Common IOs vs. DOs/SOs while leveling

Hello folks.

First off, if this question has been answered elsewhere anywhere in the last 2-3 years, I couldn't find it after about 20 minutes of forum searching, so if this is a common question, sorry. I suck at forums.

Now my questions are pretty straight forward: For a newish player, what is more beneficial while leveling a toon, making common IOs or buying DOs/SOs from vendors? If it's better to take the IO route, what level should you start doing so at?

I'm mostly looking for a really general answer that will apply to other people as well as myself. I just came back after some time off, and I never had a really high level toon to supply my others with inf. So, for the sake of argument, assume I have a minimal amount of influence/infamy to my name (Let's say 10mil at level 12, that I won from a costume contest).

What do if I'm looking for the most "bang for my buck"?

Thanks in advance folks.

1-11: buy nothing; sell all drops except endurance reduction (slot these).
12-16: slot level 15 DOs.
17-whatever: slot appropriate level common IOs. These can generally be had very cheaply off the market, or if you have the stuff to craft them, that works too. By "appropriate level", I mean... the slots you've got at 17, slot with 20s. The slots you get at 18, 19, 20, and 21, slot with 20s. The slots you get at 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26, slot with 25s. The slots you get at 27, etc., etc., slot with 30s... Continue as you go up. Replace lower level IOs if you feel it necessary. (I typically don't.) Keep in mind that as you go up in level, the common IOs get more expensive (to craft AND to buy on the market), but if you leave a lowball bid up on the market overnight, you can typically get them for FAR CHEAPER than "going rate".

Eventually, you'll want to look into set IOs. They make your character much more powerful, but they take a lot more time and research to do well. (And are typically more expensive.)

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.

My personal preference is to use TOs that drop from 1-11. At 12, I buy L15 DOs, until 21. At 22, I buy SOs until 31. At 32, I craft L35 IOs. That's about the point where IOs start to outperform SOs.

Enhancements - Relative Levels.

[ ProTip: The banner is a link to art refs!! | The Khellection | The HBAS Repository | Brute Guides (4/16/10) | How To Post An Image - A Quick Guide ]
Biggest Troll on the forums? I'll give you a hint:

Agge and Keldarn pretty much hit the nail on the head. Level 25 IOs and above are pretty much the same as SO (level 25s are slightly worse than even level SOs). They do cost you a bit more upfront but as long as you're reasonably patient in your buying you'll save quite a bit more from not having to buy 6 sets of SOs.

If you need any advice for making cash (besides the obvious one of checking the market and selling drops) the markets forum is the place to go.

I usually pre-buy level 15 IOs for my key powers, to keep it cheap

I drop level 25 IOs over em at 22, and them add others as appropriate

If you've got some starting Inf to use, I would suggest you start crafting Common IOs to use. If you don't have some starting Inf, there are ways to make some fairly quickly other than winning a Costume Contest. By the time, you've made enough to outfit yourself, you will pretty much have the Common IOs memorized as a side effect. And once you have that under your belt, you can make more for cheap, and without the need for a recipe in hand, to sell and fund the next level range you'll be working on.

Of the low level Common IO salvage requirements, I think Luck Charms are the only persistently expensive ones you'll need. Although, just recently Spell Scrolls have become pretty pricey. The mid-level salvage prices bob around a bit, so it's hard to predict. Still buy what you need to fulfill the memorization requirements and you'll have it in your repertoire when the salvages become affordable for you again. I find the mid-level crafted Common IOs sell pretty readily and for more than what I'd personally pay for them. When considering the salvage drops you pick up, save and use any that are craftable. Selling a crafted IO will earn more than selling the salvage (well, other than things like Luck Charms).

While you may be replacing the level 15s and 20s Common IOs you've slotted earlier in the week or so of gaming, once you've upgraded to the level 25 Common IOs, those enhancement slots are pretty much set. IOs don't expire and level 25s are equivalent to a still very usable -1 yellowed SO. Any new enhancement slot you add from then on, you'll be filling with your current level Common IOs. By this time, you'll probably have extras from memorization crafting which you can sell to recapture their cost.

Working in this progression, you should be able to keep yourself slotted and still maintain a decent bank account. It's only if you decide to upgrade to level 50 Common IOs that it will be a very expensive as they cost half a million to craft, assuming you can buy the recipe cheap. You can put this off indefinitely though. I would suggest you use a Free Respec to cash out your slotted IOs to get some of you Inf back.

lvls 1-12 nothing or Training Origins.
lvls 12-17 DO
lvls 17+ common IO's that you find or can buy cheap.
Once I'm level 27 i personally start replacing all the lower IOs with lvl 30's. lvl 30 IOs are also the highest lvl I slot. They're on par with SOs and higher levels aren't worth the cost for the minimal performance increase imo.
Then once my characters near lvl 50 I start thinking about a cheap/mid price range set IO build (200million to 1 billion per build, don't do purples that saves you money ).

