End Game and Non-50 IO sets

[DaeHanMusa]

Hi, all. Hope all is well. (And I hope this is the correct Forum category).

 

Is there a good reason for not crafting, say lvl 25 IO sets with End Game in mind? (Also, I do not know current tricks with upping enhancements and such). With that said:

 

1. Lvl 25 IOs (non-50s) are cheaper to craft, better for exemping--even though 50's have better percentages. Overall, I find lvl 25s and such to be better values and I can get "set bonuses" faster.

2. How does this "affect" End game content and stats vs just crafting 50s?

 

Thanks in advance.

Edited June 15, 2021 by DaeHanMusa

[Greycat]

Ignoring commons (which I'll try to get at 30-35 for 50s, where I feel a good balance between what I normally exemp for and values) - and you mentioned sets anyway -

 

If you limit yourself to 25s,  you're going to just flat out miss some sets that start at 30 - like Crushing Impact, Thunderstrike (which I love for anything ranged,) Obliteration or Numina's. And, of course, you'll get the lower percentages (as you seem aware of.)

 

As far as the rest? It's pretty much why people say to buy attuned enhancements. They share the same pool as standard enhancements in the auction house, so *generally* advice is to sell the regular and re-buy as attuned. (Alternately, there are times that at 50 I'll just do the attuning myself for anything I havne't done this with - I often have several catalysts sitting around by then, and after turning those enhs like ATOs and winter from standard to Superior with a catalyst there's not much else to do with them.) This will basically let the IO ... "follow" your level up to its maximum level, as far as stats and bonuses go. (Here, link. https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Attuned )

 

I'll let folks who are more awake currently go into more detail on what's what and what the various effects can be.

[iBot]

How much time you got?  Anyway...

 

General rules I use as I build toons.  These are by no means fullly min/max nor are they probably optimal.  It is just what I do.

1. If the toon is an experiment meaning I'll probably not play it much beyond getting to 50 then I'll slot generic IOs starting at level 22 (to slot 25s) then re slot again at 32.  Those 35s last until 50.  Any new slots I gain I just slot the highest level IO at that time I can.  If at 50 I've decided I really like the character but don't care about exempting then I'll just slot the IO sets that make sense and don't cost too much.  Incarnates I slot as they come but I don't go out of my way to get beyond T1 for most except alpha to T3 for shift.
2. If the toon is something I know I'll play a lot I'll slot attuned sets at whatever level they are first available.  There are a lot of good bonuses to be had but some of the nicer ones aren't available until lvl 27.  At 50 I will slot 1 or 2 purple sets and also work on getting incarnates at least to T3 and possible alpha to T4 eventually as I play.
3. If the toon is something I know I'll play across all level ranges and fully want to be bad ass at those ranges then I'll slot the best attuned sets along with ATOs and at least one Winter set.  At 50 I use catalyst to make those ATOs and winter superior versions.  At 50 I slot all relevant purple sets.  I work to get incarnates all T4.

I never craft any sets.  I sell everything and then later buy what I want as needed.  The exception is the generic IOs since I have a dedicated toon that has all the recipes memorized that I use to craft those.  So the only costs there are the components and the craft itself.  Using crafting discount tickets helps a lot if inf is tight.  But with concerted effort inf is no problem in HC.

[Lunchmoney]

2 hours ago, DaeHanMusa said:

End Game

What?

[Bill Z Bubba]

8 minutes ago, Lunchmoney said:

What?

 

You know, end game. That's where you're gathering up all the beer bottles and pizza boxes after everyone else has left the party.

 

To the topic, I've yet to find a situation where even exemplaring all the way down to Posi 1 isn't handled well by a fully tricked out end game build using all the standard end game sets attuned with PvP and Purples +5ed. The actual difference in gameplay is negligible. Early sets are great IF you plan to level VERY slowly. Otherwise, (ingoring all the low level uniques of course,) they're all pretty much useless.