FourSpeed

[ QUOTE ]
Powers look good, though maybe a few to many attacks, but thats a
personal choise. I would make a few changes

1) Forsight at lv 20 22 or 24 no later (its just too good)
2) Mindlink 22 24 or 26 no later (same reason)
3) Smoke granade - not needed
4) Spin or Evicerate, your two aoes ... I would get one of them a
bit earlier in lv, you have them so late
5) As good as air superiority is, its over kill with all the
attacks youve got.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd agree with most of this, especially the commentary on Foresight, MindLink and Smoke
Grenade.

In my Widow (also a flyer), I didn't take Lunge, but I wouldn't give up Air Superiority
for the world. In fact, I find it's knockdown capability SO useful I actually slotted Swipe
and Strike with Kinetic Combat KD IO's for the same reason - It's an excellent damage
mitigator. Air Superiority can also knock a boss on it's keester which is pretty good soft
control for a single power choice.

I also took Mask Prescence a bit earlier, and that allows Slash (with the opening crit)
to 1-shot most minions... With Swipe, Strike, Air Superiority and Follow-up recharging
as quickly as they do, I find that I nearly always have an attack available to use (I also
have Sands of Mu (Vet Reward) in the mix occasionally as well.

I'm in a similar position as you with Spin and Eviscerate, but so far, I've found that it's
not too bad... I did use Spin during the 1-24 initial levels but put it off post respec, and
there are times when I miss it, but L32 isn't too far down the road to be without it (imho)
assuming your single target attacks are well slotted.

Overall, it seems like a decent build subject to some of the commentary given.


Regards,
4

[ QUOTE ]
Fly can be good if you have ranged attacks. Teleport is garbage in pvp.

[/ QUOTE ]

Flight is also good with high stealth.

If it's slotted well, it's direct line speed can also be fast enough to keep up with
Speeders and Jumpers in congested zones where they have to zig and zag a lot.


Regards,
4


PS> I take it tp is still (mostly) useless in I14??? That's a nasty slap imho to Khelds (who
have it as an inherent on Shades and a normal click power in White Dwarf for PB's)

I was just re-reading KeepDistance's awesome-sauce write-up on his 30 day
odyssey to L50 and 1B influence and realized he didn't post a linky to it in
the Market Guides section (Tsk, tsk tsk)


So, in all it's glory, here's the link to Project Burn Rate: 0 to 1B in 30 Days


Cheers,
4


PS> I'm still awestruck by that run KD - very nice...

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
...and team pvp spiking...

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually that didn't make it live, did it? People were exploiting the hell out of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

It didn't afaik, but the comment I replied to was in reference to I13 beta, and there was plenty
of noise about it there...


Regards,
4

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Well, they did nerf accuracy during the I13 open beta - anyone else remember that?

[/ QUOTE ]

Only against weenie foes.

[/ QUOTE ]

...and team pvp spiking...


4

Excellent job, Keep - I for one greatly appreciate you sharing this journey with us in your
original thread, and summarizing it in fine fashion here.

I also mirror peterpeter's thought that this should go in the guides section, and keep a
backup - this one is too good to lose.

Once again, Excellent work!

Regards,
4

As an update to earlier posts, I dragged my original L6 hero out of his retirement on the beach
and gave him the edict to earn another 10M inf during the past week (2/7/2009 - 2/14/2009).

Net Result: 10M+ in less than 3 game hours (> 3.6M/hr). Now he's back on the beach, sipping
Mai Tais, with nearly 25M in hand.

Clearly, the strategy still works well - If you're having a problem with it, re-read the guide, or
feel free to ask any specific questions relating to whatever difficulties you're having, and I'll
try to answer them for you...


