Quote:
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.|
Originally Posted by Sayaki
[*]AE is a worthwhile venture when you need quick influence and experience. A short AE arc, even a non-farming one, can easily net you the tickets required to buy rare salvage from the ticket vendors of AE. In 20 minutes, solo, you can net enough to buy a high level rare salvage that can be sold in WW for a couple million. I don’t recommend doing this at too early levels because your power selection is limited and it becomes harder to accomplish, but as you grow, this will become more and more realistic a prospect when you just need a small, quick burst of inf. More importantly, it keeps you playing and having fun, which is what the game is about.
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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.
"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.
That's a valid argument Gavin. I stand corrected. I was more concerned that early levels have a hard time handling AE, which are mostly geared towards more powerful characters. But for those arcs that a character in that range can handle, this is a very good suggestion. Thank you 
This was first written for a number of in game friends and sent out as an email to them. Many of them felt that making even 50 million inf was beyond them and were seeking a way to actually afford the insane prices for enhancements and recipes that IOing a toon requires you be able to afford.
I was later asked to post it, and received lots of interesting feedback on the topics covered upon doing so, as well as some I skipped. I was then asked to submit it to this section. It has taken me a month to update to do so, and I have attempted to add in the information that was given me by many other players. I am open to any new suggestions players may make to this, both in PM and reply, and look forward to hearing from you on it, should you choose to do so.
I am warning the reader now, this is NOT a guide for marketing, and I wont be covering methods on how to influence prices, or what items to buy at 250 million and sell at 350 million for 100 million a week profit per item. There is plenty of information on that floating around on the various forums, and by word of mouth, and I cant deny its usefulness, but I firmly believe that if you are playing the game just to market and build massive revenue, if you are willing to spend 10 hours at a stretch doing that, you would be much better served working on wall street than on the in game consignment houses. That way you are being paid for doing the work, instead of paying for the privilege of doing it here.
This document is meant as a guide for how to make massive influence while playing the game and leveling your characters, using the consignment house as a tool to further your gaming experience.
For all the people who asked how it happens...
I present:
The Wentworth Tutorial version 2.0
or...
How to make a Billion Influence a Month on CoH
Ok, let's face it. Making inf in CoH is hard for most of us. However, others aren't having any real trouble. Several players are sitting on 1-2 billion inf on their characters. Most of their toons have 100 mill to spend on any given moment. Still, for most people it's trouble all the same. The excuses for why this is are almost always the same. Sorry to say this, but most are also fallacies in thinking. The ones I hear most often are:
"I only make a few hundred thousand inf when doing a mission"
"I never see rare salvage/rare recipe/purple recipe drops..."
"I only have an hour a day to play"
"TF/SFs take too long."
"The prices in WW/BM are too high."
"The rich players have nothing to do but play CoH all day and make inf. I have a REAL job."
The truth is that the odds are high that your favorite toon likely already has the means to earn 200 million inf by tomorrow morning. Even for players who work 9am - 5pm. Most the really wealthy players have jobs like that too, after all. By the end of this document, you will hopefully see where all of those arguments don't really apply to this method, and that within the next couple weeks, you are gonna have an abysmally large amount of influence with which to IO all your toons and make your friends go 'Wow!!!' (Which is a lot of fun
What I am going to cover here is my basic plan, and a few suggestions from friends and colleagues that makes me 200-500 million inf every 3-4 days of play time. It is why I can be so free with influence and random gifts in game without any worries about it impacting my ability to buy all the stuff I want to for my characters.
It really does boil down to a few simple points:
lvl 1- 5: Buy SO enhancements for 1000 inf and resell to vendors.
lvl 5 - 27: Sell salvage cheap. Sell everything else to vendors. Run lots of TFs.
lvl 27+: Run lots of TF/Oroboros arcs.
Use AE for tickets for quick rare salvage to sell.
Sell very expensive recipes/Enhancements bought with Reward Merits.
