Cinkidd

Since City has been such a large part of my life for the past 8 ½ years I’ll be in mourning when it finally goes dark on the 30th. I’ve enjoyed playing the game that has let me be a HERO and do wondrous things such as Fly, shoot Laser Beams, be Invulnerable and many many many other things. But for the past 7 ½ years I’ve been doing it as part of a wonderful Super Group: Paragon’s Super Friends, on the Champion Server.

I founded PSF with four other players and we have grown from those original four to include lots of other players, maybe even you. We have used TeamSpeak for most of that time and become real life friends. We have players from East/West/North/South and in-between some from other countries, Canada, England, Puerto Rico and all of them have made this game and me better. Several of us have met at GenCon between 2007 thru 2011 and visited each other. Many of us will be heading to a friend’s house in Jonesboro, Arkansas to play a marathon session until they shut the servers down.

To pay tribute to all of those players, the devs who worked tirelessly for us I decided to get a tattoo. I’m currently living in Tallahassee, Florida and went to Solid Ink to get it done. The Blue and Red Logo is that of our SG with our name at the top and a motto, Once A Hero Always A Hero, I came up with shortly before getting the tattoo.

I wanted to share this with you as I’ve seen a few other “Tattoo” posts. Please feel free to use the motto/style/SG name.

Rich the Hero Guy

I have several friends who are going to log back into their characters for a few farewell missions and need to download the game and the new launcher. Does anybody know where they can do that?

Thanks,

Rich the Launcher Guy

Big Bang Theory has been a supporter of CoH from the very fist time they showed City of Heroes cut out at the Comic Center (the actual name of store in the series and in the real life store it is based off of) in series. They even have Captain Sweatpants wearing a Statesman T-shirt in several episodes.

I joined Twitter today for the sole purpose of bringing to the attention the plight that we are facing. Please join me in sending the messages via twitter to help save OUR City of Heroes.

Rich the Twitter Guy

https://twitter.com/BigBang_CBS

Where are you all getting that everything will be deleted? I'm sure that there is still value in the game and what has been created by players that it is not all just going to the big trash can in the cloud.

If it is...

Rich the ... Guy

Name conflicts are easy to take care of:

1. If a person has a conflicted name the person who had it first and is a paying VIP customer gets the name.

2. All the accounts that have not been paid for in the past three months names are up for grabs. No more names in constant limbo.

3. Hand out 200 rename tokens to all VIP accounts this will help assure a person to get a name that will work for them. I've made well over 500 characters in my years here and I've only had about 7 conflicted names.

Rich the Easy Guy

So today sucked for me and many of my best friends. We got news that a video game that we have all played for years is being shut down at the end of November. Not for lack of profits, since it was the company’s most profitable game. Other games have LOST it money and are still up and running.

I know that many of you might be thinking that it is just a game, but for me it was much much more. When I was first introduced to City of Heroes 8 ½ years ago it was by some really good friends. We all played the game for hours on end and really enjoyed it. As it always does, life happens, all of those friends left the game for one reason or another. I however stayed and met many new players and over time they became real friends.

I met Dave a Special Investigator for the Virginia State Attorney’s Office. He was a computer expert and brought to my attention a program called TeamSpeak which allowed players to talk to one another as if we were in the same room. Wow, that really changed how we played the game and more importantly, brought all of the players that were in our circle (it is called a Super Group in the game, think of the Justice League and the Super Friends. I actually named our Super Group Paragon’s Super Friends, PSF for short) of friends closer together.

We started out as five players who were mature and wanted to have fun and play the game. Unbeknownst to the five of us how it would grow and affect our lives, especially mine. Again life happens, some of us got married, had kids, went undercover for six months, deaths in the family, Hurricane Katrina and many other things. After about two years we were down two of us playing regularly but we had an influx of new players all who joined PSF for various reasons, but always to have fun. We had about thirty players at our peak number but the core group has really consisted, for several years now, of about seven players and with old friends stopping in from time to time and new ones coming and going. Life continues to happen.

PSF members have flown across country to meet up at conventions and go to Journey concerts. Seriously in 2010 John from California and Jen from Oregon flew to Indianapolis for the GenCon Gaming Convention and Regina and I drove up to meet them for a day. I was finally able to prove to all the guys/gals that Regina was real and not a figment of my imagination. I drove up the next day to join John and Jen at the Indiana State Fair for the Journey Concert. We all had an awesome time, even though John got mugged in downtown Indy, but I will let him tell that story if he wants. I’ve had the privilege to have several members stay at my house and I at theirs. Brian a member or PSF for about 6 years drives a motorcycle decided to do a trip that not only took him to my house for a night but also Paul’s for a night. There are some funny stories about a CD with the title of Boy Power (an all boy band compilation CD) that gets passed from person to person, usually without their knowledge.