Regards,
4



"MCF" - Level 6 Hero

........................... GAME .. TOTAL ......... NET
ZONE ........ DATE .. TIME .. HOURS .... INFLUENCE
----------------------------------------------------------
King's Row.... 2/7 ... 0:07 ... 0:07 ...................0 ..... Initial Buy Bids
.................. 2/7 ... 0:11 ... 0:18 ......... 622,873
.................. 2/7 ... 0:13 ... 0:31 ...... 1,545,203
.................. 2/8 ... 0:13 ... 0:44 ...... 2,373,875
.................. 2/8 ... 0:13 ... 0:57 ...... 2,926,474
.................. 2/8 ... 0:12 ... 1:09 ...... 3,799,309
.................. 2/9 ... 0:16 ... 1:25 ...... 4,992,454
.................. 2/9 ... 0:11 ... 1:36 ...... 5,627,228
................. 2/10 .. 0:11 ... 1:47 ...... 6,580,564
................. 2/10 .. 0:10 ... 1:57 ...... 7,290,776
................. 2/11 .. 0:12 ... 2:09 ...... 7,918,154
................. 2/13 .. 0:12 ... 2:21 ...... 8,666,265
................. 2/13 .. 0:10 ... 2:31 ...... 9,238,662
................. 2/13 .. 0:15 ... 2:46 ...... 9,750,920
................. 2/14 .. 0:11 ... 2:57 .... 10,730,440


NOTES: 7 transaction slots, 4 carryable recipes,
.......... ~11 sec Sprint time between WW and Trainer.

[ QUOTE ]
The results are the same thing that happened to gas prices last year however. Huge run ups in prices due to "speculators" buying low & selling high, and removing inventory from the market.

[/ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Right now my 38 Night Widow is running on SOs because even with 5 mill in the bank, I can't afford generic IOs anymore.

[/ QUOTE ]

Interesting. I haven't seen what you describe at all.

"MCF" was built for the initial guide, and hasn't really played since this little experiment
was completed.

However, "FJI" is my current actively levelling villain (he's L44 now), so I've been running
him pretty consistently, and apart from inf gained through normal play and drops, this method
is really the only marketing strategy he's been using.

I can tell you that he has quadrupled his wealth since this guide was originally written.

I'll further add that I've been watching recipes pretty closely due to all the negative feedback
this guide received, so I'm actually curious/confused as to how, exactly, you're struggling with
this approach...

Recipe prices certainly do fluctuate as does everything on the market, but volumes have been
relatively stable throughout the entire period, and of the 234 possible niches, there are always
enough profitable ones to fill his transaction slots. As mentioned a few posts earlier, there has
not been a single occasion where he couldn't successfully do that.

Perhaps you can clarify what problems you're having.


Regards,
4

[ QUOTE ]
I just have a different strategy, one that requires less than 5 mins at the market when i log on, and less than 5 mins there once i end a session. Doing this over the last week on my new 50 I have managed to make about 200 Mill, from probably an hour total market time.

[/ QUOTE ]


I'd be interested to see a strategy that can be successfully implemented by any character
of either faction, at any level, with minimal start-up funds that will make them 200M in a week,
with only 5 minutes effort at session start and end.


I look forward to reading your guide on the topic.


Regards,
4


PS> There are *lots* of ways of making inf in the game, but comparatively few that are
easily doable by a non-market savvy player with an underfunded, lowbie toon.

[ QUOTE ]
The time required is pretty inefficient for me personally, all that running about.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm unclear on your meaning, could you expand on this statement?

If you look at the session times in the charts, you'll find that most were under 30 mins (total)
for an entire 2-step cycle.

Even the lowbie (in AP) with nothing more than Sprint can make a trip between the trainer (store)
and WW in ~30 seconds. More optimal zone (KR, for example) and a travel power reduces
that time, substantially (1/3 of that for my villain in Sharkhead, for instance).

One of the main reasons I like this strategy is because it is fast.

I'm a bit confused on the "efficiency" issue you raise - I've not run across many strategies
that are faster than this to execute.

I do agree that it's not a billionaire maker though... I consider that a feature for the target
audience the guide was meant for though...


Regards,
4

[ QUOTE ]
so yeah. i guess its safe to say this strategy is dead.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, far from it... The strategy works exactly as advertised, still. Red and Blue.

Even with I-13, 2XP, Dual Builds and the Winter Event all happening in the past 3 months,
this strategy has been viable throughout that entire timeframe (I have active characters
that have been using the approach on a near daily basis).