Now more specifically, this is the why, when, where, and how of that. Or, if you prefer, the long-winded explanation.
Please remember; although I am going to quote Wentworth prices and be focusing primarily on blue side content for this, the same practices can be directly applied to the Black Market on redside as well. At times I may call it the Consignment House, as that is the official generic term for both, but I absently call the Black Market Wentworths often enough in conversation that I want to be sure you know I consider that the generic term. For those of you who feel the need to know the differences I notice between the two, I will make some brief notes at the end.
Let's start with the early levels.
- In Wentworths, set your search for lvl 30-53. Select Enhancements --> Normal Enhancements --> Science. You should now see a list of every lvl 30-53 SO and DO with a science origin.
- Start buying SO enhancements. Spend 1000 inf on each one. Ignore any DO you see. If you can't buy one within 15 seconds after posting, just cancel the bid and move on. You don't have the auction space to mess around at such low levels. I've been known to put it off till lvl 5 just to get more auction space.
- Note: If mousing over the enhancement does not work for you to determine if it is a DO or SO, look at the ring outlining the enhancement graphic. If the right and left half match, it's an So, if they don't, it's a DO.
- When your enhancement tray is full (10 enhancements bought) go to the nearest vendor (by Ms. Liberty) and just sell them. SO generally send for 10k - 20k each. Each full tray will net you 75,000 - 125,000 influence. As soon as they are sold, return to Wentworths and continue where you left off on the list.
- If you get to the bottom of the list of Science, feel free to repeat this process for Mutation, Natural, Magic, and Technology origin. I recommend Science to start, Mutation for the second list, because those are the least used origins by players and often have the largest supply at the lowest prices. The Science SO Endurance Redux in particular often have 5-10 of each available at 1000k for you.
- Within 20 - 30 minutes, you should have your first million. Congratulations You now have more than most players did before lvl 30 in Issue 7!!!
Now, some general notes about this part. This is an excellent way to get a quick million early in game. Unless you are buying Halloween Costume Salvage and/or are going to the tailor every level, there is no possible way you can spend that much on your toon before level 27. Giving it away/spending on others is an obvious way to do so, but I am assuming you are focusing on your toon atm, and not someone else's.If you have the inclination, you might also consider making a trip into the Rikti War Zone, rather than selling to the vendors by Ms. Liberty. As Grouchybeast reported; When selling SOs for starting cash, it's worth taking the extra 5 minutes to run to the Vanguard Base in the RWZ. The Superpowered Field Trainers pay 26% of base cost for SOs, the Vanguard Quartermasters pay 40%. In laymens terms, you get a lot more money that way.
Some players will recommend you do this with IO recipes (1000 inf) and with Salvage stacks (bidding 11inf) as well. And you can, it does work. But it's a lot slower to find the items that you can buy for so little, and many IO recipes only sell for 2-5k, while salvage is only a few hundred. It adds to your cash flow this way, but it takes a lot more time to do, and consequently get you to a million influence. As I have stated to people before, this isn't the most effective (read: fastest) way to make influence at anything other than low levels as it is already, so I suggest just sticking with the SOs.
I do NOT recommend bothering to do this more than once on a toon, and then only in the early levels. Later, it can be a useful tool if you need some quick inf to get that little bit more you need for SO or a tailor trip later in the game. Further, please be aware, if more that one player is doing this in a day, it is easy to wipe out the stock of SO in this level range. This is something I really only suggest at very low levels, as it is useful for those early enhancements and your first slew of SOs. Of course, it's also fun to shock a level pact partner with a gift of 500,000 - 1,000,000 inf while they get themselves ready for that first mission outside the tutorial.
Finally, I personally consider it a common courtesy, once a toon is at level 50 and fully IOed, to place all the enhancement drops I get from missions in Wentworths at 1000 influence as selling space permits seeing as this promotes low level characters in their ability to become millionaires early game.