Our friend Scott and a founding member of PSF lived through the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and most recently Hurricane Isaac. When he lost his house in Katrina and had no money and was living at a friend’s house several hours away from his family home members of PSF sent money to him to make sure that he would be okay. I know that it may not sound like much but during that time $25.00 kept him fed for a week. I’m not sure how much people sent to him but I know that he did not go hungry for several weeks. I let him know just the other day before Hurricane Isaac came barreling in on him and his wife Sara who is pregnant with their first child that if he needed anything to let me know and I would do what I could for him. I know others were ready to chip in as well. I’m not speaking for myself, but the members of PSF are some of the most generous and wonderful people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.

Brian, Chuck, Derek, Steve, Trevor give Arkansas Rednecks bad names, all of them are, or were, firefighters in Jonesboro. Not only are they Super Heroes in our digital world but also in our flesh and blood one. Now to be honest these five guys probably could not count to three, but you can damn sure bet that you can count on them. One is the original owner of the “Boy Power” CD mentioned earlier and one drives a purple truck another really does not like cussing and one is now planting and selling trees, probably the most surprising one actually lived in Douglasville, GA when I lived there. Surprising how life sneaks up on you and shows you just how small this world really is.

John and Lawrence live close to each other in the high desert of California and have been stalwart companions in the game for many years. Lawrence can probably build you just about anything that you need and John well he is one of the most intelligent and kind soul’d person you would ever want to meet. Just don’t meet Lawrence in a dark alley, he will scare the **** out of you, not on purpose but because he is not a handsome man. I love him like a bald headed brother should, but DAMN! John on the other hand, meet him in that same alley and you are likely to get his cellphone and he will pay you to take it.

Jen and Ben a wife and husband team from Oregon who played CoH for about three years with us and remain good friends. She is a no nonsense mother bear who also happens to be a dog groomer while Ben should be referred to as Gentle Ben. Both are great people and I hope that they will join PSF for one last blowout before we all take our heroic capes off.

Jason aka Jay met me during a mission that my friend, and best man at my wedding, Todd was running. Jay and I kept dying in the game and we just laughed our butts off at how we died and how quickly. We did not have TeamSpeak at the time and so everything was typed out. Jason is a long distance runner, motorcyclist, husband and his best role ever, father to his kids. When my injuries got to be too much for me and I started packing on the pounds I asked Jason to come up with a workout that I could do since he was really into the entire fitness scene. Unfortunately for me, Jay said that with a core injury like I had that I was screwed. After many doctors’ visits and physical therapy doctors they all agreed with Jay, there was/is nothing that can really be done exercise wise. While Jay has not had the time recently due to his growing family he is still a founding member of PSF and was distraught by the news today that the game was shutting down.

I’m not sure what happened to Dave as he disappeared a few years ago and has not returned to the game. He did this once before for a period of six months for an undercover job. I did do a general web search for him about a year ago and at that time he was doing well and receiving lots of awards from the state. Dave was a founding member of PSF and is always welcome back into the fold by all of us. Hope he and his daughter are safe. Again another real life hero who sometimes played one in the game.

Anthony aka Ant was a very funny guy who loved the line “Kick’em in the jimmies” and used it to make us all burst out laughing. He had to take some time away from the game shortly after we formed PSF to help his mother who was very ill. When she made a recovery Ant came back to the game and continued to make us laugh just like before. But again life snuck into the picture and his mother had a relapse after two weeks and passed away. Ant had to take care of his siblings and other family members. That has been over 7 years now, and we still miss him. I hope that wherever he is that he is happy and healthy and wearing a cape. Sometimes the heroes you know best are your own family and I’m sure that is how his family thinks of him.

Paul is in one word AMAZING! Think of your typical 1960s hippy with a beard and tie-dyed t-***** and a love of music and his fellow man. He has followed the Grateful Dead on tour and gives out hugs for free. (I can use one right now brother from another mother) He is also a chick magnet. I really don’t know he is, but damn it he IS! I’ve seen it and him in action. The first time we met at GenCon 2007 we went to a booth for a Pirate video game and there was this BEAUTIFUL lady working there and man she wanted nothing to do with ANYBODY else including her boyfriend who was also a developer for that Pirate game. Now while she did not throw herself on Paul, it was made clear that if she was not in a relationship she would be after him. Now, that was impressive, but not as impressive as Brian, Chuck, Paul and I walking down the street and women in cars stopping in the middle of traffic and hooting and hollering for him. Brian, Chuck and I looked around for George Clooney or Brad Pitt, but there was only Paul acting like it was no big deal. Paul’s trick to being a chick magnet? He doesn’t even know, it’s not like he has a patent pickup line that works on the ladies, he is just himself. Paul had to take a break from the game because his computer could not handle the game anymore and only recently got back into the game, so welcome back OLD friend at least we will get to play a few more times together.

