Zloth
I smell a... wumpus!?
Wow, then finally got this thing in open beta, and it was worth it! Deep, user created content in an MMO.
When you set up a mission, you get to set all the text for everything in the mission. Not just what the contact says to you, but what the NPCs say inside the mission, the message that appears when you enter, enemy descriptions, and souviner text. Much of that text is optional so you won't be stuck entering a ton of text if you don't want to. You also pick what map to use. Almost every map in the game can be used save a few very special maps (like the Eden Trial), though some need to be unlocked.
Then comes the real fun bit - the enemies. You can use just about any enemy in the game (though again, some need to be unlocked) if you want, but the real fun comes from making custom enemies. To do that, you use a modified version of the game's character creation. Yep, all those billions of costumes are available! Instead of picking an archtype, though, you pick the enemy's level (minion, lieutenant, boss, elite boss, arch-villain/hero, or contact) and difficulty. Then you get to pick the power sets. Those power sets are pretty much the same as the player power sets, though you may find some of the orders of powers switched. Minions only get the first two or three powers from a set, lieutenants get maybe two thirds of them, and bosses get all of them. If you reduce the difficulty of the enemies, they will get fewer powers from their power sets.
You then save your mission and can test it. When testing a mission, you don't really get any rewards (well, kinda - see below for virtual badges) but it's good for popping in and seeing how things are working. You don't have to go in solo, either, your whole team can join in.
Once everything is how you like it, you can publish your mission for all the world to see. (Or make more missions and string them into a story arc of up to 5 missions.) All the world will see it, too. The mission appears on all servers, not just your own server. A published mission DOES give rewards. You can earn infamy/influence and experience just like in a normal mission. However, enhancements and IO recipes do not drop. Instead, you get something called tickets. These tickets can be used to unlock the things mentioned above and can also be used to buy enhancements and IO recipes.
A ton of badges were added to the game for the Mission Architect stuff. Objects destroyed, enemies defeated, tickets earned, and other such things give you badges as you get to milestones. Also, when you are just testing a mission out, the game will keep track of how many of these things you do and, if you get to a milestone, will award you a virtual badge!
Each account can publish three mission arcs. Arcs that get a lot of very high ratings are awarded 'hall of fame' status. Also, the developers will be running through some of the missions and will award some of them as "Developers' Choice" arcs. If that happens to one of your arcs, you get another arc slot to use. Devs' Choice arcs also give full rewards instead of tickets. They essentially become normal missions!
So the end result? CoH/CoV's line up of maybe 100 enemy groups is about to expand into the millions and the content is going to be almost unlimitted.
(Oh, and they also added some new areana PvP stuff, including PvP IOs. Fairly big news for the PvP community but completely dwarfed by the history making Mission Architect.)
Here's a quicky video I did inside a mission I created. A bit dark, but plenty of Storm powers knocking everyone around! I've got a custom ally set up to fight along side me against custom enemies in a sewer mission. http://www.wegame.com/watch/Stormkind_Invasion/
When you set up a mission, you get to set all the text for everything in the mission. Not just what the contact says to you, but what the NPCs say inside the mission, the message that appears when you enter, enemy descriptions, and souviner text. Much of that text is optional so you won't be stuck entering a ton of text if you don't want to. You also pick what map to use. Almost every map in the game can be used save a few very special maps (like the Eden Trial), though some need to be unlocked.
Then comes the real fun bit - the enemies. You can use just about any enemy in the game (though again, some need to be unlocked) if you want, but the real fun comes from making custom enemies. To do that, you use a modified version of the game's character creation. Yep, all those billions of costumes are available! Instead of picking an archtype, though, you pick the enemy's level (minion, lieutenant, boss, elite boss, arch-villain/hero, or contact) and difficulty. Then you get to pick the power sets. Those power sets are pretty much the same as the player power sets, though you may find some of the orders of powers switched. Minions only get the first two or three powers from a set, lieutenants get maybe two thirds of them, and bosses get all of them. If you reduce the difficulty of the enemies, they will get fewer powers from their power sets.
You then save your mission and can test it. When testing a mission, you don't really get any rewards (well, kinda - see below for virtual badges) but it's good for popping in and seeing how things are working. You don't have to go in solo, either, your whole team can join in.
Once everything is how you like it, you can publish your mission for all the world to see. (Or make more missions and string them into a story arc of up to 5 missions.) All the world will see it, too. The mission appears on all servers, not just your own server. A published mission DOES give rewards. You can earn infamy/influence and experience just like in a normal mission. However, enhancements and IO recipes do not drop. Instead, you get something called tickets. These tickets can be used to unlock the things mentioned above and can also be used to buy enhancements and IO recipes.
A ton of badges were added to the game for the Mission Architect stuff. Objects destroyed, enemies defeated, tickets earned, and other such things give you badges as you get to milestones. Also, when you are just testing a mission out, the game will keep track of how many of these things you do and, if you get to a milestone, will award you a virtual badge!
Each account can publish three mission arcs. Arcs that get a lot of very high ratings are awarded 'hall of fame' status. Also, the developers will be running through some of the missions and will award some of them as "Developers' Choice" arcs. If that happens to one of your arcs, you get another arc slot to use. Devs' Choice arcs also give full rewards instead of tickets. They essentially become normal missions!
So the end result? CoH/CoV's line up of maybe 100 enemy groups is about to expand into the millions and the content is going to be almost unlimitted.
(Oh, and they also added some new areana PvP stuff, including PvP IOs. Fairly big news for the PvP community but completely dwarfed by the history making Mission Architect.)
Here's a quicky video I did inside a mission I created. A bit dark, but plenty of Storm powers knocking everyone around! I've got a custom ally set up to fight along side me against custom enemies in a sewer mission. http://www.wegame.com/watch/Stormkind_Invasion/
