Mission-Architect posts

Paragon Studios spills the secrets of success

by Justin Olivetti Aug 19th 2010 at 12:30PM

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Interviews

In a day and age when brand-new MMOs can run into serious trouble within the first few months following launch, it's remarkable to consider that City of Heroes has endured the test of time, studio transitions and competition, and still be running strong in the grand old year of 2010. Recently, the folks at Paragon Studios sat down with Gamasutra to celebrate CoH's six-year milestone, and pontificate on why the title succeeded when others failed.

Senior producer Jesse Caceres and art lead David Nakayama shared particular pride in how CoH has grown and adapted over the years. One of the examples they cite is their recent "Ultra Mode" upgrade to the graphics engine, which allows players to pump up the pretty visuals that would've been all but impossible in 2004. Another reason for their success, according to the pair, is that the team worked hard to provide gamers with play choices, such as the ability to roll a villain or to create their own adventures through the Mission Architect system.

Caceres has an additional idea regarding the game's longevity: its community. "I don't know if it's just the nature of our game or what, but our community is very mature... I think that kind of back-and-forth and that discourse that we have with our player base is one of the reasons why we have such a dedicated following."

You can read the full interview and glean all of Paragon Studios' secrets at Gamasutra.

Tags: city-of-heroes, city-of-heroes-going-rogue, City-of-Villains, coh, David-Nakayama, gamasutra, interview, jesse-caceres, mission-architect, paragon-studios, ultra-mode

City of Heroes returns to the Cathedral in Issue 18

by Eliot Lefebvre Jul 8th 2010 at 2:30PM

Filed under: Super-hero, Galleries, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Expansions, Patches, Previews, News items

We know that Going Rogue is going live for City of Heroes players in August, and that means a new major patch for the game. We know that the update will be Issue 18, followed by the much-discussed Issue 19 that finishes the Incarnate System and expands the endgame. What we haven't known until now is exactly what Issue 18 will contain other than expansion content -- and while it's unlikely that many of the game's players would be skipping out on the expansion, there's always the chance. The development team has broken that silence, however, revealing some of the additions to the game with the new update, including the long-awaited return of the Cathedral of Pain.

Yes, Issue 18 will see the return of the Cathedral of Pain trial after a nearly four-year hiatus. Players can expect the trial to have been heavily rewritten while maintaining the same basic framework, the location itself being one of the core sanctums for Rularuu the Ravager. Beyond that is the addition of the Tips system, additions to Mission Architect, and the ability to trade inspirations between heroes and villains. Take a look at the official site for more previews of the next free update to City of Heroes, and take a look at the gallery for some more shots of Praetoria and the revamped Cathedral.

Gallery: City of Heroes Issue 18 screenshots

Tags: cathedral-of-pain, city-of-heroes, city-of-heroes-going-rogue, city-of-villains, coh, coh-issue-18, coh-issue-19, cov, cox, free-updates, going-rogue, gr, incarnate-system, issue-18, issue-19, mission-architect, ncsoft, paragon, paragon-studios, patches, praetoria, updates

A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Questions versus answers, no holds barred!

by Eliot Lefebvre Jun 2nd 2010 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Culture, Expansions, Opinion, A Mild-Mannered Reporter

We interrupt your regularly-scheduled guide to playing a spider for a number of questions and answers, and possibly several comic book sound effects! (Okay, it's not exactly "interrupting" anything when I said that it would be here this week, but humor me.) As usual, the community has taken the opportunity to ask me a number of City of Heroes questions, and I have used my magical time-looker-forward tube to find the vast majority of the answers. So with that having been said, let's get into the down and dirty, shall we?

Superfan asked:
"Massively suspects the game has only 40,000 active subscibers right now?"

No, the quick math done by one Massively writer suggested it as a possible figure, based on some generous margins and assuming everyone's subscription is on a one-month-recurring basis as opposed to the plethora of other subscription pricing plans available. The goal was to create a vague idea of how many subscribers on an active basis the game might have at the moment, since we no longer get actual subscription numbers for the game.

