Surpassing Recipes?

Just a thought and going by my own experience. About 4-5? years ago the main aim for me was to get lvl53 SO's either by TF-ing or burning bounty in PvP zones. After the introduction of the Invention system, those lvl53 SO's came pretty redundant for me.

Now I am starting to notice with the introduction of the Incarnate Slots I am tending to not bother what recipes/Reward Merits I get on TF's and all I'm interested in is the Incarnate Salvage/Shards as the bonuses these offer far outweigh the recipe bonuses.

Suppose what i'm wondering is once all of the Incarnate slots have been opened will I even need anything more but your basic I'O's?. Just with the Alpha slot I am hitting soft caps without the need for expensive recipes.

Will Invention Recipes go the same way as the lvl 53 SO?

Show me how to Softcap a blaster (even if it's only to one defense type) and get it perma-hasten at the same time, using only SOs/common IOs and the Alpha slot, and I'll agree that it's a possibility.

With very little work, I think most people could come up with a multitude of things that can be done with set bonuses that can't (yet) be done with Incarnate Abilities. And I don't plan on worrying about that "yet" until we know a LOT more about the remainder of the Incarnate slots.

EDIT: Also, the Incarnate slot is useless for exemplaring or leveling up. Sets aren't.

Unlikely. IO set bonuses let you do things that are simply impossible on SOs. The Incarnate slots let you do other impossible things, too, but it doesn't take away the IOs' usefulness. You might see prices drop a little, and their importance drop a little, but in the end the only thing 53 SOs and Hami-Os had were the highest enhancement values available. IO sets are more than the sum of their parts, and offer better enhancement than 53 SOs to boot.

If nothing else, procs will remain useful. IOs let you completely change the functionality of some powers - Caltrops becomes a damage patch, Acid Mortar a control pet, or Dark Regeneration endurance-neutral as long as it's saturated. Things like that, along with the ability to build up large defense, HP or recharge bonuses to achieve certain build goals. The Incarnate system is going to give us some alternate ways to pursue some of these goals, and other entirely new goals to chase. And I, for one, am looking forward to it.