October 9, 2008
City of Heroes Issue 13 – New
Info on Day Jobs!
NCsoft has released a new developer
diary for their long-running superhero MMO, City of Heroes. The new dev diary
concerns the upcoming Issue 13 update, and the upcoming Day Jobs feature. Read
the new developer diary below.
Designing Day Jobs, by Game Designer
Phil Zeleski
Day Jobs, a new feature for City of
Heroes, rewards players even when they aren’t playing the game. It’s called
offline character progression and while other games have done this before, City
of Heroes takes it to a whole new level. Simply put, Day Jobs reward players
with additional powers and benefits when they log back in. This also gives
characters greater depth by allowing them to flesh out their identities and
back-stories. Our goal was to create a robust system that benefits players now
as much as possible while also allowing the system to grow with future content
updates.
Day Jobs and Badges
The Day Job system allows players to
log out from a specific location (like a hospital or vault) and when they return
to play, after an extended log out period, they will gain a temporary power or
some other benefit. All of the benefits granted from Day Jobs, other than badges
and accolades (see below) are temporary or have a certain number of uses before
they expire. However, each time a character logs out from the same area, the
corresponding benefits are replenished. Most rewards take 10 days of logged out
time to reach the maximum benefit.
When characters are logged out from
a designated location (consecutively or non-consecutively) for a total of 30
days they will earn a badge associated with the corresponding Day Job. This will
result in additional benefits. Once a badge is earned, the rate at which
characters accumulate benefits, and even the potency of them increase!
Below is a list of most, but not
all, of the Day Jobs available in Issue 13: Power and Responsibility:
Hero Day Jobs
Day Job |
Log Out |
Benefit |
City Official |
City Hall |
Influence |
Law Enforcer |
Police |
Experience |
Commuter |
Train |
Travel speed |
Shop Keeper |
Store Lobbies |
Enhancement |
Intern |
Portal Corp |
Large |
Caregiver |
Hospital |
Out of combat |
Professor |
Inside |
Random tech |
Midnighter |
Inside the |
Random arcane |
Banker |
Inside a |
Influence |
Clubber |
Pocket D |
Out of combat |
Fashion |
Tailor |
Coupons that |
Mortician |
Graveyards |
XP Debt |
Villain Day
Jobs
Day Job |
Log Out |
Benefit |
Demagogue |
Arachnos |
Influence |
Arachnos |
Arachnos |
Experience |
Pilot |
Near Black |
Travel speed |
Smuggler |
Ferry Docks |
Enhancement |
Crey Employee |
Crey |
Large |
Pain |
Hospital |
Out of combat |
Professor |
Inside |
Random tech |
Midnighter |
Inside the |
Random arcane |
Thief |
Inside a |
Influence |
Clubber |
Pocket D |
Out of combat |
Fashion |
Tailor |
Coupons that |
Mortician |
Graveyards |
XP Debt |
Accolades
An Accolade is obtained by earning
two Day Job badges that work in conjunction with one another. In other words,
earning multiple badges unlock Accolades. These Accolades will grant an even
more enhanced set of powers and benefits. Additional ‘charges’ can also be
earned for your Day Job Accolade powers by logging off from either of the areas
associated with the two badges that unlocked the Accolade. Below is a list of
some, but not all, of the Day Job Accolades available in Issue 13: Power and
Responsibility:
Hero Day Job
Accolades
Day Job |
Day Job #1 |
Day Job #2 |
Benefit |
Police Chief |
Law Enforcer |
City Official |
Baton Power: |
Security |
Law Enforcer |
Banker |
Tear Gas: |
Scientist |
Professor |
Intern |
Sleep Gas: |
Physician |
Professor |
Caregiver |
Ally |
Alchemist |
Caregiver |
Midnighter |
Ally Heal |
Villain Day
Job Accolades
Day Job |
Day Job #1 |
Day Job #2 |
Benefit |
Web Weaver |
Arachnos |
Demagogue |
Web Grenade: |
Black Ops |
Arachnos |
Thief |
Smoke |
Crey |
Pain |
Crey Employee |
Sleep Gas: |
Physician |
Professor |
Pain |
Ally |
Alchemist |
Pain |
Midnighter |
Ally Heal |
Note: These are only some of the
available Accolades. When players obtain Day Job badges, they unlock information
about which Day Jobs to collect next in order to earn the associated Accolade(s).
On Patrol
In addition to all of the Day Jobs,
every character is "On Patrol" after they log out of the game. When players log
back into Paragon City or the Rogue Isles they will gain 1 bar of double
experience (when defeating enemies) for every 24 hours they are logged out. A
player can earn up to 10 bars of double experience this way. Double experience
is shown as a blue portion of your experience bar. One thing to note is that if
a player has any experience debt, the debt will be removed first before any
double experience is applied.
If your character has a number of
bars of double experience that exceeds the number of experience bars you need to
level up, then this double experience will carry over to the next
security/threat level.
Getting Started
When exploring both Paragon City and
the Rogue Isles you will encounter several Day Job locations. You’ll know you’re
in one when you see a power icon under your health bar that explains what Day
Job you will work towards by logging off in that location.
Try visiting a hospital, where you
will earn the Caregiver (Pain Specialist if you’re a villain) Day Job. You’ll
notice a power icon that when moused over will state "Day Job: Caregiver."
Logging out from this location will earn you credit toward the Caregiver Day Job
badge. When you log back in you’ll gain an out of combat regeneration bonus.
Once you’ve logged out in the Hospital for a total of 30 days (consecutively or
non-consecutively) or more you’ll earn the Caregiver badge and will receive an
even more powerful regeneration bonus when you log out at this location from
here on out.
Once you have earned the Caregiver
badge you will find a hint for how to earn the Physician accolade by first
earning the Professor badge. To earn the Professor Day Job badge, you will need
to log out from the University for 30 (consecutive or non-consecutive) days.
After an extended log out period, the Professor Day Job will grant you a random
piece of tech salvage upon mission completion. This bonus will take 10 days of
log out time to earn 2 hours worth of this bonus. However, once you earn the
Professor badge you only need to be logged out 8 days to earn the 2 hour benefit
instead of 10.
Once you own both the Professor and
Caregiver badges you will unlock the Physician Accolade. With this Accolade you
will be able to earn ‘charges’ for a power that revives defeated allies by
logging out from (and back in to) either a University or a Hospital. You will
gain the Day Job benefits for both this Accolade and the Day Job benefit
associated with the area. Nice benefits!
Parting Words
All in all, we’re really excited
about this new feature for our game. By balancing your time in and out of the
game, you’ll get unique rewards that you wouldn’t otherwise attain. When you are
ready to log back in and kick some villain or hero butt… we’ll be there waiting
for you, and you’ll still be powerful enough to do just that. And with the
addition of our Day Job themed costume pieces you can even dress appropriately!