On any given day, a recipe may be more or less of a bargain, but I've yet to find a single
occasion where I could not fill all of my slots with profitable buys...

As I alluded to (in some detail above), the fears of depleting this market are vastly overblown.

That's not to say it *cannot* occur, but you're much liklier to have trouble finding Pool C
recipes to use yourself than you'll have finding underpriced common recipes to sell.


Regards,
4

[ QUOTE ]
I discussed with Jack and Poz what to do, and we had a plan back then. We knew it
would someday be possible for a villain to turn into a hero or vice versa, so it was decided
that the “impossible to get” badges should have titles and descriptions entered that reflected
your “going rogue” status.

[/ QUOTE ]

This begs the obvious question.

Is there *still* a plan on the table to allow factions to switch (Hero <--> Villain)?


Regards,
4

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm usually in your camp on many things, but how is this not exploitive PowerLeveling for a fee?


[/ QUOTE ]

In fairness...that is exactly what is happening ingame now. If you go to PI on Freedom, people are paying 1-2 million per fun on farms.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not sure why you're replying to me with this quote, especially this late in the thread...

If you read the rest of that post, you'd see that I was curious about the dev's take on it.

A few posts further down, Smurphy states that he received redname "ok" to do so given
the in-game nature of his "enterprise".

Assuming he's not telling tall tales about that confirmation, and the devs are not actually
against it - you may have noticed that I had nothing further to say on it...

What was your point, again???


4

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I've purchased 982 level 25 IOs so I can just shoot shoot shoot

[/ QUOTE ]

ahhh..... Now we know why there is a shortage of everything on the market!

[/ QUOTE ]

*ALWAYS* blame Da Bunny!

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
And sad to say, this is why I think they should end the level pact part of the game. Greedy people.

[/ QUOTE ]


Who's greedy? I don't need the 50. Smurph doesn't need the money. I'm just having fun.

[/ QUOTE ]

this is EXACTLY how I looked at it when Smurph first proposed the idea on the in-game market chat. I told him I would sign up right away.

This is a game... I dont need the 50, and Smurph does not need the money..

hmm sounds strangley familar

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed.

Apart from my initial misgivings about fee-based PL (RMT - anyone?), which Smurphy went to the
trouble of clearing up with rednames (this isn't R_MT ... It's I_MT - *Imaginary* Money Transfer,
which is evidently OK), I find it an interesting exercise to watch unfold.

Were it not for the fact that I'm more inclined towards Blueside, and I have one Villain leveling
towards 50 with a friend of mine already (solely to unlock VEATs), I'd have placed a bid myself...

Amusing stuff.


Regards,
4

I'm usually in your camp on many things, but how is this not exploitive PowerLeveling for a fee?

I realize the distinction that the "fee" is play money, so basically, you're virtual RMT???

I'll be curious to see the dev's position on this one, but it seems like a bit of a slippery slope
to me...



GL,
4

Fascinating read, Arcanaville.

Good Work! (as always)


Regards,
4

-QR-

Oddball perspective for y'all.

Base Repricing

1) How will the repricing of bases affect you personally?

Minimal (if any benefit). Solo VG on a server full of (hero) alts I can't invite.
So, only the 20K starter prestige, and most of the basic rooms/items did not
change in price. On top of that, rent is added ... minimal, but real. No help here...

2) Will you dismantle your base to gain the additional prestige from the repricing?

No. It's currently the entry room, a workshop and 1 storage bin.

3) How long would this process take you if you were to engage in this practice?

0 time (2 minutes tops?)

4) What are the positive and negative concerns regarding repricing?

Positive: Minimal. I'm fully aware that's an "outlier" position.
Negative: #1. Little or no improvement for a single character 'lair'. #2. Rent.

5) How will this feature affect you long term and short term?

Minimal Change. No real incentive to dabble much with bases. Same as before.


Base Salvage Exchange to Invention Salvage

1) What is the negative effect on your base for this feature implementation?

It probably eliminates interest in base building as I'd much prefer to use Invention Salvage
for it's intended purpose - Invention Enhancements.

