[CoH/V] Easy Influence/Infamy?

[Zemi]

Okay, so, I'm getting into City of Heroes/Villains, which is my very first MMORPG, and I've got one character to Level 21, as a Villain. I've mostly been playing Villains, so, I'm giving a Hero a shot, and I'm noticing that it's considerably more difficult for me, because, as a Villain, I had a junkload of money off the bat (I helped an older player out with a new character, and in return, he passed off a cool million to me for my time, which was mostly spent tagging along while he brought his new character up to a decent level). I'd really like to stick with this new PC, but, it's tricky, and frustrating to keep getting cacked. Is there a quick and easy (and not ToS-violating manner; no buying from services, I don't do that) way to make a fair amount of Influence/Infamy, so I can stock up my Enhancements and Inspirations, and keep them stocked?

[Tim Kirk]

At the moment? I'd advise you to sell most IO's and salvage unless you really want to invent something. (Your choice of Black market or to a vendor--sometimes the Black Market is IMMENSELY better, other times, not so much.)


For me, considering the effectiveness of IO's and levels, I usually wait until 25+ to worry about them, so many of my newer heroes (those not already up in the 20's), tend to have plenty of influence--sure I want IO's eventually but really except for very specific purposes its better IMHO to wait until later to have more effective version's of IO's.

Also, unless you need them for concept purposes, costume inventions and Temp powers can go for a bit on the Black Market. (Not as much as before they adjusted the drop rates, but still noticeable.)

Also, try costume contests--I've not seen bu a very few villain ones, and many offer significant prizes. Albeit, it is often better to have a scantily clad female character to win those. (Not always, some are more fairly run..)

[S.D.]

Low level magic salvage tends to sell very well - Clockwork Winders, Runebound Armors, Spiritual Essences, and the like.

Really, sell everything you don't need. Salvage more often than not sells better in the market than at stores. Enhancements sell better at the appropriate stores than at non-appropriate (that is, sell natural/tech enhancements at the Natural or Tech stores). Training Enhancements you should sell at the Hero Corp vendors (they're the ones who sell ONLY trainers).

Speaking in a somewhat general way - if you can get a float of 800k at the very beginning of your career as a hero/villain, and sell everything (at stores) for the highest amount you can get, it'll be JUST ENOUGH to both outfit you with Dual Origin Enhancements at 12 and 17, and get a full set of Single Origin Enhancements at 22 (although you'll most certainly be broke afterwards).

[Chikahiro]

Exemplaring can help also, and can be a lot of fun too. Similarly being sk'd up isn't bad either. Why? You're on a team which gets larger enemy spawns, which gives you more money and more chances for drops.

[Jason Panella]

Even if you're hanging onto enhancement salvage, checking the black market can help. I just started playing the game after a half-year hiatus, and I managed to sell two of the first few invention salvage bits for close to 1 million EACH. I realized, "even if I end up wishing I had these later, that influence can really help..."

And it has.

[suedenim]

Low level magic salvage tends to sell very well - Clockwork Winders, Runebound Armors, Spiritual Essences, and the like.

Really, sell everything you don't need. Salvage more often than not sells better in the market than at stores. Enhancements sell better at the appropriate stores than at non-appropriate (that is, sell natural/tech enhancements at the Natural or Tech stores). Training Enhancements you should sell at the Hero Corp vendors (they're the ones who sell ONLY trainers).

Speaking in a somewhat general way - if you can get a float of 800k at the very beginning of your career as a hero/villain, and sell everything (at stores) for the highest amount you can get, it'll be JUST ENOUGH to both outfit you with Dual Origin Enhancements at 12 and 17, and get a full set of Single Origin Enhancements at 22 (although you'll most certainly be broke afterwards).

Dangit, I could've sworn I wrote a long post in this thread this morning, but no sign of it....

I think most of it's been covered, but a few other things:
- In general, don't waste money on Training Enhancements. They're not all that great in practical terms (I've even heard them called "placebo enhancements" by some.) When you get them as loot, use the ones that make sense to use, sell the rest.

- The consignment house has lots of arbitrage opportunities, though it might take a little bookkeeping and/or tedium to exploit them. The basic goal is, find stuff (DO/SO enhancements and standard recipes are often good) that you can buy cheap, then resell to NPC vendors at a profit.

- A good supergroup should give lowbie members help. If you're a member in good standing (always running in SG mode), my group will give lots of help with regard to influence, enhancements, costuming, etc.

- Arcane salvage can be very lucrative, at least Hero-side. (I believe in CoV the effect is much less pronounced.) It's not at all uncommon for Rare Arcane Salvage to fetch seven figures on the consignment market. And even with the lesser salvage, the arcane stuff tends to fetch better prices than the tech stuff. So, basically, pestering the Circle of Thorns a lot might be profitable.

[thePill]

- The consignment house has lots of arbitrage opportunities, though it might take a little bookkeeping and/or tedium to exploit them. The basic goal is, find stuff (DO/SO enhancements and standard recipes are often good) that you can buy cheap, then resell to NPC vendors at a profit.

- Arcane salvage can be very lucrative, at least Hero-side. (I believe in CoV the effect is much less pronounced.) It's not at all uncommon for Rare Arcane Salvage to fetch seven figures on the consignment market. And even with the lesser salvage, the arcane stuff tends to fetch better prices than the tech stuff. So, basically, pestering the Circle of Thorns a lot might be profitable.

These two are more noticeable heroside. Though, prices seem, at least to me, to be better during the week, than over the weekend. At low levels(specifically pre-travel power), Arcane salvage is the way to go. So, Hellions and Circle of Thorns are your best bet for arcane salvage.

Arbitrage is the way to go, if you're trying to make inf. This is also easier if you have a travel power, versus a travel pack. Because you will be going back and forth between Black Market/Auction house constantly. And to make a fair amount of inf, you'll probably take more than an hour or so going back and forth. So, travel packs, while useful are not the way to go, if you're going to be going back and forth for long periods of time.

-Set the levels that you're interested in buying at 30 - 50
-pick Enhancements
-pick a specific origin. Natural, tech, Mutant etc.

This helps, if you are in a zone where you can buy specific Origin enhancements, like Steel Canyon or Talos. Find the closest store that you can run back and forth from.

-Steel Canyon, the mutant store is the closest. Though, the Natural Store is across from the University and the Magic store is further out.

Talos, I like the Tech store, though the magic store is fairly close.

Villainside, I think there's a Tech store and a Science store next to each other in the upper part of Cap Au Diable, as well as an hangar that has both Natural and Magic sellers.

Only attempt to purchase SOs, as they are the most lucrative for your inf running needs. Until about 35 or 40, don't spend more than 2000, for SOs. After that, don't go higher than 5000. Granted, you can check recipes to buy and sell too, while checking on SOs, but doing this, means you end up losing track of the last origin specific SO that you were looking through.

You can pay higher. But, with the limited amount of inf on your character, you'll want to minimize the amount of purchases you make versus the amount of patience you have to go back and forth from Black Market/Auction House to origin specific store.

I tried buying up invention salvage at no more than half their cost, but found that it wasn't quite as lucrative as SO purchases. Though, it is simpler to sell stacks of items.

[Zemi]

This is a LOT more help than I thought I'd be getting, I really appreciate it! So, it looks like the ideal thing for a Hero to do is to focus on Single Origin Enhancements, Arcane Salvage (I've got a vault FULL of stuff I can hock, and I only today sold some on the Hero side, which was MUCH better in terms of cash-fielding than it would be on the Villain side of things, for some reason) and avoid the Training enhancements. I wasn't sure how handy they were, honestly, but I'm working my way up with a Blaster, so, I've been eating up the Accuracy and Damage ones. I'll just go ahead and hock the rest of 'em.

Now, when you say Arbitrage, what do you mean? I'm still learning in-game terms. Is that the process described wherein you commence to buying high-ranking stuff from the Market/Consignment and selling it to the proper Arbiter, or am I missing something?

[Maegan]

There are some salvage bits that go for 10 on the market, yet 100 at the vendor. Buy cheap, sell high, get a piece of the pie!

[Zemi]

There are some salvage bits that go for 10 on the market, yet 100 at the vendor. Buy cheap, sell high, get a piece of the pie!

Okay, backtrack a second; I wasn't aware you could sell Salvage at a Vendor. Which store would this come up as?

[drnuncheon]

Okay, backtrack a second; I wasn't aware you could sell Salvage at a Vendor. Which store would this come up as?

Any of the stores (but not contacts) will buy salvage or recipes. Unlike enhancements, there's no difference in price between stores.

J

[Zemi]

Any of the stores (but not contacts) will buy salvage or recipes. Unlike enhancements, there's no difference in price between stores.

J

God. I can't believe I didn't try this. I feel a fool now.

I suppose this is the part where I get my prerequisite "RTFM, dummy". I'll just stick it on this corkboard over here, next to my other ones. :D

[suedenim]

This is a LOT more help than I thought I'd be getting, I really appreciate it! So, it looks like the ideal thing for a Hero to do is to focus on Single Origin Enhancements, Arcane Salvage (I've got a vault FULL of stuff I can hock, and I only today sold some on the Hero side, which was MUCH better in terms of cash-fielding than it would be on the Villain side of things, for some reason) and avoid the Training enhancements. I wasn't sure how handy they were, honestly, but I'm working my way up with a Blaster, so, I've been eating up the Accuracy and Damage ones. I'll just go ahead and hock the rest of 'em.

Now, when you say Arbitrage, what do you mean? I'm still learning in-game terms. Is that the process described wherein you commence to buying high-ranking stuff from the Market/Consignment and selling it to the proper Arbiter, or am I missing something?

Arbitrage is actually a real-world term that more or less means "Buy low, sell high," but usually with a really fast turnaround, exploiting inefficiencies in the market.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbitrage

In CoH/V, it mostly means buying stuff cheap at the consignment market to sell to vendors, where you know they'll pay more.

[Zemi]

Arbitrage is actually a real-world term that more or less means "Buy low, sell high," but usually with a really fast turnaround, exploiting inefficiencies in the market.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbitrage

In CoH/V, it mostly means buying stuff cheap at the consignment market to sell to vendors, where you know they'll pay more.

I knew I should have paid closer attention in Business class! On the plus side, I've now learned new tactics AND a new word. I consider that a big win.

[Christine]

Hey, wait, but what about those guys who send /tells all the time offering to sell you inf for real-life money? You're not suggesting that's a less than legitimate -- ow! ouch! dammit, leggo! aaahh! I don't want to go on the cart ...

-- C.

[Gaming Geek]

Now, as to where in the game you can farm Influence for your own use, I know of several tricks.

Sadly, the easiest one is in RV. So you'll be in a PvP zone. But on the plus side, smashing turrents in RV with a giant robot is the easiest way to earn influence/infamy. But you can only get rewarded for uncaptured sites.

The BIG downside to this is that the influence farmers, the ones who sell it for RL cash, do this as well. Mind you, I've had endless fun camping the farmers.

Just make sure that people know you're a real player, and maybe friendly spar with the non-dick players from time to time.


The other trick is ....well, just running a mission with large numbers of Mobs inside that you can repeat over and over. (Kill boss type)

Flashback in I11 will more than likely make this a cakewalk! CoX is not a game where you need to buy influence. Ever.







Well, unless you're one of those kiddies who doesn't accually play, and who just wants to play a flavor of the month PvP build with IO sets...:D But noone here is like that.

[Arbane the Terrible]

Flashback in I11 will more than likely make this a cakewalk! CoX is not a game where you need to buy influence. Ever.

...Unless you want some of the top-tier IO sets. The prices those things (and the ingredients to make them) sell for can be downright obscene.

(Even then, BUYING inf would be ridiculous. Making it yourself just takes patience.)

[Rolzup]

Your best bet, I've found, is to buy high-level IO Recipies from the auction house, and then re-sell those somewhere. They tend to sell for REALLY cheap at auction, and you can make a heck of a profit with 'em.

[Soul Of Lost]

Avoid the influance/Infamy peddlers. NC Soft and Cryptic are making heavy crackdowns on any one pushing or using these services. If you're caught, you are banned from all NC Soft and Cryptic MMOs.

I received an email from their people with a list of banned players, complete with email addresses, real names, and global names. Looks like one of their people accidently did a cut & paste into the spam report replay for me. Whoops. For giggles, I tried to /gfriend a couple, and got "player not found". Made me feel better about the situation.

Also, don't knock exemplaring down. A good way to earn some quick cash, though the amount earned will vary by your actual level, and the level you are playing at. Sidekicking has it's own nify rewards- reciepes drop at the level of the mission. This means you could net some high level recipes you can sell for a large infusion of cash. Some of the really high level ones can net you 50k to 100k.

[Chikahiro]

Also, don't knock exemplaring down. A good way to earn some quick cash, though the amount earned will vary by your actual level, and the level you are playing at. Sidekicking has it's own nify rewards- reciepes drop at the level of the mission. This means you could net some high level recipes you can sell for a large infusion of cash. Some of the really high level ones can net you 50k to 100k.
Just to add, some salvage drops ONLY drop at certain levels, so playing with lower-level people can get you salvage you can't get at higher levels (including Luck Charm, which is a good seller!).

[The Architect]

I was reading a report on the CoH forums about a guy who would do street sweeping in Dark Astoria against the Banished Pantheon, netting some huge influence gains for each run (1-2 million per 20-30 minute run seemed to be the average) and one of the things he discovered was that uncommon salvage was, more often than not, that it was not worth keeping for sale on the market. Uncommon salvage could be a large arbitrage opportunity.

Here's the thread if anyone cares.

Nethergoat's Astoria Adventure (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=9181951&an=0&page=0#Post9181951)

[Jason Panella]

I tried the SO auction / re-sell deal last night. Here are my thoughts:

It's amazing. I was playing CoV, and settled on the Black Market in St. Martiel and the Natural vendor nearby. I systematically went through the Natural SOs in the auction, sticking to the prices (or lower) suggested above. I made close to one million infamy in half of an hour. Lots of people sell high-level SOs for 500 or less; it's especially true with some SOs that aren't in demand (I got several jump power / stun-related ones for 50....serious, 50!). I filled up a few times, ran to sell, hit goons on the street on the way back, and repeated the process. And it sort of perpetuates itself--I used some of the infamy to make new IOs, selling them for a good price.

[Rolzup]

As a general rule, by the time I'm 2oth level or so I sell *everything* at the auction house for 100 influence, and let the prices fall where they may. It means that I lose a bit on most salvage, but it makes it available and cheap for those who need it...which is something that I benefit from in the end as well.

[thePill]

I stash a handful of common magic salvage for later use, as it will usually be the highest costing salvage for when I hit 30 something and fully IO up.

Good to hear wordsampersand. I found it to be quite lucrative across the board for my Icon addiction as well as other Inf wasting activities.