City of Heroes players who exploit the new Mission Architect in order to power level their characters will soon find that crime doesn't pay in Paragon City, even if you play a villain.
In a post on the game's official forums, Matt "Positron" Miller addressed the issue of "meow farms", which are missions where enemies are gathered into groups near items like exploding barrels, where they can easily be dispatched en masse, giving the players rapid experience growth for very little risk. Miller brings the hammer down, threatening to ban players who exploit the system; remove access to characters power leveled through such means; and restrict access to the mission architect for those who continuously use it for evil.
While players are reacting positively to the news, the developers are being chided for how long it took them to address this issue, which has been a concern since the Mission Architect system launched with the Issue 14 update. Reader PratzStrike, who alerted us to the issue, wonders why other power leveling methods in the game have yet to be addressed.
You can read all about the situation in the epic thread on the City of Heroes forums, conveniently located at the end of the post. You can click it after you ponder the following question: Is power leveling evil, or should players be rewarded for finding ways around the normal progression?
Abusing Mission Architect [City of Heroes Forums]