demanded an honorable discharge. Spent six years in the US Navy (two years with the reserves) and was released as a 2nd class petty officer (E-5).

 

You are right. PvP would be nothing in comparison, but its still not for me after experiencing what I did above. To this day my left hand had lifelong tremors, have some short term memory loss, a learning disability and I'm not completely balanced when I walk. I'm currently 66 and retired after driving a tractor trailer for 45 years.

[Diantane]

Just found out that the difference of cost between a L45 and 50 IO's is huge and I will never be able to afford the 50's for some time (maybe never). So at 42 I will start replacing my SO's with IO's. Can't do all of them at once, but will work on them as I earn the influence.

 

Have said before that at this time, farming is interesting to me (not boring yet 🙂)

[Dazl]

Keep in mind you don't need to keep upgrading the basic IO's. Level 25 or 30's will work all the way to 50. Sure it cost more to start, but you will save funds in the long haul. Once you hit 50 you should consider using a real IO build and put those basic IO back in storage for your next alt.

[Diantane]

My SG base is private and I have a wide assortment of salvage as I have only built IO's once, but kept on filling the racks keeping the salvage in alphabetical order.

[Diantane]

1 minute ago, Dazl said:

Keep in mind you don't need to keep upgrading the basic IO's. Level 25 or 30's will work all the way to 50. Sure it cost more to start, but you will save funds in the long haul. Once you hit 50 you should consider using a real IO build and put those basic IO back in storage for your next alt.

You mean doing a respec to get the IO's away from the character?