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City of Heroes Issue 14: Architect delivers player-created missions and loads of fun
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You'll use a computer like this one to choose mission
or create your own missions.
It's not often that a mere update to a massively multiplayer game deserves its own review, but City of Heroes Issue 14: Architect delivers such a game-changing feature to the superhero MMO that it deserves a special look.
City of Heroes Issue 14: Architect introduces player-created missions to the game. This provides two ways to have fun in the game: playing the custom missions -- of which there are many -- and creating your own stories complete with your own superheroes and supervillains.
The missions are loads of fun and you can really see player creativity shine by choosing the best rated missions. In my first player-created mission, I had to help out the fashion police by taking out some very gaudily-dressed characters and destroying their woefully-bad clothes. In my second mission, I was out to teach the McVillains of the world a thing or two, but I had to wade through some McShakes and French Fries first.
Of course, there are the not-so-great missions. But Issue 14 provides the ability to rate each mission when you finish it, so those that fall short on the fun can quickly get weeded out and those that provide loads of laughs can rise to the top.
City of Heroes Issue 14 - Mission Creation
For those that have as much fun creating as playing, you are in for a real treat. While the mission creation system does have some major limitations -- like not being able to choose creature powers like that zombie vomit everyone loves so much -- there is enough room and flexibility to really let your creativity shine.
I decided on creating a three mission story arc called Revenge of the Templar where the Knights Templar decide to come out of the middle ages and wreak some havoc on the city. My first mission involved some zombies and ghouls led by a Knight Templar, while the rest of the missions concentrated on the knights.
One mistake I made was going for lots of variety in creatures. You only have 100k to work with and you'll quickly run out if you try to create too many custom creatures. But I ended up with about a dozen custom creatures, so don't worry, you can get a bit of variety.
The interface can be a little confusing, but it does have one great feature: the error checker. This will tell you where you went wrong or what you are missing so you can quickly fix stuff.
You also have a lot of options. The mission could require players to kill all the creatures, or just a boss. It can be a collection quest, or they might need to save a prisoner. You can even set up ambushes or have the player accompanied by an ally.
Combine all this with the best custom character creation system in MMOs, and you've got a really cool system for creating your own missions.
You can even put your mission through intensive testing before publishing it to the live servers. And, if you create a really cool mission, it might become a Developer's Choice or Hall of Fame mission, which won't bring you millions of dollars, but you can always strut your stuff over at the message forums.
My Grade for Issue 14: A
There are still some bugs to work out, but this is a real treat for City of Heroes/Villains players who want to get a bit more variety in their game play.
Feel free to check out my mission, Revenge of the Templar.
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