Why do heroes wear costumes? Well not all of them do, but the vast majority chooses to don some striking, eye-catching garb when they set out to fight evil and save the world. For some this outfit is the source of their power: high tech battle armor, magical clothing, or a flexible but tough military uniform. Others want to hide their true identity from friend and foe alike so that they can live a normal life outside of their crime-fighting alter egos. For most though, it's all about image. A striking, unique costume means that villains know who you are, and once you kick their butts enough, they'll learn to fear you. And of course, it doesn't hurt that a cool costume and catchy code name can really help a hero get noticed and recognized by the public at large.

In City of Heroes, players get to design their own costume from scratch. Our bank of supercomputers has calculated the number of distinct costume combinations available in the game at somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.24 x 10 to the 24th. Give or take a few million. "Distinct" means having at least three things on a given costume different from any other costume. We're not sure if that's enough, so we're still adding more variations and options.

There is a very large set of costume options available to every player. These include all of the classic "tights" style costume options generally associated with super-powered heroes as well as a limited set of street clothes. For example, the Gadgeteers have access to a wide variety of high-tech armor pieces for their costumes, while Mutants do not. Conversely, Mutants can have rock-like skin or other weird features that Gadgeteers cannot. Even with these restrictions there are still billions of combinations available for every hero type.

Costumes break down into three general areas: Head, Upper Body, and Lower Body. Within each section players can change a wide array of different features. For instance, under Head you can choose from different faces, masks, hair styles, eyewear, special details, skin color, hair color, helmets, and hats. Each of these can be a different color, with a further highlight color or pattern for added detail.

When designing the Upper Body, players choose from different torso geometries (tights, loose fighting clothes, armor, suit jacket, etc) that they further define with shoulder details, gloves/hands, belt styles, special features, emblems and patterns. Again, each element has a primary and a highlight color associated with it. For the lower body, players can decide between different pants styles and a wide variety of footwear, each offering various texture, pattern, and color options.

When you get to level 20 you’ll be able to unlock an alternate costume and capes (if you do the correct missions) at 30 you get auras that glow around you character permanently as well as another costume. You can get yet another costume at level 40. These items can add depth to your character as well as making them look cooler. In the end costumes should be eye catching, fun and fit your character.

See you in Paragon City fashion people.