DCUO Marketplace and Real Money

Discussion in 'Oracle’s Database (Guides)' started by Captain1Dynamo, Jul 13, 2020.

  1. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    If you play DCUO for any length of time you’ll probably end up spending some money on the game. This guide translates the DCUO Marketplace into real dollars & discusses the combat value of items available to purchase (i.e. if the item affects your ability to fight while playing the game). Options / alternatives to buying from the Marketplace are provided (where possible). PC & Playstation Marketplaces are covered, though the same values should hold true on X-Box or Switch.

    Translating Marketplace costs to real money is not as obvious as it might seem due to two factors: discounts for Legendary members & the method used to purchase Daybreak / Marketplace cash (due to the discount for buying 10,000 or 5000 DC/MC).

    To the best of my knowledge all facts & figures in this guide are correct. If any errors are identified, please let me know immediately. I also do my very best to present all information and alternatives without judgment, leaving it up to the reader to determine what is the best value to them.

    Terms - One thing about this subject that could cause confusion is the fact that the money your character gets in game uses the same term as real money – Dollars. So to keep things clear I will refer to in-game Dollars as ‘IGD’, and I’ll use ‘$’ to refer to real money (in U.S. Dollars). We’ll also be using the terms Daybreak Cash (DC) as you see in the PC Marketplace, and Marketplace Cash (MC) for the Playstation Marketplace.

    Note – prices are current as of 7/7/2020 & are subject to change.
    • Like x 2
  2. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    Broadly speaking there are three options for playing DCUO:

    1. Free-to-Play (spend nothing, get very little)
    2. Premium (spend at least $5.00 on anything in the Marketplace, get slightly more)
    3. Legendary aka Membership (spend a recurring fee either monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or annually, get quite a lot)


    Free-to-Play

    With Free-to-Play you get the base game which includes the Level 1-30 missions, most of the lower Tier On-Duty instances, access to PVP, Legends (with F2P you are given one character), Seasonal & new Episode Events. You don’t get anything that’s part of a DLC pack, so that’s what you won’t be able to do from the On-Duty tab.

    Being Free-to-Play gives you two Character slots, choice of 6 Power types, choice of all weapons except shield, choice of movement types except skimming (which is mostly the same as flying). You get a Lair after a few Levels, but not the Lair System (so not Orbital Strike, Supply Drop, etc). Your Inventory only has 28 slots & your bank only has 12 (+9 shared – meaning other characters on your account can use those 9 slots). You cannot trade, you cannot use the Broker, your character can only use up to 2000 IGD (without buying escrow), you can join a League, but not create one, your Loot Lockouts are long, and your ability to text is limited (something DCUO did to discourage bots – which didn’t really work). And then there is lots & lots of stuff you don’t get, but could purchase from the Marketplace.

    Let’s say you love PVP or Legends. If those things are all you ever want to play, then you can do everything in those two categories without ever spending any money in the Marketplace (with the exception of PVP Home Turf Lair Battles, which are part of a DLC). And as mentioned there is some PVE content you can play without spending real money – you’ll just never be very powerful.


    Premium

    To be Premium you have to spend at least $5.00 in the Marketplace. You could really think of Premium as Free-to-Play+, since you get just slightly more than you do as a free player. Upgrades from Free-to-Play are: 6 character slots, your Inventory has 42 slots & your bank has 24 (+9 shared – same as F2P). You can trade and use the Broker, you can send items through the in-game email system, your character can use up to 3000 IGD, your Loot Lockouts are shorter, and your ability to text is unlimited. And that’s really it. Just like F2P you don’t have anything else until you buy it from the Marketplace, to include the same limitations you get at Character Creation on Power types, etc.


    Legendary
    (also often referred to as being a ‘member’)

    Legendary status is gained by buying a membership for a certain period of time (monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or annually). When the period is up, you have to continue to renew to maintain Legendary status. Basic upgrades from Premium are: 16 character slots, your Inventory has 63 slots & your bank has 48 (+9 shared – same as F2P & Premium), you can send items & IGD through the in-game email system, your character can use an unlimited amount of IGD, your Loot Lockouts are shortest possible, you can both create & join a League, and you can create custom voice channels.

    But beyond those basic things, you get a bunch of stuff you would otherwise have to buy: access to all Power Sets, all weapons, all movement modes, the Lair System, Utility Belt, and all Promethium Lockboxes are automatically unlocked.

