Snipe, sleep, teleport, fear, immobilize, knockback, disorient, defense debuff, tohit debuff, slow, tohit buff, and pet recipes will, broadly speaking, never be worth very much due to low demand. The Pool C ones might become worth listing on the market when supplies dry up, but I expect they will never sell for a significant amount of money that justifies the time investment of a 100-minute taskforce (the devs' time metric for earning 20 merits). I'd be very surprised if these recipes ever came to sell for more than 5 million, excluding some (but not all) procs.
Simply soloing for 100 minutes will result in more than 5 million influence for most level 50 characters, excluding heavily team-oriented builds, let alone doing standard farming.
The low demand for these recipes will come from three directions that are independent of the market - first that relatively few characters can slot them at all, second that the ones who do will only slot them into one or two powers each, and third that for powers that can slot them as one of several set types, the alternatives will usually be better.
Bottom line? Random rolls won't ever be very worth it because not enough people are going to want the stuff that usually comes out of the random rolls.
Regarding the idea that taking 50 random rolls will result in six "shinies," I'll refer to my own experience of not seeing a single decent drop valued over 5 million inf from the market for two consecutive months while doing at least twenty taskforces per month. And 5 million, as I just explained, is still not shiny.
"Experience is the mother of good judgement. Bad judgement is the father of experience."
[ QUOTE ]
Bottom line? Random rolls won't ever be very worth it for me.
[/ QUOTE ]Fixed that for you.
As already demonstrated, there are several people in this thread for which they *will* be worth it. And we're not the only ones.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Bottom line? Random rolls won't ever be very worth it for me.
[/ QUOTE ]Fixed that for you.
As already demonstrated, there are several people in this thread for which they *will* be worth it. And we're not the only ones.
[/ QUOTE ]
Don't "fix" things for me. In fact, try not to do it for anyone. It's a disgusting form of argument that should be against the forum rules in my opinion.
Further, that you don't agree, doesn't mean I made a subjective statement. You are just wrong.
The average influence/infamy value of a pool C recipe would have to be A: at least 1/10th of the inf value of a super-shiny (LOTG, Miracle, Numina) and greater than 5 million influence/infamy in order to be 'worth' 100 minutes of active game-time.
Otherwise, saving merits is a better choice than converting them into a random drop. This is not subjective, it is fact. If you still think it's worth it "for you" to take random drops under the merits system without both of those conditions being met, then you're not a fully-informed rational actor, or you're just dumb. Sorry.
And I've already explained why those conditions will almost certainly never be met.
"Experience is the mother of good judgement. Bad judgement is the father of experience."
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Bottom line? Random rolls won't ever be very worth it for me.
[/ QUOTE ]Fixed that for you.
As already demonstrated, there are several people in this thread for which they *will* be worth it. And we're not the only ones.
[/ QUOTE ]Its very worth it on the pool D recipes more so than anything else. You only got a 1 in 8 chance of getting a crappy snipe, considering how its like 10 times worse for pool c.
Bump and Grind Bane/SoA
Kenja No Ishi Earth/Empathy Controller
Legendary Sannin Ninja/Pain Mastermind
Entoxicated Ninja/PSN Mastermind
Ninja Ryukenden Kat/WP Scrapper
Hellish Thoughts Fire/PSI Dominator
Thank You Devs for Merits!!!!
Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to run a string of strikeforces with my supergroup over the weekend and log the time it took us to complete them. As well as our skill level we have with that strikeforce. 1 = Haven't done it in awhile and 5 = We should be the contact to give it out. I will provide team make up for everyone to see. With the times I'll also add the "suggested payout" that we've been given from the testserver.
On the blueside, I'll have my close friend do the same thing. Then we can ACTUALLY compare to what's fair and what's not. - Unless someone would like to volenteer their team.
Another thing I did want to bring up was that, villains can run all their strikeforces in one day. (Please don't argue with me on this, I've done it - It took 3/4 of a day) Heroes can not, therefore they wouldn't even have to do all of theirs before they could go back and start over without the nerf affecting them. - Tell me how is that fair?!
