Influence

[GunKat]

Hi All,

 

I am new here. I read that "Influence" is the in game currency. How do I gain Influence?

 

-GunKat

[Ghost]

Just now, GunKat said:

Hi All,

 

I am new here. I read that "Influence" is the in game currency. How do I gain Influence?

 

-GunKat

Run content without a 2XP boost.

You get it for arresting/killing and for completing missions and Task Forces

[Erratic1]

8 minutes ago, Ghost said:

Run content without a 2XP boost.

You get it for arresting/killing and for completing missions and Task Forces

 

The thought came to me the other day that since you do make more influence against higher level foes, running with xp boost gets you to that point sooner.

 

But I typically only use xp boost to get to level 23.

[Doomguide2005]

And welcome to the City!

[biostem]

32 minutes ago, GunKat said:

Hi All,

 

I am new here. I read that "Influence" is the in game currency. How do I gain Influence?

 

-GunKat

As others said, you get it from defeating enemies, completing missions, selling items to vendors/shops, in exchange for items listed to be sold on the auction house, and so on.  The only caveat is if you use the XP boosters from the P2W vendor, which reduces your INF gain in exchange for better XP rewards.  Also note that it is called "infamy" for villains and "information" for Praetorians, but is effectively the same...

[Luminara]

33 minutes ago, GunKat said:

Hi All,

 

I am new here. I read that "Influence" is the in game currency. How do I gain Influence?

 

-GunKat

 

 

Go.  Hunt.  Kill Skuls.

 

Or just ask @Yomo Kimyata for some.  Inf*, not Skuls.  He doesn't traffic in Skuls.

[Doomguide2005]

21 minutes ago, Luminara said:

 

 

Go.  Hunt.  Kill Skuls.

 

Or just ask @Yomo Kimyata for some.  Inf*, not Skuls.  He doesn't traffic in Skuls.

I'm not so sure.  I've got a page open here in Yomo's Crazy Catalog that clearly has a listing for Crystal Skulls.

[Luminara]

4 minutes ago, Doomguide2005 said:

I'm not so sure.  I've got a page open here in Yomo's Crazy Catalog that clearly has a listing for Crystal Skulls.

 

That's pictures of his exhibitionist girlfriend.

[GunKat]

Hi Yomo,

 

I just sent you a request for Influence. Thanks

 

-GunKat

[Ghost]

1 hour ago, Erratic1 said:

 

The thought came to me the other day that since you do make more influence against higher level foes, running with xp boost gets you to that point sooner.

 

But I typically only use xp boost to get to level 23.

It’s sorta a catch-22

You want to fight higher level mobs to get more infl, but you need infl to buy enhancements strong enough to let you fight higher level mobs 🙂

[Erratic1]

12 minutes ago, Ghost said:

It’s sorta a catch-22

You want to fight higher level mobs to get more infl, but you need infl to buy enhancements strong enough to let you fight higher level mobs 🙂

 

Use crafted, basic IOs. You never need to replace them and at level 25 they get you most of the bang you need.

 

If you really want to save money, recycle your crated, basic IOs between characters (unslotting them with a respec for free when upgrading to set IOs).

[GunKat]

Okay, I appreciate the tips, how do you get more influence at lower levels?

[Luminara]

1 minute ago, GunKat said:

Okay, I appreciate the tips, how do you get more influence at lower levels?

 

Almost every zone has 8 exploration badges.  Collecting all 8 in a zone grants your character 5 reward merits.  You can turn those merits into Enhancement Converters and sell them for ~65,000-70,000 inf* apiece.  You can also put in very, very low bids (less than 1000 inf*) on low value recipes, craft those recipes, then convert the resulting enhancements into more valuable enhancements.  More work, but bigger pay-off, and my preferred approach.

 

Farming is condoned on these servers.  Join a farm if that's your cup of artichoke juice.

