Life without high-level alts...

Here's what I was doing...

http://i1009.photobucket.com/albums/...h/Workinit.jpg

http://i1009.photobucket.com/albums/...omfortable.jpg

Remember, you're only underdressed if you don't have the bubbles!

(for reference, a blaster with properly built Force Field support is literally ten times as hard to kill as one with no buffs. When people talk about buffs being better than heals, this is the example I always use. Actually playing Force Field defenders is kinda boring for most people. )

Common IOs are an excellent slotting choice for low levels. I rarely slot any sets at all, except maybe slotting drops and putting in quality of life IOs like Knockback Protection and Stealth, until I get into the 30s. (In fact, because the game gives low-level characters an accuracy boost anyway, I don't often slot anything at all before level 10, sometimes level 15.)

Anyway, until 30+ I stick to Common IOs, which don't have to be replaced like Dual and Single Origins -- even you can't afford to upgrade them, at least they don't stop working. Plus, they don't really need to be replaced every five levels anyway. I usually do every other five. E.g. level 10 Commons slotted will be replaced by level 20, and then level 30, while level 15s will go 25, 35.

Crafting Common IOs gives badges, and that means there are always players out there crafting for the badges, not to make inf. This means they dump their Common IOs on the market for well below crafting cost, just to get rid of them. Bid low on stacks of premade Common IOs in advance of the level you want to slot them at, and the bids will likely have filled by the time you get to the level you need them.

Other people's crafting badges are also a source of income for my new characters, in the form of flipping. I put in bids for assorted level 50 Common IOs in the range of 15,000 - 30,000 inf, and then resell them for 300,000. It isn't big bucks, but it creates a starting character nest egg pretty quickly.

And speaking of crafting badges, that's a nice, low-stress way to make money. Getting a crafting badge requires crafting so many Common IOs of the right levels (Paragonwiki has the details). Once you have the badge, the Common IO is memorized -- it not longer requires a recipe to craft, and the crafting cost is also reduced. Bid low and be patient to pick up salvage and recipes on the auction house, and get the badges. Then bid low for salvage, and you can craft and sell IOs for much less than people who don't have the badge.

It's perfectly possible to make money (in the ten of millions of inf region) while getting all the crafting badges, if you're patient about picking up the salvage and recipes. But you don't need them all to get started. You can start by looking at Damage, Accuracy and Endurance Modification/Reduction in the 25-40 levels.

Oh, cool. Crafting badges seem like they'd be worth looking into, then.

Given the limited number of market slots:

(1) Despite advice to "buy low sell high" -- settle for selling less than the high mark. Otherwise the slot could be tied up for days or weeks.

(2) If you are selling something that is not a fast moving item, email it to a seldom used alt to do the selling so that your active character's slots are not tied up.

(3) Stay away from recipes/enhancements that sell slowly (i.e. where the last 5 sales are spread out over weeks, or indicate an insufficient sale rate relative to the number up for sale).

here's another of my old tricks that's handy for building inf on low-ish level characters without a big up-front cost:

flip crafted generics.


This only works with stuff people actually want, so steer clear of holds, sleeps, all the usual suspects.

Let's say you decide to work level 30 damage IOs. You can either dial in your numbers by watching prices for a while, getting a sense of the high end, or you can take the shortcut, check once during 'prime time' and place a bunch of bids for somewhere between 1/2 and 1/3rd of the "going rate". Sometimes you can get stuff even cheaper, but the goal here is turnover so I try to bid high enough to be certain I'll fill up before my next login.

Once you win a bunch of stuff at discount rates, re-list it for well below the 'going rate' but at a high enough point to ensure a worthwhile profit for yourself.

This same principal works with set IOs, but the amount of inf involved can be prohibitive for relatively 'poor' characters, and the timeline is usually a bit longer. If you make a mistake flipping generics, it's no big deal. If you make a mistake flipping the more expensive stuff, it can take a big bite out of your nest egg.

I've been doing this almost literally since the market started- back in the day level 50 flight IOs were my bread and butter. That it still works like a charm is a testament to how little attention the average player pays to our little corner of the forums. =P

I very rarely ever twink my lowbies anymore.

