Game Items: An Intro
This page explains a bit about the three most prevalent types of game items you will encounter (or have encountered) in City of Heroes: inspirations, enhancements, and salvage. Links to pertinent articles on ParagonWiki follow each section, so that you can learn even more about the technical aspects of using these game items.
Inspirations
Inspirations are temporary boosts to your character, which can help you get through a tough spot in battle by upping damage, accuracy, health, endurance, defense, and damage resistance, as well as clearing your head and getting you up after being defeated.
When you first start out, you can only hold 3 inspirations, but your ability to carry more and more quickly grows. By level 10, you are able to carry 10 Inspirations; by 30, you are able to carry 15, and by 40, you have your max number of Inspiration slots at 20. As your Inspiration stash expands, you can carry more and different types, for whatever your hero needs most in battle. Check out my Must-Have Inspirations article for very basic guidelines on which Inspirations work best with the five main hero archetypes.
There are three levels of Inspirations: Small, Medium, and Large. You can get all three levels of Inspirations from battle if you have an empty Inspiration slot. Small Inspirations can also be purchased from mission contacts, Pocket D's Bartenders and Tiki Bar, Ouroboros (Mender Roebuck), or the AE Building's Inspiration Vendor; Smalls also drop very often during battles. Mediums can be bought at Wentworth's, or can be purchased using AE Tickets at the Ticket Counter (for 20 tickets each); Medium Inspirations sometimes drop off of battles involving a Boss enemy as well. Larges can be bought from Wentworth's or from the Ticket Counter as well (costs 100 tickets); Larges can very rarely drop from a Boss or Elite Boss battle.
You can find out more information about what kinds of Inspirations exist in-game by referencing the ParagonWiki Inspirations article.
Enhancements
Enhancements are permanent boosts to your powers; enhancements can help powers go off faster, do more damage, hit more accurately, and do lots of other cool effects as well. Enhancements are one way that players can customize their powers as well--for instance, one Empathy player may choose to boost all his or her Empathy powers with Healing enhancements, while another Empathy player may want his or her powers to be able to go off rapid-fire, so he or she slots them all full of Recharge Reductions.
In the world of City of Heroes, the first Enhancements most players come across are the Training Origin Enhancements—-the type that are ringed in simple silvery-white. These can be bought in City Hall's basement (where you get your first mission contact)--there are two Longbow people standing in the corners near the stairs. Additionally, you can buy Training Enhancements from any red-and-white-garbed Longbow in other zones; they also can fall off of enemies when you defeat them.
As you continue to play, you might come across Single-Origin Enhancements, designed for the five different origins new heroes can pick for themselves. Dual-Origin Enhancements, designed for many combinations of those same five origins, are also rampant. Both Single- and Dual-Origin Enhancements can be bought at Origin-specific stores (Mutant Store, Science Store, etc.). However, there is a type of Enhancement that cannot be bought anywhere except for Wentworth’s, because it takes a bit more work to make them: Invented Enhancements. (Learn more about Invented Enhancements on my Invented Enhancements page.)
Learn more about Enhancements here.
A Word About Enhancement Slots
To use the Enhancements that you purchase, you will need to open your Enhancement screen. Click "Enhancements" on your Power Tray; this opens up your Enhancement stash (you can carry up to 10 enhancements at any one time). Then click the word "Manage" that appears on the upper left of the Enhancement stash, and you will be taken to your Enhancement screen, where you can slot the Enhancements that you have recently bought.
IMPORTANT: Once you slot an Enhancement, it is permanently slotted into that power unless you delete it (or unless you respec your character), so think carefully about what Enhancements can best work with each power you have!
To learn more about Enhancement Slots, visit my Enhancement Slots page.
Invention Salvage
While doing original City of Heroes missions, you may have seen the message pop up after you’ve defeated an enemy: “Invention Salvage Found!” This message may appear in white text, yellow text, or orange text.
Invention Salvage is the collective term for items that drop off of enemies after you have defeated them. There are three levels of rarity: Common, Uncommon, and Rare. You can tell automatically what rarity of salvage you have gotten by the color of the “Invention Salvage Found!” text. If it’s white, you’ve found Common; yellow means Uncommon, and orange means Rare.
(A word of warning: don’t go scrambling to get rare salvage to try and make a fortune at Wentworth’s! Just because a piece of salvage is considered “rare” doesn’t mean it will automatically sell well, or that it will make a good Enhancement or costume piece. Indeed, some rare salvage is actually pretty useless for most characters.)
There are two varieties of Invention Salvage as well: Arcane and Tech. Tech Salvage can be pieces of machinery, samples of blood, and the like. Arcane Salvage is usually magical relics, charms, scrolls of paper, and other such items.
Lastly, there are three Level Groups of Salvage: Level 10-25, Level 26-40, and Level 41-50. These level ranges tell you what levels of enemies have these salvage pieces, as well as what level range of hero needs them. You won’t find a level 5 Outcast member holding a level 41 piece of salvage, for instance.
Invention Salvage is used to make Enhancements for your powers, as well as to build Costume pieces, such as Dragon Wings, that enhance the look of your character. To build an Enhancement or a Costume piece, you will need the recipe for the specific item you’re trying to build, as well as the Invention Salvage that the item requires. For the complete step-by-step process of building an enhancement, click here. Learn more about Invention Salvage on ParagonWiki, here.