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== Overview ==
 
== Overview ==
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The '''Mission Architect''', fictionally presented as a training exercise for Heroes and Villains, allows players to build their own [[mission]]s and [[Story Arc]]s and share them with others in the game. Using a point-and-click interface and filling in all the text of a mission, players can create story arcs of up to five separate missions by selecting options like size and type of the map, mission objectives, encounter types, and difficulty level of each encounter, as well as choosing the powers and costumes of some of the foes.
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+++ ATTENTION EDITORS
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+++ Please keep Overview short
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+++ put History in the == History == section at the bottom
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-->
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[[Image:MissionSimulator12.jpg|300px|thumb|Mission Simulator]]
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Player-created content has been internally talked about for a very long time, as evidenced by a post[http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Number=8320859#Post8320859] by [[Statesman (Developer)|Jack Emmert]] in 2007:
 +
:''I think player created content can be GREAT...if it's handled correctly.''
  
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The '''Mission Architect''', fictionally presented as a training exercise for Heroes and Villains, allows players to build their own Missions and Story Arcs and share them with others in the game. Using an intuitive interface similar to the game's detailed Character Creator, players can create missions by selecting options like size and type of map/environment, mission objectives and encounter types, and difficulty level of each encounter. Additionally, players can write all mission story fiction and character dialogue.
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:''... We've always talked about ways to get player material into the game...imagine using the base creator tools to make your own missions! Or a your own training room? Maybe some day we can figure a way to put this stuff into the game. The imagination just on these forums alone is so amazing; I can only hope we find a way an outlet for it.''
  
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This feature was announced by Positron in April 28th 2008[http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/archives/2008/04/a_message_from.html], and while no release date has been set, an screen shot of its interface was leaked in August 8th 2008[http://www.badge-hunter.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=4187].
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And [[Issue 14]] finally realized the dream.
  
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Players can create their own missions and they can play missions that have been created by other players. Once you have finalized and "published" your missions, they are accessible by all players across all servers. All players can rate player created missions and a Mission Browser lets players find available missions and story arcs through a variety of tabs, sorts and filters in an auction house type environment.
 
  
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As missions are played and more people positively rate them, the creator gains rewards and access to unlockable content for his/her missions. Rewards will also be given to players of the missions. Players will gain rewards such as badges and even XP for playing user created missions and story arcs.
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[[File:Holograms-2252009-1.jpg|300px|thumb|{{center|Architect Entertainment<br />Hologram Contacts & Data Stream}}]]
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[[File:Architect-entertainment-interior-2252009-2.jpg|300px|thumb|{{center|Architect Entertainment<br />Data Stream & Ticket Vendor}}]]
  
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The Mission Architect will allow you to create your own named bosses, such as their costumes, powers, and spawn places. You can only have maps for missions that you have visited. By getting high ratings and having many people play your story arcs, you gain rewards such as Signature Villains/heroes as well as some unique maps to make into missions.
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== The Company ==
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:''Main Articles:'' [[Architect Entertainment]], [[Architect Entertainment Buildings]]
  
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== More Info ==
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''Architect Entertainment'' is a company created by [[Dr. Aeon|Dr. Thaddeus Aeon AQSA]], with [[Crey Industries]] funding. For a description of the Mission Architect from the mad doctor himself, see: [http://web.archive.org/web/20121014173422/http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/news/paragon_journals/mission_architect.php From the personal memoirs of Dr. Thaddeus Aeon AQSA]
  
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=== What IS the Mission Architect anyway? ===
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Most city zones have [[Architect Entertainment Buildings]]. Players can find them marked on their maps with an [[AE]] logo (there is an option on the mini-map that will toggle its visibility).
  
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The Mission Architect will let us, the players, design missions for other players as well as undertake missions made by other players. Missions from the Architect will be available to heroes AND villains alike on ALL servers.
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== Create, Test, Publish, and Play ==
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Players can have a maximum of eight arcs (three free and up to five purchased arc slots) per account. A published arc can contain up to five missions. All Architect missions are [[Instanced Map|instanced]], accessible through the Data Stream in the center of each building. While players are on an Architect mission, it is similar to being on a [[Task Force]]/[[Strike Force]]; other contacts are unavailable. However, unlike Task Forces, players may still be invited after the arc is started.
  