Ripper da Stripper aka Martin has been playing the game with us for about three years now and lives in Virginia. He is a former furniture store manager who now works in a bar part time and teaches ballroom dancing as well. I am actually envious of Ripper since he can dance the dances Regina would love for me to dance with her. Oh well, I’m sure he has some short comings. Oh did I mention that he works out and is in crazy great shape? He is also pretty funny and fairly quick witted and I must say that if you are on TeamSpeak with our group you better be quick witted and have a good sense of humor. We may say things that sound mean and hurtful to others, but to us, it is showing the love. After all laughter is the best medicine.

We have a couple of recent additions to PSF who are actually a couple Javier and Ali who live in Puerto Rico and are raising their children there. Ali is a stay at home mom taking care of the kids and house and as most of you know that is a fulltime job itself. Ali is actually the person we invited to join PSF and she went out the next day and bought a headset to join us on TeamSpeak, when we told her that her husband is welcome to join us and play along she was so excited for him. While they have played the game off and on over the past 7 years, they have never really had people willing to help them out and show them around. Javier joined us a few night later and he really opened up according to Ali he finally found a home in the game with our wild bunch. Sadly, we won’t have years playing the game together but the next few months will be fun and filled with laughs.

Lisa is the latest person to join us in just the past two weeks. She is a college grad and currently a web designer for a small company in Wisconsin (I hope I’m remembering that correctly). She recently was a bridesmaid and according to her she KILLED the bridesmaid dress by making it look fabulous. She killed it again out of the dance floor by doing the funky chicken and in general having a blast. When she got the news earlier today about the game shutting down she was devastated and a little down since she doesn’t think she will get to the top level in the game a Lvl 50 character. I have news for her, she will get there. I promise her that.

This letter has been as I intended a bit cathartic and more than a bit melancholy. I know that at some point in the near future I will have to put down my cape that I earned in City of Heroes, but I will always be able to go to the bathroom closet and get a towel and make a cape just to wear around the house.

The tears are flowing and I need to bring this to a close.

Thanks to all of you who have made this game and the past 8 ½ years some of the best.
Thanks to Sarah and her friend for forgiving me when I made an *** of myself thinking that the game was more important than her and her friend, I learned a valuable life lesson.
Most importantly thanks to my wife to letting me fly away every night to be with my friends and fight the good fight.

I keep hearing the date of Nov 30th to the be last day the game will be live. Where is this stated at in an official announcement or by a Dev/Red Name?

Rich the Where Guy

Over the past couple of days I've been getting "strings" going from either a player or an NPC that is attached to them and it goes off of the map.

Here is picture of that I'm talking about:

All my drivers are up to date as is my system. I've not seen this before and have not heard of it. Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Rich the Map Guy

I thought that it was supposed to launch today. In some of the materials that I read I thought they actually announced the date as July 1st, 2011. I have not noticed any changes as of today.

Anybody else read that? Or am I just going crazy?

Rich the Possibly Crazy Guy

I have always believed in playing the character for the fun of the game, not the "best" "flavor of the month" "uber" builds. If I like the way a character is playing I'm happy and keep going, if not I respec them.

Go for the fun and avoid guides and mids.

Rich the Uber guy

What day is the Freedom Server Stress Test?

Thanks,

Rich the Freedom Guy

I'm truly amazed that as a player who reads the forums and tries to keep up with what is going on, that I missed the announcement out the discounted transfers. I'm even more amazed that I'm not getting the emails that go out even though all of my information is correct and I City is not on my spam filter at all. And here is what gets me steamed about this whole situation is that I bought a lifetime Champion Online account which I don't use because the game stinks big time, yet I get all of their emails.

So I totally agree that:
1. Fix the email problem
2. There needs to be a SINGLE place on the forums for the Store where everybody can check daily for the latest store news.
3. I have enough things that I have to keep up with that I should not also have to have twitter, facebook and the forums. I don't mind that twitter and facebook get the info too, but it should not be the relied upon source for anything. That is why they have the forums.
4. The duration and timing of the sale needed longer and after the server merge.

Rich the Timing Guy

I have to admit as a seven year vet the "Trials" seem to be a bit of a sticking point for me. The Devs in the past have tried to make farming such a non issue as to lower xp and other rewards in farming missions that some players quit the game. Now, they are not only encouraging it, they are creating content for that express purpose. I hate the trials. Yes, I know I can still "level up" during regular game play, but in all honesty the only "level" I get is for the Alpha slot, the other two "levels" are for trials only.

