I have mentioned before that I play the MMO City of Heroes. I have been playing it since the first day it was offered for sale, and the only reason I signed up that late was I had somehow completely missed its existence until about 2 weeks before that. But I have been there ever since. And on occasion, I have been picked to participate in the closed beta testing of new issues (The name of the free updates that NCSoft puts out). This occurred a couple of weeks ago for the next issue, number 14: Architect.

I was quite surprised to receive the email. I had been sick for a while and not playing much at all on the live servers. And I had totally missed the fact that the Closed Beta was even going on. I am obviously not always the most observant person about some things.

I was not one of the people that has been eagerly anticipating the Mission Architect, I had some vague ideas about stories I might make, but I have not been planning anything special. But that did not stop me from logging on to the Test server and checking out it out.

It was much more and less then I was expecting. Almost complete control over the text and dialogue of the missions you create, the ability to use the character creator and player powers to make custom creatures to place in your missions, and the ability to create almost every kind of mission available in the game were all pretty much as I expected. But much more fun than I had imagined.

I found myself immersed in creating a storyline, finding the right maps, adjusting powers for the custom creatures I made, getting the text and dialogue right. Hours slipped by very, very quickly. And it was a lot of fun while I was doing it. Except for when my custom characters kicked my butt.

Issue 14 has now entered open beta testing, which means that a lot more people are now on the Test server, trying out the changes in PvP combat, additions to the Arena, and the Mission Architect. The first two things do not really interest me that much, I occasionally do some PvP, but not enough to have an opinion on those changes. But the Mission Architect is a huge change to the game. And I find myself looking forward to it hitting the Live servers, to see what comes out of it.

If you left City of Heroes because it was boring, or there was not any new content, here is your chance to create what you want to see. Or just look through what others have created and see how you like it. But a word of warning, the custom characters that the players come up with? They are much, much tougher than the normal mobs in the game. And that is on the lowest power setting.

Are you tough enough to take them on?