A big part of Marvel’s Avengers will be gear; it is a game with several Destiny vibes, afterall. So far, though, developer Crystal Dynamics has been coy with the details. Eager to learn a little more, IGN attended EGX 2019 in London, where Virgin Media held the UK’s first play of Marvel’s Avengers. There we were able to chat with Crystal Dynamics co-studio head Scot Amos about gear and character appearances.

Take a look at how Ms. Marvel works in the latest Avengers trailer below.

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Marvel's Avengers - Gamescom 2019 Screenshots 4 IMAGES

“Gear comes in all kinds of rarities, from common, uncommon, rare, epic, legendary, and even beyond,” Amos explains (We're placing bets now that ‘beyond’ is Excelsior rarity).“The higher the rarity in the gear, the better the perks,” he adds. “Perks are the secret to gear. Perks give you certain abilities on top of your normal player skills, and abilities that can do things like buffs for your team.”These buffs could provide a health boost, a damage or defense increase, or quickly recharge your heroics - Avenger’s term for special abilities. Better gear may also have two perks, but you’ll have to unlock and upgrade them to use their powers.Unlike games like Destiny or Borderlands, though, your gear does not change your appearance. You can’t physically see a new repulsor gauntlet on Iron Man’s hands, or a new shield design for Captain America.“[Gear is] part of or underneath your suit, but the visuals are separate,” reveals senior producer Rose Hunt. “We thought [players] would rather have the visuals that we're pulling from the comic books or the original suits that we're making up, rather than have a bunch of attachments on the outside of it making them look not as cool.”While that makes sense, a big part of the feeling of progression in loot-based games is due to you being able to see cool new gear in your hands or on your character. While this won’t happen in Marvel’s Avengers, Crystal Dynamics has made sure new gear is more than just an invisible stat boost.“When you scale up or when you level up gear, there's definitely going to be some different visuals for VFX,” says Hunt. “Generally, it's going to feel like a celebration. It's also going to have probably some different animations at different times.”It seems, then, that changing Iron Man’s Arc Reactor may produce a different-looking beam for his Heroic ability, which is almost as notable a change as a new gun. In fact, sounds closer to Anthem’s customisation, which was less flashy than Destiny’s.

Watch Ms. Marvel being revealed as the sixth playable character in Marvel's Avengers.

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Marvel's Avengers: Embiggen Trailer Screenshots 20 IMAGES

Similar to other gear-focused games, Marvel’s Avengers also supports gear sets. “You can get very specific gear sets, like an entire Stark Industries gear set,” says Amos. “You can get special perks and bonuses that you can only get by having that matching set.”While Crystal Dynamics has yet to explain just how you earn gear - are they purely mission rewards, or can they be found in the world? - Hunt clarifies that characters can earn gear for any hero, not just themselves. “If you play a Black Widow mission. you're gonna have opportunities to get gear for any of your characters,” she says.It’s important to note that there’s not overlapping with gear. “Gear is unique per hero,” says Amos. “So as you go find gear as Tony, you also have to go find gear as Widow, and go find gear as Hulk.” Hopefully the system has a bias towards the character you’re playing as, but Crystal Dynamics is unwilling to share more details on how it works at this time.As previously mentioned, all this gear is technically ‘invisible’ so as not to interfere with the look of your hero. “Outfits are only cosmetic, so they do not limit how you can gear up your skill up your heroes,” says Amos. “We’ve separated that so you can look the way you want to look and you can play the way you want to play.”Amos offered a little extra detail on how the game deals with costumes, and it’s here that microtransactions will play a part. “Outfits are split into earnable - ‘let's just play the game and accomplish objectives and missions’ - and ones you can only purchase in the marketplace. And there's no crossover there. So it's one of those things that you only buy some of them you can only earn some of them.”Crystal Dynamics promises to talk more about gear soon, which is when we'll hopefully learn more about those all important things like gear score and stat bonuses.In other Marvel’s Avengers news, check out how the story will roll out over multiple years , our hands-on with Ms. Marvel , and why DLC characters won’t just be re-skins

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter