Here’s the linkage:

• Super Booster II: Magic Pack Now on Sale
• i14 Architect – Release Notes – 4/8/09
• Mission Architect Video and Guide!
• Issue 14 Follow-Up From Positron!
• Justice Girls Summer Heat – Virtue – May 9 – 8-11pm Eastern
• Bumper: Cheyenne Wright
• Promo: The Seanachai

In this episode we discuss:

• We’re cutting back, but we’re still Yay! New Casting
• A word regarding outside solicitations
• Announcing: New SG/VG leadership rank for Issue 14
• Introducing player proup: City of Comic Creators!
• Weekend update!
• Issue #14: Architect coming to live servers soon Wednesday, April 8 !!!
• LT makes an appearance to give his opinions on the shields powers and character creator options
• Bored at work Haiku
• Nerd Girl Deathmatch. A Short Play in One Act. (Inspired by actual events)
• Promo: Balticon 43 – May 22 – 25, 2009. We totally forgot to talk about it, but we’ll be there and will be speaking on a few panels!

By the way, the pie was epic WIN!

Linkage:

• Details About Mac Version & Perks
• New Video Ads for Mac!
• Massively.com gives City of Heroes 2008 Award!!
• URGENT! – Do NOT Use Witch Leather Top
• City of Heroes Featured on Apple Games!
• Live Patch — 1.22.09
• Announcing 57 & 60 Month Veteran Rewards!
• Mur Lafferty’s favorite character
• Promo:Movie Mantras

Clicky to see the full text for Part 4 of Fantastic Foe’s IO Sets feature

The following is the (more or less) final installment in the Fantastic Foe IO Set Featurettes, presenting specific character attributes and the IO sets that support them as bonuses.

I’ll be presenting the following topics based on protections to damage type, with commonly associated damages merged: ie. smashing and lethal, fire and cold, energy and negative energy, etc.

The percentage bonuses are rather small, and obviously aren’t meant to replace powersets.

When discussing resistances and defenses, I’d like to make a few statements:

1) 1% defense is roughly equivalent to 2% of resistance. The reasoning behind this non-binding law of protective equivalence has been hashed out in the forums. It’s not an exact science, but for lightweight discussions, it works okay.

2) % bonuses seem small, but they are worthwhile. +5% defense is the same benefit granted a character using a shield in Dungeons and Dragons, or any other +1 bonus to armor class, and I rarely in my days of gaming saw anyone forgo the use of a shield when it was available to them to have one on the basis that the bonus was too small.

SMASHING/LETHAL RESISTANCE/DEFENSE
Smashing/Lethal is not only the most common damage type in the game, but it is often a component of energy and elemental based attacks (i.e. being hit by a cold/smashing attack or fire/lethal) so improving Smashing/Lethal resistance or defense is usually a good investment.

Sadly, your options are limited when it comes to IO set bonuses versus Smash/Lethal.

Smashing/Lethal Resistance
Sets providing Smash/Lethal Resistance bonuses with 3 IOs:

Knockback: Kinetic Crash +2.5% Smashing Resistance

Sets providing Smash/Lethal Resistance bonuses with 4 IOs:

Targeted AOE: Air Burst   + 0.63 Smash/Lethal Resist
Pet: Edict of the Master   + 2.5% Lethal Resist
Sleep: Hibernation   +1.25% Smash Resist [4 out of 5 required]

Smashing Lethal Defense
Sets providing Smash/Lethal Defense bonuses with 2 IOs:

To Hit Buff: Rectified Reticle  +0.95% Smash/Lethal [2 of 3 required]

Sets providing Smash/Lethal Defense bonuses with 3 IOs:

Taunt: Annoyance   +0.63 Smash/Lethal  Def [3 of 3 required]
Taunt: Triumphant Insult   +0.95 Smash/Lethal Defense [3/3]
To Hit Debuff: Discouraging Words   +0.63 S/L Defense [3/3]

Sets providing Smash/Lethal Defense bonuses with 4 IOs:

Sleep:Lethargic Repose   +1.88% Smashing Defense
Slow: Curtail Speed +1.25% Lethal Defense [4/5]
Immob: Enfeebled Operation +2.5% Lethal Defense
Taunt: Mocking Beratement  +1.26% Smash/Lethal Defense

Sets providing Smash/Lethal Defense bonuses with 6 IOs:

Taunt: Perfect Zinger +1.58% Smash/Lethal Defense

And that’s it. More defense options are available than resistance, which is fine if you want marginal gains in defense since the defensive pool powers, ( i.e. combat jumping, hover, etc. ) offer very small defensive bonuses, even when slotted to explicitly improve defense. (I think the base is 2.5%, triple slotting with defense hits around 4% total)

FIRE/COLD RESISTANCE/DEFENSE
Interestingly enough, all but one of the following sets provide either protections against the elemental damage of fire or cold attacks with only an investment of 3 set IOs. So Fire and Cold protections can be interwoven with other 2 and 3 IO set combinations.

When I first began researching IO bonuses against Fire and Cold, I assumed that there would be many sets that only provided protections against cold, or only against fire. That way one could reinforce a particular concept for a character, like you might do in the Champions pen and paper RPG.  Say a character might be particularly resistant or particularly vulnerable to fire, totally unrelated to how they react against other damage types, such as cold damage. But in almost all cases in City of Heroes, bonuses from IO sets for fire apply to bonuses for cold.

