Atlantea

Oh god! LOL

I've been saying "Go Go Justice Mass Transit!" Whenever I take the train for YEARS now.

Occasionally someone else on the team will catch the reference.

(This was originally posted on the Titan Boards, but I thought I'd cross-post it over here.)

There has been discussion in a few threads of what to do when the servers go dark. One of the points mentioned was the possibility of reviving the game later. Other games have been brought back after all.

And even though NCSoft has been loathe to release IPs in the past doesn't mean we can't convince them that it's worth it. If for no other reason than we can and will give them an astoundingly large black eye in terms of their overall image and public relations. We're just beginning now to use scathing satire and comedy as well as the social tools that NCSoft has unwittingly handed over to us to beat them over the head. (NCSoft the Game Killer, NCSoft MMOkiller, NCSoftcore for their B&S "replacement" etc)

One observation is that in an upcoming financial quarter, after NCSoft has gained whatever tax write-off or benefit it's going to get from the closure, we might be in a better position to pry the IP from them and get it into the hands of a publisher who will resurrect it.

The servers WILL close on Nov 30th regardless. That HAS to happen, because I think no matter what happens, we no longer want this game tied to NCSoft regardless.

It's what happens after that point that will test us as a community.

Which brings me to this post. I want to talk about the long road ahead.

I was not there during the developing years of the early 2000's before the game launched - but plenty of people were. Think on this: Surely the community can stay focused and interested NOW like it was back then? However long it takes, from months to years, we know Paragon City is our home. And we can stay and work to revive it. How many years did the community grow and remain patient and enthusiastic before even the first of the early betas of the game were playable?

Again - I was not there. Despite that, I've heard the stories of a guy named Coyote who was so helpful and beloved by the community that when he passed away unexpectedly after only getting to play in the early Beta of the game, the devs put a tribute character to him named Kiyote in the original tutorial. (And if you know where to look, he's still in the new tutorial).

Remember Coyote, and remember that if the community had the devotion to wait for the original game to launch, then we can stay together and work towards it's resurrection. In whatever form that may take.

I think of all the torchbearers lining the steps of Atlas Park 33 and I am struck by the thought -

We are the torchbearers who have been given the task to keep the flame alive. And we have a responsibility to the community and to each other to keep the faith and keep our resolve. We look to our heroes for inspiration, and find them within ourselves, and realize WE are heroes, and this is what we do!

Which reminded me of something I read before long ago and seems profoundly apt now - so If I may borrow some of the words of Archduke Norris:

Keep the Flame

For those who came before us and passed it on to us
For those who live with us today...
For those that come after us,
Keep the Flame.

The Flame is you and me everyone we have ever known.
The Flame is those who came before us... and left for us what they learned
The Flame is the promise of those who will come after us and profit or suffer by what we've done.
The Flame is truth.
The Flame is honor.
The Flame is duty.
The Flame is selfless devotion to others.
The Flame is mothers and fathers, husbands, wives and children, teachers and students.
The Flame is relationships.
The Flame is Love.
Our love for each other, our past, and our future is the tiny spark of the Flame that lives in all of us.
The Flame is death, and the knowledge that there is something greater that waits for us on the other side of death.
The Flame is courage, faith and commitment, even though we will die.
The Flame is the pyre on which all fear dies and is consumed for all eternity.
The Flame is within us as we are within the Flame.

The Flame is not a burden to be lifted lightly.
The Flame can burn and hurt and frighten,
Because it is nothing but the pure immanent force that drives this universe,
Beautiful and terrible to behold.
But although the Flame can kill you,
If you do not have the Flame you are dead already, and none can save you.

The Flame will change you, purify you, burn away what is unworthy in you,
Leaving only the best in you, what is eternal, stainless and unbending.
And once it has exposed those things, it will burnish them until you gleam in the light of that Flame,
A beacon, a guide in the dark knight of the soul for all who need it.
And if you die keeping this Flame you will never die.
You will live on, forever, in the hearts of all who have seen you.

