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What you fail to understand is that the majority of players in this game don't fully IO (or even at all) their characters with sets.
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Please provide evidence to back this up. The majority of people that I know in the game do slot at least some sets. Sure, not everyone is going for purple sets, but I know of very few people who don't try to get at least a few sets in their builds.
You don't need to farm to get decent sets on your character. Heck, my completely soloed-to-level 48 Stalker is most IOed out. And my Level 39 Tanker only has a few non-set IOs in his build. I've never farmed with either of those characters, but used drops, the market (not gaming the market, just posting for recipes), merits, and a few tickets to do it.
I'd say that even the average casual player at least assumes some IO slotting in their builds. And while positing that they will only use SOs is fine, I'd say it's far from the truth of what will happen. Even using generic IOs will change a build up.
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I info people I group with. Very very few have set bonuses listed. Of the ones that do, they are very few.
The only people that I see that consistantly have large number of sets are those that play everyday and/or have been playing consistantly for quite some time.
And I ask.
(Justice server to be exact).
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I assume the average and don't put IO's into my discussion other than to note that it will change the shortcomings of a given AT combo if they get to that area.
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Yes. TY Kruunch. This is why casuals like me love your posts.
When you see yourself in a crowded room / do your fingers itch,are you pistol-whipped
Will you step in line or release the glitch / can you fall asleep with a panic switch
Ummm, Scrappers and Brutes have to work a little bit more to get to the cap, yes, but it's not THAT much harder (I don't have Weave on my Tanker, but grabbing that on my Scrapper Build made up the difference mostly). The quickie build I threw in Mid's is not that different from the Tanker build I mentioned. Which, once again, is not that expensive. I got him to the defense cap through normal play (solo, plenty of teaming, some TFs, etc.).
I also see in your original post that you mention prices "depending on the server." The only division for the markets are for redside and blueside, so there is no "depending on the server" for price.
Costs of IOing your build are not as high as you suggest... I do it all the time in the course of normal gameplay (I don't play the market, I just sell what drops for the best price I can find). And even just getting a few sets can improve performance. I'm not sure what percentage of the playerbase does it a lot, but it's not that hard or expensive to do.
Guide: Tanking, Wall of Fire Style (Updated for I19!), and the Four Rules of Tanking
Story Arc: Belated Justice, #88003
Synopsis: Explore the fine line between justice and vengeance as you help a hero of Talos Island bring his friend's murderer to justice.
Grey Pilgrim: Fire/Fire Tanker (50), Victory
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A... billion? My Shield Tanker is at the cap and he hasn't spent even that 200 million figure you mentioned, sorry. Maybe it's the sets you're going for, as there are some cheap ones out there that can boost your defense still. Also, there isn't much rare salvage out there that is in the millions on the market... I think Empowered Sigils were at 400k last I looked (blueside).
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i'm sorry, where in my post above did i use the term 'tanker'?
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I guess since you're posting in the Tanker forum in a thread about Shield tanks it would be assumed you were talking about a tanker.
But that's neither here nor there; I have a 41 Broadsword/Shield scrapper WITHOUT Weave who's soft capped to all 3 positions with IO set bonuses... and it cost me less than 100 million; probably less than 90 million. Less than 10% of the figure you were quoting.
A Shield TANKER, which is after all what we're discussing in this thread, has the advantage of higher base defenses so he needs to find less set bonus defense... it should be doable for MUCH less than the 90 - 100 million my scrapper cost.
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
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I assume the average and don't put IO's into my discussion other than to note that it will change the shortcomings of a given AT combo if they get to that area.
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Yes. TY Kruunch. This is why casuals like me love your posts.
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My pleasure ... sometimes stepping away from the game from time to time adds a fresher perspective 
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I ran an ITF a few days ago as a Shields Tanker. Never died. Not even tanking Rommie. Had an easier time than even my Inv Tanker.
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Did you have a defender or controller who wasn't Kinetics?
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One note ... I've never been on an ITF yet with a Defender (cry).
Having said that, I consider the ITF a *baseline* for tanking. All s/l damage, limited debuffs, non-range heavy mobs. If your Tanker is having problems running through the ITF, then there is either something wrong with the way you built your Tanker or something wrong with the Tanker primary itself.
And some form of support is needed for tanking Romi in general. I couldn't see a non-supported Tanker of any type (unless really purpled out and even then probably not because of how far he can floor your defense). And I include the traditional "holding" method as support here.
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I have seen people tank romulus on tanks with no support easily. I have seen people tank romulus on non-tanks with no support easily. It comes down to the player's skill ultimately.
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I think we can all agree if you have enough purples you can be just like an I1 Tanker (by and large).
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I disagree. Purple sets add very little to direct survivability. They can greatly increase the recharge of your attacks, heals, and tier 9's. The only resistance they add to is fire/cold/psy/toxic which is some of the rarest damage types in the game. They also add greatly to recovery, damage, and accuracy, but that is offensive. Only two purple sets I know of adds to regen, and 2-3 add anything to defense. Your tank survivability would improve more with a Kinetic Combat or Smashing Haymaker set than it would with the purple Hecatomb set.
