To players who haven't the money for Enhancements: use your Merit Reward points

[temnix]

For a long time, playing, I have run into a problem that my characters never have money to fill their slots with Single-Origin Enhancements. I have been forced to disable XP accumulation and spend about half of my time grinding for money. This was and is on Indomitable with its double experience bonus. On a server without I would have progressed slower and would have acquired new powers and felt the need to upgrade Enhancements at a more languid pace, but quick progress is supposed to be a good thing. I had looked at Merit Rewards idly when I just started and thought I would never have enough points to buy those rare salvage drops and other specials (not that they are interesting anyway), so I never gave that system a second thought. Thirty levels later, however, I found myself with more than a hundred points - and still almost zero unspent Influence.

 

This may not be discovering America, but people who find themselves in the same situation can spend their points on Single-Origin Enhancements at Merit Vendors instead of buying those with Influence. I wish I had thought of this long ago. Until Inventions begin to come in strong a good many levels later or until Homecoming slashes prices, this can be the solution to the money problem. An SO of any type costs a single point, and the Enhancement is created at the highest level the character can use. If you are level 10, it will be at level 13. To continue with this example: at that point you have around 15 useful slots to fill, but 5 or perhaps fewer will be slotted with Praetorian Enhancements (which are a bit cheat-like, but any port in a storm). Since you can live well enough, I think, with Enhancements that are two levels below your current level, i.e. weak but not too weak, you would need to refill the slots only every 5 levels. In that space of time you would take on 2-3 new powers and 4-6 added slots, which means 7-8 more slots to fill than in the last overhaul. A few of the powers may not be worth enhancing, or they may be unenhanceable, but in any case it is not a problem to earn that many Merit Reward points in that many levels.

 

How do you get Merit Reward points? I got them by focusing on Story Arc missions. I didn't do this for points' sake, because I had quite put that system out of memory, but because I find them more interesting, yet it is all the same. Seek missions that begin with "Part One" in blue font instead of mob beat-ups or other random tasks. Have a wide network of contacts in different places and grab their Story Arcs. It is possible to outlevel contacts, but I think you will be able to complete a Story Arc you have begun even then. I don't know this for a fact, though. The wiki says that there are more smaller Story Arcs and so more chances to earn points for villains than for heroes. This is probably because City of Villains was written later and the developers realized the value of having more of actual meaningful actions.

 

Another simple way of getting points is following tips that enemies drop outdoors. In Atlas Park you don't even have to beat up Hellions - use the free rocket pack you get at level 2 to reach the top of Atlas' globe, and you'll start the process. Exploring a map it would be too dangerous to walk across takes a flight power, but in this game you more or less have to be able to fly. Hover is a sine qua non, in any case. All my characters have Hover as their only travel power. (You can use the free Prestige Run for flat, easily crossed areas.) With a couple of slots added for speed Hover becomes a decent way of getting around, and you get to browse and familiarize yourself with areas and enemies in them while you move from point to point. Rocket packs you can get on occasion (at least a couple of Day Jobs as a villain, some free ones from quests) make up for all urgent needs. Exploration Badges are mostly in places where it is safe to land, but you only need to swoop over them, and it is worth the rare trip to the hospital. There are other ways of getting Merit Reward points, like trials, but those are usually prolonged and complicated. Personally I'm not interested.

 

All this should keep you stocked with points. Of course, you would be spending what you could be saving for rare salvage and such, but honestly, what is more important, late-game Inventions that are still only words on a little icon and mostly boost your vanity with a few extra percentile points or the time of your life that you would be saving by avoiding the grind? Have fun and be powerful where it counts.

[Snakebit]

Don't buy anything until 22. Skip SOs entirely.

 

Don't spend merits on enhancers. Buy converters and sell them.  Get the explore badges in AP, KR, and SC. That's 15 merits = 4 million inf.  Without clicking an attack 

 

[flyingpcp]

OP's advice is so opposite to what's actually a good idea that I'm not sure it's not bait. The last few sentences in particular sound like they might be taking the piss

[Snakebit]

5 minutes ago, flyingpcp said:

OP's advice is so opposite to what's actually a good idea that I'm not sure it's not bait. The last few sentences in particular sound like they might be taking the piss

 

Just realized it's the same person complaining in Tech Support that GMs aren't fixing technical issues.  Either very very poorly informed or like you said...

