Items in City of Heroes and City of Villains
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Like other MMORPGs, City of Heroes and City of Villains have various items that are rewarded within the game. However, these items are described as intangible or other-worldly; being "inspirations" or "influence", which are ideas in the real world.
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[edit] Enhancements
Enhancements are permanent alterations to a Power's effectiveness that are either purchased or acquired at random after defeating an enemy. At certain levels a character is given new enhancement slots to attach to a power. Every power comes with one slot, and can have up to six slots attached to it. Each slot can hold exactly one enhancement. Once an enhancement is put in, it can only be replaced by a different enhancement, or combined with another enhancement.
All enhancements have the following characteristics:
- Stat affected is labeled on the enhancement, and shows what stat of a power it will boost. This can either increase or decrease the affected stat. For example, the damage enhancements increase damage, but the endurance cost enhancements decrease the endurance cost.
- Origin type determines which origins can use a specific enhancement and how large its boost is:
- Training enhancements can be used by any origin and give a small boost.
- Dual Origin (DO) enhancements can be used by only two origins, and give double the boost of a Training enhancement.
- Single Origin (SO) enhancements can be used by only one origin, and give four times the boost of a Training enhancement.
- Invention Origin (IO) enhancements are an upcoming game feature that was leaked early. They can boost a very specific aspect of a power.
- Hamidon, Crystal Titan, and Hydra enhancements can be used by any origin and give boosts in multiple different categories (for example, it might do both damage and accuracy). Hydra and Crystal Titan enhancements give three times the boost of a Training enhancement to each area, while Hamidon enhancements give boosts equivalent to Single Origins. Villains now have Synthetic Hamidon enhancements that have similar effects to heroes' Hamidon enhancements.
- Level is a number on the enhancement that determines what security level a character can be to use it. The difference of the level of the enhancement and the character must be within 3. For example, a level 6 character can use enhancements level 3 through 9. Hamidon enhancements range from 47 to 50 only. Having an enhancement that is higher in level than the character's current level will provide a slight bonus to that enhancement's effectiveness, while an enhancement that is lower in level than the current character level will decrease the enhancement's effectiveness. Enhancements that are 4 levels or more below the current character level provide no effectiveness and would need to be replaced or combined with another enhancement.
[edit] Combining enhancements
To combine two enhancements they must have the same origin type and affected stat and one must be slotted. The further apart the levels of the two enhancements are, the greater is the chance that the combination fails, thus losing the lower leveled enhancement. Two enhancements with the same level can always be combined without failing.
The combination will result in a single enhancement one level higher than the highest leveled enhancement used. An enhancement can only be combined twice with lower leveled enhancement, after that it can only be combined with a higher leveled enhancement.
[edit] Enhancement Diversification
Enhancement Diversification, implimented in the free expansion patch for Issue 6 and the release of City of Villains, is a system of diminishing returns where single-origin enhancements show diminishing returns when slotting multiple DO or SO enhancements of the same effect type; slight diminishing returns occur after from the boost given for more than four DO (two SO) enhancements, with the fifth and sixth DO (or third SO) enhancement having its boost reduced by about 15%, and severe diminishing returns if more than three SO enhancements are used (with each additional SO enhancement after the third having its boost reduced by about 85%). Response by players was mixed, with some charging that it radically changed the way the game had to be played.
[edit] Inspirations
Inspirations are quick, temporary powerups that many enemies drop randomly. Inspirations can be used quickly and it is common to store some for more difficult battles. They can also be traded between player characters and bought from non-player characters. Characters gain the ability to hold more inspirations as they gain in level. Most non-instant inspiration effects last for 60 seconds.
There are eight standard inspiration types, each with three levels of power (referred to as small/medium/large). The basic inspirations are generally referred to by the color of their interface icons: blue (endurance restoration), green (healing), red (damage boost), yellow (accuracy boost), purple (defense boost), and orange (damage resistance boost). The remaining two, since their colors are more unusual, are typically referenced by the name of the weakest versions, and are: Break Free, which cancels most status effects on a hero and prevents further ones from occurring (which has a purple color, but lighter than the magenta shade of defense boosts); and Awaken, which resurrects a defeated hero (which has a cyan color). The levels of power are as follows:
- Damage, Health, Endurance, and Awakens [by the health they leave one with after use] 25%, 33%, and 50%
- Accuracy 7.5%, 18.75%, and 37.5%
- Defense 12.5%, 25%, and 33%
- Damage Resistance 5%, 10% and 20%
The more powerful versions are less common, usually obtained from defeating higher-levelled lieutenants and bosses. Archvillains are guaranteed to grant a random 'large' inspiration when defeated. There is also a special inspiration, called Ambrosia, used only for the Eden zone trial. Additionally, special "Gift" inspirations with a random ability (including temporary immunity from experience debt) have also been available during the special Winter Events.
