GuiltTrips Guide to staying in SG mode and buying SOs
I keep reading people that state past 25 they can not run in SG mode, because if they did they would not be able to have a complete SO set. I am pretty sick of reading this falsehood, so here is my guide to staying in SG mode.
First, let me point out that this system has worked for all three of my main villains, who have been in SG mode since they escaped from prison. Obviously, every person plays differently, so this process may not work for your play style. I do not power level. In fact, I tend to try to at least start every arc and badge mission before I out level them. Unlike some people I know, I cant bring myself to incur debt on purpose just to prevent out leveling content, so dont worry this guide will not recommend you face planting on purpose (although that would help). If you want to level as quickly as possible via what ever means possible, you probably will not get enough enhancement drops to fund your character, and this guide might not work for you.
My test subjects for this guide are a 43 Corrupter (with over 2 million infamy), 30 Brute (with a little over 1.2 million infamy) and a 26 Stalker (with a little over 700K infamy). The Corrupter is easily set for the remainder of his career, and judging from where I am at with the others, not much is different then it was with my Corrupter. If you are a Mastermind, Dominator or any of the hero archetypes I think youll be fine, but cant be positive. I can report that another leader of our VG, has taken a Dominator and Mastermind to 40 without any infamy issues as well, so Im fairly certain youll be fine as well. Heros are harder for me to test, as my lowest level is 22, and the leaders have so much influence stored up we just supplement all the other members so they can run in SG mode.
The fact is that without being gifted influence, you will never be able to afford a full set of SOs at 22 (unless you are one of the few that collect debt on purpose for content out leveling defense). I would say that if you are thrifty, 27 would be the earliest you can get a full set of SOs prior to prestige being introduced (although that is going by how the game worked two years ago when I started). Unfortunately, due to the influence hit when in SG mode beyond level 25, this guide will only help you get a handful of the most needed SOs at 22 and 27 and then the full set finally at 32. If that sounds horrible to you, just be happy you were not playing back when there were no costume contests, or higher levels to supplement your infamy and influence.
Here are the main points of the guide:
1. Dont buy anything until you hit level 22.
2. Only slot what you get via drops.
3. Sell anything you cant use or trade at the time to the proper store.
4. Once you start getting a steady supply of DO/SO drops, just delete trainings as you get them, unless you plan on making a run to the stores.
5. Only buy the enhancements that increase your primary means of survival until you hit 32.
6. Dont bother with worrying about keeping enhancements in the green.
7. Take advantage of Exemping TF and Trials prior to 25 and 35.
8. Take full advantage of respecs.
9. When you hit forty, dont sell to the Elite Quartermaster or Ghost Falcon.
10. Combining can help spread out the cost of a set of SOs.
You may want to take a break now, as I can be quite rambly as I describe in detail those ten points.
Step 1: Dont buy anything until you hit level 22.
This one is pretty self explanatory. This plan starts by being thrifty right out of the gate. Do not buy anything unless you absolutely positively need it. That includes costume changes, inspirations, and enhancements (until 22).
I know everyone is tempted by a new costume, as you have to send your characters first one to the cleaners at some point, unless you really want to have wasting disease fly aura. If you are lucky like me, youll get a steady stream of costume change tokens, for events and what not when it comes to being frugal a free costume is a good costume. If you absolutely, positively want to get a spiffy new cape or costume do it as soon as possible. Tailors will charge you more for that cape at 21 then at 20.
Note, if you want to dare the dream of a full set of SOs at 27, you probably dont want to purchase anything until 27, and may not even want to slot DOs at all, so you can make extra money.
Step 2: Only slot what you get via drops.
Until you hit that magic level of 22, the only enhancements you put in your powers, should be the ones you are granted for defeating opponents and completing arcs. I would recommend selling any of the secondary effect DOs for cash, as until you hit SOs they are not worth slotting instead of the traditional Accuracy, Damage, Recharge, Heal, Resist, Defense, and Hold enhancements. Although, some like End Reduction could be useful to certain builds. If you are on a team with friends, feel free to trade around the power 10 enhancements to those that can best use them.
Step 3: Sell anything you cant use or trade at the time to the proper store.
Selling at the proper store does make a significant difference in the long run. If you have a mutant/science DO, you will get more for it at a mutant or science store/quartermaster then you would at the magic store across the street. It is even more important with SOs, that have a considerably higher value at the proper origin store/quartermaster.
I tend to sell what ever I dont need every time I pass by a store. If Im flying by the magic quartermaster, Ill swoop down and sell all my magic DOs and SOs. At the lower levels you can slot DOs (12-15) you dont really have a lot of options as to where to sell. Cap au Diable and Steel Canyon are your best bets. On the hero side you can also sell fairly safely in Skyway City, but in my opinion Steel is easier to navigate quickly with any travel power.
Here are my recommendations for quick stop selling for the five origins once you hit 22:
Magic
For Heroes Talos is usually the quickest. However, Steel Canyon works if you are coming from a low level zone.
For Villains, Nerva is the closest to the ferry, and is very safe to get to via the water.
Natural
For Heroes, pretty much the same as Magic. Talos if in high level areas, Steel if in low level.
For Villains, Sharkhead, Nerva and St. Martial are all close, it really depends on your travel power, and how safe you feel at your current level.
Science
For Heroes IP is almost always the best option.
For Villains, Sharkhead is the best option.
Tech
For Heroes Talos is likely your quickest stop.
For Villains, the Tech quartermaster is close by in Sharkhead.
Mutant
For Heroes, both Talos and IP are close, but I tend to use IP more often.
For Villains, Nerva is usually the best option, but some may like St. Martial.
