Fastest way to get alpha up
By
Adeon Hawkwood,
Posted on: 2011-05-19 12:54 in Archetypes and Powers General Discussion
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Originally Posted by Lewisite
I've searched and read up on this but I'm still having an issue groking it.
So I unlock alpha. Then.. I do what? It seems a challenge to go and find people for all these little TF's needed to unlock these things. Drop of the well of the furies seems to have no tf and you just bite the bullet and grind for it. yet... Some people here seem to just burn though the first few tiers of any of these.. What's the trick? |
You can craft Alphas by using components from the trials as well, if you click on an Alpha in the crafting page and scroll down the recipe description there are Trial based recipes listed there.
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Ah... So thats what those are.|
Originally Posted by Carnifax_NA
You can craft Alphas by using components from the trials as well, if you click on an Alpha in the crafting page and scroll down the recipe description there are Trial based recipes listed there.
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so I ride the incarnate trial train.
That seems easier than organizing a zillion different sf's.
I got my first alpha from only one cim tf. Dropped 3 shards on that tf, got the nictus fragment from the tf, and then went to RWZ to craft my last part with Vmeris. Took me all of about 40 minutes.
The "trick" is NOT to ride the Incarnate Trial train.
Do the weekly strike target. Do other TFs. Team with people, gather shards; they drop at all levels, even when you're exemped down, as long as you have the alpha unlocked. If you find yourself missing a component you need, craft it from shards. This is especially true with the component you get from the Cathedral of Pain Trial.
Personally, I'd tend to suggest using the Weekly for the Rares and V.Rares, and just building everything else with Threads, they'll drop more often for ya in I. Trials.
Let's Dance!
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This. |
Originally Posted by Starcloud
The "trick" is NOT to ride the Incarnate Trial train.
Do the weekly strike target. Do other TFs. Team with people, gather shards; they drop at all levels, even when you're exemped down, as long as you have the alpha unlocked. If you find yourself missing a component you need, craft it from shards. This is especially true with the component you get from the Cathedral of Pain Trial. |
Though you'd have to remove the word "fastest" from your title up there.
In most cases, the T1 is pretty good to just hang out with and work on Interface or Judgement. T2 typically doesn't do much good, and T3's Total Core generally gets you 45% of what you need with 1/2 not affected by ED. That's where I tend to stop at T4 is a pain. I'll get there eventually, but being able to convert shards into threads has put that to a grinding halt.
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This is pretty much my advice as well. Start running the trials to build an uncommon (and get a head start on iXP for the other slots) then switch to running the WST and a few other TFs to get the Notice/Components/Shards needed for the rare and very rare.|
Originally Posted by reiella
Personally, I'd tend to suggest using the Weekly for the Rares and V.Rares, and just building everything else with Threads, they'll drop more often for ya in I. Trials.
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If you're part of a really good speed running team you might find the TFs faster but if you're pugging the trials will almost certainly be faster for the uncommon. For the rare/very rare the guaranteed WST drop is probably better though (and for Villains don't forget the bonus one from the first time you do Mortimer Kal SF).
1 ITF or LGTF will craft you the first one - and if you buy the component with Vangard merits, I think those options cover making any of the tier 1 choices.
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I think the best way to get Alpha up is to ride the ITF train. Alpha slot uses shards, unlike all of the other Incarnate slots. ITF is fairly easy, run often, and a good source of shards. You should be able to get 6 or so, minimum, per run. So a couple of shardy (killing most NPCs, as opposed to a speed run) ITFs should get you the 12 shards you need to craft the 3 components for your first Alpha slot.
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Originally Posted by Lewisite
so I ride the incarnate trial train.
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Note: you don't have to do "all the little TFs". You get components that way, sure, but you can also craft components with shards. Shards are just easier. Sure, if someone is doing a TF or SF you need, hop aboard, but I would rather jump on a TF now and get some shards than wait for just the right TF to come along.
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Cim is a ghost-town on Freedom since I-20 sadly |
Originally Posted by gameboy1234
ITF is fairly easy, run often, and a good source of shards. .
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Anyone suggesting you run Incarnate Trials to get your initial Alpha slot is giving you terrible advice. Without the level shift you get from Tier 3 Alpha, you're highly likely to simply be useless in the Incarnate Trial content.
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It's no worse than running the Apex/Tin Mage TFs before T3 alphas were released. A good player can participate just fine in the trials with no Incarnate abilities at all. Sure, you're going to be less powerful than someone with a level shift but you are not useless. Also, from what I've heard the initial betas for these trials were done with no incarnate abilities at all so it's clearly doable.
