Difference between revisions of "Enhancements"

Revision as of 19:25, 13 April 2007

Overview

Powers have many aspects, such as damage caused, accuracy, and endurance cost. Enhancements permanently improve one or more of those aspects. For example, for a typical ranged blast power, Enhancements can make it hit more frequently, cause more damage, reach farther, cost less endurance to use, or have a faster rate of fire. An Enhancement's type and level both affect how much benefit it gives to a power. Once an Enhancement is assigned to a power, it cannot be taken out or moved to a different power, although it can have its level increased or be replaced entirely.

Enhancements can be bought from contacts and stores. They are also "dropped" randomly by defeated (non-player) enemies and are provided as rewards for some missions.

Enhancement Types

There are three main types of Enhancements: Training, Dual-Origin, and Single-Origin. There are also several kinds of Special Enhancement. Training and Special Enhancements are usable by any character. Dual-Origin and Single-Origin Enhancements are only usable by characters of specific origins.

The main types of Enhancement all improve only one particular aspect of a power. Special Enhancements improve multiple aspects.

Training Enhancements

Training Enhancements are usable by all character Archetypes and origins. Training Enhancements may be bought in Freedom Corps stores located in various zones, from Freedom Corps Superpowered Field Trainers in Atlas Park and Galaxy City, and, at an inflated cost, from individual contacts. They are also sometimes provided as mission bonuses.

Training Enhancements are the least potent of all Enhancements, but they are the cheapest to buy and the most commonly dropped by defeated enemies. They exist as low as level 1.

Dual-Origin Enhancements

Dual-Origin Enhancements, often referred to as DOs, provide exactly twice as much improvement as Training Enhancements. Because DOs are more powerful, they are more specific for a character and also much more expensive. DOs may only be used by a character whose origin matches one of the Enhancement's two. For example, a Natural/Magic DO is only usable by characters of a Natural or a Magical origin.

Dual-Origin Enhancements may be bought at origin-specific stores and NPCs in various zones and, at an inflated cost, from individual contacts. Currently, the lowest level Dual-Origin Enhancements available for purchase are level 15, which are usable by characters of minimum level 12. DOs are never dropped by enemies below level 15. At 15 exactly they are rare, but they become more common as enemy levels increase. DOs are also sometimes provided as mission bonuses, and in the cases of Task Forces and Story Arcs, the player may even choose the aspect.

Single-Origin Enhancements

Single-Origin Enhancements, often referred to as SOs, are even more powerful. They provide twice as much improvement as DOs (or four times as much as Training) and may be used only by a character whose origin matches the Enhancement's.

Single-Origin enhancements may be bought at origin-specific stores and NPCs in various zones and, at an inflated cost, from individual contacts. Currently, the lowest level Single-Origin Enhancements generally available for purchase are level 25, which are usable by characters of minimum level 22. There are, however, some particular exceptions as low as level 13 sold in Mr. Yin's store, allowing some characters to use some SOs as early as level 10. SOs are never dropped by enemies below level 25. At 25 exactly they are rare, but they become more common as enemy levels increase. SOs are also sometimes provided as mission bonuses, and in the cases of Task Forces and Story Arcs, the player may even choose the aspect.

Special Enhancements

Special Enhancements are usable by all character archetypes and origins, but are only obtainable by completing some very difficult-to-accomplish tasks. Special Enhancements provide the same improvement as Single-Origin Enhancements, but to more than one aspect simultaneously. For example, a Special Enhancement may affect both the damage and accuracy of a power, whereas all other Enhancement types would affect either one or the other.

Currently, Special Enhancements include Hamidon Enhancements, Crystal Titan Enhancements, and Hydra Enhancements.

