I started a new char and for your new char you want good gear right ?
First looked over exchange little MkVI Blue weapon 200.000 EC so as a commander you not gonna get that much EC, but that the exchange people were greedy I already knew....
Ok then I go over the vendors first on ESD MK VI Normal ( NO GREEN ) and ( NO BLUE ) either but the cost is 16.000 EC per part...
But wait up here I'm a starter for example so no other chars where do I have to grind as a commander 43.554 Thousand on Dilithium ??
Or otherwise where the heck I get so much EC in this game ?
Please remember before you start flaming the tread this is for a beginner who has no EXP and no other chars and as a commander there are NO grind options, I thought this was free to play looks more like free to enter to me now that I took a look at it. To play here in STO as a beginner is not doable by the stupid prices from the Dilithium Store or from EC Vendors. I think Cryptic should really think about hospitality especially on the ECStores not very much choice there and it is expensive like hell....
For those who like to comment please do not flaming the tread !! I rather see that you skip ahead for flaming...
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
"Coffee: the finest organic suspension ever devised. It's got me through the worst of the last three years. I beat the Borg with it."
Exchange stuff is often bought by players with lots of resources. The new player gears up by playing missions. Do not try to grind dilithium or EC for i.t
You're absolutely right it is insane and it is the players doing it. I've seen the most outrageous prices on normal items sometimes it's like someone's lost their mind or something.
Oh and then (and this happens in every mmo out there mind you) I love it when they buy regular items available to all players from vendors but sneak them into the Exchange like they are a rare drop or something and upsell them, they should make vendor items account bound really they should.
When I started out with the one character I just used the basic ships and whatever loot was dropped up till lvl 40 on both space and ground and did quite well.
The only grind option you have are the exploration missions like Delta Volanis and then sell whatever you get in the way of data samples on the exchange. Slow way to do things but that is the game all round.
What I also think of as a con are the fleet holdings, you spend so much time, effort, and assets getting the required XP for each tier on the holdings then you have to spend even more to unlock it once you are there.
It sucks that there are price-gougers out there willing to exploit new players/alts
But honestly, you are usually able to blaze through the levels, and at least get a rank up per daily play-through and a half. Don't sweat it - if you play casually, you'll get from zero to level 50 in a couple of weeks, where the bulk of the content is. Then you'll wonder why you ever bought ANY gear at mk IX and less.
Don't dwell on the gear of your current level; you'll out-level it in a couple day's time
Forward-thinking is key
When I started my first character in October of 2010, when she hit Captain, she had over 5 million EC. But then, I've been playing these games since the mid 90s (The Realm, Meridian59, UO) so I had an idea of how to make scratch.
Know what I did? I looked at the exchange and saw a ton of items being sold below vendor value. Deflectors, Shields, Engines, and other stuff. I found this out after checking the exchange for how much to list my own loot and saw that, wait a minute, I can get more for this if I vendor it. So every time I had to return to ESD, I'd look at the exchange and lo and behold! 10 minutes of "work" would gain me tens of thousands of energy credits.
It's gotten even easier since then, with the loot you can easily get from doff missions (colonists, refugees, contraband, strange alien artifacts, green doffs from the free missions, etc) and the fact that there are so many people with more money than time, that they list stuff far below market value just to get rid of it. On my Romulan, I bought an SRO boff from the exchange for 6 million EC (she had 40 million when she hit VA, with NO help whatsoever from my other VAs) and then got a purple from a recruiting mission that sold for 11 million. Someone listed a Reman Science boff with Superior Infiltrator (the Reman high value trait) for 250k. I bought that and kept it, though I could have sold it for 5+ million.
Complaining about making EC in this game at this time is like complaining about making money on stocks in the 80s (and during the dot com boom). The question then becomes, are you even trying or simply standing on the sidelines complaining about how you can't?
You're absolutely right it is insane and it is the players doing it. I've seen the most outrageous prices on normal items sometimes it's like someone's lost their mind or something.
Oh and then (and this happens in every mmo out there mind you) I love it when they buy regular items available to all players from vendors but sneak them into the Exchange like they are a rare drop or something and upsell them, they should make vendor items account bound really they should.