Tags: bonus, bonuses, city-of-heroes, city-of-heroes-going-rogue, city-of-villains, coh, cov, cox, featured, going-rogue, leveling, mission-architect, ncsoft, paragon, paragon-studios, pre-order, pre-purchase, subscribers

A Mild-Mannered Reporter: We're all in this together

by Eliot Lefebvre May 19th 2010 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Expansions, Game mechanics, Opinion, Humor, A Mild-Mannered Reporter

Community can be a funny thing. We pick the community we're in -- in this case, City of Heroes -- but we don't pick any of the other members. Sometimes they're all really stand-out folks, and sometimes... well, sometimes your choices are between Flower Power, Slug-fest, and Hammer Time. Lucky for us, the community that's formed itself around our favorite superhero MMO is pretty darn good at its worst and outright awesome most of the time. (And a proper shout-out to our community for the game right here, while I'm at it.)

To be fair, we're a bit on the lean side at the moment. After all, we're not getting another update for a couple of months and we almost all know it. Issue 17 is pretty awesome, but we also know that Going Rogue is just around the corner, and so most of us are focused a bit more on the future. But we've still got a lot to talk about in our day-to-day adventures. That both helps everyone to feel that much more welcome, and it helps facilitate this week's look at some of the noteworthy community threads that have been cropping up lately.

Tags: city-of-heroes, city-of-villains, coh, community, cov, cox, expansions, featured, financial, going-rogue, issue-17, items, mission-architect, paragon, paragon-coh, paragon-studioes, paragon-studios, subscribers, super-boost, super-booster, usable-item

A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Everybody needs a question answered sometime

by Eliot Lefebvre May 5th 2010 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Culture, Expansions, Game mechanics, Opinion, A Mild-Mannered Reporter

If you haven't read Jason Vuic's excellent history of the Yugo, you're doing yourself a disservice -- at least, if you have any interest in terrible cars, history, or just the crazy stylings of Malcolm Bricklin. What does that have to do with today's bevvy of City of Heroes questions, hot on the heels of our anniversary? Well, not everyone can afford the Batmobile. There are places where the Paragon Monorail (aka Justice Mass Transit) won't take you. And on those occasions, well, you truly wish that you'd just dropped the ten dollars on the Martial Arts booster or taken the darn travel power. Onward!

Dashel asked:
"When will Blasters get more secondaries, original or proliferated?"

Soon! Maybe. I've heard tell that we may well be due for another wave of powerset proliferation with the release of Going Rogue, although that's far from a confirmed fact. So Blasters can expect to get some more love there. But we don't have any idea of exactly when we'll see more secondaries as opposed to more primary sets. The trouble is that as Blasters have been designed, they have the undesirable trait that Masterminds share: they've got a setup for one of their sets that nobody else shares.

Tags: archetypes, cars, city-of-heroes, city-of-villains, coh, cov, cox, farming, grinding, mission-architect, paragon, paragon-coh, paragon-studioes, powerset-proliferation, powersets, praetoria, proliferation, superheroes, terrible-cars, travel, travel-powers, ultra-mode, yugo

Issue 17 of City of Heroes goes live with launch trailer

by Eliot Lefebvre Apr 28th 2010 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, Trailers, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Events, in-game, Patches, News items

Today is a big day for City of Heroes. Not only is it the six-year anniversary of the game, with celebrations taking place both in-game and out, it's also the launch of the much-awaited Issue 17. Dubbed "Dark Mirror," the update features the graphical tweaks collectively known as Ultra Mode, as well as new story arcs and missions, improvements to Mission Architect, and a whole host of additional changes. It's also the release of the awaited Demon Summoning powerset, which is available to everyone who has prepurchased the upcoming Going Rogue expansion.

Behind the cut is the official trailer for the update, which should help whet the appetite of any fans anxiously awaiting the update to complete downloading. Aside from highlighting the visuals of Ultra Mode in real-time, it shows off some of the mission content, including the full-scale war against the Freakshow pictured above. There's also the doppelgangers and the Positron task force to show off -- and only a couple more months until the game's second major expansion. Click on past the cut to see the trailer, and enjoy the new changes that help keep City of Heroes fresh six years out.

Tags: city-of-heroes, city-of-villains, coh, cov, cox, dark-mirror, demon-summoning, doppelgangers, freakshow, going-rogue, issue-17, mission-architect, paragon, paragon-coh, paragon-studioes, patches, powersets, task-force, trailers, ultra-mode, updates

A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Six (years) in the city

by Eliot Lefebvre Apr 28th 2010 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Expansions, Game mechanics, Patches, Opinion, A Mild-Mannered Reporter

It's strange to think that City of Heroes is older than my car. But that's only the tip of the iceberg, as the game is six years old as of today and still running strong. Oh, sure, there are some signs of aging here and there, some parts that don't fit quite as well as they did back when it launched... but the game holds up pretty darn well. And that's astonishing, considering that it launched a full year before the game that generally gets the credit for starting new paradigms of MMO design.

