The 2 factors
Is anyone still here or have you all already run off excitedly to tog out your heroes and villains with mid-level IOs? Just in case anyone's still reading at this point, I shall next talk about the two reasons why level 25-30 IOs are so close to level 50 ones benefit-wise.
The first factor is the way that IO enhancement strength scales with level. The IO enhancement curve on the Paragon Wiki demonstrates graphically that the between-level gap in enhancement value of IOs has a certain constant gradient from levels 1 to 26 and has a different constant gradient from levels 27 to 50. In simple English, IO level increases are worth less after level 26.
From level 27 onwards, higher level IOs are still better than lower level ones, but the difference isn't really that great.
The second factor is Enhancement Diversification, and this only comes into play when you put in multiple enhancements of the same sort in one power. when you do that, and you cross a certain threshold, a part of the total benefit accruing from those enhancements gets nixed. The further you go past that watershed, the larger the percentage of enhancement wasted.
Conclusion
High level IOs cost a lot of influence/infamy in terms of recipe price at WW's or the BM, salvage cost (different level enhancements may require different salvage), and invention fee. This is especially true of set IOs.
Such being the case, new/casual players would probably be better off going for level 25 or 30 IOs instead of level 45s or 50s. You would end up only a hair weaker than you would be with 50s and still manage to steer well clear of bankruptcy. Also, these lower level IOs can be slotted in earlier, so a level 22-27 character could already start feeling really super. If you were to wait until 42-47 to get the IOs you really want, you'd have to suffer through the majority of the game as an almost-super hero/villain.
One caveat before I go: while high level popular set IOs are prohibitively expensive, high level common IOs often are not. When you hit 42-50, it wouldn't hurt to start poking around for dirt-cheap commons in the CH/BM. The IOs that would not be affected by ED are the ones you should be upgrading.
Happy hunting, reader!
Very nice and useful guide. It's really great to see, in such an easy format, a simple answer on what to get if you're not doing Sets yet.
I don't suppose you'd care to do something like this with Sets, eh? =)
It is critical that you pay attention at this time.
Gaming in Limited Times
Guide to Plant/Ice Doms
How about two slotting?
The only conceivalbe reason for picking up lv 50 IOs is for one fo two reasons:
The base values of whatever you're enhancing are giant, and a 1-2% boost from 3 slotting actually make a substantial difference (i.e. Recharge in Tier 9s, hasten, etc.)
-or-
If you're going to 2 slot them.
This leads me to the question, which level IOs have the most gain/cost from 2-slotting? Is it a direct curve, or does it plateau off significantly after a certian level?
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The only conceivalbe reason for picking up lv 50 IOs is for one fo two reasons:
The base values of whatever you're enhancing are giant, and a 1-2% boost from 3 slotting actually make a substantial difference (i.e. Recharge in Tier 9s, hasten, etc.)
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I would have thought so as well, but the above charts seem to suggest that 3x Recharge IO at 50 only does about 10-seconds faster than the same at 25, even in such a long downtime Tier 9. Of course, if that's worth it to you, go for it -- I guess what I took away from the above was that there isn't such a vast difference between 25/30 IOs and the upper levels (35, 40, 45, 450) that you *have* to get them. (Much as going from DOs to SOs meant that you really did have to make the upgrade).
It is critical that you pay attention at this time.
Gaming in Limited Times
Guide to Plant/Ice Doms
Not that I dispute the accuracy of your data but why I haven't I heard about this before? Why isn't there more people questioning this? Does everyone know this already? I'm just curious why my roommate who has a level 50 character is telling me you are full of it when I told him about this guide.(granted I know he doesn't have any actually data and isn't one to min/max but he's been playing since beta, I would assume he would know.)
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Not that I dispute the accuracy of your data but why I haven't I heard about this before? Why isn't there more people questioning this? Does everyone know this already? I'm just curious why my roommate who has a level 50 character is telling me you are full of it when I told him about this guide.(granted I know he doesn't have any actually data and isn't one to min/max but he's been playing since beta, I would assume he would know.)
