how do stalker use wentworth? ???
heh, just kidding. Nice guide. Thanks for taking the time!
Great guide...I never thought to try using rare recipes in the early game. I'll definitely have to try that. Just a quick question...will most of these tips help Villain-Side as well?
I've been using a similar method on my Heroes (except staying with common IO crafting instead of sets) and recently started playing villains. I've found that it's harder to find dirt cheap recipes to vendor (though not impossible, it just takes longer) and the common salvage is a bit higher priced (though again, you can find stuff to vendor if you look hard enough). On the other hand, common IOs seem to sell for more. So once you get your initial nest egg, you make plenty of infamy selling Accuracy, Damage, End Reduction and probably other enhancements. I go for those three because almost everyone needs them and the End Mod market is a bit crowded. My Axe/WP Brute is making up to 3 million profit a day at level 27 from logging in 2-3 times to craft and sell (I'm currently playing other alts).
One thing I'll add is that you really don't need to bother starting that early. You don't actually need enhancements of any kind in the first 11 levels, so I generally slot any TO drops I can use and hoard my inf until level 10 or 11. Then I vendor enough recipes to afford level 15 IOs (much easier at level 10 when you can carry 10 at a time) and place bids for recipes or crafted IOs. As soon as I hit 12 I can slot up with level 15 Accuracy and Endurance IOs and maybe some Damage (that sometimes has to wait until the mid to late teens because hitting and keeping the blue bar from bottoming out is more important so I don't slot damage until I have 3 to 4 slots in a power). Those are fine until level 22, when I upgrade to level 25 IOs (some of which I may be crafting myself). And from there, it's craft and sell until I can afford sets.
Cascade, level 50 Blaster (NRG/NRG since before it was cool)
Mechmeister, level 50 Bots / Traps MM
FAR too many non-50 alts to name
[u]Arcs[u]
The Scavenger Hunt: 187076
The Instant Lair Delivery Service: 206636
[ QUOTE ]
I've been using a similar method on my Heroes (except staying with common IO crafting instead of sets) and recently started playing villains. I've found that it's harder to find dirt cheap recipes to vendor (though not impossible, it just takes longer) and the common salvage is a bit higher priced (though again, you can find stuff to vendor if you look hard enough). On the other hand, common IOs seem to sell for more. So once you get your initial nest egg, you make plenty of infamy selling Accuracy, Damage, End Reduction and probably other enhancements. I go for those three because almost everyone needs them and the End Mod market is a bit crowded. My Axe/WP Brute is making up to 3 million profit a day at level 27 from logging in 2-3 times to craft and sell (I'm currently playing other alts).
One thing I'll add is that you really don't need to bother starting that early. You don't actually need enhancements of any kind in the first 11 levels, so I generally slot any TO drops I can use and hoard my inf until level 10 or 11. Then I vendor enough recipes to afford level 15 IOs (much easier at level 10 when you can carry 10 at a time) and place bids for recipes or crafted IOs. As soon as I hit 12 I can slot up with level 15 Accuracy and Endurance IOs and maybe some Damage (that sometimes has to wait until the mid to late teens because hitting and keeping the blue bar from bottoming out is more important so I don't slot damage until I have 3 to 4 slots in a power). Those are fine until level 22, when I upgrade to level 25 IOs (some of which I may be crafting myself). And from there, it's craft and sell until I can afford sets.
[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the advice. I'm working up a Corruptor, level 8 right now, who will be using these strategies =)
[ QUOTE ]
Great guide...I never thought to try using rare recipes in the early game. I'll definitely have to try that. Just a quick question...will most of these tips help Villain-Side as well?
[/ QUOTE ]
I did this villain side first, and just recently did it hero side. So, yes, it works redside as well too. The common IOs actually move faster redside than blue. And redside salvage is far, far cheaper. There's just more demand blue side for common stuff, so you occasionally see stuff like scientific theory for 50k each or inert gas for 90k.
One 'nit' update:
"Assuming you get only your list price (typically, I've gotten far more), you've made 225,000 influence with 10,700 influence investment. "
This doesn't take into account the cost to craft the enhancements ... I don't remember the exact cost, but I think the Lvl 30s are around 30,000 each ... so you've actually invested approx 100,000 influence. Still a nice tdy profit when selling for at least 225,000 ... but not quite as much as originally depicted.