    You also get 150 Replay Badges per month, you are given 500 DC (for PC, which can be used on the Marketplace) or 500 Loyalty Points (for PS4 / X-Box / Switch, which can be used at the Legendary vendors – Skeets’ Legendary Emporium, in Police Stations / Nightclubs), and you get a permanent 10% discount for Marketplace purchases.

    But most important of all, you get all DLC, which gives you access to everything. Every instance, every Open World area, every piece of gear & style & etc. & etc.

    Yet, you still don’t just get everything. You’re still only given one Armory. Although you get the Lair System, you aren’t given any Amenities for your base, and so on. So, you get a lot, but do be aware that you don’t get everything you might want.

    Also let’s clear a little confusion. People sometimes seem to forget that as a member they’re not being given free stuff – you ARE paying for it. For example, you don’t just get 150 Replay Badges a month for free. That’s not a gift; you are paying for those Badges (with your fee for monthly / quarterly / semi-annual / annual membership). And that is also true for those things which seem to be free. For example, each year members get some ‘gifts’ at DCUO Anniversary time, but again the fee you pay for membership is why you get those things; if you weren’t already paying, then you wouldn’t get any gifts.

    FYI, if you stop Legendary status, you revert to Premium status. You keep things that you gained as a member, but in many cases might not be able to use them anymore.

    Buying a membership is not a Marketplace purchase; you buy directly from Daybreak (on PC, which is called Daybreak All Access), or through the Playstation Store (or the X-Box / Switch equivalent).

    Monthly $14.99 per month (=$179.88 per year)
    Quarterly $38.97 billed every 3 months (=$12.99 per month, =155.88 per year)
    Semi-Annual $71.94 billed every 6 months (=$11.99 per month, =143.88 per year)
    Annual $119.88 billed every 12 months (=$9.99 per month)

    So from these options the Annual membership costs the least…if you intend to play the game for a year or more. But if you’ve gotten to Level 30 & you’re still on the fence, you could also try just one month of membership. In less than a month you’ll easily be able to raise your character from Level 30 to at or near the highest CR in the game, and have access to every Power set, every DLC, etc. 30 days is plenty of time to play every On-Duty instance (multiple times, in fact), try all the Powers (…to an extent. The structure of 1-30 means you don’t have all your abilities till Level 30. Only then can you develop your full loadout & really see what the Power is like. So 1 month isn’t enough to fully test all 15 power sets), & so forth, and then you can decide if you want to be a long-term player. If not, then cancel your membership before the month’s up.

    The other thing to note here are sales. Every so often DCUO / Daybreak will have a sale on memberships. For the last several years there’s been a sale on or around the 11th of January (the DCUO anniversary), then there’s usually another sometime between July & December (but don’t count on it – you can never predict exactly what DCUO will put on sale, or when, or how long the sale will last). Here's Jan 2020's sale:

    Term----------------------------- Sale------------- Regular
    1-Month Membership------ $11.24----------- $14.99

    3-Month Membership------ $29.24----------- $38.99

    6-Month Membership------ $53.99----------- $71.99

    12-Month membership---- $89.99----------- $119.99

    As you can see, the sale is a significant value, and if you ever do want to have an annual membership, then sale time is absolutely when you should buy. So, what if the sale is several months away? If you currently have a membership and you then buy another (on sale or not), then your membership is extended by whatever length of time you buy. For example, say it’s December 2020 & you buy a 3 month membership. That would take you to March 2021. Then you buy an annual membership on sale in January 2021. You’ll get an email receipt which will verify that your membership now goes through March 2022.
    • Like x 1
  3. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    Legendary vs Premium
    Dawn of Spending


    Most Important Question: What do you need?

    To answer this question you have to decide how much you want to do in the game. Do you want to play every instance in every DLC? Do you want to just PVP? Etc, etc. Well, if you’ve just started playing the game, you might want to take some time testing it out to see if you actually like the game enough to spend real money on it. You have the option to first play Level 1-30 (which should only take a couple of days), try some Legends Player-vs-Environment (PVE), do a little Player-vs-Player (PVP), play some of the On-Duty instances. You’d think the Level 1-30 missions would give you a good idea of what the game is like, however due to the structure of gaining abilities & Skill Points with each increasing level you end up not being able to fight during 1-30 like you will above Level 30. But you can try On-Duty content above Level 30 before deciding. All that free-to-play stuff should tell you what you want to do in the game. And maybe you’ll find that you don’t like anything, in which case you’ve spent nothing & lost nothing.

