Exactly five years ago today, NCSoft and Cryptic Studios released City of Heroes, a massively multiplayer online role playing game that took players out of the realms of swords and sorcery, and placed them in a modern city populated by super-heroes.  The response to this new sub-genre was overwhelmingly positive, and with its wie range of powers, finely-tuned gameplay mechanics, and incredibly deep costume customization, City of Heroes quickly found a captive, loyal audience.

In the MMO world, where games often fold within a few months of launching, five years is a long time.  So how exactly has a game with niche appeal like City of Heroes manage to survive in a genre so dominated by swords, orcs, dragons and Night Elves?  The answer is simple: continued support for the game.  Paragon Studios, formerly known as NCsoft NorCal, the division of NCsoft that controlled the City of Heroes IP after it was sold to them by Cryptic Studios, has done an amazing job of continually updating the game, always taking into account what the players want to see.  In the first, update, entitled “Issue 1: Through the Looking Glass,” the game saw its level cap raised from 40 to 50, based on popular demand.  Next, in the second update, capes and auras were added, as well as a dance club.  Over the course of the next few years, City of Heroes saw not only the addition of an entirely new game that could be played alongside City of Heroes or as a stand-alone game, but also eleven updates which added facets like an invention system, new power sets, and even revamped the game’s physics and graphics engine.

While many of the updates we’ve seen have made significant changes to the gameplay, none have been as impactful as Issue #14, The Architect.  This huge update allows players to create their own unique stories, complete with custom villains, contacts, items, text and objectives; a first for a major MMO.  To celebrate the release of this update, as well as the five-year anniversary of City of Heroes’ launch, I got a chance to ask the game’s Lead Designer, Matt Miler, a few questions about the past, present and future of City of Heroes. 

1.    Hi! Could you introduce yourself?

I’m Matt Miller, who players would know as “Positron.” I am the Lead Designer for City of Heroes/City of Villains.

2.    Besides additional content, what has changed since CoH's launch?

I don’t even know where to start. We’ve added so much to this game over the past five years, it’s almost a different game than when it launched. We put in an achievement system in Badges, added a form of loot in the Invention System, the ability to go back and play any content you missed with the Ouroboros system, as well as adding more Archetypes, enemies, and zones. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

We have definitely moved the story forward, which is cool (and difficult) to do in an MMO.

3.    The City of Villains update was massive - what was the reaction by the community?

They loved it. A lot of people wanted to play out their darker tendencies with CoV. The Archetypes in that side of the game also are more solo-friendly so players found they didn’t need to find groups as much, which came as a big plus for some.

4.    What keeps people playing CoH?

I think it’s the amazing variety you can have in characters. You start off designing your costume, and you are already unique before you even step into the world. That and the combat is fun and fast paced, with lots of superhero explosions and effects going off in the battles.

5.    What has been added that might bring old players back?

We’ve recently added the Mission Architect, which allows players to make their own story-arcs in the game. You get to pick the map, pick (or even make) the enemies and allies, and write the story in up to five missions. You can then share this content with other players and earn rewards while you play.

6.    How has the response to The Architect been so far?

Amazing. Players have written over 100,000 story arcs right now, and there are currently over 20,000 available to play this very moment. We’ve marked quite a few of these “Dev Choice”, to really show off what the best of the best can be.

7.    Other than Issue 14, which update has been your favorite?

Probably Issue 10: Invasion. I love everything about it from the Vanguard group, to the new Rikti models and the ability to attack the Rikti mothership, to the Ritki invasion events. It also moved our storyline forward which was very cool.

8.    Which update do you think has been the fan favorite?

I think Issue 9: Breakthrough made a lot of people happy. We had really cut into the power level of certain characters when City of Villains was released, but Issue 9 and the Invention System really let the characters cut loose in power once again. Players love getting the Invention recipes and Salvage to craft new Enhancements to make their characters more powerful than ever before.

9.    Is there anything you wanted to put in the game over the last 5 years, but couldn’t?

A time travel mission back to the 1920’s where you get to participate in the very first superhero/supervillain battle in Paragon City, where Statesman faced off against Nemesis. We couldn’t do it because making 1920’s versions of all the art assets was time prohibitive for just this one mission.

10.    What is the team working on now?

Part of the team is working on Issue 15, and the others are working on systems and content for even further out.

11.    Who would win in a fight; The Statesman or Captain America?

Well, Steve Rogers is a corpse, so I don’t think he’d put up much of a fight. If we’re talking about the current Cap, Bucky Barnes, then I think the advantage still goes to Statesman since he’s bulletproof and the gun is a big part of the new Captain America’s arsenal.