GavinRuneblade

Paragon Wiki has lots of the wrong kind of information on the Merit system. Here is what you really need to know:

History: Merits replaced recipe drops for completing Task Forces. In virtually all cases you now get more than 1 recipe worth. The exceptions are those people can reliably speed run in less than 45 minutes. ITF still gives barely more than 1 random recipe. You also get them for completing story arcs which lets soloists get access to the recipes they otherwise never could.

Advice: Pretend that the entire merit store does not exist except for the recipe options. If you spend your merits on anything other than recipes, I will personally come over to your house and shoot kittens in the head while you are strapped to a chair and forced to watch. Then I will frame you for it and hand you over to PETA complete with a doctored video.

Practical: You have two ways to spend merits random rolls and picking a specific recipe. Right now (this may change) picking anything other than a minimum level Luck of the Gambler 7.5% recharge is a waste of merits. No matter what else you want, get the gambler, craft it, sell it, and buy what you want and have money left over. All other uses of merits give you less inf/merit return. That said, the best way to roll randomly is either in the 30-34 or 35-39 ranges. You can also buy other recipes directly and some do that for the Numina's/Miracle unique, Kinetic Combats, Stealths or others which are not as efficient as the gambler, but if what you want isn't for sale, you might have no other choice. I personally roll all mine because I have a bajillion alts and so crafting and using a bunch of recipes is faster and less annoying than the easy money of gamblers.

Note: When you roll randomly the level bracket you pick ONLY determines what is in the random pool you are rolling against. It has no impact at all on the level of recipe you get. The recipe will always be your level or the highest level the set can generate whichever is lower. When you specifically pick a recipe use the slider bar to get it at the exact level you want. Purple and PvP recipes are not for sale via merits and never will be.

None of us understand why the Devs don't make the slider work with random rolls. This has been requested many, many times. Feel free to add your own request by PMing a dev. Do not waste the Devs time asking for purples and PvP recipes to be available via merits.

Since AE tickets were mentioned:

Best uses of AE tickets per inf return:
Rare Salvage that you can sell for over 1.8m inf (think Prophecy, Pangean Soil, etc)
Bronze Rolls 10-14, 15-19, 30-34

You cannot select specific recipes with tickets. Silver rolls are generally NOT worth the extra cost. In general it is easier to get 20 merits than 5,000 tickets so most do not consider gold rolls a good way to spend tickets. If you can get 5000 tickets more easily than 20 merits, you might want to try.

If you want actual numbers to back up the level ranges etc, search the Market forum. These topics have been covered in extensive detail and some of the guys even did testing on hundreds of rolls. In some threads you can even find exact average inf/ticket and inf/merit values for the different level ranges. of course it all changes as market prices fluctuate, but in general the advice above is solid.

To follow up what Square said, there are two types of special IOs: Procs and Globals. Procs are all the "Chance to" IOs and Globals give a constant bonus. Use the Wiki to help you tell the difference because some of them are not as obvious as you'd think (the stealth IO is a proc with 100% chance to trigger).

On the procs you have to have the power active. Common examples are the Performance Shifter +endurance, or Numina's +regen/recovery. You want to stick these into powers you use ALOT or that are toggles or auto powers. You can also get any level of Proc you want. Put a level 50 Performance shifter into Stamina and exemp down to level 15 and it will still work just fine. At level 14 you lose acess to stamina so the proc can't trigger because the power is not active.

the other type is a global. The Kismet accuracy and Gambler Recharge are well known examples. these work exactly like a set bonus, but you only need the one IO. These you want the lowest level IO you can find. Because if you are ever 4 levels lower, then you lose the effect. Some examples, put a level 30 Gambler Recharge into weave. Let's say you selected weave as your level 28 power.

If you exemplar to level 25 you still have weave active, but the recharge bonus is lost because you are more than 3 levels below the IO.

If you had taken weave at level 41 and you put the same level 30 gambler recharge into it and then exemplared to level 35, you would not have access to weave, but the recharge bonus would still be active because you are not more than 3 levels below the IO.

It gets confusing. Short version is use the Wiki to tell if it is a Global or a Proc. If it is a proc, it only works when the power works, use any level of IO you want. If it is global, get the lowest level IO you can find and it will work always even if the power is gone as long as you are above the level of the IO or not more than 3 below.

Actually, depending on character this is not a bad thing. Consider the exp gain for defeated enemies is the same while exemped and full. Think about how wimpy level 1 enemies are.

Now think about how hard a time some tanks and defenders and controllers have it levelling at certain points in their careers, but how no one really complains about levels 1 through 10. Imagine how much easier 1 through 10 would be with +5 levels of power over when you did it the first time.

