Zortel

I say the e, but not Shadowy. More like... Shad-owe. Just a little lift at the end.

At least I don't say 'Rizzle Hizzle da Thizzle' /Sochi

Unfortunately consolidation can sometimes drive players away, whether the 'rats leaving the ship before it sinks' effect, or people angry at losing their character names/sg bases due to server merges leaving. If someone plays on more than one server, there's a chance for some altoholics to have too many characters on the merged servers.

Not only that, but the CoH servers were apparently changed to be not separate blades, but instead virtualized servers on a cluster, scaling resources depending on virtual server load, with the bigger servers like Virtue getting more of the resource pie compared to say, Vigilance, the French Legacy server.

That's an excellent post, Friggin_Taser. Have kudos!

Leandro: Is there any way this community could help re: the fundraising?

FFM: I figured as much. We'll chat later if you want?

Samuel_Tow: Write. Definitely. CoH has gotten me being more creative than ever through roleplaying and story writing. I'm starting a big superhero setting fiction series now featuring new heroes and altered versions of some of my CoH characters.

Spikey Shane: It can be hard for people who haven't experienced something like this to know what it's like when it's going. All I'll say is I hope the little rant here helped.

Yes, I loved Fusionette.

Yes, issue 10 was awesome for bringing them back in the Rikti War Zone.

And yes, 'sup: Nette?

Also there was a hilarious machinima about her and donuts.

Zortel, my level 50 Blaster and forum namesake.

So, currently there's The Militia forums that are well worth a sign up, lots of great RP and RPers there, the UnionRoleplayers forum and the various other forums listed in this post.

I'll be using both of the top two and seeing about some other boards not centred around RP.

Glad to hear the message is appreciated.

I'm back to work today after having a holiday, so I'll be having the ol' heavy metal on to keep my mind on the job. As I understand it's Labour Day in the US and Canada so it's tomorrow people may need to be mindful for.

In the past couple of days since the announcement, we've seen an outpouring of emotion: Sadness, anger, denial, and a multitude of others. All these can form a potent mix.

We've also had some people saying they've fallen off the wagon, be it in diet, drinks, changes to routine, that kind of thing.

It's good to have healthy emotional release during this time. But, it's wise to keep an eye out for unhealthy behaviours and changes in yourself and in others, such as friends. sg-mates, and fellow global chatees.

For some people, change can be incredibly scary. Sudden, unexpected change even more so. You may have people wondering how they'll keep in contact with their friends, the worry of social isolation. It disrupts routine, which can be very important for some. A creative outpouring stoppered, a cathartic release from work and life blocked.

What you do to help yourself or others depends on your situation. Maybe it's as simple as arranging an out-of-game social network like a Facebook group, a message board, Steam group, IRC chat room. Making sure everyone involved has the details so they can access it.

Maybe it's just having a chat with someone understanding, or doing something you enjoy like going out to see a movie or a rousing game of Mornington Crescent.

The point is that as much of a shame and upset as this is, it would be even worse for negative events to occur because of it. A game can be a community and a community can be a support network for all manner of people with all manner of reasons.

I write this as part of a coping mechanism for myself. The shift in sleeping pattern, stomach discomfort, the general feelings of anxiety manifesting physically, even the sudden onset of a cold. They're my warning signals, and I know how to combat them for myself. Heavy metal, stress ball, doing something positive and chatting with friends.

So keep an eye out on yourself and those you know. A hero can't save the world if they're unwell, and you can't expect a villain to do their thing when under the weather.

There's VG247, and Extra Credits might be an idea to to contact, at the very least it'd make a good basis for an episode for them.

I've sent a tip to the PA Report.

I remember watching this video before I started playing the game proper:

City of Heroes - Hero

Filmed and edited by someone named Aladora on the Virtue server.

Not the first, but the greatest, the one that I had put the most amount of time, money and effort into.

I went: International Ragnarok Online (Good music, many hats) > Final Fantasy XI (LEVEL DOWN) > WISH (Died in Closed Beta) > Fairyland (Made fried chicken) > Maplestory (urgh) > City of Heroes (yay), with side orders of Dark Age of Camelot (Urgh), World of Warcraft (Never again), Guild Wars (Pretty but not much else to it I found), Phantasy Star Universe (Urgh), Champions Online Beta (Urgh), EVE Online (Excel. In. SPAAAAAAAACE!), Star Wars The Old Republic (Urgh)

Last night, I watched the new Doctor Who, then went downstairs to watch some more episodes of Castle on DVD with my mum (Season 3, 21 & 22). With the eps watched, I gave mum a hug and was thinking about going upstairs like I usually do to play a bit of CoH.