I remember where you had stuff when you get a new ship you put it off the new ship and sold it they blocked the option it's 0 worth now if you try to sell it and you can't put it on exchange because it is blocked...
SO it might be the players doing to get cryptic to do this but why for new players this is a hassle and they should give the new player a ease off not a hassle because if I was a new player I would quit the game if I had to do this I rather would spend time on a facebook grind game...
And you can get easy access to 10.000 EC yes but as a commander you need at least 120.000 EC to gear up the correct Mk VI Gear because cryptic is giving standard items on the ships Mk IV and not Mk VI .
Then you also need to regear your char and BO to Mk VI that's also a small price of almost 100.000 EC and because the leveling is going so fast you don't have time to save up so much EC !!!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
"Coffee: the finest organic suspension ever devised. It's got me through the worst of the last three years. I beat the Borg with it."
When I started my first character in October of 2010, when she hit Captain, she had over 5 million EC. But then, I've been playing these games since the mid 90s (The Realm, Meridian59, UO) so I had an idea of how to make scratch.
Know what I did? I looked at the exchange and saw a ton of items being sold below vendor value. Deflectors, Shields, Engines, and other stuff. I found this out after checking the exchange for how much to list my own loot and saw that, wait a minute, I can get more for this if I vendor it. So every time I had to return to ESD, I'd look at the exchange and lo and behold! 10 minutes of "work" would gain me tens of thousands of energy credits.
It's gotten even easier since then, with the loot you can easily get from doff missions (colonists, refugees, contraband, strange alien artifacts, green doffs from the free missions, etc) and the fact that there are so many people with more money than time, that they list stuff far below market value just to get rid of it. On my Romulan, I bought an SRO boff from the exchange for 6 million EC (she had 40 million when she hit VA, with NO help whatsoever from my other VAs) and then got a purple from a recruiting mission that sold for 11 million. Someone listed a Reman Science boff with Superior Infiltrator (the Reman high value trait) for 250k. I bought that and kept it, though I could have sold it for 5+ million.
Complaining about making EC in this game at this time is like complaining about making money on stocks in the 80s (and during the dot com boom). The question then becomes, are you even trying or simply standing on the sidelines complaining about how you can't?
In know what to do but someone new to the system doesn't and it's not only the exchange it's also the vendors asking reiculous prizes
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
"Coffee: the finest organic suspension ever devised. It's got me through the worst of the last three years. I beat the Borg with it."
Anyone that has a number of level 50 characters can easily fund expensive stuff to get their next toon through the leveling process with greater ease. At level 50 you can soon reach a point at which any upgrades either cost millions of ec or grinding rep/fleet gear, for a player needing 5m+ to make a tiny upgrade, sending a million to an alt is peanuts. Thats not rich players, theres a whole level of expensive stuff doffs and cstore toys beyond that.
Op I made the same mistake when I was new and leveling for the first time. My advice to you is to stop now while you are ahead. Buying that stuff from the exchange is going to cost you WAY to much for how little time you are going to use it. Exchange prices are controlled by the players, we control the prices and for me I sell stuff for only a thousand or 2 below the cheapest price. So yea I'm a part of the problem.
Players make large amounts of EC by "playing the exchange" Find a mk VI rare shield check the exchange see its selling for 150,000 EC Put it on the exchange for 148,000 ec some player out there first time playing will end up buying it. Find four of them with one at 150,000 and 3 at 40,000? By the 3 then repost at 148,000 you got profit.
Do yourself a favor, don't buy any gear from the exchange until you are at Level 50. you will have that gear for a long time, Mk VI gear? You will outgrow it faster than you can earn the EC to buy it. When you get the EC saved up, your now using MK VIII gear. So for your own sanity forget the exchange until your an Admiral.
Tigglet, Yep exactly. You can buy Major Regenerators on DS9 for 320 or 360 ec apiece. Buy em from the exchange? 590 or more each. (Oh and Yes Im putting this here to try and get the word out)
I remember where you had stuff when you get a new ship you put it off the new ship and sold it they blocked the option it's 0 worth now if you try to sell it and you can't put it on exchange because it is blocked...