Invention Enhancements

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Invention Origin Enhancements are usable by all character archetypes and origins, but are only obtainable by using the Invention System with earned recipes in either a supergroup base with a worktable or at a University. Invention Origin Enhancements are special in that they can only be crafted from recipes or purchased through the Auction House/Black Market and only come in every five levels. Invention Origin Enhancements will always give the same bonus to any level character, and can be slotted by any character that is within minimum level or higher. Also, any Invention Origin Enhancement can be slotted even if it would normally be considered inferior. Invention Origin Enhancements are worth about 40% or higher at Level 50.

Currently Invention Origin Enhancements are flavored in either standard IO enhancements, or Invention Origin Enhancement Sets like Sting of the Manticore, which gives special effects based on what type of power it is slotted into, in addition to enhancing aspects of that power.

Slotting and Stacking

A power can only have as many Enhancements as it has slots. Every power begins with one slot. As a character increases in level, she receives additional slots which she can distribute however she chooses among her powers, with the only limit being that no power can have more than six slots. Thus, each power may potentially be enhanced up to six times.

Each character also has an inventory tray that can hold up to ten spare Enhancements.

Once a slot is assigned to a power, it is permanent. Once an Enhancement is put into a slot, it may not be reallocated to another slot or removed, although it can be destroyed, replaced with a different Enhancement (which also destroys the old one), or combined with a similar Enhancement to increase its level (more on that later). A player can use a power respecification to overcome these restrictions by completely rebuilding her character from level 1, but this is an all-or-nothing process that can only be done a finite number of times.

The Lightning Bolt power, slotted with three accuracy enhancements and one damage enhancement

Enhancements may be stacked, or have multiple copies slotted within the same power, to provide larger bonuses to the aspects they enhance. The improvement that comes from stacking Enhancements is normally cumulative. However, when the total improvement becomes high enough, it is subject to Enhancement Diversification, which imposes diminishing returns. In the example picture above, three accuracy Enhancements (a DO, a Training, and an SO, respectively) are stacked in the slots for the Lightning Bolt power. Since the cumulative boost of these Enhancements is not high enough to be subject to Enhancement Diversification, the total boost in accuracy is equal to the sum of the boosts for each Enhancement.

Enhancement Levels

Every Enhancement has a level. Enhancements must be within three levels of a character to be usable. For example, a level 12 character may use Enhancements that are level 9 through level 15. Enhancements that are slightly above or below the character's level provide slightly stronger or weaker benefits, respectively.

• Enhancements 4 or more levels above the character display their level in red. They cannot be inserted into slots.
• Enhancements from 1-3 levels above the character display their level in green. They provide an extra 5% of their usual benefits for each level above the character's. (That's “5% of the bonus”, not “another +5%”. For example, if an even-level SO gives a benefit of +20%, then a +1-level SO would give a benefit of +21%, not +25%.)
• Enhancements equal to the character's level display their level in white. They provide their usual benefits.
• Enhancements from 1-3 levels below the character display their level in yellow. They provide 10% less of their usual benefits for each level below the character's.
• Enhancements 4 or more levels below the character display their level in red. They cannot be inserted into slots. Enhancements that are already in slots but become obsolete due to the character gaining levels stay in their slots but provide no benefits.

In the example image above, the effective level of the first accuracy Enhancement is equal to the character's level, 27. The effective level of the second, 26, is below the character's level. The effective level of the third and fourth Enhancements, 28, is above the character's level.

Combining Enhancements

Enhancements may be combined, which makes two of one type of Enhancement into one slightly higher-level one. Combining allows old Enhancements to be upgraded at a lower cost than buying new ones. It also allows a character to have Enhancements of a level not sold in stores or otherwise easily obtained.

Enhancements may only be combined if:

• They are the same type.
• They enhance the same aspect (or full set of aspects).
• For DOs and SOs, they must both match the character's origin. Two DOs can combine as long as they both share an origin with the character, even if they don't have the same two origins as each other.
• The higher of the two Enhancements is at most 2 levels above the character. If both Enhancements are the same level, they must both meet this requirement.
• The higher of the two Enhancements hasn't already been upgraded twice. If both are the same level, they can combine if one of them has been upgraded twice, but not if both have.

