I usually play as a premium character, I have most of the episodes, but not AF3 (waiting until it goes on sale). My wife bought me a month legendary membership as a Christmas present which just ended. I used my built up escrow to finish collections. I used my maxed out MoL to buy characters. I played the AF3 content, got to cr 189, and built up the various mod elements like Monsterous Essence and the Core and Focusing elements. I made an equipment mod and 3 generator mods. I put off making more generator mods because the Essence Purifiers are so MoV costly. So now I want to slowly buy them as a premium member, each time it will wipe out my cash balance, but for some unknown reason the vendor won't sell them to me. I have the 2000 cash and the 5MoV and an empty inventory slot but it says "Vendor request failed".
It would be nice if there were some confirmation on this. There is little to no documentation/help for things like this in game. The error message "Vendor request failed" is USELESS. There is no Red lettering indicating that there is any requirement (e.g. other items show required level). There also doesn't seen to be any reason why an R&D item that a premium member can afford ($2000 cash/5 Marks of Victory) would not be able to buy. It's not like it was limited to the Olympic Vendor. Plus, the fact that the cost is $2000 tells me it's meant for Premium members to buy, like the PvP and PvE gear from various vendors which max out at $2000 cash (plus whatever MoV). In order to make an Olympian Mod you need Monsterous Essence which can only be made from salvaging AF3 gear. You can't buy it, you can't trade it... so that locks you to the content. All the other requirements to make the Mods, R&D Plans, Core and Focusing Elements and Exobytes are tradable and can be bought from the broker. When I went from a one-month membership back to premium, I made sure I had all the Monsterous Essence I needed to make two mods (34) and all the other items I wouldn't be able to get (either from not running the content or it being too expensive in the broker). if I had known that I could not buy a $2000/5Mov item from the R&D vendor (heck, even from the R&D accessory in my own lair!) I would have bought the Essence Purifiers from the broker and skipped buying one or two rare collection items instead of putting off purchasing what I had no reason to expect not being able to get once I became premium again. So now I have to wait for open episodes that include AF3 or buy AF3, which because of this (and the fact that the grind is horrible) I may skip.
So was Olympian Core Element and Olympian Focusing element. If someone sold them in the broker for 2k, I could get them. Same with Essence Purifier, if they are on the broker for 2k, I could buy it. It's on the R&D Vendor for 2k + 5 MoV, I can afford it but it won't let me buy it.
The vendor is flagged to not sell items if you don't meet the requirements (in this case, owning the episode). The broker is exempt from that restriction (although it won't let you use certain items if you don't meet the CR requirements). Unfortunately, like SO many other things, this is not clearly posted in-game in any capacity.
