Anyone else never use IOs?

It depends on what the character's purpose is.

If it's primarily for buffing/debuffing, I'll usually buy some common End Redux IOs at level 20 or so (and maybe some Accuracy IOs if ToHit checks are required, as with Transfusion), and then slot whatever good drops come my way. I'll generally ignore broader enhancements until I get to around 40. (Last night, I noticed I was having endurance issues on my DP/Rad Corruptor, so I logged in to my main villain who needs to work on crafting anyway and made a bunch of low level End Redux IOs. I went a bit nuts with slotting them, but now I never need to rest after long fights anymore... He's 21 now, and will probably keep that slotting for another 16 levels at least.)

If the character is intended to output damage, then I generally buy Accuracy, Damage and Recharge SOs on the cheap out of the market or by trading Merits/Architect Tickets for them every 5 levels. I don't dip into the SG's stash of crafted IOs if I can avoid it, as I hate throwing away group property and don't want to waste respecs to pull it all back out again. Once I get into the late levels, I'll do a bunch of level 50 SOs and/or common IOs in all my powers, then I'll start thinking about working with sets.

I definitely don't go forward with a plan to never use IOs, but many of my characters get shelved before they reach the stage where I'd start worrying about obtaining them. I do sometimes plan characters with the intent of never using IO sets and only using commons, but frankly, if you can handle the cost of crafting, there's no reason to use SOs over 40-50 common IOs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nethergoat it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!

I normally start getting IOs at 10. Mostly generics, but often kb protections, sometimes mez resist etc.
Most of my lowbies get played a couple of times a week. So is easy to bid at market and keep my slots filled instead of trying to change over a heap at once. Most times level 10-24 IO's can get got for 5000 inf. Lately I have been grabbing from SG base as well, but most times easier to buy than traveling there and back.
I'll buy high level junk recipes/SOs/etc to vendor if need be for inf.

Lots of set IOs I'll frankenslot at low levels (easier blueside but still possible red). Not for any set bonues, but for availabilty.

Only ever grab the degradable enhancements if rushing to a mission. Too much a pain to be upgrading, and seems wasteful of my inf.

Only IO out important main and played lots toons. Only really have a couple of those as time investment is a chore.

I only ever use Inventions in the late game. People keep saying "But you don't have to worry about them after you get them!" to which I reply "Poppycock! Why would I bother with Inventions if not to get more enhancement than a +3 SO can give me? So I don't bother with Commons until level 37 to get 40s. I used to then upgrade to 45s and then to 50s, but it cost me more money than I could make, so I dropped the 45s and these days I go straight from 40s to 50s.

I don't know what could possibly be required to buy level 50 Inventions for SO prices, but I've never been able to get them for less than 400 000 per enhancement, so that's another big reason why I so rarely bother - they just cost far too much. I suppose if I had some specific badges or if I saved up my salvage or if I played the Market, I might be able to get the things for less, but the fact remains that ALL of the above are massive time sinks and boring grinds than I honestly care to commit to. I buy my SOs off the rack, and I'm prepared to pay more for Commons bought in the same way. In fact, if I could buy them off a vendor instead of off the Market, I would.

I never, ever use sets. At all. Any set recipe I get, I dump on the market if it'll sell for more than 5000. I don't want to bother with either learning the science behind set bonuses or actually bothering with rarity. Common Inventions are common and require common salvage, which at the very worst is just expensive. Sets are Uncommon and Rare, hence expensive and hence requiring expensive parts. People tell me I can find cheap alternate sets, but I'm not going to bother. If half the system is denied to me, I'm just not going to mess with any part of it. I'll stick to systems that I have full and easy access to.

The key phrase for me is "I'm not going to bother." I never subscribed to the notion of work in games and I don't try to get a real-life-like "accomplishment" feeling, as I want my games to be all fun all the time and never, ever be work. I work a job to pay for this. I don't want to pay for a second job.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

I wate till 22 or 25 then slot IO's I genraly dont bother with it untill then. at 35 I make a few more IO's and some times a 3 pice Effency addaptor for stamana (depends on how the toon is so far) then at 50 I use mids plan out a full set build ask for help on it in the AT forums and then farm/TF/SF's till i can build it all.

Commons I start using at 40. I usually don't Set IO till 45-50. Once there I will spend a lot of time and respecs getting the set bonuses right and frequently use things like Centrioles, etc.

