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Which can (it's been pointed out multiple times, but seems to keep being ignored by the people who claim to be asking) be e-mailed to any type account.
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Originally Posted by StarGeek
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Leader of Legion of Valor/Fallen Legion (Victory server)
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Actually no.|
Originally Posted by Rajani Isa
It should also be possible to gift SOs to free players (drag over and drop)
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Tried this with a free player.
When I rack up a lot of SOs on my 50's, I tend to wander through Atlas looking for newer players (by doing an Info look at their badges) and dropping a few SOs on them, effectively giving them a nice cash bump.
It's still considered a trade and is disallowed.
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
Can you email attachments to free accounts?
If so that would seem to be the solution.
With regard to the whole "Cannot buy enhancements" argument, I would agree that in the course of "normal" play (whatever that is) you do not get quite enough influence to buy all the TO, DO and SOs you might like. However in the course of "normal" play that is far from necessary.
With the return to the game of many of my friends, I have started a ton of alts and while I have access to plenty of inf I still don't bother slowing down the game to slot efficiently. I just make sure I have enough End Redux (which may mean double slotting at low levels) and I am good to go.
If you feel you really MUST have a bunch of SOs then another alternative is to run Death from Below, which drops them like they are going out of fashion.
Have fun 
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Jagged Reged: 23/01/04
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You clearly did not play the game long ago enough to remember it. |
Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
To me, this is the first I have heard that really shows that "Free to Play" is a gigantic lie. You can play for free, for life. Of course, we balanced the entire game around stuff you cannot afford if you play free. Good Luck after 20th level my free playing friend!
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What you're complaining about was how it was for EVERYONE. And we were PAYING for it.
There was no auction house. There were no inventions. There was no way to reliably transfer money to your own characters. If you wanted to be able to afford your next round of SOs, you damn well ran around to all the different stores so you could get a couple thousand more influence by selling your drops at the proper store. Or you fought enemy groups with the same origin as you so you could slot the drops and save money that way.
Before that, there WERE no stores. You got your enhancements from your contacts, and that was your only option. And you weren't even allowed to buy them until you'd run a certain amount of the contact's arc. Having 1,000,000 influence before level 40 was unheard of, because there wasn't any way to earn it other than defeating enemies and mission rewards.
Free players aren't playing a gimped version of the game, they're just playing it old school.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
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Or to the RWZ quartermaster, who gives as good a rate as origin specific stores and is accessible from level 1. Cimerora and Midnighter stores also pay 40% value, but have access limitations.
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Originally Posted by peterpeter
* Sell your enhancements to the correct origin specific store.
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once she gets her first reward token and is on teir 2 she will be able to trade, and join SG's, as well as play Mission Achitect arcs.
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Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
Okay, it took some magic, but my wife is in the City of Heroes on a free account. yeah. and she is having fun, yeah!!!!
I am worried. She is at 7th level and has all of like 8,000 inf. She thinks it's a lot... I am sitting there with a quick 100 mil I threw over to the alt that I made to run with her (my standard starting cash) It takes like 15 mil or so to run a character through 50 using SOs. She cannot trade, and cannot use the consignment house. 2 questions. 1) how can I get her cash? 2) Did the Devs turn off their grey matter when they set this up? Yes, I know they are trying to get people to spend cash on the game. (My wife is very stubborn, she will not spend a dime until she decides she likes it. Not cheap, she always allows me to buy more PP cause she knows I enjoy it.) My problem is she is gonna struggle using no enhancers or whatever a toon can buy off of just mission rewards. Seriously, the Devs have said for years the game was designed around SOs, then they develop a system where new people they are marketing to cannot buy SOs. Doh! Here's your sign. |
If your gonna play follow the leader just make sure the leader is taking you where you want to go.
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Some of us also figured out alternative ways to make extra INF on top of "selling things to the right store." Since I often had trouble affording ALL my SO's at once at level 27, I took to street sweeping in south Independence Port. There are lots and LOTS of innocent mugging victims running around down there, offering EXTRA influence as a "thank you" when their muggers get defeated, and as a result you could make more INF than by just running missions, and the xp wasn't bad either!|
Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
You clearly did not play the game long ago enough to remember it.
