Well first you have to remember that Hover is -not- a travel power. It's a 3D positional defense power.
Having said that I have level 50 characters with Hover 3 slotted with the Blessing of the Zephyr IO set who can move around with it roughly as fast as a person with Sprint, or maybe even faster. I don't recall the exact MPHs, but it's far from useless. I have no problem using that 100% of the time in door missions.
IIRC, the flight speed of Hover increases dramatically between a lower level character and a high level characters. I'm sure that factors into it to some degree.
Good luck regardless. 
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Are you referring to the difference in speed between slotted and unslotted Hover?
With 3 lv50 Fly IOs, Hover is 28.4mph. With no enhancement, it's 18.9mph. The difference is 9.5mph, or ~50.26% of the unenhanced speed. But the fly enhancements aren't being applied to the speed, they're being applied to the FlySpeed buf given to you by Hover.
Hover applies a -101% FlySpeed debuff, a +50% unenhanceable FlySpeed buff, and a +50% enhanceable FlySpeed buff. The latter is what your enhancements affect. (Note that Inherent Fitness will add +13.65% FlySpeed buff from Swift without enhancements.) With no enhancements, you have a net -1% FlySpeed debuff, while at 18.9mph. You can extrapolate your base speed from that, which is what the FlySpeed buffs are calculated against.
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/36641/My-Little-Exalt
This makes me wonder, exactly how fast can a lvl 50 get however going?
Using no doubt six slots between hover and fitness.
Anything else affect flight speed? I guess a few IO sets do, not that most people would slot just for that.
I am thinking of my Bots/FF Mastermind who has slots to burn. I dont really want to take attack powers for conceptual reasons, other then the bots of course, and am curious how fast I can get his hover.
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The flight speed cap is 58.6 mph.|
Originally Posted by _Zep_
This makes me wonder, exactly how fast can a lvl 50 get however going?
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Using no doubt six slots between hover and fitness. Anything else affect flight speed? I guess a few IO sets do, not that most people would slot just for that. |
As for other ways to increase Fly speed, there are numerous other options. Kinetics, Radiation Emission, Quickness/Mental Training and other clones of that type of power, Mayhem/Safeguard +Movement power, Commuter/Pilot day job, GvE Jump Pack, the Nerve Radial Paragon Alpha boost, Heightened Speed from the Mutation power (Mutant booster pack)... and I'm not even trying to list everything that improves the speed of flight, those are just the ones I remember off-hand.
My Fire/TA corruptor will be over 41 mph with Hover if I get her the Nerve Radial Paragon boost.
With the recent increase to flight speed overall (faster base), in concert with the buffs to Hover over the past few years, even without IO sets, Hover is once again a viable alternative to ground movement. As Lothic noted, it's not a travel power, but it's ten million times better than it was after ED and before the buffs, and it's definitely fast enough for use in missions.
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| I am thinking of my Bots/FF Mastermind who has slots to burn. I dont really want to take attack powers for conceptual reasons, other then the bots of course, and am curious how fast I can get his hover. |
i have swift and hover slotted for flight and i get a respectable 40 mph or so with + speed set bonuses on my ill/kin. of course, i usually grab a siphon speed for capped flight speed or that short duration jet pack.
50: Ill/Kin(A+,R,J)-1047 badges RE/Dark(A) Fire/Elec Warshade BS/Regen Necro/Poison Ice/Fiery(A+) Son/Son Bane(A) FM/DA(A) DM/Nin Grav/Icy
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You can get Hover Speed to the flight speed cap. It took me all my slots, but I did it. You need a Crab Spider and must take three ranged attacks (5 slot with Thunderstrike for 4%), the 2 powers from Soul Mastery with -Acc (2 slot with Siphon Insight for 4%), 5 melee attacks (5 slot with Focused Smite for 3%), 4 +ToHit powers (2 slot with Gaussian's for 5%), Stamina (2 slot with Performance shifter for 5%), and take 3 pet powers (5 slot with Brilliant Leadership for 2%), Fly (3 slot with Winter's Gift for 6%), and Hover and Mental Training (6 slot with Fly Speed), and Swift (5 slot with Fly Speed). Add in the Nerve Paragon Radial.
This will put you exactly at the Fly Speed cap of 58.6 MPH.
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My energy/energy blaster also did it, when unenhanced hover speed was still much slower than it is today. Boost Power also enhances flight speed. |
Originally Posted by HolyEvilAoD
You can get Hover Speed to the flight speed cap. It took me all my slots, but I did it. You need a Crab Spider and must take [...]
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Flight speed mechanics are a trifle confusing. Is Mids correct that enhancing Hover for flight speed has very little effect (less than 50% for a 100% buff)?