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=== What it's NOT.===
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Missions can be level restricted, meaning players can be forced to [[sidekick|sidekick or exemplar]] for the duration of a mission. The level restriction of each mission is separate; one mission might sidekick, the next could exemplar.
  
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The Mission Architect is not a power leveling, farming, or badging tool. (Exception for badges directly related to the Mission Architect.) The developers have taken various steps to prevent this feature from being used for those purposes, but I'll discuss those later.
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Missions are saved locally. There is an 'autosave' option, which overwrites itself every couple minutes with the arc's current data. If the player gives their arc a unique file name, the autosave option overwrites this file instead. {{red|WARNING:}} not giving an arc a unique file name and autosaving to the generic autosave file can cause loss of data if updating more than one arc. The newest save is always the current arc being worked on, so ''use unique file names''. Due to being saved locally, story arcs can be edited offline as text files. The file structure takes a little getting used to, but it is fairly simple.
  
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=== Architect Entertainment Stations ===
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The Mission Architect allows players to create their own named bosses and foes, customizing their costumes, powers, and where and how they appear in the mission. Additionally, mission maps can be selected [[Mission Architect Unique Maps|specifically]] (specifying the [[Marvin Weintraub#Crash the Freaklympics awards ceremony and arrest Mistah Static|''Freaklympics'']] map) or by a randomized choice of a certain type of map (random choice from all abandoned warehouse maps). There are close to a thousand maps to choose from and more are being made available.
  
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It will all start at Architect Entertainment Stations (AES) placed in multiple zones throughout the game. (1 in a co-op zone was implied, but not guaranteed.) Here you will be able to search for other player made missions to go on with or without a team, or create, save, load, test, publish, or unpublish your own missions. (More on those new terms later.) A quick note about the mission search engine. It will have to sort through content made by ALL players that have published a mission. So it's expected to load slower than the markets load. (Honestly just the search engine alone on the Architect was a big undertaking and we appreciate all of the dev's work that went into it!)
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Those who play MA arcs get [[Ticket]] Rewards in place of drops (unless they are playing a [[Developer's Choice]] arc with normal rewards turned on), as well as influence and [[Architect Entertainment Badges|badges]]. Tickets can be used to buy a variety of items, such as enhancements and recipes, or unlockable content for mission creators, like signature villains or unique maps.
  
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=== What to Expect ===
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=== Mission Architect Guides ===
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* [[Mission Architect Tutorial]]
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* [[Mission Architect Files]]
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* [[Mission Architect Custom Units]]
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* [[Mission Architect Unique Maps]]
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* [[Mission Architect Tags]]
  
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Well to start with, there can actually be up to FIVE missions in a published arc. All Architect missions will be instanced and NOT in an open zone. While you are on an Architect mission it will be similar to being on a Task/Strike Force in regards to other contacts being greyed out. You may well notice that your toon's level has changed while in the mission. Do not be alarmed yet. Your level can shift in either direction and can even vary with each mission in the arc. Why? Because our benevolent Architect overlords whim it so. Ok: you can be alarmed now.
 
  
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After the published mission is complete, you can rate it as thumbs up, thumbs down, or inappropriate and why.
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== Ratings ==
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All players can rate published missions from 1 to 5 stars, and leave a comment. As missions are played and more people positively rate them, the creator gains rewards such as Tickets and badges and possibly having their arcs designated Hall of Fame or Developer's Choice.
  
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=== Not for Farming or PLing ===
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Additionally, players can leave comments for the author (sent as [[Global Chat Handle|global]] [[tell (Slash Command)|tells]]) with suggestions or anything else.
  