    So, is the membership worth your money vs Premium? Depends on what you want to play & how long you want to play. Consider this very basic comparison of what you’d have to pay as a Premium for all the things you get if you’re Legendary:

    $89.99 Ultimate Edition Bundle (includes 8 Powers, Shield, Skimming, Utility Belt, Lair System, Episodes 1-26)
    $119.87 Episodes 27-37 (+9.99 for each Episode released in the future)
    $6.00 Water Power Set (not included with Ultimate Bundle)
    $50.00 Additional Character Slots to match Legendary
    $24.00 Auction, Inventory & Bank Slots to match Legendary
    = $289.86 Total
    (additionally as Premium you don’t get monthly Replay Badges and DC / Loyalty Points, and you’d have to buy Escrow & Promethium Keys to spend more than 3000 IGD or to open Lockboxes)

    As a Legendary member with an annual subscription ($119.88) you’d play for almost two and ½ years to reach the cost of buying piecemeal. So, how long do you want to play?


    O.k., member issues aside, let’s look at the Marketplace.
    • Like x 1
  4. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    Marketplace

    The first thing to understand about the Marketplace is that the cost of items depends on how you get your Daybreak Cash / Marketplace Cash. Like membership, the more you buy, the better the deal

    $5.00 for 500 DC means $1.00 = 100 DC

    $10.00 for 1000 DC means $1.00 = 100 DC

    $20.00 for 2000 DC means $1.00 = 100 DC

    $25.00 for 2500 DC means $1.00 = 100 DC

    $45.00 for 5000 DC means $1.00 = 111.1 DC

    $85.00 for 10,000 DC means $1.00 = 117.6 DC

    ****for Playstation**** $99.99 for 15,000 MC means $1.00 = 150 MC

    Let’s say you wanted to buy an additional Power set which costs 600 DC. If you bought your DC for amounts from 500 to 2500, then that Power will cost you $6.00. But if you bought 5000 DC, then the Power would cost you $5.45. And if you bought 10,000 DC, then the Power would cost $5.13. Question is, how much are you going to buy from the marketplace? If you only ever buy a couple things, then it probably doesn’t matter too much. If you spend a lot, then over time that savings can add up. You know, if the DLC’s were for DC/MC, then savings could really work for you, unfortunately DLC is a direct purchase for $, just like membership.

    **** There's a special deal on Playstation which I though was only for a limited time - 15,000 Marketplace Cash for $99.99. However, it appears to be there permanently now (which means I spent more than I had to a couple times). You can only get this deal through the Playstation Store, not the in-game Marketplace. Turns out I was searching for the wrong thing. I searched for DCUO or DC Universe Online, but this deal uses neither of those terms. To find it open the Playstation Store & search for '15,000 Marketplace Cash + Bonus' (it should pop up as soon as you type 15). Buy the deal through the Playstation Store, then go to the Marketplace in-game & the 15,000 will be there (though it may take 10 minutes or so). As far as I can tell you can buy this deal as many times as you want (you just won't get the bonus - Red Obsidan Material more than once. Claim the material in the Redeem/Claim box at the top of the in-game Marketplace).

    One insignificant note: Marketplace Cash costs 1¢ less than Daybreak Cash.

  5. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    Most Important Question: What do you need?

    First let’s separate NEED from WANT. Specifically, what must you have to play the game effectively past CR 30? Well, I guess that's a judgment question & is really up to each player to determine. At the risk of violating my own rule for this guide I am going to tell you what I think here, and obviously it will be up to you to make your own decision. Out of everything in the Marketplace, there’s only one thing that’s crucial: a second Armory. Why? Because you need to be able to quickly switch between (and be able to play) both Support & DPS Roles. The only way to do that instantly is with two Armories. And the only way to get a second Armory is from the Marketplace. Almost every other Amenity can be acquired through collections (except Teleporter – which is not actually crucial since you can warp, or you can use Watchtower/HOD Teleporters).