SO it might be the players doing to get cryptic to do this but why for new players this is a hassle and they should give the new player a ease off not a hassle because if I was a new player I would quit the game if I had to do this I rather would spend time on a facebook grind game...
And you can get easy access to 10.000 EC yes but as a commander you need at least 120.000 EC to gear up the correct Mk VI Gear because cryptic is giving standard items on the ships Mk IV and not Mk VI .
Then you also need to regear your char and BO to Mk VI that's also a small price of almost 100.000 EC and because the leveling is going so fast you don't have time to save up so much EC !!!
Don't tell me it's hard, I leveled up twice now. It isn't hard in the LEAST.
You're leveling too fast because its been set to double exp till the season 9 launch.
Do some starbase 24, go and do "Explore strange new worlds". If you're in an appropriate-level area enemies are gonna drop gear like candy.
I'm having a hard time believing you're struggling when this is the easiest MMO I've ever played in regards of leveling and staying geared.
Stop sitting in ESD and crying or w/e you're doing. Gear lower than Mk. X is TRIBBLE-easy to get.
i always wonder what idiot is buying the trash I put on the exchange.....
really there is no reason to buy anything off the exchange. I mean really, if anything is on the exchange its mission trash that drops and drops and drops. J
LOL... and I was literally commenting on this yesterday. Based on level and quality, a white MkII might gave the same stats as a purple MKX but one will be on the exchange for like 9K and the other one will be like 500K. And even still the difference between the different levels is a couple of % in most cases and not worth another million or two EC
The Dilith store is generally a rip off all the way around. You are better off saving it for fleet or rep items.
But I know what you mean. I picked a weapon type years ago but want to switch. But to switch out all my weapons and consoles for the equivalents would be at least a million dilith.
Dont even get me started on the DOFF racket. Just sell Doffs. Lol. That could easily fund your gear. There seems to be no end to the suckers who buy doffs
Well, let's go through this step by step. Its true, if you're just starting out, its damn near impossible to buy anything worthwhile on the exchange, due to the greed most players have for VIRTUAL CURRENCY. Pretty sure about 99% of the playerbase that sells on the exchange do so at more than 3 times the value of the item they're selling. They're similar to used car dealers and pawn shop owners. Buy for less than half the value, sell for a ridiculous amount more. However, there are a few decent players who sell for only a few thousand ec more than the item value. I'm one of them. Most of my purple gear goes for between 30 and 50k ec, but I'm always looking to help out. Send me an in game mail and tell me what you're looking for, and I'll see what I can do for you.
Now, about another comment I noticed here. Don't try to grind for the ec/dil to get what you want. At lower ranks, you won't get very far very quickly. Use the gear you pick up. So.e of it can be very useful. Its not like you're going up against other players in the story missions, so you don't need anything too expensive or strong right now. As for the items you don't use, there's quite a demand for blue and purple items on the exchange. I suggest you unload them there, but for prices far lower than what you normally see, but higher than item value. You'll get to watch the ec roll in as you undersell all the others and make a fine profit (its not like you paid for the stuff in the first place, so you can't possibly loose anything on it). As for the green and white items, those I just discard or put in the replicator. Either way, you get about 40 % of an items value this way. Still profitable. Or you can try selling on the exchange, and see what happens.
One more bit of advice. Don't waste your ec transwarping to each mission. If you can get there the normal way, do so. A little extra time is worth saving g 18 to 36k ec.
Well, let's go through this step by step. Its true, if you're just starting out, its damn near impossible to buy anything worthwhile on the exchange, due to the greed most players have for VIRTUAL CURRENCY. Pretty sure about 99% of the playerbase that sells on the exchange do so at more than 3 times the value of the item they're selling. They're similar to used car dealers and pawn shop owners. Buy for less than half the value, sell for a ridiculous amount more. However, there are a few decent players who sell for only a few thousand ec more than the item value. I'm one of them. Most of my purple gear goes for between 30 and 50k ec, but I'm always looking to help out. Send me an in game mail and tell me what you're looking for, and I'll see what I can do for you.
Now, about another comment I noticed here. Don't try to grind for the ec/dil to get what you want. At lower ranks, you won't get very far very quickly. Use the gear you pick up. So.e of it can be very useful. Its not like you're going up against other players in the story missions, so you don't need anything too expensive or strong right now. As for the items you don't use, there's quite a demand for blue and purple items on the exchange. I suggest you unload them there, but for prices far lower than what you normally see, but higher than item value. You'll get to watch the ec roll in as you undersell all the others and make a fine profit (its not like you paid for the stuff in the first place, so you can't possibly loose anything on it). As for the green and white items, those I just discard or put in the replicator. Either way, you get about 40 % of an items value this way. Still profitable. Or you can try selling on the exchange, and see what happens.
One more bit of advice. Don't waste your ec transwarping to each mission. If you can get there the normal way, do so. A little extra time is worth saving g 18 to 36k ec.
Though really the transwarp prices don't reach 18k till the admiral ranks.
I'm just curious why no-one has mentioned Mission Replay?
You can get some truly awesome gear through replaying missions, and the rewards are sometimes different or extra for replays.
My personal favourite is "Smash and Grab". It's available at different times for different races, but the warp core and weapons are some of the best "free' ones you can get! An Efficient Warp Core with around +3 to stats and the Plasma Disruptor Hybrid Weapons.
There is also many, many other Replay Rewards that are great, Vic/Pol/Neut consoles, RCS consoles, Shield Generators, Tac Consoles, Shileds, Deflectors ... the list goes on ...
There is even a thread around somewhere that lists a great many of the "free" items in game.
You can make 10's even 100's of thousands of EC just by doing mission replays.
One more bit of advice. Don't waste your ec transwarping to each mission. If you can get there the normal way, do so. A little extra time is worth saving g 18 to 36k ec.
This +1000 this When I hit VA I used the slip stream drive constantly. I transwarped everywhere and lost I don't know how much EC for paying the transwarp toll. Now I get a message Transwarp? No I close it and travel through sector space. Slipstream drive? you in a hurry to go nowhere. I'm flying a CRUISER, not a racer.
I once put a mk IV VR plasma beam array up for something like 2 million ec, and someone bought it...
I do tend to outfit alts with uncommon gear as they come up, but I'll use common if prices are too outrageous. And whenever I get to a new rank I run a farm mission from the foundry, that's usually enough to get the bulk of equips for that level, along with some spending money.
This +1000 this When I hit VA I used the slip stream drive constantly. I transwarped everywhere and lost I don't know how much EC for paying the transwarp toll. Now I get a message Transwarp? No I close it and travel through sector space. Slipstream drive? you in a hurry to go nowhere. I'm flying a CRUISER, not a racer.
Or just grind your way up to the Borg Engine ... Nearly as fast as Slipstream without any cooldown.
Or just grind your way up to the Borg Engine ... Nearly as fast as Slipstream without any cooldown.
I have them, But you see Im a farmer that became an admiral so I could become a farmer. And you know what I learned from all that? Its what's the rush.
In know what to do but someone new to the system doesn't and it's not only the exchange it's also the vendors asking reiculous prizes
You can't design a game or balance a game economy around people who know nothing (because the people with a clue will make a killing taking advantage of those people who know nothing). The game's economy (prices, etc) are thus because most people have a lot in the way of resources. They have those resources because there are lots of methods to get them (more than there were four years ago).
Vendor prices are ridiculous to encourage you to use alternative means (whether that be the exchange or farming). Vendor items are also inferior to that which can be acquired via the exchange (generally), for the reason you gave (vendors sell the low mark whereas you can buy the high mark from the exchange for a similar price). Now, granted, as someone else mentioned, nowadays, most people don't buy low level stuff from the exchange so the supply is limited and demand seemingly allows for very high prices. But even those prices aren't difficult to handle IF you take advantage of the many ways that exist to generate (or rather, transfer) EC.
A new player starting in ANY MMO of any real age (say 1+ years old) will start at a disadvantage, especially if they're new to the genre (or, to a lesser extent, an MMO vet who hasn't done any advance research). There is nothing the devs can do about this. Nothing. Short of giving every other player amnesia, there's nothing they can do to put new players on even ground with vets. This is also where community comes in. It would be the community's place to advise that they shouldn't be buying gear from vendors. Tribal wisdom FTW!