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Opinions on farming and powerleveling are seldom neutral, and this isn't a forum for that discussion. It IS, however, where you get informed of how the devs are going to discourage the Architect from being overrun with intentionally mindless stuff from folks that do not care about the stories the Architect is intended to encourage. Please keep in mind things can change between now and implementation.
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Also while rating, players can also report arcs as inappropriate and give reasons why. Arcs with many reports will automatically be hidden from the search function until reviewed by a [[GM]]. Arcs that are banned take up a story arc slot until re-evaluated by a GM, which reduces the number of arc slots that player can use.
  
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While in an Architect mission players WILL get normal kill xp, inf, prestige, and inspirations. After the arc is complete there may also be a different type of merit (not i13 merit, not Rikti merit) called a skeeball ticket (placeholder name maybe?). Skeeball ticket is all the information we really have. No present idea how they will be used/redeemed.
 
  
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While in an Architect mission, players will NOT get: end mission bonus, salvage, recipies, or enhancements.
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== Rewards ==
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:''Main Article:'' [[Ticket]]
  
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Badges? Only those tied to the Architect folks. Get a change of underwear ready as I give some examples.
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Full experience (XP) and influence rewards will be granted for defeating enemies in player-made content.  
  
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Kill x amount of y badges? No.
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However, in place of drops and end-of-mission XP bonuses, players earn Tickets. Players can take these Tickets to an Architect [[Ticket Vendor]] and redeem them for various in-game rewards, such as enhancements, recipes and salvage. Players will be able to purchase unlockable content with their tickets. They’ll be able to get maps, costume pieces and different characters.  
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Healing? Damage taken? Debt? No.
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"But what about..." NO. Ain't happening inside the Architect folks.
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=== Creating a Mish for you and/or others ===
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Story Arcs promoted to Dev's Choice can offer standard rewards or ticket drops at the players discretion. Choosing standard rewards will treat the mission like developer content, dropping enhancements, recipes and salvage. Choosing Architect rewards will treat the mission like a regular Mission Architect story, and will only drop Architect Tickets. However, the end-of-mission XP bonus is still omitted, even if the player chooses standard rewards.
  
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The exact order of mission creation isn't known, but at various points you will pick a mission type and goals, enemies and level, possibly a NPC combat ally(s) and/or custom boss, and oh yeah, a pre-made map and write the thing and save.
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=== Restricted Rewards in MA ===
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Only [[Architect Entertainment Badges]] can be obtained in Architect Entertainment missions. This means no [[critter]] defeats count for [[Defeat Badges]], [[Achievement Badges]] do not increment, etc. Even if a Story Arc gets promoted to Dev's Choice or Hall of Fame, these badges are still unavailable through the Mission Architect missions.  
  
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Yes I DID say pre-made map. The devs have promised us over 1,000 maps to choose from at launch, including all unique maps. (They also said no one wants to see Hamidon in the 5-layer room.) They would like to get us a mapmaker at some point, but that point will not be at launch. (It's a lot of work for that folks.) Likewise mobs will spawn on the maps at preset points.
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The way the custom foes were designed and the limitation on arcs (like the inability to place foes exactly where one would like) are designed to prevent the Mission Architect from becoming a [[Power Level]]ing tool. Changes have been made several times to curb the use of [[exploit]]s and [[bug]]s to gain extra rewards, including altering enemies to give different rewards within Architect versus without, changing or removing maps, and other ways.
  
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The ability to add a custom boss is the feature WE demanded and the reason we are getting the Architect an issue later. It's known that in i13 we get the ability to save and load costumes from our toons to our local computer. We will also be able to download it to a custom boss. Each one will get a primary (attack) and a secondary power set. It was asked by an audience member if we would be able to scale our custom bosses to Elite Bosses or Archvillain/Hero, but I wasn't clear on the answer given.
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=== Dev's Choice and Hall of Fame ===
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There are two ways around the story arc limitation. Those ways are the Dev's Choice and Hall of Fame. These actually copy arcs onto the game servers and delete them from their published slot, freeing them.
  
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No ambushes will be possible with the Architect. Also no cut scenes. (THANK YOU DEVS!!!)
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Dev's choice simply means a dev liked it enough to save it. It's not canon, but they liked it!
  
