Anyone else never use IOs?

I know when I9 rolled out and brought inventions, I was excited, but yet, I never got into to them. It might be because at the time, all I had was my 2 high level mains and because I didn't feel like remaking their builds to use IOs. I have this feeling where if I use them, I want to go through from the beginning with a new character and work my way up to using them, but that just hasn't happened.

To this day, I still can't get into them. It seems to take an exorbitant amount of time to make any sort of headway on buying the salvage for a decent IO set, to get a recipe at a decent price, and after all that to make sure that I have enough left over Inf to actually MAKE the stupid thing. And after all that, I feel like the bonuses just aren't worth it.

In fact, I don't even craft normal IOs for the same reasons basically.

Am I weird? I know I can't be the only one who's perfectly content to just slot out SOs. (My idea of progress is to just make all my SOs level 50++ using the ancient enhancement fusing system that no one ever touches anymore.)

Pretty much everyone uses IOs to some extent

Basically, at level 33 (IE, level 35 IOs) they become better than SOs and never need to be upgraded, thus saving you a lot of money (and time!) upgrading your enhancements all the time.

True Story!

Tonight I logged on to our 3rd account which was offline for like 4 months, and I played the lvl 50 Fire Kin Corruptor who is maxed out on all SO's and OMG SHE SUCKED.

Flipped over to a lvl 50 ALL IOed character and was FREAKIN AMAZING.

Perhaps with the new issue and the update to the market UI, you'll find it easier to find and craft things and be more inspired to sell and make inf to buy other things.

Really, it is a pain to get a build working but when you do, it's quite nice.

I have characters that were around before IOs who I haven't bothered with changing around. My two 50s (Hero and Villain) were 50 before all that started, and since I don't really play them except for just goofing around there seemed little point. Heck, Primal is still built and enhanced like ED never happened, since she retired before that hit.

All my characters moving up in levels now slot IOs, but I'm very casual about it, mainly just using the ones that drop that I happen to have a use and the salvage for. Occasionally I'll look for something on the market, usually for concept purposes or because it's useful. Those Knockback protection IOs for example are so hella useful for Blasters and such that I'll go looking for them, or my Archer will shop for a Sting of the Manticore. It's only as much time as you wish to spend on it really, there's no need to blow hours or "play the market" unless you're just into that, I'm not at all and I seem to do just fine. Eeking out a few more percentage points is THE big draw for some people, but despite what they might say it's not necessary for anyone else.

Even better Zikar, lvl 25 IOs (generic) ARE sOs that never go red, so start crafting them at 22 and why would you ever bother buying SOs again?

None of my characters waste their time on SOs, everybody gets generic IOs at least just so I don't have to mess with the annoyance of expiring enhancements.


All characters I play quite a bit get a -kb IO, and most of them get a stealth IO.

I have a couple of characters who I kitted out with the best money can buy, a couple more who are fully IO'ed with 'good' stuff, and quite a few that roll with mostly generics and a key set here and there.

It's too time consuming for me kit everyone out with sets, or I'd do it. The performance advantages are substantial.

It's funny, for me it was the reverse. IOs came out with Issue 9, and I tried to get into them but just couldn't grasp the concept for some reason. I was already burnt out on the game at that time so I let my subscription lapse. I forget exactly when I came back, maybe between Issues 10 and 11, but eventually I was able to get a handle of how IOs and set bonuses worked. Once I cracked that nut of awesomeness I was hooked. Now I rarely create a new character without putting together at least a partial build with IOs in Mid's in anticipation of a late-game that usually never arrives due to crippling alt-itis.

I'm in the same boat as the OP. Heck, even more so. I hardly even touch SO's. Maybe it's because I don't find the whole slotting game fun. I like to spend my time playing.

Heh, I'm pretty lazy when it comes to lower level IO's so I just slot SO's until I ding 50 then go on a buying spree.

Outside of needing missions to unlock the stores, I find reslotting SOs to be very easy. It takes what, all of 5 minutes? Crafting and slotting IOs takes much longer. I think I've reslotted a character for all slotting of SOs faster than I have slotting a character with just one set of even common IOs. Don't get me started on researching frankenslotting and IO sets. At this point more and more of my characters don't care about influ/imfamy so I'll gladly "waste" it just subbing in SOs and then work IOs when I feel like it. Somebody mentioned how slotting of a character for normal enhancements cost around 20 million. I can cake walk that before I need to buy an SO and that's without mules.

I will say I really do tend to slot in common 35s into my builds and generally work on IOed builds for DXP weekends. I vastly do this in part due to altism. If I was playing a build straight 1-50, then I'm likely just slotting SOs 22-47.

I don't use any enhancements (except drops) until level 12, when I put in some acc and end DOs. I replace with a full set of DOs at 17, then switch over to generic IOs at 22. Most of my characters don't even make it to 25, let alone 50 (yay altoholism), so I rarely worry about anything more than that. >.> I have ONE character with significant set IOs, and she hasn't added another piece to her collection (her build is only half done) in a year or so. She's about 1/3 SOs, 1/3 generic IOs and 1/3 sets.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dispari I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

Out of 35 characters I have only one with extensive IOs and a few others with some ISOs. Some of the characters have a few choice IOs here and there (procs, etc) but since I don't farm or play the market money is hard to come by. IOs are very nice but hardly necessary and I find camping for hours in the market gathering recipes boring. I've done it for my favorite character and don't spend enough time dedicated to anyone else to worry about it.

i dont use any enhances until 22 for SOs, then i stick with SOs until 50, 50 is when i start putting my toons builds together (i have at least 6 project toons right now, only finished 2 toons so far lol)

I always use IOs. When I started playing, they were firmly established so I never had the experience of using DOs or SOs.

To me, the thought of relying on enhancements that are obsolescent by design is unappealing. I would rather have a reliable bonus all the time than worry about replacing enhancements I've outgrown. It just seems inefficient.

I would also find it annoying to restock my enhancement inventory all the time. With IOs, it's possible to upgrade but not mandatory. The option is mine to exercise if I choose.

Me. I find the whole crafting/invention/salvage/recipe/market thing to be unbearably tedious. I'm just as happy running on regular old SOs.

I dont go crazy with bonuses, but i make sure to have at least generic so's at level 35, never got the mindset behind avoiding at least generic io's, but if you are happy, go you.

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

I'm like others here. I Stick with SOs till I hit 50 then IO my toons out. That being said I have a level 50 Fire/Kin Controller with mostly SOs and only a few IOs in it.
I know 2 players who don't even touch IOs. Mostly due to them being more interested in playing then fussing over bonuses.

I don't touch them until level 30ish. Then I fill up on Generic IO's and stay there until 50. If I like the character, and working on one to 50 usually means I do, I fill out on Lvl 50 generic IO's and start in on the sets.

I was running a Manticore last night and three people in my team were talking about how their SOs were all going red as they leveled up during the taskforce. I thought about mentioning IOs but then figured the people probably weren't stupid and they knew about IOs, they just had their own reasons for not yet converting. So, anyway, that's three other people who use SOs.

Although... was this a free resub weekend? Maybe one of them came from an era before IOs. Still, I doubt all three were ignorant of them.

in short, yes there's others who don't use io's but not me. I don't get those who complain it's too much work getting io's. Your basic io's are just as much effort, or less than having to visit the stores and restock your do's or so's every few levels. I slot io's as i go along, whenever my recipes or salvage fill up. Instead of having to visit a specific store you can go to any university and get io's. Take a couple of minutes at the nearest university or your base if you're lucky enough to have a good one and craft what you can at the time and that's a few more slots you never have to think about again if you don't want. Especially once you get up to using 30/35's basic io's. It's not even THAT expensive to just buy directly from the workbench if trying to find what you want at wentworths is the part that turns you off. I'll slot so's if they happen to drop and give a better bonus than what i have but they usually get replaced. I very rarely have the issue of any enhancements going red now and always have plenty of influence to spare. I'm also lucky that i'm able to keep my sg base well stocked in basic io's of every level.