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It's because of Enhancement diversification. Values kind of cap out at about 96%ish for the third enhancement regardless of individual numbers. Lv 50 IOs actually only provide a 99.1% bonus if they're schedule A. This is why at about Lv 25-30, IOs kind of even out in effectiveness.
Most people neither do research nor numbercruch and just assume that they're right. Personally, I hate people who walk around acting like they know everything just because they've been in the game since beta. Duration of existence in a system is not an absolute indicator of how qualified someone is to evaluate it. There are people who have lived for 80 years that don't have a clue about how the human body works even on the basic level. People who have lived for 90 years that have a general idea of how projectiles should fly through the air, but can't quantify it. Unless you actually study the world you live in, you don't actually know anything about it.
Yeah. The actual game mechanics are a lot more complex than most of us know or want to know. For instance, I only just this week found out that XP gain is modified by team size. According to someone on the boards (I can't remember who it was but it was someone respected for CoX technical knowledge, I think), mobs you kill when you're on an 8-man team give you 2.5 times the XP they give when you encounter them solo.
Now, back to IO slotting...
Kossy, 2-slotting is a little complicated. Level 50 IOs just graze the ED limit, but some lower level IOs (the breakpoint is somewhere between 30 and 35) wouldn't get into ED territory. The same curve as for 1-slotting should apply most of the time though.
Gearsmith, the numbers from sets follow the same curves, really. Of course, sets are complicated by two factors, the first of which being the fact that most set IOs have bonuses split between different attributes, and the second of which being set bonuses. I would strongly encourage one to use Midnights' character builder (link in my sig) to see just how much difference each set IO makes in a power.
Oh, yes, Harbinger, one way to convince your roommate is to get him to put one level 35 common IO into any power, hover his cursor over the power to see the slotting bonus, then replace the IO with a level 50. This way, he would be able to see for himself just how small a difference 15 IO levels can make. 
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Gearsmith, the numbers from sets follow the same curves, really. Of course, sets are complicated by two factors, the first of which being the fact that most set IOs have bonuses split between different attributes, and the second of which being set bonuses. I would strongly encourage one to use Midnights' character builder (link in my sig) to see just how much difference each set IO makes in a power.
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I do think ED plays a huge role in this. I haven't looked at the numbers but since a set's IO provides a lower bonus number than a generic IO, the advantage might be slightly more noticeable if you buy up a higher set IO.
Still, this guide makes me feel better. I have several alts and haven't upgraded all of them to IOs. Now I won't feel so bad if I don't fully slot my level 42 blaster with level 45 IOs. I may take it a bit more leisurely and check Wentworth's for some cheap 30s.
Of course, that's the danger of this guide. Those level 22s will have to compete with the big dogs with deep pockets. *grin* Fortunately for us, there are those who will refuse to believe you.
Kevin
Who had also fallen for the mistaken belief that more=better.
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I do think ED plays a huge role in this. I haven't looked at the numbers but since a set's IO provides a lower bonus number than a generic IO, the advantage might be slightly more noticeable if you buy up a higher set IO.
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Absolutely.
Well, kinda.
Looking at the one-slotting example in the OP, we see that, even without ED kicking in, level 50 IOs aren't really all that much better than level 35 IOs. So, all those level 30-40 sets aren't really good for nothing after all, even if their distributed bonuses don't hit ED.
Good guide.
I'm a big fan of fully slotting IOs at lvl 27, if you mix random sets you end up more powerful than with HOs.
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Of course, that's the danger of this guide. Those level 22s will have to compete with the big dogs with deep pockets. *grin* Fortunately for us, there are those who will refuse to believe you.
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Heh, I'm thinking I won't be able to outfit all my lvl 27 with only 2 or 3M anymore. 
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Yeah. The actual game mechanics are a lot more complex than most of us know or want to know. For instance, I only just this week found out that XP gain is modified by team size. According to someone on the boards (I can't remember who it was but it was someone respected for CoX technical knowledge, I think), mobs you kill when you're on an 8-man team give you 2.5 times the XP they give when you encounter them solo.
