Reasonable Inf Earning Expectations?

Let's say I'm a casual player (which I am).

Let's also say that I'll sell what drops to stores (or perhaps use them), but won't interact with the auction house at all. (I might, but I'd rather estimate low.)

Let's also say I'll be in SG mode 100% of the time.

Now, looking at this guide on enhancement costs which I know is old, but I suspect costs at the stores haven't changed much since 2006.


It looks like I'll need exactly 131,670 to fully slot DOs by level 12, and another 239,400 to fully slot DOs by level 17. That's 371,070.

Then come SOs at level 22. I will need 1.1 million to fully slot them out. In other words, it'd be nice to have earned at least 1.5 million by level 22.

From what I recall (I am a returning player, after two years), these are difficult levels to get. I remember begging and/or gifts from friends.

So now I'm wondering.. what my earning expectations should be? If I want to be fully slotted at 12, 17, and 22 (and further). As I recall, SG mode demolishes one's inf earnings at some point.

A friend of mine and I are going to be starting in Praetoria, so I can't even transfer inf to our new characters. So I just want an idea of a baseline ballpark of what to expect.

(I also recall the feeling that villains were poorer than heroes; does this mean that Praetoria might be the same way?)

I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to sell drops to the auction house, but that's your choice. Personally, I always sell some drops at the auction house because they have value in excess of what the vendor will pay for them. The Auction House for Praetoria is in Imp City IIRC.

However, starting in Praetoria does not mean that an existing character in Paragon City or the Rogue Isles can't transfer inf to you. Just use the email system to mail it to your global (the "@XXX" name, then pick it up on the new character in Praetoria.

BTW - expect many to come into this thread and tell you about Invention Origin Enhancements (IOs) - which do not degrade like TOs, DOs & SOs. The common "wisdom" is that there is a level (it varies exactly which level) where slotting IOs is a better choice. For me (again, a personal choice), it starts in the teens, then by the time I hit 30ish, I am using only IOs, possibly some set IOs and selling everything else.

Ok, addressing your points in a semi-random order:

First off, even though you are starting in Praetoria you can still easily fund your characters if you wish. Global Email is cross-faction so if you log onto one of your other characters and email yourself a bunch of inf you will be able to claim it on a Praetorian character.

On the other side of the question, fully equipping yourself with DOs and SOs just using what you get from drops and selling to stores is tricky. Especially since leveling is a lot faster now. However, if you use the AH even a little bit it's pretty easy to get the inf. A lot of low level common salvage types are in moderately high demand and selling a couple of them will generally allow you to make up the difference (luck charms for example are normally going for more than 15K each).

Another option to save some inf is to use IOs. Level 15 IOs have better performance than DOs. They cost more than level 15 DOs but unlike DOs you don't need to replace them with level 20s and can easily use them until level 22 (where you can switch to SOs or level 25 IOs)

You can use the email system to email inf to your global name. It must be to the global name, not the character name.

As for the auction house, I sell what drops there when it comes to Salvage and occasionally Recipes.

For Salvage, I put the item in the auction house and check the amount of the last 5 purchases. If they are lower than what the salvage sells for at the stores (250, 1000, 5000), I take them back out and sell them at a regular store. If they are selling for more than that, I list them for the store buy back price (250, 1000, 5000). I'm not looking to get rich that way, but it does add up fast.

As for Recipes, I check the last 5 purchases and if they are going for a rather large amount, I list it for about half of that amount or less. Again, not looking to get rich, but it does add up. Otherwise, I sell the Recipes at the regular stores.

At times I'll craft a common IO if I happen to have the salvage needed when I check my inventory, otherwise, they usually just sell at the regular stores. Common IO's generally will net you a better percentage than SO's after a certain level. I don't remember what level that is, but I'm sure someone else will post it.

Not to mention, that even if you couldn't email to a character, Primals can go visit now.

You HAVE been away a while.

For starters, you can now email Inf, Enhancements, Salvage, or Recipes to your other characters (by emailing them to your @global and claiming them from that character).

Secondly, low-level characters' earning potential has been considerably increased by salvage and recipes, in conjunction with the auction/trading houses. There's one in the second Praetoria area (as well as one for the Resistance underground). Certain low level recipes and salvage can go for quite a lot on the market (especially Luck Charms). Follow the market, list your drops at reasonable prices, and you'll earn out before you know it.