Step 4: Delete Training Enhancements when you start getting SO drops
Training Enhancements really dont sell for much, and are not worth the time of hoarding and selling, once the better enhancements start to drop often. I tend to try to keep 1-3 enhancement slots open for drops, by deleting a couple training enhancements. When teaming, those with free slots get the drops, so if everyone else is full youll get far more drops then you do at the start of a team. By freeing up slots, you can upgrade your sell stock, by making room for DOs and SOs. If you are on a good team, and you are plowing through missions with no time to sell, it can be advantageous to start deleting DOs, if you ever are full of DO/SOs.
If it is coming to the end of a play session, Ill usually keep a couple trainings around, as I probably wont fill up the tray. Then I simply sell them at what ever store I stop by at the end of the day.
On the same note, with the advent of base storage it is not a bad idea to store the SOs of your origin that are too high for you to currently use. Just be sure to get them out of storage when you can use them.
Step 5: Only buy key SOs until 32.
I touched on this earlier, but figure I should go in more detail on the subject. It certainly is nice to get a full set of SOs when you first hit 22. However, unless you have won a contest or been gifted a bunch of influence, you shouldnt be able to afford them. What I recommend is to simply by SOs that will best help you be affective. To me that is getting accuracies in your attacks and SOs for what ever keeps you alive. That means getting defense or resist SOs for your brute/tank/scrapper/stalker defensive powers, getting heal and debuff SOs for your corrupter/defender, getting holds for your dominator/controller and most likely damage for your mastermind and blasters. I wish I could be more specific but it really depends on individual play styles and powersets. In general if you use a power often, it should have 2-3 SOs, and anything that doesnt auto hit should get an accuracy.
Step 6: Dont bother with worrying about keeping enhancements in the green.
Prior to Enhancement Diversification, it was advantageous to keep every enhancement green as most people were dumping four or more of the same type of enhancement in a power. With ED, there is less reward for keeping them green. I probably should leave this section for the mathematicians, but with diminishing returns the difference between having 3 enhancements worth 30% each and 3 worth 36% each are not nearly as large as the 18% it should be due to the penalty of having more then two of the same kind of enhancement. If you continue to try to ++ everything, all you are doing is breaking the back for a few percentage points.
Step 7: Take advantage of Exemping TF and Trials prior to 25 and 35.
I love running through the content of the game. With the advent of auto-exemping it is possible to go through the taskforces, after you have seen all the contact for that level range. I highly suggest taking advantage of the fact that you get full influence/infamy and prestige for exemping up until you hit 25. For example, last month I exemped one of my 50s to complete the Positron TF. I was only rewarded prestige for every villain I defeated. However, if I exemp my 22 defender to do Positron, I receive full influence and prestige for my efforts. Obviously exemping when you are 33 will not really give you much influence. However, obtaining some influence/infamy is better then receiving none for exemping to do the same trial at 36.
Step 8: Take full advantage of respecs.
I know some people really want to respec as soon as you earn a respec. In fact some need to respec to correct errors they made when they were first learning an archetype. However, if you can hold out on using that respec, it can pay off big time if you wait for one of the levels you can buy a set of SOs. As it stands, villains get four chances at respecification (3 trials and the Patron respect), while Heroes only get the three trials. However, youll find out that over the course of a characters career, most likely you will receive another free respect due to a bug, a global change or an event. While it is dangerous to count on them they can come in quite handy.
The reason respecting at 27,32,37,42,47 can be profitable is because you get to sell all your enhancements at the price of the proper store. That means rather then letting them go to waste you can recoup most of the money you put into them in the first place. Simply wait until you hit one of those levels, respec but dont slot any enhancements (that way they sell for full value) and run to the store to buy the new SOs.
For Villains you can count on 32,37,42,47 for respecs. By following my guide, you wont really gain that much by respecting at 27 and 32, due to not having a full set of SOs to sell so using the first respec for an emergency respec is not really a bad thing. Heroes have it a bit tighter, as they can only earn 3 respecs in their career. However, I think anyone that has played a year or more can tell you that free respecs are not entirely rare. Luckily, new players on the hero side can still pick up influence via many contests and SG members, as influence was flowing for a very long time.
Step 9: Dont sell to the Elite Quartermaster or Ghost Falcon
They may be a one-stop shop but they dont pay you as much as they are worth. At the point you get to 40, influence or infamy really shouldnt be an issue, so you may not care about losing a couple thousand inf. However, an inf saved is an inf you can pass on to a friend or alt after you hit 50. I do tend to sell Trainings or DOs to them, but I always run to the proper stores/quartermasters with my SOs.
Step 10: Combining can help spread out the cost of a set of SOs.
Lets say you cant get a team together for a respec trial, or you used a respec to fix a mistake you made early in your characters career. You can defray the costs of SOs quite a bit, by simply combining like SOs in your powers. Say you are a controller with an AoE hold slotted with 2 Accuracy, 2 Hold and 2 Recharge (all 35) and have just turned 37. You already used a respec so you dont have one banked, and do not have enough for a full set of SOs at this time. Just go to the enhancement manager, click on the hold and combine the enhancements so you have a 35+ Acc, 35+ Hold and a 35+ Recharge, and then buy a 40 Acc, Hold and Recharge. Then when you hit 38, you can buy another Acc, hold and recharge and combine them with the 35+s. That way you lost a minimal amount of effectiveness for a level, but spread out the cost of buying SOs over two levels. Plus you now have a 40 and 40+ of each type rather, so you get increased performance for the next few levels, to make up for the slightly diminished performance for one level.
That pretty much is all I can think of on the subject, feel free to ask any questions, make any comments or add any pointers you may have on the subject.
I loved that Elf. He sparked alot of my Archer toons in AD&D. IMO, I thought it looked cool for the effects at that time. I dont know why they needed anyone else in that group, he could have done it all solo!! And the other poster was right. Get the magazine clip going. That was off the hook!!