The most often-used method of combining involves one Enhancement already in a power and one in the inventory tray. It is also possible to combine two Enhancements that are already in the same power. A successful combination destroys the lower-level Enhancement, increases the level of the higher one by 1, and puts that upgraded Enhancement into the power. The increase is shown by an extra “+” after the Enhancement's level, which marks the increase as well as the fact that it's been upgraded once. This is important, since Enhancements cannot be upgraded more than twice through combining. For example, a level 6++, a level 7+, and a level 8 Enhancement are all effectively level 8 and all provide identical bonuses, but the 8 can be improved two more times, the 7+ only once more, and the 6++ cannot be improved (although it can be used to improve another).

Combining doesn't always work. Success or failure depends on how different the Enhancements' levels are from each other. Equal levels are guaranteed to combine. Every level between the two Enhancements adds a 5% chance of failure. A failed combine destroys the lower-level Enhancement and puts the higher one into the power without increasing its level. (Note that when combining from the tray, if the tray Enhancement is higher than the one in the power, a failure still replaces the low with the high, which is still an improvement.)

Enhancement Aspects and Schedules

Currently, there are 26 Enhancement aspects:

• Accuracy
• Confusion
• Damage
• Defense Buff
• Defense Debuff
• Endurance Modification
• Endurance Reduction
• Fear
• Fly
• Healing
• Hold Duration
• Immobilization Duration
• Intangibility
• Interrupt Time (also sometimes seen as Activation Acceleration)
• Jumping
• Knockback Distance
• Range Increase
• Recharge Time
• Resist Damage
• Run Speed
• Sleep
• Slow (also sometimes seen as Snare)
• Stun
• Taunt
• To Hit Buff
• To Hit Debuff

These aspects don't all receive the same benefit from Enhancements. Some get more boost than others. Aspects fit into four general categories, called schedules, according to how much benefit they get.

Schedule A

• Accuracy, Confusion, Damage, Defense Debuff, Endurance Modification, Endurance Reduction, Fear, Fly, Healing, Hold Duration, Immobilization Duration, Intangibility, Jumping, Recharge Time, Run Speed, Sleep, Slow, Stun, Taunt

Aspects in the Schedule A category are enhanced by 33.33% when slotted with a Single-Origin Enhancement of equal level to the character, 16.66% when slotted with a Dual-Origin Enhancement of equal level as the character, and 8.35% when slotted with a Training Enhancement of equal level as the character:

Schedule B

• Defense Buff, Range Increase, Resist Damage, To Hit Buff, To Hit Debuff

Aspects in the Schedule B category are enhanced by 20% when slotted with a Single-Origin Enhancement of equal level to the character, 10% when slotted with a Dual-Origin Enhancement of equal level as the character, and 5% when slotted with a Training Enhancement of equal level as the character:

Schedule C

• Interrupt Time

Aspects in the Schedule C category are enhanced by 40% when slotted with a Single-Origin Enhancement of equal level to the character, 20% when slotted with a Dual-Origin Enhancement of equal level as the character, and 10% when slotted with a Training Enhancement of equal level as the character:

Schedule D

• Knockback Distance

Aspects in the Schedule D category are enhanced by 60% when slotted with a Single-Origin Enhancement of equal level to the character, 30% when slotted with a Dual-Origin Enhancement of equal level as the character, and 15% when slotted with a Training Enhancement of equal level as the character:

Retired Aspects

There are several Enhancement aspects that have been retired and combined into new ones. The currently known ones are:

• Cone Range, which was incorporated into the Range aspect;
• Endurance Drain, and
• Endurance Recovery, which were merged into the Endurance Modification aspect;
• Team Defense, and
• Self Defense, which were merged into the Defense Buff aspect

External Links

Detailed description of enhancement diversification, including documentation of aspect schedules