Coalition of Creators: Mission Architect.

[Blackbird4329]

 

Hey everyone!!

The Mission Architect system is one of City of Heroes’ most underrated gems. A lot of us have put time into stories But a lot of them go unnoticed, buried under the weight of AE farm maps.

I’d like to change that.

I’m putting together a coalition of creators as it were.. who want to:

• Share the arcs we’ve worked hard on.
• Actually play each other’s content.
• Give feedback, encouragement, and visibility to missions that deserve love.
• Keep it fun and community-driven.

The Plan

Each month we’ll run a round-robin:

• Everyone who joins drops their AE arc ID(s).
• We’ll take turns highlighting one creator’s arc.
• Folks play it, share impressions, maybe even team up to run it.
• Then the spotlight rotates to the next person.

This way, we’re not just tossing arcs into the void—we’re building a living rotation where each creator’s work gets its moment in the sun.

How to Join

• Reply here with your global name and the arc ID(s) you’d like to share.
• If you don’t build, but you love playing story-driven content, you’re still welcome—more players means more feedback and fun.

 

Feedback is appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GM_GooglyMoogly]

I moved this to the Mission Architect forum, where the AE creators dwell.

[Darmian]

I suggest contacting @ZamuelNow who runs the below. 

 

 

[sponazgul]

3 hours ago, GM_GooglyMoogly said:

I moved this to the Mission Architect forum, where the AE creators dwell.

Thanks!

[Jiro Ito]

would be great to pair this with what zammy davis jr has been working on

[sponazgul]

18 hours ago, Blackbird4329 said:

 

Hey everyone!!

The Mission Architect system is one of City of Heroes’ most underrated gems. A lot of us have put time into stories But a lot of them go unnoticed, buried under the weight of AE farm maps.

I’d like to change that.

I’m putting together a coalition of creators as it were.. who want to:

• Share the arcs we’ve worked hard on.
• Actually play each other’s content.
• Give feedback, encouragement, and visibility to missions that deserve love.
• Keep it fun and community-driven.

[snip]

How to Join

• Reply here with your global name and the arc ID(s) you’d like to share.
• If you don’t build, but you love playing story-driven content, you’re still welcome—more players means more feedback and fun.

@blackbird4329 , I respect you wanting to organize this.

 

In the AE terminal, you’ll find my current 8 arcs under @First of Equals - I’ll hold off suggesting any arc ids at the moment, since I’ve previously advertised most of my arcs in this forum thread and received solid feedback.

 

(6 of my arcs are intended to give a certain comics vibe, 2 exist for certain game mechanics and aren’t really story-driven. Well, one of them has a story, I guess.)

 

I’ll keep an eye on this post for the calling-out of the arc ID to play in a given month.

 

I tend to play roughly 25% of my characters per month so if an arc is fun, I might run it multiple times for comparisons of how characters do.

 

I’ll be happy to broadcast the arc ID getting attention in-game. I think it is good to remind people that the mission architect exists outside of a farming context as well.

[ZamuelNow]

20 hours ago, Blackbird4329 said:

Feedback is appreciated.

 

Ah.  I guessing this was posted in General and then got banished to the Shadow Realm here?

 

Well then, welcome!  First and foremost, what is your in-game global?  I don't see a signature advertising your arc and that would be a good way to join in the sharing.  I'd like to invite you to the next Mission Architect Sunday Special which is this Sunday on the Indomitable shard.  It could help give you an idea of structure and help you in deciding to make your event more similar or more different.

[UltraAlt]

20 hours ago, Blackbird4329 said:

I’m putting together a coalition of creators as it were.. who want to:

 

 

[Darmian]

This isn't exactly what you're looking for but worth a look. @TerroirNoir3 is more like a one (two now) woman army intent on this grandiose and epic quest of some kind concerning AE. It's not teaming (with one exception that I know of), it's not RP, it's kind of a review...it's its own thing.

 

 

[Clave Dark 5]

On 9/2/2025 at 9:14 AM, ZamuelNow said:

Ah.  I guessing this was posted in General and then got banished to the Shadow Realm here?

Can't have the general populace exposed to non-farming AE, it frightens the horses.

Edited 5 hours ago by Clave Dark 5

[Blackbird4329]

Well thanks! 

 

I really wasn't expecting this much engagement. 

 

Well my first story can be found under:

Arc ID: 68988

Title: Bass and Blood

My game handle is: @Blackbird4329

[cranebump]

Is that bass the instrument? Or bass the fish? Because if it’s the second, I’m giving 5 Stars right now.:-)

[sponazgul]

On 9/2/2025 at 9:22 PM, Blackbird4329 said:

Well thanks! 

 

I really wasn't expecting this much engagement. 

 

Well my first story can be found under:

Arc ID: 68988

Title: Bass and Blood

My game handle is: @Blackbird4329

 

I just ran it with my level 50 inv/ss tank (and I'm re-running it with my level 42 beam rifle/traps corrupter)

 

I liked it, but I'm going to call out some typos and make some suggestions below. But I appreciated you making an arc, sharing it with us, and for using AE not just for Fire Farming or whatever. You've given us a quick arc to play, and I can see running a few different characters through it.

