FallenHero

Welcome to the game (and the forums).

There are some great guides on how to make money in this game and they can be found in the Market & Inventions subforums. One that I have found to be particularly outstanding is by Organica: Zero to Awesome Redeux! 31 Day Project.

The beauty of using the Auction House/Black Market is that you can net large amounts of "cash" in relatively small amounts of game time. The only difficult part is overcoming the initial learning curve. The only requirement is that you need access to IOs and the Auction House/Black Market.

Being a VIP will help *a lot* because it will give you more opportunities to generate "phat lewt".

Good luck.

Phil "Synapse" Zeleski breifly talked about this topic during the discussion about the upcoming changes to Ranged Blast Power Sets: City of Heroes Freedom Community Coffee Talk 7/11/2012 (around minute 39).

I reactivated my account on January 25th with a 60 day game card. I received my reward token on the 23rd of February (if I am reading my chicken scratch correctly). I didn't note when I received my points.

This thread discusses the black magic involved with getting your Points and Tokens. It is pretty massive, I would recommend skipping to the end if you decide to read it.

Don't be too concerned about your VIP rewards (not yet anyways), the process isn't very straightforward.

Welcome back.

I made the mistake of "unlocking" my Kinetic Melee stalker a month or so ago when i dropped to premium. It would be nice if the game prevented you from using a slot on a character that is locked. But I understand that they don't make money off of folks like me, so they don't have any real motivation to change how it works. If I want to get that slot back I'll need to resubscribe or purchase the set.

I would love it if my Electrical Melee Stalker (who is a hero) could select an electricity based EPP.

Check out some of these posts when you have time.

The Lazy Marketeer's Journal was posted over a year ago in the Market section of the boards. The prices listed in the post will be different that what you see on the live servers in most cases (mainly due to things like Enhancement Converters). I found it to be an interesting read and I think it could be useful to folks who are new to "marketeering". No discussion of hardcore farming IIRC...just running missions, buying recipes, buying salvage, crafting and selling.

A Market Journal: From 0 to Millions was posted in 2010. Again, prices will be different but the general stratagies listed will remain the same. The poster incorporated some farming along with missions and TFs. She also restriced her experiment to 7 days.

Zero to Awesome (30 day project) was posted in 2011.
Going from 1 to 50 in 30 days is somewhat hardcore to someone like me. And if you enjoy doing the PvE content then you won't want to hit 50 so quickly. But, I think Organica's post makes a good read because it shows some tricks you can use at low levels to make money.

I am a very very very lazy marketeer. Actually, I'm really not a marketeer at all. I never craft anything to sell (for the most part). Any drops I do get I list on the market for 1 influence. If it doesn't sell immediately on the market then I sell it at a vendor. I do the same thing with bronze recipe rolls. I think I could make a ridiculous amount of money if I put some effort into crafting and selling items. But just playing the game at level 50 and running a ticket farm (with my below average "farmer") yields so much profit.

I think you should jump into IOs. The game is more fun to play when you use IOs in my opinion. Even before CoH: Freedom was released and I was unsubscribed to the game, I would spend hours messing around in MIDS, trying different builds. So my vote is: Go for it!

Read through the links I provided. Also, check out the Market section of the forums (specifically the guide sticky). Generating influence/infamy in this game is really easy. Your 300 million will turn into +2 Billion in no time at all.

My fault...I was never aware of that feature.

Thank you for adding this IO to the game.

Please consider adding other methods of converting knockback to knockdown on low level characters.

Again, I agree with you that bad attitudes is a reason some folks avoid PvP.

It isn't the only reason.

You are ignoring common complaints like: Powers working differently, being defeated before you can react, Arena simply not working, steep learning curve, no real rewards.

The developers of this game create content (sometimes they allow us create content). If the content isn't fun or doesn't work then most folks are going to avoid it. Anyone who has played this game for a significant amount of time can list missions, TFs, or powersets that they have avoided because of broken or stupid mechanics. PvP in CoX failed, in part, because the content sucked.

To state that PvP in Cox failed *only* because a vocal minority of people were mean is to imply that folks would have had no problem putting up with stupid/broken PvP mechanics. Again, random crashes, steep learning curve, powers working differently, being defeated before you can react, exploits/bugs (and the speed at which they were addressed), no rewards....

I don't want to muck up the OP's thread anymore than I already have. Feel free to PM me man if you want to discuss this further.

Then I'll take you at your word.

I don't think folks have ever come to this game exclusively for PvP. Of course, I have no proof of that (I might be wrong). But if folks do come to CoX for PvP then I agree with you that they would be better off looking elsewhere. I came to this game because I saw it on X-Play and thought making my own superhero would be cool.