For those who have never seen it,
Keep the Flame.
For those who would never see it were it not for us,
For those who have seen it but do not believe,
For those who have seen only fraudulent imitations which led them to scorn it,
For the countless souls who were defeated by their dreams,
And for those who do not yet know how to dream...
Keep the Flame

When it is dark,
Keep the Flame.
When you are weak,
Keep the Flame.
When you are afraid,
Keep the Flame.
No matter how much it hurts,
Keep the Flame.
With your last gram of strength,
Keep the Flame.
When those around you scorn you,
Keep the Flame.
Although it may kill you,
Keep the Flame.
Even if you are the only one,
Especially if you are the only one,
Keep the Flame.
Because you are not the only one -- you will never be the only one,
But the Flame that you hold will shine out to those others who also thought they were alone,
And encourage them to hold theirs stronger and higher,
And together you will save those whose Flames have gone out.

Because we belong to each other...
Keep the Flame.

Friend of mine (@vhaillor2003) in-game posted the following, which I copy/paste here:

I love it that NCSoft feels the need to have plants within the community to try and demoralize us. Love all the negative "Be Realistic" posts from the corporate shills.

That looks great! Got a pic of her COH version for comparison?

I now have a consolidated thread for all the CoH to CO proportion character templates that I have received from the CO community in an attempt to make the costuming easier for former COH players - if that's where you decide to go. Just keep the opinions out of that thread. (But feel free to post character pics!)

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=297814

This right here is my reaction:

http://wiki.teamfortress.com/w/image...aughlong01.wav

http://wiki.teamfortress.com/w/image...py_jeers02.wav

NOTE: THIS IS NOT AN OPINION PIECE.

This is ENTIRELY meant as a "Utility" thread to help anyone who is already interested in trying out Champions Online. It is NOT meant as a thread for people to opine about the relative merits of either CoH or CO.

If you have an OPINION about Champions versus City of Heroes - take it to the other thread talking about that! Here you go and have fun yelling at each other: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=297605

On the other hand, if you want to show off a picture of a character that you made in CO that these templates helped you with, by all means! I'd love to see it! If you want to show how a particular translation of a character that was originally a COH character went when ported to CO, that's also welcome.

So - the actual article in question:

This is an attempt to be helpful for those trying to get a handle on the CO character builder, I've been over in the CO forums encouraging people to help put together some guides and templates that will allow you a better "starting point" for building characters with proportions and faces more familiar to those we have here in CoH/CoV.

I've gotten some very good and helpful responses. This is a consolidated listing of stuff that's come through. There are links to pictures and templates that will help.

IMPORTANT TECHNICAL NOTE: Most of these pictures are actually "Character Costume Files" as you knew them in CoH. They are small jpegs with the costume info embedded into them. They are the ones that look like "Comic Book Covers" when you click on the link for them. Just port them over into your Champions Online Screenshot folder and the game will read them and allow you to access them from the costume creator. Then you can build on top of them.

Check this out - http://gamespeopleplay.smackjeeves.c...-me-six-times/




Related to this - although I posted the following BEFORE I had seen the above cartoon - is the following post that I made to the Wildstar Facebook page (Under their "Wildstar Weekly Roundup, September 24th, 2012" Post:

http://www.facebook.com/WildStarOnline

(So far my post has gained 34 likes on Facebook as opposed to 12 likes for the original post. If you've got Facebook, consider dropping me another like on the comment?)

Say - does a similar thing apply to Guild Wars 2?

In other words, can I give my money directly to Arenanet without NCSoft getting any of it? Because if I can, then I'll buy GW2. If not, then my boycott has to stand.

I really wanted to check this out. I called up The Secret World on Steam and was looking into downloading the client.

Then I saw the HATED ELECTRONIC ARTS logo pop up.

*sigh*

Closed Steam.

Won't be playing. Sorry. EA is another company my money doesn't go to. DAMNIT.

I'm starting to think I'm soon going to be in the same boat with all those people who are just giving up on MMOs entirely.

Don't tell me. Let me guess. It's an MMO, right?

Feh.

Well that's it for them, I guess.

http://www.mmorpg.com/newsroom.cfm/r...m-BioWare.html

Will the last person with a soul at Bioware turn out the lights before you leave the building?

Yeah. It's the little things this game does that others don't do that get me sometimes.

Doors. The doors on any mission entrance. It's not something I've never noticed. I see them all the time.

What I've been noticing recently, as I play a little bit of CO, and DCUO. And remembering how things worked in WoW (about a year back last I played)and a handful of other MMOs I've played over the years since CoH got me interested, is this ---

I can't think of any other game that actually has DOORS that visibly open and close with your character walking through them. With sound effects and everything. True - your character does not reach out with their hand to actually physically interact with them. But I can't really think of ANY MMO out there that routinely has working doorways for EVERY SINGLE MISSION INSTANCE.

