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City of Heroes Issue 15 interview
Jakob Paulsen (Ventura) // Saturday, June 27th, 2009
The latest expansion for City of Heroes, titled Issue 15 "Anniversary", is about to be released. The expansion will focus on improving the much-heralded Mission Architect that allows players to create their own missions and stories and it introduces a new task force as well as a new strike force. This happens just two months before a rival superhero MMO (Champions Online) hits the market, and on top of that the first paid expansion - Going Rogue - has been announced for City of Heroes.
We've had the chance to ask Senior Lead Designer Matt Miller (AKA Positron) about all this and more. It seems times have never been busier in the super hero business.
Boomtown: Hi, please introduce yourself to our readers.
Matt Miller: Hi, I am Matt Miller, and Im the Senior Lead Designer on City of Heroes.
Boomtown: Issue 14 was a landmark in City of Heroes history, due to the Mission Architect system. In comparison Issue 15 seems a bit small. Can you explain the background for releasing another and in comparison small issue shortly after Issue 14?
Matt Miller: Issue 14 was an extremely large and intense undertaking, which to no ones surprise took a lot of time and resources. We definitely wanted to release something new as close as possible to our fifth anniversary which explains the timing of Issue 15. In order to make our near-anniversary goal we pushed some features that would have been in Issue 15 out to other issues. That said, there is real value in this Issue as well, so be sure to check it out.
Boomtown: In your own opinion what will be the main feature of Issue 15?
Matt Miller: I think the villain Strike Force which frees Reichsman is the star of the issue.
Boomtown: Where are you trying to steer Mission Architect with the new features?
Matt Miller: We want players to be able to tell the stories they want to tell, and we want players to be able to easily find the stories that they like to play. All the new features in Mission Architect apply to one or both of those tenants. One of the main elements were bringing to the table for Architect is the use of key phrases. Players and authors alike will be able to tag stories with key phrases that they feel best define what the story is about. They will then be able to search for arcs that contain these phrases. For example, you can tag and/or search for an arc with the phrases of Solo Friendly, Comedy and Canon Related Story.
Boomtown: Issue 15 comes with two task/strike forces can you give us some insight to what they contain and what the goal with the two TF/SFs were?
Matt Miller: First off we didnt want a Co-op Task/Strike Force. My goal was to give the villains a Strike Force where they get a pay day, and that the hero version was not simply the same story from the hero side. I think we succeeded, and the Hero Task Force plays as kind of a sequel to the Villain one. And the first time you play the Strike Force you do get a large sum of Infamy added to your villains bank account!
Boomtown: Looking forward the first paid expansion has been announced Going Rogue. Please explain to our readers what the new expansion will bring.
Matt Miller: I cant release much information yet. Hopefully the name alone, Going Rogue, provides a good foreshadowing to what the game will encompass. But among other things there will be new zones, the ability to switch a hero to a villain and vice versa, and difficult tasks for level 50 characters to do that make them more powerful.
Boomtown: Free Issues expanding the game continuously has always been one of City of Heroes trademarks. Why was it decided to release Going Rogue as a paid expansion?
Matt Miller: Scope. Going Rogue is well beyond what we could normally do in the scope of a free update. We will continue to provide our players value in the form of future Issues, but Going Rogue is going to feature a breadth of new game content that warrants expansion pack-style treatment.
Boomtown: How will the going Rogue system work?
Matt Miller: That is something well have to keep in touch about! Well release more information on Going Rogue at a later date.
Boomtown: How expansive is the feature can you take a brute, convert him to hero and then play in the actual hero zones like Atlas Park including all your enhancements, powers and infamy?
Matt Miller: Again, I dont want to get too deep into the specifics of Going Rogue just yet, but the short answer is yes, you can be a Heroic Brute. More details forthcoming.
Boomtown: The trailer showed an intriguing costume on Maelstrom with a glowing chest piece. Does this mean that the costume creator will see new features such as glowing/animated pieces?
Matt Miller: We havent fully scoped out the player costume pieces available with Going Rogue yet.
Boomtown: Is Praetoria one or several zones?
Matt Miller: Praetoria is several zones. I can expand on that in the future.
Boomtown: In the 5 years City of Heroes has been on the market, weve seen many new powersets. However, we havent seen a new major travel power. Is that due to an engine limitation or is that a design decision? After all superhero lore is full of various travel styles.
Matt Miller: Weve designed and back-burnered several new travel powers over the past 5 years. It seems that there has always been something more broad to do with that development time. Someday! We have a lot of other work to do that our players are going to love.
Boomtown: A rival superhero MMO is just around the corner while City of Heroes has been online for five years. How do you view the arrival of competition and how will you respond to a new engine that is obviously going to raise the bar in the genre?
Matt Miller: I think if you are talking about raising the graphics bar in MMOs you should be looking at games like Aion. If you are talking about the comic-book inspired genre, I can tell you that that we are working on something we think will keep City of Heroes on par or better than our competition.
As for content, these new games need to remember that they are not competing against what City of Heroes was at launch, but the five years of content and systems that we have added to the game since. Everything from playable Villains to the Invention System to Badges to Pact Leveling and the innovtive Mission Architect system are examples of features that weve added over the past five years that have enhanced and grown an already solid game. Moreover, weve got an amazing community that only comes with time and experience which is key to the player experience, especially in a MMO.