[edit] Influence & Infamy
Influence and Infamy are the currency within City of Heroes and City of Villains respectively. For completing missions and defeating opponents heroes not only gain experience points, but also receive influence points. Especially after a hero defeats a group of villains threatening a civilian on the streets of Paragon City, that civilian will run up to the hero and thank him by giving additional influence. Influence can be spent to buy enhancements and inspirations, change the costume and adjust the difficulty level of missions.
[edit] Prestige
Prestige is a measure of a player's Super Group's reputation, and is another form of currency within City of Heroes specifically for Super Groups. The more Prestige earned, the more likely the Super Group is known and recognized by others. Prestige is used to buy a Super Group’s Base, and outfit it accordingly.
Like Influence, Prestige is earned by defeating enemies, but it can only be earned by a player in Super Group mode. All players in a Super Group (whether Security Level 1 or 50) earn Prestige, and it goes directly to the Super Group's total - it is not something a player keeps. If the player leaves the Super Group, the Prestige stays with the Super Group. Similarly, if a Super Group disbands, all the earned Prestige is lost. At lower levels, players in Super Group mode earn both Influence and Prestige unrestricted. At higher levels, starting at level 25, characters in Super Group mode earn less and less Influence (and conversely more and more Prestige) until by level 34 they are only earning Prestige if in Super Group mode.
[edit] Badges, plaques, and accolades
In order to give the game more content, Cryptic introduced a system of collectible badges in its second content update to the game. These badges are obtained by visiting particular areas, achieving a certain security level, completing certain missions or sets of missions, defeating a quantity of specific types of foe, defeating specific rare monsters or villains, or special in-game achievements like taking a certain amount of damage or earning a certain amount of Influence. These badges may be viewed by other players in the player information dialogue, and may also be worn to add the name of the badge as a title under a hero's publicly-displayed name. Thus, if a player finds the name of a badge to be well-suited to his character, or finds some in-game accomplishment especially significant, he can choose to title his character accordingly with that badge.
Also added were a number of historical plaques, placed throughout Paragon City. Each plaque relates some historical fact about Paragon City, its heroes', or the world's back story, and they are grouped into sets based on their subject matter. Heroes can obtain certain badges by visiting and reading each plaque in a set, which are often scattered across two or more zones within the city. Plaques do not have to be read in any particular order.
When a hero has collected specific groups of badges, an "Accolade"—a badge that includes additional special powers for the hero, such as a maximum health or endurance boost, or an attack—is granted. Certain badges will also unlock game content such as new Contacts with special story arcs; a player without the needed badge will not have access to that Contact's content.
As the game has expanded more badges have been added, as well as special "event" badges, the first was for Halloween of 2004, but more such events happen a couple times a year. Badges have become, for some players, a greatly needed push for more to do in the game than just fight.
A variety of websites list the various badges available. However, these lists are not always accurate or complete as they sometimes include badges that are not real or that were programmed into the game but are not or will not be implemented.
[edit] Salvage
Salvage is a reward for Super Groups, earned by defeating powerful enemies (usually lieutenants and bosses). Salvage, like Prestige, is earned when a player is in Super Group mode, but it can also be earned as a mission reward outside of a Super Group. Salvage is used to build special Base items, and to be converted into Empowerments that give a player a boost in gameplay for length of time. Players unlock "recipes" for new and improved Base items by completing certain missions or earning Super Group badges. Salvage is used to fulfill the requirements of these recipes. To build items, players need to add a Workshop room to their Base, and ensure they have one or more appropriate worktables. The Workshop allows players to turn Salvage into usable components. Different types of Salvage are found by defeating different types of enemies. Salvage can be traded between players. Players have a large inventory for Salvage, and are able to hold 20 pieces of each item, or 99 pieces of each component.
[edit] Experience Debt
Experience Debt is acquired when a hero is defeated in battle. The amount of debt depends on the level of the hero, with higher level characters gaining more debt. Debt is worked off over time as the hero continues in missions, with half of the XP gained going to "pay" the debt off (the other half of the XP is awarded to the player as normal). Although debt is a frustration for most players, it can be worked off and there is no other temporary "punishment" for dying like there can be with other multiplayer online games. For higher level players, debt can be worked off faster by exemplaring, or joining with other lower level players for missions. Players who are in exemplar mode have their experience level temporarily lowered to match that of his or her teammates, with some higher level powers frozen, and 100% of XP gained goes to lower the debt. Players can also exemplar to make extra influence, as there is no XP gain when debt is cleared.
New characters are automatically immune to debt until they reach level 10. The debt system is also in place in City of Villains. In PvP zones, the game tracks the proportion of damage dealt by NPCs and players, and assigns debt accordingly. There are currently some bugs with this tracking, including but not limited to counting damage incurred from falling or self-damaging powers as NPC damage.
