With the recent introduction of three new arcs in the guest author series, City of Heroes gets to enjoy a bit more time in the limelight thanks to the Mission Architect system. The arcs are currently available on the live servers, and while they won't provide weeks of enjoyment, they'll certainly pass a fair bit of time and be a fun ride in the process. Gamepro recently had the opportunity to talk to the newest guest authors about their experience working on the arcs and playing the game.

If there's one unifying strand to all of the author comments, it's that working on Mission Architect doesn't just help create content, it forces creators to train themselves to write better. With limitations on how much speech can appear and when, all three authors mention that it forces the story down to its essentials. But it's not a limiting factor in making things weaker -- rather, it forces you to craft something that's entertaining even without a lot of flowery dialogue.

The full interview also covers each author's experiences in balancing the arcs, as well as Ms. Lackey's discussion of her history as a player. Whether you've already experienced the new City of Heroes arcs or have yet to take them for a spin, it's clear that a great deal of thought and effort went into them.