City of Heroes update to add mission creator, day jobs, more

An entry on the official City of Heroes Web site shows that the next upcoming update, Issue 13, will be adding several interesting new features. The biggest one is definitely the Mission Architect, which will allow players to create their own missions for other heroes to play through. There’s even some talk of rewards for missions that end up becoming popular.

Using an intuitive interface similar to the game’s detailed Character Creator, players can create missions from the ground up. Players will determine details ranging from environments, mission objectives, and enemies, to written fiction and character dialogue; giving their stories nearly infinite depth and personalization.

Among other rewards, authors and architects who create the most extraordinary content will garner acclaim and reputation. Community feedback will be paramount and some missions will elevate in status unlocking new rewards and benefits for their creators.

Players will also be able to assign their characters’ secret identities a day job. Picking a job is as easy as logging out: characters will adopt an appropriate career based on what location they’re in when the game is exited. Logging out in City Hall, for example, will make them a city official. As characters spend time in their day jobs they’ll gain new badges, titles, and benefits, such as increased influence for the aforementioned city official.

Characters will also be able to win tokens by successfully completing trials, task forces, strike forces, and raids. More challenging tasks will award players more reward tokens. Tokens might just sound like yet another variation on achievements, but at least you can actually cash them in for in-game items.

Several more features were listed, such as new powersets and missions, which you read in full on the announcement page.