City of Heroes Issue 13 announced

NCsoft has announced the title and main features of the next free content update for its superhero MMO, City of Heroes. Issue 13: Architect, the developer confirmed, will include a way for players to create their own mission content.

Players will be able to design missions and story arcs, and share them with the entire community of City of Heroes and City of Villains. The interface will apparently be similar to the game's famously powerful character creation, and allow you to pick environments, objectives and enemies as well as write dialogue.

Missions that are successful with the community stand the chance of unlocking rewards for their creators. Troubled MMO The Saga of Ryzom has attempted user-created-content before, but to our knowledge, City of Heroes will be the first major MMO to include this feature.

Architect will also introduce the Day Job system, which allows for limited character progression while you're offline. If you log out in City Hall, your superhero will become a City Official by day, and gain influence. Caregivers will be given health regeneration, and so on.

There will also be new powersets, some new missions, a new reward system, more costume options, and some tweaks to existing zones. There's no word yet on when to expect Issue 13.