Enhancement conversion

[Ukase]

There was a time on retail when purples sold for close to 300M in some cases. The PvP IO uniques would literally sell for 2B, and a lot of trust was extended in trading the inf for the IO. 

Now, on HC we don't have these problems, thankfully. That is, in part, due to the inexpensive way of acquiring enhancement converters. 
Right now, D-Syncs, HOs, Titan-Os, Hydra-Os - those are all pooled in the same category, and are not an option for using converters. 

Right now, I'll tip my hand and say I'd like to get my hands on about 20 Acc/Dam HO/D-sync (whatever form they come in, all in the same pool, doesn't matter) and another 20 acc/threat/rec. 
There's not even 20 of those on the AH, even if I were okay with spending the inf cap on each one - which I'm not. I've got my lowball bids in, and if they go through, great. If not, I'll wait. 


The bad news is, I've got maybe 100 of these not-so-good HO/D-syncs in my base. I'm just waiting to find a reason to use them, where the reason for their use is greater than the set bonus it'll cost me to use them. I've even thought about making "Hami-Man" who's level 50 build consists entirely of HOs. Try it on mids. A great way to spend an hour with nothing spectacular, numbers wise. And even then, you're still gonna want some Cytos or d-sync equivalent thrown in. 

The folks that like to run the advanced mode stuff - they're smart. When they get those drops, I suspect they're keeping the good ones for their alts. Or, selling them at a point where even an inf-rich player like myself says, "Um...no. It's not THAT important to me". 

When supply is low, demand results in higher prices. I get it. We all get it. So, what happens if we were able to use converters on HO/D-Sync, etc. ? 

That acc/mez isn't so terrible. It might cost you 100 converters, but you might very well get that HO you want. 

Now - if this change were to be made - would advanced mode play decrease? Maybe. Not by a lot, I don't think. Still plenty of other rewards in play there, and I think most of those players are in it for the fun more than the rewards. I could certainly be wrong about that. 

Is it worth lobbying for this change? Some of you don't even play to 50, so you don't care. But for those that do, how would it feel to finally get the Acc/threat/rec and suddenly see it's only worth 100M instead of 500M-1B? Or folks like me that have already spent over 2B in those enhancements? 

The "game/HC" likes it because it removes 10% of the inf from the economy right away. Not to mention what gets removed by the seller when they use that inf to buy something they want. I don't really know how deep that initial sink goes, but it's just a drop in the bucket when you think of how much inf comes into the economy every day. 

So, is this worth asking for? Will it ruin someone's life or experience by taking the one part of the game that's not fungible in the way that other enhancements are, and making them convertible via enhancement converters? 

How many converters should it cost? 5? 10? 30? 100? 

I don't think it will ever happen. But I wish it would. I've a use for them, but the A/T/Rs are just not on the market. 

 

[tidge]

3 minutes ago, Ukase said:

So, is this worth asking for? Will it ruin someone's life or experience by taking the one part of the game that's not fungible in the way that other enhancements are, and making them convertible via enhancement converters? 

 

It is worth asking, unfortunately there appears to be a coding limitation that makes them unavailable for converter roulette (similar to how common IOs cannot be converted).

 

I have no idea if that same limitation prevents them from being treated as fungible on the market. Common IOs are not fungible by either level or type. If the HO/DS were completely fungible, there would be some amount of market chaos, but it certainly would smooth out the value of the rando drops.

 

11 minutes ago, Ukase said:

Right now, I'll tip my hand and say I'd like to get my hands on about 20 Acc/Dam HO/D-sync (whatever form they come in, all in the same pool, doesn't matter) and another 20 acc/threat/rec. 

 

There is a sort of double (or triple) whammy on Threat/Accuracy/Recharge... There are a LOT of non-threat powers that take both Accuracy and Recharge enhancements, but there are relatively few (in some powers) or no IO sets that can be slotted in such powers that have Accuracy/Recharge pieces... so there is not even a 50+5 option. On the threat side of things... the devs seem to have forgotten to provide options for more Accuracy... with only two set pieces (from different sets) that include Accuracy at all.... it is as if they forgot that there are powers that are not auto-hit as well as having forgotten about things like the aggro cap. The real miss in the Threat set realm is IMO the total lack of an Endurance reduction option.