Enhancements and IOs

[Ultimo]

So... I was looking at one of my characters today, he's outleveled all his SOs once again, and hasn't enough Influence to be able to replace them.  So, I thought, he's L30 now, perhaps I can upgrade them to IOs, and not have to worry about all this nonsense.

 

I started looking at the IO recipes, just the generic ones, and they're on the order of 45k, just for the recipe.  THEN there's the cost to MAKE them, AND the cost of the salvage... they're ridiculously expensive, there's no way I'd be able to get them made.  When I asked how people are getting the billions of Influence I keep hearing about, I was told to play the market, selling this or that or what have you... which left me feeling rather depressed.  First of all, I have nothing of particular value to sell.  Secondly, and more importantly, I'm playing a game to be a super hero, not a day trader.  I really don't have any inclination to fiddle around with the market every day.  I HAVE a job, I don't need another one.  I just want to zap the bad guys.

 

Is all this really necessary?

[Major_Decoy]

What I like to do is I have a bunch of low level attuned set enhancements and once I get to level 22 or 30 or so (depending on the character) I respec and take those low level enhancements and e-mail them to myself to use them on the next character that hits level 10. It's really convenient, they level up with me so I don't need to worry about keeping my enhancements up to date if I level 5 times on a task force.

[Psyonico]

If you think 45k is a lot of influence, I’m going to tell you how to make all the inf you could ever desire without spending more than 1% of your time on the market… probably less than that.

 

Ready?

 

Play your 50s.

 

It’s that simple.  If you don’t waste time between missions at level 50 you’ll make 1.5-2 million inf in an hour before drops.

 

Now for how to make that even more:

 

sell everything to vendors except rare salvage (the orange stuff). Level 50 common IOs will sell to a vendor for ~100k depending on what type it is.  Now, take whatever orange salvage you have and drop it on the /ah, list it for at least 400k each, I tend to list it for 450k, don’t bother listing for much more than 500k because it will take longer to sell.

 

In the event you get a Very Rare (purple) or PvP recipe, this takes slightly more effort.  These recipes can’t be sold to vendors, they have to be sold on the /ah, but good news: a purple or pvp recipe is worth multiple million inf.  Drop it on the /ah and list it for somewhere in the ballpark of where the history shows.

 

That’s it.  It’s that simple.  In 2 hours you will have between 3 and 4 million inf just from kills, plus at least another 1-2 million from recipes and non-rare salvage plus whatever you get from rare salvage and the occasional purple/pvp recipe.  And you’ll spend less time on the /AH than you will spend at a regular vendor.  

From there, you can email your global inf from one character and pick it up on another.

[Psyonico]

Oh, one more piece of advice, if you’re not specifically looking to get the badges, just buy pre-crafted common IOs from the /ah, you’ll save time and inf.

[Maelwys]

Question: Have any of your toons got Merits or Prismatic Aethers in their salvage tab? 

For Merits; visit a Merit Vendor (they're all over: including a machine to the left right inside Atlas Park City Hall; at the main door of portal Corp; opposite the Train station in Talos, etc) and exchange them for Enhancement Boosters or Enhancement Convertors. Then type "/ah".
For Prismatic Aethers; there's no need to exchange them (unless you really want a vanity costume). Just type "/ah".
Now sell 'em all; and swim around in your newfound fortune like Scrooge McDuck.


Whilst yes, of course you can play the market or run around doing various content at level 50; there are a lot of ways to gain inf. It's rather difficult to avoid earning Merits whilst levelling up new characters; since they are a guaranteed reward for completing story arcs... and if you want to farm them solo? The Freaklympics arc is very efficient and easy to repeatedly rerun via the Ouroboros Flashback system at level 30+. Prismatic Aethers have a chance to drop from any regular mission; and rare invention salvage can drop at level 4+ and is very sellable too.

 

Edited yesterday at 06:49 AM by Maelwys

[lemming]

1 hour ago, Psyonico said:

Oh, one more piece of advice, if you’re not specifically looking to get the badges, just buy pre-crafted common IOs from the /ah, you’ll save time and inf.

Yep, they all sell for less than it takes to make them.

 

The other advice is true, play your 50s, you'll make influence.

 

I tend to slot lvl 35 IOs when available and slip in invention sets when I can.

[Ultimo]

Well, I don't HAVE any L50s.  My highest level character is 41, but most are around L22.

 

That said, pretty well all the stuff I have on my characters is worth almost nothing on the AH.  I had one recipe worth around 300k, but I decided to actually USE that (Performance Shifter).

 

I've got merits on all my characters, but I'm not sure how many.  I was also under the impression that those, and the aethers, are extremely important, so I was trying to save them for when they're needed.  Are you saying I should just sell all that stuff off?  What are they used for?

[Yomo Kimyata]

24 minutes ago, Ultimo said:

Well, I don't HAVE any L50s.  My highest level character is 41, but most are around L22.

 

By 41, I would think that your highest character should be throwing off more inf than you need, even keeping up with SOs every few levels.  As it levels that will increase more and retailing salvage and SO drops and common IO recipes will generate a fair amount of inf.  Then you can either email that to your alts or set up a common SG or whatever and pass on the goodness to your lowbies.

 

It is not difficult to use the /AH to make and sell things (psst, converters!) but if you don't want to, that's cool.  But it's a lot easier.

[Psyonico]

Aethers are purely cosmetic, they are used to purchase various costume powers:

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Prismatic_Aether_Salvage

 

last I checked they sell for ~1.2 million each.

 

merits are best used as a source of income, IMO.  They can be used to buy things at merit vendors, but the best use for them is to buy the following and then sell these on the AH (this is in no particular order)

 

1. Enhancement Converters.  You get 3 per merit and each converter sells for 50-70k
2. Enhancement unslotters. You get 2 per merit and each sells for 90-100k
3. Enhancement Boosters.  You get 1 for 5 merits, each sells for 700k-1 million
4. Winter IOs.  These each cost 100 merits, but will sell for 20-22 million.

 

 

 

[Biff Pow]

When you start in a new zone, zip around and get exploration badges. If you don't know where they are, defeat some enemies until they drop a tip. Each zone gets you 5 Reward Merits, which you can use to buy 10 Enhancement Unslotters. Sell those in Auction House and you'll make 600 thousand-plus every few levels.

[Snarky]

45 minutes ago, Ultimo said:

Well, I don't HAVE any L50s.  My highest level character is 41, but most are around L22.

 

That said, pretty well all the stuff I have on my characters is worth almost nothing on the AH.  I had one recipe worth around 300k, but I decided to actually USE that (Performance Shifter).

 

I've got merits on all my characters, but I'm not sure how many.  I was also under the impression that those, and the aethers, are extremely important, so I was trying to save them for when they're needed.  Are you saying I should just sell all that stuff off?  What are they used for?

listen carefully to everything Yomo says.  he makes literal tons of inf in game

[VertigoIguana]

52 minutes ago, Ultimo said:

Well, I don't HAVE any L50s.  My highest level character is 41, but most are around L22.

 

That said, pretty well all the stuff I have on my characters is worth almost nothing on the AH.  I had one recipe worth around 300k, but I decided to actually USE that (Performance Shifter).

 

I've got merits on all my characters, but I'm not sure how many.  I was also under the impression that those, and the aethers, are extremely important, so I was trying to save them for when they're needed.  Are you saying I should just sell all that stuff off?  What are they used for?

 

Aethers are for cosmetic items only, feel free to sell unless there's something specific you are saving up for....but you can always earn more (and earnt hem faster at 50).

 

As for the merits.....they are also plentiful, and fully a renewable resource.  You want to save them for when they are needed. - well it sounds like you need them now to have some starting cash.

