I'm used to the time-gate on the Amerits so it doesn't bother me that much, but I feel sorry for anyone who builds up a double digit pile of Amerits and then learns that spending them is time gated. It's super harsh to learn that rule like that.
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Very annoying |
Originally Posted by warden_de_dios
I'm used to the time-gate on the Amerits so it doesn't bother me that much, but I feel sorry for anyone who builds up a double digit pile of Amerits and then learns that spending them is time gated. It's super harsh to learn that rule like that.
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. It does make the inventory limits more 'practical' but still it's annoying.
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Annoying as it may be, I think the lesson here is, don't stockpile: use as you get them.
And thanks for the heads up. I didn't know spending them was also time gated, which IMO is ill thought out, but I can see not wanting the market to be suddenly flooded with purples or PvP recipes.
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I will give the devs quite a bit more credit in their designs and plans to say it is ill thought out. They have access to info we don't. If they change it so we can spend more/faster, then they found a reason to do so. I would agree that things like possibly not flooding the market or encouraging us to use the merits as we earn them (like for random rolls, thus restocking the market).
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Originally Posted by Blue Rabbit
I didn't know spending them was also time gated, which IMO is ill thought out, but I can see not wanting the market to be suddenly flooded with purples or PvP recipes.
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Yeah, it happened to me. I had built up 12 a-merits and decided to blow them on Kinetic Combats for one of my characters. Imagine my frustration on discovering the time-gating.|
Originally Posted by warden_de_dios
I'm used to the time-gate on the Amerits so it doesn't bother me that much, but I feel sorry for anyone who builds up a double digit pile of Amerits and then learns that spending them is time gated. It's super harsh to learn that rule like that.
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I suspect the reason is to avoid market manipulation. If you could spend them all at once, it would be far too easy to stockpile, then flood the market with recipes all at once. I don't know that that would necessarily be a bad thing, but smoothing out spikes is usually more beneficial than not.
De minimis non curat Lex Luthor.
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So the exploiters simply move from one character to the next instead of just using a single character?|
Originally Posted by Bosstone
Yeah, it happened to me. I had built up 12 a-merits and decided to blow them on Kinetic Combats for one of my characters. Imagine my frustration on discovering the time-gating.
I suspect the reason is to avoid market manipulation. If you could spend them all at once, it would be far too easy to stockpile, then flood the market with recipes all at once. I don't know that that would necessarily be a bad thing, but smoothing out spikes is usually more beneficial than not. |
Oops, loophole. Sorry. (See, this is why trying to program against exploiters is generally fruitless.)
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
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Loophole? Imagine the effort to coordinate that many toons over a long period of time such that they could "farm" these missions efficiently. You could have one toon blow through the missions each night and get a merit every two days, especially if they are trying for purple or pvp recipes. Far too complicated.
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Originally Posted by Ironik
So the exploiters simply move from one character to the next instead of just using a single character?
Oops, loophole. Sorry. (See, this is why trying to program against exploiters is generally fruitless.) |
Which should I feel worse about - that I was unaware of Alignment Merits altogether, or that they've put yet ANOTHER form of currency in the game?
Goodbye may seem forever
Farewell is like the end
But in my heart's the memory
And there you'll always be
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Although I agree with your parenthetical, I'm not sure you're not really thinking about the scope. That's 5 tip missions for every character every day. If you want to manipulate the market, what are you going to do, work on 10 characters every day to trade 10 recipes? Hell, man, if you're going to run 50 missions a day and invest that kind of effort, more freaking power to you.
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Originally Posted by Ironik
So the exploiters simply move from one character to the next instead of just using a single character?
Oops, loophole. Sorry. (See, this is why trying to program against exploiters is generally fruitless.) |
De minimis non curat Lex Luthor.
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Both Tenzhi, both... forshame.
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Originally Posted by Tenzhi
Which should I feel worse about - that I was unaware of Alignment Merits altogether, or that they've put yet ANOTHER form of currency in the game?
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Rabbits & Hares:Blue (Mind/Emp Controller)Maroon (Rad/Thermal Corruptor)and one of each AT all at 50
MA Arcs: Apples of Contention - 3184; Zen & Relaxation - 35392; Tears of Leviathan - 121733 | All posts are rated "R" for "R-r-rrrrr, baby!"|Now, and this is very important... do you want a hug? COH Faces @Blue Rabbit
If you're going to set up characters just to farm Amerits there're a few builds that can do it better then others. I'm a fan of DB stalkers and DP/Dev blasters.