Better than a +3 SO:
Level 35/40 commons (35 are 1% lower, 40s are .4% higher)
Level 24+ Duals (.1% better)
Level 20+ Triples (.1% better)

Better than a +3 DO:
Level 15 Common (.2% better)
Level 13 Dual (1.7% better)
Level 11 Triple (.9% better)

Cost:
SO for 1 slot of accuracy from level 22 through level 50: 260k
Level 35 memorized accuracy: 33k + salvage
Level 35 not-memorized: 61k + salvage
Level 24 dual: 36k + salvage
Level 20 triple: 34k + salvage

So really, you can start slotting IOs at level 8 and you're better off than DOs. Past level 24 you're better off than SOs.

I have been convinced of one exception: If you like fighting +3 or +4 enemies while leveling you might want Accuracy SOs. Otherwise sets are cheaper and give higher bonuses and they never expire and you don't have to worry about what origin.

Early on, I don't slot much unless the character has a clear and obvious goal. For example, on a blaster or scrapper, I'll slot some damage. Otherwise, I don't pay too much attention. You level so fast that it's not worth the time to pay attention to slotting.

At level 12 I will slot DO's and I will often pre-buy them a level or two ahead so I don't have to hit the store every time I level. DO's have enough effect that they are worth it.

At 22, I slot SO's and keep them (and keep them current) until about level 30-32. At that point, I will start slotting IO set pieces. This is a major time investment to do it right. Now, many people don't slot IO's this early. I do, for one reason - I exemp *A LOT*. I will generally keep some of my set bonuses as low as level 30. If you know that you're not going to be exemping much (or at all), I would hold off on the IO's until at least level 40.

Given the limited finances you indicate, there are two routes to go with IO's (aside from commons). One is frankenslotting, which is cheap... dirt cheap. You can get better performance than common IO's. The other route is to go for the low-hanging fruit of set bonuses. I have an defender with 33% recovery from set bonuses. Since recovery is the first bonus in a set, you can do this cheap - cheap meaning 5-8 million inf. You can get recovery, regen or accuracy pretty cheap. Going for defense or recharge is going to cost you.

I don't slot anything until 22 (as I tend to skip those levels entirely), when I kit out with level 25 IOs (since they offer roughly comparable performance to even-level SOs). I'll stick with those until 50, when I start working on my set IO build.

*hypnotized stare at mac's avatar*

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.

I generally start slotting basic level 25 IOs at level 22 if I can afford them. In my experience they're generally running at least a couple of hundred thousand influence each, so it's not always feasible for me to fill all of my slots with them at that time and I fill the rest with SOs until I can get IOs for them. It would probably work out to less influence overall if I crafted the IOs myself, but I absolutely hate the crafting system (I honestly have no love for the market, either, but my dislike for the degrading standard enhancements in this game outweighs that).

I see no point in delving into IOs before then, as the whole reason for getting IOs, to me, is having enhancements about on par with SOs that I never have to worry about degrading/replacing. And the time between level 12 and 22 tends to be relatively short these days any way.

When it comes to IOs vs. DOs/SOs, I use whatever's gonna give me the biggest bump at the time, regardless of "the future". Inf is ridiculously easy to come by for stuff like that, so whether it's efficient later on is of no concern to me (I'll just stack up some more SOs). I load up on TOs on my lowbies, too. They cost almost nothing and I figure every little bit helps at those low levels.

LEGION OF VALOR - Be a part of the Legend!

I'm more with GavinRuneblade on this topic.

I haven't used TO's/DO's/SO's since I learned how IO's and sets work.

I will stress the idea of planning ahead, and patient market bidding to ease
the process...

As others have said, between 1-11 you really don't *need* anything.

On the other hand, I will slot some common IO's at L7 (they outperform TO's)

At L12, I'll slot L15 Commons.

Between L12 and L21, I'll slot Common IO's as I add slots or to tweak
specific powers to meet my performance expectations.

At L22 - L27 I'm actively slotting L25-L30 set pieces using the "Frankenslotting"
approach. Keep in mind that well before this time, I've put together a
planned Mid's build, and have started putting in bids for pieces that I'm
looking for.

Of course, my Mid's build is just a plan and depending on costs, and availablity,
I'll substitute as appropriate with the main goals of: Maxing key attributes
of the power (Acc/Dmg in attacks, for instance), adding in Erdx or Rch, and
finally, getting useful 2 or 3 piece set bonuses that are helpful (regen, recovery etc.)

In the end, I get a toon that significantly out-performs an SO build at a fraction
of the costs of a High-End (L50 IO's, purples, etc.) build.

With the new i-17 e:mail features, this is even easier now, because I can
use the resources of my other alts to bid, craft and store IO's for the build(s)
I'm currently working on.


Regards,
4

PS> wrt ACC, 60% improvement is my usual target (soft caps acc against
most stuff I fight). Also, keep in mind there are several sets that have
global acc (typically for 4 pieces - Crushing Impact, Scirrocco's Dervish, etc.),
and a 6% Acc Proc in Kismet. I don't use SO's, even for Acc...