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City of Heroes: Developer Diary: Invention System
Meddle
Administrator UncommonPosts: 758
Matt Miller, the Lead Designer for City of Heroes / City of Villains drops by to give us an exclusive developer journal about the game's Invention System.
Check out the entire Dev Diary here.
Ever since City of Heroes launched, Jack "Statesman" Emmert has been interested in adding an "out of combat" system to the game...something that gives players gameplay outside of the typical combat scenarios that City of Heroes has to offer. Originally this was going to be a Skill System, where you could train up in various skills and accomplish tasks during missions that would otherwise be unavailable to your character. We went through about six versions of this system, ranging everywhere from a "card game" style where you completed skill objectives using your Skill Deck, to something nearly identical to the combat system with "Skilling" objective objects, to defeat its "Idea Points".
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
Comments
This looks very cool; I haven't played CoH or CoV in awhile but this could draw me back. The lack of some type of meaningful long term drop always bugged me about this game. The examples in the diary showed inventions for levels 30 and above. Does anyone know if the invention system will be available to lower level players? Thanks!
Yes the inventions system applies to characters starting at lvl 1. The mechanical wings you saw in the picture can be crafted with the system by any lvl 1 character even if they haven't earned wings through vet rewards. There is also an auction house in Atlas Park so that if you have a rich lvl 1 toon, you can buy what you need to craft. Keep in mind though that the example they gave (Numinas Convalescence) won’t be usable till lvl 30 so if you craft it at one you'll be sitting on it for a while.
I've really enjoyed the team combat in CoH especially. I've always enjoyed being a healing or buffing type of character in online games. I have sometimes wished though that I could do something non-combat related to just chill out, or enhance my character in some way. This new invention system seems like it will address that feeling nicely
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I also heard some mention of being able to craft costume pieces. I hope that is part of I9 because I would really love to be able to customize my gear
I'd also like to give parts to friends. When I played another online game I loved finding a rare item and giving it to a friend that I knew was looking. That's fun stuff.
Also, having come from an online game where expansions almost always nearly broke the game completely, I don't mind waiting a bit longer for a quality product. I appreciate that the issues are generally released in a polished and playable form. Good work guys, and thanks for all the effort. Thanks also for scrapping ideas that you thought the players wouldn't like. You have a good thing going, and it's important to make addtions carefully I think.
Arc
Yes they did say that there will be costume pieces you can make. The mech-wings being the most shown. They won't let you fly but like the vet reward wings they will flap and such as you jump and fall I'm sure.
This is a great feature for the game, I posted just the other day about CoH lacking something because of no crafting, and here it is.
Now if they could make the instances random so they didn't all look like 1 of 10 standard layouts, I'd be back to the game in a flash.
As to crafting your own inspirations. I think what makes doing that worth while is you create your own CUSTOM ones.
Bar None they Should Have been released with issue 8, still no talk about them in issue 9 is a joke!
And as an avid and decently long time player I think this will be very, very interesting and fun. The base item salvage was a cool idea, but it never really got off the ground because once you built the base parts it cost an absurd amount to place them, there wasn't really any point. Only thing salvage was good for was looking at, some of it was pretty neat. But now we're going to have an actual crafting system out of it. And the best part is that they won't be absurdly more powerful than normal enhancements, so if someone doesn't want to craft and just use plain old enhancements, well that's fine. Should be cool.
Everythings standard pattern! This is the Imperial fething Guard! Standard pattern boots, standard pattern mess tins, standard pattern bodybags! Im a standard pattern infantryman, youre a standard pattern no-neck, and any second now my standard pattern fist is going to send your nose bone back into your very sub-standard pattern brain! Sergeant Ceglan Varl