Lower Level Inventions - Not So Useful Anymore?

[MrSnottyPants]

It didn't occur to me until playing with the new patch - with SOs available early, and lower-level inventions still at TO and DO levels, slotting these before level 25 means less bonus.  Other than avoiding the cost of upgrading your SOs, any reason to use inventions until later?

[Ignatz the Insane]

I think there's still value with early frankenslotting and set bonuses.  Early SOs fill gaps beatifully though.  A perfect example is the scrapper I'm leveling in Praetoria-Science enhancements are rare drops so far.

Edited December 1, 2020 by Ignatz the Insane
Clarity

[wolfshadow31]

Can't speak for everyone, but I wont be slotting the SO's early.  I'll keep buying IOs and attuned sets.  Its just easier for me to slot things once, and forget about them til 50.  Chasing 3% bonus increase or something at level 15 is not my style.

[Ignatz the Insane]

24 minutes ago, wolfshadow31 said:

Can't speak for everyone, but I wont be slotting the SO's early.  I'll keep buying IOs and attuned sets.  Its just easier for me to slot things once, and forget about them til 50.  Chasing 3% bonus increase or something at level 15 is not my style.

This will be true for most of my characters, but every once in a while I like to level from scratch sans bonus xp and seed money.  

[InvaderStych]

Leveling with SOs and the shiny upgrade button has been an interesting change of pace.  Nice to skip the time spent figuring out which attuned IOs I want to franken-slot with, or trying to to figure out a build from scratch and collecting those as I level.  The minimal thought/maintenance time required, and that it can be SOs from the get-go makes the % bump from keeping them green finally worth doing.

 

10 hours ago, Ignatz the Insane said:

This will be true for most of my characters, but every once in a while I like to level from scratch sans bonus xp and seed money.  

 

You'll want some amount of seed money if your plan is to level with SOs and use the upgrade button with any sort of frequency.  In the early 20s it's costing +/- 1mil to upgrade all SOs.  Since I've been running with the 2x XP (no inf) setting I can't speak to affordability with normal inf gain. 

 

Not really sure I would bother with it for anything less than SOs at this point.  Would I go back to using common IOs to "slot-it-and-forget-it?"  Maybe.  Chances are it's more influence efficient to do that anyway, but at the moment I'm digging the minimal effort while mostly-casually leveling something.

Edited December 1, 2020 by InvaderStych

[Doomguide2005]

And for some more unusual or concept builds chasing the smaller bonuses available on lower level sets might be reason enough.  I recall using Rectified Recticles (a 10 to 20 lvl set), for example, trying to squeeze in a little more S/L defense while keeping Aim and Build Up in a blaster build.  The Rule of 5 is a thing.

Edited December 1, 2020 by Doomguide2005

[Luminara]

15 hours ago, MrSnottyPants said:

Other than avoiding the cost of upgrading your SOs, any reason to use inventions until later?

 

The market pools crafted IOs, so all unattuned versions can be purchased as attuned.  Completely ignoring expense comparisons, merely having the capability to pursue set bonuses from level 7 onward is a very good reason to use IOs exclusively.  And with attuned IOs retaining relevance and utility all the way to 50+3, I'll probably never have any reason to use SOs again.  They felt necessary a decade ago, when the economy on the original servers was so bad that some IOs cost 1.5-2x the inf* cap.  Here, now, I have no use for them, thanks to the inflation control measures and ease of accumulating large sums of inf*.

[DougGraves]

Do SOs still decrease in effect as you level?  +3 SOs are better than IOs, is a -1 SO better than an IO?

[Luminara]

28 minutes ago, DougGraves said:

Do SOs still decrease in effect as you level?

 

Yes.  That wasn't changed.

 

24 minutes ago, DougGraves said:

+3 SOs are better than IOs

 

Only prior to level 40 IOs, or level 35+1 IOs, and discounting multiple attribute set IOs (the more things an IO enhance, the greater the total "budget" assigned to the IO).

 

26 minutes ago, DougGraves said:

is a -1 SO better than an IO?

 

It's better than a level 20 IO, or anything below a level 20+4 IO.  Level 25 or higher IOs are better than -1 SOs.

[Carnifax]

I always build as I go / sets become available. I enjoy it more.

 

So Kinetics Combats get slotted as I go etc. All bought as Attuned so they'll get better as I do. Gaps I patch with SOs, replacing them when I can. 

 

I try to avoid a level 50 respec. 

 

It means most builds start to click on the 30s when slots and bonuses become plentiful, and it spreads the costs and marketing out more. 

 

I may be underenhanced for bits of the game but not massively and you level so quickly early on you don't really notice.

 

You do notice a Fire Tank with 24% defenses in your 20s though, for example. Especially if a teamie is a support also adding 15 or 20%

Edited December 2, 2020 by Carnifax