Fire/Cold Damage Resistance
Sets providing Fire/Cold Resistance bonuses with 3 IOs:

PBAOE: Multi-Strike +0.95% Fire/Cold Resist
Ranged: Salvo +1.26% Fire/Cold Resist [3 of 3 required]
Targeted AOE: Positron’s Blast +1.58% Fire/Cold Resist
Sniper: Executioner’s Contract +3.13% COLD Resist
Heal: Doctored Wounds +1.26% Fire/Cold Resist

Defense: Gift of the Ancients +2.5% FIRE Resist
Defense: Red Fortune +1.26% Fire/Cold Resist

Immob: Debilitative Action +2.5% COLD Resist
Stun: Rope a Dope +0.95% Fire/Cold Resist

The following are from the rare unique level 50 sets (still 3 IOs):

Melee: Hecatomb +2.52% Fire/Cold Resistance
PBAOE: Armageddon +2.52% Fire/Cold Resistance
Targeted AOE: Ragnarok +2.52% Fire/Cold Resistance
Sleep: Fortunata Hypnosis +2.52% Fire/Cold Resistance
Immob: Gravitational Anchor +2.52% Fire/Cold Resistance
Hold: Unbreakable Constraint +2.52% Fire/Cold Resistance
Stun: Absolute Amazement +2.52% Fire/Cold Resistance

Fire/Cold Attack Defense
Sets providing Fire/Cold Defense bonuses with 3 IOs:

Ranged: Maelstrom’s Fury +1.88% COLD Def  [3 of 4 needed]
Sniper: Exploit Weakness +0.63% Fire/Cold Def  [3/4]
Pet: Blood Mandate +0.95% Fire/Cold Defense
Resist: Aegis +1.58% Fire/Cold Defense
Stun:Stagger +0.63% Fire/Cold Defense

And the exception to all other Fire/Cold bonus sets:
Set providing Fire/Cold Defense bonus with 5 IOs

Taunt: Mocking Beratement +1.58% Fire/Cold Defense

Alright, there are more options for boosting fire/cold and the percentages are larger than the smash/lethal set, although that is tempered by the fact that many of the resistance sets are unique and therefore part of an expensive pool of IOs. Still, you might be able to with very little effort get 3-4% defense, or 7-8% resistance to fire/cold attacks. That’s not too bad on defense, since it’ll stack with hover/combat jumping, and of course with the benefits of a Force Field: Insulation shield. (I say of course, like I know… but for all I know they don’t… I leave that answer as an exercise for the listener…)

ENERGY/NEGATIVE ENERGY RESISTANCE/DEFENSE
I should probably refer to energy attacks such as the energy component in Energy Blast or Radiation as “Positive Energy” since “Energy” in general should encompass “Negative Energy” as well. But I’m lazy, and that’s like 8 whole characters, so take it on spec that Energy and Negative Energy are Positive Energy and Negative Energy respectively. Capiche?

Again, most Energy and Neg. Energy protection bonuses are found in the 3 IO range, which leaves nice options for franken-slotting,Also, about half of the IO sets only apply a bonus to positive energy or negative energy but not both.

Energy/Negative Damage Resistance
Sets providing Energy Resistance bonuses with 3 IOs:

PBAOE: Scirocco’s Dervish +3.13% Negative Energy Resis.
Ranged: Tempest +0.63% Energy/Neg Energy Resis. [3 of 4]
Targeted AOE: Detonation +1.88% Energy Resis.
Immob: Enfeebled Operation +1.88% Neg. Energy Resis.
Hold: Paralytic +0.63% Energy/Neg Energy Resis [ 3 of 5]
Fear: Unspeakable Terror +2.5% Negative Energy Resis
To Hit Buff: Adjusted Targeting + 1.26% NRG/Neg. NRG Res

Set providing Energy Resistance bonus with 4 IOs:

To Hit Debuff: Dampened Spirits +2.5% Neg. Energy Res.

Energy/Negative Energy Defense
Sets providing Energy/Negative Energy Defense bonuses with 3 IOs:

Melee: Pulverizing Fisticuffs +0.65% NRG/Neg NRG Def [3/4]
Melee: Pounding Slugfest +0.63% Energy/Neg Energy Def[3/4]

PBAOE: Cleaving Blow +1.25% Energy Defense [3/4]
Ranged: Thundersrtrike +2.5% Energy Defense

Sniper: Calibrated Accuracy +0.95% Energy/Neg Energy Def
Sniper: Sting of the manticore +0.95% Energy/Neg Energy Def

Resist Dam:Reactive Armor +1.25% Energy Defense
Sleep: Lethargic Repose +1.88% Energy Defense
Fear: Nightmare +1.88% Negative Energy Defense

There’s not a huge number of sets, particularly that only half or so apply both to positive and negative flavored energy damage, but the percentages aren’t too bad, and you could probably get a +5% defense (or possible an equivalent combo of defense and resistance.) This might help plug a hole or two, but doesn’t seem super exciting. Certainly, IO set bonuses can easily improve the 2.5% unenhanced defense Hover gives (4% triple SO enhanced.)

TOXIC/PSIONIC RESISTANCE/DEFENSE
Although Toxic damage and Psionic damage are unrelated, bonuses that protect against them tend to be linked in the IO set bonuses. So, for purposes of this featurette, they are related. So say we all.

With one exception, all Toxic Resistance, Psionic Resistance, and Psionic Defense bonus set IOs require total commitment: 6 IOs. (There is no Toxic Defense, by the way, as Toxic-damaging attacks have an attack vector (usually, I think) of ranged/special. The arcana involving an attack’s damage type and attack vector type might be a worthwhile feature one day….)

So, if you want to get any significant bonuses against Psionic or Toxic, prepare to pay. (Since any investment is probably going to be expensive, I don’t separate out the unique sets from the regular sets, since it’s all going to cost a ton.)

Toxic/Psionic Resistance
Sets that offer resistance bonuses against toxic or psionic damage for a mere 6 IOs:

Melee: Crushing Impact +2.5% Psi Res
Melee:Hecatomb +5% Toxic Res

PBAOE:Armageddon +5% Toxic Res
Ranged: Decimation +1.58% Toxic/Psi Res

Target AOE:Detonation +1.88% Toxic Res
Target AOE:Positron’s Blast +3.13% Res
Target AOE: Ragnarok +5% Toxic Res

Sniper: Sting of the Manticore +3.13% Toxic Res

Pet: Brilliant Leadership +1.26% Toxic/Psi Res
Pet:Edict of the Master +1.26% Toxic/Psi Res

Heal:Harmonized Healing +1.88% Toxic Res
Heal: Doctored Wounds +1.26% Toxic/Pis Res

Resist Damage: Impervium Armor +3.13% Psi Res
Resist Damage: Reactive Armor +1.25% Toxic Res
Resist Damage: Aegis +3.13% Toxic Res

Defense: Serendipity +1.25% Toxic Res
Defense: Gift of the Ancients +2.5% Psi Res
Defense: Luck of the Gambler +3.13% Psi Res

Confuse: Perplex +0.95% Toxic/Psi Res

Sleep: Lethargic Repose +1.88% Toxic Res
Sleep: Call of the Sandman +1.58% Toxic/Psi Res
Sleep: Fortunata Hypnosis +5% Toxic Res

Immob: Debilitative Action +2.5% Toxic Res
Immob: Gravitational Anchor +5% Toxic Res

Hold: Ghost Widow’s Embrace +3.13% Psi Res
Hold: Unbreakable Constraint +5% Toxic Res

Fear: Unspeakable Horror +2.5% Psi Res
Fear: Glimpse of the Abyss +3.13% Psi Res
Fear: Nightmare +0.95% Toxic/Psi Res

Stun: Absolute Amazement +5% Toxic Res
To Hit Debuff: Dark Watcher’s Despair +3.75% Psi Res

Psionic Defense (There is no toxic defense!)

Sets providing Psionic Defense bonuses with 2 IOs
Resist: Impervium Armor    +1.88 Psi Defense

Sets providing Psionic Defense bonuses with 6 IOs
PBAOE:Scirocco’s Dervish  +3.13% Psi Defense

Ranged: Devastation  +3.75% Psi Defense
Ranged: Apocalypse  +5% Psi Defense

Pet: Soulbound Allegiance  +5% Psi Defense
Heal: Miracle  +1.88% Psi Defense
Defense:Gift of the Ancients  +2.5% Psi Defense
Stun: Rope a Dope  +1.88% Psi Defense

Now, that’s a pretty fair amount of protective bonus sets, although of course I’ve munged (fancy technical term for moooshing…) Toxic and Psionic, but usually a set that protects against one does so against the other. Usually.

Anyway, if you have mad influence to burn to complete 6 IOs pieces, I mean a lot of influence, then it looks like you could rack up Resistance percentages easily from 5-15%. I mean, boatloads of influence, and the availability of the pieces in the market.

Defense, eh, you could probably easily (given cash and availability) hit 10% defense. Sure, 10% doesn’t sound that much, but that’s a +2 in D and D terms!

POSITIONAL (MELEE, RANGED, AOE) DEFENSE
This category of sets that contribute to positional defenses is a looooong list.

The previous defenses worked against attacks based on the type of damage that they did or roughly on the kind of elemental attack that it was. Positional defense is different in that it works regardless of the damage type of an attack; it defends against the vector or positional characteristic of the attack. Is it a melee attack like a punch? A ranged attack like a blast? Or an area of effect attack like an explosion? So Positional Defense is usually either a ranged defense, melee defense, or AOE defense

Since positional defenses work equally well regardless of the damage (a flaming sword attack or a kick are both melee, so melee defense can apply to both equally) they are intrinsically more useful than “typed” defenses, where you might have defense against lethal, fire, cold, energy, negative energy, psionic, and then get hit by a 100% smashing baseball.

Positional Defense bonuses from IO sets are also rather expensive, since most sets that offer any positional defenses usually require at least 5 IOs from a set. On the plus side, most percentages are at least +1.25%, so there’s no dinking around with 0.68% bonuses or similar nonsense.

And now, the list:
Sets providing Positional Defense bonuses with 3 IOs

Defense Debuff: Exploited Vulnerability  +1.25% MELEE Def
Defense Debuff: Achilles Heel  +1.88% AOE Def

Sets providing Positional Defense bonuses with 5 IOs
PBAOE:Multi Strike  +1.88% AOE Def
PBAOE:Scirocco’s Dervish  +3.13% AOE Def

Ranged:Ruin  +1.88% AOE Def
Targeted AOE:Detonation  +1.88% AOE Def
Sniper:Extreme Measures  +2.5% AOE Def

Pets:Commanding Presence  +1.88% AOE Def
Pets:Blood Mandate  +3.75% AOE Def

Heal:Harmonized Healing  +1.88% AOE Def
Heal:Miracle  +1.88% AOE Def

Resist Damage:Reactive Armor  +1.25% AOE Def
Resist Damage:Aegis  +3.13% AOE Def

Confuse:Cacophony  +2.5% AOE Def
Confuse:Perplex  +1.88% AOE Def

Sleep:Lethargic Repose  +1.88% AOE Def
Immob:Debilitative Action  +2.5% AOE Def
Stun: Razzle Dazzle  +2.5% MELEE Def

Sets providing Positional Defense bonuses with 6 IOs
Melee:Touch of Death  +3.13% MELEE Def
Melee:Mako’s Bite  +3.75% RANGED Def

PBAOE:Multistrike  +1.88% MELEE Def
Ranged:Thunderstrike  +2.5% RANGED Def

Sniper:Calibrated Accuracy  +3.13% RANGED Def
Sniper:Executioners Contract  +1.88% RANGED Def
Sniper:Extreme Measures  +2.5% MELEE Def

Pets:Blood Mandate  +3.75% RANGED Def
Pets:Sovereign Right  +3.13% MELEE Def

Resist Damage:Titanium Coating  +2.5% MELEE Def
Defense:Red Fortune  +2.5% RANGED Def

Confuse:Malaise’s Illusions  +3.13% RANGED Def
Confuse:Coercive Persuasion  +5% RANGED Def