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Mission type and goals like glowie clicks or kill-alls are easy enough to understand. Turns out there is a link between enemies and level though, as enemies exist in various ranges and don't always scale out of those ranges well. Call it quality control for a better play experience.
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Arcs enter the Hall of Fame when a large number of players rate an arc favorably.
  
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Enemies and allies can be pretty much anything you can already fight somewhere in the game. At the time of Herocon, even Giant Monsters were available for use in Architect missions. I inferred that Giant Monsters may change before launch however. One member of the panel commented that the day before they had fought against 6 AV Clockwork Kings with another one helping them in an Architect mission!
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Both of these are search options in the Architect menu.
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Writing well is always a challenge, and this won't be any different. You will be able to write briefings, NPC dialog, clues, debriefings, and souvenirs. Just the same as the Devs! Please keep in mind that the developers have spell checking software in their process that isn't in the Architect. So take some time to double-check for typos is my advice.
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Saving is done to your local computer. Now get THIS, you can save an UNLIMITED (by the game) number of missions! And it gets better! You can edit your saved missions offline as they are in a text file! SWEET!!!
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==== Test ====
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You can load up a saved mission and run it for yourself or your team. This can be useful for laughs or less widespread applications like SG initiations and the like.
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==== Publish ====
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You can only have three (3) published missions per ACCOUNT but you can publish and UNpublish at will.
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It is worth noting that the character that is logged on when you publish the mission is the character that is getting any Architect badge credit for that mission.
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=== Dev's Choice and Hall of Fame ===
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There ARE 2 ways around the 3 published per account limit. Dev's choice and Hall of Fame. These actually copy your mission onto the game servers and delete it from your published slot, freeing it.
 
  
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Dev's choice simply means a Dev liked it enough to save it. It's not canon, but they liked it!
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== Screenshot Gallery ==
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<gallery caption="Massively.com and Ten Ton Hammer screenshots">
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Image:Welcome-to-architect-entertainment-2252009-5.jpg|{{center|"Welcome to Architect Entertainment"}}
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Image:First_Screen.png|{{center|Mission Architect UI - First Screen}}
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Image:Architect-ui-01b-2252009-5.jpg|{{center|Mission Architect UI - Story Settings & Story Contact Settings}}
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Image:Architect-ui-10b-2252009-2.jpg|{{center|Mission Architect UI - Mission Settings}}
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Image:Architect-ui-03b-2252009-6.jpg|{{center|Mission Architect UI - Misson Settings 2}}
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Image:Mission_1_Goals.png|{{center|Mission Architect UI - Mission 1 Goals}}
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Image:Basic_and_Advanced_Mission_Goals.png|{{center|Mission Architect UI - Basic and Advanced Mission Goals}}
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Image:Mission_Text.png|{{center|Mission Architect UI - Mission Text}}
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Image:Architect-ui-08b-2252009-3.jpg|{{center|Mission Architect UI - Custom Boss Settings 1}}
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Image:Architect-ui-07b-2252009-7.jpg|{{center|Mission Architect UI - Custom Boss Settings 2}}
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Image:Architect-ui-09b-2252009-1.jpg|{{center|Mission Architect UI - Boss Settings 1}}
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Image:Architect-ui-05b-2252009-4.jpg|{{center|Mission Architect UI - Boss Settings 2}}
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Image:Creating_an_Enemy_Group.png|{{center|Mission Architect UI - Creating an Enemy Group}}
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Image:Staging_the_Boss.png|{{center|Mission Architect UI - Staging the Boss}}
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Image:Boss_Animations.png|{{center|Mission Architect UI - Boss Animations}}
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Image:Architect-entertainment-building-2252009-4.jpg|{{center|AE - Exterior - Atlas}}
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Image:Architect_Entertainmet_Facility.png|{{center|AE - Interior}}
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</gallery>
  
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You get a mission into the Hall of Fame when a yet unknown number of players rate it thumbs up.
 