[lemming]

Oh hell no.    That's a horrible return rate for Merits to be spent on SOs especially.

 

Use Reward merits to buy Converters or Boosters and sell on the Auction House.  Then use the inf for buying stuff.  Much better return for your investment.  A single merit gets you over 180,000 inf.   You can buy 3 level 50 SOs for that.  (And by that time, Basic IOs are better anyway...)

 

And don't buy salvage that way either.   Your post is full of horrible advice.

[Glacier Peak]

Merits for converters, sell the converters, profit.

[MonteCarla]

I didn't know you could do that!

 

Like others have suggested, you're better off buying Enhancement Converters (under Special Salvage) from the merit vendor. They're the purple circle with yellow arrows.

5 merits buys 15 of them. List them for 1 inf in batches of 10 on the Auction House (available anywhere by typing "/ah") and they'll sell immediately for at least 50,000 inf each, maybe up to 70,000. 
SO's cost 30-50,000 each, so you'll get at least 3 per merit, probably more. Going this way via influence also allows you to upgrade your SO's using the handy Upgrade button on the Enhancement screen, rather than having to buy all new ones every few levels and manually slot them.

 

Its a little bit more hassle than just buying the SO's, but it doesn't require much marketeering, and really turned thing s around for me when I was new.

[temnix]

Well, there are other ways to raise money, as the others here have said. And if you want to go to auctions, that's a possibility. *I* wouldn't want to go near them for the reason that any in-game economics are such a horrible boring waste of time that no person mindful of the real world will want to touch them. My advice is not for min-maxers or nerds of any sort. It is for people who want to play the game without being dragged down by the unavailability of the things necessary to play it with enjoyment. You get those points, you spend them on SO, you never think twice about money. And you will still little by little accumulate enough to buy little toys like a flying disc or an extra Prestige power, down the line. Everything else that matters is either in your Archetype or in your power of imagination.

 

What are the available items in the game? Icons. Completely abstract abilities that don't usually even have a sound associated with them. Converters, whatever. You want to waste your life learning this great science? Read a book instead. However, I want to add a caveat to my post. SO are not available for Merit Reward points early on. I don't know when they become available, but not at level 10. Archetype Enhancements are there, but not SO. Perhaps they need to be unlocked somehow, but I don't think I have done anything special to make them available to me at (under) level 30.

[Sovera]

The intent seems good though and I commend the effort of wishing to help fellow players, but all that could be said about it has been by now. Don't be discouraged though, you now know a little bit more about the game and your future advice will only improve from it.

 

Check my newbie guide in my signature for money making tips and other.

[Frostbiter]

Don't be afraid of the Auction House. It doesn't bite that often. You can get by leveling with just selling your recipe and salvage drops. Get a recipe, just open the AH and drop it into the sell slot. Hit Find and it'll tell you what the last few sales have been. If it looks like more than the vendor price then list it. Once you get to level 23 you can make regular lvl 25 Invention Enhancements that are comparable to SOs and don't expire.

[Sovera]

16 minutes ago, temnix said:

Well, there are other ways to raise money, as the others here have said. And if you want to go to auctions, that's a possibility. *I* wouldn't want to go near them for the reason that any in-game economics are such a horrible boring waste of time that no person mindful of the real world will want to touch them. My advice is not for min-maxers or nerds of any sort. It is for people who want to play the game without being dragged down by the unavailability of the things necessary to play it with enjoyment. You get those points, you spend them on SO, you never think twice about money. And you will still little by little accumulate enough to buy little toys like a flying disc or an extra Prestige power, down the line. Everything else that matters is either in your Archetype or in your power of imagination.

 

What are the available items in the game? Icons. Completely abstract abilities that don't usually even have a sound associated with them. Converters, whatever. You want to waste your life learning this great science? Read a book instead. However, I want to add a caveat to my post. SO are not available for Merit Reward points early on. I don't know when they become available, but not at level 10. Archetype Enhancements are there, but not SO. Perhaps they need to be unlocked somehow, but I don't think I have done anything special to make them available to me at (under) level 30.