Of course, you can go further back and point out that a lot of the "innovations" that The Game Which Shall Not Be Named included were present beforehand, and you'd be correct. But after the EverQuest era of game design, City of Heroes stood as a vanguard of a new design philosophy. It was a game with unparalleled customization at the time, a game that put forth the idea that you could be just as cool at Level 1 as you could at max level. So how have things changed? How far have we come in the years? There's almost too much to cover to go over everything... but we can hit the big points.

Tags: anniversary, city-of-heroes, city-of-villains, coh, cov, cox, dinosaurs, expansions, featured, game-changes, going-rogue, mission-architect, paragon, paragon-coh, paragon-studioes, patches, retrospective, systems, updates

A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Glorious roundup of community motherland

by Eliot Lefebvre Apr 21st 2010 at 1:30PM

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Expansions, Game mechanics, Patches, Opinion, A Mild-Mannered Reporter

I am still deeply disappointed that we do not have more Russia-themed content... well, anywhere, but especially in City of Heroes. Having grown up during the end of the Cold War, I want more fur coats and red stars and winter wastelands with nuclear missiles. Yes, it's stereotypical, but so are steampunk Prussians, holdovers from the Third Reich, and robed sword-wielding cultists. Wouldn't it be lovely?

Now, much as I might like to, my love of the odd post-Cold War Russian image that's now been inserted unceremoniously into pop culture is not the point of today's article. No, today we're focusing on a straight roundup of all the community discussions that have been taking place of late, and, as always, there's plenty to talk about. While the news about Going Rogue has slowed slightly, Issue 17 is just around the corner, and the City of Heroes community hasn't stopped finding things to talk about over the past six years anyhow. Jump on past the cut for highlights of the glorious motherland of community.

Tags: abilities, city-of-heroes, city-of-villains, coh, cov, cox, featured, going-rogue, issue-17, mission-architect, paragon, paragon-coh, paragon-studioes, power-pools, resurrection, skills, spells, ultra-mode

A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Architectural concerns

by Eliot Lefebvre Apr 14th 2010 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Game mechanics, Patches, Opinion, A Mild-Mannered Reporter

The big news for City of Heroes over the past week (at least at the time of writing) was the rather borked Mission Architect fix that went live. Well-intentioned, sure, but still borked beyond all comprehension. There's nothing like losing out on experience gained because of rescuing hostages to make players feel like they're welcomed to try out player-created content.

But let's not kid ourselves: this is not exactly a unique occurrence. We've been having problems involving some combination of Mission Architect and farming more or less since it launched, and that was back on Issue 14. A year out, you would kind of expect that they'd fix the basic problem of people trying to get something for nothing... but here we are, and the team is still rocking back and forth on the feature. If you're one of the players who prefer the farming style, nowadays it likely feels like more trouble than it's worth.

So naturally, I decided to take a look at Mission Architect and what it means for City of Heroes today. Specifically, both why it's important that the team does their best to keep it balanced, and why said balancing is pointless and a waste of time. (I love arguing self-defeating premises.)

Tags: breaking, broken, city-of-heroes, city-of-villains, coh, cov, cox, exploits, farming, featured, issue-14, mission-architect, paragon, paragon-coh, paragon-studioes, patches

Mission Architect fix goes haywire in City of Heroes

by Eliot Lefebvre Apr 9th 2010 at 9:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Exploits, Game mechanics, Patches, News items

With any player-generated content system, a game becomes a struggle between two equal and opposing forces: the designers who want to cram in every possible exploit to get the best possible rewards with the least possible effort, and those who just want to make really neat story arcs. City of Heroes recently dropped a small patch in the hopes of fighting something that had been a target for exploits, and unfortunately the latter group got caught in the crossfire.

In short, the patch was designed to target allied NPCs in missions who didn't attack, but buffed the player characters to the gills in order to make missions easier. Unfortunately, caught in the crossfire were almost any missions that involved things other than enemies, up to and including missions where players would rescue hostages. Needless to say, player response has not been kind.

Sean "Dr. Aeon" McCann was quick to give an official statement on the matter, explaining that the idea was to implement a temporary fix that would prevent current farming, with a more permanent one coming around Issue 17's launch. (Although we don't have a specific date on that, it's been generally pegged for early this month.) Until then, City of Heroes players might find themselves advised to take a break from Mission Architect for a little while.

[ Thanks to Steve for the tip! ]

Tags: city-of-heroes, city-of-heroes-issue-17, city-of-villains, coh, cov, cox, crossfire, dr-aeon, exploit, issue-17, mission-architect, paragon, paragon-coh, paragon-studioes, patch, sean-dr-aeon-mccann, sean-mccann

PAX East 2010: City of Heroes panel reveals many things

by Eliot Lefebvre Mar 28th 2010 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Betas, Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Events, in-game, Expansions, Game mechanics, Endgame, Opinion

Unpacking the City of Heroes panel at PAX East is a big deal: there were huge amounts of information being thrown around, and a lot of new pieces of information to process. For that matter, there was far more than anyone expected, with information about the full spread of new issues up to Issue 19 and the reveal of Matt "Positron" Miller's heretofore unrevealed new endgame system. The panel as a whole featured a huge breadth of information about the game from concept into the future, and was filled with people long before the official start time, with fans vocally professing their adoration for the team the whole way through.

We had the good fortune to be front and center at the theatre, and once we started taking notes we didn't really stop until the event was over. At the panel were lead designer Melissa Bianco, former lead designer and current lead system designer Matt Miller, art lead David Nakayama, and development producer Jesse Caceres. They opened off with a discussion of the game's history from launch back in 2004 to the present. The changeover from Cryptic to Paragon Studios was discussed in brief, mentioning that four of the major launch employees (Miller, Bianco, CW Bennet, and Brian Clayton) were still with Paragon even after the change.

Tags: city-of-heroes, city-of-heroes-going-rogue, city-of-heroes-issue-17, city-of-heroes-issue-18, city-of-heroes-issue-19, city-of-heroes-ultra-mode, city-of-villains, coh, cov, cox, cryptic-studios, david-nakayama, expansions, featured, going-rogue, issue-17, issue-18, issue-19, jesse-caceres, matt-positron-miller, melissa-bianco, melissa-war-witch-bianco, mission-architect, new-powersets, panels, paragon, paragon-coh, paragon-studioes, paragon-studios, pax-2010, pax-east-2010, powersets, ultra-mode

A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Return of community news

by Eliot Lefebvre Mar 24th 2010 at 11:30AM

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Culture, Events, in-game, Expansions, Game mechanics, A Mild-Mannered Reporter

There's quite a bit to crow about in the City of Heroes community of late. Since the last time we've taken a look at the community, we've had a huge amount of new information about the next expansion, a double XP weekend, and the usual regimen of alien invasions and parallel universes. (July's release of Going Rogue will greatly increase the parallel universe portion.) And if you live on the east coast, you also have the opportunity to meet the Paragon Studios crew without traveling to the other side of the country!

Have I mentioned that I live on the east coast?

So next week, expect a very weary me to be dishing out a whole bunch of news from PAX East, as I'm going to be following the crew around like a forlorn puppy. But that's then and this is now. Today, we're going to be looking at some of the interesting community threads that have popped up over the last month, from the serious to the amusing.

Tags: characters, city-of-heroes, city-of-heroes-going-rogue, city-of-villains, coh, concepts, cov, cox, development, double-xp-weekend, economy, featured, going-rogue, melissa-bianco, mission-architect, morality, paragon, paragon-coh, paragon-studios, pax-east-2010, player-generated-content

The Road to Mordor: How skirmishes have changed LotRO

by Justin Olivetti Mar 12th 2010 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, The Road to Mordor

Every Friday, The Road to Mordor brings you the latest in Lord of the Rings Online news, guides and analysis.

In the last couple years, MMO developers have been addressing the problem of stagnant mid- and end-game play by giving gamers various forms of repeatable content. Warhammer Online proposed PvP scenarios, World of Warcraft launched their Dungeon Finder, City of Heroes added in Mission Architect, and with the advent of the Siege of Mirkwood expansion, LotRO invented skirmishes.