[Erratic1]

4 hours ago, Ultimo said:

I started looking at the IO recipes, just the generic ones, and they're on the order of 45k, just for the recipe.  THEN there's the cost to MAKE them, AND the cost of the salvage... they're ridiculously expensive, there's no way I'd be able to get them made.

 

The cost to make level 25 and 30 crafted IOs is in the 20-25Kish range. Any crafted you slot should not be removed until you are slotting set enhancements. And once slotted, you are not needing to upgrade, so what you would have spent upgrading enhancements does not get spent. That adds up.

 

1 hour ago, Ultimo said:

Well, I don't HAVE any L50s.  My highest level character is 41, but most are around L22.

 

I typically gift my starting characters with 1 million influence from a higher level character and then they are on their own. My most recent Sentinel is at level 42 and has 13 million influence. So take it he has made at least 12 million (though in reality it is higher since he had to pay for his crafted IOs at some point). A 40 makes plenty of influence for funding lower level characters.

 

If you have a guild, you can even use your respec to recover those crafted IOs, stick them in a storage bench, and recycle them to other characters, really keeping your costs down. (Well, you could mail them to yourself too, but that is a headache since you have to mail them one at a time.)

 

 

Edited yesterday at 01:15 AM by Erratic1

[Erratic1]

38 minutes ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

It is not difficult to use the /AH to make and sell things (psst, converters!) but if you don't want to, that's cool.  But it's a lot easier.

 

Heck, be lazy and just sell excess recipe drops. It adds up even unimportant ones.

 

And sell all those regular enhancements too.

[BjorJlen]

1 hour ago, Ultimo said:

Well, I don't HAVE any L50s.  My highest level character is 41, but most are around L22.

 

That said, pretty well all the stuff I have on my characters is worth almost nothing on the AH.  I had one recipe worth around 300k, but I decided to actually USE that (Performance Shifter).

 

I've got merits on all my characters, but I'm not sure how many.  I was also under the impression that those, and the aethers, are extremely important, so I was trying to save them for when they're needed.  Are you saying I should just sell all that stuff off?  What are they used for?

 

   You have a lvl 41 character... excellent, time to make some good money every day for yourself. First, go to the Rikti War Zone and do the FIRST mission available to you (if you haven't been there before), which tells you to kill 10 Rikti. Then come back to the contact, and visit a few other contacts in the base. Vola... you have now acquired the Vanguard Badge by joining Vanguard. Then, just join on any and all MotherShip Raids that form every day, kick butt, and have a great time.

 

   Once that is over, you will have earned not only several Merits, Salvage and lvl 50 Recipes (you can sell), but also something called Vanguard Metrits. These VMerits can then be converted into actual Merits, and sold as well. Then second, join a Labyrinth run, which generally happens at least once a day, and sell everything you get from it. When it is all said and done, in one day you will have gained enough money to set up several characters the way you like. Just make sure you sell your stuff the way the others above have suggested. Problem solved...
 

Happy trails... T

[Ultimo]

Hm.  Well.

I replaced all the endurance reduction enhancements on one of my characters with IOs (L35).  Seems they provide a 34% boost to the power.  That's fine, but the SOs provide a 33% boost.  I'm not seeing much benefit to the IO there... especially when I see that higher level SOs are MORE EFFECTIVE.  The SOs on my L41 character provide about 36%.  Now, that's only 2%, but it means higher level SOs are still superior to the IOs, meaning the IOs will have to be replaced anyway.

So why am I spending all the time and influence on IOs I'm going to have to replace?

[Erratic1]

21 minutes ago, Ultimo said:

I replaced all the endurance reduction enhancements on one of my characters with IOs (L35).  Seems they provide a 34% boost to the power.  That's fine, but the SOs provide a 33% boost.  I'm not seeing much benefit to the IO there... especially when I see that higher level SOs are MORE EFFECTIVE.

 

IOs NEVER STOP WORKING. YOU DO NOT OUTLEVEL THEM.

 

That is the benefit. You stop wasting influence to upgrade them. 

 

As for the level of the IOs, a level 25 Accuracy gives you 32.0% whereas a level 35% give you But the 35 costs you 46,050 influence to craft versus 17,400 influence for the 25.

 

I almost never craft anything over 30 while levelling, mostly live with 25s. There is no reason to waste the influence for the partial gain...unless you want to.

Edited yesterday at 04:56 AM by Erratic1

[MonteCarla]

Early on in Homecoming I was having similar problems with affording basic gear, and met a very nice player who explained to me how to never want for money for SOs and IOs again.

 

1. Earn merits.

2. Buy Enhancement Converters

3. List them for 1 inf each and they'll sell for 50,000+

 

This makes 5 merits worth about 750,000 inf, at least.

 

To earn merits:

1. Do story arcs. Croatoa, Faultline, Striga or the Hollows net you between 50-100 each. Older story arcs through contacts can be a bit tricky to get, but often pay out well. Or Ouroborus them. Freakalympics (level 25) is a good one for 57 merits.

2. Do Hero Tips. 10 missions + 1 alignment mission get you 40 merits

3. Join Giant Monster teams. Adamastor gives 10, Lusca 22 these days, and normal ones give 6. A group patrolling the city will easily get 50 merits 

4. Do Task Forces, especialyy the weekly, which gives double merits

5. Get all the exploration badges in a zone for 5. Page like this on the wiki have little Copy tags next to each badge. Paste them into chat to get a thumbtack for the badge.
https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Atlas_Park#Exploration_Badges

This will keep you comfortably off while devoting your time to fighting crime.

[MoonSheep]

7 minutes ago, MonteCarla said:

Early on in Homecoming I was having similar problems with affording basic gear, and met a very nice player who explained to me how to never want for money for SOs and IOs again.

 

1. Earn merits.

2. Buy Enhancement Converters

3. List them for 1 inf each and they'll sell for 50,000+

 

This makes 5 merits worth about 750,000 inf, at least.

 

To earn merits:

1. Do story arcs. Croatoa, Faultline, Striga or the Hollows net you between 50-100 each. Older story arcs through contacts can be a bit tricky to get, but often pay out well. Or Ouroborus them. Freakalympics (level 25) is a good one for 57 merits.

2. Do Hero Tips. 10 missions + 1 alignment mission get you 40 merits

3. Join Giant Monster teams. Adamastor gives 10, Lusca 22 these days, and normal ones give 6. A group patrolling the city will easily get 50 merits 

4. Do Task Forces, especialyy the weekly, which gives double merits

5. Get all the exploration badges in a zone for 5. Page like this on the wiki have little Copy tags next to each badge. Paste them into chat to get a thumbtack for the badge.
https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Atlas_Park#Exploration_Badges

This will keep you comfortably off while devoting your time to fighting crime.

 

yeah, even just completing 2-3 taskforces a week and using the merits to buy an LoTG +rech or similar will give you 5m inf a week and that’s a less efficient method than the converter strategy you’ve described

[Ghost]

9 hours ago, Ultimo said:

Well, I don't HAVE any L50s.  My highest level character is 41, but most are around L22.

 

 

41 is high enough to get on an ITF (KM 4x8) - that’s roughly 10mill influence each run.  Not counting any drops you pick up along the way.

Run it a couple times a week and you’ll have enough to buy what you need.

Thats how I originally started funding my toons.

 

Edited yesterday at 10:13 AM by Ghost

[Snarky]

30 minutes ago, Ghost said:

41 is high enough to get on an ITF (KM 4x8) - that’s roughly 10mill influence each run.  Not counting any drops you pick up along the way.

Run it a couple times a week and you’ll have enough to buy what you need.

Thats how I originally started funding my toons.