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I actually think the XP gain on teams is more like XP(mob)/total team members * team modifier. For an 8 man team, that modifier is 2.5. So that means XP gain on an 8 man team for killing a mob that would be worth 100 xp solo is equal to 100/8 * 2.5 = 31.25. Thus it is much better for XP to have large teams. Although each mob killed gives less XP/kill, since it is split between the teammates, there are more mobs, they die faster, and the team XP multiplier is bigger. Not to mention the fact that bosses join mobs which are juicy, xp, inf and prestige wise.
Sorry to jump in like that, you were doing so well in the "not giving out misinformation department" wanted to help here too...
DtS
PS if I'm wrong about this, I'd like a clarification myself
CoH 50s: Fire/Stone, MA/Regen, Fire/Storm, Stone/Fire, Fire/Rad, Rad/Rad, Kin/Sonic, Fire/Kin, Stone/SS, Stone/Stone, Kin/Rad, Spines/Dark, Inv/Axe
CoV 50s: Fire/Dark Corr
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Yeah. The actual game mechanics are a lot more complex than most of us know or want to know. For instance, I only just this week found out that XP gain is modified by team size. According to someone on the boards (I can't remember who it was but it was someone respected for CoX technical knowledge, I think), mobs you kill when you're on an 8-man team give you 2.5 times the XP they give when you encounter them solo.
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I actually think the XP gain on teams is more like XP(mob)/total team members * team modifier. For an 8 man team, that modifier is 2.5. So that means XP gain on an 8 man team for killing a mob that would be worth 100 xp solo is equal to 100/8 * 2.5 = 31.25. Thus it is much better for XP to have large teams. Although each mob killed gives less XP/kill, since it is split between the teammates, there are more mobs, they die faster, and the team XP multiplier is bigger. Not to mention the fact that bosses join mobs which are juicy, xp, inf and prestige wise.
Sorry to jump in like that, you were doing so well in the "not giving out misinformation department" wanted to help here too...
DtS
PS if I'm wrong about this, I'd like a clarification myself
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Hey, Doug, that's precisely what I meant, but you've expressed it with a lot more clarity.
Sonic Resonance FTW!
(Ok, ignore the bad joke, please.)
So, I realize that this thread is about two years old, but I just stumbled across it... Is the information in it still valid? If so, what exactly does this mean in terms of practical application? Should I start saving up and focus on getting my toons IO'd out with level 25-30 enhancements? What comes after that? Do I just hang onto those and I upgrade to higher levels as I have the influence?
The information is most definitely still valid. As far as I understand this guide is to help out the people who are constantly asking the question "How deep should I be in debt?" and "Does CitiGroup accept credit applications from super heroes?"
This guide did a fantastic job of explaining the numbers but probably could have gone a lot more in depth in the explanation of it. The idea behind ED or Enhancement Diversification was to stop people from six slotting one type of enhancement for PvP, or six slotting for perma hasten or perma anything for that matter. ED causes a diminished return which causes enhancements beyond a certain amount to work at a slightly lower percentage. An SO Damage enhance at the same level as the character works at 33.3%, two work at 66.6%, but 3 work at 94.93%.
Now a level 50 Damage IO enhances a power by 42.4%, and two enhances a power by 83.32% which means it's being hit by ED on the second enhancement. To get as close as possible to an even level SO percentage which will work better then a level 50 IO you should slot level 25 (32.0%) or level 30 (34.8%). It's more cost effective in the long run because you can also buy the common IO recipes from the terminals in the universities.
As for slotting sets, like was said earlier it's a little more tricky because you have global effects off of most of the sets. So I would suggest grabbing Mid's Hero Designer and playing around with it, IMHO Mid's Designer has the best interface and is extremely user friendly.