What you're complaining about was how it was for EVERYONE. And we were PAYING for it. There was no auction house. There were no inventions. There was no way to reliably transfer money to your own characters. If you wanted to be able to afford your next round of SOs, you damn well ran around to all the different stores so you could get a couple thousand more influence by selling your drops at the proper store. Or you fought enemy groups with the same origin as you so you could slot the drops and save money that way. |
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Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
Before that, there WERE no stores. You got your enhancements from your contacts, and that was your only option. And you weren't even allowed to buy them until you'd run a certain amount of the contact's arc. Having 1,000,000 influence before level 40 was unheard of, because there wasn't any way to earn it other than defeating enemies and mission rewards.
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Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
Free players aren't playing a gimped version of the game, they're just playing it old school.
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"But it wasn't anything some purples and oranges and lots of screaming in fear couldn't handle." -- Werner
30 level 50's: 12 scrappers, 7 other random melee types, 11 blaster/blapper/support squishies, two accounts, and a TON of altitis since 4/28/04
The Stores were there fairly early on, but in the very early game, stores only sold the "Power 10" enhancements (things like Acc, Damage, Holds, etc.). But if you wanted any other type of enhancement (like EndMod, Sleeps, Fears, etc.), then you had to buy those from contacts or find them from drops. The stores didn't sell them. And the contact store prices were vastly higher than the stores then, too.
For an AT like a Blaster, this wasn't too bad, since they only needed Power Ten enhancements. However, for someone like a Controller, who needed a lot of other enhancements for their controls and buffs/debuffs, they ended up having to spend a LOT more money.
So lump me in with the people who don't think that the OP's complaints are about something all that bad. There are enough ways to get influence these days, and the stores don't cost as much. Is it a bit tight, and do you need to have a plan in mind? Sure. But once you get your level 35 SOs slotted, you'll never need to worry about money again.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
When I first started to play the game I woulld make inf by buying high lvl SO's of the market and running to the store to sell. Now with her not being able to do that, you can buy some and gift them to her. Recently I ran a toon to 48 before I started to slot with IO's and I wish I had done that for years. I have have wasted a ton of inf slotting early and then over slotting. It can be done you just have to do a few pain in the butt things to make in work.
A pure free player without access to recipe and salvage drops will probably have influence issues till around level 35 like Aett said. My first 50 hero didn't make 1 million inf till he was in his 30's. That was back when that was a lot of inf. Everyone in this thread has offered good ways to get the most bang out of your buck when it comes to pre-market CoH.
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You're overlooking something the OP said, and something else he has refused to comment on.|
Originally Posted by Fix_R
once she gets her first reward token and is on teir 2 she will be able to trade, and join SG's, as well as play Mission Achitect arcs.
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First this,
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Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
2) Did the Devs turn off their grey matter when they set this up? Yes, I know they are trying to get people to spend cash on the game. (My wife is very stubborn, she will not spend a dime until she decides she likes it.
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The end result is that if neither he nor his wife is willing to spend money on her account then she won't get Paragon Reward to unlock any of the features you mentioned.
Ok Blue, I think this is the most important tidbit of information that I got from your OP:
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If she is haveing fun then I would not worry to much about it. Let her play at her own pace and things will fall into place. If she want's to be able to go the next step up in the tiers or sub to become a VIP then she will make that decision.| Okay, it took some magic, but my wife is in the City of Heroes on a free account. yeah. and she is having fun, yeah!!!! |
The reason I say this is because I had the tendency to throw tons of information at my wife when she first started playing until she said stop and let her play at her own pace and learn things for herself just like I did when I first started playing.
You have to remember that even though the F2P option was expanded to let you play to 50 it's still just a trial intended to give a taste of whats offered so that you can decide to eventually sub or not.
Dragon-King First level 50 -- Fire/Nrg Blaster
(and to many alts to mention)
Protector
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| Originally by Arcanaville: Everything in Praetoria was designed during a drinking binge in which the devs temporarily forgot the rules. |
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Trying to figure this one out. I was checking the Free-Premium-VIP account info and can't tell from there. Does a Free account get invention drops, but just can't use them to craft inventions? Or do they not get invention drops at all?