Now, what to do between lvl 2 and lvl 27 for more inf:
- Don't worry about Influence! There is no real worry about money after that first million in these levels. During this time, all you have to do is sell the drops from missions to help build up a base for what we'll be doing later. In all honesty, you will generally make 10 - 30 million over these levels just following this section and skipping that first million altogether. With that in mind, I will give the following recommendations:
- Salvage can be very expensive on the market. Especially when some player on some server is working on their invention badges. The salvage can and will be wiped right out. But it can also take hours to figure out what the current market value is for each individual type. This cuts into the time you have to play the game. It can leave you feeling dispirited, like selling off your salvage is a chore. You might find yourself saying 'I can put this off till later' or perhaps 'I can always just delete this stack of brass, it doesn't sell for much'. Both of those are the wrong ways to view it. The best possible way is to think 'Who cares! I have money to throw away, and everyone wants a good deal!'
- The best thing you can do with salvage is to just get rid of it. Sell it on WW for the price a store would buy it for rather than 100,000 inf. This goes counter to what you may feel is getting the most money for your Clockwork Winder, and that's true, but in the time it would take you to find the price for that Winder, mark it at 10,000 inf and wait an hour to sell it, I have sold it for a 10th the price, run two missions, and refilled my salvage storage completely to sell again. Salvage sells fast. At least, when it's not expensive it does. If you got your first million, you really don't need money atm, so no worries. Thus, the following three prices are all you need:
- Common Salvage (the white name): 250 inf.
- Uncommon Salvage (the yellow name): 1000 inf
- Rare Salvage (the red/orange name): 5000 inf
- The truth of the matter is there are lots of schmoes who will bid the vendor price and laugh at how they ripped off people expecting to get more. There are also lots of others who will bid the current market price. And at vendor prices, large numbers of salvage will sell instantly. I have never sold a rare salvage this way that did not sell for a reasonable price. Low level rares sell for 10-100k, mid to high level will always sell for 1-2 million. Common and uncommon vary in price so much that I am fine with getting vendor prices. I'd have gotten that at any shop after all. but most the time, I'll get 1000 - 100,000 inf each on those as well. Sell your salvage, just throw it on cheap and run back out and play. It'll take maybe 2 minutes and you'll have much more fun actually playing the game.
- Most Recipes aren't worth much at low levels. It is sad but true. Even on Wentworths, most of them don't even sell for 1000 influence. There are some notable exceptions to this, of course. The Procs (here referencing enhancements that have abilities, not bonuses) for Miracle, Numina's Convalescence, Luck of the Gambler, and a few others are worth a veritable fortune. It's always better to double check anything that says +3% defense or chance to <whatever>, or +regen. A handful of sets can also be decent moneymakers, Gaze of the Basilisk being a prime example, selling for as much as 30 million on occasion. It never hurts to double check prices if you are unsure about the value, and it is always worth just putting them up as you have the space available. Worst that happens is you pull it down later. It is my opinion, however, that most recipes should just be sold at a shop/vendor. On average, you'll get more inf for them, and youll certainly not be wasting your precious game time in front of WW all day long.
- Note: those exceptions listed above often sell for more if you craft them into enhancements and sell the IO enhancements on WW instead. Check market value on recipes/enhancements you think you might want to sell before dumping them on a vendor. Or not.
- TO/DO/SO Enhancements are also only of consistent value to Vendors/Shops, without exception. If you can't use it, just sell it.
- I think it is worth noting that that this is not the most you can get for your money on drops. As anyone can tell you, when Essence of the Furies (as an example) drops, and you post it for 5000, you are apt to see 1.5-2 million influence within two to three seconds. Its that in demand. I prefer doing it this way because it means Im not spending ages fooling around in WW, determining the current market values, and wasting my valuable playtime doing a job that is both tedious and dull for me. If you look at the market price on it though, you may find that it is selling regularly for 3-4 million. The same general difference is true for many recipes and salvage drops. When using this method, it is important to ask yourself if the potential extra couple million is worth the time you are going to take checking each individual price. As a rule of thumb, I check high-level rare salvage, and recipes with large (read: 6.25% or greater) recharge speeds for set bonuses or 2.5+% defense set bonuses. Other people check more items in a broader range as taste and experience may dictate. However, my goal here isnt to do some job, but to play the game itself and spend time with friends. Wentworth time reduces that. So, I stick with the quick sales.