 

Spoiler

Suggestion: You can have the mission one intro text set the scene a little bit more. I'd recommend having Riggs mention reports of some Hooded Figure. That way, the objective Hooded Figure in mission 1 is established. (Also, I recommend having the navigation text say "Find the Hooded Figure", instead of defaulting to the name)

 

I liked the first mission map, good choice for the rave, and having the Hooded figure boss being attended by the enemies in the second mission is a good introduction.

 

The clue at the end of mission one nicely sets up the transition into mission two, but it might be good to reinforce it with mission end text with Riggs. Along the lines of "You tell Riggs you saw people being dragged off to the cemetery, and Riggs complains about being undermanned."

 

Mission Two: There's a typo in the objectives: it says 2 Free Raver, Free Raaver - I recommend you clean up the Raaver typo, but also consider saying Ravers to Free in the plural text, and then Last Raver to Free in the singular text. That way, it'll say at the beginning 3 Ravers to Free, then 2 Ravers to Free, then Last Raver to Free. I know that there's a fourth raver which has the "where are the others?" objective text - I do like that.

 

The action words "Free" and "Find" actually in their names though - Find Addision, Find Sharron probably doesn't need to be there. Just their names.

 

Did you mean to call them Cultis Hopeful or Cultist Hopeful? (I do kind of like the word Cultis if intentional)

 

I appreciated the one person to be rescued wrapped in thorns - it stands out as unusual on the map, making them easier to find. Saving them gets the system text about another person being drug away into the mausoleum, which is good and you reinforce it with the pop-up which is also good.

 

Riggs though, has trouble speaking "you say you saw a group run im to a mausoleum" - should be "into"

 

The clue that is titled "You See Them" with the word "Follow" in the body should probably be expanded, this feels like a placeholder.

 

Mission 3 - the objective is Vampire Lord, and it should probably be "Find Vampire Lord" or "Defeat Vampire Lord" but ideally, there should be some kind of foreshadowing to indicate you're looking for a vampire lord.  I'd almost rather the first objective be "Find the villain responsible" or something.

 

The top title should be Descend, not Descemd

 

After you defeat Oraya the Vampire Lord, you have to find the hostage - the objective text says 1 Find the Hostage , look at the text, I think you have that in the wrong navigation because it's giving a number. it probably needs to go in the singular navigation.

 

Finding the hostage dead had cool system text. The objective became Huh? and there's no Clue text to explain why you're going Huh? You might want to add a clue when the hostage is found that you hear Oraya in the distance, taunting you.

 

BTW, some of her text is weird. "You relive this is hopeless" should be "you realize". "I smell you I tast you" should be taste, not tast.

 

"you are Hundred 100s to early to trully kill me" - I don't really know what she's saying here. It's truly, not trully

 

She's a good fight. I had to stop and leave for work, so my corrupter hasn't finished her off for the 3rd time yet (this is my second play through using a different character account) - I'll finish it up and give it a good rating. 

 

It's fun mission, any changes I'm saying are just to clean up and add some connective text. All the mechanics are pretty great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks again for sharing your arc id and wanting to get some mission architect adventuring going

 

Edited 18 hours ago by sponazgul

[ZamuelNow]

@Blackbird4329 I forgot to ask, what shard are you primarily on?  Or do you play across multiple?

[SirArthurIV]

Well my first arc was something that was mostly made for the supergroup I'm in that knows one of my characters, although I have gotten more broadly positive comments here and there. The next one I'm building is more ambitious with a new custom gang *that is occupying most of my time building, not just for balancing and testing, but ensuring that they look diverse enough so I'm not dealing with an army of clones), and while technically, a sequel, it will be more intended to play on its own.  

 

Anyway, rambling preamble out of the way, here's the first arc:

 

Arc ID: 68851

Title: The Angelo Custode Conspiracy

My game handle is: @Blazing Pyre

My primary shard is: Everlasting

Edited 8 hours ago by SirArthurIV

[StorytellingMonkey]

On 9/1/2025 at 2:33 PM, Blackbird4329 said:

A lot of us have put time into stories But a lot of them go unnoticed, buried under the weight of AE farm maps.

 

This is true. If you look in this forum, you can see many non-farming arcs that have been posted by their creators.

[Blackbird4329]

1 hour ago, ZamuelNow said:

@Blackbird4329 I forgot to ask, what shard are you primarily on?  Or do you play across multiple?

All of my characters are on Excelsior

[sponazgul]

3 hours ago, Blackbird4329 said:

All of my characters are on Excelsior

I’m Excelsior as well

[Darmian]

LOL, I spy two more arcs liable to get the @TerroirNoir3 treatment.

[SirArthurIV]

If you think it's that good, sure. It's my first one so it's VERY rough in places, and not verry ambitious aside from getting a few basic techniques down and figuring out how things might work for later.

Edited 8 hours ago by SirArthurIV

[sponazgul]

1 hour ago, SirArthurIV said:

If you think it's that good, sure. It's my first one so it's VERY rough in places, and not verry ambitious aside from getting a few basic techniques down and figuring out how things might work for later.

I’m looking forward to playing it - specifically because it seems like you were inspired in part to make it for your SG mates, and I respect that a lot.

[Darmian]

@SirArthurIV, don't be confused, LOL. @TerroirNoir3 has a particular set of skills related to AE...