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Originally Posted by Frostbiter
A pure free player without access to recipe and salvage drops will probably have influence issues till around level 35 like Aett said. My first 50 hero didn't make 1 million inf till he was in his 30's. That was back when that was a lot of inf. Everyone in this thread has offered good ways to get the most bang out of your buck when it comes to pre-market CoH.
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Main Character: Ice/Storm/Ice Controller (Justice, 1340 badges)
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Not only that, but the only way to "fund" new alts was by use of a trusted 3rd party (or 2nd account) to direct trade inf and you could only trade 100,000inf at a time, so even giving someone a couple of million to buy a round of SOs took quite a while.
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Originally Posted by Aett_Thorn
The Stores were there fairly early on, but in the very early game, stores only sold the "Power 10" enhancements (things like Acc, Damage, Holds, etc.). But if you wanted any other type of enhancement (like EndMod, Sleeps, Fears, etc.), then you had to buy those from contacts or find them from drops. The stores didn't sell them. And the contact store prices were vastly higher than the stores then, too.
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Man I forgot how happy I was when they raised the trade amount to 99,999 cuz I could transfer a million inf with only ten trades. |
Originally Posted by The_Spad_EU
Not only that, but the only way to "fund" new alts was by use of a trusted 3rd party (or 2nd account) to direct trade inf and you could only trade 100,000inf at a time, so even giving someone a couple of million to buy a round of SOs took quite a while.
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This may have been said already. Back in the day prior to the market and IO's. I just teamed straight thru to lvl 22 and did not buy any TO and SO's. By 22, i had enough to purchase my 1st set of SO's or at least the critical SO's. By level 32, i was earning inf fast enough that I did not have trouble all the way to 50.
Since your wife is new to the game, if she never uses DO's she wont know whats missing. Just push through to 22 and get SO's.
Even now that i have billions of inf. I rarely slot DO's and then its mainly end mod and end reducers.
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A purely free player doesn't get the drops at all.
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Originally Posted by flipside
Trying to figure this one out. I was checking the Free-Premium-VIP account info and can't tell from there. Does a Free account get invention drops, but just can't use them to craft inventions? Or do they not get invention drops at all?
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Just a word of advice, naming no names: belligerence doesn't help when you're looking for assistance.
'I don't like the look of it at all,' said the King: 'however, it may kiss my hand if it likes.'
'I'd rather not,' the Cat remarked.
'Don't be impertinent,' said the King, 'and don't look at me like that!' He got behind Alice as he spoke.
'A cat may look at a king,' said Alice.
Run DFB.
Collect 6 leveled SOs.
Repeat as needed.
You dont have to buy every enhancement on your character. people used to take what dropped as part of the process of deciding what to slot when money was tight, and fill in the really important ones from the stores.
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Originally Posted by Aett_Thorn
The Stores were there fairly early on, but in the very early game, stores only sold the "Power 10" enhancements (things like Acc, Damage, Holds, etc.). But if you wanted any other type of enhancement (like EndMod, Sleeps, Fears, etc.), then you had to buy those from contacts or find them from drops. The stores didn't sell them. And the contact store prices were vastly higher than the stores then, too.
For an AT like a Blaster, this wasn't too bad, since they only needed Power Ten enhancements. However, for someone like a Controller, who needed a lot of other enhancements for their controls and buffs/debuffs, they ended up having to spend a LOT more money. So lump me in with the people who don't think that the OP's complaints are about something all that bad. There are enough ways to get influence these days, and the stores don't cost as much. Is it a bit tight, and do you need to have a plan in mind? Sure. But once you get your level 35 SOs slotted, you'll never need to worry about money again. |
Okay, I get it. It was very hard in the old old (old?) days. I've been playing just over 4 years, so the City I know has always had markets. A lucky drop set me up in SOs until 50. But I also stopped playing characters that didn't get lucky drops...
My original concern, as hyperbolic as I was in stating it, is that new players are going to encounter something unexpected in the city of heroes game, being very poor. Think about it, I do not recall any video game where at least basic equipment is not always available to a character. In the City you can do a day or so worth of sewer trials and be flat broke, 20+ level, and have no chance of enhancing.
