Earning Prestige in the modern COH?

Ok not a newb question but an old fart returning after several years.
I have my own SG base with 12 toons in it. I am probably the only one that ever plays in the SG (2 other people in it but they hardly play anymore).
When I last played Prestige flowed freely and I could do some fun things with the base. Now I've just leveled my controller to 30 and have a whopping 50k prestige to show for it.
On this board everyone is saying "no problem, a nice base costs only a few million prestige..." WHAT?!! There has got to be a way to make prestige in this game, right?
Please tell me that this isn't some kind of Planet of the Apes nightmare where I cant have a nice base to myself unless I level all 15 of my slots to 50 then farm for the next 2 years because the monkeys took over the controls of how money (inf) is distributed.
Any Ideas to earn the prestige fast would be helpful.

PS
Yes I want to play the game, No, I dont want to AE it all the way to the top, boring waste of time...

Prestige earning picks up after about lvl 25. I have a one man SG. My toons are in SG mode always. On average, each one earns around 450k in prestige on the trip from level one to level 50.

Also there is a 20k prestige bonus for the first 15 characters in a SG. So maybe you could find 3 more active players and that would give you an additional 60k.

Prices on base items and plots have come way down as well as rent being much cheaper than it used to be.

Good luck and don't get discouraged. I always got kinda bummed when I'd see me lvl 35 toons had only made like 60k in prestige. Then I looked at some of my 50s that I didn't really play after they hit 50 had around 450k and I didn't feel so bad.

Of all the MMo's that I play, the thing I like most is crafting. (could be my age) and I loved how EQ2 had player housing and now guildhalls you could create stuff and decorate as you wanted.
That being said, its why I really want to play around with my base.
That or maybe NCSoft (hint, hint!) could come up with some form of player housing? That would take the edge off of creating a base.
From what I read on your post, 450k is about all your going to get from 1 to 50 which means you would need around 10 lvl 50's to get the mats needed for a good base. I dont powerlevel so that would require a lot of time and I want the base to be useful for my lower toons to pop in and out of the different zones.
I think i'm really gonna have to think this through. I like the game concept and prefer it over the others its why I find this upsetting

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When I last played Prestige flowed freely and I could do some fun things with the base.

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Okay, right off: prestige is earned FASTER than when you last played and base plots and rooms are CHEAPER.

So if you are remembering that it used to be easier to set up a base, you are DRAMATICALLY misremembering. Maybe you're remembering how it was with multiple people earning prestige.

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While ~450k prestige is what you could get leveling up to 50, there's nothing stopping you from continuing to play a 50 in SG mode after 50. In the last 10 months my toons alone have earned almost 10 million prestige for my VG, with my brute having earned almost 5 million of that. And my 50 scrapper broke 1 million for my SG within 3 months of being created (before the AE by the way).

Now, I know that's a rather large time frame, but most of this was earned before the advent of the AE. Even non-farm AE missions can be prime grounds for prestige earning. And the good old Task/Strike Forces can earn anywhere from 10-50k prestige, depending on which is being run.

Either way, it boils down to time spent. I know the numbers may seem large, but diligently playing in SG mode as much as possible, even beyond 50, will go a long way to earning what you need to at least get a functional base. And of course there is always the dreaded Inf>Prestige conversion, but unless you're one of the minority of ebil marketeers the 500:1 ratio for conversion can be very unappetizing.

Just my two bits...

What's this? A horn? for me?
/em blows horn

I may be able to restart my "matching grant" program on inf -> prestige soon. 250:1 is still pretty unappetizing, but it's half as bad.

I play the game a lot and it did seem that I wasn't making much. but I think thats because I have too many alts and they usually make it to about lvl 20 before I get the urge to make a new one. But, once I got serious about my base, It took me maybe 3 months to get a pretty nice base with all the porters and way more than enough storage for me. Well maybe not way more than enough, I like to horde things, but that's why they lowered how much the storage bins hold. But all in all it goes fairly quickly. And once you get the functional items you want out of the way, decorating really doesn't cost much.

Spending influence at the SG Registrar to get Prestige is the sort of thing you do if there's something you really have to have right now, kinda like paying the listed rate for anything on the market -- it's the eBay "Buy It Now" price for bases. One million influence only gets you two thousand Prestige, and even with the new, lower costs for bases, you'd need to spend hundreds of millions in influence to make any kind of worthwhile addition to your base. Fulmens has been helping people with this, but even with his usual matching offer, you're still not getting a great deal by going to the registrar.

While I do understand the need to get things built "right now" for the instant gratification of having the big shiny you want, I will almost always recommend you're better off in the long run by being patient and investing that inf in making your own characters more powerful by getting better IOs. As your characters get more powerful, you defeat enemies more quickly, and that leads to faster Prestige earnings just from playing the game.

Task Forces can net higher level toons 10K or more. Sometimes a lot more. I usually roll up somewhere between 15-20K on an ITF team. That's on teams that complete it in 70-90 minutes. If you have time to play the game, you'll roll up Prestige just by playing. Just takes some patience.

I think the biggest rule though is, we all want to see whatever your Prestige is spent on. When you get your base going, don't hesitate to show pics here in one of the base threads.

PsychicGeek,

Don't get torn up about it. What i did on a couple of toons was turn off my xp so that i only earned influence and prestiage. It was a great way to earn both for my SG. Also there is only 2 of us in my SG and we got a nicely designed base we been building. Great way to earn prestiage is doing TF and ship raids well at least for me it was. Good luck an hang in there you get it. If you ever want to see what i did to my base just PT me and I'll be glad to show u. Good luck!

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What i did on a couple of toons was turn off my xp so that i only earned influence and prestiage. It was a great way to earn both for my SG.

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I think this is a misconception.

If you are exemplared (via Ouroboros, Task Force, or actually helping someone lower than you) you get double influence and (I think) double Prestige .

If you turn off XP I believe you don't get any reward for your selfless action.

... just checked, and it was 16 prestige for a minion with XP turned off and 16 prestige for the minion next to him with XP turned on.

Edited in orange because XP is not prestige.

I understand how people feel on this matter. Fulmens helped me out getting a little closer to my goal in my hero base but my VG my husband and I did just about by ourselves. We had a friend that plays on a regular bases join us and I have gottten to this really awsome functional base just by levling up our toons, oh yeah and doing Strike Forces (anyone on triumph and wants to join keep an eye out for Trolls Strike Force) I know that I will get to my goal to get the power and such that I need for my hero base when we swap sides for thes fun runs.

Honestly just play and enjoy playing you will get the base of your dreams soon enough.

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What i did on a couple of toons was turn off my xp so that i only earned influence and prestiage. It was a great way to earn both for my SG.

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I think this is a misconception.

If you are exemplared (via Ouroboros, Task Force, or actually helping someone lower than you) you get double influence and (I think) double Prestige .

If you turn off XP I believe you don't get any reward for your selfless action.

... just checked, and it was 16 prestige for a minion with XP turned off and 16 prestige for the minion next to him with XP turned on.

Edited in orange because XP is not prestige.

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It is definitely a fairly common misconception and one that hopefully can be cleared up for more people. Thanks for posting confirmation on that, Fulmens.

Oddly enough with all the Task Forces I lead, I never remember to check on Prestige amounts when ex'd down to a lower level. I'll have to check that to see if it really doubles Prestige. If so, I'll be leading a lot more Numina, Hess, Synapse and Citadel TFs than I already do.

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Prestige earning picks up after about lvl 25. I have a one man SG. My toons are in SG mode always. On average, each one earns around 450k in prestige on the trip from level one to level 50.

Also there is a 20k prestige bonus for the first 15 characters in a SG. So maybe you could find 3 more active players and that would give you an additional 60k.

Prices on base items and plots have come way down as well as rent being much cheaper than it used to be.

Good luck and don't get discouraged. I always got kinda bummed when I'd see me lvl 35 toons had only made like 60k in prestige. Then I looked at some of my 50s that I didn't really play after they hit 50 had around 450k and I didn't feel so bad.

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The secret is easy...my main has over 4 million Prestige.

1) Pick a main you enjoy and play him/her a lot, even after hitting 50. There are lots of things to do

2) Or, create new toons, and AE Farm them for prestige...and turn off exp earning at lvl 26, when the prestige is maximized.

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Spending influence at the SG Registrar to get Prestige is the sort of thing you do if there's something you really have to have right now, kinda like paying the listed rate for anything on the market -- it's the eBay "Buy It Now" price for bases. One million influence only gets you two thousand Prestige, and even with the new, lower costs for bases, you'd need to spend hundreds of millions in influence to make any kind of worthwhile addition to your base. Fulmens has been helping people with this, but even with his usual matching offer, you're still not getting a great deal by going to the registrar.

While I do understand the need to get things built "right now" for the instant gratification of having the big shiny you want, I will almost always recommend you're better off in the long run by being patient and investing that inf in making your own characters more powerful by getting better IOs. As your characters get more powerful, you defeat enemies more quickly, and that leads to faster Prestige earnings just from playing the game.

Task Forces can net higher level toons 10K or more. Sometimes a lot more. I usually roll up somewhere between 15-20K on an ITF team. That's on teams that complete it in 70-90 minutes. If you have time to play the game, you'll roll up Prestige just by playing. Just takes some patience.

I think the biggest rule though is, we all want to see whatever your Prestige is spent on. When you get your base going, don't hesitate to show pics here in one of the base threads.

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Actually, exchanging influence does work well, and when combined with earning prestige, you can grow the base very quickly. I'm speaking through experience.

Of course, I make about 500-600 million influence per week at the market...so I have the influence to spare when I need it.