You'll want to cut down on time running around in mission looking for bosses and glowies. Something like Blinkie Finder or CoH Radar will really help cut down on your search time.
What both those programs do is read a demorecord of the mission you are in and show you where everything on the map is at. As long as it already spawned. Lots of tips mission have you completing one objective before the others spawn.
If you don't play in windowed mode you'll find something like this a hassle and if I didn't have dual monitors I wouldn't even bother. I'm using Blinkie Finder it helps me spend less time on my farm toons and spend more time on my incarnates or alts.
Also what helps farming Amerits more then these programs is playing with your map open and having a tab setup that just shows NPC dialog. I constantly run across vets how don't seem to realize you can resize that map and having open in the corner of your screen.
I would imagine the buying is gated as well as the earning because it's possible that sometime in the future the might be other ways to earn A-Merits.
And if you stockpile... then spend them on Purples or PvP IOs. That will get rid of the stockpile quite quickly.
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Not me, gold farmers. They sell in-game currency for real money out in the world. So doing something that stupidly complex isn't a thing they do for "fun" like the rest of us but rather a means of making money. So for them, it makes sense to maximize profits by farming the most efficient way possible. If they can create high-selling recipes this way rather than wait for random drops, that's what they'll do. I read somewhere that these guys work 10 to 12-hour shifts. That's more "playtime" in a week than I get in months.
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Originally Posted by Bosstone
Although I agree with your parenthetical, I'm not sure you're not really thinking about the scope. That's 5 tip missions for every character every day. If you want to manipulate the market, what are you going to do, work on 10 characters every day to trade 10 recipes? Hell, man, if you're going to run 50 missions a day and invest that kind of effort, more freaking power to you.
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The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
So it slows them down that much more.
Honestly, though, of the things to worry about in City, RMT is waaay down the list at this point.
De minimis non curat Lex Luthor.
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Originally Posted by Zombie Man
I would imagine the buying is gated as well as the earning because it's possible that sometime in the future the might be other ways to earn A-Merits.
And if you stockpile... then spend them on Purples or PvP IOs. That will get rid of the stockpile quite quickly. |
Even if there were other ways to earn A-Merits it still doesn't make much sense to me. Flooding the market with recipes bought with A-merits doesn't sound convincing to me. If someone worked hard enough to earn all those A-merits they desreve to spend them the way they want lol. Just like someone who does a few TFs everyday for a couple weeks, ends up with a few thousand reward merits and buys a bunch of expensive recipes with them to sell in the market. Or, a bunch of expensive recipes he needs on a toon he just started IOing out.
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Main Villain: Kerry Astrid - Fire/Cold Corruptor
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oh no not flooding the market what a terrible terrible terrible thing to happen, I could never possibly imagine. |
Originally Posted by PennyPA
I will give the devs quite a bit more credit in their designs and plans to say it is ill thought out. They have access to info we don't. If they change it so we can spend more/faster, then they found a reason to do so. I would agree that things like possibly not flooding the market or encouraging us to use the merits as we earn them (like for random rolls, thus restocking the market).
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The devs suck at economics they hate the market idk really what it is that's up their butts lately but I'm getting extremely sick of every single new feature released having a time gate on it.
this is why i pick one 50 to stock pile them up..one i enjoy doing it on..and then over the coming days as my other toon gets closer to 50 i start cashing the Amerits in so when i do hit 50 i have them ready. Tho tbh atm i am saving up to get some pvp io's 
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Originally Posted by HardRider
this is why i pick one 50 to stock pile them up..one i enjoy doing it on..and then over the coming days as my other toon gets closer to 50 i start cashing the Amerits in so when i do hit 50 i have them ready. Tho tbh atm i am saving up to get some pvp io's
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I have 3 toons that are actively working on gathering A-merits. One of them is hoarding them up to buy Glad Armor uniques, and the other two spend them regularly either via rolls or buying specific stuff. So I know how to manage my A-Merits while gathering them. Problem is, I don't see the logic behind the time-gating. It makes absolutely no sense to me (and pretty much everyone I know in-game as well), that's why I'm asking here if there is any good reason for this.
It's really annoying having enough A-merits to buy something you need but not being able to because of the time restriction.
Flooding the market is a silly excuse. Anyone who wants to flood the market has many other ways to do it. Plus, if I wanted to flood the market with stuff bought with A-merits it takes the exact same amount of time to buy the recipes and store them on toons as I get A-merits until I have a high amount of said recipes as it would take to gather all the A-merits then buy all the recipes at once. So the argument about that is pretty moot IMO.
