Info: Invention Salvage Distribution Charts

The purpose of this post is to share some crunching I did with the invention salvage. The charts that follow rearrange the salvage visually in different ways that haven't really been touched on, and might prove helpful for answering some of the more esoteric questions people have. What this post will *not* do is provide a lot of explanation of the basics of the invention system because that has already been covered extensively by other people. This info also avoids being subjective by not taking into account the popularity of certain sets or recipes over others.

First, a couple spreadsheets that will help you find the salvage you're looking for:

Salvage Distribution by Enemy Type
These charts provide a reference for which enemies drop what salvage at what level. Pages are separated for Paragon City and the Rogue Isles.


Enemy Distribution by Zone
These charts don't specifically tie in to the inventions system, but they will help you know where to go to hunt for the baddies you need. Pages are separated for Paragon City and the Rogue Isles.
(KEY: Green = city zone, yellow = hazard zone, red = PvP zone)


The next spreadsheets are where the main work was done for this post.

Salvage Distribution by Recipe Rarity
These charts total each salvage piece by the rarity of the recipes in which it is used. Totals are given for Common, Uncommon, Rare, Very Rare, and PvP recipes, with percentages of the total for each category. Pages are separated by the level of the salvage (low, mid, high).


Salvage Distribution by Drop Pool
These charts total each salvage piece by the drop pool of the recipes in which it is used. Totals are given for Pool A (Common, Uncommon, Rare, Very Rare), Pool B, Pool R (formerly pools C and D), PvP, and Special (for Winter's Gift) with percentages of the total for each category. Pages are separated by the level of the salvage (low, mid, high).


Salvage Distribution by Origin Type
These charts show the quantity ratio of magic to science salvage that is used in each set recipe for each level range. I've also included the drop pools of each recipe for easy reference. I find that viewing them in this chart format makes it more apparent that there are patterns for the drop pools between similar set types (i.e., ranged and melee damage, all the mez sets).


Salvage Distribution by IO Set Category
These charts total each salvage piece by the set IO category in which it is used. Pages are separated by the level of the salvage (low, mid, high).

KEY
----
Melee - Melee Damaged sets
PBAoE - PBAoE Damage sets
Ranged - Ranged Damage sets
TAoE - Targetted AoE Damage sets
Snipe - Sniper Attack sets
Pet - Pet Damage sets
Heal - Healing sets
Res - Damage Resist sets
Def - Defense sets
Conf - Confuse sets
Sleep - Sleep sets
Slow - Slow sets
Immob - Immobilize sets
Hold - Hold sets
Fear - Fear sets
Stun - Stun sets
Taunt - Taunt sets
KBack - Knockback sets
End Mod - Endurance Modification sets
TH Buff - ToHit Buff sets
TH Dbf - ToHit Debuff sets
Def Dbf - Defense Debuff sets
Rech Pets - Recharge-Intensive Pets sets
Acc Heal - Accurate Heal sets
Acc TH Dbf - Accurate ToHit Debuff sets
Acc Def Dbf - Accurate Defense Debuff sets
Uni Trav - Universal Travel sets
Fly - Flying sets
Leap - Leaping sets
Run - Running sets
Tport - Teleport sets
Basic IO - Basic IO recipes
Other - Costume & Temp Power recipes


Salvage Distribution by Enhancement Attribute
These final charts total each salvage piece by the attribute(s) it enhances within each recipe. For example, if the salvage is used in an Acc/Dam recipe, it counts once for Accuracy and once for Damage. (This is what you would use to see if Boresight really *is* used more for enhancing Accuracy.) Pages are separated by the level of the salvage (low, mid, high).

KEY
----
ACC - Accuracy
CNF - Confuse
DAM - Damage
DEF - Defense Buff
DDB - Defense Debuff
EMO - Endurance Modification
END - Endurance Reduction
FEA - Fear
FLY - Fly
HEA - Healing
HLD - Hold
IMM - Immobilize
ING - Intangible
INR - Interrupt
JUM - Jump
KNO - Knockback
RNG - Range
RCH - Recharge Reduction
RES - Resist Damage
RUN - Run
SLP - Sleep
SLW - Slow
STU - Stun
TAU - Taunt
TOH - ToHit
THD - ToHit Debuff
SFX - Proc or global effects
OTHR - Costume & temp powers

I will keep these charts updated as recipes are added or revised in-game, but please let me know in the meantime if you find something that I might have missed. Thanks!

Pure awesome.

[ QUOTE ]
Salvage Distribution by Enhancement Attribute

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Win.

Interestingly, this confirms something I've suspected but haven't had time or effort to do the homework on.

'Common' salvage pieces like Luck Charms and whatnot are so valuable because they're required by far more recipes. The rareness of 'Uncommon' and 'Rare' salvage doesn't mean a lot when they're not as useful as Common pieces.

Wow.

In the past, when I have tried printing these spreadsheets they have come out borked big time. Is anyone else having problems, or should I assume I've got something wrong with my printer? I've not had anything else fail to print correctly in routine use of my system, but the spreadsheets hosted on Google have printed like 3 columns per page, and dropped many columns so they don't show up on any of the pages.

RagManX

I've tested printing a selection of these pages and haven't had any problems with the data being missing or chopped off. Granted, the colors don't print out, but the tables and formatting are all there. Setting it to landscape for the wider charts is best. I let IE6 shrink each page to fit and used an HP laser printer to test it, but I don't expect it would cause any problems with my inkjet printer, either.

WOW..simply amazing job Thank you muchly

[necro mode="on"]

For any of you who may remember this thread, I've made some long-neglected updates to these charts that bring them up to date with the changes that have been implemented in the last 2½ years. These include adding very rare and PvP recipes, extra recipe categories, complete drop pool info, and zone/mob changes. I also restructured a couple charts in preparation for Going Rogue. I hope some people can find these at least interesting, if not useful, to see how salvage distribution compares.

Well done. That must represent a whole lot of work.

Minor quibble - Cimeroran Traitors start at 35, so they should appear in 25-40 as well as 40-50 categories.

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