When to start with IOs, and what to use?

Hello all.

I have a question for the long-term players, the IO builders, and the Mids masters here...

I haven't actually played around much with IO's because I don't understand the IO/Build system all that well. So often I'll ask in-game for advice on a build, only to be greeted with a litany of bizarre acronyms and IO advice that is Greek to me. (It took me six months to figure out what LotG meant).

So, in general, what advice would you have for someone who has never used IO's before? When should I start looking for them? Which ones should I use? Anyone who can give me a "IOs for Dummies" guide will get cake!

Generally, you should start using regular IOs when you hit 32. Regular meaning the ones that just enhance one aspect of your powers. You'll find those under the "other" tab in "recipes" on the market.

Craft level 35 IOs and slot them. They're better than SOs of the same level and you won't need to buy more since they don't expire as you level up.

When you hit 47/50, you can start on sets.

The exception to this rule comes for certain high-priced set IOs, such as the Luck of the Gambler (LotG) set IO that gives you a global bonus to your recharge. The earliest you can slot that is level 22, because the recipe exists from level 25 to 50. Of course, since it generally goes for 100-150 million influence, you might wanna just save up your reward merits and buy it on the market.

The reason it's a good idea to slot these IOs earlier is because if you exemplar/malefactor down, the bonus won't wear off unless your level dips below 3 levels of the IO. So if you have a level 25 LotG +Recharge, it'll be good anywhere from level 22-50.

I start crafting level 15 IO's as soon as I get to level 12, if I can afford them at the time.

First of all, I disagree with a lot of people who wait until 47/50 to slot set IOs. (I'm looking at you, ResidentBaka! Heh). But I guess I'll start with a caveat: working on a build once you're 47-50 is probably a good place to start for people who are new to IO slotting.

Once you know how to assemble a build, I much prefer using level 30 IOs and assembling my build so I can start slotting it at level 27. This is because, as ResidentBaka explained, you exemplar much better. You keep your set bonuses down to level 27 with level 30 IOs, or to level 30 with level 33 IOs. And the difference between what a level 30 IO grants you and what a level 50 IO grants you is not really as great as you think. Some will slot at even lower ranges, or slightly higher, but for the same reasons. (The other reason I like doing this is that a level 30 version of a set IO is almost ALWAYS much cheaper than the level 50 version. Possible exceptions are for very popular-to-slot special IOs, such as the Luck of the Gambler +7.5% global recharge mentioned above.)

Now the next caveat: My advice is good if you're going to exemplar a lot -- to play with SG mates, to run lower and mid-level task forces, to run Ouro arcs. If all you really plan to do with your 50 is farm, run PI missions or run ITF, STF, Khan, then by all means slot level 50 IOs. If you're going to tank Recluse you probably want every last 1% you can squeeze out of your enhancements.

Now, I really don't think any of that answers your actual question. Where do I start? The only real advice I can give you is to pick a character of yours that you want to develop a good IO build for, then read the AT forums and look at other people's builds. Download Mids. Ask questions. Look at the types of set IOs you can slot in yor powers, and look at what the different sets available have to offer. Make a few builds (in Mids) just to experiment. Try and decide what it is you want to accomplish with the build -- do you want a lot of global recharge? Do you want high positional defenses? (Learning the difference between positional and typed defenses is good -- something I didn't understand when I first tried improving my characters). Do you want more hit points, more regen, more endurance recovery? Do you need knockback protection? The only way I learned to navigate these things (and, incidentally, learned what to sell on the market and what wasn't worth trying to sell) was by trial and error. I'm an old vet, and I used up all of my vet respecs trying to get the build on my main character Mouse Police right. And even then, I finally decided to scrap that build and start over. ^_^

But basically, playing with Mids, looking at other people's builds, and asking questions.

Basic Information to begin with, you can't slot two of the same set IO into a single power. So you can't slot a Sneaking Mission's Explosive Strike Accuracy/Damage IO (not a real IO set) with another of the same IO in the same power. If you want two Accuracy/Damage IOs in the same power (generally better than a single damage and a single accuracy), then you use two from different sets -- which is what people refer to as "frankenslotting". So, you could slot a SMES accuracy/damage/recharge with a Goat's Market Hero Blast accuracy/damage/recharge and a Fulmen's Influence Destruction accuracy/damage/recharge, and you'd have more total accuracy, damage, and recharge than you'd get from three single IOs.

You get set bonuses for different pieces of the same set slotted into the same power. If you slot a Sneaking Mission's Explosive Strike accuracy/damage with a damage/endurance and an accuracy/damage/recharge in the same set into a specific single power, you get whatever the bonus is for having 3 of that set slotted. (Which is +9% extra sneakiness, woo!)

