IO Enhancement Help

[DarZindel]

Hey All, I'm enjoying the nostalgia and revisiting CoX after such a long time away.  I used to play during I0 through I8ish and my playtime really waned before the introduciton of IO's.  As such, I'm a bit lost on a mechanic that is probably second nature to most of you.  I did some searching for guides, but weren't able to find any, so hopefully you don't mind my IO questions which are as follows: 

 

Roughly what level should I start seriously looking to slot IOs?

 

I see some have set levels and some scale with you?  Is there a difference in quality?

 

How do I go about crafting these (keeping in mind I'm not part of a SG at the moment)?

 

Are there any "must have" sets overall or for each archetype?

 

I see lots of builds being shared with various IO sets, at what point do you layer in those sets?  When you can afford them?  Level 50?  Sometime before?

 

What should I prioritize in your mind when choosing IO sets to pursue?

 

I'm currently building up tons of salvage across my dozen or so alts (I have a serious case of alt-itis since coming back).  Should I stockpile, or just sell on the market and re-buy when I need?

 

Anything about IO's that I'm not asking about, but I should be made aware of?

 

Thanks!

[Bopper]

If you want to buy IOs from the Auction House, always buy Attuned. They will level with you, so you can buy them whenever. The only time you should ever NOT buy attuned, it would be the Very Rare level 50 purple sets. 

[Gulbasaur]

My personal experience and opinion:

 

Roughly what level should I start seriously looking to slot IOs?

For "normal" IOs as soon as you you can afford them - level 25 enhancements are the point at which they are stronger than SO and DO enhancements, so many people kit out at level 22 and leave those in until they replace them with named enhancements with bonuses. You can kit yourself out for 2-4 million at level 22 and just do the rest as you go.

 

For "named" IOs with set bonuses - pick up a few when you can afford them and leave the rest for later. The ATOs mostly have a unique-in-function one in each set and it's usually worth getting them as soon as you can afford them if they're worthwhile (I think 20 is the minimum). Some really add a lot to gameplay - the Stalker and Kheldian ones, for example, are flat upgrades. Get a few cheapy ones with good bonuses as you level but I'd say most people don't have full sets until they're well into Incarnate territory unless they have a lot of inf stored up and have worked their build out carefully in advance.

 

I see some have set levels and some scale with you?  Is there a difference in quality?

The lower level ones give you a lower enhancement, so if you get one with a 20% enhancement to a stat, it will always be 20% as you level up. A higher level one might give you 25% all the way up, for example. The set bonuses don't vary by level so you can mix and match.  

 

How do I go about crafting these (keeping in mind I'm not part of a SG at the moment)?

At a crafting station - the universities are the easiest ones to find and have a tutorial. Each one uses a recipe, some salvage and some inf. You collect recipes as you go, or buy them off the consignment house (type /ah to open it). Recipes are used up when you create an enhancement. 

 

You can also buy them from the consignment house - I just bought most of my set bonus ones rather than craft them but that's because I'm lazy and had enough inf over enough time to do that. I craft the "normal" IOs without set bonuses because you can just buy the recipes from the crafting menu. A much riskier method is to craft cheap enhancements and use enhancement converters to something more useful (even if you just sell it on the auction house to fund getting something you actually want), which can be quite profitable but carries an element of risk.

 

Also, you can create a SG and create a base for free on Homecoming. It's worth doing even just as a giant teleport hub.

 

Are there any "must have" sets overall or for each archetype?

Not really, but lots of people go for Luck of the Gambler for the global recharge reduction one (goes in a Defence slot), Panacea (Healing slot) and Performance Shifter (Endurance slot) for extra endurance over time - these are all specific enhancements from each set, rather than a whole set bonus. The archetype-specific enhancements vary between amazing and kinda okay - most have one that does something unusual that I would get as early as is practical (Stalkers have a proc to hide and a proc to recharge Build Up, Kheldians have one that gives you a different bonus per form, for example).

 

I see lots of builds being shared with various IO sets, at what point do you layer in those sets?  When you can afford them?  Level 50?  Sometime before?

When you can afford them, basically. Note that if you use the Ourobouros flashback system or task forces a lot and want to be extremely efficient, you might want to have a level 50 sparkly IO build and a levelling build (talk to a trainer to change builds) as some of them lose effectiveness below a certain level. If you're not too bothered about being mega-efficient, you can stick with one though (I stick with one as it's not like I'm speedrunning task forces solo or anything). 

 

What should I prioritize in your mind when choosing IO sets to pursue?

It really depends on what you want to achieve. A bit more defence (smashing & lethal or melee/ranged/AoE), resistance (smashing and lethal are most common) and global recharge are usually things people want to go for and some of the accuracy and damage bonuses are pretty nice. Knockback-to-knockdown can transform annoying, chaotic knockback powers into incredibly useful ones that act like a hold. 

 

I'm currently building up tons of salvage across my dozen or so alts (I have a serious case of alt-itis since coming back).  Should I stockpile, or just sell on the market and re-buy when I need?

I would sell as I think the 15% (I think?) you lose to the auction house acts as a tax on me not having to remember where I keep what salvage but I am also really lazy. I always sell orange salvage and recipes I won't use.

 

Anything about IO's that I'm not asking about, but I should be made aware of?

Just in case it wasn't clear, a "proc" is a chance for an effect to trigger, like extra damage or a bonus on something. Most of them say how often or how likely they are to occur.  Procs get less frequent on powers with short recharges to counteract that you're firing them off more often and AoEs have a lower rate per target. Global recharge doesn't effect proc rate, which is one reason why everyone loves Luck of the Gambler's special recharge reduction enhancement. 

 

You shouldn't have more than five of the same thing - if you get six LotG global recharge reductions, only five of the will have an effect.

 

It's not unusual to see your damage dip slightly with a full enhancement set if they're lower level enhancements - the Musculature alpha incarnate is a pretty good way of counteracting this.

Edited August 10, 2019 by Gulbasaur

[PaxArcana]

56 minutes ago, DarZindel said:

Roughly what level should I start seriously looking to slot IOs?

A Level 25 IO is as good a bonus as an SO that is -1 to your level.  You could, therefor, slot IO25s when you are level 22-26, as resources permit you to craft or buy them - and even leave them there all the way to level 50.  Of course, as your level goes up, filling remaining empty slots with higher-level IOs would be advisable.

 

59 minutes ago, DarZindel said:

How do I go about crafting these (keeping in mind I'm not part of a SG at the moment)?

On Blueside, the university in Steel Canyon (at the southern end) has crafting tables you can use.

[Myrmidon]

1 hour ago, DarZindel said:

Are there any "must have" sets overall or for each archetype?

I don’t even play a character until I have both the Miracle and Numina’s Convalescence uniques at minimum level ready to be slotted into Health when their level arrives.

[Llewellyn Blackwell]

There is almost too much to cover without a live voice caht and the ability to talk in real time while in game to help direct you to look at the What when and why of it all.

 

However Ill cover some of the basics. Accuracy and recharge IOs are very handy right at lvl 12, the lvl 15 common IOs you can craft at the university have a solid 19% bonus, a pair of accuracy IOs at that range will take away most to hit issues as you develop your toon.

 

Most players seem to wait till lvl 22 to do serious IO setting due to the luck of the gambler( lotg) set, its global recharge special is highly prized and in any click heavy toggle light build you should be trying to fit in 5 of those. be it via stealth pool, leadership pool etc for defense powers to slot.

 

While leveling specific set bonuses are not too big an issue mostly. However on some power sets like regen I start building the sets with global recharge asap. lvl 22 and 27 tend to be when access to various sets that are widely prized occur.

 

There is also something known as frankensetting/frankenslotting.: This is basically when you look for set bits that effect multiple aspects of a power like accuracy/damage/endurance cost. various sets have such mixes, and if you can grab a few various set bits that do that, and slot them in a power you will often end up with more total% boost on that power then slotting individual aspects, maybe not to the max that focus on one aspect will get, but getting like 4) accuracy,dmg, recharge, and end cost red out of 3 slots is imo a good trade off for those trying to stretch their slots especially while leveling.

 

To earn Inf , take your reward merits to the merit vendor, under salvage tab look for enhacnment converters. 1 merit gets 2, each E Con as they are called for short, will avg you around 90k. maybe a bit more or less depending on the market. So lets say 1 merit will net you 250k for ease of rounding. I find around 10-20 mil lets me franken set new alts around lvl 17 to start with very easily, and 20 mil is like nothing to a lvl 50 earner.

 

If say you favor a given play style like melee, then many IO sets from the franken set for leveling can be passed on via in game email to let you develop a lvling collection for alts that as attuned IO will be good for characters till cap and perfecting the build and fine tuning slots for specific set bonuses begins.

 

In time as you learn the sets and their bonuses, and the better you know your powers and their needs you will be far better off. till then try to not stress if you have a few speed bumps in figuring it all out.

[DarZindel]

Thank you for the replies so far, it is very much appreciated.  

 

Good point on starting basically a shell of a SG for the teleport, and maybe storage and crafting.  

 

I had forgotten about the universities completely.  I think I ran the tutorial there once right before I quit around I8. 

 

If I'm reading correctly, it seems that SO's can be skipped completely now (as long as you have the cash and salvage, etc. to make the equivalent generic IO).  That works fine from my perspective as I always hated the grind for new SOs every 5 or so levels and to actually feel more whimpy when I leveled up from say level 30 to level 31.  

 

I'd heard there is a trick using the auction house for moving inf between characters, or at least used to be, is that still working?  

 

Thanks again everyone for your thoughtful replies.  🙂

[Myrmidon]

10 minutes ago, DarZindel said:

I'd heard there is a trick using the auction house for moving inf between characters, or at least used to be, is that still working?  

There’s no need to worry about that. You can mail Influence to yourself in the mail system. Just send it to your own global name.

[MunkiLord]

6 hours ago, Bopper said:

If you want to buy IOs from the Auction House, always buy Attuned. They will level with you, so you can buy them whenever. The only time you should ever NOT buy attuned, it would be the Very Rare level 50 purple sets. 

This is what I do. Except when a buddy and I made two Time Defenders that we only plan on doing end game content with, never exemplaring. So I boosted most of mine instead. I can't think of another character in which I would do that with though. Great characters, but we liked our Cold Defenders more.