The Trial system is a nice system in and of itself. But the farming a couple of or even a few or several of the same mission over and over and on and on and on and on is just boring. Where is the challenge? I love the TF/SF of the week concept, but seriously, it is time to give tons more content and a few new zones for level 50s.

As for giving us more levels, I want that and I want it now. What can I say, I'm greedy. I want my levels to count no matter what I'm doing and the best way to accomplish that is to create more high level zone and content aimed at the players who have reached max level. (Please note, I think we need more 1-25 content too.)

All in all City is still a great game but we really need either a change in the thinking of the Devs away from this current "Trial" concept to full on raising the level cap and creating new content for those players who have multiple level 50s and even servers full of 50s or they need to announce that City of Heroes II is in development. Yes, I know that announcing CoH II has its problems, but it will keep players excited for the brand and give us something to look forward too.

Rich the Forward Guy

I'm not a lefty, but I can understand your problem. One of the easiest fixes is to get a gaming keyboard that allows you to truly customize the keys to your needs. In this manner I suggest looking at Logitech's gaming series of keyboards.

I use the G15 (original) and can also suggest any of their G-series gaming devices. I also use the G700 gaming mouse with 11 programmable buttons.

Rich the G-Series Guy

Here are the keybinds that I use:

1 "$$team_select 1$$powexec_name Speed Boost"
2 "$$team_select 2$$powexec_name Speed Boost"
3 "$$team_select 3$$powexec_name Speed Boost"
4 "$$team_select 4$$powexec_name Speed Boost"
5 "$$team_select 5$$powexec_name Speed Boost"
6 "$$team_select 6$$powexec_name Speed Boost"
7 "$$team_select 7$$powexec_name Speed Boost"
8 "$$team_select 8$$powexec_name Speed Boost"

Rich the That Guy

Give the leap while in Beast run the look of an animal jumping OVER something, not leaping onto something.

Rich the Leap Guy

Time for Market and Inf Revamp


I've played the game since launch and I have about twenty level 50 characters and many many alts. However, I've never been a person who likes to farm either for Inf, Badges (Healing, Damage), Levels and whatnot. But this game is getting to a point where you are going to have to farm to make some of the IO sets and worse some of the new Incarnate slots.

I know you don't have to do the Incarnate stuff or have IOs to make your character playable, but let's face it, most of us want all that stuff.

The other day I got my MA/SR Scrapper to level 47 and in order to deck him out with several IO sets it cost me over 2000 merits, and about 1.5 Billion inf and there is not a single purple on him. NOT ONE. I stripped all the inf from my other characters and had them use their reward merits to "buy" some of his recipes and emailed them to him, took about eight hours total.

I'm suggesting that it is time to put limits on the items in the market. All of it. I see common salvage going for 100k inf and that is just crazy. That is like making a loaf of bread cost a $100 in real life. Sure there will be people who pay it and can afford to pay it, but the common player can't. I sure can't and I've been here since the start of the game. There are rumors out there that the Devs actually make real money by selling inf to the RMTers, I don't believe that. And if it is true, then I need to go find another game.

With the new Incarnate powers that are about to be released in order to make some of the required items it costs 400,000,000 inf. You read that right, 400 Million inf. My most played character has just gotten the 250,000,000 inf badge after having been made almost seven years ago. I know there are players whose characters have that badge a month after being made, but again the common players don't have that badge for a LONG time.

I know some people with say "Play the market, you can make money that way." or "Run AE missions use your tickets to buy rare salvage and sell it, you'll make a billion real fast." really? Is that what this game should be, work? I want to have fun, I want to feel like I'm advancing and I want to feel powerful, but I don't want it to start feeling like work.

Please put set prices for the items in the market. Here is my suggestion:
Uncrafted:
Common IO Recipe or Salvage: 1,000 inf
Uncommon IO Recipe or Salvage: 100,000 inf
Rare IO Recipe or Salvage: 1,000,000 inf
Purple: IO Recipe: 10,000,000 inf
Crafted:
Common IO: 10,000 inf
Uncommon IO: 500,000 inf
Rare IO: 5,000,000 inf
Purple IO: 50,000,000 inf

This is just my suggestion.

Also the new Incarnate costs need to come WAY down, they are just ridicules.

Rich the Revamp Guy

Been doing some character maint on lvl 47 Scrapper J. Lemondrop and this last time I logged in all of my powers and macros from all nine (yes I use nine trays all the time) are gone. Just vanished.

Has anybody else had this problem?

Rich the Nine Guy