[ QUOTE ]
One 'nit' update:
"Assuming you get only your list price (typically, I've gotten far more), you've made 225,000 influence with 10,700 influence investment. "
This doesn't take into account the cost to craft the enhancements ... I don't remember the exact cost, but I think the Lvl 30s are around 30,000 each ... so you've actually invested approx 100,000 influence. Still a nice tdy profit when selling for at least 225,000 ... but not quite as much as originally depicted.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, thanks for the catch. According to paragonwiki:
Level 25: 33,000 influence to craft
Level 30, 38,500 influence to craft
So, yeah, that eats into your profit of 225,000 by about 100k if you're crafting the level 30s. However, I've found that I almost consistently get higher than the listed price and once memorized, the crafting costs also drop. About 50%.
Even with less profit, it's still a sure fire money maker. And I only used recharges as an example. I'm pretty sure endurance modification and accuracy IOs go for roughly double (about 150-220k each) at current market rates. Though, admittedly, those are more crowded markets.
This guide is intended for new and veteran players alike. I started a new account back in March 2008 and rolled several new characters with no influence/infamy to my name.
Most of my villains have more infamy than they'll ever need, are completely IO'ed to my satisfaction and a couple sit with hundreds of millions of infamy. I just started on heroes and so far my dark defender (who is level 36 and my highest level hero) has 40M influence. I don't state this to brag, but to point out that the steps I detail are the same ones that I use myself.
So, you have just rolled a level 1 character, what do you do? Below is what I do at each point in my character's career.
Beginning to level 2: Do the tutorial. While the tutorial is mind numbing for those of you who have been playing this game for over 4 years, it provides two things right off the back. The first is that it's a very quick way to level to level 2. The second is that it provides you two sources of influence: two large inspirations that you can sell and two level 1 training enhancements. As you do the tutorial, don't use either the inspirations you've been given (the tutorial isn't hard and you don't need them) and don't slot the training enhancements.
Level 2: Arrive in Atlas Park. I choose Atlas Park because a Wentworth is handily in the zone and is a short run from the NPC enhancement vendors around Ms. Liberty. Go to a NPC enhacement vendor (Superpowered Field Trainer) and sell your 2 training enhancements. You should have 40 influence. Alternatively, "arrest" about 5 Hellions who are nearby. After this, run to Wentworth and sell your two large inspirations for 10 influence each. They should fetch a few thousand influence each, but all you need is about 1000 influence to get started. At this point you should have anywhere from 1,000 to 25,000 influence, depending on how the sales go.
Level 2 and at Wentworth: At level 2 you will only have one transaction slot and will only be able to carry 1 recipe. This will improve as you level. With your 1 transaction, look for a rare (orange) IO recipe. Look for snipe, sleep, tohit debuffs, defense debuffs or teleport. See if you can buy one of the level 50 recipes for 500 influence or less. Odds are you will be able to. It doesn't matter what it is, just as long as it's rare. After purchasing the recipe, look at common tech salvage (kinetic weapons, inert gas, ceramic armor plate, silver, etc.) Look for salvage that has a lot of quanity (1000s or more), but very few bidders. Bid a stack of 10 for 10 to 50 influence apiece. Go back to the Superpowered Field Trainer and sell your rare recipe. It should sell for 10,000 influence. If you don't get your 10 common salvage, don't panic. Just wait. Go off and arrest more stuff, join a sewer team or the typical things you normally do. It will fill. After a little while, go check on your bid order. When the bid order fills, simply grab the salvage and go off and sell it at a vendor. They sell for 250 influence each, so a stack of 10 will sell for 2,500 influence. The process is repeatable so you can do this multiple times, with each step involving a stack of 10 or more common salvage and 1 or more rare but unwanted IO recipes.
Level 6: By this time you should have finished your missions in Atlas Park from your first contact or gone through the sewers with a pick up group. You will have more transaction slots and the ability to hold more recipes. The process I outlined earlier will still work: you can buy common salvage (just buy larger amounts of them) and you can buy/sell unwanted but rare IO recipes.