 

Enter costume contests.  There are numerous players with more inf* than they can spend in a lifetime and just itching for some way to give it away.  Costume contests offer one way they can accomplish that goal, and there are often consolation prizes, so even if you don't "win", you still win.

 

Play without XP boosters.  XP boosters disable part or all of the inf* rewarded from defeating enemies.

 

Ask nicely and don't be clingy, needy, greedy or demanding.  As I said, there are a lot of people with so much inf* that they don't know what to do with it, and they'll gladly give it to anyone they can, within reason and when the recipient isn't a twat.

 

Make friends.  Friends = teams, teams = better rewards per time spent.

 

Lick @Bill Z Bubba.  He freaks out and drops everything he's carrying when someone licks him, including piles of inf*.

[Bill Z Bubba]

6 minutes ago, Luminara said:

Lick @Bill Z Bubba.  He freaks out and drops everything he's carrying when someone licks him, including piles of inf*.

 

That's not even remotely what I do when people lick me.

[GunKat]

I licked you Bubba!

[Luminara]

5 minutes ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

 

That's not even remotely what I do when people lick me.

 

Why you lyin', Bill Z Tootsie Pop?

[momentarygrace]

One of the things I do on all my new alts is go to the P2W Vendor and get the free Inner Inspiration. Tips for using it - have at least 3 empty Inspiration slots available before clicking it, it will award you about 3 Inspirations, and very often they include top tier (Large) types.

 

Use the Auction House to sell top level Isps ( I list them for 100 or less) and you general get some good pocket change for basically no investment.  The cooldown for using the power again is an hour 30 minutes but while I'm playing, it usually comes up again a couple of times. Have empty slots, use the power, sell any Large Insps, good way to get something extra for little effort and basically no investment.

 

Once you start getting invention salvage drops, you can make some choices about keeping or selling, but it doesn't hurt to sell most stuff. Invention Enhancements won't give you as much  'enhancement' up to about level 25. That's when IOs start being more cost effective, since they don't expire as you level.

 

Some folks use the auction house to try and get more inf for salvage and recipes, and do great at that. I'm impatient and short attention span so I often just sell everything but orange (Rare) invention salvage and Rare & Very Rare recipes to vendors. Rare salvage will usually bring more from the auction house than vendors will offer.

 

Anything anyone else posts about all of the above will likely be smarter, this is just my quick and dirty tips for low level alts. 🙂

 

corrections per @Ukase - thanks!

Edited June 15, 2022 by momentarygrace

[Yomo Kimyata]

2 hours ago, GunKat said:

Hi Yomo,

 

I just sent you a request for Influence. Thanks

 

-GunKat

 

I got and filled one request today.  In case that wasn't you, send me an ingame email to @Yomo and I'll send you 20mm.  This offer is open to everyone, but only once per account.

 

2 hours ago, Doomguide2005 said:

I'm not so sure.  I've got a page open here in Yomo's Crazy Catalog that clearly has a listing for Crystal Skulls.

 

I don't traffic in Crystal Skulls.  Too "Legacy"-ish.  (I suddenly realize that Legacy salvage is seeded.  I have no idea at what price!)

 

1 hour ago, GunKat said:

Okay, I appreciate the tips, how do you get more influence at lower levels?

 

For the most part, your influence earning on a brand new character will have you at a deficit until you get to a certain level (let's arbitrarily call it level 40) where you start producing more inf.  There are all kinds of ways to earn/accumulate vast quantities of inf though -- I aggregated a "Guide to Market Guides" on the Guides forum if you have interest.  I don't have the link to it handy, but it shouldn't be to difficult to track down!

[biostem]

Another quick way to make some "seed money" is to grab the Inner Inspiration power (for free if you haven't already taken Mystic Fortune or Secondary Mutation), from the P2W Vendor.  Make sure you have 3 empty inspiration slots before you use it, and it'll give you 3 random medium or big inspirations.  Depending on which ones you get, you can make up to 50,000 INF by selling them on the Auction House.  There are many guides on how to make lots of INF, here.  Cheers!