Rule of Five This important rule says that you only can stack 5 of the same bonus and then any more of the same type of bonus will be ignored. So of you could slot 3 pieces of our imaginary IO set Sneaking Mission's Explosive Strike into five different powers, you'd have 5x9% extra sneakiness, or a total 45% sneakiness bonus. Which is a lot of sneakiness, let me tell you! Now let's say you also have 4 pieces of Goat's Market Hero Blast slotted elsewhere in your build, and the bonus for 4 pieces of that is also 9% extra sneakiness. You won't have 54% sneakiness added to your build, but still only 45%, because of the rule of 5. But you could still slot a set with a different bonus -- let's call it Zombieman's Scorched Earth damage set, that grants you a 5% extra sneakiness bonus -- and you can slot five of those as well, for 25% sneakiness on top of the 45% you have above for a 70% total.

One other interesting fact about this rule -- in order for it to take effect, the wording of the bonus must be exactly the same. What this means is you can actually slot 5 Luck of the Gambler +7.5% global recharge IOs, and also get up to 5 7.5% recharge bonuses from other sets, because the special Luck of the Gambler IO doesn't use exactly the same wording as all the set bonuses.

Or you can slot five of the Vanden's Vociferous Venom special +9 percent global sneakiness bonus IO with five set bonuses from your Goat's Market Hero Blast and Sneaking Mission's Explosive Strike. If they existed, I mean. Which the really should. ^_^

I start messing with IO sets at the lv27 and up range, when I'm 24, here and there, mostly based on drops and some low-cost auction bids. I'll go full throttle on sets once I can start acquiring lv30+ IOs (lv 27+).

I usually don't plan ahead on what set goes into what power, but I tend to use standbys like Thunderstrike or Ruin for my ranged attacks, and Efficiency Adapter for Stamina/Quick Recovery.

I usually wait til at least 27 to slot common IOs, if not higher, since 30s are better than even-con SOs, but not as good as +3 SOs. These will go into powers that don't take sets, or powers I don't intend to use a set on.

You can slot set IOs in two ways: one is basing it on whatever bonuses that set will offer by having multiple parts in a single power, or, two, by mixing different sets into the same power to have the higher possible combination of stat-boosters (for instance, Acc/Dam from two different sets, then Acc/Dam/End from two sets, for a mess of accuracy and damage, with a bit of endurance reducer, with only using four slots). This is commonly referred to as "frankenslotting".

I found this guide IO's for Newbs, Casual Playas, & Cheapskates [I9] by Capn_Canadian very helpful when I started using IOs.

Thank you everyone! Cake all around!

Thunderstrike is an excellent place to start if you have ranged attacks.

The set bonuses for 6 pieces give you extra Recovery, Accuracy and Ranged/Energy/Negative Defence
Its cheap, and requires no expensive orange salvage
It can be slotted form level 27 onwards
The raw enhancements give you ED-capped damage and 57% Accuracy, End Redux and Recharge.
Slot three of these sets and you'll be a faster, sleeker more efficient blaster who gets hit less. You'll be able to feel the difference over 3 Dam, 1 Acc, 1 End, 1 Rech SO's.

The melee equivalent set, Crushing Impact, is a bit less spectacular and a bit harder to come by, but offers gloabl Accuracy recharge and extra HP. Along with the actual power enhancement values, it'll feel noticeably better than SO's.

I always start with one of those two sets at level 27 onwards. Expect to spend a good few million outfitting a character (eg 20 million).

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If this sounds like a lot of influence, start a generic IO crafting scheme on your way to level 27.
Pick a recipe type from Damage, End reduction, End Mod, Heal or Recharge.*
Buy recipes and ingredients for 10 level 25 and leave them overnight.
Craft them and put them on the market at around 100,000 maybe?
Then buy 10 recipes and ingredients for 10 level 30's and leave overnight.
Craft them, which will give you a crafting badge and memorise the recipes - you can now make them without a recipe for half price.

Then every play session, put in bids for 10 stacks of salvage required at a lowish price. Craft and list ten generic IOs and you should be able to make a million or two a day easily in about 5 minutes.

*Accuracy is good too, but the salvage tends to be pricey.

I actually tend to make at least a few at levels 10 and 15 because it's much more effective than TOs/DOs.

Another thing I do (that isn't perhaps the most efficient way to do things) is build IO's in layers: starting with a regular origin build, I'll replace slots with Common IO's as I go, so as to have a solid foundation to play on while I'm working up the fancier Set IO's.

A good thing to think about as you go is the question of what you want to enhance with your set bonuses. If you look at sets, you can see that you can get set bonuses that enhance almost any aspect of your powers, but through trial and error, people who slot sets have determined that there are a few things that you can get from set bonuses that can make your characters MUCH tougher and harder hitting.

At the top of the list are two things. The first is global recharge. Having all your powers recharge much faster gives you a lot more flexibility in your build. For instance, you need fewer attacks if they recharge faster, so you can use more power selections in other areas. The second thing is defense. Adding to your defense, especially ranged defense, can make your squishy characters a lot less squishy and your tough characters practically unstoppable.

You'll notice that almost all the truely expensive set IOs enhance recharge or defense or both.

Other useful things to look at include max endurance, endurance recharge, regeneration, accuracy and damage.