And once you have a little money, you can get into buying, crafting, and reselling. Certain recipe sets, for instance L50 Crushing Impact, are inexpensive to buy and craft...but the crafted Enhancements sell for several times as much as they cost to create. (Lazy, rich players.) You'll kit yourself out in SOs in no time. (And you might even find yourself considering memorizing common IO crafting badges to kit your own and future characters out with IOs for cheap.)

This is the way my first lvl 50 dealt with money, for the most part, and I think he hit 50 with 20 or 30 million. Though, that was a very long time ago. I do remember having to scrounge for money to finish putting DO's and So's on him.

I'd suggest running a couple AE arcs for the tickets to buy rare salvage. They don't need to be farms. Story arcs will do just fine. You can get prophecy, pangean soil, hamidon goo, etc. for about 550 tickets each and they will sell on the market for 1-2 million each. There are plenty of greatly written arcs that a couple of lowbies will have fun with and handle easily.

I know you said not using the market, but it is the easiest way to make money. A few million on a character by your teens will really help out.

well right out of the tutorial you can sell your large inspirations they give you for around 250kish influence to afford your first set of duals. i did this by putting them up for a small amount and each one of them sold for 125k or you can wait till you get some influence and put them up for 25k each once you have the influence to list them.

you can also send your toon money from any character as people have said.

you can also sell all your salvage, luck charms you can generally get around 50k for them eventually, might not sell super fast but they will sell. i have a level 20 toon that has already made close to a million in influence just by selling salvage at the auction house. take your recipe drops and craft them and they will normally sell decently. if you get lucky and get a plus defense global or plus kb enhancement, those can sell for millions. so being able to afford those duals and singles are pretty easy now if you use all the tools available to you. if you dont want to use the ah then just sell the stuff to a vendor, should be fine also but you might have to wait for some of the singles.

I suggested the rares because the OP expressed he didn't want to involve the market and selling the rares nets you profit for less market involvement.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texas Justice Praetorians don't have access to AE.

Really? Well, I was never much of a fan of Praetoria, and only went through it once. My bad.

Tons of good advice on this thread, though.

OP:

In terms of inf, you need ~18M over the course of your career for an SO build.

Depending on salvage pricing, it can be (maybe) a little bit cheaper for Common IOs.
The nice thing about them is you can get them at L30 or so, and get SO performance
that *never* expires, so once equipped, you don't have to look at it again.

Depending solely on drops to kit your toon though is going to be pretty haphazard
at best, unless you're lucky.

Avoiding the Market entirely, is going to make it even harder.

There is zero doubt that use of the Market (even casual use) is the best way
to fund a character in the game.

That said, there are some really easy, and safe, strategies to use that require
a bare minimum of Market activity. Major Tractor's point of exchanging AE tickets
for a stack of rares is about as easy as it gets, and two 10-stacks will net you
enough inf to slot your entire build in SO's.

Running some tips at L20+ until you get a couple H/V-merits to exchange for a
high ticket item (ie. LotG 7.5%) will net you over 100M. Again, standard content,
put to good advantage.

The guide in my signature is another very easy way to get your feet wet in
the market, with minimal risk, and good returns.

It really would be worth your while to invest some minimal time for a little
Market knowledge. It will help *all* of your toons, not just the current one.

That said, it's your $15. Play it however you like.

GL/HF,
4

Even doing minimal playing with the market, you can buy level 50 common IO recipes for all of 1 currency and then sell them at stores for over 30K per each one. I parked a level 3 character and had a million on them in no time.

The last time I started a new character I simply played as normal, sold my salvage/recipe drops at the auction house (drop in, put everything up for a minimal amount and leave... total time to unload my inventory ~2 minutes) and just bought DO's at 12 & 17, SO's at 22 and started IO's at 27. By the time I hit 22 I had about 30 million inf from that strategy; by the time I'd basically finished a mid-level set IO build at 35 I had about 150 million on hand... after buying all the IO's I needed.

If you want an easy, guaranteed way to make a nest egg all you need to do is go to the auction house and bid 100-500 inf on some of the undesirable level 50 recipes, then sell those to the vendor. A vendor pays 5,000 for uncommon and 10,000 for rare level 50 recipes and lots of the "junk" can be had for virtually nothing. Snipe sets, sleep sets, some of the taunt sets and hold sets are good choices for this.