[ QUOTE ]
In fact, try to do it for everyone that tries to act arrogant with their opinion. It's a humorous form of argument that some stuck up people can't stand, because they consider their words too important to change.
[/ QUOTE ]*cough*
[ QUOTE ]
The average influence/infamy value of a pool C recipe would have to be A: at least 1/10th of the inf value of a super-shiny (LOTG, Miracle, Numina) and greater than 5 million influence/infamy in order to be 'worth' 100 minutes of active game-time.
[/ QUOTE ]Now are you going to tell me which TFs I have to run to be worth my time? And what ATs I should play? And what time to play?
I'll decide what's worth my time and merits, thanks. If I decide that it's worth it to buy nothing but SOs...well, then that's my choice.
I play this game for fun. There are a lot of things out of the Pool C that I can end up using, so using the random rolls will be the best way to go, for me. Sure, I may end up getting more inf saving up for nothing but LotGs and selling them...but that would be boring.
And your math also fails to take into account that the market will almost certainly fluxuate somewhat come I13. How it will is yet to be seen...but using numbers from the current market just isn't going to work.
Humor is subjective. I'm getting a laugh out of your argument 
What isn't subjective is that I'm not the one assigning a value to people's time - the devs are. And the value they've assigned to your time isn't subjective either.
5 minutes of taskforce time, or 12.5 minutes of storyarc time, are worth 1 merit. 1 merit is worth 1/20th for a random pool C drop or 1/200th of a specific pool C drop. 100 minutes of your time is worth a random pool C drop; 1000 minutes is worth a specific pool C drop.
I didn't make that up and tell you what your time was supposed to be worth, the devs did.
Sorry to break it to you, too, but your fun also doesn't seem to matter to the devs' decision on what your time is worth because they've given the most merits to what are broadly considered the least fun tasks (positron; doctor Q; long, 4-year-old multi-zone travel storyarcs with multiple delivery or hunt missions). And they've given much less merits to taskforces and storyarcs which are newer, hailed as more fun (the ITF, katie, the STF, all of the villain ones), and even more difficult to successfully accomplish (especially the LRSF and STF).
But I'm not trying to tell you what's fun, I'm trying to tell you what's the optimal use of your time under the conditions that the developers are imposing (and, though it's not relevant to this tangent, which I disagree with their imposition of).
The fact that you don't think the optimal path is fun, doesn't change the fact that it's optimal.
And I could, in fact, tell you what tasks to do and what ATs to do them with in order to "beat" the system and gain more than 1 merit per 5 minutes... but I'm not going to, because you'll just complain that that isn't fun to you either when "fun" has no bearing on mathematical optimization, and besides the more people who know how to do it, the faster it'll be nerfed, which will mean less for me in the longer term.
"Have fun" in six months when a relatively small group of people who do what I'm describing have made it nearly impossible for you to actually achieve merits at the developer-decided rate of one per five minutes.
"Experience is the mother of good judgement. Bad judgement is the father of experience."
I just wanted to pop in to say, "Welcome, Synapse!"
This explains a lot and I look forward to hearing more from you in the future.
[ QUOTE ]
What isn't subjective is that I'm not the one assigning a value to people's time - the devs are. And the value they've assigned to your time isn't subjective either.
5 minutes of taskforce time, or 12.5 minutes of storyarc time, are worth 1 merit. 1 merit is worth 1/20th for a random pool C drop or 1/200th of a specific pool C drop. 100 minutes of your time is worth a random pool C drop; 1000 minutes is worth a specific pool C drop.
I didn't make that up and tell you what your time was supposed to be worth, the devs did
[/ QUOTE ]...see...now, you're completely skewing things out into left field. Did you miss the part where I said I play this game for fun? I've got a LGTF scheduled for tomorrow night...and we're going to have fun playing it. Sure, there are people out there that can run it in 30 minutes, or whatever the "speed" time is...but we're going to take our time, and have a whole lot of fun playing it.
That's what my time is worth. Fun. And the devs didn't have a single thing to say in that.
[ QUOTE ]
Sorry to break it to you, too, but your fun also doesn't seem to matter to the devs' decision on what your time is worth because they've given the most merits to what are broadly considered the least fun tasks (positron; doctor Q; long, 4-year-old multi-zone travel storyarcs with multiple delivery or hunt missions). And they've given much less merits to taskforces and storyarcs which are newer, hailed as more fun (the ITF, katie, the STF, all of the villain ones), and even more difficult to successfully accomplish (especially the LRSF and STF).
[/ QUOTE ]You're under the presumtion that everyone cares about getting the most possible merits for every second they play. That's completely and totally wrong. Merits will be a nice side benefit...but I'll play what I have fun with. I like Posi. I'll play it because it's one I can play with just my boyfriend, with very little hassle. And we'll have fun doing it.
Or...no...wait. We won't...because you don't think it's possible for us to be able to.
[ QUOTE ]
The fact that you don't think the optimal path is fun, doesn't change the fact that it's optimal.
[/ QUOTE ]I never said that.
What's "worth it" to people isn't always the optimal path.
Is buying cheap salvage at Wenty's for 1000 just so I can be sure to have it without having to rebid worth it? To some people, it's a waste of money. But to me, it's worth it just to be able to get on with whatever it is I'm doing.
Just as it'll be worth it to take the random rolls, albeit for a completely different reason.
[ QUOTE ]
"Have fun" in six months when a relatively small group of people who do what I'm describing have made it nearly impossible for you to actually achieve merits at the developer-decided rate of one per five minutes.
[/ QUOTE ]I will. I'll be having fun playing the same game I've been playing for the past two years. I had fun before IOs. I ran TFs before IOs. Even if they completely stripped IOs from the game, the game would still be fun.
[ QUOTE ]
Bottom line? Random rolls won't ever be very worth it because not enough people are going to want the stuff that usually comes out of the random rolls.
[/ QUOTE ]
Don't like it, simple don't use it
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[ QUOTE ]
What isn't subjective is that I'm not the one assigning a value to people's time - the devs are. And the value they've assigned to your time isn't subjective either.
5 minutes of taskforce time, or 12.5 minutes of storyarc time, are worth 1 merit. 1 merit is worth 1/20th for a random pool C drop or 1/200th of a specific pool C drop. 100 minutes of your time is worth a random pool C drop; 1000 minutes is worth a specific pool C drop.
I didn't make that up and tell you what your time was supposed to be worth, the devs did
[/ QUOTE ]...see...now, you're completely skewing things out into left field. Did you miss the part where I said I play this game for fun? I've got a LGTF scheduled for tomorrow night...and we're going to have fun playing it. Sure, there are people out there that can run it in 30 minutes, or whatever the "speed" time is...but we're going to take our time, and have a whole lot of fun playing it.
That's what my time is worth. Fun. And the devs didn't have a single thing to say in that.
[ QUOTE ]
Sorry to break it to you, too, but your fun also doesn't seem to matter to the devs' decision on what your time is worth because they've given the most merits to what are broadly considered the least fun tasks (positron; doctor Q; long, 4-year-old multi-zone travel storyarcs with multiple delivery or hunt missions). And they've given much less merits to taskforces and storyarcs which are newer, hailed as more fun (the ITF, katie, the STF, all of the villain ones), and even more difficult to successfully accomplish (especially the LRSF and STF).
[/ QUOTE ]You're under the presumtion that everyone cares about getting the most possible merits for every second they play. That's completely and totally wrong. Merits will be a nice side benefit...but I'll play what I have fun with. I like Posi. I'll play it because it's one I can play with just my boyfriend, with very little hassle. And we'll have fun doing it.
Or...no...wait. We won't...because you don't think it's possible for us to be able to.
[ QUOTE ]
The fact that you don't think the optimal path is fun, doesn't change the fact that it's optimal.
[/ QUOTE ]I never said that.
What's "worth it" to people isn't always the optimal path.
Is buying cheap salvage at Wenty's for 1000 just so I can be sure to have it without having to rebid worth it? To some people, it's a waste of money. But to me, it's worth it just to be able to get on with whatever it is I'm doing.
