Looking for IO-ing Feedback
By
Clouded,
Posted on: 2011-09-02 09:20 in Archetypes and Powers General Discussion
My view on set IOs is that they allow a character to function solo a lot better. In a team basis if the team is balanced for all intents and purposes if everyone on the team is doing their job you should be fine. By balanced team I mean a healthy mix of buffs, debuffs and damage.
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Your characters will still be viable without sets and the associated bonuses. Obviously these help (sometimes a great deal), but I can't imagine that you'd be a weak link without set bonuses. After all, there are SO builds that rock end game content because the build is strong and the player skilled, while there are purpled out builds that are weak because the player is either unskilled or didn't build well (slapping purple recipes into powers chosen not because they are good or work with the player's playstyle but simply because they take the less expensive purple sets. Generally-speaking, not going to be a good move).|
Originally Posted by Clouded
Hi.
I'm a player that has to max out their level 50s with heavy IOed builds. I'm up to #8 or 9 now since I tend to work on multiple alts at once. My ingame time is starting to decrease which means I'm finding less time to spend outfitting these characters. Now, being a min/max person it's very hard for to think about playing a 50 with just common IOs but I wanted to get some feedback from the community about doing just that. Are level 50 characters without Set IO-ed builds still viable in the late game? Will I still be able to perform in the trials, high end TFs, etc without having to resort to buying large amounts of wakies? Right now, if I know I can't outfit a character with the IOs I want then I tend to just shelve the character, prior to level 50, and let them collect dust until I'm ready or have the inf to start again. I almost feel like a drug addict trying to quit but needs some support, lol. tl;dr version: If I just slot Common IOs, then will my characters still be viable in the late game or will I be the weak link on many occasions? I take pride in my gameplay. |
Besides, it's a lot of fun to work on builds as you go rather than all at once (I do and have done both, and find both approaches have their pluses and minuses); there's something to be said for experiencing each upgrade in a budding build rather than or in conjunction with a carefully-crafted mids build. I've got a defender in the "garage" awaiting full IO set upgrades, and I've got a blaster that I'm playing through her build. I'm having more fun with the blaster
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I agree with you. My last two builds I started slotting IO Sets really early but I spent a great deal of inf on them and used up most of my inf. I'm now back to trying to replenish my funds but it's slow going since I prefer to spend my time ingame playing rather than using the market or farming tickets.|
Originally Posted by Tahliah
Besides, it's a lot of fun to work on builds as you go rather than all at once (I do and have done both, and find both approaches have their pluses and minuses); there's something to be said for experiencing each upgrade in a budding build rather than or in conjunction with a carefully-crafted mids build. I've got a defender in the "garage" awaiting full IO set upgrades, and I've got a blaster that I'm playing through her build. I'm having more fun with the blaster
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I'm really worried about my Dominator. I'm going to push it to 50 but I just know, on common IOs only, he's going to be faceplanting a lot. Guess I'll have to start paying attention more.
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I feel your pain on the slow inf buildup (I don't play the market, either, and can't stand farming for tickets). Hero/Villain merits and regular reward merits are a good way to get recipes that are prohibitively expensive on the market.
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Originally Posted by Clouded
I agree with you. My last two builds I started slotting IO Sets really early but I spent a great deal of inf on them and used up most of my inf. I'm now back to trying to replenish my funds but it's slow going since I prefer to spend my time ingame playing rather than using the market or farming tickets.
I'm really worried about my Dominator. I'm going to push it to 50 but I just know, on common IOs only, he's going to be faceplanting a lot. Guess I'll have to start paying attention more. |
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Work on getting incarnate powers for some of the 50s that you've worked so hard on in the past. In the process of getting four T3 incarnate powers you'll probably replenish your supply of inf. It feels kind of like cheating, I know, but use that inf to help outfit your lower level characters.|
Originally Posted by Clouded
I agree with you. My last two builds I started slotting IO Sets really early but I spent a great deal of inf on them and used up most of my inf.
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If you alternate between your 50 and the lower level character, you can put in lower bids for the recipes you want and give them more time to be filled. If you just play the same character, you tend to be in a hurry to buy things and wind up paying much more than you really need to.
Placing bids and waiting at least a day for them to fill will save you hundreds of millions.
1.) If you would like to have multiple IOed out characters, you owe it to yourself to check out the market forum. There are a lot of strategies that involve putting in bids and waiting for them to get filled. Since you have multiple characters that you are playing every now and again, this could be a good way to keep your influence topped off.
