Yes, I know I shouldn't be spending money in this free to play game, but sometimes the grind just gets to me. To be honest, I don't mind spending a few bucks if I know the purchase will satisfy me. That's the problem though - DCUO is the only game I can think of where the purchases frequently don't satisfy me. I trying to upgrade my B.O.P artifact. I looked at the cost of the catalysts for the level 80, and I just decided I didn't want to do anymore grinding for source marks, so I paid the $27+tax for the 200 source marks from the market place. When I bought the required catalysts, and installed them the success rate of the breakthrough went down to 60%. I tried a seal and It failed, so I had to spend another $7+tax to get a Seal of Completion to ensure my success. I break through, and I only get 2 out of the 3 debuffs at level 80. I have to breakthrough level 120 to get all 3. So I have spent all this money and still didn't get all 3 debuffs like I wanted. This is what I mean by: 'spending money and still not being satisfied.' Now to get to level 120, I'm going to have to buy more catalysts and source marks. Ahhh well, I have only myself to blame. It's not the first time this has happened to me in DCUO. I personally believe the Daybreak team should receive money for the work they do. That's why I don't mind paying for stuff, but it just feels shady sometimes. I play Elder Scrolls Online, and I buy things there too, but I never feel ripped off or suckered like I do sometimes in DCUO. Anyway, I'm not saying that Daybreak in anyway is trying to rip people off. Absolutely not. I'm just saying I feel a little suckered sometimes with the way DCUO is setup.
Ya, I get that. Just a little info, though, when it comes to artifacts: 80, 120, 160, and 200 are the "significant" levels. So look at the bottom of the artifact, and usually you can find 4 significant things, whether it be a new action/buff/bonus, or new ability all together. Rank 80: a teaser. Rank 120: starting to get good. Rank 160: most really to shine. Rank 200: here's the final bonus (which sometimes it's nice, sometimes it's just small). Most artifacts aren't going to give you what you want, until 160.
That’s how all MMOs work. You either spend time or money. The items up for purchase have a clear description of what is being bought. Artifacts show a diminishing chance for successful breakthrough. There’s also google to look up the amounts needed for both nth requirements and catalyst requirements. As well as breakthrough chances. You’re best bet would be to purchase a membership instead of source marks anyways. You get both nth as well as extra rewards from the daily login. You gets destiny tokens (4 per month) which means the seals pay for themselves. You also get 500 free points to use towards marketplace items from the vendors in the safe houses as well as one in the HoL. You can use those points for an extra seal or nth metal. Either way, at 60% breakthrough chance you were better off getting seals of preservations instead of seals of completions. Bottom line. If you are unsure about something it’s better to ask for help/advice. Better than trying to rush ahead for something you’re not sure you will like. You also have access to the test server to try out how artifacts work too.
Well, there are worse things that you could spend your money on. Then again, I am not one to talk since the last time I put money into DCUO was..... back when it was "under SOE" and they allowed the use of their currency to buy expansions. I made sure to stock up on those when they had double and triple days. Then they removed that ability and the cards.....and then my funds for the game dried up. XD
I am surprised that not you, nor anyone else, have mentioned that the artifact starter pack would have been a better choice over 200 source marks. The only reason to buy source marks is for style feats since style pieces are the only thing in game that I'm aware of that cannot be purchased for less $ per source mark cost on the Marketplace. Even then, I would prefer to put the time in and farm source marks over purchase them at that price.
Rank 80: salad Rank 120: appetizer Rank 160: entree Rank 200: dessert Not to one up ya or anything, just a different perspective for comparison.
Source marks are pretty easy to come by. Doomsday is a super fast raid, and people need it for grinding feats + source marks. A half-decent group can finish in 5 minutes-- so 50ish marks in about a half hour (pretty sure you only get 8 from doomsday).
Catalysts can be had on the broker also. If you play the broker at all, the 18 mil or so catalysts for a level 80 breakthrough (on PC at least) isn't that big a deal. If I'm short on cash and/or catalysts, I'll use seals of preservation starting at 120 or 140, but usually I only use them on 160 breakthroughs. Seals of completion or extreme luck are required for the 180 and 200 tiers, but if you subscribe for 1 month you get like 4 of those.
