Big interview at MMORPG.com:
Well, first off we have the Invention system, which adds a whole new dynamic to the game. Heroes and Villains will collect salvage and recipes by defeating enemies. In keeping with City of Heroes “casual friendly” game design, the collecting of these items adds extra spice to the gameplay of defeating foes, rather than becoming a hardcore task of “grinding,” “camping” or hours of “raiding.” With this salvage, players can use the recipes to assemble an all new class of Power Enhancements or costume pieces (depending
on the recipe), which they can then use. Unused recipes and salvage can be sold at the new Consignment Houses (for Heroes) or the new Black Market (for Villains).Next we have a revamp to the Hamidon encounter. For those not familiar with the Hamidon, it currently is one of the big “raid” encounters in the game, requiring a large group of heroes to overcome. We’ve changed the way Hamidon plays to improve the experience and also made an attempt to make the encounter better for smaller groups of characters. In addition, the Villains get their very own “Hamidon zone” in the Abyss.
Finally we have Statesman’s Task Force, which allows Heroes to take the fight to Arachnos. This is on par with the Lord Recluse Strike Force and has the same reward pool to choose from at the end.
I’m still witholding judgment on the Invention system, but certainly the philosophical approach sounds good.
Glad to hear Hammy’s being tweaked. Might actually even be fun.
And — yeah, the STF sounds fun.
More on Inventions:
Since the “City of” games never had a crafting system or hard “loot” of any kind, we are kind of easing our playerbase into the concept. What you won’t find is a hard core crafting system that you must min-max numbers in for weeks to make the best “product”. What you will find is a fun new way to gain Enhancements, and Enhancements you actually desire. In addition, you can collect various “sets” of Enhancements which slot into specific powers. When you collect multiple pieces of the same set and slot them into
the same power, you start to unlock new bonuses for your character that they didn’t have previously. This includes stuff like overall Damage bonuses or Defense bonuses versus specific attacks. Number crunchers will love the challenge of stacking these set bonuses, whereas more casual players will simply be happier that their character gets more powerful with each set they collect.
Lots of examples given and so forth. I need to read it in detail later …