 

41 is their highest. And they are not on that toon. The lack of funds is a symptom of altitis.  Which is NOT cured by saying “stay on one toon” 😃

 

Using merits to get things to sell on the market, and selling Prismatics are a great way to fund endless alts.  Do Task Forces, or if solo complete full story arcs to vet merits.  Also, badging entire zones get merits.  Monster hunts. Ada is up once an hour in Ouro Echo Dark Astoria and is free money

[GM Crumpet]

Sadly if you aren't doing at least the bare minimum in the auction house you are missing out on a lot of inf. Any orange salvage post for 10 inf and you'll get a lot more than selling at a vendor. Recipes are a bit harder, but I stand next to a vendor with the vendor screen open and then type /ah to open the auction house screen. Then drag the recipe in and see if it's selling for less or more than the vendor and if it's more list it for 10 inf. Otherwise sell it at the vendor. It takes minutes, you aren't spending half your game time playing auction roulette.

 

I also buy most of my IO's ready made. A lot of the lower level ones are dumped for low prices by badge hunters making them for the crafting badges. 

[High_Beam]

I am not a market trader.  I would likely be considered the kind of market user those who make giant sums on depend upon.  I have never won a costume contest, and the influence donations I have received are small numbers.  I started on Homecoming in January 2020.  I don't Farm and don't PL.

 

I have just shy of a billion influence.  And that is after the fact that every character I have created that is above level 27 is fully kitted out with IO Sets.

 

I know I am not doing it optimally but my process is simple.  First is that I sell all purples.  Period.  I am not that OCD min-maxy so the Ragnadoodles and other are immediately put up on the market and I put them up for 5 influence.  I have never tried to play the guess what the going rate is.  All purples sell.  I have builds planned (via mids) and yes I have a spreadsheet so I know what recipes each toon, even the lowbies, will need in time.  That recipe or one in the same family drops, I keep and mail it to my badger and crafter.  This is doubly true with the more expensive special ones (LotG, Panacea, Gladiator's Armor, etc).  I keep all Enhancement Converters (again mailed to crafter) both types.  Then as leveling falls in range I craft that enhancement.  I do play recipe roulette but not for sale, rather for slotting (again those expensives ones).  The end result is that the majority of the crafted (and attuned) enhancements I am buying I am getting smaller cost.

 

Early on I sold all orange salvage, getting 400-500K per sell adds up when you play.  Later as I had a nest egg I adopted a policy of saving Orange Salvage until I had 5 of each in the bins (for the aforementioned crafting).  From there I sell them all except ones I know I use all the time (Deific Weapon, Mu Vestment).  I use the orange converters to attune stuff I craft.  I sell most medium inspirations for 5 inf, again I don't even pay attention to what it is making because.

 

Others in this post have given good advice, they are likely better at market.  The tip about comparing orange recipe sale value on market compared to vendor is excellent once you are badges up (if you are a Badge Hunter).  I do that, same goes is there are zero bidders for a recipe at the time I am unloading.  To some, the market is a mini game and good on them.  It isnt to me, its just where I shop yet I dont struggle to equip my characters, with whatever, nor am I unable to be charitable.

 

I am the Middle Class of CoH.  Thankfully, the obscenely rich in this game are also obscenely charitable.  It is something that desperately needs emulation in RL.

[Clave Dark 5]

That 41 level character is ready to play the Market Crash TF - ru8n that, instant purple, even the cheap ones go for like 15million.  Most teams you get on you can even coast and let others do the big work, if you're underslotted or something.

[Ghost]

1 hour ago, Snarky said:

41 is their highest. And they are not on that toon. The lack of funds is a symptom of altitis.  Which is NOT cured by saying “stay on one toon” 😃

 

 

OP is gonna have to do something different, if he/she wants a different outcome.

 

Spending 2 hours a week on the level 41 is one solution.

Running one TF after another and selling the merits is another.

Creating another alt is not.