    Collection / Amenity


    Ace Chemicals Employee Training FAQs / R&D Vendor


    Ace Chemicals Safety Inspection Infractions / Soder Vendor


    Arkham’s Personal Collection / R&D Station


    Phobias / Mailbox


    Prison Library / Broker


    Shivs and Shanks / Bank


    Steelworks Research Data / Respec Station


    Steelworks Tour Guide / Sparring Target

    Playing only a single role forever really isn’t feasible. First, you can’t be only Support Role; you wouldn’t be effective in Solos (and probably Duos). As to playing DPS & only DPS; that’s only realistic if you can do the most damage in the group – which means having very high SP, max CR, maxed Artifact, Augments, Generator mods. If you aren’t at or near the top in all these categories, then someone else in the group will be, and that’s the person who needs to DPS. You might get carried through lower Tier content, but if you’re playing the top couple Episodes’ Raids, then maximum burn is what’s needed (as well as effective Healing, Trolling & Tanking).

    So you need to have two Armories (and possibly more if you wanted to have different loadouts for melee DPS vs. full-range DPS, or multi-target vs single-target, or PVP, or etc, etc). After that, everything else in the Marketplace ranges from nice-to-have, to totally worthless. On the former end of the spectrum are things that will help your toon be more powerful, on the latter are things that have nothing to do with your combat effectiveness.

    So the most unimportant things in the game are:

    1. Your character’s name.

    2. Your character’s appearance (…except for the fact that style sets give you Feats for SP, which IS important. Some styles that you can buy on the Marketplace have associated Feats, some do not. So you’ve got to do some evaluation on whether the cost is worth the SP you get, or if there’s some other way you can get the Feats in-game without paying for them on the Marketplace). Included in the unimportant things about appearance are Personality type, Body type, Auras, Materials, etc.

    3. Toys / other non-combat items.
    • Like x 1
  6. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    Marketplace Costs

    The following covers the costs of all Marketplace Items in U.S. Dollars ($) depending on how you bought your Daybreak / Marketplace Cash, and depending on membership category (F2P & Premium / Legendary). Not listed: direct purchases for which you don’t use DC/MC, and which have no discount for members (i.e. Ultimate Edition, individual Episodes, Power Bundle, LexCorp Starter Pack, etc.). For example, an Armory costs 500 DC/MC. If a player bought 10,000 DC/MC, then the Armory would cost $4.27 for a F2P / Premium player, and would cost $3.85 for a Legendary-level member. (If there’s a DC/MC number not listed, then nothing costs that price, e.g. nothing on the Marketplace is 800 DC/MC)

    Item Cost --------500/1000/2000/2500-----------------5000------------------- 10,000
    20 / 18 ---------------$0.20 / $0.18 -----------------$0.18 / $0.16 ----------$0.17 / $0.15

    40 / 36 ---------------$0.40 / $0.36 -----------------$0.36 / $0.32 ----------$0.34 / $0.31

    50 / 45 ---------------$0.50 / $0.45 -----------------$0.45 / $0.41 ----------$0.43 / $0.38

    60 / 54 ---------------$0.60 / $0.54 -----------------$0.54 / $0.49 ----------$0.51 / $0.46

    100 / 90 -------------$1.00 / $0.90 -----------------$0.90 / $0.81 ----------$0.85 / $0.77

    150 / 135 -----------$1.50 / $1.35 -----------------$1.35 / $1.22 -----------$1.28 / $1.15

    200 / 180 -----------$2.00 / $1.80 -----------------$1.80 / $1.62 -----------$1.70 / $1.53

    300 / 270 -----------$3.00 / $2.70 ----------------$2.70 / $2.43 ------------$2.55 / $2.30

    400 / 360 -----------$4.00 / $3.60 ----------------$3.60 / $3.24 -----------$3.40 / $3.06

    500 / 450 -----------$5.00 / $4.50 ----------------$4.50 / $4.05 -----------$4.25 / $3.83

    600 / 540 ----------$6.00 / $5.40 -----------------$5.40 / $4.86 -----------$5.10 / $4.59

    700 / 630 ----------$7.00 / $6.30 -----------------$6.30 / $5.67 -----------$5.95 / $5.36

    999 / 899 ----------$9.99 / $8.99 -----------------$8.99 / $8.09 -----------$8.49 / $7.64

    1000 / 900 ---------$10.00 / $9.00 ---------------$9.00 / $8.10 ----------$8.50 / $7.65