Plus, level 1 bosses are total pushovers and give the same rewards as level 50 bosses.

I have a couple AE arcs set to level 1 specifically for this reason.

Like I said, I imagine people will do a bit of both. Bring over what they need, and some extra to sell at the same time.

the fact is that at any point, no matter how bad the market gets there will be somethings selling, and there will always be at least one item you want that isn't available. Bringing what you need but can't buy, and some extras to sell for the cash to afford what you need and CAN buy, seems logical.

I'll probably not do it myself, but I suspect it will happen.

Apparently more often than you do. At least part of every spawn I'm shoulder to shoulder with someone. Most often when we're both pummeling the same few enemies. As a scrapper, I feel my key role is melee damage and the tanks I play with are great about grouping up big groups of pinatas for me to pummel. The tank and I are virtually inseparable. And when fighting AVs and GMs there are usually a bunch of us right up in 'is face.

As needed I'll off-tank or break away to save the squishy who has too much aggro, or chase down a runner, or this or that. But I find I'm right up there with an ally or two quite often on my scrappers. Darn shame my only /SD is a brute who pretty much never teams. =)

I'll make one argument here. Enemies do not drop anything at all except inf until level 4. From 4 to 10 only salvage 10+ recipes kick in. Meanwhile, in AE you get normal ticket drops from 1 to 10. At extremely low level, AE is actually much better for earning than normal arcs.

Do anything at all in AE from 1 to 6 and you should have enough for two rare salvage. Post 'em on WW and happily pull in 2 to 5 million where otherwise on normal arcs you'd have had maybe 3,000 worth of training enhancements drop and possibly a few salvage near the end once you got over level 4. Step out to get your jetpack in Kings row, then back in until level 10 for another few million worth of tickets.

When enemies can only drop TOs and low-level salvage, it is virtually impossible to equal the inf earning from AE tickets without breaking the random number generator (for example if every minion drops a luck charm or alchemical silver). When the best rare salvage that will drop randomly is worth 25k (Page from the Malleus Mundi during a price spike) but you could use tickets to buy Pangean Soil (3 to 5 million during price spikes), it doesn't pay to be in the normal arcs.

From level 10 on, the normal arcs drops are typically decent enough. And it is easier to find teams. But from 1 to 10, AE is where you want to be if you want money.

Also, large inspirations drop from time to time. Don't use them, sell them. Most go for 50k to 100k and the purples regularly go for 250k to 400k. This really adds up over time. they don't drop that often, but I typically earn a couple million off them by the time I'm level 20. Plus, I like to think I helped someone solo an Arch-Villain or win a PvP match every time one sells.

den i Kan HAZ hiz bandwidth!

Not really. They do have a very different feel. And the powersets are not the same. As was stated some builds are better one side or the other. Only Scrappers get regen. But a /wp brute has some very enviable numbers due to thier higher hit points. Only brutes get /stone. Resistance based brutes also have a significant advantage in their higher res cap which comes into play if you use your orange insps. Often a res-based brute is better off with an orange than a purple. Especially against enemies with -def attacks.

Plus the whole feel of fury over crits. That's quite a different experience.

Hey, spamming Aid Other is healing!

Get three random level 17 Acc/Dam IOs. Cost should be about 85k each including crafting fees and salvage. You will be sitting on 40%Acc/40%Damage from level 14 to level 50. toss in some triples to get a touch of end and recharge.

By comparison, your one SO gives at most 38% and each time you level that drops.

Since the black market sucks, you can really go with anything from 15 on up that you can find available. I spend tickets at those levels and find I'm drowning in cheap sets. makes a big difference.

Almost any purple set. I think there are two that don't give recharge.

Did you use Dark Watcher or another one? I'm considering procs for mine, any experience with them?

I'm also looking at the AoE immobilize and the chance for hold proc. I have that on my Plant Dom and it is very nice. Go 4 Enfeebled Operation and 2 Gravity. Not outrageously expensive and fairly nice bonuses. That proc triggers ALOT.

I respecced out of quicksand and mudpots. Just not my style.

Two paths to the same end.

All Inf is good for is making more inf or equipping toons or giving to other people in return for services or prestige. That's the full list (assuming costumes are equipment).

If I can bring one character's inventory over, that's not even enough to finish a single build. 10 IOs and 30 recipes out of how many needed? On the other hand, I might earn enough Inf to finish two or three.

Assuming supply is there at all to make the Inf spendable. Heh.

So I'm assuming it will end up being a little of each. Bring across the stuff that can't be bought, sell some to make gobs of Inf to afford the stuff that can.