Inventions/DO's/SO's

Not sure if this belongs here, but what is the way to go? What preferences do players have? I prefer Inventions over DO's and SO's. At lower levels, you outgrow your enchancements quite quickly. Some help here? I'm a 30 month vet, but still very noob, I hate details, lol, but I am becoming more detailed oriented when desiging and slotting for heroes.

I use SO's till I get to 50, then I start using IO's because at that level 2 IO's is almost as good as 3 SO's, so I save some slots

I go IO's the whole way. Commons until 50, then I start to bling my characters. Of course, I haven't gotten to the bling part yet...

Anyway, what I do is use common accuracy enhancements until I hit level 22, then I start slotting all kinds of commons. I have a main crafting/badge character who runs a supergroup, so I just drop off the salvage with my lowbies and have the badger craft everything.

I'm normally like:

1-11 - Nothing (though at 10 I will slot Yin SOs on my heroes if they can utilize them)

12-21 - DOs if I know I am going to be blasting through the teens fast. Otherwise...

12-16 - Level 15 IOs
17-21 - New powers and slots get level 20 IOs
(Except for whatever got the Yin SOs. Those get upgraded to 17s and 21s at 14 and 17 s.)

22-31 - SOs

32-36 - Level 35 IOs (at this point they are notably higher on the % than level 35 SOs whereas level 30 IOs are only very marginally better than level 30 SOs.)

Also, if you play your cards right, the big upgrade may cost about the same or even less as what an upgrade to level 35 SOs would cost (start stockpiling them early on, like at 25). 32 is also a good point to do a respec to both optimize your build and to get back all the inf you have sunk into those SOs.

Then starting at 37, you don't do another full upgrade. Instead, you just slot new powers and slots with level 40 IOs. Likewise, at 41 and 47, you only slot 45 and 50 IOs in new slots and powers.

Finally, at 50, you might go ahead and do a final respec to fully tweak and optimize your build. At this point, what does not get assorted non-generic invention IOs can go ahead and be upgraded to 50s. You probably will not be using a ton of generic 50s here though, since you will most likely be frankenslotting. And all your 35s, 40s, and 45s will then get sold (perhaps your 10 most valuable ones will get held back to be saved for an alt or sold at WW or the Black Market.)

Alternatively, and what I am planning on doing with my 50s though when it is optimize time, is to use up as many respecs as I can to recover all my generics and save them for my alts.

Clear as mud?

Clear. What I am doing now with my new group of alts, is at lvl 12 or 13, I am building all lvl13 IO's. I like this. Why spend all the influence on the others, when they only last a few levels at a time.

I never buy DOs or SOs anymore except as an occasional filler piece when salvage gets outrageous or more than I'm willing to pay at that particular moment (e.g., 1M for a circuit board).

1 - 11 - I slot training enhancements, largely damage since accuracy isn't needed, but almost nothing else.

12 - 21 - Common IOs and some set pieces.

21 - 30 - Frankenslotted set pieces, some common IOs

31 - 50 - Completely in sets, frankenslotting only where it makes sense, common IOs only in powers that require 1 slot

Influence/infamy never becomes a factor since I can always marketeer a bit if I get low. I also bid in advance for certain crafted IOs so I never have to go without even if leveling fast.

I almost never play the DO/SO game. It is a waste of money and usually time, in my opinion. I slot level 15, 25 and 35 common IO's at the appropriate levels. Along the way, I will often frankenslot some of the cheaper set IO's. If it is a build that will be getting IO sets, I generally use level 33-38 set IO's, so the character retains the set bonuses when exemped down.

I calculated it out once, and using common IO's over DO/SO's saves about 100k-150k per slot over the life of the character. Even better if you have another toon with the IO recipes memorized.

1-12 - Drops
12-22 - DOs
22-late 40s - Either common IOs or Frankenslotting
late 40s - start looking at set bonuses

I typically use regular enhancements until 32, before switching off to IOs. It's nothing more then a personal preference on my part - I don't see the point in investing in things that are, routinely, going to be at or just slightly above the performance rate on something I can get faster (technically - there's construction time on IOs, or slightly cost-inefficient marketing returns on them at various levels; 30-50k for an L15 DO-equivlant IO [depends on market that day] when I can spend the same amount and slot out the majority of my powers to my liking is a bit inefficient in my opinion; While the IO would last until 22, the fact is for the cost of maybe 3 or 4 of them total I can get my entire DO levels out of the way; The situation with SOs is similar enough that it doesn't bother me having to put up with them for 10 levels either), until the point at which the IOs themselves get to a level where the 'average' of performance is the top-end for the slot investment - level 35 IOs are slightly better then +3 SOs at that point, and are usually what I use from 32 -> 50+ (that is, I keep most of my IOs at level 35 even after I've hit 50 and can technically slot superior). Further, at 32, I don't bother slotting commons unless I'm in a money crunch, and go straight towards Frankenslotting (for maximum output) and shift myself closer towards getting set bonuses that I find attractive.

I usually have 20-30m by the time I hit 32 on most of my characters, and find it trivial to get at least a handful of the bonuses I'm usually after... and even moreso to get a set of 4 or 5 in some of my earlier powers. This is also assuming I don't get lucky and pick up an IO I'm looking for my end-game build before then; I keep any interesting yellow/orange IOs I get from 25+ on the off-chance I end up actually using that set.

Don't think I've ever spent more then 50-60m total for any one build in particular (my Mastermind probably has the most expensive build I've ever done, and that's only because I slotted her out completely twice over).

...still, I'd like to say again it's almost entirely personal preference. I don't like standing around a whole lot doing the market shuffle when I'm playing a character, at least until I hit 32 and start my slow glide anyway. I'm an altoholic, and with 30 character slots to spread my attention across, standing around doing market stuff for any period that's not just a simple inventory dump is a waste for me.

My pattern is:

1-11: Nothing.

12-21: DOs bought from Archtect Entertainment. Frankly, the AE ticket system makes it easy to just start from level 1 and go to level 14, 15, or even 20 just updating DOs by spending tickets instead of Inf. You may not be getting as much Inf from salvage, recipe, or enhancement drops. But you aren't spending any either, except maybe at the Tailor.

22-50: Common level 25 and 30 IOs are the same as SO. But they never expire. Just like SOs, you can start putting 25 IOs in at 22, and compared with replacing your SOs every 5 levels, the cost savings are huge. Once you have your basic IOs in, all you really need to do with your Inf is save it for your eventual invention sets.

35-50: I started buying and building my first sets close to level 35, or perhaps 32. Basically, as I was able to afford them from the market. Not all of my Common IOs are getting replaced, as not all of my powers have a set that is worthwhile to slot. But I do have Thunderstrikes and Devestations in my targeted attacks, Positron's Blast in my AoEs, and so forth.

They way I did it, I was set on budgeting my money to get the good sets early rather than maximize every point of enhancement every level. I wanted the good sets as early as I could get them instead of waiting until level 47 for the "perfect" set. Putting up with a couple percentage points less in the early levels was actually pretty easy to do. Nothing in the low or teen levels is all that difficult, except the elite bosses.

But that's just me.

My basic plan on most new characters goes something like this:

• 1-11 I only slot drops, TO's are too low in enhancement to be really worth bothering with. Since the "Beginner's Luck" accuracy bonus came in a few issues ago there's little point in worrying about accuracy enhancements, the only TO's I used to bother with. All salvage is sold at Wentworth's and all common recipes are sold to the vendor.
• 12-21 I buy DO's; they're enough of a boost to be worthwhile. If I'm playing the Faultline arc I'll of course buy the SO's from Yin's store. Salvage and recipes are still all sold as above.
• 22-30 I buy SO's the same as always. Along in the late 20's I'll start looking towards a set IO build; I typically start slotting sets from 27-35. At this time I start crafting IO's that I'll want to use. By level 35-40 I should have a completed IO build. I DO occasionally still buy SO's to fill empty slots when I don't want to take the time to buy & craft the set IO's I've planned for that power.

DO's and SO's basically have to be replaced every 3 levels because they drop in value. That is what worries with me with slotting those. Yes, the bonuses are good if I keep upgrading, but that costs lot's of influence.

I can't really add to what most folks have said except that I have noticed that a lot of people recommond not slotting anything prior to L12, relying on begginers luck for accuracy. However after L1 beginners luck starts going down and if you absolutely despise missing like I do (and firmly believe that the RNG is out to get you, like I do :-) slotting accuracy TO's is well worth it. Keep in mind that even if you have 85%-89% accuracy this is only against even level mobs - against +1 mobs you will only be at around 75%, if not lower. The best place to be accuracy wise is at 90% minimum - that way you are at streak code cap and you will never miss more than once in a row.

Accuracy TO's are cheap and even with the low amount of enahncement you get from them it doesn't take much to push your total accuracy up to 90% or even cap it at 95%.

For me up to 12 I just slot what I find, then at 13 I run off do the IO tutorial grab my free IO, spend way to much Inf filling out my IOs in an 2 hour period, then plot out my IOs then I just fill out my IOs as a level till 32 when I upgrade everything to 35 IOs, then just fill them out as a I level again. Though I do it that way because I don't like seeing my enhancements red out, there is just something counter intuitive to the idea of "hey I just leveled and now I'm weaker!"

I'm going to vote for a slightly more complex way of doing it: the "nearly generic Set IO" technique.

Level 1-21 I do TO's and DO's. Yeah, they're rotting from the moment I slot them but I don't care that much. They're not that big a bonus anyway.

Level 22 I do "mostly" SO's. I do some pairs of IO's, as I will explain below.

Level 27 I replace the SO's.

Level 32 or so I do a full IO "frankenslot".