    1500 / 1350 --------$15.00 / $13.50 ------------$13.50 / $12.15 -------$12.75 / $11.48

    1800 / 1620 --------$18.00 / $16.20 ------------$16.20 / $14.58 -------$15.30 / $13.77

    1900 / 1710 --------$19.00 / $17.10 ------------$17.10 / $15.39 -------$16.15 / $14.54

    2000 / 1800 --------$20.00 / $18.00 ------------$18.00 / $16.20 -------$17.00 / $15.30

    2500 / 2250 --------$25.00 / $22.50 ------------$22.50 / $20.25 -------$21.25 / $19.13

    3500 / 3150 -------**$35.00 / $31.50 -----------$31.50 / $28.35 ------$29.75 / $26.78

    4999 / 4499 -------**$49.99 / $44.99 -----------$44.99 / $40.49 ------$42.49 / $38.24

    5000 / 4500 -------**$50.00 / $45.00 -----------$45.00 / $40.50 ------$42.50 / $38.25

    10000 / 9000 -----**$100.00 / $90.00 ----------**$90.00 / $81.00 ----$85.00 / $76.50

    **The costs at the asterisks are possible; it would mean buying DC/MC at the lower cost options. For example, instead of buying 10,000 for $85.00, a person bought 2500 for $25.00 four times to get 10,000 DC/MC total.


  7. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    Options

    While there are some things which you can only get from the Marketplace, there are many items you can also get through other methods. Following are some of your options.

    Skip to Level 25 – it costs 1000 DC/MC (900 for members) to skip to Level 25, but you can easily get to 25 within 1-2 days just by playing the levelling missions (even without buying XP-Boosters).

    Skip to CR 255 (CR increases each year) – cost is 4999 DC/MC (4499 for members). I recently tested how fast I could increase a toon’s CR without any Marketplace purchases, & without using any Quark or TC gear. To go up I used gear from instances (mostly Raids), bought just a couple pieces from each Tier’s vendor for Source Marks, and used auto-item levelling gear from the Vault or new Episode Event content. In less than 3 days I went from CR 30 to 166, then hit a wall because I ran out of Source Marks. (I also didn’t use any instance resets) I’m absolutely certain that in another 2 weeks I could get to end-game CR (without using replays, less than 2 weeks if I did). The issue to be aware of is that in both cases your toon will have very, very low stats because the Skip (and moving up really fast) doesn’t give you a lot of SP, Artifact / Augment levels, Generator Mods, etc, etc. So for either way you quickly get to CR 255, stop when you get there. Go back & build up those stats playing all the content in the lower Tiers to get Feats, Nth Metal, Exobytes, etc. You need that stuff to actually be effective in end-game instances.

    Styles – There are a few Styles that one can only get on the Marketplace (like Royal Chroma), but the Styles that get you SP (i.e have Feats that have Feat Points, as opposed to Feats that only have Titles) can all be acquired in-game, either through Tier Vendors, Loyalty Vendor, Trading, Broker, TC’s or Quark Vendors.

  8. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    Options

    Source Marks & Quarks – You can buy Source Marks in the Marketplace, or just get them from playing content. If your CR is above the Relevancy Window for the instance, then most of the time (but not all) you can take a Source Mark instead of other Loot. You usually get Quarks by opening TC’s. Quarks are not on the Marketplace (as of 7/7/2020), but I suppose it’s possible they may show up there some day. The only way to buy Quarks by themselves is to go to the Quark Vendor (not the Second Chance Vendor) where you can buy 25 Quarks for 100 Source Marks. Based on the price of Source Marks on the Marketplace, that would make 25 Quarks more than $10.00. The only things on the Vendors that cost 25 Quarks or less are a few Artifacts, Bottled City Soder and Motes.