I started a new char and for your new char you want good gear right ?
As a new character you don't really want good gear as you out level it too quickly to justify the cost. Just level in whatever, and get to 50 then start looking for gear.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
0
rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 59,174Community Moderator
edited April 2014
We all here 'cuz we're not all there tonight!
Anyways... white quality gear or some mission reward items are decent for leveling. Lv 50 is about the time you need to start worrying about your build.
I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
The nut who actually ground out many packs. The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite colored text = mod mode
Its the same story as always. People put those prices because they now, there will be always someone who buys it.
But until you reach level 50, there is no sense on adquiring the best of the best. Clever people will never waste any ec or dilithium (god.. dilithium??) on lower levels.
With the mission rewards you will get, you have more than enough by far and mission weapons are great most of the times, specially for levels under 50.
Its the same story as always. People put those prices because they now, there will be always someone who buys it.
But until you reach level 50, there is no sense on adquiring the best of the best. Clever people will never waste any ec or dilithium (god.. dilithium??) on lower levels.
With the mission rewards you will get, you have more than enough by far and mission weapons are great most of the times, specially for levels under 50.
He speaks the truth.
The only time I even consider buying any gear for a new ALT is after I reach max level and even then I buy knowing that the gear is just a place holder for Fleet Gear when it becomes available to me.
Even on Elite Difficulty you can get by with low cost blue gear.
It's never a good idea to wast large amounts of Energy Credits on place holder equipment
Comments
You can survive on whites and greens and level up to 50 in a month.
P.S: 10,000 EC is crazy easy to get even at low levels. Stop hoarding all your useless stuff.
You can also peruse crafting if you think you're going through the leveling game too fast (which you probably are since it's still double exp).
Oh and then (and this happens in every mmo out there mind you) I love it when they buy regular items available to all players from vendors but sneak them into the Exchange like they are a rare drop or something and upsell them, they should make vendor items account bound really they should.
The only grind option you have are the exploration missions like Delta Volanis and then sell whatever you get in the way of data samples on the exchange. Slow way to do things but that is the game all round.
What I also think of as a con are the fleet holdings, you spend so much time, effort, and assets getting the required XP for each tier on the holdings then you have to spend even more to unlock it once you are there.
Not fair, not fair at all!
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
But honestly, you are usually able to blaze through the levels, and at least get a rank up per daily play-through and a half. Don't sweat it - if you play casually, you'll get from zero to level 50 in a couple of weeks, where the bulk of the content is. Then you'll wonder why you ever bought ANY gear at mk IX and less.
Don't dwell on the gear of your current level; you'll out-level it in a couple day's time
Forward-thinking is key
When I started my first character in October of 2010, when she hit Captain, she had over 5 million EC. But then, I've been playing these games since the mid 90s (The Realm, Meridian59, UO) so I had an idea of how to make scratch.
Know what I did? I looked at the exchange and saw a ton of items being sold below vendor value. Deflectors, Shields, Engines, and other stuff. I found this out after checking the exchange for how much to list my own loot and saw that, wait a minute, I can get more for this if I vendor it. So every time I had to return to ESD, I'd look at the exchange and lo and behold! 10 minutes of "work" would gain me tens of thousands of energy credits.
It's gotten even easier since then, with the loot you can easily get from doff missions (colonists, refugees, contraband, strange alien artifacts, green doffs from the free missions, etc) and the fact that there are so many people with more money than time, that they list stuff far below market value just to get rid of it. On my Romulan, I bought an SRO boff from the exchange for 6 million EC (she had 40 million when she hit VA, with NO help whatsoever from my other VAs) and then got a purple from a recruiting mission that sold for 11 million. Someone listed a Reman Science boff with Superior Infiltrator (the Reman high value trait) for 250k. I bought that and kept it, though I could have sold it for 5+ million.
Complaining about making EC in this game at this time is like complaining about making money on stocks in the 80s (and during the dot com boom). The question then becomes, are you even trying or simply standing on the sidelines complaining about how you can't?
I remember where you had stuff when you get a new ship you put it off the new ship and sold it they blocked the option it's 0 worth now if you try to sell it and you can't put it on exchange because it is blocked...
SO it might be the players doing to get cryptic to do this but why for new players this is a hassle and they should give the new player a ease off not a hassle because if I was a new player I would quit the game if I had to do this I rather would spend time on a facebook grind game...
And you can get easy access to 10.000 EC yes but as a commander you need at least 120.000 EC to gear up the correct Mk VI Gear because cryptic is giving standard items on the ships Mk IV and not Mk VI .
Then you also need to regear your char and BO to Mk VI that's also a small price of almost 100.000 EC and because the leveling is going so fast you don't have time to save up so much EC !!!
"Coffee: the finest organic suspension ever devised. It's got me through the worst of the last three years. I beat the Borg with it."
In know what to do but someone new to the system doesn't and it's not only the exchange it's also the vendors asking reiculous prizes
"Coffee: the finest organic suspension ever devised. It's got me through the worst of the last three years. I beat the Borg with it."
Players make large amounts of EC by "playing the exchange" Find a mk VI rare shield check the exchange see its selling for 150,000 EC Put it on the exchange for 148,000 ec some player out there first time playing will end up buying it. Find four of them with one at 150,000 and 3 at 40,000? By the 3 then repost at 148,000 you got profit.
Do yourself a favor, don't buy any gear from the exchange until you are at Level 50. you will have that gear for a long time, Mk VI gear? You will outgrow it faster than you can earn the EC to buy it. When you get the EC saved up, your now using MK VIII gear. So for your own sanity forget the exchange until your an Admiral.
Tigglet, Yep exactly. You can buy Major Regenerators on DS9 for 320 or 360 ec apiece. Buy em from the exchange? 590 or more each. (Oh and Yes Im putting this here to try and get the word out)
Fleet leader Nova Elite
Fleet Leader House of Nova elite
@ren_larreck
Don't tell me it's hard, I leveled up twice now. It isn't hard in the LEAST.
You're leveling too fast because its been set to double exp till the season 9 launch.
Do some starbase 24, go and do "Explore strange new worlds". If you're in an appropriate-level area enemies are gonna drop gear like candy.
I'm having a hard time believing you're struggling when this is the easiest MMO I've ever played in regards of leveling and staying geared.
Stop sitting in ESD and crying or w/e you're doing. Gear lower than Mk. X is TRIBBLE-easy to get.
really there is no reason to buy anything off the exchange. I mean really, if anything is on the exchange its mission trash that drops and drops and drops. J
LOL... and I was literally commenting on this yesterday. Based on level and quality, a white MkII might gave the same stats as a purple MKX but one will be on the exchange for like 9K and the other one will be like 500K. And even still the difference between the different levels is a couple of % in most cases and not worth another million or two EC
The Dilith store is generally a rip off all the way around. You are better off saving it for fleet or rep items.
But I know what you mean. I picked a weapon type years ago but want to switch. But to switch out all my weapons and consoles for the equivalents would be at least a million dilith.
Dont even get me started on the DOFF racket. Just sell Doffs. Lol. That could easily fund your gear. There seems to be no end to the suckers who buy doffs
You need a month for that? On double XP weekends you can level a char on one evening...
He's a new player not an altoholic.
They're gonna want to do everything at their level, not be interested in how fast they can cap out and join the grind.
Now, about another comment I noticed here. Don't try to grind for the ec/dil to get what you want. At lower ranks, you won't get very far very quickly. Use the gear you pick up. So.e of it can be very useful. Its not like you're going up against other players in the story missions, so you don't need anything too expensive or strong right now. As for the items you don't use, there's quite a demand for blue and purple items on the exchange. I suggest you unload them there, but for prices far lower than what you normally see, but higher than item value. You'll get to watch the ec roll in as you undersell all the others and make a fine profit (its not like you paid for the stuff in the first place, so you can't possibly loose anything on it). As for the green and white items, those I just discard or put in the replicator. Either way, you get about 40 % of an items value this way. Still profitable. Or you can try selling on the exchange, and see what happens.
One more bit of advice. Don't waste your ec transwarping to each mission. If you can get there the normal way, do so. A little extra time is worth saving g 18 to 36k ec.
Though really the transwarp prices don't reach 18k till the admiral ranks.
You can get some truly awesome gear through replaying missions, and the rewards are sometimes different or extra for replays.
My personal favourite is "Smash and Grab". It's available at different times for different races, but the warp core and weapons are some of the best "free' ones you can get! An Efficient Warp Core with around +3 to stats and the Plasma Disruptor Hybrid Weapons.
There is also many, many other Replay Rewards that are great, Vic/Pol/Neut consoles, RCS consoles, Shield Generators, Tac Consoles, Shileds, Deflectors ... the list goes on ...
There is even a thread around somewhere that lists a great many of the "free" items in game.
You can make 10's even 100's of thousands of EC just by doing mission replays.
This +1000 this When I hit VA I used the slip stream drive constantly. I transwarped everywhere and lost I don't know how much EC for paying the transwarp toll. Now I get a message Transwarp? No I close it and travel through sector space. Slipstream drive? you in a hurry to go nowhere. I'm flying a CRUISER, not a racer.
Fleet leader Nova Elite
Fleet Leader House of Nova elite
@ren_larreck
You can hit 50 in less than a week, actually. If double exp is running...you can do it in about 8 hours or less.
I do tend to outfit alts with uncommon gear as they come up, but I'll use common if prices are too outrageous. And whenever I get to a new rank I run a farm mission from the foundry, that's usually enough to get the bulk of equips for that level, along with some spending money.
Or just grind your way up to the Borg Engine ... Nearly as fast as Slipstream without any cooldown.
I have them, But you see Im a farmer that became an admiral so I could become a farmer. And you know what I learned from all that? Its what's the rush.
Fleet leader Nova Elite
Fleet Leader House of Nova elite
@ren_larreck
Not really, no. They can handle things fine on drops and episode rewards until 50, and then they've got it made anyway.
You can't design a game or balance a game economy around people who know nothing (because the people with a clue will make a killing taking advantage of those people who know nothing). The game's economy (prices, etc) are thus because most people have a lot in the way of resources. They have those resources because there are lots of methods to get them (more than there were four years ago).
Vendor prices are ridiculous to encourage you to use alternative means (whether that be the exchange or farming). Vendor items are also inferior to that which can be acquired via the exchange (generally), for the reason you gave (vendors sell the low mark whereas you can buy the high mark from the exchange for a similar price). Now, granted, as someone else mentioned, nowadays, most people don't buy low level stuff from the exchange so the supply is limited and demand seemingly allows for very high prices. But even those prices aren't difficult to handle IF you take advantage of the many ways that exist to generate (or rather, transfer) EC.
A new player starting in ANY MMO of any real age (say 1+ years old) will start at a disadvantage, especially if they're new to the genre (or, to a lesser extent, an MMO vet who hasn't done any advance research). There is nothing the devs can do about this. Nothing. Short of giving every other player amnesia, there's nothing they can do to put new players on even ground with vets. This is also where community comes in. It would be the community's place to advise that they shouldn't be buying gear from vendors. Tribal wisdom FTW!
As a new character you don't really want good gear as you out level it too quickly to justify the cost. Just level in whatever, and get to 50 then start looking for gear.
Anyways... white quality gear or some mission reward items are decent for leveling. Lv 50 is about the time you need to start worrying about your build.
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite
colored text = mod mode
I leveled up to max in 6 hours
#yourdoingitwrong :P
But until you reach level 50, there is no sense on adquiring the best of the best. Clever people will never waste any ec or dilithium (god.. dilithium??) on lower levels.
With the mission rewards you will get, you have more than enough by far and mission weapons are great most of the times, specially for levels under 50.
He speaks the truth.
The only time I even consider buying any gear for a new ALT is after I reach max level and even then I buy knowing that the gear is just a place holder for Fleet Gear when it becomes available to me.
Even on Elite Difficulty you can get by with low cost blue gear.
It's never a good idea to wast large amounts of Energy Credits on place holder equipment