I've given this some thought, and I've little worry on how to remake my fortune.
Play the game.
That's it, that's my only strategy.
I'll change and adapt as need be. The biggest factor is ...okay - All of our characters have zippo. Because we have no characters! Gotta start over, right?
That means that the auction house will have zippo/nada on day 1, minute 1.
The true ebil marketeers will settle in nicely at AE, creating the farms they want to pl themselves so they can get the niche on the salvage needed to craft those procs. They will price the items high - but they will be disappointed because most folks won't have that loot to spare and will get them the old fashioned way. They'll hunt the appropriate mobs for them until they get the drop they want.
The real pain will be me trying to get my ourobouros portal - that was a very nifty time saver.
I eagerly await reading all the tidbits of advice on how to get this and that - but with a blank economy devoid of surplus billions of influence, I predict 1 million costume contests to be a true event once again! Only it will take about a month for us to get there, lol. After 3 months, I suspect plenty of players will have 50 million or more stashed. In about a years time, I suspect most marketers will be in the same spot as they were before - if they play the same way. They'll probably play more and market less. I think relationships will mean more this time around.
I agree with you, prices on the market will different than what they were in a world where folks had billions stashed around and established characters were fully outfitted with IOs and badges. I enjoyed a bit of farming, leveling up a SS/FA/Mu brute isn't very difficult (though it certainly wouldn't be my first choice for what to do if the City reopens). Even for non-farm builds, there were AE maps that were more efficient than others. I imagine that folks will also be running lots of ITFs (lots of enemies mean lots of chances for purples to drop) and lots of Statesman TFs (synthetic HOs are pretty nice). As far as ebi marketeers go, however, I think it is safe to predict that lots of level 50 common salvage and generic recipes will be dumped on the market well in advance of demand for it. A truly ebil marketer will want the extra AH slots that go from the badges for selling stuff, so they aren't going to be pinching pennies squeezing every last 250 INF out of every Regenerating Flesh. At the same time, the demand for generic IO recipes will likely be a lot higher. Not just for equipping, but for folks seeking the crafting badges. I imagine that badgers are going to drive down the cost of crafted generic IOs for quite some time, particularly ones that aren't often slotted (confuse, fear, defense debuff, etc). I predict that patient players will be able to scoop up some IOs at far below crafting costs (possibly as low as SO costs).
I also agree with you that there will be a focus on "playing the game". You don't miss what you've got till its gone. And COH wasn't just a game, it was a community. There are all sorts of things (some unintuitive) that are necessary to develop your character. You mentioned the O-zone portal, that will be a tough one. For folks who race to level 50, there are numerous ways to get it. For the rest of us, I'm sure there will be newly minted 50s galore in Atlas Park showing off, opening portals . . . otherwise I think the best option would be Doc Delilah's story arc
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Doc_Delilah#Story_Arc . Similarly, I expect that there will be badge hunting teams galore, especially for things like Fake Nemesis. Accolades rock.
Day Job badges can also help boost chances to get tickets, influence, recipes, salvage, enhancements, or inspirations. I'm not sure what kind of impact that will have, but if you like badges everyone has to log off somewhere, right?