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Originally Posted by Magentrix
Anyone suggesting you run Incarnate Trials to get your initial Alpha slot is giving you terrible advice. Without the level shift you get from Tier 3 Alpha, you're highly likely to simply be useless in the Incarnate Trial content.
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When I was trying to get a rare alpha built for my Dom, which was soon after iTrials were released, I found that doing a bit of both types worked best. Specifically I ran some normal TFs to get shards/components, and ran some iTrials for threads and components there. I crafted the alpha common with shards, then I used threads for the Alpha uncommon, then used shards for the rare. This allowed me to save a fair bit of shards by not having to create the uncommon tier, and for rare, you just have to run 1 weekly TF, and use 2 common components. I found this to be the quickest way to get up to rare since there was less interest in running normal TFs due to iTrials.
I moved more to casual playing, but lately been playing alot more than usual.
I need to outfit my alphas. But got alot of toons to fix, now alignment Merits can give you access to alot of goodies.
I did the unlock mission arc, and an ITF on each 50. Then ran missions on each toon to get the basic Cardic on each 50. After that, been doing alignment missions and stuff to get IOs, If it were faster, then i would disappointed. if it were slower, i would be disappointed. So, i have all three with alphas slotted, about 10 shards and various other components. My drop rate for incarnate shards, i think is good (compared to purples). It may take me a couple of months to get them all outfitted, but i do just fine.
I was real worried when i came back, that it would be like purples, and i just don't have the time for that. But GR/a merits and Incarnates as they stand right now, seem about right to me. Not too fast, and not too slow.
Just keep playing. Good news, that shards drop when exemplared down, i won't even worry about them.
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That depends a lot on your powersets and build. Buffers work just fine regardless of enemy level, and some damage ATs are built to handle +4s (and with to-hit buffs most can hit +4s well). Debuffers won't be as effective, but then they aren't a lot better against +3s either since either way they're at significantly reduced strength. The main thing is being able to hit +4s reliably... the damage and debuff strength difference isn't that bad between +3 and +4 but the to hit chance difference can be. Fortunately, trials tend to have plenty of to-hit buffing so that's rarely a huge issue.|
Originally Posted by Magentrix
Anyone suggesting you run Incarnate Trials to get your initial Alpha slot is giving you terrible advice. Without the level shift you get from Tier 3 Alpha, you're highly likely to simply be useless in the Incarnate Trial content.
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That said, if I wanted a Rare Alpha fast I'd do TFs / shard runs. Make sure one of them is the WST and the rest are whatever gives you shards fast (and components if you see a TF forming that gives one you need). For a fast Very Rare I'd get a Rare from TFs / shards and then run trials. If I didn't have the second Rare yet when the WST reset I'd run that and some TFs to craft the second Rare from shards, then do the Very Rare from trial drops. That's if I just wanted it fast, not efficient... the idea is to avoid having to wait two weeks and gather a bunch of shards to make a Favor of the Well. A single Very Rare trial reward should take less than two weeks if you run a bunch of them. The efficient way is to just use shards / Notices to craft the Very Rare Alpha and save your trial drops for the others, since you can just knock out a WST for the Notice and go back to other things (which will earn you shards unless you do nothing but trials) and in a few weeks you have everything you need for the Very Rare Alpha without burning any of those rare trial rewards. (If you get lucky and have an extra Very Rare component you may as well use that, but good luck getting 5 of those before hitting Very Rare on your Alpha unless you just spend all your time in iTrials.)
Cascade, level 50 Blaster (NRG/NRG since before it was cool)
Mechmeister, level 50 Bots / Traps MM
FAR too many non-50 alts to name
[u]Arcs[u]
The Scavenger Hunt: 187076
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Personally I've found the fastest way is to do a WST for a notice, get eight shards (which shouldn't take too long) craft the T1 & T2 enhancements with trial salvage and T3 with the notice+components.
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Originally Posted by Lewisite
Ah... So thats what those are.
so I ride the incarnate trial train. That seems easier than organizing a zillion different sf's. |
"Men strunt �r strunt och snus �r snus
om ock i gyllne dosor.
Och rosor i ett sprucket krus
�r st�ndigt alltid rosor."
I've searched and read up on this but I'm still having an issue groking it.
So I unlock alpha. Then.. I do what? It seems a challenge to go and find people for all these little TF's needed to unlock these things. Drop of the well of the furies seems to have no tf and you just bite the bullet and grind for it.
yet... Some people here seem to just burn though the first few tiers of any of these..
What's the trick?