You can diversify a bit as well too. A lot of uncommon tech invention salvage can be bought cheaply and sold for 1,000 influence each. Polycarbons, steel, temporal tracers, titanium shards can be bought as low as 200 influence and sold back to the superpowered field trainers for 1,000 each. That's 8,000 influence profit for each stack of 10 at those rates.
Level 10: At level 10, go to Steel Canyon. At this point, you'll begin making enough influence to be set for most of your character's career. By selling unwanted rare recipes and buying cheap common/uncommon tech invention salvage, you should have a tidy nest egg of 50,000 - 100,000 influence at this point.
Take that influence and bid on level 25 and level 30 common IO recipes. The ones I usually aim for are: accuracy, endurance modification, endurance reduction, damage resistance or recharge. These IOs sell well once crafted and level 25/30 is the break point in which many players switch their characters from SOs to IOs.
For the purposes of this guide, let's assume you go for recharge IOs. I'd make the following bids:
3 level 30 recharge IO recipes - 2,000 influence each (6,000 total)
Ingredients (these are listed by simply mousing over the recipes)
3 spell inks - 1,500 influence each (3,500 total)
3 circuit boards - 400 influence each (1,200 totatl)
Crafting costs: 38,500 influence each (115,500 total)
Total cost: 126,700 influence
Place the order and then wait over night. Once you get the recipes and the ingredients, craft them into IOs at either the Steel Canyon university or at your base's crafting table. Once you craft them, list them at Wentworth's for 75,000 to 90,000 each.
Assuming you get only your list price (typically, I've gotten far more), you got 225,000 influence with 126,200 influence investment. That's a 100k profit with just selling three IOs at your list price.
Repeat this a number of times, so you can grab the relevant crafting badge, and not have to even bother buying the recipes anymore. Crafting and selling common IOs will allow you to accumulate a nice nest egg of a few million influence very quickly - in a few days to about two weeks depending on how aggressive you are and market conditions. This process along with your normal adventuring should allow you to have a few million to spend on SOs or IOs as you prefer. Further, it will save you influence since many of the IOs you craft (at bargain prices) are ones that your character can use.
Around level 20: With a few million influence in the bank, and your character well slotted with your choice of enhancements, it's time to make even more influence.
There are a number of influence making schemes, but the easiest of those is essentially a derivative of the things you've been doing all along: crafting set IO recipes. There are a number of invention set recipes that sell fast and have high demand. The ingredients tend to be more expensive than those that form common IOs (though there are notable exceptions), but profit margins are higher. It's easy to make 1M - 5M per sale of a single invention set IO.
The steps are just like what I've detailed earlier for common IOs: Bid on the recipe and the ingredients. Wait. Collect your winning bids. Craft and then place on the market. Collect the influence as it sells.
While this guide won't go into all the invention sets that are crafted to make influence, I'll leave you with a few pointers:
1. Look for the sets that appeal to the largest amount of characters. Hero side, there are a lot of ranged damage ATs so ranged sets are good targets. Scrappers and tanks are also popular and a few key sets (Touch of Death, Crushing Impact, Pounding Slugfest) are in high demand.
2. Be patient. IO set pieces drop more infrequently than common IO recipes. Some only drop at the end of taskforces or trials. Place your bids and wait a few days. If your bids don't work out, simply remove the bids and bid up a little higher.
3. Don't be greedy. Once you craft an IO, don't list the IO for far more than the market is willing to buy it. Every time you list an item, you're paying a listing fee, so pricing your crafted IO correctly is important and saves you influence. Generally, I list about 20% LESS than the typical market going rate (the average of the last five transactions). While sometimes I get only the price I list (which is still profitable!), I often times get far more. Also, in a market where several of the same IO are for sale, it's usually my IO that sells whereas the higher priced ones just sit there unsold. Always remember that the lowest priced item is the one that is sold for the highest bid first.
In conclusion, with a little bit of work and patience, it is very easy to make influence and have enough of it to set up your characters. I've done the above process about six times now, and have never received a gift of influence or a transfer from another player. If anything is unclear, let me know or just drop by the Market forum.
EDIT: As pointed out below, I forgot to account for the crafting fees. Added that section, so the profit from crafting is a bit more modest but still very worthwhile.