(Theory) What if a "filler" IO was introduced.

I was just chatting with some friends on this and the following idea came out. What if there was an IO type inbetween Common and Set IO's? How would that work out? And how would that affect the market? The game? This was wondered as we were discussing using Set IO's in builds and slotting via secondaries of a power. One of my friends noted that his Fire/WP brute couldn't really do that - all he had to go with was Taunt and Melee Damage. Bummer for him compared to some of us other folks with different types of brutes.

Here's the idea: Generic IO's.

Pros:
Like Set IO's they provide bonuses to two or more attributes of a power.
Like Common IO's they would be more common/available than Set IO's (drops? bought in shops to be used as an influence sink?)

Disadvantages:
Like Set IO's they're still typed - Ranged, Melee, Stuns, Heals, etc.
Like Common IO's they do not offer any sort of set bonus.
Like Set IO's you can't have more than one of the exact same one in a power.
Like all IO's they cannot be combined.

In theory they're placeholders for moderate to advanced players - something to tide you over until you can afford the particular IO you really wanted. Once you get something better you likely won't think twice about ditching it. You've got clear reasons to upgrade from them, but they're still good enough.

For casual players? Might be great. Hard to say, there. Maybe it'll lessen the need some folks feel to hire gold farmers. I dunno.

Thoughts? Ideas? I'm no expert at these things but it was an idea I figured would be worth pondering.

Depends on just how 'cheap' cheap is. I already frankenslot at low levels when I feel I need more endurance, so this would be a fine alternative if they were cheaper still than 'junk' IO's.

Last I looked (admittedly before 2XP) there were at least 10 of each of these recipes for sale, either side. Would those pretty much cover what you were looking for?

I would go absolutely nuts with something like this. I don't tend to accumulate or spend large amounts of inf on my characters, so I habitually frankenslot and therefore don't worry much about set bonuses anyway. But some power categories have absolutely awful selections of sets for frankenslotting (curse you targeted AoE!), so I would be estatic if I could create a 'generic' dam/end/rech for my TAoE powers, for example. I often run into times where the dual or triple aspect set IO I want for my frankenslotting just doesn't exist - mez/rech for non-hold sets, TAoE triples, dam/rech for pets, anything/rech in slow sets, etc.

To implement, I wouldn't make these separate drops. I would have these be made by combining crafted generics in a special interface (probably add to the crafting tables). Thus you don't need to add any new recipes, don't need to dilute the drop tables, and don't need to worry unduely about them being hard to find.

I wouldn't necessarily make them tied to a specific type of power, like melee acc/dam vs ranged acc/dam. There are already so many possible enhancement combos that subdividing them again by power type would lead to an absolutely ridiculous number of possible 'generic set' IOs - remember, these would presumably be tradable on the auction house, so there'd have to be listings for them. I would simply make it so that you can't slot a multi-aspect generic into a power unless the power can take *all* of the enhancement types the generic is made from. Thus you don't have to worry about people sneaking in enhancement types they're not supposed to.

Okay - I can see that, then. If it was to remain typed it would likely have to be just for the most popular/usable types? No secondaries and the like. But then, that again limits things... Hmm...

Glad my paycheck doesn't depend on my thinking up this stuff

I would like the ability to "make your own enhancement type," actually. (Can't find an acc/heal/tohit debuff enhancement? Make your own!)

As a relatively new player, I'm not sure they need to make slotting/crafting yet more complicated.

I did figure it out eventually (first ebil post!) but I wonder if the crafting system needs streamlining, not more wrinkles.

I can see the desire for this.

On my team of villains, I started planning ahead and putting in mass bids for "frankenslot fodder" for the mid-20s, things like Focussed Smite and ranged sets trhat no-one seeks out for the set bonuses.

This was back in December/January, and I did feel that I needed to plan to make this work, and that levelling up 10 characters at once helped enormously. Doing this on a single character red-side would have meant I would level past through the 20s before my bids got filled.

I think maybe the market has filled up a bit with frankenfodder now after double XP.

The question is, should this be done? Frankenslotting accounts for a much bigger gain in performance than set bonuses do. Should that bonus become available for mere influence, or should it remain out of immediate reach?

The trick is with the IO bonuses is that they're not ED-bound, have to potential to benefit a whole build (versus a single power), and offer a wonderful level of customization (including offering bonuses normally not achievable through frankenslotting). They all have their place based on the desires of the player for that character.

Oh yeah, I agree.

I've got a stack of characters running around with all sorts of bonuses they "shouldn't" have according to their archetype and powersets.

Set bonuses are great, but you really have to work them to compete with the fact that slotting IOs in a six slotted power can give you around 9 SO's worth of enhancement, whether you're chasing set bonuses or not.

Say you're slotting Thunderstrikes (one of my faves):
The +2% recovery per set is nice, as is the +7% global accuracy per set, but these particular bonuses are still overshadowed by the fact your blasts now have 3 damage SOs, 2 Accuarcy, 2 Recharge and 2 End redux equivalent in them.

Frankenslotting (ie using Acc/Dam's and the like) gives more raw power than set bonuses typically, whereas set bonuses allow you to do the freaky stuff, like defence on a Blaster.

If purchasable frankenfodder was introduced, people like me would mass-produce it for influence/infamy, and the raw power of frankenslotting would become quite standard very quickly. At the moment, the devs can stick to their statement that the game is balanced around SO's. This change would tip that over the edge.