Just as it'll be worth it to take the random rolls, albeit for a completely different reason.
[ QUOTE ]
"Have fun" in six months when a relatively small group of people who do what I'm describing have made it nearly impossible for you to actually achieve merits at the developer-decided rate of one per five minutes.
[/ QUOTE ]I will. I'll be having fun playing the same game I've been playing for the past two years. I had fun before IOs. I ran TFs before IOs. Even if they completely stripped IOs from the game, the game would still be fun.
[/ QUOTE ]
Maybe you can find a decent way to phrase a question I could never find the right way to ask.
Can you say you hold the same value of a game when you reduce it to a frigle thread?
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What isn't subjective is that I'm not the one assigning a value to people's time - the devs are. And the value they've assigned to your time isn't subjective either.
5 minutes of taskforce time, or 12.5 minutes of storyarc time, are worth 1 merit. 1 merit is worth 1/20th for a random pool C drop or 1/200th of a specific pool C drop. 100 minutes of your time is worth a random pool C drop; 1000 minutes is worth a specific pool C drop.
I didn't make that up and tell you what your time was supposed to be worth, the devs did
[/ QUOTE ]...see...now, you're completely skewing things out into left field. Did you miss the part where I said I play this game for fun?
[/ QUOTE ]
This is really not an argument worth having. You see, Flux has defined "best" in terms of ROI. Numerically, there's no arguing that the best ROI currently looks to be saving up and taking the most valuable commodity, then either using it or selling it.
If that's all he wants to play the game for - to play Accountants and Actuaries and optimize reward over time - then that's fine. He can have his fun that way. If he wants to sneer at people who have fun other ways, who may already have everything they want and just enjoy playing the game and getting what they get, then that's fine, too.
There is no middle ground, when he defines the optimal decision structure so narrowly and stops just short of name-calling while actively mocking anyone who dares to disagree with him. At that point, he's just trolling for a response, and it sounds like you've got more entertaining things to do than provide one for him. 
My postings to this forum are not to be used as data in any research study without my express written consent.
This probably isn't a discussion that belongs in this thread. Yes, I know I'm not the forum police or anything. Just saying. This argument has been had before, and will be had again, and isn't really related to I13 feedback.
What's the optimal or best use of one's time in the game does indeed depend very strongly on what one's goals are. It's a misuse of the words to say that something that fits your priorities "isn't worth your time", because that can only be a personal decision.
However, in this kind of context, it should be understood that "worth it" means in terms of whether or not it's a good strategy for obtaining game rewards. On that question, connected with random rolls, I'm not completely convinced that for my circumstances (which include, among other things, lots of alts to spread things around to and a general disinterest in extreme min-maxing), the random roll isn't a good deal--or that it might not become a good deal with merit-system-driven price changes. I'm not going to commit myself any further until I can do some real research, which I'm certainly not going to do tonight.
I will admit, though, that regardless of how the numbers turn out, I'll probably do random rolls a lot of the time. This is because gambling is more fun than shopping for me. But I'm not going to pretend that this says anything about whether or not it's an optimal choice in terms of game rewards.
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That's what my time is worth. Fun. And the devs didn't have a single thing to say in that.
[/ QUOTE ]
And I have fun doing things that have no rewards attached, like chatting with my friends, helping people learn, occasionally lolPvP, or decorating bases... your point?
The devs have decided that independent of any fun you may be having, they're going to reward certain behaviors at certain rates, and independent of any fun you may be having, they'll reduce that reward if enough people exceed their desired rate. That's not my decision, or my desire.
Don't argue with the messenger if you don't like the message.
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You're under the presumtion that everyone cares about getting the most possible merits for every second they play. That's completely and totally wrong. Merits will be a nice side benefit...but I'll play what I have fun with. I like Posi. I'll play it because it's one I can play with just my boyfriend, with very little hassle. And we'll have fun doing it.
Or...no...wait. We won't...because you don't think it's possible for us to be able to.
[/ QUOTE ]
No, I'm saying that the system is going to end up as unfairly skewed because of the people who have their fun by playing in the most optimal manner possible, to the detriment of the people like you who have fun in other ways. And I expect people will broadly start to find that unfairness translates into un-funness when they're the ones on the receiving end of it.
There are also degrees of fun. Just playing is fun. Both playing and getting something shiny is more fun than just playing for a lot of people. Reducing the second is going to result in a net reduction of fun, however small or large depending on the person's emphasis on having shinies.
Like a parade is fun. A parade that gets rained on isn't that fun. The merit system lets people who speed TFs rain on the parade for the people who don't.
[ QUOTE ]
I will. I'll be having fun playing the same game I've been playing for the past two years. I had fun before IOs. I ran TFs before IOs. Even if they completely stripped IOs from the game, the game would still be fun.
[/ QUOTE ]
Good for you. I've been here for four years. I've had fun the whole time. That doesn't mean I couldn't have had more fun for some of it. I've in fact had more fun since issue 9 entirely because of inventions, and I see the merit system's probable effects on the inventions market as a mid- and long-term reduction-in-fun for me.
And I on principle don't like the stated intention of the devs to adjust merits based on median average times from datamining, which allows people who can blow through taskforces - and who in fact find it fun to do so - to rain on everyone else's fun-parade. Like yours, and even mine.
In fact, this makes taskforce speed-running a type of "PvP" that no player can avoid... not even future players who aren't even subscribed when it hits.
"Experience is the mother of good judgement. Bad judgement is the father of experience."
I know I will be using the random roll a great deal.
I will be grabbing the specific IOs on most likely, a single character each side them passing them off. Everyone else will have pot luck
@Catwhoorg "Rule of Three - Finale" Arc# 1984
@Mr Falkland Islands"A Nation Goes Rogue" Arc# 2369 "Toasters and Pop Tarts" Arc#116617
[ QUOTE ]
Poster: Mirai
Q: The merit system had been advertised as a way to purchase a wide variety of items, including certain costume parts and badges. That variety is not there. Are there plans to add these things in shortly, or has that strategy been scrapped?
A: The Merit system has a lot of room for growth and items like costume pieces and badges would be a great addition to this system. Well be looking at ways of expanding upon this system in the future.
[/ QUOTE ]
Would this possibly include a merit reward system for TEAM pvp in pvp zones? Some type of incentive to form teams in BB, WB. SC and RV might go some way to restoring the PvP ranks and help to facilitate new blood imho.
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However, in this kind of context, it should be understood that "worth it" means in terms of whether or not it's a good strategy for obtaining game rewards. On that question, connected with random rolls, I'm not completely convinced that for my circumstances (which include, among other things, lots of alts to spread things around to and a general disinterest in extreme min-maxing), the random roll isn't a good deal--or that it might not become a good deal with merit-system-driven price changes. I'm not going to commit myself any further until I can do some real research, which I'm certainly not going to do tonight.
[/ QUOTE ]
This is what I'm trying to get at. The devs have quantified the optimal game reward per unit time that they want you to get, and have defined how to get it. The message they are sending is "we want you to do it this way" by setting up a system where "this way" gives you the most rewards.
They can't directly reward you with fun, but there is a demonstrable, significant correlation between 'fun' and 'points and shinies' for most MMORPG players. And they can directly reward you with points (exp/inf) and shinies (inventions).
Right now shinies are awarded randomly, and points are awarded steadily. Merits are a points-for-shinies system, and one where the devs have made explicit how many shiny-points they want you to get for your time investments at which tasks... which is in essence tantamount to their sending the message that completing the tasks that give the best merits faster than the median average time of the player base is intended as the 'most fun' way of playing.
"Experience is the mother of good judgement. Bad judgement is the father of experience."
<QR>
Were the KB protection IOs removed from Pool A outright? Or do we not know?
"I'm not scared of anyone or anything Angie. Isn't that the way life should be?"
Jack Hawksmoor, The Authority.
Why is everyone so worried about trading merits?
Use your merit toon to collect and craft the reward. Then have a trustworthy friend transfer the crafted enhancements to the toon you want them on.
