Merit Help

I'm looking for as much information about the Merit System as I can find. It was implemented just about right before I took a break, so now I'll be delving into it for the first time soon. I'm used to the old "Do a lot of TFs and hope for a good random recipe at the end" system, so that's what I'm coming from.

I just want to make sure that I'm making the best usage of the system to outfit my characters both as they level up and at 50.

So, I'm sure there are good guides somewhere here, if someone could please direct me towards them.

My specific qualms are mostly just: What is the most cost-efficient way of utilizing the system? And are Merits transferable to different characters using the new e-mail attachment system?

Thanks.

1. The most cost-efficient way of using reward merits right now is to convert them to alignment merits (yes, there's another kind of currency now). 50 reward merits and 20 million inf will buy one one alignment merit, which can be used to buy 5 random recipes (basically, 100 reward merits' worth of stuff). There are other ways to spend the merits, of course, but for the time being this seems to be the most efficient.

2. You cannot email merits, though you can email the items you get with them.

I don't have much to add, I just wanted to say, macskull, your avatar made me chuckle. I haven't seen that movie in a long time.

First I'll explain the "old way" and then the "new way".

Traditional reward merits: You get them from task forces or story arcs (or from getting all the exploration badges in a zone, or for having extensive vet badges, but those are 1-time things.) You can do story arcs in Ouroboros and get merits, or do individual badge missions in Ouro and get merits.

20 traditional reward merits gets you a random roll; the recipe will show up at your current level(what used to be a "Task force completion" reward recipe.) There are bands you can roll in, 15-19 or 34-39 or 45-50 or whatever. That means you get a recipe that could happen in that band; if it is too high or too low for you, you get the min or max. So if you're level 32, rolling in the 35-39 band (you can do this because you can slot a level 35 recipe) you might get, say, Impervium Armor: Resistance. This exists from 25 to 40, so it will show up at your level. You might get Sting of the Manticore: Dam/Interrupt/Recharge. Sting of the Manticore only exists from level 35 to 50, so you'd get a level 35 instead of a 32, because there IS no level 32 Sting.

200 (more or less) reward merits gets you any recipe you want, at any level you choose. This is usually a bad deal, except for about three specific recipes or if, for some reason, you want a very specific IO at a very specific level and it just doesn't show up at Wentworth's ever.

Alignment Merits (the "new way"): You can get an AM by either doing tip missions and a morality mission, or by cashing in 50 Reward Merits and 20 million inf.

You can roll an AM to get five recipes, just like doing five "roll 20 reward merits" acts in a row, you can buy a specific rare recipe with 1 or 2 AM's, or you can buy things that you couldn't buy before, for ridiculous prices. PVP IO's, for 25 or so AM's, or Purple ultra-rare recipes for 20 or so AM's.

The PVP IO's MIGHT be a reasonable deal, but probably not; the purples are a total waste.

The five-for-an-AM deal is the current best one, in my opinion. I think most of the Market forum agrees with me.

Yeah, but in 14 alignment merits it's never happened to me.

Thanks Fulmens. Insightful!

I'm going to withdraw my comment. I don't have rigorous proof, and in any case an anecdote is not data.

EDIT: However, I'm averaging somewhere around 100 million inf per AM.

Got my answer via Wiki.
Post deleted.