Tracking Incarnate Progress

I wanted a way to quantify my toons' progress on their path towards uber incarnate-ness (mainly just so I could compare one toon to another) so I've come up with the following system using a 0 to 50 scale. This determines a character's ilvl ("incarnate level") and as much as I'm opposed to using "i" anything, I've yet to come up with a better/easier abbreviation to use so please feel free to suggest other names for it!

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A lvl 50 toon starts at ilvl 0.
Each unlocked incarnate slot gives a toon +1 ilvl.
Each ability in an incarnate slot gives a toon +X ilvls (where X = the tier of the ability (1, 2, 3, or 4)).

A toon can have a maximum ilvl of 50 (when the toon has all 10 slots unlocked and a tier 4 ability in each of those slots).
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Using this system, my character with the most progress is Black-thorn (a scrapper on Infinity) with ilvl 20 (out of a possible 25 since only 5 slots are available right now). He has 5 slots unlocked and a tier 3 ability in each of those slots.

My next highest is Clockwork Gray (a brute on Union) who is ilvl 7 (2 slots unlocked with a tier 2 and a tier 3 ability slotted).

All of my other 50s are ilvl 4 or lower (only 1 slot unlocked and a tier 3 ability (or lower) slotted, if any).

Granted, this system doesn't take into account any future "unlockables/improvables" that will become available via the incarnate system, however, I think it works well for the time being. Any thoughts or suggestions? Do you like it? Hate it? Are you still reading this?! :-p

-MC

Well back when Incarnate content was new I made the following proposal for a Gear Score system (in case it isn't obvious, this is a joke):

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood You're missing the most important bit thought. With the introduction of Incarnate Slots we can finally have a Gear Score system in CoH. No more ad hoc denying people teams based on looking at their info and eyeballing whether they have acceptable IO slotting and having to listen to them whine about the "game being balanced around SOs". With Incarnate slots we can calculate a gear score and prove to them that they are not worthy of joining our team. How to calculate your CoX Gear Score (v1.0): 1. Add the value of the tier you have in each slot. Tier 1: 1 point, Tier 2: 2 points, Tier 3: 3 points, T4: 12 points (getting T4 is about 4 times the effort of getting T3 so it's worth 4 times as much, anything else is immaterial). 2. Add 3 points for every level shift you have (always include Incarnate Shifts, if you decide to grace a non-incarnate team with your presence it's important that they realize just how much better than them you are). 3. Multiply by 500 (this isn't strictly necessary but it allows CoX gear scores to be compared more accurately to gear scores in other MMOs, adding gear scores from different MMOs is acceptable for resolving ties) Have fun and remember, your gear score is the sole arbiter of your value as a human being.

On a more serious note determining a single numerical score for Incarnate abilities is tricky if you want it to actually reflect the advantages a slot brings. Using a 5-point system for each slot I would probably do 0/1/2/4/5 for Unlocked/T1/T2/T3/T4. This isn't a perfect system but the jump at T3 better accounts for the level shift, although it could be argued that those should be counted separately.

Now if the goal is to account for their progress in terms of how close are they to T4s in all slots that's somewhat trickier. The "cost" of a T4 is almost four times the cost of a T3 and a T3 is about twice the cost of a T2 so you end up with something like 0/1/2/4/16.

However at the end of the day what matters is having a system that works for you.