Sleep:Induced Coma  +2.5% MELEE Def

Slow:Impeded Swiftness  +2.5% MELEE Def
Slow:Tempered Readiness  +1.88% RANGED Def
Slow:Pacing of the Turtle  +3.13% RANGED Def

Immob:Enfeebled Operation  +3.13% MELEE Def
Immob:Trap of the Hunter  +3.13% RANGED Def

Hold:Neuronic Shutdown  +2.5% RANGED Def
Hold:Essence of Curare  +1.88% RANGED Def

Stun:Razzle Dazzle  +2.5% AOE Def
Stun:Stupefy  +3.13% RANGED Def

Knockback:Force Feedback  +3.13% AOE Def
Endurance Mod:Performance Shifter  +3.13% AOE Def

To Hit Buff:Gaussian’s Synchronized Fire Control  +2.5% AOE, Melee, Ranged Def
Defense Debuff:Undermined Defense  +2.5% AOE Def

Now, there are a lot of Sets that contribute to one of the three aspects of positional defense, and there are enough variations in percentages that, should you possess a ginormous supply of influence and the ability to make people sell some valuable IOs in the market, you could rack up some healthy percentages.

Totally as a thought experiment, lets say you could 5-stack three of the common percentages, 1.88, 2.5, and 3.13. That’s probably impossible, but lets just say you could. It is numerically impossible that you could do this for all three of the positional defense flavors, so mentally just pick your favorite, Melee, Ranged, or AOE.

(1.88 + 2.5 + 3.13) * 5 = 37.55%! Since the average even con minion only has a 50% to hit you, if you could mythically slot such a bonus, a bad guy when attacking on the vector you’re protected against would only have a 12.45 % chance of hitting. (More or less. I’m way simplifying the complicated To Hit calculation for conceptual reasons…I would encourage listeners more versed in the To Hit mechanics to confirm or refute my simplified math.)

Now, it’s doubtful you could slot 15 powers of the 24 (for non-Kheldians and not counting inherents) that we get during game to get such a godlike defense (against one of ranged, melee, *or* AOE) but it is reasonable that you could get a 10% bonus perhaps against one, two, or all three position vectors. Reasonable given availability of IOs and your cash reserves, of course.

If I can offer some general opinions on positional defense: even if percentages are small, defense is nice to have and positional defense is nicer than typed defense.

Traditional “hardened” types, Tanks, Scrappers, Brutes, and yes, even Peacebringers (even Human-Form PBs I consider hardened) probably don’t need the extra defense, but it always helps. Percentage bonuses of defense are always worth more to characters when adding to an existing base (this is true of resistance too, but I’m talking defense in this section, so move along with me.)

Non-hardened archetypes can certainly supplement what defenses they might have, and based on their play-styles, a particular kind of defense might be better than others. I tend to suggest AOE defense to characters who don’t want to necessarily be in melee, but end up their anyway, either because they want to get the benefit of an AOE heal being cast on the team tank’s opponent, or they’re using their hurricane to pin enemies in a corner, or they are standing next to a bad guy who happens to be the anchor of a mighty debuff effect. Or they just like being near the tank.

Being next to a tank doesn’t sound bad. Even if he’s not taunting, his gauntlet will be getting attention, and if you get in trouble the tank can start knocking down anyone bullying you, and the team defender (should they possess heals and have been keeping an eye on the tank) has you on their radar.

But… then the boss villain drops a Nuke. Even if none of the enemies are paying attention to you standing in the tank’s shadow, the grenade from that Council Lieutenant, or the missiles from that Malta Titan just don’t care, they are going to blow up next to you anyway while bouncing off the tank. So AOE defense can go a long way.

Second up would be Ranged defense, since characters not planning on melee’ing can usually maneuver out of melee range. But since it seems that every enemy has a ranged attack that waaay exceeds a player’s range, maneuvering beyond melee just gets you shot at. So, ratgned defense cuts down on the times your defeated by madly fleeing. Just stay out of range of the AOE flamethrowers.

But, if you really want Melee defense I’m not going to argue. Melee attacks usually do more damage than ranged, and if you know you’re going to get punched at, stabbed at, clawed, thumped etc, by all means, try to get some melee defense and reduce how often that happens.

Just be aware, positional defense bonuses usually don’t work with the traditional power pool defenses, like Combat Jumping or Hover. Those powers are usually good against all Damage Types, defense vs fire, cold, smashing, lethal, negative energy, etc. Typed Defense values and Positional Defense values don’t stack. I discovered this when Real Numbers became available, and I could monitor the defenses on my Super Reflexes scrapper, who now no longer turns on Combat Jumping.

Again, please correct me if I am talking out of my nether region. You know what I mean.

HOLD AND STUN RESISTANCE
I’m introducing Holds and Stuns together, since thematically they are similar, but I’ll present the sets that support protections separately.

Stun resistance is mostly in the 4 IO range, and Hold resistance is in the 5 IO range, but except for two sets, the bonuses for slotting against hold or against stun are from entirely different supersets of IOs.

I’m not a huge fan of the bonuses available. To accumulate a serious effect, you would probably have to take either Acrobatics to reduce time Held, and  use Aid Self proactively to reduce time Stunned, and add bonuses from IO sets on top of that. Other than that, I suspect you can easily get 10% reductions in time spent stunned or held. I would be interested if anyone could get in the 30% range in either (particular in Stun resistance.)

Stun Resistance
Sets that offer Stun resistance bonuses for 4 IOs:

PBAOE:Multi-Strike  +1.65% Stun Resistance
Ranged: Maelstrom’s Fury  +1.65% Stun Resistance

Pet:Blood Mandate  +1.65% Stun Resistance
Pet: Sovereign Right  +2.75% Stun Resistance

Resist Damage: Titanium Coating  +2.2% Stun Resistance

Confuse:Befuddling Aura  +1.1% Stun Resistance
Confuse:Cacophony  +2.2% Stun Resistance

Slow:Impeded Swiftness  +2.2% Stun Resistance
Hold:Essence of Curare  +1.65% Stun Resistance
Fear:Horror  +1.1% Stun Resistance

Set that offers Stun resistance for 5 IOs:
Stun:Stagger +1% Stun Resistance [ 5 of 5 required]

Hold Resistance
Set that offers Hold resistance for 3 IOs:
Taunt: Mocking Beratement +2.75% Hold Resistance

Sets that offer Hold resistance for 5 IOs:
Melee:Touch of Death  +2.75% Hold Resistance
Melee:Mako’s Bite  +3.3% Hold Resistance

Ranged Damage:Devastation  +3.3% Hold Resistance
Sniper:Executioner’s Contract  +2.75% Hold Resistance

Pet:Edict of the Master  +2.2% Hold Resistance
Pet:Sovereign Right  +2.75% Hold Resistance
Pet:Soulbound Allegiance  +4.4% Hold Resistance

Heal:Numina’s Convalescence  +3.3% Hold Resistance

Resist Damage:Impervium Armor  +2.75% Hold Resistance
Resist Damage:Titanium Coating  +2.75% Hold Resistance

Defense: Gift of the Ancients  +2.2% Hold Resistance
Defense: Luck of the Gambler  +2.75% Hold Resistance

Slow: Impeded Swiftness  +2.2% Hold Resistance
Slow: Pacing of the Turtle  +2.75% Hold Resistance

Immob: Trap of the Hunter  +2.75% Hold Resistance
Fear: Nightmare  +1.65% Hold Resistance
Stun: Rope a Dope  +1.88% Hold Resistance

I find it interesting that the inexpensive set for Hold Resistance is a Taunt set, since the classic Taunter, the Tank, usually has excellent Hold protections for PVE. PVP might be different…

AND THAT IS THAT! I’M DONE!
Well, not exactly. There were a handful of other attributes, but I’m passing on them by mentioning them this way. Some of the Heal IO sets improve all your healing, some of the Slow IO sets improve your slows, Confuse sets improve confuses, Fear sets improve Fear durations, etc. You’ll run into those bonuses pretty much as you gather up set IOs just to slot the usual enhancement bonuses. Those will jump out at you, and there’s no need to state them here.

I’d like to thank ParagonWiki’s page on Invention Origin sets, which saved me from making a big matrix of what each set offers. I appreciated being able to look at bonus values without having to look at recipes or crafted IO enhancements in Wentworths.

That being said, I take responsibility for any errors or irregularities in this report. In my defense, there were a lot of notes being taken and shuffled around, with bits of info being added to, amended, errors found, etc. I would have had my editor wife assist me or proofread, but I can’t afford her rates, the mercenary.

I hope that this report provides some value. I know I’d been wanting to beef up my level 50s, but had not really been putting the time in to see what I could do. After cataloging the values from IO sets, it gave me certain goals to achieve for my characters, which helped me draft up some recipe shopping lists, which of course gave me an Influence goal and prompted me to start in on playing them again.

Any reason to play my 50s is a good reason

We’ve got over 100 comments still waiting to be recorded, but they’re going to get their own episode

In this episode we discuss:

• Day Jobs on CoH Titan Wiki
  
• City of Heroes Holiday Promotion!
• 12.9.08 Instability Issues
• Patch Notes 12.9.08
• NCSoft posted a position for a new Community Coordinator
• Atari purchases Cryptic Studios
• Everquest I & II players now able to buy virtual goods in-game with real money
• Episode 40 feedback
• The Wholly Unofficial and Fairly Incomplete Guide to /BIND (thanks Skye Rocket!)
• Promo: Scott Sigler’s Contagious
  

This time we discuss:

• PPD Contest Winners
• Congrats to Troy Hickman and Twilight Guardian!
• New Boosters Now Available: Jetpack and Cyborg!
• IGN.com Talks With Matt “Positron” Miller
• Issue 13: So big it can’t be contained in 1 update
• MMORPG.com Talk About Issue 13 & 14 Changes
• Massively.com Interviews: Issues, PvP, & Boosters
• The Rikti Return! Invasion from Sept. 26 to Oct 2
• Happy Birthday to RoseVortex – Organ Donors Wanted
• Promo: Geek Survival Guide

In This Episode:

• Announcing Issue 13: Architect
• Oversight with the Shield Powerset and Stalkers!
• Hero 1 on Mission Architect on the Training Room!
• Win a Freakshow Costume Code on w00t Studios!
• Want to get some ideas for Base Building?
• Winter Event Testing Sept 4 on the Training Room!
• IO Set Feature thanks to Fantastic Foe!
• New contest – win free PPD Hardsuit costume tokens!
• Promo: JC Hutchins 7th Son Obsidian

Click through for the full IO Set Feature text

IO Set feature, by Fantastic Foe

[Awhile] ago, I suggested as a possible follow up to your IO
feature that you present what IO sets to look into if you were to try
and beef up a specific attribute of a character. You cleverly put the
job onto me (my boss calls that reflection, an art form perfected by
Wally in Dilbert) and suggested I submit something.

For my first research attempt, I decided to target Movement and
Recovery, two aspects that are probably better improved by picking
powers, but I like having options… and you can still pick Stamina
and Swift, and drop the bonuses from IO sets on top. Ignore ED! You
know you want to!

But I digress.

Okay, my basic goal was to look into cheap set pieces that provide a
bonus very quickly, only requiring 2 set pieces to provide the bonus.
Here’s what I found.

IO Set Pieces for Movement (in particular, running speed):

For comparison’s sake, unenhanced Sprint provides a 50% running speed
boost when toggled, unenhanced swift provides 35%. (If I’m wrong on
these percentages, please point it out… I’ll handle the mockery as
best as I can…)

The following IO sets provide bonuses to Running speed when 2 or more
set pieces are in a power:

Ranged Damage: Maelstrom’s Fury +3 % Run
Sniper: Exploit Weakness +2% Run
Healing: Regenerative Tissue +4% Run
Resist Damage: Aegis +5% Run
Hold: Ghost Widow’s Embrace +5% Run
Stun: Stagger +2% Run
Knockback: Kinetic Crash +3% Run
Melee: Focussed Smite +3% movement
Ranged Damage: Thunderstrike +4% movement
Pet: Brilliant Leadership +2% movement
Sleep: Induced Coma +3% movement
Knockback: Force Feedback +5% MOVE (Run, Flight, and Jump)
Endurance Modification: Performance Shifter +5% MOVE (see above)
To Hit: Gaussian’s Syncronized Fire Control +5% MOVE (see above)
Melee: Kinetic Combat +5% movement (see above)

Overall, there are enough large 4% and 5% bonuses that stacking can
can yield some nice results, particularly the ones to increase all
movement powers by 5%. Hover in particular is better when improved by
25% (that would be enhanced Hover, unenhanced hover would still be
painfully slow…)

The availability of the sets vary, the latest is
available at level 25, and none of the sets were prohibitively
expensive (in that at least 2 recipes where relatively cheap to
purchase. I admit to not delving too deeply into the economics.)

IO Set Pieces for Recovery

For comparison’s sake, unenhanced Stamina boosts endurance recovery 25%.

The following IO sets provide Recovery bonuses when 2 or more set
pieces are in a power:

Melee: Bruising Blow 1%
PBAOE: Cleaving Blow 1%
Ranged Damage: Thunderstrike 2%
Targeted AOE: Positron’s Blast 2.5%
Sniper: Calibrated Accuracy 1%
Sniper: Executioner’s Contract 2%
Sniper: Extreme Measures 1.5%
Pets: Commanding Presence 1.5%
Pets: Blood Mandate 1.5%
Heals: Harmonized Healing 1.5%
Heals: MIracle 2.5%
Resist Damage: Steadfast Protection 1.5%
Resist Damage: Impervium Armor 2.5 %
Defense: Kismet 1.5%
Defense: Gift of the Ancients 2%
Confuse: Befuddling Aura 1%
Confuse: Cacophony 1%
Confuse: Malaise’s Illusions 2.5%
Slow: Tempered Readiness 1.5%
Stuns: Razzle Dazzle 2%
Stuns: Stupefy 2.5%
Flight: Soaring 1%
Taunt: Triumphant Insult 1%
Endurance Modification: Adrenal Adjustment 1%
Endurance Modification: Energy Manipulation 1.5%

The remaining +recovery set IOs are all in endurance mod sets, and
require 3-4 set pieces, so Frankenslotting is possible, and can even
be combined with +recovery bonuses from the 2-piece End Mod sets.

Endurance Modification: Efficacy Adaptor (3 IOs required) + 1.5%
Endurance Modification: Performance Shifter (4 IOs required) + 2.5%

Overall, there are many sets that do provide an endurance recovery
boost. Sadly, the percentages are very small, and the stacking limit
of no more than 5 bonuses can hit fast and hard. That being said, it
should be relatively easy to hit +10% recovery, and some sets that can
frankenslot recovery boosting set IOs should easily hit 16-20%. Most
of the sets are relatively cheap to get at 2 pieces, except for the
Defense sets (which are usually small sets overall.)

These seem like small bonuses for the effort. I’d have to do an
in-depth analysis to support or refute that statement, and that is
beginning to seem like real work, In general, this might be of value
to people who despite triple-slotting Stamina still have endurance
issues, or people who choose not to take the Fitness path and instead
maximize endurance reductions and want even more endurance relief.

Beyond the sets above, there are very very expensive Purple IO sets,
available only as level 50 IOs that confer 4% recovery. These sets
are:

Melee: Hecatomb
PBAOE: Armageddon
Targeted AOE: Ragnarok
Confuse: Coercive Persuasion
Sleep: Fortunata’s Hypnosis
Immobilization: Gravitational Anchor
Stuns: Absolute Amazement
Hold: Unbreakable Constraint

These individual sets are Unique, so you couldn’t stack 5 Hecatombs,
but with time, patience, and influence, you could (okay, depending on
your build…) slot 5 from the above list and add +20% to your
recovery. Nice.

A quick clarification on what I mean by Frankenslotting:
You can’t Frankenslot a power if you are slotting more than 4 IOs from one set.

Obviously, you can 5-slot from one set, and then fill the final
available slot with a set IO from a different set, that is still
Frankenslotting. What I should have said: if you want to get IO set
bonuses from more than one set placed in a single power, 4 IOs is the
most you can slot and still be able to slot IOs from a different set
and get bonuses, since you always have to slots at least 2 IOs from a
set to get any bonus.

That might be obvious, but from the way I was saying it in my emails,
that 4 IOs was the max for frankenslotting, it was unclear.

That’s all for now. Hope this is somewhat useful, let me know if you
would like Combat Bonuses from IO Set features delivered in any other
way, or at all, or with more or less detail.

Thanks again for the great podcast.
Pat aka Fantastic Foe

Announcement: Congratulations to our Playing For Keeps novel contest winner: Brian Kotarski!!

News Linkage:

• Leipzig & Penny Arcade (PAX) Exclusive Costumes
• Facebook: Official City of Heroes Page
• Game Update – Tuesday, Aug. 19th @ 6AM Pacific
• Top 5 Finalists Announced in Machinima Contest
• Training Room01 Going Offline on Thursday, Aug. 21
• See City of Heroes at the Seattle PAX Show
• Bay Area Hero-Con 08 Registration Now Open

Promo: Chris Lester’s Arise High School fund

In a couple days will come show notes, linkage, and another episode dedicated to listener feedback.

Promo: Playing For Keeps (Novel hitting Amazon on August 25th!)