My introduction to PvP when something like this:
1) While in Warburg, I broadcasted "Scrapper Looking For Team".
2) I received a team invite.
3) I hopped over to my "team's" position.
4) When I arrived, the team leader kicked me and the team proceeded to attack me.
5) As my cold defeated scrapper laid lifeless on the pavement, I sat behind my keyboard steaming...with the rage of 1000 suns.
6) One of my ex-teammates then broadcasts "Anyone else looking for a team?".
7) needlessToSayIWasntHappy.png

Despite that introduction and despite all of the lipservice given by all of the community reps over the years and despite the sporadic dev support, I grew to love zone PvP. I was never good enough for Arena leagues. But with zone PvP I could show up with my crappy builds and for the most part still have fun. By Issue 11, most of my time in this game was spent in Siren's Call on Freedom. I haven't zone PvP'ed since returning to the game. The few times I did stick my head in Sirens Call on Freedom it was empty.

The Devs are never going to "fix" PvP. There are several issues with PvP in MMOs and those issues have been covered over and over and over in other threads.

And PvP is never going to be fun and viable for all. Some folks...just don't like PvP.

And to address the "Doing nothing with it, and letting it fester": The Devs are still fixing bugs in PvP...I wish they would fix that Travel Suppression "bug".

So while I don't agree with your two options, I still think your ideas to add new content are good. I just don't think implementing those ideas require that we defecate on the few remaining zone PvP'ers.

[Citation Needed]

Did anti-social jerks in PvP zones drive away newbies? Absolutely. But why would you focus on that one issue and *completely* ignore all of the other issues (past and present).


How long did it take to fix the random arena crash?
How long did it take to fix the "zombie" pvp event listings in the Arena GUI?
How long did it take to patch the geometry holes in Siren's Call (and in Arena)?
How long did it take to add meaningful rewards to PvP?
...TK exploit?
...No grantable +perception powers for villains in Siren's Call.
Powers don't work the same as they do in PvE.
Being perma KB'd or perma caged.
...etc.


Some of the things I listed were fixed and some of them exist today. My point is that broken mechanics suck just as bad as some homophobic *** in a PvP Zone. At least with the *** you can turn off the opposing faction chat. Or do what you do in PvE, only play with folks you know or hit the ignore button.

The truth of the matter is that there were, and still are, many things wrong with PvP. Idiots (one of the problems) can be dealt with easily by newbie players. Players can't do anything about broken and/or stupid mechanics. When you say "verbally abusive PvPers drove away more PvP curious PvEers than broken PvP mechanics ever did", you're either being disingenuous or you honestly don't understand how frustrating PvP was and still is in this game.

Isn't the current state of PvP a result of the CoX cutting its losses? Between Issue 13 and the current issue, when have the devs given the impression that they were going to give the PvPers what they wanted? And for that matter, when have PvPers ever agreed on what they wanted (outside of a few stinkers like Travel Suppression)? I have been away from the game for a long time so forgive me if I'm completely wrong. But the devs have never pretended to do any of the things you mentioned in the above quote.

And completely remove Zone PvP from the game? Jeeze. You really don't like PvP.

Again that word "pretending". Perhaps there is some post in the Dev Digest that I am not aware of. Can you give some examples of them pretending?

I couldn't agree more. However, I don't think that means you completely rip out Zone PvP.

I get the impression that you really don't care about potential newcomers to CoX who are interested PvP. And I don't think you really care that PvP isn't supported in any meaningful way. You simply don't like PvP. And hell, most of folks in this game don't like PvP (at least not the system we have in this game). So you certainly are not alone. But I hope that you can appreciate how your suggestion for "Fixing PvP" comes off as a little trollish.

Leave the PvP zones alone. The ideas you have (zone events, new story arcs) are good ideas in my opinion. Everyone loves new content. They revamped Faultline and Dark Astoria. I'm sure your ideas could be implemented in some of the remaining Hazard Zones or completely new zones.

If this was a troll post then *high-five*, you got me a little mad when I 1st read it.

I have never seen an ad or commercial for City Of Heroes. I discovered this game back in 2004 because of X-Play. They did a review of the game and based on that review I ran out to CompUSA and bought CoH (my 1st MMO).

I always wondered how other folks discovered the game.

If I had to select one image then I would go with #1. But I normally turn all images off, so whichever is used won't really affect me.

That being said, giving users a choice is a good idea IMO (if it is possible).

Build
Level 50 Ninja Blade/Ninjitsu Stalker
No Incarnate Abilities

Global Damage = 16% (7% from IOs and 9% from Aura of Mot)
Global Recharge = 35%
Net End. Gain = 2.63/s (as reported by Mids)*

Achilles' Heel: Chance for Res Debuff slotted in Soaring Dragon
Stalker's Guile: Chance for Hide slotted in Assassin's Blade (Catalyzed and aquired in game).


Attack Chain
Assassin's Blade -> Soaring Dragon -> Golden Dragonfly -> Divine Avalanche -> Gambler's Cut -> Sting of the Wasp

Replaced [Sting of the Wasp] with [Build Up] when I had three stacks of Assassin's Focus.