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Ah, i was more explaining how to by-pass that 20 hour rule..erm..i guess 20 hours is so people dont gather all the exp IO's they want then play the market? only reason i can think of. atm i dont mind the 20 hour rule tbh..and im properly a rare group but if they were to change it..IF..then 10 hours and no less instead of 20 tbf
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A lot of these "guys" get paid a few dollars a day to work 12 hour shifts and do it using lowest common denominators (how fast can you do 5 alignment missions at -1, 0 using a blinkie find utility?) Then give all the inf to central account run by someone who makes a ton of money because he has like 20-30 people doing this for him all day every day. This is how they can sell it so cheaply. He is usually the only English speaker in case a GM questions a player. |
Originally Posted by Ironik
Not me, gold farmers. They sell in-game currency for real money out in the world. So doing something that stupidly complex isn't a thing they do for "fun" like the rest of us but rather a means of making money. So for them, it makes sense to maximize profits by farming the most efficient way possible. If they can create high-selling recipes this way rather than wait for random drops, that's what they'll do. I read somewhere that these guys work 10 to 12-hour shifts. That's more "playtime" in a week than I get in months.
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This isn't "playtime" for them it is more like slave labor.
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You can't please everyone, so lets concentrate on me.
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I think the reason is to frustrate you (well, not you personally but players in general). Having a time limit on spending Alignment Merits discourages players from hoarding them making it more desirable to just spend them as you get them. This, in turn, encourages players who don't need IOs to spend their alignment merits and sell the results for inf, further stimulating the economy.|
Originally Posted by Wanted_NA
Seriously? It makes absolutely no freakin' sense why it's done like that. It is just extremely frustrating, at least for me.
Can anyone give me a good reason why spending the alignment merits is time-gated? |
Personally I'm not convinced it's needed or effective. People who are likely to hoard Alignment Merits are also likely to realize that hoarding stuff is better than hoarding inf anyway as a buttress against inflation and either hoard Alignment Merits and accept that there will be a delay in converting them or simply convert them into easily liquidate-able recipes (i.e. LotG 7.5%s) and hoard those (which does incur the potential of them decreasing in value due to changes by the devs to IOs i.e. BotZ). I started doing the latter method but recently I'd switched to the former. I don't really run tip missions (except to get alignment powers) but I convert merits to alignment merits and hoard those. Since my time is spread out across a number of characters if I need to liquidate my A-Merits I can still do quite a few conversions each day.
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That's what I said, man. Putting something in quotation marks when it's not direct speech means it's sarcastic or ironic or the opposite of what you mean. That's why people do air quotes with their fingers: they're emulating that.
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Originally Posted by Ultra_Violence
A lot of these "guys" get paid a few dollars a day to work 12 hour shifts and do it using lowest common denominators (how fast can you do 5 alignment missions at -1, 0 using a blinkie find utility?) Then give all the inf to central account run by someone who makes a ton of money because he has like 20-30 people doing this for him all day every day. This is how they can sell it so cheaply. He is usually the only English speaker in case a GM questions a player.
This isn't "playtime" for them it is more like slave labor. |
The Alt Alphabet ~ OPC: Other People's Characters ~ Terrific Screenshots of Cool ~ Superhero Fiction
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Don't you know it's against the law to use sarcasm on the interwebz?
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Originally Posted by Ironik
That's what I said, man. Putting something in quotation marks when it's not direct speech means it's sarcastic or ironic or the opposite of what you mean. That's why people do air quotes with their fingers: they're emulating that.
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All my characters
Ok so... I fully understand why we're only able to buy 1 A-Merit every 20 hours and only 1 every Morality mission and stuff.
What I do NOT understand is, why on earth are we limited to SPENDING them once every 20 hours? I mean, like, for example, I spend a month working on hero merits and have like 35 on two toons by the end of the month. That way Whenever I decide to IO out a toon I can buy all the more expensive stuff with my merits, right? WRONG! Can only buy 1 thing every 20 hours, I mean really? Seriously? It makes absolutely no freakin' sense why it's done like that. It is just extremely frustrating, at least for me.
Can anyone give me a good reason why spending the alignment merits is time-gated?
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Main Hero: Inferno Sparky - Fire/Fire Blaster
Main Villain: Kerry Astrid - Fire/Cold Corruptor