Sometimes they're regular glass or metal-frame doors on office buildings. Sometimes they're solid wood doors. Sometimes they're out in the wilds of Perez Park and the door is a rough-hewn wooden slat thing that obviously is a mine entrance. In First Ward, a few months ago, I saw something completely new - a REVOLVING DOOR that worked with your character animation perfectly!

And yes - the rustling of the wind in the branches of trees. Stand there long enough and you'll notice leaves randomly falling off the tree.

(For yuks, if you're a grav controller, activate a singularity under the tree. Leaf cyclone! Or better yet - place your singularity right under a mailbox. LETTERS START SPEWING OUT. It looks like the scene from Harry Potter with the endless letters coming from the fireplace! )

Paragon Dance Party. The instance still exists in the game code (In fact a dev took a bunch of people from the D straight to it about a little over a week ago. Then spawned 16 Statesmen for us to fight.) but once the game went to City of Villains and had Pocket D there was no need for it. And the entrances no longer worked.

But there is - to this day! - a bum sitting beside each old entrance and if you click on him he tells you something like "GO away! Trying to sleep here, Paragon Dance Party is closed!"

The badge - Kill Skuls - "Go. Hunt. Kill Skuls." That's a direct reference to a forum meme and gag!

On the City of Villains side - if you go to Monster Island and then go waaaaaaay off over to the far Northwest Corner, there is a tiny little Island with a shipwrecked dude sitting next to a palm tree. Out in the water just off the island is a soccer ball floating in the water. And yeah - you stand there long enough. A stray coconut will fall from the tree. (For those of you not getting the joke - look here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162222/ )

There's not even a badge for this, It's just there. Some Dev somewhere in his or her spare time must've thought "Hm. That corner is awfully empty. But I know players. SOMEONE is going to want to go there, if only to "open up" the map from the "fog of war". I'll just drop this little thing here. Reward anyone who goes all that way for the effort."

Ever noticed the sounds Clockwork make? Not the obvious ones. The clank clank of the Princes and all. Get close to a couple (that you've safely outleveled, or invisible) and just listen. It's amazing the variety of sounds they make.

A few buildings and other places have neon signs. ("PWN Shop" being the most famous)

Get up close. Listen. You can hear the faint crackle of the neon tubes.

Of course all the waterfall and water sounds in general - just amazing variety.

Walk by the bathrooms in the tram stations. Stay there a moment. You'll hear flushing noises.

In Faultline, near the trainer, there are a few restaurants on the strip. Italian, Mexican, a bistro, a couple of others. Go stand right next to them. Restaurant and crowd noises with music. Same thing with the donut shop.

Stand next to The Canadian Mountie in Faultline. Hear the dog barking?

On redside, in Port Oakes, Nerva and a couple of other places, there's seagulls wheeling overhead. Listen and you'll hear them.

Fly up to the airship in Atlas Park. It's got engine noises you'll never hear from the ground.

And on, and on, and on, and on.

The sheer love that was put into this world shines through. Certainly the big, impressive things people expect are there. But down to the tiniest detail, this world IS ALIVE. It is A PLACE.

I will miss every last bit of it so very much.

Zwill - I hope you can still see this.

Last night, on Virtue Server. There was a march held in Perez Park.

Unlike other Marches, this was not held primarily as a "Help Save City of Heroes" march. That was part of it, of course, but...

This was held in your honor. It was official. Or as official as it ever gets around here.

This was called (somewhat tongue in cheek, but with the greatest of affection)

"The Zwillion Hero March"

Pics:







After the march proper, we first got up on the Fountain in the southwest corner of the zone -











Then we held a salute at a crossroads.












Farewell Zwill - Andy. As others have said far more eloquently - it is not goodbye forever, because we will see you again.

But please take this memory of the respect we hold for you in the highest regard as you move on to the next phase of the adventure.

All hail Zwillinger the Magician! Last of the red-hot community mods!

THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!

The only better news possible than this would be if someone developed a Sentinel-like program to record the raw data of a base for porting to a new server! (Private or owned by new publisher).

(Well, the better BETTER news would be if we could save the game outright of course. But you know what I mean! )

Passing this news along to the master base builders in our coalition!

You've gone above and beyond the call of duty, Zwill. Not just in the last two weeks, but always.