It's simply too easy to make inf by crafting and selling drops, along with a little low level marketing.

Being LAZY, I can have a +2/+3 level enhancement in every available slot at almost any given level (including SOs) and several tens of millions left over.

Granted, below level 10 or so that's tougher due to slot limitations with the market. But still.

Usually what I do is get SOs at 25, and then start IO'ing at 30.

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

I suspect, though, that you have a much better idea of which items are worth more or less than I do, which would affect the time it takes a lot. Every time I want to look at anything, I have to look up all of its components separately, and if they move fast, I have no way of telling whether I'm looking at current prices 10x the long-term average market value or 1/10 the long-term average market value.

Hiya Seebs!

It seems that you have been blasted with tons of great advice here on how to generate inf. One thing that you should not lose sight on is what you want to get out of this game. Do not give up on teaming with others simply because you can get all the drops!

Also keep in mind "working/playing" the market is very simple (for those of us who have figured out how to do it!!). When starting out it can seem as difficult as teaching a rock how to ride a bicycle.

Start small! by small i mean low priced items. That and keep communicating on this forum! The knowledge here is almost too good to be true.

Feel free to send me a tell whenever you wish, for questions, teams, etc

@Epoxy Man is my global


Remember, enjoy the game! Afterall, isn't that why we play it?

OK, advice on what is an appropriate bid/sale:

1) Anything less than X inf might as well be zero, so never bid less than X inf. For me X is 5908. For you it might be lower. Figure any set IO you are going to craft and resell should make you at least half a million profit. Any generic should make you at least 100,000 (if memorized). It takes about three salvage to make an IO. Do your math, pick a number, don't get dragged down in pettiness.

2) Midlevel common salvage: some of it is worth something, some of the time. There are some that are used MUCH more than others, and once in a while there's a shortage of something for whatever reason. Alchemical Silver is "Frequently valuable" [valuable = 50K or more) while "Often valuable" is... hmm, everything on this list in the common mid-tier except Improvised Cybernetics. Alch Silver is used in Accuracy and Defense generics, so it's very popular.

I consider 5-20K to be a reasonable price, and 100K+ to be an annoying price. A couple thousand of these a day go through Wentworth's, much less than that through the Black Market.

3) Uncommon salvage: These are unpopular to the point that they are often deleted, and they're low enough in volume that they're easy to manipulate, so they frequently go crazy in price. The "buy in 10 minutes" price is usually around 20K or less, and the "buy it RIGHT NOW" price is often 20K or less, but sometimes floats up to 200K.

4) High Level Common salvage: A ridiculous amount of this is generated every day, so it's almost never selling for more than your minimum bid. It's very common to see, like, 4000 for sale and no bids. (This can be an illusion, because sometimes people try to "corner the market", give up when they can't buy everything, and leave 1500 for sale at inflated prices. So of that 4000, only 300 or 400 may be at cheapo prices. So it goes.)

5) Recipes: This gets a little complex. Look at The Big Page, paying attention to the picture next to each recipe. That's the "supply" side. Yellow gunsights drop frequently from enemies, orange gunsights drop rarely from enemies, shields drop from mission complete, and those green things drop from merit or "AE Gold" rolls.

Yellow gunsights and shields are in very high supply. Level 50 recipes are in very high supply, and "max level" is usually in higher supply than all lower levels put together.

The "demand" side is a lot harder to figure out. Sets that give +Recharge or +Defense are currently trendy; previously trendy were sets that gave +Regen and... umm... I don't even remember. +Damage?

Very few people have any use for the following sets: Sleep, Immobilize, Hold, Pet, Sniper, Confuse, Fear, Knockback, Stun, Taunt, Defense Debuff, To Hit Buff/Debuff . That doesn't mean that they're bad sets, it means they are probably oversupplied relative to demand and therefore will be cheap.

Combining these things, Positron's Blast Acc/Dam/End (ranged AOE, recharge bonus, drops from merit rolls) should be expensive. And generally it is. If you want it at level 30-33 instead of 50, it's VERY inconvenient to get.