Final point in this thread, Membership is a really, really good deal these days. No you absolutely don't need it. But before you decide to drop $25 on the game (sorry I know it's too late OP) you should really consider all the nth metal, gear, styles, seals, and catalysts that $15 membership gives you over the month. Not to mention free stabilizers for those Time Capsules everybody loves to open.
Sadly Seals of Preservation are useless, in my experience, to insure a breakthrough for Arts. Seals of Completion are the only way to go, which got me to thinking that maybe Seals of Completion are for Arts and Seals of Preservation are for Augments.
Doomsday is 8 marks, but I've had several runs where the extra Superman loot box nets me 10 in the end, so it's pretty easy in six runs to have more than 50 in the end.
I know it's too late, and I'm honestly very shocked nobody has mentioned this yet, but you could have just bought the catalysts directly from the Marketplace for MUCH cheaper. To break through to Rank 80 (I'm assuming you had already broken past the other ranks?) you need 4 Dionesium, 3 Quantum Field Energy and 2 Paradox Energy. These are available in packs of six on the marketplace at the following prices: Dionesium - 100 DBC/MC, Quantum Field Energy - 200 DBC/MC, Paradox Energy - 300 DBC/MC. You would have only needed to spend 600 DBC/MC instead of the 2500 you spent on Source Marks and would still have catalysts left over. Even if you had started at rank 1 this method still would have been the cheaper option, as you need a total of 11 Dionesium, 6 Quantum Field Energy and 3 Paradox Energy to bring you from Rank 1 to Rank 80. As others have mentioned, Membership is also a pretty good deal because you get a LOT of extra stuff from the Daily Rewards that more than makes up for the cost, imo. The 4 Destiny Tokens alone you get as a member are enough to get 40 Seals of Preservation or 4 Seals of Completion (or a mixture of both) from the Doctor Fate vendor. You also get a 10% discount on the Marketplace as a member, so that would make buying Catalysts from there even cheaper. Final note, as a general tip I *personally* only use Seals of Preservation up until Rank 140. Preservations usually work out cheaper up until this rank unless you have incredibly bad luck. I generally only use Completions for Ranks 160, 180 and 200.
You're better off subscribing now ($15) and using the destiny tokens you get from your daily login rewards to buy seals from Dr Fate in the house of legends. Also my suggestion is never buy source marks, you can literally farm things forever to get them now, remember an MMO is a marathon, not a sprint. Best of luck.
I wouldnt say that, they are a cheaper alternative, but they also give you more of them. Its abit of a tightrope they are dancing on with those. But i will say i get pretty excited piling on a few seals of preservation. My sub lapsed and i got more important things right now (My 6 month ff sub lapses next month, once i get that back up ill be looking into another DCUO subscription afterward) But get a pile of preservation's and enough of those is almost 1 seal of completion, so i cant complain!
Why the rush? We're in the middle of a Dlc, not much to do. For 200 source marks, you can get the weekly mision form Atlantis for the pots, the energy from Dark Gotham, signs from Legion, the 2 bounties and sigils from Themyscira and the 3 current bounties. That's 72 already outside of any raids or alerts you might do. As for Seals, you can use the daily reward to buy a pack of SoP or even a SoC.
sorry to hear. i wish you lots of breakthru success from here on out! i will share my story in here. my mousewheel is broken, as in, the wheel is missing on my mouse and i have a piece of tape over the hole so nothing foreign gets inside of it, therefore, i cant scroll down and read ANY artifact information ingame to even see what levels do what i tried looking in the setup to see if i can change the mousewheel to a page up and page down, but sadly i cant seem to find anything. so for all these years artifacts have been out, i havent been able to read a single one ingame now the obvious question is, why dont i just get a new mouse. well, its a great mouse and i love using it. feels so good in my hand and i can use it for hours without any pain at all, compared to others i have used for hours on end. its the price i pay i guess augments are the same as well, i cant read what they do
