Paragon Studios announced last week that City of Heroes Issue 17: Dark Mirror will launch in April and introduce a major graphics enhancement and new content to the game. Well, it looks like that was just the beginning. Paragon has unveiled the official Issue 17 overview page, and it contains a ton of details on the free update:

"From animated tails to Mission Architect improvements, to new badges, missions, emotes and more; Issue 17: Dark Mirror has a little something for everyone!"

You can read all the details from the overview page after the jump. If you haven't seen them yet, be sure to check out some before and after comparisons of the graphics enhancement in our screenshots gallery.

Issue 17 Overview

"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

With the release of April's Issue 17: Dark Mirror, the newest free update of City of Heroes®, the game you love now has the visual depth, contrast, and richness it deserves! Dark Mirror includes a superior graphics rendering process, dubbed "Ultra Mode," that gives City of Heroes a heightened level of detail in lighting, reflections, shadows, and water effects. Paragon City™ and the Rogue Isles™ have never looked better.

In addition to Ultra Mode, as part of Issue 17, you will confront a new and nefarious foe who will be able to match your character blow for blow.

Other Issue 17: Dark Mirror features include:

• Epic archetypes are now unlocked at level 20.
• Animated character tails.
• New missions, new badges, and new player emotes.
• Quality of life enhancements to the UI and game systems.
• Improvements and additions to Mission Architect.

Features

Ultra Mode

Ultra Mode includes a superior graphics rendering process for players who have higher-end graphic cards. Each feature can be enabled or disabled in the graphics menu options and will be scalable. Ultra Mode works on both Macs and PCs. In specific, it offers dynamic shadows, screen-space ambient occlusion, and dynamic environment reflections (including planar reflections and environment mapping of reflective surfaces).

Epic Archetypes Unlocked at Level 20

Previously, you had to have at least one character at level 50 to make an epic archetype character. No more! Now you can create an epic archetype character as long as you have any one character at level 20 or higher.

Animated Tails

No more tails lying about like dead weight! You will now be able to select tail body parts that will react to your movement and have a swaying or swishing idle animation mode. You will need to go to a tailor to upgrade to the animated version.

Content

New Story Arcs: Issue 17: Dark Mirror features two new Hero and two new Villain story arcs for levels 20-30. Each of these story arcs has four missions, and the story arcs highlight the Dark Mirror's sinister new enemy. Acquire the first Hero story arc in Talos Island, and the first Villain arc in Sharkhead Isle.

Silver Mantis Strike Force Update: The Silver Mantis Strike Force will now be available to all Villains, not just supergroups. You now can access the Silver Mantis Strike Force via Silver Mantis, located in Sharkhead Isle. You can also run this Task Force from your supergroup computer.

Positron Task Force Update: This Task Force has been split into two halves and dramatically upgraded and updated to ramp up the fun. The final battle of the Task Force takes place in the Faultline Dam and incorporates the new Dark Mirror enemy.

New Badges: Along with adding badges for 500 Badges Earned, 750 Badges Earned, and 1,000 Badges Earned, we are adding new exploration badges to city zones, almost doubling the number of exploration badges. You can learn new Accolades for finding all of the exploration badges in each city zone.

New Player Emotes: We'll let you know more about the new emotes soon.

Quality of Life Improvements

Craftable Temporary Powers: You will now have a much cleaner and more consistent way of finding and crafting temporary powers.

Increased Mission Count: You can now have seven active missions (previously three).

Show Last Objective: This UI improvement lets you find your last objective on a mission map, making it easier to find something you've missed.

Auction House: The UI gives you new options for sorting search results, your Auction House inventory is now separated by clearly marked tabs based on the item's status, the Auction House text entry box now autocompletes, and a single click on a recipe displays all salvage needed for that recipe.

In-Game E-mail: You can now use in-game e-mails to send Influence/Infamy to your own characters or to other players' characters via in-game e-mails. (You still cannot send Influence, Infamy, or items from a Hero to a Villain or vice versa.)

Mission Architect Improvements

Experience: You can now handpick the powers for custom enemies and still receive experience for them (within game balance limits).

New Maps: We have added approximately 20 new unique maps.

Giant Monsters: You can now add giant monsters to some outdoor maps.

Exit Mission on Complete: You can now specify that players have to leave the mission manually on completion.

Escort Missions: "Lead to place" technology allows you more control over escort objectives.