If I have the time, I will slot generic IOs from levels 12 through 21 (minus whatever Yin SOs the character in question can use).

Then at 22, I slot level 25 sets, frankenslot pieces, and generics. Level 25s are generally more than sufficient. For frankenslotting and generics though, where set bonuses are not important, I will go with whatever the highest level the slot in question can hold at the time I get it, since even though 25s are good enough, there is no harm in going higher when exemping is not a factor.

Of course, there are some sets that aren't available at 25 (Devastation for example). Those I will slot at whatever their lowest is if I am concerned about bonuses when exemped.

Additionally, when I reach 47, I often go ahead and do a respec to better optimize the build. At that point, I would replace the generics and frankenslot pieces (where exemped bonuses are not important) with level 50s, just because I can, although 35s, 40s, and 45s I may leave as is anyway, since there is not that great a boost with 50s from those to make it worth the expense.)

My personal preference is to start as early as possible because I can buy them dirt cheap at the AH from the people working on their crafting badges. I know the powers and slots I'm going to need so I place my bids and just wait for them to get filled. I then save all my inf from the drops I sell for my big purchases at level 27.

Also I only use generic IO's, don't care about the sets unless I'm planning ahead to stockpile and sell them when the prices spike. (Like I do with Winter's Gift)

Thanks for the great tips!

I took some of the advice and spent a couple hours today outfitting my lvl 22 Fire/Dark Corr and my lvl 47 Kin/Energy Defender with IO's (generic IO's, not sets yet).

I can already tell a dramatic difference in how they play. Thanks again.

I personally do this now:
- ignore IOs and Stamina until L22
- carefully store all useful Salvage
- use a veteran respec to recycle of all my old enhances into cash
- buy Stamina & L25 vanilla IOs- there's a big jump between the L20s and L25s,L25s should last you a while
- ignore special IOs until 35ish,except for the Devastation hold proc,Neuronic Shutdown and any really nice drops I get

On my Blasters I pick up a Karma knockback protection IO asap. Makes a world of difference and usually aren't that expensive.

I generally wait until level 32 to start slotting regular IO's. Then start in on sets shortly after, picking up a few here and there as I go.

There are a lot of different ways to go about this.

For most of my characters, I start putting the set IOs for their final build in at level 27 (so level 30 IOs). This is mainly just because I don't like waiting until level 47 to have an IO build.

On high-end characters that are being built with a specific purpose in mind (a permadom for example, or my softcapped, permahasten fire/SR AV soloer) I'll use level 50 IOs to eke out every last little bit of performance (fake) money can buy.

For someone who is new to the whole world of IOs, I would suggest starting off with frankenslotting.

Frankenslotting is slotting pieces of multiple cheap sets just to enhance your powers further, without worrying about set bonuses. It's by far the cheapest, easiest way to push yourself beyond what SOs and generic IOs can do.

For example, on your kin/energy defender, let's say in one of your ranged attacks you have 5 slots available. You might slot in them:

A level 40 Ruin: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
A level 50 Devastation: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
A level 35 Maelstrom's Fury: Damage/Endurance/Recharge
A level 50 Thunderstrike: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
A level 50 Thunderstrike: Damage/Endurance/Recharge

You only get a single set bonus from that slotting (2% recovery bonus from the two pieces of thunderstrike), but that would give you approximately a 60% enhancement to accuracy and endurance, a 95% enhancement to damage, and an 80% enhancement to recharge. It would take roughly 9 even-level SOs to give that amount of enhancement to a single power, something which is obviously impossible. You did it with only 5 enhancements, so you've enhanced this power well beyond what is possible with SOs or generic IOs. And as far as I know, all of those sets are pretty cheap too, so it shouldn't cost you too much.

Different people suggest starting to slot at different levels. Personally, I like to start with level 30 IOs (which you can start to slot at level 27). The amount of enhancement that level 30 single-aspect IO provides is just slightly better than an even-level SO.

Anyway, hope this helps, and good luck with your foray into the invention system.

I don't go out of my way in the early levels, but if I'm loaded with salvage I'll stop at an invention table before going to the store and filter my recipe list (hide Recipes Missing Ingredients). Craft anything useful and you'll have an enhancement that doesn't expire on you, replace when convenient.

Jer

it really depends on the toons situation and money. if monye is no worries then its just about the toon you play.

for me most of my toons i slot once im 47+ with the minor IOs like Numina +Rec +Regen slotting whenever.
however some toons of mine needs me to use basic IOs at least as soon as possible. like my kat/regen and dual blades/ super reflexes scrappers i find using bsaic Ios work great with them compared to the others. then if u add bonuses as well its good..

so there really isnt a must start or must wait till lvl to IOs. some do need them to make the journey easier, some dont. its really down to ur plays style and what u prefer.

I don't remember the name of the Day Job Accoloade that grants Crafting Discount Tickets but you get for having both the Day Trader Dayjob and Shopkeeper, swap Shopkeeper with what ever dayjob badge you get for ferries redside. It's around a 30% discount on crafting fees.