2) What is the positive effect on your base for this feature implementation?

Finally, there is some (limited) storage ability for IO salvage in the base. It essentially
adds a 2nd "vault" which is handy.

3) How long will it take you to adjust to learning this new system?

Done.

4) What side effects to this system do you currently see from transitioning the old to new system?

It curtails interest for base building due to the adverse impact on character development.

5) What security concerns do you have regarding this change?

None. It's just me.


Additional Notes:

* Provision of the 300K prestige up-front at base creation time (rather than the current kludge
of alt-padding that is "required" for solo-player bases now) would be a very useful feature.


As mentioned ... an outlier perspective.

Regards,
4

[ QUOTE ]
My "favorite" grief is the one where somebody takes a squiddy kheldian, (or any
flying blaster, really), and wastes spawns in atlas, freeing their hostage, but never lands so
the hostage can't thank them and just keeps following them forever, and then the player
keeps building up hostages.... It looks funny if you've seen it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ahhhh, yes ... Herding Citizens...

During an evening of pure boredom (a couple years ago, in early I4) I did that with
a PB Nova and managed to get a couple dozen of them in the entranceway to the Hollows...

I've had a lot of fun in this game, but the reactions of the various folks zoning between
AP and the Hollows into a crowd of mulling citizens, were among the funniest broadcast
comments I'd ever seen.

There were no griefing complaints (most folks didn't know that trick was even possible
back then) but there were lots of confused "w-t-h?" comments, which, tbh were hilarious...

Thanks for reminding me of that one - I'd forgotten about it...


Cheers,
4

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah that is going to kill the prices of doctor wounds or shot them into the stratosphere
considering not that many people will be buying them. Making influence worthless again lol.

[/ QUOTE ]

It won't (imho) make influence worthless by any means.

It will, however, vastly shift which shinys will be available on the market, and which will
(probably only) be available through merits.

This will lead to definite cases of "buy X with influence only" and "get Y with merits only"

The conversion rate of merits to influence is going to be wonky due to all the weird pricings.

I doubt it'll resolve to a simple 1 merit = x influence rate because of the very arbitrary
(and frankly, bizarre) pricings among items of vastly different perceived player values for those
items.


Regards,
4

[ QUOTE ]
I don't understand what the devs were thinking, though. What problem were they
trying to solve?

[/ QUOTE ]

I asked that exact question...

Essentially (afai can tell), they wrote a lot of code to essentially make a recipe store, where
the currency of exchange is merits...

Frankly, they'd have accomplished much the same thing by adding those recipes to the existing
zone stores and setting fixed inf prices.

What you're going to see is some serious disconnects (in merit prices) between various shinys
having essentially the same bonuses...

The example I used (which may have changed since I saw it last) was L30 Acc/Dmg set IO's.
Pounding Slugfest went for 20 Merits... Mako's Bite goes for 125... Slugfest offers regen bonus
and Mako offers Immob reduction (off the top of my head - I'm at work and can't see it now)...

Guess which one means more to me??? Not to mention it is 1/6th the merit cost.

As others are now seeing, those kinds of goofy disparities are all over the place...

Definitely a Big head scratcher for me...


Regards,
4

[ QUOTE ]
So now I'm going to have to do TFs a lot now which sucks because I don't have time
during the day . That or prices will plummet in WW.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, I'm kind of expecting a lot of folks running Ouroboros (especially, us solo-types)


4

Nice write-up Neuronia.

It summarizes the "Meritorious" thread and all of
very helpful work done by Leandro (et al) quite well.

Kudos...


4

[ QUOTE ]
Have you tested this redside?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes.
See the charts... (specifically Chart #2)


Regards,
4

[ QUOTE ]
Whatever folks, it's been 6 days since someone blabbed a "strategy" for making money at WW
and as of 4pm this afternoon you still can't find a recipe that isn't sold out, or already out of profit range.

[/ QUOTE ]

Did you actually *look* at the dates in my charts???

I've pulled 20 MILLION+ on just those 2 characters in the past 12 days...
and those are not the only ones... they're just the ones I documented...

Your comment is pure BS - plain and simple.