Enhancement boosters vs HamiOs

All,

Is my math and/or understanding of Enchancement Boosters wrong, or does this negate nearly all of HamiO perks?

For the most common scenario of a HamiO that boosts two (usable) attributes, you can now accomplish the same thing with any two attribute IO and get the same bonus (effectively two SOs in one enhancement)

But wait, there's more!

A boosted IO gives even more bonus if there are three (or four!) usable aspects, as the bonuses of all are multiplied by 25%

You can pick the IO / attribute combination you want vs hoping for the right drop of Hami.

A boosted IO can still give a set bonus that HamiO's can't.

With the additional fix of HamiO's boosting both buff and debuff versions of a power... what purpose do Hami's serve now?

Yes, I can think of one: Acc/Mez and Dam/Mez have perks for abilities with multiple secondary debuffs, and some MM pets that use hold/disorient/slow/etc (my SpecOps loved t hem), but... what else?

Am I missing something, or are Enhancement Boosters a conspiracy by Hamidon to stop getting killed a few times a week?

Thanks,

Droid.

Well, there are a few cases.

Free and premium players can get HOs, while boosters require invention licenses and spending points/tokens (unless they're selling boosters for merits now, which they ought to). Also, boosters have a real cost (again, unless/until they're sold for merits) while HOs are just a matter of running the appropriate content.

Triply aspected HOs have uses in any power that uses all 3 aspects (and for which there isn't a corresponding IO); Enzyme in Radiation Infection is the classic example but there are others.

50++ HOs still give slightly better bonuses than 50+5 IOs (ignoring set bonuses).

HamiOs are reusable; you can respec out/unslot an HO and pass it off to another character.

But yeah, boosters have greatly reduced the need for HOs.

All good points: HamiOs can squeak out a few more points (when combined) and are transferable, where a Boosted IO isn't.

With the low price of Enhancement Booster x90, though (~$20?), enough to make 18 +5s, that's about a $1 for a pseudo-HamiO of my choice. I'm not a fan of using real $$$ to buy imaginary items, but from a game enjoyment perspective.. yes, I'll spend an extra 1$ to pick an HO than risk a pug Hami. (Depends who's leading of course, and I can still battle Hami for the fun of it).

Another perk for enhancement boosters is that you can boost a single attribute 50 IO to 50+5, and 2 of those equal 3 SOs... so for those powers that don't take/need IOs but are important enough to max out the bonus pre-ED, you save a slot. Hasten and Stamina are the first two that come to mind.

For PvP I only use 51++, 52+ or 53 HOs in my builds to get the full effectiveness.

A devastation acc/dmg +5 = 33.1% or rather a regular level 50 nucleous

A acc/dmg 51++/52+/53 HO = 38.3% which is 5.2% more than the former.

When slotting these in multiple powers or multiple HOs in one power, the difference is very noticable for me.

Enhancement boosters mean you can get bonuses, but using IOs that's always been the case.

Better %s vs Set bonuses

Sometimes, the %s mean a lot more, or you've hit the rule of 5, or it can't even take a set in the power.

51++/52+/53 HOs are still much more powerful than +5 IOs, and as a sometimes excessive min/maxer, I wouldn't take any less. I have used enhancement boosters before, but I've never replaced 38.3/38.3% HOs with 33.1/33.1% IOs.

If we're to compare regular HOs that aren't combined, it's only fair to compare them to regular IOs that aren't enhanced.

HOs have never been replaced, since nothing gets the job done as well. Especially when considering the glitch creating HOs above level 50.

If you aren't willing to dish out 2 billion for those, then I suppose enhancement boosters are a cheaper option though.

As for making them useless? Crushing impacts existance never hurt Hecatombs usefulness, even though they are much cheaper and more avaliable. As long as +5 IOs are not as effective as slotting a high level HO, they won't impact it's effectiveness at all.