SSK / +5 powers / +3 Set bonusses

I know the answer to this but was curious what the general consensus was.

I was on a Tina McIntyre team auto mal'd to 45 and my defense numbers were in the *******.

Turns out it still follows the +3 rule for set bonusses when mal'd.

However since we now get +5 powers shouldn't we also get +5 set bonusses?

I never understood this rule anyway. Why get penalized for having the best IOs we can get our hands on?

I confirmed that being SSKd to a lvl 47 didn't change my numbers at all.

Below are the numbers (yellow text denotes a change).

Regards,
Fitz

Auto mal'd / SSK'd to 45

Smashing/Lethal Defense - 33.43%

Combat Jumping - 2.65%
Weave - 5.76%
Tough Hide - 5.76%
Huge Increased Lethal/Smashing/Melee Def Bonus - 15%
Tiny Increased Lethal/Smashing/Melee Def Bonus - 1.25%%
Steadfast Protection: Resistance/Defense - 3%
Base Defense - 0%

Fire/Cold Defense - 17.18%

Combat Jumping - 2.65%
Weave - 5.76%
Tough Hide - 5.76%
Steadfast Protection: Resistance/Defense - 3%
Base Defense - 0%

Energy/Negative Energy Defense - 28.43%

Combat Jumping - 2.65%
Weave - 5.76%
Tough Hide - 5.76%
Large Increased Rangted/Energy/Negative Energy Def Bonus - 3.13%
Tiny Increased Energy/Negative Energy/Ranged Def Bonus - 5.00%
Steadfast Protection: Resistance/Defense - 3%
Large Increased Rangted/Energy/Negative Energy Def Bonus - 3.13%
Base Defense - 0%

---------------------

Level 50

Smashing/Lethal Defense - 34.68%

Combat Jumping - 2.65%
Weave - 5.76%
Tough Hide - 5.76%
Huge Increased Lethal/Smashing/Melee Def Bonus - 15%
Tiny Increased Lethal/Smashing/Melee Def Bonus - 1.25%
Steadfast Protection: Resistance/Defense - 3%
Moderate Increased Melee/Lethal/Smashing Def Bonus - 1.25%
Base Defense - 0%

Fire/Cold Defense - 34.05%

Combat Jumping - 2.65%
Weave - 5.76%
Tough Hide - 5.76%
Steadfast Protection: Resistance/Defense - 3%
Large Increased AOE/Fire/Cold Def Bonus - 3.13%
Large Increased AOE/Fire/Cold Def Bonus - 12.50%
Moderate Increased AOE/Fire/Cold Def Bonus - 1.25%
Base Defense - 0%

Energy/Negative Energy Defense - 34.68%

Combat Jumping - 2.65%
Weave - 5.76%
Tough Hide - 5.76%
Large Increased Rangted/Energy/Negative Energy Def Bonus - 3.13%
Tiny Increased Energy/Negative Energy/Ranged Def Bonus - #6.25%
Steadfast Protection: Resistance/Defense - 3%
Large Increased Rangted/Energy/Negative Energy Def Bonus - 3.13%
Huge Increased Ranged/Energy/Negative Energy Def Bonus - 3/75%
Moderate Increased Ranged/energy/Negative Energy Def Bonus - 1.25%
Base Defense - 0%

If my choices were no +5 powers (old exemplar rules) or +5 powers and no IO bonuses, I'll go with the second choice.

Old saying about a gift horse applies here.

The +5 combat power accessibility was instituted because players complained they would lose a power they might have gotten by leveling up in a mission. And so, the Devs allowed us to have access to powers above combat level, but the question was... by how much?

The answer of +5 combat levels came about because in the old system, a player could team up with another player and still be +5 levels and still get XP. At a level spread of +6 or more, then no more XP, which forced an exemplaring. And so, we get +5 combat level accessibility to Powers.

So, this had nothing to do with the -4 and more rule for IO Bonus dropout.

To use your example above, in the old system, if you exemplared from 50 to 45, you'd lose the bonuses from your level 50 IOs. Well, the same is still true. You're exemplared from 50 to 45 and your level 50 IOs still don't count for bonuses -- no change.

As I love to run TF's and such I did all my set slotting in the level range of 30-35, so the only time I have run into this is during low ouro's, posi and syn

Also, another tip:

On my main toon, I used a second build for low level exemplaring: Not built for IO Bonuses, but uses IO Set pieces for Frankenslotting. All the pre-30 powers are nearly six-slotted for going way past ED (so that exemplaring still leaves those powers as if they were SO'd). Then I picked utility powers that didn't need slotting for post-30 powers, which meant that that toon was still pretty spiffy at high levels.

Then my main build used level 41-ish IOs so that I'd still have Set Bonuses in Warburg and on up.