for the public good, not personal wealth

snipes are despised currently by players who min/max, the players who have tons of influence and drive up prices in the AH. So snipe enhancements are dirt cheap, they have to be given away.

but suppose snipes suddenly became good. People were suddenly interested in slotting snipe IO powersets. And not just on new characters - tons of characters were suddenly respeced to use snipes and they all need IOs.

hypothetically speaking, what snipe IO's and sets would be the good ones. The ones that forward thinking players might stock up on now while prices are low?

Sting of the Manticore

I mostly take my snipes, and the only snipe set I've ever had any affection for is Sting of the Manticore.

If you're gonna be able to have perma-insta-snipe, don't even bother with a Snipe Set -- there's no need to have Interruption Reduction.

So, I'm not thinking Snipe Sets are going to become the rage anytime soon.

The real problem with snipe sets is that you're going to only need one set max per character, so I don't think the demand for them will ever be high, even if everyone played a ranged character with a snipe attack.

But yes, Sting of the Manticore is the only one I've ever used.

Like all IO sets, it really depends on the overall goals of your build. Some characters may want Sting of the Manticore for the ranged defense and +recharge bonus, while others might want Executioner's Contract for the 3.13% ranged defense bonus, or Extreme Measures for the 2.5% AoE and Melee defense bonuses.

But since all snipes can take regular ranged damage IOs and damage ATOs, I don't think there'll be a huge run on snipes in the long run. As always there will be some impatient buyers who drive up the price but over time this will settle down as people find optimal slottings for their playstyles.

Actually, because the Base recharge is higher than any of my other single target blasts, I will be dropping the atio set in the snipes.

I've always found it more effective to 6 slot thunderstrike into a snipe then to 5 slot a set of Manticore. I'd don't see these changes to snipes making more recharge more valuable then as much ranged defense as I can build.

They should put some global To-Hit bonus in those Snipe Sets...

Since I solo a lot I always take my snipe. Yes it's usually only used in the opening attack of a mob or if I'm trying to pull groups apart but I still take it.

I very much doubt that the price of Snipe sets will go up much. Even if people do start taking them it's one power on a few ATs plus since the snipe can also take regular ranged damage sets people aren't going to necessarily slot a snipe set (Thunderstrike is still a solid choice compared to snipe sets). That being said there are two potentially useful snipe sets:

Extreme Measures has 2.5% AoE and Melee defense. While this isn't that useful for Blasters who generally have to focus on one type of Defense it does have some value for Defenders and Corruptors who are in a position to softcap multiple positional defenses (mainly Traps, Forcefield and Time).

Sting of the Manticore has a mild Ranged Defense bonus at three slots and a strong recharge bonus at five. It doesn't compete with Thunderstrike for Ranged Defense (at least not in a power you want to use) but it is better than Decimation if you want Recharge (and the Defense adder doesn't hurt there).