I have nothing but respect for City of Heroes lead designer Matt Miller and world designer Mellissa Bianco, who had to play opening act for the legendary Richard Garriott at NCSoft's presentation yesterday, where they were detailing the upcoming Issue 9: Breakthrough update for City of Heroes and Villains. The most compelling features included in the update are the introduction of the invention system and player auction houses to the game, adding a new layer of depth to the game that players (like me) have been clamoring for since launch.

Note that I might have spelled their names wrong, but considering half the people in the room thought I was McWhertor magically transformed into a giant man with a shaved head and brown hair, I think I am allowed a little leeway here.

Players will be able to visit universities and learn how to craft new costume pieces, gadgets (like the amazingly cool wings), and enhancements far more powerful that those old, non-crafted relics you've been running around in. Through a series of missions you will learn the simple process, which is as easy as gathering materials, finding a crafting station and pushing a button.

There are no crafting wait times like in many other games, as the designers wanted to maintain the fast-paced feel other the game. An MMO with action-oriented combat doesn't need players sitting in a room somewhere watching a meter fill up.

Materials, called salvage, will drop off of mobs like loot. The good news is they don't ever plan on having special drops off of rare spawns, so you don't have to worry about competing with other players for hours on end as you try to get that one special item to drop. Just find the mobs, kill them for awhile, and you'll have your salvage.

The only thing missing here is magical items. While tech-based characters are certainly suited for making gadgets, it would have been nifty for magic-based characters to be able to craft similar items, only with a more mystical theme.

Once you are done pimping out your character you can then sell your creations via the new auction house system. While the hero and villain side markets are separated from one another they are not server specific, so anyone on your side on any server will have access to what you are selling. This of course opens up cross-server influence transfer as well, as a low level character on one server can put an item up for a ridiculous price, which a higher level character on another server can then purchase. Hooray for cross-server twinking!

So the City of series is finally going to get an economy and enough neat new gadgets to draw even the most jaded former player back for another go at it. While the concept of beings with the powers of gods sitting around building gadgets does seem a little odd, it should be enough to bring more than a few ex-players back into the fold for another go. Michael Fahey

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