Lack of Alpha

So i finally leveled and slotted my new main which cost an obscene amount of inf and now i cant get alpha slot. I do not have a second account to farm incarnate shards, trials dont seem to give you any, normal missions not really seem to give you anymore either. Any suggestions? Im about to hurt somebody ¬_¬

I thought I was stuck in this situation, too, but when they introduced the trials, they also added recipes for Alpha slot enhancements using the new incarnate salvage. You just need to scroll down the list to see options when you're in the Create tab.

Hope this helps.

If you want to get shards I'd suggest running the high level TFs (STF LRSF, LGTF, ITF) they tend to dish out a few shards per run.
Doing trials will net you plenty of Incarnate Threads which can be used to craft Alpha Slot enhancements (just scroll down on the Alpha slot recipe menus to see the Thread recipes). Doing trials will ultimately net you a quicker return on Threads than TFs will on Shards.

----- Union's finest underachiever -----
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you can use threads to make alpha? FFS!

OP, Did you remember to run the Mender Ramiel arc in Ouroboros?

also now that issue 20 has hit even the low level TFs/Sfs award shards.. this includes respec trials, etc. So literally anything from Posi 1 to the Lord Recluse Strike Force will give you Shard drops and on an 8 man team I have even gotten some from doing Maria Jenkins arc in PI.

Be aware that most of these don't seem to drop as well as the 45-50 level TF/SFs. I think it has to do with the number of bosses, or lack of them, in many lower level TFs. The Imperious TF is just filled with bosses and EBS while even on an 8 man team you will see a lot more lieutenants or minions. I did the Posi 1 and Posi 2 a few weeks back when they were the WST and between the 2 I think I managed to collect about 3 or 4 shards.

And you can't use a 2nd account to farm shards for you. They are bound to the hero/villain you are running missions for.

I find the best way to get shards is to run TFs. "Kill most" ITFs are fairly quick and usually give several shards plus decent inf, and running the WTF gives you shards plus a Notice. A couple of non-speedrun ITFs are probably all you'll need to get your tier 1 Alpha, and getting to tier 3 for the level shift isn't a huge pain as long as you play on large teams (unlike other drops, shards have a set chance to drop for each person per kill regardless of team size so bigger teams = faster kills = faster shard collection). You may want to grab your common Alpha and possibly the uncommon from thread recipes if you run trials, but shards are better for the rare since rare components really are pretty rare and you already need quite a few for your other slots.

The tier 4 Alpha is a bit of a pain, but the good news is that it isn't that much better than the tier 3 so you can pick it up at your leisure. The important thing is getting the tier 3 for the level shift so you can perform better in trials and high end TFs.

I think trials dropping shards is a bug. I've seen it happen myself, but everything I personally have seen from the devs has indicated that this is a bug.

To 'farm' shards, as others have said, just run stuff that you get a lot of kills, preferably of LTs and higher, like an ITF or LGTF. The shard/thread drop mechanism isn't the same as other drops like recipes and enhancements. For shards, each kill gives every character on the team a chance to receive a shard. For other stuff, each kill gives one person on the team a chance to receive it. This actually makes having a large team better to get shards because you should be able to kill things faster thus giving you more chances in less time to get one. The drop rate isn't great though. I'd say maybe 4-6 shards average on an ITF, though i've gotten over 10 one time, another time only 2, so YMMV.

In my experience, after you've actually unlocked your alpha slot and can actually receive shards, the best approach is to choose which tree you want to get, then run the specific task forces/trials/activities to get the specific components you need instead of relying only on shards if you can. Also run the WST to get your weekly notice. Focus on getting the components and notices, and use your shards to do the necessary upgrade conversions for the various steps. Once you know you have the necessary shards to fulfill your upgrades then start using shards for crafting individual components.

As of issue 20, there's also a thread-based path, which I haven't personally tried to go through much, that depending on how well you can complete the incarnate trials, this may be faster, however it will be more difficult to successfully get through them without your alpha boosts. However on the plus side, you're also working on your other slots with iXP at the same time so. You can also do one power with shard-based components and the next with thread-based, so whichever you enjoy more at the time may be the way to go.