- AE is a worthwhile venture when you need quick influence and experience. A short AE arc, even a non-farming one, can easily net you the tickets required to buy rare salvage from the ticket vendors of AE. In 20 minutes, solo, you can net enough to buy a high level rare salvage that can be sold in WW for a couple million. I dont recommend doing this at too early levels because your power selection is limited and it becomes harder to accomplish, but as you grow, this will become more and more realistic a prospect when you just need a small, quick burst of inf. More importantly, it keeps you playing and having fun, which is what the game is about.
- If time permits, use the Freedom Phalanx TFs to level. Positron will get you from level 10 to level 18. Synapse will get you to level 21; Sister Psyche will get you to level 23/24, if run sequentially. None of these TF takes more than two and a half hours to run with a competent team, and in small teams, they can be completed as fast as an hour to an hour and 15 minutes. I generally hit Moonfire next and then Citadel right after as well, which takes me to level 26 in under a 12 hour day's worth of play time. Don't hesitate to repeat a TF if you want though. These are important to do for the TF Commander Accolade, so this is a good time to get them out of the way. Moonfire is also useful with a full team, as it can get you the badges for vampyri and war wolves in 1 run, or so close as to make no never mind. Both of those are required for the Atlas Medallion Accolade Badge. Accolade powers from these are some of the best, imo. More importantly in terms of the guide though, you will receive large numbers of random drops to get rid of (see above). And most importantly, you will build up Reward Merits, which is where your real money is going to be coming from in the next section.
- Redside Strikeforces are also a great way to level and earn merits, although they not as steady a flow, nor as plentiful, as the blueside taskforces. The first not being available until level 15 can severely slow your growth without a good team. Running arcs becomes more important early on, as they will let you grow and earn you merits at the end of each one. Although it is true on blue side as well, here it becomes a life saver for you.
This information always works best for me until level 27. If you follow these recommendations, you should be floating between 10 - 30 million by then. You will easily be able to afford every SO enhancement you want doing this, and have plenty of influence to give to your friends if they are in a tight spot.From level 27 - 50:
- First, and most importantly, Everything listed above is still true. Sell the salvage cheap, don't worry much about recipes or enhancements, and if you really need a million influence, running an AE mission or reselling enhancements will still get you what you need.
- Second; If you have followed my advice on running Taskforces to level, you should have between 200 and 250 Reward Merits. You should also have well over 8 million influence, although due to posting fees, this is what you will want to have minimum. It's time to make 200 million influence.
- The first thing you need to do is check Wentworths. Check the prices for the following IO recipes and also the crafted enhancements of each type:
- Numina's Convalescence: +Recharge/Recovery (level 30)/(level 50) - 250 merits
- Miracle: +Recovery (level 20)/(level 40) - 240 merits
- Luck of the Gambler: Defense/+7.5% Global Recharge (level 25)/(level 50) - 200 merits
- Steadfast Protection: Resistance/+3% Defense (level 10)/(level 30) - 125 merits
- Regenerative Tissue: +Regeneration (level 10)/(Level 30) - 200 merits
- Blessing of the Zephyr: +Knockback Protection (level 50) - 240 merits
- Choose one based on the price it is selling at, and the frequency of sales on them. Numina often sell for 200 million, but they also tend to sell only one ever 3 days, whereas Miracle sell 3-4 every day at 175 - 200 million. choose based on the speed you want your inf and the amount you really want. Be aware that the prices on these can drop significantly whenever someone spreads the word that they got massive inf from any single IO, and will stay lower if there is large supply. Also, remember, lower level on these tend to sell for more influence than higher on average.