 

 

Don't double down, please, it looks worse when your first comment was an honest mistake but now it looks like mulish stubbornness. One Merit is worth around 200k. One early SO is worth around 5-10k, and it's as complicated as using one of the ATMs in the game and then typing /ah and tossing the Converters into the auction house.

[KMadeleine]

1 hour ago, Sovera said:

Check my newbie guide in my signature for money making tips and other.

I’m not trying to be obnoxious, but I honestly don’t see a signature on your post.  I checked your profile and didn’t see one there, either.  What am I missing?

[Sovera]

2 minutes ago, KMadeleine said:

I’m not trying to be obnoxious, but I honestly don’t see a signature on your post.  I checked your profile and didn’t see one there, either.  What am I missing?

 

You're not being obnoxious in the slightest. What you must be doing is reading the forums over the phone. It is a common complaint that signatures do not show on phones:

 

 

Here is the thing:

 

[flyingpcp]

If enhancements don't matter then why waste time buying them at all? You can certainly level to 50 without them. You wrote a hell of a lot of words about how to acquire something so utterly unimportant 

[KMadeleine]

3 minutes ago, Sovera said:

 

You're not being obnoxious in the slightest. What you must be doing is reading the forums over the phone. It is a common complaint that signatures do not show on phones:

Yes, I’m on an iPad!  Thank you so much for sending me where I need to go 😃

[Yomo Kimyata]

Are you kidding me?  Why waste a single merit on an SO when you can buy a large inspiration for the same price?

 

Edited April 1 by Yomo Kimyata

[MonteCarla]

2 hours ago, temnix said:

Well, there are other ways to raise money, as the others here have said. And if you want to go to auctions, that's a possibility. *I* wouldn't want to go near them for the reason that any in-game economics are such a horrible boring waste of time that no person mindful of the real world will want to touch them. My advice is not for min-maxers or nerds of any sort. It is for people who want to play the game without being dragged down by the unavailability of the things necessary to play it with enjoyment. You get those points, you spend them on SO, you never think twice about money. And you will still little by little accumulate enough to buy little toys like a flying disc or an extra Prestige power, down the line. Everything else that matters is either in your Archetype or in your power of imagination.

 

What are the available items in the game? Icons. Completely abstract abilities that don't usually even have a sound associated with them. Converters, whatever. You want to waste your life learning this great science? Read a book instead. However, I want to add a caveat to my post. SO are not available for Merit Reward points early on. I don't know when they become available, but not at level 10. Archetype Enhancements are there, but not SO. Perhaps they need to be unlocked somehow, but I don't think I have done anything special to make them available to me at (under) level 30.

 

SO's were traditionally only available at level 25, so 22 became a big watershed level when you could start slotting SOs. The Homecoming team only changed that recently to make them available from vendors at all levels. I guess they didn't update the merit vendors.

[PeregrineFalcon]

2 hours ago, temnix said:

Well, there are other ways to raise money, as the others here have said. And if you want to go to auctions, that's a possibility. *I* wouldn't want to go near them for the reason that any in-game economics are such a horrible boring waste of time that no person mindful of the real world will want to touch them.

You have a problem that you are complaining about, people have explained to you how to fix the problem.

 

The auction house is a part of the game. You don't have to like it. You don't have to play it. And the developers don't have to give you an additional way to buy your SOs or IOs simply because you refuse to use an option that's already in the game.

[lemming]

9 minutes ago, MonteCarla said:

SO's were traditionally only available at level 25, so 22 became a big watershed level when you could start slotting SOs. The Homecoming team only changed that recently to make them available from vendors at all levels. I guess they didn't update the merit vendors.

I'd argue that a lot of the ways to get SOs should be stripped out.    Finish a SSA?   20 reward merits or a single SO!   A lot of the reward tables need some work to bring them back up to current equitable rewards.  (I could argue for a IO of that level maybe?)

[Apogee]

I thought the OP quit the game last month to spend more time doing things that matter?

[Scarlet Shocker]

Tries to read wall of text early in morning.

 

Skims it.

 

Looks at date

 

[UltraAlt]

18 hours ago, temnix said:

For a long time, playing, I have run into a problem that my characters never have money to fill their slots with Single-Origin Enhancements.

 

If you run DFB, it drops SOs at your level.

I would hate to say grind for them, but that is one method.

 

Also, go and hunt around on the /AH. Sometimes you can find really good deals on SOs.