For my wife, who only wants to team with me, we are running story arcs and safeguards. She was flat broke by any standard. If I had not e-mailed her cash she would never have got DOs at 12 (we hit that last night)
For those of you who are trying to compare your experience rationally to the experience of people we are trying to market to in today's game market, please take a moment to consider carefully. You are hardcore gamers. By definition. You have been in the cities for the whole time. We are trying to get those people who started when you did. AND QUIT. Quit because the game made things way harder than it needed to be to play at the basic level. I am not talking about soloing AVs, or even soloing story arcs on +0/x1. I am talking about having the very basic stuff the Devs say the game was based around. Look around at the gaming world, people expect that. If you do not meet your customer's expectations THEY LEAVE. They do not write a e-mail like this, or post to the boards, they just stop playing your game and go play somebody elses where they have fun and can succeed.
I am specifically not talking about making the game super easy, or raising any inf caps, or real money transactions, or any of the other cross talk that keeps coming up.
I am stating a very clear point. The Devs have clearly stated SOs are what the game is built around. If you run regular content and get to 22 and again at 27, you will not be able to afford SOs. This can cost us the opportunity of retaining new Freebs that are giving us a look. That is stupid.
(Que chorus of we used to haul skullz to the store on our backs to trade for SOs)
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I am not understanding the vitriol here. It's not like they started giving lower amounts of Inf when Freedom launched; new players are having the exact same rate of Inf both pre- and post-Freedom. What did you do when you first started this game?|
Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
I am stating a very clear point. The Devs have clearly stated SOs are what the game is built around. If you run regular content and get to 22 and again at 27, you will not be able to afford SOs. This can cost us the opportunity of retaining new Freebs that are giving us a look. That is stupid.
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I got a bit lucky, and had a friend gift me some influence. (This was I3, so you had to earn influence first before handing it out.) Others, then and now, could get lucky, or they could try to make smart decisions about what to put SOs in, and what to put DOs in. Or, I suppose, they could complain about being poor.
Honestly, I think that we've all gotten a bit spoiled in having massive amounts of money available to us at lower levels; maybe being poor and under-enhanced would give us a better perspective on things?
I find your lack of signature disturbing.
You are basing your case on two assumptions:
1) That you absolutely need the best enhancements to play, or at least close to them, and
2) That new players will have the expectation of being able to afford them.
Both of these are false. You can use DOs at level 22 and 27, if you want. They're cheaper, and still effective enough to get you buy. Then, replace them with SOs as they are dropped/you can afford them.
The second assumption is more the point, though. If I were to hop over to WoW or LotRO, which I've only ever played as a trial account, and started up a new character, I would NOT have the expectation that I would be able to afford all of the best stuff my first time through. Why is this? Because in general, that's not how games are designed. Most are designed so that the second/third/and so on times get a bit easier because you can afford a bit more.
A Freebie should not have the expectation that they can afford everything they want without taking the time to do so. Otherwise, what's the point of having influence for SOs at all? If the game was designed so that you could just get all of the enhancements you wanted, then there would be no point to having a currency at all that you'd need for the stores.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
Also, I would like to point out that I've never heard the Devs say that the game was designed around SOs. What they HAVE said is that they didn't make the current content any harder when they introduced IOs. Those are two very different points. One assumes that you need SOs to play from level 22 up, while the other does not make that assumption.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
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Okay, owning up to the hyperbole is straight shooting.|
Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
My original concern, as hyperbolic as I was in stating it,
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Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
is that new players are going to encounter something unexpected in the city of heroes game, being very poor. Think about it, I do not recall any video game where at least basic equipment is not always available to a character.
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Diablo 2 is one of the most popular computer games of all time, and just last week, we were grubbing around for trash drops and damned glad to have them.
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Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
In the City you can do a day or so worth of sewer trials and be flat broke, 20+ level, and have no chance of enhancing.
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While I agree it can be frustrating to start out so far down the wealth curve, it is traditional in games to start out weak and poor and to grow strong and rich. I expect new players understand that. I'm not sure that "fixing that" wouldn't be roughly the same as "making the game too easy."
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
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