FrankDaTank

Originally Posted by GavinRuneblade

I have a couple builds that are spectacularly built and IOd. And watching me use them is a bit like watching a teenager behind the wheel of a Bugati Veyron, or Ferrari Enzo. Sure I can make it move. But I can't do with it what it is supposed to do. And on the other hand I have characters with total garbage builds that have done wonderful things on teams and for teams.

In the end, I have fun and my friends enjoy having my on the team with my junk builds and with my amazingly IOd out builds both. And that's what is important.

Just for the record, Katana is one of the most user-friendly primaries, and /SR is widely regarded as the second most user friendly secondary nearly tied with willpower. So *insert Raiders of the Lost Arc voice* You chose Wisely *end Raiders of the Lost Arc voice*

As others have said, it comes down to patience and choice. Looking for your AoE powers, sure the "best" set is Obliteration, and it costs 30 million per slot. However, any double (Acc/Dam) from level 24 or higher, and any triple (Acc/Dam/End) from level 20 or higher gives the same or higher bonuses as a level 53 SO. So if you can find anything on the market from level 25 and up, for less than 60k (and if you look you can find level 30+ Multistrikes and Cleaving Blow for 15,000), and if you can get the salvage cheap (and you can as long as it is not a rare), then for the same price as one SO, you can have sets.

Recently I bought two PBAoE set enhancements for 85k from cleaving blow and multistrike including crafting cost and salvage. But getting a Scirroco's Dervish (not as good as obliteration but still an in-demand set) was just over 1 million. Really, there's not a big enough difference to justify the cost. You will be fine with Cleaving Blow and Multistrike. If a scirroco's drops for you, then craft it and slot it. If not, don't worry about it. And if an Oblit drops, craft it, sell it, and then you can afford your whole build using the cheap sets =)

If you're just looking for common IOs, you want level 35+ I often find the best deals are level 45s which people need to craft for badges, but min/maxers all want level 50 IOs instead so the 45s sell for between 100k and 400k each if you are patient. One level 50 SO is about 60k so you should be able to afford these easily as it's not too much of a markup.

Since we have dual builds these days, what I like to do is to have my Build A be all the cheap stuff. SOs that dropped, some cheap sets etc. Then my Build B is my "dream build that is way too expensive for me to afford". I play build a. As things drop by luck and as I get money I slowly fill in Build B. It's kind of amazing how much faster than you expect you can get a Build B finished. And this way, you always have a working, good and fun build to play with.

But you're already ahead of the curve having chosen a good primary and secondary for SOs.

Originally Posted by Bill Z Bubba

On base difficulty with nothing but SOs any scrapper can do any of this game's content that isn't specifically designed for teams.

Some scrappers with nothing but SOs can do some of that team content.

You are NOT letting a team down by not being IOed out. Anyone that kicks another player because they are overflowing with SetIO bonuses is a butthead.

That said, even casual players can find themselves surprised at what they CAN manage to afford on the market with patience. Even level 50 basic IOs can provide a healthy bump to your performance since 2 level 50 basic IOs is almost equal to 3 SOs.