Also, remember the incarnate advancement isn't meant to be something you get in a day. Its intended to be something you have to put forth some work to earn. Casually playing a few hours a few nights a week (maybe running one TF, maybe a few tip missions a session) i'd say it took me a month or so for the alpha slot, before issue 20. The next 4 slots, I started playing for few hours a night usually running trials almost exclusively, and I got at least one tree per slot to T3 or higher in a week or so, but then to get all to T4s, I'd say it took about a month. But also YMMV depending on your play habits.

My experience for Alpha is that the quickest way to get to T3 is to do a WST (gets you a notice, and hopefully a couple shards) do whatever else you want until you have eight shards...

Then do the trials for T1 & T2 Alpha (which shouldn't take long) and then use your 8 shards + notice to craft a T3 alpha, getting the level shift.

If you don't mind forgoing a few merits, the fastest way to get your alpha slotted is surely to run the TFs that give incarnate components. Some of then, such as Kahn and speed LG, aren't all that great for shards, but if you need the Hero 1 DNA sample or dimensional keystone, that's four shards right there. Then you have your ITF and STF which are highly likely to drop shards in addition to the component. Lady Grey also produces vanguard merits, which you can convert into G'rai matter. If you're careful to chase the TFs that give you exactly what you need, you should be able to get to tier 3 in a week or less without any sort of grindy play.

I'd specifically recommend not doing trials to get your alpha boost as that simply adds even more trials to the pile that you'll already need to do to get your further incarnate abilities.

It's pretty easy to get yourself going on the incarnate trials. I had my Alpha level-shift slotted in just a couple hours on my Crab.

Wild Streak - Lv. 50(+3) Beast Mastery/Sonic Resonance Mastermind, Amnesty - Lv. 50 Staff Fighting/Dark Armor Stalker

In my experience, the basic T1 Alpha is very simple to get.

First, you get a shard from the Ramiel Arc.

If you run an ITF, you'll get a Nictus Fragment as an end-reward, and probably
5-8 shards along the way.

That in itself will get you the basic Spiritual Alpha using 8 shards to craft the
two other components. I did this for my Brute last week... One ITF - done.

LGTF is about the same - you get a Hero DNA and probably enough shards to
make the other two components. Additionally, you get Vanguard Merits, and
150 of those buys you a G'rai Matter component.

Need extra shards or Vanguard merrits? - A mothership raid will get you plenty
of both.

ITF, LGTF, and Mothership raids are happening ALL the time...

Any two of those would virtually guarantee your T1 Alpha in short order, and
if luck smiles on you at all, just one can get it done.

Not even counting the new iStuff...


Regards,
4


PS> Of course, T2-T4 Alpha stuff takes more of the same things, but imo,
it's the easiest of the iStuff to get.

A great way to farm shards is to do a Rikti Ship Raid and go for mob kills instead of bomb planting. Rikti Magi are EBs and as such likely have higher chances to give you shards, and the center of the ship is CRAWLING with them (at level 54 IIRC). Did one yesterday with a 18-strong league and I got 13 (!) shards in barely an hour. Go beat that.

I hit level 50 on my latest scrapper, a fire/shield, on Saturday. Sunday I ran Mender Ramiel's arc, then later in the day while solo I did this: hunted Fake Nemesis and Rikti Monkeys in PI, ran the level 30-34 Ouro arc Freakshow Wars, and ran five tip missions and a morality mission.

When I was done I had 5 shards. Not a lot, but for just doing normal stuff I thought that wasn't bad. If I was desperate for shards, I'd probably go run a few ITFs or an STF. ^_^

I have had a lot of luck doing this on a new 50.

1. Run the WST on a kill most team.

2. Run an ITF speed or kill most whatever is forming since even on a speed run there are what 700 kills?

3. Run 2 BAF's and One Lambda

That mix of content usually puts me right at tier 3 of the alpha of my choice and takes around 3 hours on a weekend afternoon.

I actually prefer the Lambda but it is easier to get all the different parts of a MoBaf and that nets me extra componets to work with.

After today you can do it yet another way: