Big MMORPG.com interview with Positron.
From the outset of creating the Invention System we wanted to make sure that players desired these new, craftable items. If they didn’t actually make your character better then the players wouldn’t be motivated to use the system. We tried to think of new, exciting things that Enhancements could bring to the game. We determined that adding mini-powers to your existing ones had a lot of potential, as the sky would nearly be the limit on what we could accomplish with these new Enhancements. In addition we wanted
Enhancements that never expired, because nothing was worse than leveling up in a mission to a point where the majority of your Enhancements turned red (useless), and instead of that level-up making you more powerful, it actually made you less.
Interestingly, they are going to a closed Beta test of the system prior to opening it to everyone on the Test server, including NDAs and the whole ball of wax.
So these mommas never expire? They go up in levels with your character? Nice. thats something I didn’t know. I think ill start roaming PI with my fiddies so I have a boatload of influence to stalk Wentworths with. Im just too damn lazy to craft this stuff myself.
That seems to be one of the big appeals to the enh built via inventions (both Positron and Statesman have mentioned that as a Really Cool Thing).
In reality, the whole enh system kinda sucks. Taken literally, it’s nonsense (I just picked up Nectanebo’s Bracelet off that dude over there? Again?). As a game mechanic it means spending inordinate amounts of time jumping from store to store (never seen Spider-Man or Batman doing that) and having to memorize arcane terminology (wait, Argon Infusion does what?).
I realize the reason for it, but it’s still a goofy setup, and the aging of enh by level just makes it goofier.