Only thing I really do with squishies (that means Blasters for me) as far as set bonuses and uniques and globals go is frankenslot+maybe a Hami-O+whatever proc I like, or a -KB or +stealth as needed.

The biggest money I spend is on my Tanks and Scrappers getting them tougher with set bonuses and/or more damage, procs, etc.

Once GR hits, I expect to spend well for my new Crab and maybe a Stalker and keep em blue side.

I found the trick to IO's is in stacking the bonuses.
Yeah, a single 4% regen bonus is lackluster, but 5 of them and you see a difference.

Each individual bonus kinda sucks but you can do some monsterous specialization if you tweak the layout right.

For me it depends on how much I like the character. My favorite characters are heavily IOed and at the highest level of performance I can get them to without spending a freakin' fortune on it. I won't farm or play the market, so they get IOed very slowly, as I get drops or build up enough influence/infamy to make a few purchases. Generally I buy IO sets one set at a time. Like "Okay, I have some cash now, I think I'll throw a set of Mako's Bite in Follow Up", and then I go back to playing.

I have never stood around for hours buying and slotting every power a character has, I don't have much time to play these days and don't want to spend it all at the market and invention table.

Before I get to that point SOs are just fine. I'm not obsessed with getting uber performance immediately, I work on it slowly.

I dont use set IOs cba with them slap them on AH for 5 inf jsut to get shot of them. I will use normal IOs tho as they quite easy to obtain and craft, but if they not avalible to my character, SOs will do me fine.

I use IOs as their recipes and ingredients drop. Everything else, I'm fine with SOs.

I don't bother with more, because I don't want to bother learning the intricacies of the Market.

I don't want to bother learning the intricacies of the Market, because I don't want to bother with the slings and arrows of the louder forum experts on the topic. I'm sure there's good advice in there, but when it's wrapped inside insults, the effort expended ceases to be worth the rewards.

I want to play the game, not suffer attacks on my mental capacity.

For whatever it's worth, this weekend I picked up an assortment of pre-crafted level 30 and 35 common IOs for 35-55k each, with bids up no longer than 24 hours (I placed bids before logging for the night yesterday and they were filled by the time I logged on after work today). A little higher than SO vendor prices (which are around 25-40k at that level), but not by a lot (and double xp tends to inflate prices a bit). The price history usually makes it look worse than it is, with some of the ones I got showing 300k+ when I put in the bids.

I also almost never craft common IOs as outside of chars with the crafting badges the crafting fee usually means they're no cheaper (and sometimes more expensive, depending which salvage they require) than just buying pre-crafted ones. I do craft set ones as the situation is the other way around there (to the point you can often make a profit just buying recipes, salvage, crafting them, then posting the result for sale) but they're another kettle of fish.

I only find common IOs to get pricey at 40-50 (especially 50), but I view those as luxury items. A level 30 common IO is roughly equivalent to an SO (if you average over the lifetime of the SO) so those are usually what I look at if I'm on a budget.


Not expecting or trying to "convert" anyone that just plain prefers SOs and npc vendors btw, but for those who are only put off by the crafting part or the prices you can skip the former and the latter is generally not half as bad as first glance may suggest.

I can understand Samuel_Tow's position on the market; rare salvage does not exist therefore it (set IOs) does not exist. I know there's some other things I treat that way. Strangely, I can't remember what they are. ... Must be working!

Quote:

Originally Posted by EvilGeko 50K is the "buy it now" price.

That is the price.
That's being unreasonable.

• Enough market history to see that bidding overnight works.
  Either that, or the idea shows up in the loading screen tips.
• Juggling salvage, recipes and enhancements I
  • have
  • have bidded for
  against my build is confusing.[1]

The design is: loot you get goes on the Market. These, therefore, are impossible:

• bigger storage
  So I can hold the pieces I need for four out of five slots on a power and still have room to go clobbering. Then when bids fill for the last slot, I can craft and slot all at once and never wander around with clogged enhancement tray slots and/or a partly-slotted power.
• more transaction slots
  to be able to buy and sell at the same time.

The less transaction slots we have, the more - Inconvenient! - alt-tabbing and copying and ARGH! into Mid's and a spreadsheet there is.


[1]The best way to get around this for merely-frankenslotted builds is to flip your way to a comfortable thousand million or whatever, isn't it. *shiver*

When I first started playing the game. (Well when I returned after about a year or so
after COH release) I didn't use IO's at all really. Then I got curious about them and
started to get into it and.. well now slotting characters and crafting IO's is one of the
biggest things I love to do

..to do...

TO DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!