Why would I say that? I put all the SO's that I don't use on the market for 1 inf and, honestly, I /ah most of the ones that drop my characters. If I can't slot it, I put in on the /AH. Sometimes, I even buy some and put them on the market.

 

[MoonSheep]

16 hours ago, Sovera said:

The intent seems good though and I commend the effort of wishing to help fellow players, but all that could be said about it has been by now. Don't be discouraged though, you now know a little bit more about the game and your future advice will only improve from it.

 

Check my newbie guide in my signature for money making tips and other.

 

you’re too kind and a better person than me

 

here’s my advice to OP: pressing ALT + F4 in game gives you 1 billion influence. if it doesn’t work first time, just keep trying!

[Apogee]

1 hour ago, MoonSheep said:

 

you’re too kind and a better person than me

 

here’s my advice to OP: pressing ALT + F4 in game gives you 1 billion influence. if it doesn’t work first time, just keep trying!

 

Hey, this appears to be bugged.  I tried it multiple times and all I got was...

[Snakebit]

22 hours ago, temnix said:

Well, there are other ways to raise money, as the others here have said. And if you want to go to auctions, that's a possibility. *I* wouldn't want to go near them for the reason that any in-game economics are such a horrible boring waste of time that no person mindful of the real world will want to touch them. My advice is not for min-maxers or nerds of any sort. It is for people who want to play the game without being dragged down by the unavailability of the things necessary to play it with enjoyment. You get those points, you spend them on SO, you never think twice about money. And you will still little by little accumulate enough to buy little toys like a flying disc or an extra Prestige power, down the line. Everything else that matters is either in your Archetype or in your power of imagination.

 

What are the available items in the game? Icons. Completely abstract abilities that don't usually even have a sound associated with them. Converters, whatever. You want to waste your life learning this great science? Read a book instead. However, I want to add a caveat to my post. SO are not available for Merit Reward points early on. I don't know when they become available, but not at level 10. Archetype Enhancements are there, but not SO. Perhaps they need to be unlocked somehow, but I don't think I have done anything special to make them available to me at (under) level 30.

 

To anyone new that is confused by the thread or the post.

 

This is bad advice. 

 

Here's why:

 

 

Quote

*I* wouldn't want to go near them for the reason that any in-game economics are such a horrible boring waste of time that no person mindful of the real world will want to touch them

 

It took me less than an hour to buy all the recipes, salvage, craft, and slot a fresh respec at level 50 to go from IOs to set IOs.  I built a toon that would require spending about 150m for all the enhancements.  When I started crafting, I had 150m inf. When I finished slotting the toon, I had about 45m. I spent about 120 converters which are 60k each if you go with "buy now" prices instead of waiting on lower bids. But I didn't spend any inf on them, I spent merits. 1 merit = 3 converters. Merits are in unlimited supply, you just have to play the game to get them. So my 150m inf build only cost me about an hour of time in the AH/crafting bench and about 50m inf and about 50 merits. If I had gone with the OPs suggestion, I would have had to spend over 1000 merits. (roughly)

 

Quote

It is for people who want to play the game without being dragged down by the unavailability of the things necessary to play it with enjoyment.

 

This is objectively false. All salvage is unlimited. With converters, there is no limitation on what you can craft. You can get ITOs in unlimited quanty, just buy Hero Packs at 10m each, convert what you get in the pack. 

 

Purple recipes and enhancers can be purchased at will. 

 

Quote

You get those points, you spend them on SO, you never think twice about money.

 

This is terrible advice. If you buy an SO with merits, you will out-level that SO in a few hours, meaning you will either need more merits or you will have to spend inf to buy a new one and combine. You will have to do this every 5 levels.  If you avoid SO's and craft a set of IOs at level 22, THEN you can forget about enhancements until you are ready for an expensive build. Which will be easy to buy, because every merit is worth about 150k. 

 

Quote

You want to waste your life learning this great science? Read a book instead.

 

This is just sad. 

 

Spend 20 minutes reading the guide in the guide section, 30 minutes figuring out the workflow, you have invested 1 hour of time into saving yourself literally dozens of hours of grinding merits and inf. 
 

Quote

but I don't think I have done anything special

 

 

The only objectively true statement in this post.