Prismatic Aether Particles

[Ukase]

I read this in one of the channels I belong to: 

"4.5 Billion for an hour. Not bad."

The comment refers to the Prismatic Aether Particles, the new currency. Last night, I saw one in inventory, the last 5 was at 150M or so. 
This morning 127 in inventory, just under 5000 bids, and the last 5 shows 61-62M. 

Fact: if you're a badger, you'll need 150 of these to get 

a badge for unlocking one of the fancy new hologram costume things, which requires 10 PAPs. 
a 2nd badge for unlocking 5 hologram costumes, which requires a total of 50 PAPs. 
a 3rd badge for unlocking 10 hologram costumes, which requires a total of 100 PAPs. 
and a 4th badge which seems to unlock them all from the description given, which requires 50 PAPs. 

So, each player that badges will need 150 of these. 

Aeon SF seems to be the fastest way to acquire them, as on a good team, you can complete the 4 star Aeon in about an hour. The HM ITF will take a bit longer, at least until folks get used to the various challenges. 

There will be a number of strategies used, I suspect. Some folks will just earn them as they go. Some folks will pay outrageous sums to get them as fast as possible. Some folks will lowball bid, and relist for higher. 

The question is - who among you are going to sell now, and repurchase at what I would expect to be a lower price in the near future? 

[Bionic_Flea]

29 minutes ago, Ukase said:

and a 4th badge which seems to unlock them all from the description given, which requires 50 PAPs. 

The accolade just makes a clickable icon that allows you to choose any of the costumes you've purchased from a drop-down menu.

[EmperorSteele]

Oh, I'm definitely in the "sell now" camp. Prices will only drop as supply moves to meet demand. Badgers, like me, of course will want a bunch, but I'm willing to be patient on that goal, as immediate profit is more enticing. Some crazy folks, like @Voltor, who wants all the badges on each AT, may or may not be as patient. And while most RPers probably have thier eye on one or two specific costumes, I'm sure there are some "completionists" out there who are going to bloat their inventory and get every single one. And I don't doubt that there isn't some crossover happening here (like a badging marketer or three with 100billion+ inf to burn who want ALL THE THINGS)

 

And so unless all these folks run HM content until they barf, I think demand will outpace supply for a fair while, though obviously not going for 100M a piece.

 

Seriously, who did that?! XD

[Yomo Kimyata]

Here's how I'm looking at it:

 

New tradeable item?  Absolutely I'm interested, both in terms of figuring out how others are going to use it and how I can solve the puzzle and get some rewards in the form of profit.

 

Where does it come from?  Advanced TFs?  Ok, those are relatively hard and time consuming.  Weekly TFs?  Ok, much less so.  2% drop on every mission?  That's a-lotta missions.  So probably a little less common than, say, rare salvage?

 

What is it used for?  Non-unique costumes?  That's essentially meaningless to me, so I would have to rely on it being meaningful to others.  New badge?  I'm not really a badger but I can see the case for it.  I'd think that getting 50 to drop over the course of a month would be reasonable in normal play.  New interface for new badge?  I haven't looked into it, but I can imagine it would be useful.

 

Absolutely a net seller of these things.  Right now they are useful for things that are mostly irrelevant to me, and if I got stuck with, say, a few thousand of them it would be a terrible waste of my time and effort.  Can I sell any I get to drop to someone who seems to value them more?  I sure hope so.  But I'm not planning on hoarding a stash.

 

Someday they may use them for something useful, so I'll watch for signs of that.

[AboveTheChemist]

The new costumes (and the badges earned from buying costumes) are not anything I am particularly interested in, so I plan to sell any I get for the foreseeable future. I won't rule out the possibility of buying a costume at some point down the road, but it should be easy enough to set aside a modest amount of particles for a costume purchase or two, or simply buy a few particles at the lower future price once the market for them settles.

[Bionic_Flea]

I know this isn't a feedback thread, but since it has the right title I'd like to lodge a protest that PAPs do not drop in WSTs UNLESS you are level 50. 

 

In my opinion they should drop after WSF completion regardless of level.  This is not incarnate related, although it does drop mostly in hard mode and I-trials, because it does not add to any incarnate powers, is only for cosmetic purchases (and a few badges), and can be a random drop after any mission completion from level 1 on.

[lemming]

I have a few chars that would benefit from the mini costume.   My Badger will eventually get all the badges, but since I'm not rushing on any of them, I'll let them accumulate.  (I mean, I don't even have a couple of the damage badges yet...)

 

I second Bionic's opinion on having them drop for under-50s on WTF

[Voltor]

6 hours ago, EmperorSteele said:

Oh, I'm definitely in the "sell now" camp. Prices will only drop as supply moves to meet demand. Badgers, like me, of course will want a bunch, but I'm willing to be patient on that goal, as immediate profit is more enticing. Some crazy folks, like @Voltor, who wants all the badges on each AT, may or may not be as patient. And while most RPers probably have thier eye on one or two specific costumes, I'm sure there are some "completionists" out there who are going to bloat their inventory and get every single one. And I don't doubt that there isn't some crossover happening here (like a badging marketer or three with 100billion+ inf to burn who want ALL THE THINGS)

 

And so unless all these folks run HM content until they barf, I think demand will outpace supply for a fair while, though obviously not going for 100M a piece.

 

Seriously, who did that?! XD

 

 

Though crazy may apply to me,  not this time.  I am not too keen on the new salvage and current time calculations I have done for how long it would take to get the costume badges.   As to getting all the costumes........nope.

[Coyotedancer]

I'm not about to buy any at that price...

