You ah HEALED! ... sorta

[Sofaspud]

So it has recently come to my attention that I've been going about slotting my Emp/Rad defender, Emerald Blast, *completely* @#4!@#$ wrong. Why? Two
words: Enhancement Diversificawhatzimination. ED.

I'd like a little bit of advice, pretty please. She's geared towards MASSIVE HEALS. That's her primary function, her entire concept (such as it
is), and so on. The only reason I took Rad as a secondary for her is because it 'fit' a bit better than some others and, let's face it, solo
action sucks if you're light in the 'punch' department. Plus, Mr. Whiskers likes the green glowy stuff.

Anyway.

So the deal is, I've got six slots on each of my primary heal abilities -- Healing Aura and Heal Other. I'd *like* to crack 300 per zot with Heal
Other, and crack 200 if possible with Healing Aura; currently I'm turning in a consistent 247 with HO, I think it is. Yesterday I slotted a couple more
heal enhancments, expecting some bang for my 40000-per-SO-enhancement inf. It was 240 or thereabouts before the slots. Bwah? I was stonkered until I came
across a mention of ED and the light dawned. Doh.

Can someone give me a crash-course in how to handle ED? Do invention enhancements apply towards it? How about SO vs DO vs Training? Cheese doodles or french
fries? That sort of thing.

Also: is there a way to cut down the 'cast' time of these abilities? I know about recharge rate reduction (got at least 1 of those in each), which is
cool, but HO especially takes enough time to hit that, often, an ally has dropped before I've finished applying it. I want to get it as close to instant
as possible.

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

[Valles]

Basically, there's a maximum effectiveness of about 90% improvement over the base power, regardless of enhancement type (DO, SO, IO, HO, whatever). You can get multiple aspects that high, but are forbidden by dev decree from exceeding it.
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[Render]

Unless the power is interruptible, you can't really do anything about the activation time. How I wish you could...

With ED in place the best you can do for maximum healing with SOs is slot 3 heals and some combination of Recharge Reduction or End Cost Reduction, which will
let you get the power off more often for less. Basically, once the bonus gets into the 90% range, stop trying to increase it.

With IOs, things get interesting... and costly. Regenerative Tissue has a single IO that increases your Regeneration, Miracle has one that improves your
Recovery, and Numina's Convalescence has one that does both. But these are crazy, crazy expensive. And don't help you get bigger green numbers
over your teammates' heads.

You can look for IO sets (for other powers, as well as heals) that give a global bonus to heals. Don't slot IOs that aren't useful just to get a global
bonus, and don't make a build that isn't up to par without the global bonuses--but do have some kind of focus in mind for globals if you pursue sets.
They stack nicely, and set bonuses are not limited by ED. And remember, global bonuses last for two minutes after the power is activated, so a click power that
recharges quickly is just as effective as an aura or passive in that regard.

You can also use combination IOs (Heal/Rech, Heal/End, Heal/Rech/End) from various sets. This is like using Hami-Os, but you can get them earlier and probably
cheaper. (Not sure what HO's are going for these days.) You can get Heal enhanced up the point ED kicks in and have a substantial bonus to Rech &/or
End Red with four or five slots instead of six, and use those slots elsewhere.

With Badb (MA/Regen scrapper without Stamina) I developed a combination of these strategies as I went. Most of her attacks are only five slotted with single
sets, and the damage may not be quite 3 SOs worth, but it's close, and I have ~50% boosts to Accuracy and either Recharge Rate or End Reduction, sometimes
both. Her three self-heals are six slotted with mixed partial sets... 2-4 IOs in 2 different sets to get the 'low-hanging' bonuses I wanted to stack. A
single vanilla IO or an SO fixed powersets that were underperforming compared to my old SO slotting--and was much cheaper than buying high level IOs. For
global bonuses, I emphasized Recovery, Regen and Recharge, and I managed to get a boost to Accuracy and Max HP and End, as well. Overall, Badb's very
effective, has almost no downtime, and does it all without Stamina. I haven't played with the procs (Chance of whatever) IOs, but I hear good things about
them, too.

It can be expensive and the number of choices confusing, but don't worry. It's pretty easy to make an IO build better than SOs. A single aspect IO
starting in the low 30's is equivalent or better than a SO. Ease your way into it when you have time and influence. I shifted Badb from SOs to IOs a power
or two at a time starting around level 35. I didn't finish IO slotting until just before 50. It also pays to be opportunistic and keep an eye out for a
good deal while you're selling.

[Acyl]

I had an incredibly long reply to this...but lost it because I was an idiot and clicked the wrong button in my
browser. The short answer is that Valles and Render are correct.

More specifically, there isn't a maximum effectiveness to power enhancement - rather you get extreme diminishing returns at the 90% mark. Let's say
you're using even-level Single Origin enhancements. The first two enhancements are doing 33.33% each. The third, tho, only does 28.33%. Any subsequent
enhancement only does 4.99%. You will run up against this 90% mark regardless of whatever enhancements you use - you'll see the same issues if you slotted
six DOs, or six IOs, whatever.

(I note the 90% figure applies to Healing and most other power types in the game. There are some exceptions; Damage Resistance and Defense Buff work on a
different scale - they top out around 40%, as do Range, ToHitBuff, and ToHitDebuff...you'll notice enhancements for such powers do a much smaller
percentage boost per enhancement as well. There is yet another scale for Interrupt, and yet another for Knockback.
Just FYI.)

So if using SOs, you'll probably only want to stick three Heal in a single power. Use the other slots for Recharge or EndRec, so you can use the power more
often and not die of exhaustion while doing it. The same applies if you're using common Invention Origin enhancements. At level 25, a common IO is almost
as good as an SO, from level 30-50 they're better. It really isn't worth it to go beyond three slots for Heal, though.

However...

That's with SO-style slotting.

But what I'd strongly recommend is that you consider using Invention Origin Sets. IO Sets give bonuses if you slot
different enhancements from the same set within the same power. That is to say if I slot a Triage Heal/End and a
Triage End/Rec into Healing Aura, I get the first set bonus, +4% Regen. This is a GLOBAL BONUS.

Now, the point of this is though...ALL the Healing IO Sets have a similar bonus for having four enhancements in a power - they give a GLOBAL boost to your
healing. And I can have several of the same IO Set across
different heal powers.



Triage (Level 10-30): Four enhancements improves the Healing of all your powers by 2%

Regenerative Tissue (Level 10-30): Four enhancements improves the Healing of all your powers by 4%

Harmonized Healing (Level 20-40): Four enhancements improves the Healing of all your powers by 3%.

Miracle (20-40): Four enhancements improves the Healing of all your powers by 5%.

Doctored Wounds (30-50): Four enhancements improves the Healing of all your powers by 4%.

Numina's Convalescence (30-50) Four enhancements improves the Healing of all your powers by 6%.

Obviously the ideal situation is to slot as much Numina and Miracle as you can afford. The trouble is those are the most expensive set there - the individual
recipes and enhancements are VERY VERY expensive in fact, in part because those sets also contains much sought after unique enhancements. Still, the healing
sets in general are a good idea. Slot four in each power, then use the remaining two slots for SOs or common IOs to
round out the numbers - you might need to add another regular heal enhancement, for example because the four IOs alone might not take you to the 95% healing
cap, depending on their types and levels.

Now...

Note that your heals aren't the only powers that take Healing Invention Origin sets. Obviously Healing Aura, Heal Other, and Absorb Pain will take them.
But so will Adrenaline Boost and Regeneration Aura. I suppose you could also pick up the Medicine Power Pool, depending on your build. I'm not sure
you'd WANT to slot your buffs with Healing IO sets just for that global healing buff. I'm just pointing out it is POSSIBLE.

That's my suggestion. Take it as you will.

As Render says though, you can't do squat about power activation and animation times. This is intentional; it's part of game balance, and animation
speed for differnt powers (and whether they rooted you in place or not) was standardized some time back.

-- Acyl

[Foxboy]

Let's not forget the weirdness of slotting heal sets into Rest and Health from the Fitness pool. Grossly inefficient in slot usage, but possible.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Acyl]

Oh yeah, I hadn't really thought about that. It is possible to hit four slots on Rest and Health for
Healing sets, which I suppose would get you another couple global bonuses. It's not something I'd do, but Sofaspud might consider it...

-- Acyl

[Morganite]

"And remember, global bonuses last for two minutes after the power is activated, so a click power that recharges quickly is just as effective as an aura
or passive in that regard. "

I was under the impression that the bonuses were continuous, not related to when a power was activated.

At least, the numbers window I have open on Shia is showing the accuracy and health bonuses from the Neuronic Shutdown enhancements she has in Char, despite
her having sat idle in an empty mission for the past hour...

-Morgan, may have more thoughts when I don't have to go to work. (Eep!)

[Sofaspud]

Thanks for all the replies, folks. Y'all have a talent for making this stuff make sense... I've perused the ED docs on PWiki and came away more
puzzled than before.

So, looks like my goal is BOTH Miracle and Numina's. one slotted in Heal Other, the other slotted in Healing Aura. MWUAH HAH HAH! I will be an
unstoppable force of LIFE!

or something.

Ahem.

That's assuming the global bonuses stack, though. Do they?

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

[Wiregeek]

yep! up to 5 times for identical sets.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

So if you had enough appropriate powers, you could get the bonuses from five Miracles AND five Numina's?

--Sam

"Java devil, you are now my bitch."

[Wiregeek]

yeah.. that's several hundred million INF worth of enhancements, but.. yeah.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Render]

Morganni wrote:

---

"And remember, global bonuses last for two minutes after the power is activated, so a click power that recharges quickly is just as effective as an aura
or passive in that regard. "




I was under the impression that the bonuses were continuous, not related to when a power was activated.




At least, the numbers window I have open on Shia is showing the accuracy and health bonuses from the Neuronic Shutdown enhancements she has in Char, despite
her having sat idle in an empty mission for the past hour...




-Morgan, may have more thoughts when I don't have to go to work. (Eep!)

Dunno. I don't have time or energy to reboot and test it right now. They may have changed it. I may have credited the forums with an overabundance of
brains and it may never have been based on activation at all--I've read a lot of posts claiming this is the case, but that doesn't
make it true. I've seen something like it working on Celerity... stealth continues for 2 minutes after I turn super speed off. But that is an IO bonus, not
a set bonus... and that may be the cause of a great deal of confusion. In any case, the 2 minute thing is a worst case scenario, and even if true, not worth
worrying about IMO.

[Sweno]

After pounding my head against this very thing, and watching the numbers very closely on clank, I have come to the following conclusion.

set bonuses are always on, unless you are exemplared below the needed level.

Unique IOs that are on a timer say so (Miracle: Recovery, Numina's Convalescence: Regeneration/Recovery, Regenerative Tissue: Regeneration, Celerity:
+stealth)

Part of the reason the health/regen ones go for so much is that people love to slot them into the Fitness:Health power pool is that auto powers fire off every
118 seconds, so you get the temporary effects permanently.

Hope this helps.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Morganite]

"set bonuses are always on, unless you are exemplared below the needed level. "

Clarification on what the needed level is:

Basically, the level to which you're exemplared has to be high enough to have slotted that enhancement. If you have a set bonus from slotting 2 level 26
enhancements, you won't get the bonus when level 22 or below, even if the enhancement is available in lower level varieties. And of course you only get set
bonuses from powers available to you at the level you've exemplared to.

Purple sets are an exception to this - set bonuses from those are available as long as you have the power containing them available, regardless of level.

Procs (including stealth bonus ones) work the same regardless of enhancement level. Damage procs do varying amounts based on character level.

-Morgan. I think that's all correct... ^_^;

[Render]

Morganni wrote:




Basically, the level to which you're exemplared has to be high enough to have slotted that enhancement. If you have a set bonus from slotting 2 level 26
enhancements, you won't get the bonus when level 22 or below, even if the enhancement is available in lower level varieties. And of course you only get
set bonuses from powers available to you at the level you've exemplared to.




-Morgan. I think that's all correct... ^_^;

I thought the set bonus was available as long as you had access to the power it was slotted in--but take Morgan's word for it over mine. My response to the
whole examplar issue has been to slot the IOs as needed for the powers and treat the set bonus as, well, a bonus. Not something I rely on, but nice when
it's on. Part of my "I'm not going to think about this too hard, but ooh, shiny!" approach to Inventions.

-Render, taking five to de-stress.

[Morganite]

Well, I haven't personally tested it, but it fits with things I've read in several places.

(I think I have a couple set bonuses on Eri I could test it with, but unfortunately I only have one computer that can run CoH, and it's busy right now.)

I think the bonuses are certainly worth looking at, at least in some cases. The really good stuff tends to be super-expensive for melee/rangeed damage and
healing, but a lot of the other sets are much less expensive, and some have fairly useful bonuses.

The advice I've read is to try to get IOs at around the level where they become SO-equivalent, because that way you aren't sacrificing effectiveness
relative to SOs while having the bonuses as often as possible. But I don't think I'd worry about that unless the bonus was going to be extremely useful
while exemplared. And depending on what you're doing, having better enhancement values when you're not exemplared might be more valuable in the long
run.

Or, to put it another way, "This is why it took me weeks to decide how to IO Eri Silverwing." '.'

-Morgan. And if I had enough inf, there's still a ton of changes I'd make... Well, at least I know what they are now. '.'

[Casey]

Morganni wrote:

---

Basically, the level to which you're exemplared has to be high enough to have slotted that enhancement. If you have a set bonus from slotting 2 level 26
enhancements, you won't get the bonus when level 22 or below, even if the enhancement is available in lower level varieties. And of course you only get
set bonuses from powers available to you at the level you've exemplared to.




Purple sets are an exception to this - set bonuses from those are available as long as you have the power containing them available, regardless of level.




Procs (including stealth bonus ones) work the same regardless of enhancement level. Damage procs do varying amounts based on character level.




-Morgan. I think that's all correct... ^_^;

To my knowledge, that is indeed correct. My character with the most IO's, Southern Shootist, has a TON of level 32 IOs so he can get set bonuses when
exemplared down to 29.
Why 29? Because it's an easy level to exemplar down to with Ouroboros, which allows me to hunt in Dark Astoria whenever I need
Influence. My Archery/Energy blaster really cleans up in there, even without Rain of Arrows.

[Morganite]

Hmm. And I can definitely confirm that set bonuses go away when you are too low level, from testing on Eri. Can't check the -3 limit easily, but it makes
sense, given that that's when you could slot the enhancement.

Here's another thing I found recently while poking around in the forums...

"The Continuous Globals (LotG, -KB Protection) stop working when you examplar below the level of the IO. The other Globals work so long as you have access
to the power they are slotted. There are a couple of exceptions in the latest crop of Procs, but I think they are bugs. Forced Feedback +RECH Proc is one of
them, and I dont recall the other one."

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat ... st10530774

Of course, those particular IOs are often super-expensive. But it might be something to keep in mind.

-Morgan.

[Sofaspud]

(here's hoping this doesn't count as thread necromancy...)

So, I've slotted enough Miracle in Emerald Blast to hit the 5% global heal bonus, which is what I was after.

In looking at the numbers... *all* of her healing abilities are buffed up to the +95% - +98% mark. I have hit The Wall, have I not?

If that's the case... is there any reason to go for the other IO healing sets? I mean, this is all with IO enhancements at this point... it's not like
they're going to fade. I'm thinking I need to concentrate on her zotting abilities instead of her heals, now...

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

[Wiregeek]

global/set bonusses will still boost your heals - they aren't effected by ED.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies