Last reviewed October 2026 · How we research · Sellers and scores on the City of Heroes: Homecoming page.
What the Rules Say
Homecoming's Code of Conduct, Conduct Guideline 8, is titled “Do not engage in real-money trading (RMT)” and gives its own example: “do not attempt to exchange real money for in-game services or influence.” The ban covers both sides of the trade and both halves of it — currency and services — so buying Influence, buying an account, or paying for power-levelling all fall under the same guideline.
The Homecoming User Agreement (dated May 28, 2019) supplies the teeth. §4 makes accepting the Code of Conduct a condition of play and provides that violating it — or helping another user violate it — lets Homecoming terminate your account under §2(b), which allows deletion “at any time and without warning” in Homecoming's “sole and absolute discretion”. There is no appeal process promised anywhere in either document. The team's own newcomer guide puts it in plain language: anyone charging real money for anything within the game is against the Code of Conduct, and players who see such an offer should report it to the game masters.
Why There Is Nothing Official to Buy
Homecoming costs nothing to play and sells nothing. The original game's cash shop is gone: features that once cost real money are now either free or bought with Influence in game — including the vendor literally named the “P2W Store”, an in-joke the official newcomer guide has to explain to new players, because it only accepts Inf. There is no premium currency, no official top-up, and no authorised reseller, so there is no legitimate price for Influence to benchmark a seller against.
Influence itself (Infamy on villain characters, Information for Praetorians) is earned by defeating enemies and completing missions, and it is tradable between players inside the game on the pooled auction market (Wentworth's for heroes, the Black Market for villains) — which is precisely the legitimate channel the RMT ban protects. Reward Merits, the second currency, convert at merit vendors at a rate of 1 merit to 1,000,000 Influence, and both merits and Influence can be moved between your own characters. The full earning picture is in our Homecoming Influence farming guide.
What Can Go Wrong
- The enforcement is documented, not theoretical. In September 2019 Homecoming announced a ban wave against real-world trading: 54 accounts actioned, over 20 billion Influence deleted. Sellers were permanently banned with no possibility of appeal; buyers were suspended for two weeks and had all Influence removed. The team added that it was “now fully capable of tracking down RWT activity going forwards”.
- A bought account is one report away from deletion. The User Agreement lets Homecoming delete an account for a Code of Conduct breach without warning, and a purchased account's entire existence breaches Guideline 8. The account is also your forum identity — the User Agreement defines the Game Account as covering the game and the Homecoming forum together.
- Recovery belongs to whoever created the account. As the game page notes, a community-run server has no publisher account-recovery or security team behind it. Support is a volunteer team; an account whose original email and forum identity belong to a seller is never fully yours.
- The thing being sold is free to earn. Influence flows from ordinary play, AE farms and merit conversion at a published vendor rate. A seller's margin exists only because the buyer doesn't know the faucets — which the farming guide covers in full.
Red Flags to Avoid
- Any website, Discord or in-game advertiser offering Influence, accounts or power-levelling for real money — the offer itself breaches the Code of Conduct, and Homecoming asks players to report it.
- “Undetectable” or “GM-proof” delivery claims — the operators state they can track RWT activity, and the 2019 wave deleted the Influence, not just the accounts.
- Accounts advertised on their Influence balance or farmed AE characters — the balance is the first thing removed when enforcement lands.
- Anyone asking you to help disguise a transaction (gift framing, fake trades) — §4 of the User Agreement treats helping another user break the Code of Conduct as a breach of your own.
The Legitimate Route, as a Checklist
- Play for free: Homecoming is the NCSoft-licensed continuation of City of Heroes (licensed January 2024) and accounts cost nothing — never pay anyone for access.
- Earn Influence from play: defeats, missions and AE farms all pay it, and story arcs pay full Reward Merits on repeat.
- Use the pooled in-game market (Wentworth's / the Black Market) to trade with other players in Influence — the channel the rules actually allow.
- Convert at the published rate: 1 Reward Merit = 1,000,000 Influence at merit vendors, and move Influence and merits between your own characters freely.
- Report real-money offers to the game masters instead of answering them.
The Safe Alternatives
There is no buying decision to make here, and that is the point of the page: the Homecoming game page lists no sellers, by policy, because the operator bans the trade and has enforced the ban. Everything a seller would offer is obtainable in game — our Homecoming Influence farming guide covers AE fire farms, auction-house fees and merit routes, and the leveling guide covers the efficient path to 50. Money cannot legitimately shorten either one on Homecoming.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you buy City of Heroes: Homecoming Influence?
No legitimate route exists. Homecoming is free to play and has no cash shop or premium currency to top up, and Conduct Guideline 8 of its Code of Conduct bans exchanging real money for in-game services or influence. MMODude lists no sellers for Homecoming, by policy — any site offering Influence for sale is advertising a banned transaction.
What happens if you buy Influence anyway?
The documented precedent is Homecoming’s September 2019 ban wave: 54 accounts actioned and over 20 billion Influence deleted. Sellers were permanently banned with no possibility of appeal; buyers were suspended for two weeks and had all Influence removed. The team stated it was “now fully capable of tracking down RWT activity going forwards.”
Is Homecoming legal to play?
Yes. Homecoming is a community-run continuation of City of Heroes that has operated under an official NCSoft server licence since January 2024. Accounts are free, and NCSoft’s licence is what allows the servers to run openly — it does not create any right to trade: the operator’s own Code of Conduct bans real-money trading.
How do players get large amounts of Influence legitimately?
By playing the faucets: defeats and mission completions, AE fire farms, the pooled auction market (Wentworth’s for heroes, the Black Market for villains), and converting Reward Merits at merit vendors at 1 merit to 1,000,000 Influence. Influence and merits can also be moved between your own characters. Our Homecoming Influence farming guide works through each route.
Sources
- Homecoming Code of Conduct (Conduct Guideline 8: real-money trading) (read Oct 18, 2026)
- Homecoming User Agreement, May 28, 2019 (§§2(b), 4, 5) (read Oct 18, 2026)
- Homecoming Forums: The Complete Newcomer’s Guide (free to play; P2W Store takes Inf only) (read Oct 18, 2026)
- MassivelyOP: Homecoming RMT ban wave report, Sep 19, 2019 (read Oct 18, 2026)