To explain- and I know this gets a little mathy for a non-detail person- one Acc/Dam IO gives you almost 2/3 of an Acc IO and almost 2/3 of a Dam IO. That's ignoring the "set bonus" part altogether.

If you are ignoring the set bonuses, you can slot really cheap sets that nobody otherwise wants.

So if you slotted one Accuracy IO and one Damage IO at level 25, you'd get 32% Acc and 32% Damage. If you slotted two Acc/Dam IO's, you would get 40% Acc and 40% Dam instead.

So at level 22 (or 23 because people like even multiples of 5 a lot, so I can get 26es) I tend to do pairs of cheap Acc/Dam IO's and fill in the rest with SO's.

At level 32 I "Frankenslot" heavily. You can get, in five slots, the equivalent of up to seven IO's. And 35 IO's are measurably better than 25 IO's or any SO's.

Then around level 43 or so I start going for expensive sets, which give good set bonuses. Not because the frankenslotted stuff works badly, but because I have a whole lot of extra money, I'm bored with what I have, and I like to play with the set system.

I do TOs and DOs as I go through the single digits and teens.

Some select powers which are just crying out for slotting in multiple areas get an upgrade at level 17, eg Dark Regeneration would get some level 20 End/Rech's. Armour toggles often get Def/End or Res/End frankenslotting if I can be bothered.

Yin O's may happen if Ive bought some earlier and put them in the SG base bins.

Sometimes at 17 I'll slot a bunch of level 20 IOs too if I've made them and they're in my base.

Level 22 I usually replace evrything with SO's.

Level 27 I start slotting sets, at this point the level 30 good stuff like Thunderstrike, Red Fortune and Crushing Impact open up, and I'll usually have bought and prepared sets beforehand. This makes 27 a big leap in performance just like 22 was - eg most Blasters or Defenders will suddenly gain +6% Recovery, +11.25% E/N/Ranged Def and +21% Accuracy as well as +55% Rech/End/Acc on their main powers instead of +33% due to the magic of Thunderstrikes.

From there on I buy more sets, filling in other stuff with either IOs or SOs depending on availability and convenience.

I do IOs as soon as they're viable for me. From level 10 on, if I can get an IO, even if it's for one of the undesirable sets, I do it. Set IOs give better enhancement values if they're dual-aspect or more. Since none of the IOs lose effectiveness, I generally don't worry about them for another 10 levels. It's convenient because the only thing I worry about slotting are my new powers or slots.

I like them because you operate at a set effectiveness, and that doesn't change no matter how many times you level. Once I'm about 10 levels higher than an IO, then I'll consider swapping it out if it's convenient and if the replacement is affordable. If it's not, I'll just not worry about it until later. And once the IOs themselves are level 30, I generally don't ever have to worry about replacing them again as they're already better than most SOs.

Fairly simple here:

1-22: Slot the drops- TO's, DO's, SO's etc. Craft any IO's I can slot with low bids on salvage.

23: Slot L25 common IO's so I can fill up and never need to worry again.

30+: Start looking at Set IO's. Lowball bids on recipes I'm after, lowball bids on salvage. Will usually bid up to +5 from what I can slot, and dump it in the base for when I finally reach that level. No rush, no sweat, hence no massive expense. Usually bid on more than one of the same recipe - keep what I need and sell the crafted excess for often surprising profits.

-H

One thing that really helps the cost of IOs is the memorization badges. Once you get a high enough toon and money supply, make the effort to get the memorization badges. They cut the cost of IOs by 1/4 usually. No buying, only crafting at half cost. Run a MA arch, get some tickets, use tickets to get random salvage drops. Craft what you get, drop them off in the base, repeat until you get what you need, sell the rest. The level 45/50 badges may cost you a lot of money and may end up costing you some, but 10-40 are cheap and you can easily make up the cost of crafting all of them by selling what you do craft. Then its quick to slot up a lower toon assuming you have a method of switching the IOs over.

1-11: No slotting other than the TOs that drop for me.
12-21: DOs. If the character gets a jackpot, I'll craft normal IOs at level 12, but otherwise I'm usually levelling too fast to really care about doing so. If they're levelling really fast (particularly on TFs), I'll skip enhancements altogether until 17 or 22.
22-31: SOs.
32+: Full IO builds for everybody. If the character's having problems in a certain area, I'll usually frankenslot cheap set IOs to patch that area up. As they get the cash to do so, I'll slot good set IOs for bonuses.

Personally, I go:
1-16: Drops. Buy Nothing.
17-26: Buy DOs.
22-50: Craft Dropped IOs (25+)
27-50: Buy SOs
32-50: Buy IOs

Holding off until 17 gives me more leeway in slotting out with DOs. Same goes with waiting until 27 for SOs. Usually though i've got enough 25 IOs in me that I don't have to buy too many SOs by then.

Still waiting for his Official BackAlleyBrawler No-Prize