[UltraAlt]

10 hours ago, GunKat said:

I am new here. I read that "Influence" is the in game currency. How do I gain Influence?

 

When City of Heroes first came out, Influence was the only currency. It was a measure of how heroic the public thought that you were. It was earned only through defeating villains/enemies and successful mission completion (some missions could be failed which would actually take away influence because you failed in the eyes of the public!)

 

When City of Villains came out, the villain currency was Infamy. It was a sign to the public of how villainous you were.

 

As the game progressed, the Auction House system was added (Wentworth's/Black Market) and, at the same time, the invention system (salvage and recipes were added along with the ability to craft those recipes with the necessary salvage). Now you could gain both recipes and salvage through defeating enemies and mission completes. These could be crafted. Recipes, salvage, crafted enhancements (IOs and IO sets), normal enhances (training, DOs - dual origin, and SOs - single origin), inspirations, etc could be sold on the market to other players.

 

I can't remember if it was before or after this that you could start training influence to other hero players and infamy to other villain players, but it was sometime around this time.

 

When Going Rogue hit, Praetorians didn't get their own currency(?) All Currency was merged into Influence.

This was because this is when the alignment system was added and heroes and villains could "change sides".

I kind of remember that this didn't happen all at once and there was an issue at one point when villains/rogues weren't able to use Wentworths and heroes/rogues couldn't use the Black market. Heroes and villains couldn't exchange funds because Influence wasn't the same kind of currency as Infamy (obviously, as one was for heroic deeds and the other for being villainous)

Once all currency became Influence, Heroes/Villians/Praetorians all had the same currency and Wentworths and the Black Market were merged into the Auction House with all characters having access to the same public trading system.

 

You can email influence to your self and others. You can transfer it through the trade window if you are close enough to another character as well.

 

For most players the main way to gain influence is still through defeating enemies and mission completions. That is why some people Farm; farming is also used for power-leveling.

Other way to get influence is through the Auction House. This can be accessed anywhere outdoors by typing /AH

You can also access the Auction House system by visiting a Wentworths on hero side or a Black Market on villain side (sorry, Praetorians ... do  you guys still use EBay or is it Craig's List?)

You can sell your salvage, recipes, crafter enhancements, and other drops on the Auction house to gain influence.

 

Sure, you can buy stuff at the Auction House, but you were asking about how to make Influence and not spend it!

 

Welcome to THE CITY. 

Have fun!

 

Edited June 15, 2022 by UltraAlt

[GunKat]

Hi UltraAlt,

 

Thank you that was very informative. How do you Speed Influence? Is that the flip side of the coin? I appreciate the community here.

[TraumaTrain]

Huh. I thought it was infants in Praetoria. 

 

 

[Luminara]

12 minutes ago, TraumaTrain said:

Huh. I thought it was infants in Praetoria. 

 

That's cuisine, not currency.

[GM Impervium]

45 minutes ago, TraumaTrain said:

Huh. I thought it was infants in Praetoria.

 

30 minutes ago, Luminara said:

That's cuisine, not currency.

Part of me is morbidly curious to see how far this goes... but my better judgement disagrees.

So, back on topic, folks!

[GM Kal]

From the guide I have posted on the Homecoming Discord in #new-players
 

---

 

We need more awareness for new players on how to get early money.
 

Just doing the first storyline arc from a Contact will get lots of Reward Merits.
(For Prime Universe/"Freedom", Hero side, this would be Matthew Habashy)

Go inside City Hall
Go to the Merit vendor
Buy Enhancement Converters using the reward merits. (under Special salvage)
Open the Auction House with /ah
Open your Salvage tab on your power tray
Drag them to the AH window
Sell them for 1 inf (yes, seriously)

You will usually make: 
1 Reward Merit = 3 Enhancement Converters that sell for at least 60,000 inf each.

Also, check price possibilities for Enhancement Boosters.