  
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Both of these will be search options in the Architect menu.
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== History ==
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This feature was announced by [[Positron (Developer)|Positron]] on April 28th, 2008[http://web.archive.org/web/20121003113800/http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/news/news_archive/a_message_from.php].
  
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==External Links==
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== External Links ==
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* [http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=12378029 Forum Post from ImpulseKing]
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* [http://web.archive.org/web/20090302064216/http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=13119948 Official Pre-Release FAQ from Ex Libris]
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* [http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/archives/2008/04/a_message_from.html A Message from Positron]
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* [http://web.archive.org/web/20090126114434/http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=12378029 Forum thread collecting Pre-Release information about the Mission Architect]
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* [http://www.badge-hunter.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=4187 The Future of City of Franchise?]
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* [http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/02/26/full-details-on-mission-architect-system-for-city-of-heroes/ Massively.com Mission Architect Article - Feb 16th 2009]
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** [http://massively.joystiq.com/photos/city-of-heroes-architect-edition/ Screenshot gallery of Misson Architect - Massively.com]
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* [http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/64812 City of Heroes Architect Edition: Hands-On Preview | Ten Ton Hammer]
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* [http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/64814 CoH Issue 14: Video Q&A with NCsoft's Joe Morrissey | Ten Ton Hammer]
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** [http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/tid/1923 AE - UI Screens | Ten Ton Hammer]
  
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[[Category:Future Content]]
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[[Category:Mission Architect]]

Latest revision as of 15:45, 14 April 2014

Overview

The Mission Architect, fictionally presented as a training exercise for Heroes and Villains, allows players to build their own missions and Story Arcs and share them with others in the game. Using a point-and-click interface and filling in all the text of a mission, players can create story arcs of up to five separate missions by selecting options like size and type of the map, mission objectives, encounter types, and difficulty level of each encounter, as well as choosing the powers and costumes of some of the foes.

Player-created content has been internally talked about for a very long time, as evidenced by a post[1] by Jack Emmert in 2007:

I think player created content can be GREAT...if it's handled correctly.
... We've always talked about ways to get player material into the game...imagine using the base creator tools to make your own missions! Or a your own training room? Maybe some day we can figure a way to put this stuff into the game. The imagination just on these forums alone is so amazing; I can only hope we find a way an outlet for it.

And Issue 14 finally realized the dream.


Architect Entertainment
Hologram Contacts & Data Stream
Architect Entertainment
Data Stream & Ticket Vendor

The Company

Main Articles: Architect Entertainment, Architect Entertainment Buildings

Architect Entertainment is a company created by Dr. Thaddeus Aeon AQSA, with Crey Industries funding. For a description of the Mission Architect from the mad doctor himself, see: From the personal memoirs of Dr. Thaddeus Aeon AQSA

Most city zones have Architect Entertainment Buildings. Players can find them marked on their maps with an AE logo (there is an option on the mini-map that will toggle its visibility).

Create, Test, Publish, and Play

Players can have a maximum of eight arcs (three free and up to five purchased arc slots) per account. A published arc can contain up to five missions. All Architect missions are instanced, accessible through the Data Stream in the center of each building. While players are on an Architect mission, it is similar to being on a Task Force/Strike Force; other contacts are unavailable. However, unlike Task Forces, players may still be invited after the arc is started.

Missions can be level restricted, meaning players can be forced to sidekick or exemplar for the duration of a mission. The level restriction of each mission is separate; one mission might sidekick, the next could exemplar.

Missions are saved locally. There is an 'autosave' option, which overwrites itself every couple minutes with the arc's current data. If the player gives their arc a unique file name, the autosave option overwrites this file instead. WARNING: not giving an arc a unique file name and autosaving to the generic autosave file can cause loss of data if updating more than one arc. The newest save is always the current arc being worked on, so use unique file names. Due to being saved locally, story arcs can be edited offline as text files. The file structure takes a little getting used to, but it is fairly simple.