Problem solved. Boy that was tough.
*readies fire extinguisher*
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First off, thank you for taking the time to answer some of our concerns about this. One of your answers was actually linked to a question I asked in the original thread, although the reply was to a different post:[ QUOTE ]
Poster: EvilGeko
Q: Will you state right here, right now, that you will not further nerf rewards on content that the playerbase learns to do quicker?
A: We cant do that. However, we can state right here and now that we wont take such decisions lightly. Were going to only decrease rewards on a task if we dont have the option of immediately making adjustments to a Task Force and we find that the majority of players are running the Task Force at a significantly reduced average time than before.
[/ QUOTE ]
My concern is how you determine the majority of players are running at a significantly reduced time, as opposed to the same group of players running the TF or SF more often at reduced times, which causes the majority of runs to have a significantly reduced time.
Because this seems to be gearing the system towards the speed runners, and leaving the "average" player who doesn't stealth the objectives with reduced rewards. This is already shown in the time estimate from the Virgil Tarikoss SF and Eden Trial - an 8-person team fighting their way through each mission will not take an average of 50 or 10 minutes to complete these, so obviously the rewards are geared towards the multiple runs of a smaller group of people.
I'm also concerned about the cost of several of the rewards and pricing of them. Do you honestly want to say that defeating 20 AVs isn't even worth one single origin enhancement, through two runs at least 24 hours apart of the Katie Hannon TF? Also, a couple of developers that aren't on the rewards team have stated that they had slightly lower estimates for how much effort should go into a random recipe roll, both listing times of around 60-75 minutes. This would put the cost of a random roll at 12-15 merits, which is honestly where I see the average completion time settling into once speed runs are done more frequently on the higher-value TFs.
I'm still wondering how failed attempts are accounted for in the average as well.
[/ QUOTE ]
Welcome, Synapse.
The above states a concern of mine very well, as well.
Say - to be ridiculous about it - someone finds a way to run a "Speed Quarterfield." Ok, stop laughing. They finish it in, say, 1 hour. 80 (from memory, not looking it up ATM) merits.
He gets a group together. Every day, they run a SpeedQ. Others find out. Soon there's an average of two Quarterfields an hour being completed. It's the same, say, three groups of players, just switching characters. The normal player, who rarely touches it, finally decides to run one, taking six to eight hours over two or three days. Their "average" is pretty much lost in the data, I'd think.
To counteract this, why not - while in a Task Force - award a merit to everyone in the group for, say, every 250-300 enemies defeated? That way, when "SpeedQ" is inevitably nerfed because "it can be done in an average of an hour and a half," those who slog through are getting more of a reward, instead of being *dis*couraged to use their time on this TF? Sure, the speedsters (no offense ) might get more merits in the end - but for each run, the "regular" players are getting more per TF.
[/ QUOTE ]
A 4 hour Invincible Dr Q is easily achievable with an well built team of experienced players. The trick is to leave the team leader sitting on the contact until you get the call button. I've done it just for fun.
Enjoy your 80 merits while it lasts. I expect the real Speeders to show how fast it can really be done.
Together we entered a city of strangers, we made it a city of friends, and we leave it a City of Heroes. - Sweet_Sarah
BOYCOTT NCSoft (on Facebook)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/517513781597443/
Governments have fallen to the power of social media. Gaming companies can too.
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Poster: TheWeaver
Q: What impact are you expecting the merit system to have on those of us who (for one reason or another) tend not to run TF/SF's?
A: The intention of the system was to also give players who dont tend to run Task Forces and Strike Forces the chance at earning the same high end rewards as players normally running Task Forces, however at a diminished rate. This gives player an opportunity to earn rewards they normally would not have had access to outside of the Black Market/Wentworths.
[/ QUOTE ]
The merit system has a lot of room for versatility and game play enhancement for the players. I am a strong believer in rewarding players based on their style of game-play preference. Judging by your answers it looks to me like the Development team is leaning toward this trend as well.
