Enhancements While Leveling

Returning player that last played prior to crafted IO's. I've got a number of toons ranging from 1 up to about level 40. As with most folks I'm a chronic altaholic so tend to bounce around but I'd really like to focus on one toon to get up to 50 and experience CoX endgame before moving on to something else

So, my question is ... Should I be trying to slot crafted (normal) IO's or just stick with stacking SO's up to 50? Is it worth it to craft/purchase the IO's every 5 levels or will SO's generally do just about as well and save me the time?

While I'm asking ... What about set enhancements? At what point does it really become beneficial to begin looking into some sets? Should that wait until level 50 or begin in the 40's or ???

Thanks a ton for any insight you guys may have. Hopefully, with the double XP weekend coming up I can maybe power out my first level 50 toon!

From some of the complaints/bemoans I've read over the last couple of months, there doesn't seem to be any actual End Game content!

Common IOs can make a difference pretty much from level 15 onward, and after LV35 common IOs give the same benefits as regular SOs (or better)

I have a few characters set up with common 35 IOs and used them all the way to 50.

Sets have several uses, and from LV25 onward can really start to make a difference ... especially in slot-hungry builds. Frankenslotting can be used to get the bonuses from several SOs in fewer slots.

Crafting for set bonuses is definitely the more expensive route to go, but can make a huge difference especially with purple recipes.

I found the guide written by Capn_Canadian to be very useful.

There are several other useful guides in the player guides section.

Level 25 common/generic IOs are equivalent to a -1 (yellow) SO. So if that's ok with you performancewise, you can keep them and not have to replace them ever which is a significant savings during the rest of your character's career. I'd suggest making the effort to at least memorize the level 25s and 30s set of common IOs. (See info here.) Once you have them memorized, you can make more for your future slotting needs without having to have a recipe in hand, which in turn is another significant savings. Plus you can make extras to sell to cover your expenses while you were memorizing and just to make an extra buck.

As for using Sets, depending on how you slot them, you can gain an extra attribute boost without having to have an extra slot. If you don't care to build for Set Bonuses, you can mix and match different pieces from different Sets to maximize attribute boosts (commonly called "frankenslotting" here). If you do go for Set Bonuses, you can gain extra character-wide attribute boosts that aren't usually available to your character. For example: +Def/+Resist for characters with no armors and Stoners like the +Run and +Movement. Stacking up Set Bonuses +Acc and +Recharge is also a popular avenue to pursue.

When to build for Set Bonuses depends on whether you exemplar a lot. Most Set Bonuses follow the usual exemplaring rules based on the level of the Set IO. If you're frankenslotting and don't care about Set Bonuses, then you can just use the best Set IO piece you can lay your hands on.

I normally place bids early and pick up cheap level 15 IOs such that they are there for me when I get to 12.

Then do the same idea in the run up to 22, with level 25 common IOs.

Often those at least some of those stay with me through to 50.

Being a chronic altaholic, allows you to place lower bids and walk away from the market with a character, and this approach would likely work well for you.

This single biggest problem facing older SO ladden characters with switching to IOs is lack of Influence. So the answer to your questions depend largely on how much Influence you currently have.

If your character(s) are poor, it's best to stick with SOs for now until you've built up either some merits from TFs, or get a lucky drop or two that you can sell for a significant sum. If you happen to find a recipe that you can use, especially if it's cheap on the market, simply replace one of your SO's. I'd do this all the way to 50, selling any expensive drops you get(this may be debatable of course).

The first old character I resurrected was a level 28 Peacebringer with nothing but SOs....and almost zero Influence. When I reached level 50, she had a mishmash of frankenslotted set IOs, generic IOs and SOs.....and nearly 500 Merits. I then random rolled for rare recipes, and started building from there. Many of the random rolls were useless and vendored. Several others were instantly slotted. The rest were put up for sale at WW's.

It didn't take very long running level 50 team events and TFs to accumulate quite a bit of Influence from there.

Edit: Hmm, I suppose I should have stated that my advice is for your mid to high level characters who already have SOs. I agree with the advice given by the other posters for your low level or new characters. My apologies if that wasn't clear.

In the long run, IOs will be cheaper for you, since you don't have to replace them. What I generally do, though, is to slot just off drops up to lvl 12 or so when you can get DO's. I'll do the invention tutorial at that time, and make something and generally slot it if I can. Then I'll buy DO's, usually focusing on End Reductions and Accuracies, and slot drops as I can. I'll save up for lvl 22, when SO's are available.

From there until around lvl 32 I'll slot SO's unless I can get a decent IO around lvl 30 or so to use. At 32 I'll try to start converting to IOs, since they're better than SO's at that point, and will not expire, so you don't ever have to buy them again. Sets I'll generally wait on, unless I get some fortunate drops.

And there is no "endgame" at 50. The game continues: there are still foes to be defeated and things that can be accomplished. There's no real way to "win" in comic-dom. That said, as mentioned, Posi's working on more content for the 50's, which is quite nice.

Oh, and welcome back to the game!!

Just a note to all the reply's ... thank a ton guys. Very good information and a lot to chew on.