- Buy the recipe you chose from the Merit Vendor in WW. If it sells more as a crafted IO enhancement, buy the salvage and go make it! Your base probably has an invention table already in it, but if it doesn't, the University in Steel Canyon is a great alternative, with a WW right next door.
- Now, post the Recipe/Enhancement on Wentworths for 10 million less than current market price. Let's face it, even as low as 175 million inf, the loss is inconsequential, and it will sell faster that way. Remember that there will be a 5% fee charged to you for the amount you post at, and when you are claiming your money later on, a 5% fee will also be deducted from that. The larger the value of what you are selling, the more you are likely to notice it.
- As long as you are here, sell off all the salvage/recipe/enhancements you prolly have built up playing. You want to do this after you've posted the BIG recipe because you don't wanna accidentally sell it to some vendor. I've done that. I felt like a really big idiot for days.
- Go play the game. It won't sell faster for being watched and you'll just worry about it if you don't play and keep your mind off of it. Forget it till tomorrow and it will likely have already sold.
- That above you will be your big money maker. If you TF constantly, on better, on multiple toons, you are gonna do it faster, but even at 1-2 hours a day, you can be doing this at least once a week. Just remember the following:
- At level 25, you can start running Oroboros arcs. All Story Arcs give reward merits for completion, and they can be run through here at any time. This is a great way to solo, as it gives experience and regular drops, and if you need to, you can do it over multiple days. There are many great arcs to choose from on both red and blue sides.
- In particular, pay attention to the 25-30 arc Return to Vampyri Mountain and the 30-35 arc: Library of Souls. Both take approximately an hour solo, if you are a good stealther, and net 20-30 merits each.
- AE is your friend. If you cannot afford the salvage you need, run an AE arc. Even a short, one mission arc is likely to net you 550 tickets. That is more than you need to buy any specific Rare salvage. And as stated elsewhere, if you don't need it for a recipe, just toss it on WW for quick inf.
- At level 35, you can do the Imperious Taskforce (ITF), which will get you 26 merits in 30-60 minutes of play. There is ALWAYS an ITF forming on most servers.
- Similarly, at level 45, the Lady Gray Taskforce (LGTF) can net you 37 merits in roughly an hour of play.
- Unfortunately, as far as time constraints go, this is where I have to draw the line in the sand. In order to accomplish something in game, you must be willing to play at least a half hour to an hour when you sit down (2-4 missions time, on average), or you just arent trying to play, and if you arent trying to play, you arent going to receive the rewards involved from doing so. On the other hand, its always fun to show up and just keep in touch with your friends!! J Seriously, if you are one of the people with only 15 minutes a week to play, and you REALLY do want to get this kind of inf, grab an oroboros arc, play while you can, and just accept that it will take a significant amount of time for you to get there.
- Farming.... It is probably the most reviled of words in CoH, but it works. Players will run back and forth in mission maps, on the wall over Romulus' fortress, or in AE missions just slaughtering everything in their path with massive AoE attacks. Some players will do this for experience; leveling toons faster than what older players are comfortable with (despite the fact that running back to back TF will level you just as fast). But many will do this for drops. They may delete any non rare salvage, or just make regular runs to WW with it. They'll hunt for recipes, and on and on. It's not something I do, but it works for a lot of players and is therefore worth mentioning.
- Timing is important when working with the markets in any mmo, and Wentworths is no different. Just because you sold that Luck of the Gambler for 200 million on Monday does not mean you'll get that much on Wednesday. This is a large part of why I always say check the going prices on what you want to sell BEFORE you get the recipe to sell. The timing of your sales go further though. Prime examples of great times to post are the month before holiday events, during double experience weekends, or reactivation weekends.
Some final Important notes worth mentioning about WW...It's all I really do.
It's all that many of the billionaires in the game do.
Good luck
-Michael: Ill/Storm Troller <><><><><><> Slide-Show Base-Tour: Its a London Thing