Find me ingame @Norlon
Winter ST
As a corallary to this guide, I think it's worth pointing out that, unless you're planning on retiring your toon as soon as you hit level 50... or can afford to purple out the build... you're better off slotting set IO's that are less than level 50 as well.
I only really started to discover this when I did start to play one of my level 50's regularly and went after the Task Force Commander accolade. I had a ton of powers slotted with level 45-50 sets and then I'd be auto-exemped and all those set bonuses I'd built my character around (I had near stamina level recovery bonuses, an acc bonus on par with double slotting any power with SO's, and a capped ranged defense buff... all of which were VERY forgiving of sloppy play) vanished in a puff of smoke.
Since then I've used multiple respecs to divest myself of my high-level set IO's to replace them with as many as possible in the 30-35 range. Having now done so, I'm able to keep the bulk of my set-bonuses even when exemped as low as level 27 and the increased survivability in those increasingly common situations (I run a lot more TF's and Oroboros missions with my main 50 now than I used to) more than offsets the loss of a few percentage points to the accuracy and damage of individual powers from not having level 50 set IO's slotted.
THANK YOU! This has been buggin me for a while and with my first char hitting 25, I've been wondering when I should start IO'ing. Guess I'll start now. :-D
BTW, it's been asked but I don't know if it was answered...does this apply to Set IO's too or just Common IO?
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BTW, it's been asked but I don't know if it was answered...does this apply to Set IO's too or just Common IO?
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The diminshing returns of higher level IO's applies across the board, so I'd say yes.
Also, since set bonuses only apply when you're running at the IO's level minus three (so the recovery bonus slotting two level 50 Thunderstrikes goes away if you exemp down to level 46 or lower) you're better off slotting lower level set IO's so you can use those bonuses across a wider spread of levels if you exemp yourself much.
Further, from what I've been able to determine, the exemping process does not factor when you got your slots in a power into determining which set bonuses apply. It only looks at whether or not you have the power at that level and then applies all the set bonuses that power provides... IF the IO's slotted are no more than three levels above your current level.
Thus, I generally try to slot using level 30ish set IO's as much as possible since this allows me to keep as many of my set bonuses as possible all the way down to the late-20s.
To get an idea of what a difference this can make, my Peacebringer currently has 44% ranged defense bonus which aids my survivability immensely. However, because of how I originally had it slotted (the slots I gained at higher levels I slotted with higher level IO's) my bonus dropped to around 20% just exemping down to level 44 to the Quaterfield TF and to only 10% or so when trying to run Numina (level 40).
By comparison, with my new slotting, I hold onto all my set bonuses down to around level 39, and my ranged defense is still above 30% when I exemp down to level 28 for the Moonfire TF.
If you breakdown the TF's by level you've got only the ITF, LGTF, STF, Mender Silos, and three of the Shadow Shard TF's (7 total) available without exemping down below 50.
If you slot all 30 IO's for your sets you can also run, Moonfire, Citadel, Hess, Twilight's Son, Katie Hannon, Manticore, Mender Lazarus, Numina, and Quaterfield (9 additional - 16 total) with your set bonuses pretty much intact.
At least that's what I've found.
While it's generally true that the higher level an IO is, the greater the benefit it gives, two factors interact to steeply reduce the effectiveness of IO levels past a certain point.
What this translates to for the casual player not inclined to monkey around with a calculator is that, generally, there is no real need to aim for level 50 IOs. Level 25-30 IOs do practically as good a job as level 50 ones at a tiny fraction of the cost.
"Yeah, right," I hear you saying. "Level 25 and 50 IOs are practically the same? No way." Actually, absolutely. Most of you probably don't need to know why this works, and only want to see a demonstration that I'm not just whistling in the dark, so I shall present first some hard comparisons.
Slotting examples
First, let's look at a typical super-long-recharge power: Unstoppable. Now, Unstoppable has an extremely long base recharge of 1,000 seconds, so we should see quite large numerical effects from even small changes in slotting. This is actually bad for me, since I'm trying to show how different IO levels don't really affect a power much, but anyway.