    Time Capsules & Stabilizers – Opened TC’s (or one Stabilizer) cost 100 (/ 90 for members) DC/MC each. Opened Mega Capsules (when available) cost 700 / 630 (& open 9 TC’s). 20 Stabilizers cost 1900 / 1710 (=95 / 85.5 DC/MC each), 10 Stabilizers cost 999 / 899 (=99.9 / 89.9 DC/MC each). Stabilizers can be acquired in-game only by playing the Stabilizer Fragmentation instance. Each run gives the player Fragments, number depending on membership level. F2P gets 3 each run, Premium get 4 & Legendary members get 6. It takes 15 Fragments to make 1 Stabilizer. So F2P has to do 5 runs for 1 Stabilizer, Premium 4 runs, Legendary takes 3 runs. It takes 87 Replay Badges to reset the mission, so a F2P player would have to reset 4 times (348 Badges) to make 1 Stabilizer. The cost for that would be from $9.96 to $13.92 depending on how you bought Replay Badges (see next section on Replay Badges)
    • Like x 1
  9. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    Replay Badges

    Cost 100 (/ 90 for members) DC/MC for 25 (=4 / 3.6 DC/MC each Badge)
    500 / 450 DC/MC for 150 (=3.33 / 3 DC/MC each)
    1000 / 900 DC/MC for 350 RB (=2.86 / 2.57 DC/MC each)

    Loot Locks vary depending on the type of instance.

    Type ----------------------Reset Cost ------DC/MC for F2P/Prem by 100/150/350 ----DC/MC for members by 100/150/350
    Solos (aka Challenges) 12 RB ------------------48 / 40 / 34 -----------------------43 / 36 / 31

    Duos -------------------------12 RB -----------------48 / 40 / 34 -----------------------43 / 36 / 31

    Alerts -------------------------24 RB -----------------96 / 80 / 69 ----------------------86 / 72 / 62

    Raids / Stabilizer Frag ---87 RB ---------------348 / 290 / 249 ------------------313 / 261/ 224


    So, how much in $ does it cost to reset a Raid?
  10. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    Replay Badges

    Well, this gets more complicated. You also have to consider the three different levels for buying DC/MC (500-2500 vs 5000 vs 10,000) which affect how much your DC/MC is worth. The 500/1000/2000/2500 cost is $1.00 = 100 DC/MC. In other words, resetting a Raid if you bought 100 RB = $3.48, and for members minus 10% = $3.13. If you bought 350 RB, cost would be $2.49 / $2.24. Listed below are real costs for 5000 & 10,000.

    Type---Cost if purchased 5000 DC/MC for F2P & Prem / for Members by 25[]150[]350 RB
    Solos ----------------$0.43 / $0.39 [] $0.36 / $0.32 [] $0.31 / $0.28
    Type---Cost if purchased 10,000 DC/MC for F2P & Prem / for Members by 25[]150[]350 RB
    Solos ----------------$0.41 / $0.37 [] $0.34 / $0.31 [] $0.29 / $0.26


    Type---Cost if purchased 5000 DC/MC for F2P & Prem / for Members by 25[]150[]350 RB
    Duos ----------------$0.43 / $0.39 [] $0.36 / $0.32 [] $0.31 / $0.28
    Type---Cost if purchased 10,000 DC/MC for F2P & Prem / for Members by 25[]150[]350 RB
    Duos-----------------$0.41 / $0.37 [] $0.34 / $0.31 [] $0.29 / $0.26


    Type---Cost if purchased 5000 DC/MC for F2P & Prem / for Members by 25[]150[]350 RB
    Alerts ---------------$0.86 / $0.77 [] $0.72 / $0.65 [] $0.62 /$0.56
    Type---Cost if purchased 10,000 DC/MC for F2P & Prem / for Members by 25[]150[]350 RB
    Alerts ---------------$0.82 / $0.73 [] $0.68 / $0.61 [] $0.59 / $0.53


    Type---Cost if purchased 5000 DC/MC for F2P & Prem / for Members by 25[]150[]350 RB
    Raids ---------------$3.13 / $2.82 [] $2.61 / $2.35 [] $2.24 / $2.02
    Type---Cost if purchased 10,000 DC/MC for F2P & Prem / for Members by 25[]150[]350 RB
    Raids ---------------$2.96 / $2.66 [] $2.47 / $2.22 [] $2.12 / $1.90

    Notes:
    -Legendary members get 150 Replay Badges monthly with their membership fee.
    -Reset cost is always the same, regardless of # of Loots. e.g. one Raid may have five Bosses / Loots, another may have three: both are 87 RB to reset).
    -Episode Bounties are 87 RB, and although you can do several in the time it would take to get through a Raid, you don’t get as much currency or Loot as a Raid.
  11. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    Replay Badges

    The alternative to using Replay Badges to reset instances is to not use them. There is at least four months between each new Episode. Playing the weekly content weekly & the daily content daily will allow you to buy the full best-on-vendor style sets in less than three months. Use your primary toon to get the Elite set, your 2nd best toon for the regular set, then use alternate characters to do just the bounties weekly (and maybe Raids on double or triple currency weeks), and the alts should be able to buy the other Feat-producing Vendor items. The eight pieces of the Psycho Jester style set (not counting weapon, rings, etc.) cost 485 LexCoins, 606 for the Elite set. To get the regular set in the first week of release would require playing all the weekly & daily content, plus resetting a Raid ~43 times, which would cost over 3700 Replay Badges. And that set becomes obsolete the day the next Episode is released.

