Low Lvl I/O's - yeah, huh?

Wouldn't it be nice if you could bid on a range of recipes rather than a single recipe? Like if I want a Numina's I can use at level 35 or lower, I could place a single bid for a level 30-35 Numina's. That would go a long way toward solving both the supply and demand problems at lower levels, as well as making things more profitable for sellers in the late 40s and making IOing out easier for level 50s who don't care about that .03% from a 50 over a 49.

I know it'll never happen, but I can dream.

I'm a convert. Especially having just logged off my fm/sd scrapper. He dinged 14. Normally I'd be sticking with DOs, but the first thought in my head was "I hate defense builds before 22." The second thought was "so slap a steadfast set in True Grit."

And then my mind started getting silly so I logged off.

"Under no circumstances do I bother filling up on setIOs before 50. What would be the point beyond building specifically to dominate in the lower level PvP zones? Hitting 50 is now SO EASY, even solo, why bother?"

It's easy if you want it to be. I hit my first 50 and he is great - love to hit a fast ITF or run Hami's every once in a while and just blast away, but there is something lost when you are not just itching for that next level to get 3 more slots or one more power - hearing everyone on your team say "Grats!". Leveling is just plain cool and it's even better when you have a sense of the I/O sets that you can get. I am learning more from slotting my lvl 34 than from slotting my lvl 50 after he topped. I sure as hell am slotting all my melees for Kinetic Combat to get that extra def. and figuring out how many travel powers I can afford to 3-slot for BotZ. And the results are great! I can take on bigger groups and more purps than I ever thought I could.
I am rolling recipes at current level and putting what I can on the market just to keep the mid level I/O's in play and a chance to top out my 34 at 34. Not for PVP or for inf., just because in IMHO makes the game more fun.

Yep, that's about it. For some people, it's still about the journey.

So, slightly off-topic, if I'm leveling in AE, what are the best levels to roll my tickets if I'm going to be selling most of the results? Multiples of 5? Multiples of 5 +3 for people who wish to exemp?

I've been thinking about this thread over the course of the week and I've decided that I am going to make a character to sit at 35 permanently (or at least until further notice). This character will run TFs and story arcs for merits and AE for tickets.

I usually hoard stuff, but this character will slot what he can use and sell the rest. If enough of us do this, we can reverse this trend and have a viable 35-40 market.

NOW WHO'S WITH ME?!?!

Another point I just found in my own behavior is, that I usually put a bid on something and let it sit for a while, hoping to get it in a day or few. But with the current leveling speed and the already decreased supply, on my main character that means by the time I get something, I am already a much higher level, and when I am only out for as high as possible level of the enhancement, it will quite a bit worse than what I could slot now.
Like half a year ago, when I was 32 and bid for something 35-ish, I was maybe 33 when I got it. Now I am rather around 40 since I have to wait longer an level faster. Yet I'm too lazy to update all my bids every few hours because I leveled again. So I guess I rather go for max level right away when I am close.

As to why max level... (and not the % is not always negligible, as not all aspects of a power have to be subject to DR already when you slot it, especially if you are not yet level 50), I have not bothered with the exemplaring effects until now because it has never been an issue so far (PvP always being empty, and not rushing to 50 but actually playing the game I have done most of the stuff of any level range when I was at that level, so I dont need to go back for it, AE wasnt around) and I had the impression that it changed all the time and was beyond my comprehension anyway.
(Do Enhancements have to be lower or equal to the level you exemplar down to, or to that level plus 3, so you could legally have them at that level? Does that effect only the bonuses, or the bonuses and special global rewards that the enhancement gives on its own, or all the effects of IO set enhancements? What level do I exemplar down to the most? What kind of content is there that exes you down to a given level? Does Orouboros exemplar you down to 35 or 34 e.g. for the level 30-35 content? Do I thus need level 34, 35, 37 or 38 set IOs to still get a bonus then?
I openly confess I still dont know most of that, and I am sure I am not the only one. Heck I dont even know if powers are stripped from me when I didnt have them at that level or when their level requirement is higer. As much as I like number crunching, all that changes when exemplaring are a bit too obscure for me to consider at the moment.)

At any rate, to slot for exemplaring there is a lot of stuff to know and consider. Its complicated.
Max level is easy to understand. So I'm not surprised its a popular strategy.

I agree the mid- and low-level supply is really crappy, despite some tools in the game to generate lower level drops. But it is apparent that the reward sliders, level-specific TF's, and exemplaring aren't enough.

So how about a little incentive?

A low dev-cost incentive would be to activate the Halloween and Winter events in a limited fashion in the "off" season, but target specific zones. For example: zombie apocalypse, tot'ing, and Halloween banners spawning in Croatoa and Dark Astoria semi-regularly throughout the year. A corner of Eden made into a perma winter wonderland. Or even Rikti drop ships in Brickstown and Faultline more often.

The way these events and spawns are coded (and some may need to be amended), they should drop recipes and salvage commensurate with the zone. By limiting the off season "events" of this type to only a few selected zones, specific levels of drops could be targeted to help the market supply.

This would hurt the Halloween and Winter salvage markets in terms of profiteering, but would otherwise be a boon to the overall health of the market, IMO.

Just an idea - one that doesn't depend on a few altruistic people trying to help out the market.

Got the last of my Oblits bought & slotted. Someone put up a level 30 acc/rech crafted tonight... I paid too much for it, but whoever it was could have listed it for double that and I might have actually paid it just so I could take down all of my bids (I was bidding on levels 30-39, so I had a lot of money tied up in trying to get the last couple).

Now I should probably put in some lower bids at level 30-35 and then craft and sell 'em, because I know other people will do exactly what I did. "Oh, one's finally available! Price is no object!"

^_^

I know that I'm not hunting purples with my 50's. I really don't need them in order to play the game. I have played one of my 50's recently and the character played fine with out them.
That particular character also doesn't have many set IO's as part of its build. I am pretty sure that most of the SO's have been replaced with normal IO's.

There are a good number of new players out there - many who do not have 50's ... there are long time players that still do not have 50's for that matter.

I'm generally not trying to slot IO sets until after 40. Maybe it has come to that point in game in general.

I generally slot normal IO's starting around 15 or 20. They seem to do a good job for me without the extra bonuses.
So I think that the perspective of enjoying what you have and being happy if you can find some cool stuff is a good method of dealing with situations like this.

I'm sure that you checked for recipes as well as the crafted ones.

I'm not up on that part of the market, so the advice I gave is based on my general play experience.

As well as merits, I think AE tickets can get you recipes too...but I honestly don't use either much. I'm content with the normal IO's as I am able to get them.