I'll just keep mine. Sure, I could make a quick profit, but I know that eventually there'll be a costume that I want for someone. Better to have my own stash than have to rely on whatever they're selling for at the time.

[Ruin Mage]

They're fluxuating in prices, which is nice.

[Ironblade]

13 hours ago, Ukase said:

The question is - who among you are going to sell now, and repurchase at what I would expect to be a lower price in the near future? 

I thought about selling them, but I'm pretty sure I already have more inf than I can spend so, what would be the point?

I mean, I missed playing the market after maxing the inf on one character so I started on another and have like 300 million in a couple days.

So I don't plan to sell any.  And since I run so many weekly strike targets anyway, I might not end up buying any even if they get really cheap.

[sundew]

Public thanks to whomever purchased my prismatic aethers at 200 mil apiece.  Glad to play my small part in helping with your badging!

[Ukase]

1 hour ago, sundew said:

Public thanks to whomever purchased my prismatic aethers at 200 mil apiece.  Glad to play my small part in helping with your badging!

lol, you're welcome! 

I say this on behalf of the player that was seemingly desperate for it. I have 450 bids at 10M for them in the AH. I ain't paying no 200M, lol. 

[High_Beam]

I had two drop on my beginner Symphonic (or Symphony) Controller while doing a radio mission in King's Row; almost didn't notice it.  What I noticed was 61 Million each.  That's gonna help kit out several higher level alts.  Thanks Aether Bunny (bwak bwak).  Back in the day on live the badge thing would have made me go quite insane but I got better.

[Ukase]

11 hours ago, High_Beam said:

 Aether Bunny 

Oh my! Quick! Make that alt! 

[Sakai]

1 hour ago, Ukase said:

Oh my! Quick! Make that alt! 

My thought exactly. 

[sundew]

3 hours ago, Ukase said:

Oh my! Quick! Make that alt! 

Terrible idea!  Would have to give away aether like candy to live up to the name!  Or run aether content all day.  I guess running the content would be fun enough.  Ok never mind.

[Ukase]

7 hours ago, sundew said:

Terrible idea!  Would have to give away aether like candy to live up to the name!  Or run aether content all day.  I guess running the content would be fun enough.  Ok never mind.

I suspect in a few weeks time, they will be so abundant, it will be like candy. For the hordes of costume fiends in this game, they'll be given away freely at various costumes contests, I'd expect. I think last night, I saw the price had dropped to 20M. I need to get on and check this morning's price.

[-Kobi-]

2 hours ago, Ukase said:

I suspect in a few weeks time, they will be so abundant, it will be like candy. For the hordes of costume fiends in this game, they'll be given away freely at various costumes contests, I'd expect. I think last night, I saw the price had dropped to 20M. I need to get on and check this morning's price.

 

Between 20-23M ATM. I suspect price will increase with Deluxe costume release but imo, it's still too late to sell.

[High_Beam]

Yeah sold a bunch now at the 20 mil point but as I said, not a true badger any more and not a costume person.  I consider any monies earned form them as just playing with house money.

[ScrewlooseCohh]

Has there been a tweak to the drop rate for PA?

I have gotten three in a relatively short time just from mission completions, or have i just burned my luck for a while?

 

Ta, Screwloose.

[Frozen Burn]

9 hours ago, ScrewlooseCohh said:

Has there been a tweak to the drop rate for PA?

I have gotten three in a relatively short time just from mission completions, or have i just burned my luck for a while?

 

Ta, Screwloose.

 

No changes.  RNG is being good to you!  The first week after release, I had 4 drop from rando missions.  ....2 in the 2nd week.  ...none since, though.  🙂  

[Cancrusher]

Yeah, I think it's just random.  I got 5, right off the bat, and then nothing since.  I just play as usual and don't worry about it.  Eventually I'll gather enough to get me one of those spiffy, new NPC costumes.  😁👍

[Ironblade]

21 hours ago, ScrewlooseCohh said:

Has there been a tweak to the drop rate for PA?

I have gotten three in a relatively short time just from mission completions, or have i just burned my luck for a while?

I would say it's just the RNG for two reasons.

 

1.  I have gotten exactly TWO from doing missions since they were introduced.  And I play a lot of content, particularly task forces.

 

2.  Since there was so much complaint about a new currency in general and also about how much it was initially selling for, I think any adjustment by the devs would be trumpeted from the heavens.

[Ukase]

This is just anecdotal evidence, laced with perception bias. 

It seems to me that the random drop of the PAP is kind of like the purple/very rare recipe in one regard. 

I have a large number of alts. Anecdotally, yet certainly not every time, most of the time, if it's been a week or more since I last played the character, I get a purple. 

It had been a week since I'd played a certain ss/elec brute. I got a PAP after completing the first mission of a Morty Kal. 

On my badge characters, I tend to let them rest when they complete the latest new badges. So, when page 4 dropped, I went for the badges. PAP dropped in the midst of the new incarnate arc for one, for another in the midst of the new Steve Sheridan arc. Zip for a third character, but the 4th and 5th also got a PAP from a random drop. 

Each one of those got a very rare after their "rest" from the last page. 

Like I said, anecdotal with perception bias, but I'd suggest giving your alts a week's rest and see what happens - if they mean that much to you. 

But - here's a question: 
PAPs are selling for 7M now. I have to wonder, how much will the price go up when they intro the rest of the costumes? (My understanding is we've only seen the first tier; two additional tiers are to follow - but I haven't read that specifically, I just skimmed some things, heard some things, so nothing scientific about that, just conjecture. 

 

I know someone gambled big, buying 10K of them. No idea why. But if they go up to even 10M, that's still a 2M profit per, after fees. IF they go up.