The Mission Architect allows players to create their own named bosses and foes, customizing their costumes, powers, and where and how they appear in the mission. Additionally, mission maps can be selected specifically (specifying the Freaklympics map) or by a randomized choice of a certain type of map (random choice from all abandoned warehouse maps). There are close to a thousand maps to choose from and more are being made available.

Those who play MA arcs get Ticket Rewards in place of drops (unless they are playing a Developer's Choice arc with normal rewards turned on), as well as influence and badges. Tickets can be used to buy a variety of items, such as enhancements and recipes, or unlockable content for mission creators, like signature villains or unique maps.

Mission Architect Guides


Ratings

All players can rate published missions from 1 to 5 stars, and leave a comment. As missions are played and more people positively rate them, the creator gains rewards such as Tickets and badges and possibly having their arcs designated Hall of Fame or Developer's Choice.

Additionally, players can leave comments for the author (sent as global tells) with suggestions or anything else.

Also while rating, players can also report arcs as inappropriate and give reasons why. Arcs with many reports will automatically be hidden from the search function until reviewed by a GM. Arcs that are banned take up a story arc slot until re-evaluated by a GM, which reduces the number of arc slots that player can use.


Rewards

Main Article: Ticket

Full experience (XP) and influence rewards will be granted for defeating enemies in player-made content.

However, in place of drops and end-of-mission XP bonuses, players earn Tickets. Players can take these Tickets to an Architect Ticket Vendor and redeem them for various in-game rewards, such as enhancements, recipes and salvage. Players will be able to purchase unlockable content with their tickets. They’ll be able to get maps, costume pieces and different characters.

Story Arcs promoted to Dev's Choice can offer standard rewards or ticket drops at the players discretion. Choosing standard rewards will treat the mission like developer content, dropping enhancements, recipes and salvage. Choosing Architect rewards will treat the mission like a regular Mission Architect story, and will only drop Architect Tickets. However, the end-of-mission XP bonus is still omitted, even if the player chooses standard rewards.

Restricted Rewards in MA

Only Architect Entertainment Badges can be obtained in Architect Entertainment missions. This means no critter defeats count for Defeat Badges, Achievement Badges do not increment, etc. Even if a Story Arc gets promoted to Dev's Choice or Hall of Fame, these badges are still unavailable through the Mission Architect missions.

The way the custom foes were designed and the limitation on arcs (like the inability to place foes exactly where one would like) are designed to prevent the Mission Architect from becoming a Power Leveling tool. Changes have been made several times to curb the use of exploits and bugs to gain extra rewards, including altering enemies to give different rewards within Architect versus without, changing or removing maps, and other ways.

Dev's Choice and Hall of Fame

There are two ways around the story arc limitation. Those ways are the Dev's Choice and Hall of Fame. These actually copy arcs onto the game servers and delete them from their published slot, freeing them.

Dev's choice simply means a dev liked it enough to save it. It's not canon, but they liked it!

Arcs enter the Hall of Fame when a large number of players rate an arc favorably.

Both of these are search options in the Architect menu.


Screenshot Gallery

  • Massively.com and Ten Ton Hammer screenshots
  • "Welcome to Architect Entertainment"
  • Mission Architect UI - First Screen
  • Mission Architect UI - Story Settings & Story Contact Settings
  • Mission Architect UI - Mission Settings
  • Mission Architect UI - Misson Settings 2
  • Mission Architect UI - Mission 1 Goals
  • Mission Architect UI - Basic and Advanced Mission Goals
  • Mission Architect UI - Mission Text
  • Mission Architect UI - Custom Boss Settings 1
  • Mission Architect UI - Custom Boss Settings 2
  • Mission Architect UI - Boss Settings 1
  • Mission Architect UI - Boss Settings 2
  • Mission Architect UI - Creating an Enemy Group
  • Mission Architect UI - Staging the Boss
  • Mission Architect UI - Boss Animations
  • AE - Exterior - Atlas
  • AE - Interior


History

This feature was announced by Positron on April 28th, 2008[2].

External Links

Retrieved from "https://archive.paragonwiki.com/w/index.php?title=Mission_Architect&oldid=256159"