Can a person automatically upgrade standard IO enhancements?

[macskull]

1 minute ago, Herotu said:

A 50+5 what, please, compared to a level 50 what? SO or IO?

Those numbers are for single-aspect IOs.

[lemming]

5 minutes ago, Herotu said:

A 50+5 what, please, compared to a level 50 what? SO or IO?

a 50+5 IO gives a bonus of 53% vs a level 50 IO at 42.4%   (smooth progression between +1 to +5 at ~2.12% per step)

 

And for just completion sake, a 10+5 IO is worse than a level 15 IO.  Not that anyone would waste boosters that way.

[lemming]

7 minutes ago, macskull said:

Those numbers are for single-aspect IOs.

Since I was just comparing to SOs, it didn't seem worth it to compare to Set IOs that often have other benefits.  A dual benefit set IO might look worse if you just compare the straight bonus, but depending on how many others from the set, yada yada yada.

 

And then there's the whole comparison with HO (and related)

[macskull]

52 minutes ago, lemming said:

Took a quick look at my chart: And yea, a level 40 IO beats any SO.    A level 35 IO is equal to a +2 SO. 30 IO is almost as good as a +0 SO, a 25 IO is better than a -1 SO.

 

One thing of interest, there's only a 5.7% difference between a level 35 IO and a level 50 IO.

On the other hand, a 50+5 is 53% compared to a level 50 at 42.4%.

 

Definitely not a smooth curve in progression for the IOs.

 

And of course, ED complicates it a bit more.   Just makes me feel better about not replacing any level 35 IOs with higher ones until I'm ready for sets

Boosters are weird, they're a 5% boost for each booster so you get 1.25x effectiveness if you have 5 of them. They've already been called out as something that may get "adjusted" in the future. Looking at that chart from the wiki there's huge jumps from 10-15, 15-20, and 20-25, but then much smaller increases over the rest of the range. I can't say for certain why it's like that, but I would guess it's because the original devs wanted the lower-level generic IOs to approximate TO and DO effectiveness, and for level 25-30 generic IOs to approximate SO effectiveness. Of course now that TOs and DOs have largely disappeared from the game SOs are a total no-brainer and it might be worth looking into smoothing out that progression curve.

[BlackSpectre]

If you're interested in survival and power, and admittedly many players are not and are much more casual, but it you're interested in that then starting to slot cheap IO Sets as soon as you can is the way to go.

 

I used to swap all of my SOs out for IOs at level 27. At even con, SOs have a 33.3% bonus. An IO at level 30 is 34.8% (a level 25 IO is 32%). It saves a lot of money compared to buying SOs all the way to level 50. In fact, my Supergroup even instituted a recycling IO policy. At level 50 when we did our RESPEC to put in all the IO Sets we wanted, we would put all our common IOs back in the base's enhancement bins for other players to use (and for us to use on our next character). Saved a ton on $$, and effort too.  

 

But now I look for cheap IO Set enhancements to slot as early as I can. Some IO Sets unlock at level 10, but most unlock at level 27. A few unlock at levels in-between too, and then the last unlock is at level 50.  

 

The IO Set enhancements have "set bonuses" that common IOs don't have. Set bonuses boost specific attributes and abilities depending on how many of that set you slot. So in order to get the benefit of Set bonuses, I start slotting them early. In practice, sets that I slotted before level 27 are usually replaced with better sets when I hit level 27. I also make sure to buy only ATTUNED IO sets from the auction house, rather than normal IO sets. Attuned means they actually grow in bonus % as you level up. They grow with you. That means below level 27, those attuned IOs will have a bonus less than 33.3%, but it's mostly offset by the set bonuses.

 

For the most part, I have my characters slotted with all the enhancement sets they'll use until they're lvl 50 when I turn level 27. Sometimes I need to do a RESPEC to rework my character's powers and slots when I do this, and usually RESPEC again at level 50 to slot my final IO sets and do any minor tweaks I want. Then it's off to get Incarnate powers. 🙂

 

I sometimes use the hero planner Mids Reborn to plan out my powers and slots before I hit 27.

 

I think what many players want you to know is that if you don't care about any of this, you'll get along fine in the game... and they're not wrong. I have a friend who doesn't slot any enhancements... ever. They die at least 5 times every gaming session, but their character respawns right away and they get back into the fight. They don't mind dying, and in fact I think they like it. Me? I don't like dying. It's very rare that I die because of the way I build my characters. When it happens it's usually because I wasn't paying attention. Sometimes an enemy legitimately KOs me, but like I said that's rare. Fun too though. I do like a challenge in this game.

 

Here's some references for you (the Homecoming Wiki is your friend):

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Enhancements

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Invention_Origin_Enhancements

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Enhancement_Set_Bonuses

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Set_Enhancements_with_Special_Effects

 

Edited July 28, 2023 by BlackSpectre
added another reference