Then I realised it wouldn't be possible all too soon, and I started crying.

For seven and a half (or more!) years, City of Heroes and the CoH boards have been part of my daily routine. As soon as the laptop is on the first tab to load in Firefox is the City Life boards. I'd wake up and check what new posts have gone on. I'd come home from work and check the new posts. I'd log in around 9pm for some RP or gaming.

(And hell do I like routine and normality. I'd get antsy and upset if someone had taken my chair in class back when I was a college student. That chair was mine because it had the shortest distance to a power socket for my laptop, didn't get the glare of the sun on it, gave me a nice view of the board, and let me check up on the boards after my quick typing speed had let me copy the notes down quicker than everyone writing on paper.)

When a Beta was on, I'd check the Dev and Community digests for patch notes and such. I got so excited hearing the plans for Ice Blast changes. So looking forwards to Quickfrost using those holds with more damage and oomph to them.

And pretty soon... that'll no longer be the case. So I dried my eyes, came upstairs, made a blog post on my feelings, checked the boards to see what was going on, and worked on some fiction.

I remember seeing the ice blast changes and thinking "Damn, Quickfrost is going to love getting those."

And now he won't.

I was so psyched for Issue 24: Fix Everything and Issue 25: Fix Everything Else for the power changes. I was getting very excited about the changes happening to older characters.

I enjoyed the episode a lot. I'll give it another watch later on, to soak up anything I missed the first time.

Gonna be an interesting five weeks.

Thanks for coming to Omega Sektor and meeting us rabid EU players in a weekend of pizza and crazy.

Thanks for the game that I love.

Thanks... just thanks. Go on and be awesome.

As for me? Never give up, never surrender. Today I began work on creating a setting where my characters can live on and have new adventures with enemies and friends.

PS: I hope the walking goes well! I remember asking about it and causing a tangent on one of the community chats.

*Looks at National Rail Enquiries*

It'd cost me £69 to get to Birmingham New Street at 11.38, leaving at 18.22 to get back home.

Decisions, decisions.

I was eating baked beans on toast, with a cup of tea, talking with my friends on IRC. I was going to watch some Castle later on with my mum, and had been planning character builds when Gideon/Clockworkseer, my honorary brother, came on the channel and swore that something must be a joke.

I checked Facebook. And my heart felt so very heavy. In an instant, my plans for issue 24, the fiction, the new characters, the new costumes, the possibilities, the hope for new character slots... they broke.

Later on, a group of us went to the Echo of Galaxy City, where many of us began roleplaying on Union back in 2005. I swapped my mains outfit for the one she first had when I started playing City of Heroes.

I stayed up late yesterday, till 4.30 AM, checking the forum. I tried to sleep.

I barely managed 3 hours.

I fluctuate between hope that it can be saved, despair that it will be gone, and anger that NCSoft are killing it. I ran about Kings Row today on Ravenward, my level 29 Staff/WP Scrapper, hopping from building to building and hitting enemies with the staff.

And all I could think of was 'How? This game still looks good, it's still got stuff to give, it had so much to come. How can this happen?'

At least it didn't happen a few years ago. I'd have been a wreck. Or last year, when I was caring for my dying father. Maybe I'm stronger now. Or maybe I've been dulled to emotions. But I haven't cried yet.

I need time to think on how I'm gonna proceed, but I'll likely be starting up a writing project at the least featuring characters of mine: the Unityverse. Fiction's gonna need some retooling fo' sho' though.

Indeed, getting major forum bugs here myself.

It's been hella fun, Tech, I'm reachable on Steam for gaming. Good luck with your creative endeavours.

I could complain about this some more... but all I can do is... sing.

We don't need no Asian Grindfests /
We don't need no Warcraft clones /
A dark occurrence in the board room /
execs leave Paragon alone.

HEY!
YOU!
NCSOFT!
LEAVE OUR GAME ALONE!

Don't you know it's more than /
Just a game on the 'net.

(If you don't grind for gear, you can't get any stronger. How can you get any stronger if you don't grind for gear?!)