Attuning question

[Nafsmar]

I understand that attuned enhancements grow with the character. Do you attune them yourself or just buy them that way? When is it more beneficial to have an attuned Enh over a normal one?

 

[Apparition]

You can attune them yourself when you're level 50, or you can buy attuned enhancements in the auction house.  Basically, I attune every non-purple enhancement slotted in a power taken before level 41.  The purple and generic enhancements, and enhancements slotted in powers taken at level 41+, I boost instead.  That way the enhancement set bonuses will exemplar with you if you do a TF or SF at level 40 or below.

 

For my first character, I attuned them myself when I was level 50 since I didn't have much in game money.  Every character after, I buy the attuned enhancements ahead of time from the auction house and slot them in the character as it levels.  Less pain while leveling that way.

[Nafsmar]

Thank you for the reply. I also slot my character as I lvl with sets to take advantage of bonuses. As I am not 50 yet I will just wait and continue on. Since I have dabbled in the conversion market and have some Inf I will attune future alts. Ty for clarifying it for me.

[PaxArcana]

On a related point: what's the difference between Attuning an enhancement, and Boosting it?  (Neither were options until after I left Live, so ...)

[Apparition]

1 minute ago, PaxArcana said:

On a related point: what's the difference between Attuning an enhancement, and Boosting it?  (Neither were options until after I left Live, so ...)

Attuning an enhancement lets you keep the set bonuses in that power as long as you are exemplared at the level of the power or lower.  As I said, I attune all non-purple and non-generic IOs placed in powers taken before level 41, so I have some or most of the set bonuses while exemplaring below level 40.

 

Boosting means that you increase the strength of the IO.  Since all purple IOs are attuned out of the box, you're better off boosting them than attuning them.

 

Oh, you can only attune or boost, not both.  If you attune a boosted IO, you'll lose the boosts, and vice versa.

[Robotech_Master]

And just to make this clear, because it doesn't look like anyone's brought it up yet: you don't want to Attune your own Enhancements, because the Market will do it for you for free.

 

Attuned Enhancements cost exactly the same as the regular, level-locked version of those Enhancements. To the game, they're exactly the same item. So, spending 2 to 4 million Inf on a Catalyst to Attune your own Enhancement is a big waste of money. Instead, you should unslot and sell the Enhancement, and then buy that same Enhancement from the "Attuned" category on the market. You do pay the cost of the Unslotter, and you might lose a little money from the difference between what you sell it for and what you have to pay for it—but it probably won't be 4 million Inf.

Edited August 6, 2019 by Robotech_Master

[Myrmidon]

Also, if you are going to use common Invention Origins (IOs), you can also boost those. Two level 50 common IOs boosted by +5 each is equivalent to three Single Origin (SOs).

[Robotech_Master]

10 hours ago, Myrmidon said:

Also, if you are going to use common Invention Origins (IOs), you can also boost those. Two level 50 common IOs boosted by +5 each is equivalent to three Single Origin (SOs).

Quite useful for any powers you're just slotting with one or two IOs, like Hasten. Not only does it make them more effective at level 50, but also when you're exemplaring down.

[justicebeliever]

And is it still only ATO's that can be attuned?

[Rathulfr]

46 minutes ago, justicebeliever said:

And is it still only ATO's that can be attuned?

 

No: any IO that offers set bonuses can be attuned, so that you benefit from the bonuses whenever sidekicked up or exemplared down (to the min/max levels of the IO set).  The generic Invention IOs cannot be attuned (they already are, basically), only boosted.

 

For example, the minimum level of Numina's Convalescence is 30, and the maximum is 50.  If you slot a level 50 Numina's +Heal, its effect is +42.4% when you're level 47-50, but if you go below 47, its effect is 0%.  By attuning that IO, you make it fully effective all the way down to level 27, but that effects scales down to +34.8% (the value of the level 30 equivalent).  So if you exemplar a lot (I know I do), and know how you're going to build your character, it's a good idea to get/buy the attuned versions of your desired enhancements at the minimum level required (e.g., 30 is still the minimum level require for equipping the Numina's IOs).

 

But if you don't exemplar a lot, or are planning to play at the highest levels most of the time, you're better off boosting the IOs, instead.  For example, you can boost that Numina's +Heal to 50+5, and increase its benefit to +53%.  But it will only work that way while you're levels 47-50. 

 

(edit)  This is not the case with generic Invention IOs, where the benefit -- and the boosts -- are effective at all levels.  If you boost a level 50 +Recharge five times to 50+5, it goes from +42.4% to +53%, and remains that way all the way down to level 1.  If you boost two of them to 50+5, you'll cap out to the ED maximum of +95.9%, effectively freeing up a slot for something else.  This is what I've done with Hasten: I put two 50+5 Recharges in it, to replace the three 30+ Recharges that would've been necessary to cap it previously.

 

(edit) Note: this has no effect on the IOs with global procs, which always provide the same benefit regardless of level/attunement.  For example, the Luck of the Gambler +7.5% global recharge is always effective, even though its minor +defense bonus may not be (depending on level or attunement).

 

Edited August 6, 2019 by Rathulfr

[Robotech_Master]

20 minutes ago, justicebeliever said:

And is it still only ATO's that can be attuned?

No, I think you've got a little confusion there. ATOs are already Attuned. They share the same thick circular border as Attuned sets. What you can do with Catalysts is transform them into a better version of themselves, at level 50. This Superior version has basically double the set bonuses of the regular version.

 

Unlike regular IO sets, the two versions of ATOs are not bucketed together, so the only way to get the Superior version is either to buy it (and they're generally hard to come by, because to sell a Superior version someone has to Catalyze it and then pry it out of their own character's slots) or Catalyze it yourself. So this is the only time you really want to use Catalysts on anything instead of buying the Attuned version from the AH.

Edited August 6, 2019 by Robotech_Master

[MunkiLord]

12 hours ago, Robotech_Master said:

And just to make this clear, because it doesn't look like anyone's brought it up yet: you don't want to Attune your own Enhancements, because the Market will do it for you for free.

 

Attuned Enhancements cost exactly the same as the regular, level-locked version of those Enhancements. To the game, they're exactly the same item. So, spending 2 to 4 million Inf on a Catalyst to Attune your own Enhancement is a big waste of money. Instead, you should unslot and sell the Enhancement, and then buy that same Enhancement from the "Attuned" category on the market. You do pay the cost of the Unslotter, and you might lose a little money from the difference between what you sell it for and what you have to pay for it—but it probably won't be 4 million Inf.

In general I agree with this. But I do make an exception for ATOs(and Winter IOs if I buy them)  as you cannot attune them until level 50 and they are a different category in the market. 

 

edit: which you addressed as I was typing this reply lol

 

19 minutes ago, justicebeliever said:

And is it still only ATO's that can be attuned?

 You can attune any set IO

Edited August 6, 2019 by MunkiLord

[justicebeliever]

2 minutes ago, Rathulfr said:

 

No: any IO that offers set bonuses can be attuned.  The generic Invention IOs cannot be attuned (they already are, basically), only boosted.

Thank you, that's helpful...

 

I guess I'm still not quite getting the impact Attuning has on exemplaring...

 

Let's say I have 5 Touch of Death Melee Enhancements (lvl 25-40) on my Scrapper...They are level 35, I am lvl 32...what's the difference between how those 5 regular enhancements would operate vs. having 5 attuned ones...?

 

 

[AboveTheChemist]

9 minutes ago, justicebeliever said:

Let's say I have 5 Touch of Death Melee Enhancements (lvl 25-40) on my Scrapper...They are level 35, I am lvl 32...what's the difference between how those 5 regular enhancements would operate vs. having 5 attuned ones...?

As you have presented it, you would lose the set bonuses with the non-attuned set if you exemplar below level 32, since the set level is 35. With the attuned version, you could exemplar as low as 22 and still keep the set bonuses.

 

Also I think you are stuck with whatever % bonus those enhancements offer at 35, whereas if you had attuned versions, they would increase in power as you level up to level 40. At least, that is how I understand it.

Edited August 6, 2019 by AboveTheChemist

[justicebeliever]

Got it...for Attuned, the Bonus goes as low as the lvl range for the set, for unattuned, they go to the specific level you slotted...

 

You guys rock...

[Rathulfr]

21 minutes ago, justicebeliever said:

Thank you, that's helpful...

 

I guess I'm still not quite getting the impact Attuning has on exemplaring...

 

Let's say I have 5 Touch of Death Melee Enhancements (lvl 25-40) on my Scrapper...They are level 35, I am lvl 32...what's the difference between how those 5 regular enhancements would operate vs. having 5 attuned ones...?

 

 

I edited my post above with more information to answer this question.

[Robotech_Master]

43 minutes ago, justicebeliever said:

Thank you, that's helpful...

 

I guess I'm still not quite getting the impact Attuning has on exemplaring...

 

Let's say I have 5 Touch of Death Melee Enhancements (lvl 25-40) on my Scrapper...They are level 35, I am lvl 32...what's the difference between how those 5 regular enhancements would operate vs. having 5 attuned ones...?

 

 

Attunement has two major, related effects.

 

When you're leveling up, Attuning an Enhancement lets it "level up" with you. Instead of slotting a level 32 Enhancement and keeping it there while you level your character higher, your Enhancement "acts like" a level 32 Enhancement while you're level 32, then like 33 while you're level 33, and so on, providing a slightly better bonus each time. It's kind of like the opposite of an SO, which degrades slightly each time you level up.

 

The other effect works in reverse: when you're level 50 and are exemplaring down, you'd normally keep the set bonuses only as far down as you could have slotted that specific IO. If you have a level 50 IO set slotted, it only provides the set bonuses (those nifty little global plusses to defense, resistance, accuracy, recharge rate, etc. that sets give you for having more than one Enhancement from them slotted) when you're exemplared no lower than level 47. You still get the benefit of the level 50 Enhancement itself to the power you put it in as long as that power is available (modified by the percentage all Enhancement performance degrades as you scale down), but you don't get those set bonuses.

 

If you have five Enhancements from a set slotted at ranges 25 to 40, you'd only get the 5-IO bonus down to level 37 or below, because that's the level at which all five Enhancements were capable of being slotted. Then when you drop three levels below the next highest IO, you'd lose the 4-IO bonus. And so on.

 

When you have the Enhancements Attuned, again, they pretend they're equivalent to whatever level you've exemplared down to, and you get the set bonuses from any that could have been slotted when you were at that level originally. So you keep those set bonuses as far down as 3 levels below the lowest end of that set's availability. If it was an IO set whose low end is level 20 Enhancements, you'd have access to those bonuses as far down as level 17, even if the power they're slotted in isn't available to you at that level.  (If the power is available when you're exemplared below that level, you'll still get the scaled-down effects of the Enhancements themselves, as above, but not the set bonuses.)

 

Clearer? 

Edited August 6, 2019 by Robotech_Master

[justicebeliever]

@Robotech_Master Very clear...thank you for taking the time to write it up...

[Vanden]

3 hours ago, Rathulfr said:

For example, the minimum level of Numina's Convalescence is 30, and the maximum is 50.  If you slot a level 50 Numina's +Heal, its effect is +42.4% when you're level 47-50, but if you go below 47, its effect is 0%.

This is not true, at all. That 42.4% Heal enhancement does not go away when you exemplar below 47. It goes down to 41.5% at level 45, and remains at 41.5% when you exemplar as low as 32, and below that the enhancement value simply scales down, and never disappears completely. More info here.

Edited August 6, 2019 by Vanden

[srmalloy]

5 hours ago, Rathulfr said:

For example, the minimum level of Numina's Convalescence is 30, and the maximum is 50.  If you slot a level 50 Numina's +Heal, its effect is +42.4% when you're level 47-50, but if you go below 47, its effect is 0%.  By attuning that IO, you make it fully effective all the way down to level 27, but that effects scales down to +34.8% (the value of the level 30 equivalent).  So if you exemplar a lot (I know I do), and know how you're going to build your character, it's a good idea to get/buy the attuned versions of your desired enhancements at the minimum level required (e.g., 30 is still the minimum level require for equipping the Numina's IOs).

What Vanden said. What you are describing is true for set bonuses, not the enhancement values themselves. If you had slotted two Numina's Convalescence -- say, a level-50 Healing and a level 50 Healing/Endurance -- the two-piece set bonus is +12% Regeneration. If you exemplar down below level 47, you lose that set bonus, but the direct effect of the enhancements themselves -- +42.4% Healing from the former and 26.5% Healing and 26.5% End reduction from the latter -- simply scale down according to the exemplar computation that Vanden linked to. And the enhancements themselves never stop giving you an improvement to your ability once they're slotted, no matter how low you exemplar -- if you exemplar down to level 5, for example, that level-50 Heal gets scaled down from 42.4% to about 4.8%, but it's still improving that power.

[HelenCarnate]

One thing to note, the set bonuses from Winter sets, Purple sets PVP sets and ATOs stay with you even if you don't have access to the power they are slotted in.  Attuning does the same thing but only to the minimum level of the set.  Also LotG recharge counts as a set bonus of its own so if you attune it, you will get the recharge bonus all the way down to 22 even if you don't have access to the power it is slotted in.

 

Once again, Attuning allows you to use the set bonuses even if you do not have access to the power they are slotted in as long as you are high enough level to use the set that is giving you the set bonus.  So feel free to attune that Steadfast Protection and throw it in the resist shield you didn't pick until 49.  You will still get that 3% defense all the way to level 7.

 

Regular IOs, PVP and Purples you are best off boosting no matter what. Set IOs it really depends on what content you do most.  If you are like me and like to run the TF of the week and help out lower levels a lot then attune everything else with a set bonus.  If you just do end game content and almost never drop down in level then boosting is the way to go.

Edited August 7, 2019 by HelenCarnate

[Robotech_Master]

3 hours ago, HelenCarnate said:

Regular IOs, PVP and Purples you are best off boosting no matter what. Set IOs it really depends on what content you do most.  If you are like me and like to run the TF of the week and help out lower levels a lot then attune everything else with a set bonus.  If you just do end game content and almost never drop down in level then boosting is the way to go.

And, of course, you can always have it both ways thanks to alternate builds, by making two separate builds and Attuning one, Boosting the other. But really, what with ED and such, you're not going to get a huge benefit out of boosting sets anyway, so it probably wouldn't be worth the extra money you spend on it—especially if you plan on purpling out both builds.

[Caulderone]

On 8/5/2019 at 8:13 PM, Apparition said:

Boosting means that you increase the strength of the IO.  Since all purple IOs are attuned out of the box, you're better off boosting them than attuning them.

 

This thread seems like a good place to tack on a related question.  Since Purples, ATOs, and PVP IOs are all attuned by default, the quoted statement indicates they can be Boosted.

 

Does boosting them effect their attunement functionality at all?  I would assume not, but I wanted to verify.

[HelenCarnate]

7 minutes ago, Caulderone said:

 

This thread seems like a good place to tack on a related question.  Since Purples, ATOs, and PVP IOs are all attuned by default, the quoted statement indicates they can be Boosted.

 

Does boosting them effect their attunement functionality at all?  I would assume not, but I wanted to verify.

Good question.  I am at work now but if no one answers by the time I get off tonight I'll play on the test server and find out. 

[Robotech_Master]

They don't need to be Attuned because they already do naturally what Attunement adds to normal sets. So, yes, you can boost them just fine. You could also Attune them instead...but since they act Attuned already, it doesn't give you any benefit.