Right now, my SG is worth around 90 million, and I have over 60 million left over even with the biggest secure plot.

There is also another option though...Double XP Weekend. EXP is not the only thing doubled.

I would imagine, making a new toon and getting on AE farms, you could have millions of PRestige earned very quickly.

If you don't want to PL, just turn off the exp gain while on the AE Farms.

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If you are exemplared (via Ouroboros, Task Force, or actually helping someone lower than you) you get double influence and (I think) double Prestige .

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Sorry to burst your bubble, but I believe this to be a misconception as well.

"All experience the exemplar would have gained goes instead toward paying off debt, if she has any, or becomes influence if she has no debt. This increase in influence has no effect on how much prestige is gained by a character in supergroup mode. Additionally, an exemplared character will not get any enhancements or normal infamy/influence rewards from defeating enemies ...
... It is widely believed that an exemplared character gains full normal influence rewards in addition to any extra influence he gets from converted experience. In fact, it's even stated in several player guides, both official and unofficial. This is not true. Playing while exemplared and debt-free will not result in roughly double the usual amount of influence. "
- Excerpt from the Wiki Article.

When I read this, it seemed to go counter to what I remembered. However, in testing it using AE and Oro, I found that I actually gained less influence per defeat with my 50 bs/wp. Defeating a level 50 Lieutenant at level 50 (in AE and on the street) got me 3,335 influence and 44 prestige. I tested exemplaring to different levels within AE (49, 47, and 45) and at each level, facing even-con lieutenants, I earned 2,779 influence and 44 prestige. I then headed to Oro and chose an arc that exemplared me to 45 and headed to PI where I killed a few random even-con lieutenants to test if AE was borked. I earned the same amount from them.

Then I thought that maybe it was because I was doing it with a level 50 and that it wasn't working right, so I logged in a level 36. Against an even-con lieutenant, I recieved 1,613 experience, 968 influence, and 44 prestige. Exemplared to 35, I got 807 influence and 44 prestige.

Conclusion:
Examplaring does not affect prestige earning at all, and actually lowers the rate at which you earn influence.

That is, unless I'm just bugged and gaining way too much influence when not exemped.

Whoa. Today I learned something.

Definitely good to know. Thanks for the testing!

It's not really good to know though. Heh. It makes it so that it isn't really worth your while to exemplar at 50. I would think that the developers would want to encourage people to exemplar and help out lower level heroes. Admittedly it's not a huge loss of inf per kill, but it adds up, so I'd much rather be fighting things my level and SKing a lowbie instead of exemplaring to them.

One thing I would suggest is coalitions.

I have a couple of coalitions with people who run their own small SG (same as my SG/VG, we have three members and currently I'm the active one ). Our bases are already kitted out with teleporters etc, so the coalitions members can focus on storage etc while still benefiting from using the TPs in my base. Why does my SG/VG get? Some nice people who are good teamers. I don't randomly offer coalitions; I team a bit before. You start chatting to someone and you may get a similar offer. Obviously this maybe easier depending on your server; which one is it? One of the nicest people I've met on this game was someone who I started chatting with in Pocket D after we both helped someone else with Snaptooth.

Don't be too disheartened about prestige earnt; as has been stated it's a lot easier now. I upgraded my SG base about a week ago and due to a small miscalculation on my part (IE thought the 5x5 room had 8 TPs, 16 beacons) was REALLY short of prestige when I needed to buy an extra TP room. At one point I got all the rooms down (had to sell the medbay) but could only afford one beacon.

Less than a week later I had all those beacons back (160k prestige). Mainly running TFs and normal content. AE only if I couldn't find anything else to do. Yesterday morning I finished decorating the base too.

Last time I checked on a 50, an ITF gives about 20k prestige and that can take 45mins to 2hours. I have never checked the other TFs but I would imagine the low level ones where there are a lot of kill alls to be excellent.

Best of luck.

Another point to consider is that the tests above involve even-con mobs - what about mobs that are five levels higher, or eight levels higher? You won't be finding any when you're level 50, but you just may when exemplaring. My blaster first started taking wall groups in Cimerora at level 43, and the prestige gains were excellent in terms of time versus reward even with occasional defeats and frequent escapes to heal. Now that I've hit 50 I may have to exemplar and try that again.

Here's a couple tips that I've come across for Prestige Earning

1. Work all of your contacts all the way through. Mission completion prestige is a nice little boost. Be sure to turn off XP all all the appropriate times to be sure you get all the missions and contacts from your current contact. It can be time consuming, but it can earn you quite a bit as you play through the game.

2. AE. While normally I do not care for farming, if you can get enough tickets to make a roll on the Gold Recipie tables, you might end up with a recipie that sells for millions. And while the exchange rate is not the best (understandably so), a recipie could net you enough for up to 400k prestige. Plus there's the prestige from the missions.