Let's start by 1-slotting Unstoppable with a common recharge IO and study what happens to its recharge time purely due to the IO.
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
IO level | recharge time change from previous | % of base change from previous
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base | 1,000.0 0.0 | 100.0% 0.0%
10 | 895.3 -104.7 | 89.5% -10.5%
15 | 838.9 -56.4 | 83.9% -5.6%
20 | 796.2 -42.7 | 79.6% -4.3%
25 | 757.6 -38.6 | 75.8% -3.9%
30 | 741.8 -15.8 | 74.2% -1.6%
35 | 731.5 -10.3 | 73.2% -1.0%
40 | 721.5 -10.0 | 72.2% -1.0%
45 | 711.7 -9.8 | 71.2% -1.0%
50 | 702.2 -9.5 | 70.2% -0.9%
</pre><hr />
Hm...looks like benefits drop off steeply at level 30, and even more drastically at 35. This is due to factor 1 (explained later in this thread).
Next, we shall 3-slot Unstoppable with common recharge IOs. This time, both factors will come into play and we should see an even more dramatic situation.
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
IO level | recharge time change from previous | % of base change from previous
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base | 1,000.0 0.0 | 100.0% 0.0%
10 | 740.2 -259.8 | 74.0% -26.0%
15 | 634.5 -105.7 | 63.5% -10.6%
20 | 567.8 -66.7 | 56.8% -6.7%
25 | 520.3 -47.5 | 52.0% -4.8%
30 | 511.1 -9.2 | 51.1% -0.9%
35 | 508.9 -2.2 | 50.9% -0.2%
40 | 506.7 -2.2 | 50.7% -0.2%
45 | 504.5 -2.2 | 50.5% -0.2%
50 | 502.3 -2.2 | 50.2% -0.2%
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As expected, when 3-slotting with the same sort of enhancement, level 25-30 IOs give practically the same numbers as higher level ones.
Ok, so recharge might be a bit of an odd duck, so let's take a look at something simple instead. Say, damage. In our 3rd table, we'll see what happens when we 1-slot the Energy Blaster's Nova with a common damage IO.
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
IO level | damage change from previous | % of base change from previous
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base | 271.1 0.0 | 100.0% 0.0%
10 | 302.8 31.7 | 111.7% 11.7%
15 | 323.2 20.4 | 119.2% 7.5%
20 | 340.5 17.3 | 125.6% 6.4%
25 | 357.9 17.4 | 132.0% 6.4%
30 | 365.4 7.5 | 134.8% 2.8%
35 | 370.6 5.2 | 136.7% 1.9%
40 | 375.8 5.2 | 138.6% 1.9%
45 | 380.9 5.1 | 140.5% 1.9%
50 | 386.1 5.2 | 142.4% 1.9%
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Yep, we still get the breakpoints at levels 25 and 30. Now for 3-slotting.
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
IO level | damage change from previous | % of base change from previous
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
base | 271.1 0.0 | 100.0% 0.0%
10 | 366.3 95.2 | 135.1% 35.1%
15 | 427.3 61.0 | 157.6% 22.5%
20 | 477.5 50.2 | 176.1% 18.5%
25 | 521.1 43.6 | 192.2% 16.1%
30 | 530.4 9.3 | 195.6% 3.4%
35 | 532.8 2.4 | 196.5% 0.9%
40 | 535.1 2.3 | 197.4% 0.8%
45 | 537.4 2.3 | 198.2% 0.8%
50 | 539.7 2.3 | 199.1% 0.8%
</pre><hr />
What, breakpoints at 25 and 30 again? It shouldn't be a surprise to us anymore at this juncture.
I was going to do the same using Brawl to show that a low damage power gains virtually nothing at all in terms of raw damage numbers when upgrading from level 30 to 50 IOs, but I'm lazy and I think you get the picture. Suffice it to say that Brawl does 39.7 damage 3-slotted with 45s, and 39.9 damage (0.2 points!) with 50s.