This episode we discuss:

• T-shirt status
• Contest is almost over – get your submissions in by Jul 31, 2008!: Win a copy of the debut issue of comic book Twilight Guardian by Troy Hickman! The rules are as follows:
  • Send an Email, starting immediately to cohpodcast@gmail.com
  • We will do 2 random drawings, and Troy will mail them to the winners.
  • Make sure you include the subject: “Twilight Guardian Contest”; your full name; age (over 18); and complete mailing address.
  • If we draw you name and don’t have that info, we will go to the next name we draw.
  • Also, specify how you want it signed- either with just Troy’s signature, or with your name/character name/ or inscribed to your Aunt Fannie.
• Podcaste Global channel
• Podcaste SG
• Listener meet-up – Again, we’ll be hitting the troll caves in Hollows at the next meet-up, so you need a level 12 to join us. We’ll be split up into teams again, but will be all together this time.
• Double XP weekend
• Special Episode coming up w/Mur Lafferty – Submit questions for Mighty Mur!
• CoH News
• NPC Complaints
• Feedback
• Promo: Double Trouble

Linkage:

• Stay Connected with City of Heroes RSS News Feeds!
• It’s All Access for CoH and CoV
• Recent Activity in Violation of the Forum Rules
• Forum Rules Revision
• Visit NCsoft & City of Heroes at Comic Con!
• Game Update – Tuesday, July 22nd @ 6AM Pacific
• Comic Con News Articles

In this episode we discuss:

• Listener meet-up June 28th at 2pm, Guardian server. We are going to hit the new Hollows content, so you will need a level 5 toon to enter the zone. Meet at Wincott.
  • Viv will be playing either Vico Viv or her new character, Sive the Shining.
  • Chooch will be playing The Incredible Hulk Hogan (an homage to a friend that used to play)
• T-shirt status -still in progress, but coming soon.
• Contest – In the mail and on their way to Troy. We have decided on the following rules:
  • Send us an e-mail with the subject “Funny Book Contest”
  • We will do 2 random drawings, and will mail them to the winners. Make sure you include your full name, age (over 18), and complete mailing address. If we draw your name and don’t have that info, we will go to the next name we draw.
  • No current deadline set; we’ll announce it in the next episode.
• Still I say, go check out Twilight Guardian while you can still get your hands on it! We’ve read it, and I’m really hoping it gets picked up because I want to see what her motivations are and just generally more about the character!
• “This American Hero” Wins Machinima Contest
• Re: Skirt problem
• Wikia to Send Two Lucky Gamers to Pax!
• June 17th update to the live servers
• Sync Bug? Character Can’t Move? Read More Here
• Update on the “Sync Bug”
  • Confirmation about possible bug with Rularuu Bow
• Massively.com – CoX Issue 13: All your base are belong to us?
• Accolade spotlight: Freedom Phalanx Reserve Member Badge
• SG Spotlight: Viper
• Promo: Chasing The Bard, Murder at Avedon Hill, The Metamor City Podcast, Morevi: Remastered

Its too late for clever.. here are the patch notes

This post has the correct attachment – Episode 25!

This week we discuss

• Mids Joins Titan Network! Issue 12 Version Soon!
• Positron Broadcasts Live on MMORPG.com!
• There was Server Maintenance, Wednesday, May 28th
• May 28th Patch Notes
• Executive Producer Talks with MMOABC.com
• Community Digest is Fixed
• Stone Melee nerfage
• Twilight Guardian from Top Cow, written by Troy Hickman – Support one of our own!
  • Interview with Troy Hickman
  • Review of Twilight Guardian by Wizard Universe
• Calls for Cthulhu
• Promo: Parsec Awards

• Free Respec
  This will grant a respec to characters that does not stack with any previous free respecs a character may have. Given this non-stacking nature, if you have a free respec currently, you may want to use it before the grant is run.
• Free Tailor Token
  This will apply free tailor or facemaker session tokens for each costume slot a character has.
• Global Chat Handle reset
  All accounts initially start with the ability to change their global chat handle one time. This grant will reset that and allow accounts who had previously changed their global chat handle to do so again. This is a one time chat handle change, so please use it wisely.

We just received news that NCSoft will be offering a special “Reactivation Weekend” in a few days! This means that all accounts that were a prior retail account (as in they were a subscriber not a free trial) will be reactivated during the following window:

Start: Thursday, May 22nd 10am PST / Noon CST
End: Sunday, May 25th 8:59pm PST / 10:59pm CST

So let all of your friends that have unsubscribed know about this special event and take this opportunity to try out Issue 12!!

We ended up with a show chock full of news and comments, but didn’t want to postpone the Intro to Bases further, so you gets the whole jumbo sized episode in one shot!

If you have a problem downloading the whole thing, I’ve split it into two (lower bitrate) pieces which you can directly download here: Part 1, Part 2 (note: right-click and choose “Save Link As” or your browser’s equivalent).

This time we discuss:

• News
  • NCSoft and Vivox Announce Collaboration
  • Exclusive Video Look at the Midnight Squad!
• Discussion of SI radio interview which leads to a mini-Paladin spotlight among other things
• Feature: Intro to Bases
• Our first listener meet up
• Listener comments/iTunes Reviews
• Listener feedback in email/voicemail
• The Wandering Geek Podcast
• Promos: 7th Son Obsidian and Takeover.

Viv brings to you:

• Additional Character Slots Announcement by Positron
• Rikti Return
• Vanguard info on rikti assault patterns
• Posi’s response in the WARNING: Spoilers to the VEAT storyline follow!
• Hero Dawn Bash Party – April 19
  
• Loads of listener comments, reviews, and a voicemail
• Promo: Christiana’s Shallow Thoughts

Good hunting heroes!

This episode was recorded last week but was delayed due to some technical difficulties (and minor construction at our base!)

We discuss;

• Ex Libris links to us on the official forums!
• We’re moving our studio around
• Blaster damage bug corrected
• Further veil fixes
• Clarification from Positron on the TF changes
• A new TF change on Test Server to address some of the gripes
• Main topic: Cryptic Studios Champions Online MMO now in development
• Feedback
• Hop into our new Character Gallery to see what our listener’s characters look like — and add your own!
• Promo: JC Hutchin’s Ultra Creatives Interview Series

As we go over in the episode, we are aware that Defenders are much more than healers (that they indeed are more buffers/debuffers than healers), but since there was a request specifically about healing, here it is.

In this episode we discuss:

• Some quick news (Rikti portal XP update, and a contentious TF/SF change)
• Villain Strike Force information
• New Valentine mish in Atlas Park
• Information about the Manticore/Sister Psyche wedding event
• Our Defender/Healer disclaimer
• Listener feedback
• Another request for SGs to promote – here is your chance to get your SG some exposure and recruit some new blood! Send us your SG details: Name, Server, Website if you have one, the type of SG it is (role play, farming, PVP, etc.), and how to contact you in-game.
• Also, let us know a preferred day/time for an in-game meet up!
• Promo: Geeklabel Radio

This is an exciting week, Heroes! Lots going on, so this episode is our longest. Buckle up and enjoy!

• Double XP weekend hangover
• Huuuuuge game patch
• Announcement for this year’s Jubilee event!
  Event Timing:
  Start: Thursday, February 14th, 8:59am PST / 11:59am EST
  Finish: Thursday, February 28th, 8:59pm PST / 11:59pm EST
• Info on Manticore and Sister Psyche’s Valentine’s Day wedding on Training Room/Test Server!
• New game pack available for purchase!
• Other interesting news tidbits as well. Did YOU know about the change to Rikti portals? We didn’t!

Then, because we don’t know when enough is enough, we allow ourselves to have a feature discussion after being inspired by questions from a listener. We discuss powers and enhancement slotting as we prefer them.

• Disclaimer on the possibility that Real Numbers will make all of this moot.
• Discussion on archetypes and builds, and how we personally play them.
• Traditional roles of different archetypes within a team.
• Our rule of thumb on slotting enhancements.
• Hero Planners: Joe Chott’s Hero Planner, Mid’s Hero Designer and Sucker Punch’s Hero Planner for guidance on the effects of enhancements in different slots
• Hero Stats

Promo: Geek Acres

Next episode: Scheduled to be a News episode. If there is no news we will discuss the defender/healer roles as requested by a listener!

• Changes to powers for various archetypes (lots for Forcefield Controllers, but some for tankers, blasters, and Kheldians)
• Information on “XP curve adjustments” to help with those tough levels
• The “combat attribute window” and “attribute monitor”
• The CoH Planner
• Changes to base storage tracking
• Some small changes to the User Interface
• Don’t forget – Double XP happens this weekend Starting Friday, February 8, 2008 at 8:59am PST / 11:59am EST and ending Sunday, February 10, 2008 at 8:59pm PST / 11:59pm EST
• Listener Feedback
• New Promo: Playing For Keeps

• The 2008 State of the Game
• The “City Vault”
• The next double XP weekend and server hardware improvements
• Valentine’s Day event
• Smoothing the XP curve
• “Real Numbers”
• City of Heroes Fanzine
• Fanzine Submission Webpage
• Changes to Moment of Glory coming
• In-game mail spam
• feedback
• Promo: Playing for Keeps

• Dates for the winter event
• Winterlord’s Holiday Extravaganza
• PERC Costume Contest earlier this year
• Justice Radio (not WOOT! Radio)
• Patch Notes
• Double Prestige boost goof
• Players Choice Awards
• MMORPG.com
• MMOSite.com
• Official COH Forums. Please note, on the podcast I said “forums.coh.com” but it is actually “boards.coh.com“
• The Guild
• New Voicemail Line: 206-338-2911
• So give a call, leave a comment here, or send e-mail to cohpodcast -at- gmail.com and tell us about either Player hosted events, or your SG/VG and we’ll pimp it on the podcast!

In light of this, we are going to take a page out of The Command Line‘s playbook and split the podcast into two weekly episodes. At least for the foreseeable future. The first weekly episode (the one attached) will be all news – both about the game, and what’s going on with us. The second weekly episode will be a main topic.

The combined length will still be around an hour and all told will contain the same content, just in more digestible sizes. Also, people that only like one type of content or the other can ignore the files of the type they don’t like.

Let us know what you think!

This episode contains info about:

• i11 launched
• Ouroborus
• Badge Overload
• Referral program
• Free 14 day trial – with no credit card required
• Defiance changes coming
• a little more about animation timing changes
• Feedback on custom weapons
• Remote contact store bug (get while the gettin’s good
• New Statesman Taskforce/Lord Recluse Taskforce badge
• You can find in depth information on the Official Forums
• Another new CoH Podcast called Jerk Radio
• Hiatus for the Faction highlight segment
• Promo – Space Casey

This week we discuss:

• The date has been announced for the Prestige Bump and Debt Wipe (December 10)
• Further information on receiving temp powers again with the new Ouroborus time travel system (item echoes)
• Respec recipies and how they’ll drop in i11
• Faction Highlight: The Circle of Thorns
• Main topic: Powers
  • Power types
  • Power effects
  • Power requirements/attributes
  • Inherent power discussion
    • Defiance
    • Containment
    • Critical Hit
    • Gauntlet
    • Vigilance
  • Temporary powers

Topics discussed include:

• NCSoft buys CoH IP from Cryptic (along with most developers)
• Bonuses to all players as a thank you
• NCSoft opens 19 new positions for their Northern California CoH operations
• A little about Cryptic’s upcoming Marvel Universe MMO
• Additional terminology for new players
• The chat system including built-in channels, tabs, emotes, private channels, private messages, global chat, and multiple ways to use channels.
• Promo for Aliens You Will Meet