Time
13 minutes, 22 seconds -> 802 seconds


Calculated DPS
DPS = ( 38,300 / 802 ) + 128 = ~176


Notes
For the test I disabled Ninja Reflexes and Kuji-In Rin (Which is usually auto-clicked). By the end of the test I had used a total of 14 small blue inspirations. No other inspirations were used. No Incarnate powers were used. The temporary power [Aura of Mot] is an auto power so it could not be turned off (9% recovery and 9% damage).

My DPS is very low compared to others (poor attack chain). But, hopefully, it will be a useful data point.

*Net Endurance Gain would actually be a little higher due to turning off Ninja Reflexes and [Aura of Mot]. Still no where near enough to solo a pylon without inspirations.

I mainly use AE to farm. The tickets I earn are used to obtain salvage (when there is no supply on the market or I just don't want to pay an exorbitant price). I also use the tickets on Bronze Class Recipe Rolls. The money I make helps me trick out my toons. I have created a farm for my Brute (level locked at 30). But I usually end up running farms created by other folks because they are better.

Sometimes I use AE to test my toons against certain enemies. Instead of trying to get a correct contact or cycle through radio missions, I'll throw together a simple mission.

On very rare occasions, I'll peek into the MA section of the forum and play a mission listed there. But for the most part, I'm not big on stories.

I won't be using AE to create story arcs for others to play. I'm not a good writer.

In my opinion, the lack of Dev support is what helped destroy the MA. I'm not implying the Devs don't want to make improvements to the system. But for whatever reason, the MA has been neglected. With a better search and rating system you would never see a farm. And ideally you would only see missions from folks you have subscribed to.


People farm the MA for tickets or XP (I guess folks don't say farm for XP...powerlevel is more appropriate). The easy way to get rid of folks like me would be to remove the tickets (and XP) from AE. You could also nerf the hell out of Tickets and XP (again)...and keep on nerfin' until all the farmers move on to greener pastures. Unfortunately this method only hurts folks who aren't interested in farming.

The difficult way to get rid of folks like me would be to use the Ban Hammer. Why is it difficult? Because then you have to spend time/resources determining what is a farm. You report someone because all of the critters only do fire damage and there is no text/story? What about sneaky farmers who put a story in their patrol farm? What about the newbie MA writer who's story is a little too "farmy" for the anti-farm crowd? The Ban Hammer will either cause me to move on to greener pastures (Behemoths) or figure out how to massage my farms so they don't get banned.

Every attempt at stopping farmers has ended up hurting non-farmers. I like shiny IOs. I am going to continue to farm the MA because it helps me get those shiny IOs. I hope that the Devs get some time and money to work on the MA in the future. And if they do get time I hope they don't waste it on farmers.

Make a better search tool.
Make a better rating system.
Continue adding maps/powersets/enemy groups/other stuff requested by MA writers.
Continue to fix exploits.

Do the above and sprinkle in other suggestions made in this thread (as well as the MA section of the forums) and no one will give a flying **** about farming in AE.

How did you handle it *without* incarnate abilities?

Obviously, I'm not the OP. But I am curious how others soloed the content without already having Incarnate abilities. Stating that you soloed the content with Incarnate abilities is just...frustrating.

But I am sort of threadjacking so my frustration is irrelevant.

The question I have is, how boring are these missions going to be once I have the alpha slot (tier 3 with level shift), Judgement (tier 1), and Interface (tier 1).

I hate how the character that I have spent so much money on (IOs) just gets destroyed when I do certain missions in DA.

I hope that once I get some Incarnate abilities under my belt, I'll be able to repeat these missions in "O-town" with much less difficulty.

My pathetic computer cannot handle "raids", so the solo path is my only option. I am happy that there is a solo path. And at the moment don't mind that the solo path is very difficult for my current toon. But if I find that the difficulty is the same even with a level shift and T1 Judgement + Interface then I'll be a little disappointed.

I ran all of the DA missions solo (including the one you mention in the OP) on my IO'd Nin/Nin Stalker. I did so without the alpha slot. I ran all the missions at +0/x2/Boss (no AV).

I found the mission in question to be *very* difficult. I died more than once (after my NPC teammates bit the dust). Having the Demonic accolade (Archmage for heroes I think) helped a lot at one point.

Is it possible to solo without a level shift, dying, or using inspirations? Probably...I wasn't able to do it, but I imagine that it is possible.

What is your current mission difficulty setting? Assuming you haven't already set it to the minimum, would you consider lowering it (at least for this mission)?

I wish I had better advice for you, but that mission was incredibly challenging for me (even at +0x2).

I don't understand your question. City of Data Link. Many powers have a base accuracy of 1. Cloak of Fear has a base accuracy of 0.67. CoF does have a toHit debuff of 5% along with the mag 2 fear.