    All that said, do use the Replay Badges you are given as a member. You paid for them with your membership, might as well use them either on resetting instances or on Badging some of the more annoying Feats on alt toons.

    Note – Episode Currencies disappear & are replaced with Source Marks after 3 Episodes. e.g. Ep. 37 uses LexCoins for Vendor items. When Ep. 40 is released, LexCoins will disappear from the Ep. 37 Vendor & be replaced with costs in Source Marks.
  12. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    Options

    Respec Tokens & Character Name Change Device – cost 1000 DC/MC (900 for members) or 500 (450 for members), depending on the type of token.

    - Name, Personality and Body type have no effect on your combat abilities.

    - You can change the weapon you use in-game by going to a Respec station, clearing your SP & reassigning to the weapon you want. You’ll just always have 1 SP in your original weapon tree. A single SP has basically no effect on your combat abilities.

    - As for Power and Movement type; Members have 16 Character slots, enough for 1 Power set per Character, with one extra, and of course can use any of the four Movement types for those toons. Non- Members can determine as they play the very early levelling missions if they like the Movement type they’ve chosen by testing while fighting / travelling, & on the Metropolis & Gotham Races. If the Movement type is disliked, delete the Character & remake. Powers are tougher to evaluate because you don’t get all your abilities until Level 30. Still, non-members can delete & restart for this too. Naturally, if they want to try something not on the F2P list of Powers, then they would have to buy the Power set (which is a risk, since they might not like it).

    -You cannot change your faction, gender or mentor, none of which affect your ability to fight anyway.

  13. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    Options

    Promethium Keys – Feat related items in Promethium Lockboxes are either tradable or you can get them by playing (in some cases PVP, in others PVE).

    Base Amenities – As mentioned previously, a second Armory is important. The other Amenities are nice to have, but you can also do the same stuff on the Watchtower / Hall of Doom. All but Teleporter can by acquired through Collections as specified earlier.

    Legends Characters – Can all be acquired in the game with Marks of Legend, which you get by playing Legends instances / PVP. By the time you get all your PVP Feats, you’ll have made enough MoL to buy every character (and then some).

    Other Stuff – Other things you can already get in the game like Renown, Nth Metal, Exobytes, Catalysts. You can buy these kinds of things in the Marketplace (or detectors / boosters to find them in-game), but you can also get this stuff just by playing the game. The one thing that is sort of important are Seals of Completion if you’re trying to breakthrough on an Artifact with an extreme low chance of success. How necessary is that 120+ ranked Artifact? If you’re not playing end-game Elite instances you can probably get by without it.
    • Like x 1
  14. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    Sales

    Marketplace sales are pretty inconsistent. You can never really predict when sales will occur, what will be on sale, or how much the discount will be. There will be a Winter Sale each year, a Black Friday or Cyber Monday sale, probably a Summer Sale, and possibly some other Sales in Spring or Fall. To see what I mean by inconsistent, compare the past two Winter Sales:

    WINTER SALE 2019
    Friday, December 20, 2019, through Thursday, January 2, 2020 – all Stabilizer and Artifact XP packs will be 20% off!PLUS: The member discount has been increased to 15% on all Marketplace purchases. The BOOSTER BUNDLE is back!

    WINTER SALE 2018DCUO Winter Salebegins Tuesday, December 18, 2018, and ends Monday, December 31, 2018. The DCUO Winter sale is here! Most marketplace items are up to 75% off. The 40-Stabilizer pack is back. Respec Tokens are on sale. So are Replay Badges. And Artifact XP. Auras, Movement Styles, and CR Advances, too. Bank, Inventory, and Character Slots. Armories and most Lair themes. You want it? We have it up to 75% off. And if you are a member, take another 15% off of that with your increased member marketplace discount.

