GadgetDon

A truly beautiful video.

I've got two concerns about this, that I think are fatal flaws but would be happy to be proven wrong.

Security is going to be a huge issue. There will be hackers trying to get great onto their characters. And no, "you gotta earn it on each server you go to" isn't going to fly, particularly if one of the expectations is you go to several different servers. So I've got all incarnate slots unlocked with a couple T4 enhancements to pick between in each slot. I switch to a server and suddenly I need to unlock my Alpha slot again, or at least go through all the drops necessary to recreate all the enhancements?

And, well - where does the money come from the pay for the programmers/writers/designers/animators for both the original game and regular updates?

Love the story. Would have loved to see both the armor and the base in game. Alas.

Would I play? Yes. Would I be happy? No. Would it affect how much I play? Probably.

The loss of the characters, that would be sad, but something I could accept with some attempt at equanimity. (I might do some farming for a couple of the characters, which is something I don't do for new alts.)

The loss of everything I've paid for over time would really suck. I like mixing and matching parts from different costume sets, use a lot of the bought powers. The money just wouldn't be there for a massive spending spree to put it back to where I am now.

And the loss of all veteran rewards/paragon rewards would be killer.

Now, all that is assuming it's a reboot of the game as it currently exists. If a lot of the old veteran/purchased costume sets just become part of the game (either for everyone or VIP). If there's, say, a $100 "old veterans pack" available for sale that resets that, I'd swallow hard and scramble for the money for that.

Nemesis - evil mastermind with huge underground organization and his fingers on everything, or crazy coot with really good PR?

One of my favorite movies is Tangled. In the narration that sets up the story, the pregnant queen is very sick, dying.

"And that's the point people go looking for a miracle."

That's how I view what people are doing. Looking for a miracle. And sometimes, miracles happen.

When someone in game says "C'mon, if we just work together we can beat this, we can do this" - that is spreading false hope, because odds are we can't. But the people who have been pursuing the alternatives have been very realistic about the probabilities (and doing the smart thing by not putting all their eggs in one basket, or even in the "game is saved" basket by creating things for exporting characters).

So yeah, they're looking for a miracle. Sometimes, people who go looking for a miracle find one.

Most recently really liked him in The Finder. But he's also done some great voice work. He was born to voice Kilowog, for example.

Want to say thank you for those wonderful stories. The new DA is a marvel.

My biggest regret is that I never got around to pitching any of my arcs for your MA runs. Would be curious how you'd feel about my takes on Dr. Aeon.

I've been a computer gamer and video gamer for a lot of years, more than perhaps most here have been alive (my Dad was director of the Colorado School of Mines, and he'd sometimes bring him a terminal with a modem and let me log in to their computer and play Star Trek - he was not amused to wake up one morning and find I'd run through a whole roll of paper). I've played a lot of superhero games, and they never really got the feeling right.

One evening I was watching X-Play on TechTV, and they said there was finally a game in beta that got the feel of being a hero right, particularly flying. I went looking for ways to get into beta, and they were right. There was something odd about this idea of playing with others, but I wasn't into that - until one day I accepted an invite, and it was fun.

Since then, I've been superheroes of all stripes. I've soloed, I've teamed, I've leagued, I've raided. I've made friends, close friends in the games. I found a community, one I will miss more than I can say.

Thank you for all of that. Thank you for 8 years of both living out my fantasies and making real connections.

I've been trying to figure out how to say what I'm feeling. Half of it, well, wouldn't be allowed.

But the far bigger half is thank you. Thanks to everyone for 8 years of the greatest entertainment I've ever had.

Z, you are the best.

You may have seen it as an investment, the law sees it as playing a game.

Those whose current subscription goes past shutdown will presumably get refunds for the extra months, those who just bought a bunch of points might be able to get a refund.

Me? I've spent hundreds, maybe thousands on CoH. What I got back was worth so much more.

As I said in another similar thread, I can hate NCSoft for closing CoH or be grateful for eight great years of CoH. Which I will choose to do depends on how the ext few months are handled, and what leaks out about the whys of this decision.

There's nothing else that NCSoft has that appeals to me currently. But if something does, I may take a chance on another eight great years.

OK, we're entering a process that results in the game shutting down. Taking that as a fact, there will be some things we need to know about how things go from here. There's lots of questions I'd like answered about why, but these are what we need to know.

There may not be immediate answers to all these, but whatever we can get would be appreciated.

(1) What are the form of communications going on, and who will be doing the communicating of news? Specifically:

(a) How long will the forums be up, both for player to player communications and announcements.

(b) Once the forums are gone, how will the announcements of the progress like final dates be communicated. And who will do the communicating.

(Personal note - right now, there's a lot of anger. If there's any hope of diffusing any of that anger, handling the shutdown well is key.)

(2) With the devs gone, no more updates. How long will the beta server be up.

(3) You have ended the purchase of points and renewal of VIP subscriptions. For those planning on play until the server goes down, what happens to accounts where the VIP expires? Will everyone get free VIP or will it be tough, you're premium.

(a) Flip side - those who purchased points recently looking forward to buying items in I24 or those who renewed for a period that will take them past the shut-down date, how will those people be compensated? (Again a personal note, game time or discounts for other NCSoft games will do nothing to diffuse the anger or improve good will).

(4) It's somewhat common for a big end-of-game blowout. Will the now ex-community members and ex-developers retain access to their accounts for something fun (if they choose to do that - I would completely understand any ex-employee being too busy with jobhunting or new job or just too bummed to do so).

I'm not a happy camper at all. But the respect shown between now and closing time will set what impression is left in people's minds.