I have found nothing in the game that I cannot tank effectively as an invuln. I've also found that there is very little that I can't pull aggro from.
Go invuln for survivability. Go with the Shield if you're looking for the incredibly gratifying power: Shield Charge.
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it takes a billion or more infamy/influence to gear a shield scrapper/brute to be at the soft cap (depending on server).
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Leaving aside the "billion" figure, which I think must be an exaggeration, based on my own attempts to squeeze blood out of the market stone, my question is: what does "depending on the server" have to do with the cost of your build?
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
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The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog
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it takes a billion or more infamy/influence to gear a shield scrapper/brute to be at the soft cap (depending on server).
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Leaving aside the "billion" figure, which I think must be an exaggeration, based on my own attempts to squeeze blood out of the market stone, my question is: what does "depending on the server" have to do with the cost of your build?
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a full set of mako's level 40-50 on infinity blue side will run you 15-25 million for one set of 6. so i call bollux to the 100m to soft cap scrapper bs.
it's even MORE expensive red side on infinity.
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it takes a billion or more infamy/influence to gear a shield scrapper/brute to be at the soft cap (depending on server).
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Leaving aside the "billion" figure, which I think must be an exaggeration, based on my own attempts to squeeze blood out of the market stone, my question is: what does "depending on the server" have to do with the cost of your build?
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a full set of mako's level 40-50 on infinity blue side will run you 15-25 million for one set of 6. so i call bollux to the 100m to soft cap scrapper bs.
it's even MORE expensive red side on infinity.
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The markets are cross-server, so only red- and blue-side matter.
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it takes a billion or more infamy/influence to gear a shield scrapper/brute to be at the soft cap (depending on server).
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Leaving aside the "billion" figure, which I think must be an exaggeration, based on my own attempts to squeeze blood out of the market stone, my question is: what does "depending on the server" have to do with the cost of your build?
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a full set of mako's level 40-50 on infinity blue side will run you 15-25 million for one set of 6. so i call bollux to the 100m to soft cap scrapper bs.
it's even MORE expensive red side on infinity.
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Again -- what does the server have to do with it? Why mention Infinity?
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
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The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog
The markets are all linked, there is no "Infinity" price, or "Virtue" price; they're all the same market.
[edit: As mentioned, the only difference is Hero vs Villain. Those are separate.]
Not sure how you use the market, but in general, you can get better rates if...
*) ...you don't "buy it now. Putting up bids and waiting for them to fill is cheaper.
*) ...you place bids at multiple levels. You can get some discounts for bidding on lower level IOs. For whatever reason, lvl50 IOs tend to be super expensive. Even dropping a level or two can mean a hefty price reduction.
I'm not much of a marketeer, but the first are pretty important. (I'm not guaranteeing every set will be dirt cheap, but they're ways to get them cheaper than usual.)
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a full set of mako's level 40-50 on infinity blue side will run you 15-25 million for one set of 6. so i call bollux to the 100m to soft cap scrapper bs.
it's even MORE expensive red side on infinity.
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I think what Sailboat is getting at is that the markets of all the servers are linked (EU and US). There are no separate markets per server, just separate markets depending on which side you play.
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it takes a billion or more infamy/influence to gear a shield scrapper/brute to be at the soft cap (depending on server).
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Leaving aside the "billion" figure, which I think must be an exaggeration, based on my own attempts to squeeze blood out of the market stone, my question is: what does "depending on the server" have to do with the cost of your build?
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a full set of mako's level 40-50 on infinity blue side will run you 15-25 million for one set of 6. so i call bollux to the 100m to soft cap scrapper bs.
it's even MORE expensive red side on infinity.
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Your figures aren't totally off (having just done Mako's Bite and spent similarly on blue side) however thats' the high side of "buying now". With a little planning you can drop those figures immensely.
Tips:
1) Run TFs for merits for the really expensive recipes (such as Numina's +recovery/regen).
2) Use the MA system to farm tickets for your rare salvage (although it's arguable if this is more efficient then just farming money and buying the salvage (depends toon I guess)).
3) Sell the recipes and salvage you get. There is a lot of white salvage selling for 100k now due to the MA system.
4) Realize that building an IO'd out toon is going to take more then a day.
5) Don't look at purples and base that on what you're going to pay (the billions remark is fairly ridiculous).
6) Try getting into large groups and TFs more ... this is where the bulk of your good random drops will come from. Not only for yourself but it will give you stuff to sell as well.
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A... billion? My Shield Tanker is at the cap and he hasn't spent even that 200 million figure you mentioned, sorry. Maybe it's the sets you're going for, as there are some cheap ones out there that can boost your defense still. Also, there isn't much rare salvage out there that is in the millions on the market... I think Empowered Sigils were at 400k last I looked (blueside).
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i'm sorry, where in my post above did i use the term 'tanker'?