While not identical in form or function, each of these systems is similar in a few ways: they are instantly accessible, they promote easy grouping, they encourage ad nauseum replay, and they offer an alternative way to gain XP and levels. Not to mention that while each of these features has seen criticism, they are greatly embraced by the playerbase and enjoyed by millions daily.

One could argue -- and I guess I am that one -- that skirmishes were LotRO's hole card for Mirkwood, the big "hook" that grabbed players' attention and imaginations. While not a complete game-changer, skirmishes have undeniably altered the face of the game and impacted many players' experiences, for better or worse. So let's face this change head-on and see how skirmishes have fared since last December's debut.

Pick up a lute and play me a merry song, for we'll need all the courage to hit the jump and come out on top!

Tags: city-of-heroes, dungeon-finder, featured, lord-of-the-rings-online, lotro, lotro-skirmish, lotro-skirmishes, mirkwood, mission-architect, pvp-scenarios, siege-of-mirkwood, skirmishes, tolkien, Warhammer-Online, world-of-warcraft

New Issue 17 details for City of Heroes

by Eliot Lefebvre Feb 24th 2010 at 9:30AM

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Patches, News items

If you play City of Heroes, you're looking forward to the upcoming Issue 17. We've heard some of what can be expected from the big pre-expansion drop, but much of it was cloaked in vague terms -- improvements that didn't have any hard data attached to them, like the promise of new missions and UI revisions. But the official site has put up a page on the coming features for the update, and it helps clarify some things we didn't know about, as well as offering some excellent news besides. And it promises the end of Positron's dreaded unending task force! (It'll still be there, but it will be split into two parts and improved all around.)

Tags: alts, animations, city-of-heroes, city-of-villains, coh, coh-issue-17, content, cov, cox, enhancements, graphics, infamy, influence, mail, mission-architect, missions, paragon, paragon-coh, paragon-studioes, task-force

Ultra Mode, new powersets, and new issue coming to City of Heroes

by Eliot Lefebvre Feb 9th 2010 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Expansions, Patches, News items

Dr. Aeon is as good as his word and better yet. We're not just getting Ultra Mode prior to the launch of City of Heroes: Going Rogue, we're getting a whole cavalcade of new things. City of Heroes players who have been holding off on pre-ordering the expansion are being given good reason not to dawdle, as pre-order customers will get access to the powersets in March and April. While an exact date of release has not been given, we are now being told that Going Rogue is expected to release in July, meaning we have a pretty clear idea of when we can start switching sides.

But hold on to your hats, because there's still a lot more. Issue 17 is also going to bring the biggest change to Epic Archetypes since they were introduced: they will now unlock at level 20. That's a thirty-level drop and makes playing one as your main more fesable than ever. Oh, and we're promised new UI improvements, Mission Architect improvements, and more missions and badges. And that's not even touching on the promise of Going Rogue's collector's edition... suffice it to say that there's a lot to look forward to for City of Heroes players, and there looks to be quite a bit to talk about in the near future.

Gallery: City of Heroes Issue 17 Screenshots

Tags: city-of-heroes, city-of-heroes-issue-17, city-of-villains, coh, collectors-edition, cov, cox, epic-archetype, going-rogue, issue-17, mission-architect, new-powersets, paragon, paragon-coh, paragon-studioes

Massively Features

Events Calendar

Name	Date
Clone Wars Adventures Launch	Sep 15, 2010
Final Fantasy XIV Launch	Sep 30, 2010
GDC Online	Oct 5-8, 2010
NY ComicCon	Oct 8-10, 2010
LEGO Universe Launch	Oct 26, 2010
DCUO Launch	Nov 2, 2010

Massively Staff

Name	Title
Shawn Schuster	Editor-in-Chief
Seraphina Brennan	Senior Editor
Brianna Royce	West Coast Editor
Brendan Drain	Contributing Editor
Eliot Lefebvre	Contributing Editor
Jef Reahard	Contributing Editor
Justin Olivetti	Contributing Editor
Krystalle Voecks	Contributing Editor
Rubi Bayer	Contributing Editor
Tateru Nino	Contributing Editor
Beau Hindman	Columnist
Edward Marshall	Columnist
Greg Waller	Columnist
Jeremy Stratton	Columnist
Larry Everett	Columnist
MJ Guthrie	Columnist
Patrick Mackey	Columnist
Ryan Greene	Columnist
Lisa Poisso	Columnist