    So you can see, players in 2019 who were expecting the Sale to be the same as the previous year might have been disappointed. Bottom line: take advantage anytime there’s a discount, but don’t expect anything particular.

    One other Sale note; for the past two years, in conjunction with the DCUO Antiversary Membership sale, there was a special on Marketplace Cash: $99.99 for 15,000 MC plus a special (tradable) material – Red Obsidian. This started (I believe) in 2019. It happened again in Jan 2020, but there was no announcement that the special was available. This deal (if they do it again) gives you more MC than the other bundles.
    **** edit **** It appears that the 15,000 deal is permanent now (which means I spent more than I had to a couple times by buying 10,000 MC). I believe you can only get this on Playstation. You can't get it on PC. Xbox or Switch? I've no idea. You can only get this deal through the Playstation Store, not the in-game Marketplace. Turns out I was searching for the wrong thing. I searched for DCUO or DC Universe Online, but this deal uses neither of those terms. To find it open the Playstation Store & search for '15,000 Marketplace Cash + Bonus' (it should pop up as soon as you type 15). Buy the deal through the Playstation Store, then go to the Marketplace in-game & the 15,000 will be there (though it may take 10 minutes or so). As far as I can tell you can buy this deal as many times as you want (you just won't get the bonus - Red Obsidan Material more than once. Claim the material in the Redeem/Claim box at the top of the in-game Marketplace).

    $99.00 for 15,000 MC means $1.00 = 150 MC
    $85.00 for 10,000 MC means $1.00 = 117.6 MC
  15. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

  16. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

  17. Eve YouTuber

    Extremely helpful! Thank you.
  18. Sprout Robinson Active Player

    Cannot emphasize enough how helpful this thread was, thank you for putting all of this together!
  19. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    A very small Black Friday sale this year, we can only hope that the Winter Sale next month will be larger.

    Regarding the items on sale now:

    Replay Badges: Always remember that you never need to use Replay Badges to complete your primary toon's best-on-vendor gear sets: the 3-4 months before the next Episode is plenty of time to earn enough Episode currency to buy the sets. And running alt toons during that Episode cycle will allow you to get all the Feats that you can get from Vendor items.

    Respec Tokens: Personality & Body Type have nothing to do with combat effectiveness, Weapon type can be changed by clearing your SP at a Respec station & reassigning your SP (except for 1 SP which will always be in the weapon you chose when creating your character), and Members have 16 toon slots, so if you want a different Power type, then just make a new toon.

    Skip to CR 255: As a member you'll get a free Skip January 11th which is the DCUO anniversary (and possibly another in October, if this past year is any indication). There are many, many things that you don't get from a Skip, so you've got to evaluate if it's really worth the cost (see the Skip to CR 255 Guide in the Forum).
  20. Captain1Dynamo Committed Player

    I did not discuss Booster Bundles in the base thread because they are limited-time items, not permanently available on the Marketplace, and because their value toward combat effectiveness is negligible.

    Replay Badges – Always remember that you never need to use Replay Badges to complete your primary toon's best-on-vendor gear sets: the 3-4 months before the next Episode is plenty of time to earn enough Episode currency to buy the sets. And running alt toons during that Episode cycle will allow you to get all the Feats that you can get from Vendor items.

    15 Flawless Nth Metal – get Nth metal just by playing the game. Is 15,000 XP going to make you that much more powerful? Not enough that you’ll really notice while playing.

    Nth Metal Detector – again, get Nth metal just by playing the game.

    Radar Enhancer – you get several of these while going from level 1-30. Every investigation & briefing location is a known fact that you can find on the internet. Collection locations are what these are really for, but only collections at the lowest Tiers contribute to a Feat. Those can be found (takes some time) without Radar Enhancers, or bought on the Broker (or through trade with other players).

    Repair Bot – can be useful in Raids where the whole team is getting beaten up badly, however every instance also has a vendor where you can repair your gear.

    Vault Ticket – members can go to the Vault daily.

    Booster Reward Box – styles have no affect on your combat abilities. The most desired styles from Booster Bundles always have an extremely, extremely low drop rate. Any style from a Booster Bundle is tradable, so they can be acquired in game from other players. However, all Booster Bundle styles are never offered again in any way (like from vendors, etc.), which means that as time goes on these styles continually become rarer & more valuable (depending on how much players desire the style).