2.) You can get a huge amount of bang for buck just by Frankenslotting or using cheap sets. Will the set bonuses be "the best"? No. But they'll be pretty darn good. Crushing Impact, Thunderstrike, Multi-Strike, etc they all have good enhancement value *and* adequate set bonuses. You can generally save a ton of money by avoiding level 50 set IOs and picking whatever is cheapest from 41-49. The difference in enhancement value is not that significant.
3.) You can get some of the expensive IOs by doing tip missions for alignment merits.
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This
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Originally Posted by Young_Tutor
1.) If you would like to have multiple IOed out characters, you owe it to yourself to check out the market forum. There are a lot of strategies that involve putting in bids and waiting for them to get filled. Since you have multiple characters that you are playing every now and again, this could be a good way to keep your influence topped off.
2.) You can get a huge amount of bang for buck just by Frankenslotting or using cheap sets. Will the set bonuses be "the best"? No. But they'll be pretty darn good. Crushing Impact, Thunderstrike, Multi-Strike, etc they all have good enhancement value *and* adequate set bonuses. You can generally save a ton of money by avoiding level 50 set IOs and picking whatever is cheapest from 41-49. The difference in enhancement value is not that significant. 3.) You can get some of the expensive IOs by doing tip missions for alignment merits. |
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Yes.|
Originally Posted by Clouded
Are level 50 characters without Set IO-ed builds still viable in the late game? Will I still be able to perform in the trials, high end TFs, etc without having to resort to buying large amounts of wakies?
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Next time you're waiting for a TF or a Trial to start, check out the info for the characters around you. I've seen plenty of people out there playing with no set bonuses at all. The forums, especially the AT forums, tend to give a rather skewed idea of how characters are built.
Don't get me wrong, set bonuses can be awesome. But in TF and Trials particularly they're still generally overwhelmed by the buffs and debuffs being flung around.
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I'm very aware of the steps needed to make inf in this game. My problem is having to choose between: a) spending time on the market or b) mashing buttons on my characters.|
Originally Posted by Young_Tutor
1.) If you would like to have multiple IOed out characters, you owe it to yourself to check out the market forum. There are a lot of strategies that involve putting in bids and waiting for them to get filled. Since you have multiple characters that you are playing every now and again, this could be a good way to keep your influence topped off.
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I sometimes have the opportunity for both and I take advantage of it but that's rare.
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Originally Posted by Young_Tutor
2.) You can get a huge amount of bang for buck just by Frankenslotting or using cheap sets. Will the set bonuses be "the best"? No. But they'll be pretty darn good. Crushing Impact, Thunderstrike, Multi-Strike, etc they all have good enhancement value *and* adequate set bonuses. You can generally save a ton of money by avoiding level 50 set IOs and picking whatever is cheapest from 41-49. The difference in enhancement value is not that significant.
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Originally Posted by Young_Tutor
3.) You can get some of the expensive IOs by doing tip missions for alignment merits.
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Thanks again for the input everyone.
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I've been giving this alot of thought myself, mostly because I hate the IO'ing process of a character, I usually start filling in set pieces at SO lvl (lvl 22) with lvl 25 set pieces.|
Originally Posted by Clouded
Hi.
I'm a player that has to max out their level 50s with heavy IOed builds. I'm up to #8 or 9 now since I tend to work on multiple alts at once. My ingame time is starting to decrease which means I'm finding less time to spend outfitting these characters. Now, being a min/max person it's very hard for to think about playing a 50 with just common IOs but I wanted to get some feedback from the community about doing just that. Are level 50 characters without Set IO-ed builds still viable in the late game? Will I still be able to perform in the trials, high end TFs, etc without having to resort to buying large amounts of wakies? Right now, if I know I can't outfit a character with the IOs I want then I tend to just shelve the character, prior to level 50, and let them collect dust until I'm ready or have the inf to start again. I almost feel like a drug addict trying to quit but needs some support, lol. tl;dr version: If I just slot Common IOs, then will my characters still be viable in the late game or will I be the weak link on many occasions? I take pride in my gameplay. |
However with the introduction of the ITrials I'm thinking it's really a lot less "necessary" then it used to feel. I'm usually shielded up too or beyond 100% defense to all positions (unnecessary but its there). The only bonus I'd look at getting on a character that will be performing on Itrials would be recharge.
Doing trials you'll probably earn quite a decent chunk of infl. so you could then eventually suit up in set-io's if you're still feeling "weak".
Also Frankenslotting early on (lvl 25-30) works really well for saving influence, since the enhancements won't lose effectiveness.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
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Some characters are a lot easier than others to play using just SOs / common IOs, but none are "broken" without sets. On a good team you won't need a lot of the set bonuses that you would rely on solo but in some cases you'll still be hurting a lot compared to an IOed build... for instance, a Stone Armor Tank on a team without a Kin.
I wouldn't use common IOs though... you can frankenslot using a mix of cheap uncommon set IOs and a few commons cheaper than slotting all commons (many of the "junk" set recipes are under 1000 inf and don't need any rare salvage, most common recipes are more than that). I've fully outfitted a level 50 character for around 10-15 million inf before, and you'd have to work very hard not to have that much to spend. I'd suggest starting in the late 20s or early 30s and stick to level 26-40 IOs since the crafting costs really start going up after 40 for little extra benefit.
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Yes, you will. |
Originally Posted by Clouded
Are level 50 characters without Set IO-ed builds still viable in the late game? Will I still be able to perform in the trials, high end TFs, etc without having to resort to buying large amounts of wakies?
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For comparison, I *don't* tend to IO-out most builds. (Yet I beat down Trapdoor on several alts, solo, with nothing but SOs or commons, at best a very few set IOs but not sets - my PBs and my Ice/Psy chewed through Trapdoor on SOs, and most of my characters end up "set light.") What you'll end up working with in trials will mostly be your Incarnate slots.
If you're *extremely* used to heavily IO'd builds, yes, you'll have to play differently - your blaster won't be defense-capped at all, etc. And that will be an adjustment. BUT, don't forget - the end game, other than iTrials (and MO-runs) really hasn't changed that much since all we had WERE SOs (with a scattering of HOs.) Changing the playstyle doesn't mean you'll have to be timid, just pay attention to who you're on and what they're capable of. Getting off a set-heavy build, you might be surprised to find/remember what the characters can do *without* them.
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Depends on skill. Some people are not able to perform in trials, high end TFs etc. even with lots of IOs.
| Will I still be able to perform in the trials, high end TFs, etc without having to resort to buying large amounts of wakies? |
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And people with very low set bonuses only, like several of mine where every set bonus says 'tiny" or "small" because they only use the junky sets at low level.|
Originally Posted by Grouchybeast
Next time you're waiting for a TF or a Trial to start, check out the info for the characters around you. I've seen plenty of people out there playing with no set bonuses at all. The forums, especially the AT forums, tend to give a rather skewed idea of how characters are built.
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A lot of the people at 50 with multiple chracters on SOs are often quite good players who understand their characters pretty well. At least that's what Ive found.
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Originally Posted by Laevateinn
Depends on skill. Some people are not able to perform in trials, high end TFs etc. even with lots of IOs.
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Well, last night was my first go at this. I used my level 50 Fire/Fire Blaster that has Set IOs but mainly for frankenslotting and no real advantages like Softcapped Defense or perma BU/AIM.
It was a trip down memory lane! The first Trial (BAF) was pretty bad and I died a handful of times due to overestimating my ability to kill level 54 ambushes during the Siege/NS fights at level 50 and even 50+1.
By the 4th Trial I was done dying and had re-remembered how to effectively play a blaster with so many AoEs and wafer-thin skin. It was very exciting! I was flying by the seat of my pants most times and had to rely heavily on tactics outside of BU + AIM + ALL AOEs NAO!!
So, thanks again for all the feedback. 
Hi.
I'm a player that has to max out their level 50s with heavy IOed builds. I'm up to #8 or 9 now since I tend to work on multiple alts at once. My ingame time is starting to decrease which means I'm finding less time to spend outfitting these characters. Now, being a min/max person it's very hard for to think about playing a 50 with just common IOs but I wanted to get some feedback from the community about doing just that.
Are level 50 characters without Set IO-ed builds still viable in the late game? Will I still be able to perform in the trials, high end TFs, etc without having to resort to buying large amounts of wakies?
Right now, if I know I can't outfit a character with the IOs I want then I tend to just shelve the character, prior to level 50, and let them collect dust until I'm ready or have the inf to start again.
I almost feel like a drug addict trying to quit but needs some support, lol.
tl;dr version: If I just slot Common IOs, then will my characters still be viable in the late game or will I be the weak link on many occasions? I take pride in my gameplay.