Merit Rewards

Overview

Issue 13 gave us Merit Rewards, replacing the random recipe option at the end of Task Forces, Strike Forces, and Trials. Reward Merits are also given at the end of every Story Arc, whether it is major or minor, and by killing at least some Giant Monsters. Each activity has had a different reward amount assigned to it, based on datamined time required to complete it.

Merit rewards can be turned in for recipes, enhancements, salvage, badges, and more.

In the February 10 update from Synapse, the design philosophy was covered:

Task Forces give an average of 1 merit every 3 minutes of average time (20 merits an hour), Trials give an average of 1 merit every 2.5 minutes (24 merits an hour), and Story Arcs give an average of 1 merit every 7.5 minutes (8 merits an hour). The reason for this major difference is due to the considerable time and effort Task/Strike Forces can take to set up and complete, so naturally these tasks grant a much greater reward.

On February 10, 2009, how many merits per minute each activity is awarded with was altered. Task Forces were previously 12 merits per hour, Trials were 13-14 per hour, and Story Arcs were 4-5 per hour. Additionally, datamining was performed to adjust each activity's specific awarded amount according to the new formula.

The following message is given when you have received your first Merit Reward:

You have received your first Merit Reward! These merits are awarded for completing difficult tasks and allow you to exchange them for powerful rewards such as enhancements. Merits can be spent at the various Merit Reward Vendors throughout Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. NOTE: Merits earned from completing Taskforces/Strikeforces and Trials are subject to diminishing returns if the same task is completed more than once within a 24 hour period. So try out different Taskforces, Strikeforces and Trials to maximize your rewards!

The Formula

The formula used by the developers to calculate number of merits to award a task was described here:

MedianTime / MPM * TaskModifier * TimesRunModifier * TimeModifier + ArtificialModifiers

Decimals in the result are dropped off (ie: the result is rounded down).

• MedianTime: The datamined median time to complete the task
• MPM: The desired Merits per Minute, currently 3.7
• TaskModifier: 1.5 if the task is a raid, 1.2 if the task is a trial, 1.0 if the task is a Task Force or Strike Force, and 0.4 if the task is a Story Arc
• TimesRunModifier: 1.0 if the task has been run enough times for the developers to be comfortable with the datamining, 0.6 otherwise
• TimeModifier: A percentage merit bonus equal to the median time divided by 20 (ex: the Synapse TF has a MedianTime of 194 minutes. 194 / 20 = 9.7, rounded up to 10% bonus)
• ArtificialModifier: Manually added bonuses or penalties to a given task; from Synapse:

What I've used this field here in the past was to round out some villain strike forces that weren't granting enough merits for a random roll.

For example: When merits were first introduced in Issue 13 beta the Temple of the Waters SF would have normally only granted 23 merits. However, I wanted players who completed this task to be able to purchase a random taskforce roll (which was then 25 merits, now it's 20) so I added a +2 bonus in this field. I've seen a number of players wonder why certain tasks (namely villain SFs) not have their merit numbers increase. This is because after the new data rolled in, I removed the bonus from this field if the task offered enough merits for the random roll.

Example

The Statesman Task Force has a datamined median completion time of 133 minutes.

133 / 3.7 * 1.0 * 1.0 * 1.07 + 0 = 38 merits

Rewards Sources

The following pages list the rewards for all available Merit Rewards sources:

• Hero Merit Rewards -- Task Forces, Trials, and Story Arcs
• Villain Merit Rewards -- Strike Forces, Trials, and Story Arcs
• Cooperative Merit Rewards -- Cooperative Task Forces, RWZ Story Arcs
• Miscellaneous Merit Rewards -- Giant Monsters, Hamidon, etc.

Diminishing Returns

Synapse discussed diminishing returns on Task Forces/Strike Forces/Trials here:

If an activity only awards merits (does not give a reward screen upon completion), repeating the same activity within 24 hours will lessen the Merit Rewards by this formula: 1 / (# of attempts), rounded down. So, the first time gives the full reward (1/1), the second time gives half (1/2), the third time gives one third (1/3) and so on, to a minimum of one merit.

Example

The Temple of the Waters SF normally gives 25 merits. So, the first time its completed will give you 25 merits. The second time will give you 12 merits (25/2). The third time will give you 8 merits(25/3). The fourth time will give you 6 merits (25/4).

Diminishing Returns on Task Forces, Strike Forces, Trials, and Raids that give a reward screen upon completion will always give 50% rewards for subsequent completions within the 24 hour time period.

Example

The Abandoned Sewer Trial gives 28 merits for the first time run, the second time will give 14, the third time 14, the fourth time 14... etc.

After 24 hours without completing a particular activity, the Merit Rewards reset to their default value for that activity. The time between when the merits are awarded is what counts, so a repeated activity that is started less than 24 hours from the last one may still be worth the full reward if the task finishes more than 24 hours later.

Each Task Force/etc. has its own separate timer. Completing one will not diminish the returns of others.

Completing Story Arcs is not subject to diminishing returns. This includes completing multiple different Story Arcs, and flashing back repeatedly to the same Story Arc.

Completing Ouroboros Task/Strike Forces is also not subject to diminishing returns, since they are not true Task or Strike Forces. They follow the Story Arc rules.

Note: A player can avoid Diminishing Returns on activities that have a reward screen by leaving the screen open until the appropriate time. Most activities do not have a reward screen, thus their merits cannot be delayed, only waiting to complete the activity until after 24 hours has passed will gain full merits. Note also that if a character does not meet the reward options (exemplared into the Abandoned Sewer Trial, for example), the popup screen will not open and the character cannot delay their merits.

Rewards Purchases

Heroes and villains can visit Merit Vendors to turn in Reward Merits for various items.

• Large Inspiration: 1 Merit
• Single Origin Enhancement (levels 20-50 only): 8 Merits
• Invention Salvage (three "tier" options: Levels 10-25, Levels 26-40, Levels 41-50):
  • Random Rare Salvage: 20 Merits
  • Random Rare Magic Salvage: 30 Merits
  • Random Rare Tech Salvage: 30 Merits
• Common Invention Recipe: 12 Merits
• Invention Origin Enhancement Sets (select specific recipes):
  • Uncommon Enhancement Recipe: 50-75 Merits
  • Rare Enhancement Recipe: 125-275 Merits
• Taskforce Random Recipe Roll: 20 Merits
• Trial Random Recipe Roll: 30 Merits

NOTE: Not all recipes can be purchased at vendors; a list of unavailable recipes can be found here. Summed up, basically, what cannot be purchased are:

• Very Rare Recipes (aka Purple Sets)
• Costume Piece Recipes
• Winter's Gift (Travel recipe set, obtained during Winter Event)

See Also

• Special Salvage
• Merit Vendor

External Links

• GoogleDocs Rewards and Purchases (Pages 3-4) by DJ_Jules
• GoogleDocs All IO Set Recipe Merit Costs ugly but compiled by Robziel
• Synapse reveals the reasons behind Merit Award amounts