In future issues, would it be possible to reward players with merits for attaining especially hard badges? EX: It took me personally several months... (to put it mildly) to attain the Toxic Tarantula badge by patrolling in RWZ many an hour. Other badges like illusionist, and Positron's TF and Rocketman in Warburg have similar stories.
While I understand that the badge itself is a status symbol and is it's own reward, wouldn't it make sense for the Devs to use the principle of positive reinforcement, (awarding a few measly merits to a players upon certain badge completion) in order to encourage and reward players for this kind of behavior (and playing the game for many hours ad-infinitum) ?
[ QUOTE ]
Why is everyone so worried about trading merits?
Use your merit toon to collect and craft the reward. Then have a trustworthy friend transfer the crafted enhancements to the toon you want them on.
Problem solved. Boy that was tough.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah! Oh right.. this means you have one task force character or you cannot accumulate merits in any large number in a reasonable time frame on any character. It doesn't really matter if you're tired of that character and really want to play an alt on the TF run that you and your friends are running tonight.
[ QUOTE ]
I know I will be using the random roll a great deal.
I will be grabbing the specific IOs on most likely, a single character each side them passing them off. Everyone else will have pot luck
[/ QUOTE ]
that's what I'm planning to do, too.
however, I have serious doubts if it will work.
say I become one of the minority who's providing the market with random IOs. I can increase my prices a bit if there are not enough other people producing those items, right? (In fact, say I'm rolling at level 30, on an alt who just runs low TFs, so I'm getting level 30 damage procs and such that are maybe worth more than a 50.)
What can I do with my increased earnings by taking random rolls for Inf?
Well, I can buy from the other people in the minority suppliers group. who are likely increasing *their* prices, too.
I doubt I'll find a way to stay ahead of the inflation curve on this one. but I'm gonna give it a try.
the only thing that will work is if the total number of random rolls generated on a daily basis stays the same. you'd have to see the same number of longer TFs run, at more than 1 random roll per TF (like how Posi is 2+ rolls) and have that compensate for the people who swear to never roll. Just talking about popular content, I doubt people will run the longer TFs at a factor that makes up for the lack of Katies.
I would have much preferred a system that gave the one random roll PLUS some Merits to bring the longer TFs up to a baseline amount of reward per time. That removes the whole minority supplier factor, and merely adds the ability to buy what you may not find randomly, plus the ability to buy if you rack up from other sources like arcs or Monsters. fixing the drop rate for Katies is not a problem that needed to be addressed.
[ QUOTE ]
I would have much preferred a system that gave the one random roll PLUS some Merits to bring the longer TFs up to a baseline amount of reward per time. That removes the whole minority supplier factor, and merely adds the ability to buy what you may not find randomly, plus the ability to buy if you rack up from other sources like arcs or Monsters. fixing the drop rate for Katies is not a problem that needed to be addressed.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well said. If the devs had given Katie say a random roll and 0 merits and Dr. Q a random roll and 50-60 merits, the system would be much less likely to cause a disruption while still giving those people who want to avoid the market another option.
The City of Heroes Community is a special one and I will always look fondly on my times arguing, discussing and playing with you all. Thanks and thanks to the developers for a special experience.
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Opportunity Cost. Spending those 20 merits on a random roll at Pool C is a bad bet if you're looking for something specific. The most you'll have to spend for a specific recipe is 250 merits. Or 12.5 random rolls. It's a bad gamble to take the roll. Before this, it wasn't a choice. You did a TF you got a roll, not skeeball tickets.
This isn't a problem with Pool D which is tiny and nearly everything it it is good.
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Agreed that if you want one specific thing, and anything else is basically worthless to you, then the random roll is a very poor deal.
If your needs/wants are a little more flexible, it becomes a better deal.
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The only way I could become that 'flexible' is add about a dozen controllers to my stable of alts.
Right now I have 15 alts that I play, and they are in a wide variety of powersets. But I would say that for roughly 33-40% of the katies I run, I end up with a recipe that *none* of my alts can use. Those aren't good enough odds, sorry. There is no way I'm using my merits for random rolls when there is at least a 1 in 3 chance that I'll get something totally useless to me.
"Home is where, when you have to go there, they have to let you in."