JohnX

I'm no MMO History expert, but I think WoW introduced a business model that started to get a lot of attention because of the number of subscribers.

I tried WoW and didn't like it for a number of reasons, but there are 10 million(Guessed number) people who prefer it for some reason.

Before WoW, the game to beat was EverQuest. Who, I believe had some 200K regular members at the time which was considered astronomical. Having 50-80K for an MMO was considered successful back then. I even remember articles back then on MMORPG speaking to 20-50k as being the minimum subscriber target levels.

What I'm saying is that WoW set the bar higher, so now everyone shoots for the millions rather than the 10s of thousands...and our beloved game was one of the causalities of the new paradigm.

Just my opinions based on my very limited perspective of what I've seen that last 10ish years.

Wow. This thread got derailed.

Anyway, I agree with the female player.

I'd love to see something like that materialize and be successful...but without corpoate level funding and support, how can we be assured that it will even last a couple of years?

I think CoX will be back under a different owner eventually. Remember Asherons Call? Well, it's back now and people still play it today.

Just as many of us left CoX for small stint, we always came back...I think the game will do the same for us at some point. There are just too many people dedicated to it. CoX is cash cow for someone out there who has the resources to make it happen.

Uh yeah forbin right on.

First of all. Your first quotation of me made no mention of why people are feeling the way they are. I made no explanation of people feelings. Just explaining the “why” because no one, that I read, saw that ROI angle.

Your second and third references to my quotes flat out supported my comments. Thanks for that I guess.

Your forth. Meh. Whatever. If you and everyone else says so. I’m obviously not close to the whole thing. Just calling as I see it.

I really will miss this sort of thing.

Inserting random thought...I guess the closest thing to a permanent MMO is RL. I think that is the lesson I've leaned here. It's where we actually do have the most control...except for our AT. Can't really select your own AT in RL...We'll, not unless you PL toward it.

I just found out about CoX closing on 11/22. I've been on an extended hiatus due to RL issues. When I logged in yesterday and saw the announcement, I immediately knew why.

Why? It all comes down to money folks...Sure CoX was making money, but ROI is very important...especially to a company(NCSoft) that is at the beginning of a downward spiral.

While CoX may have been making a profit, the return on investment simply must not have been there.

Lets make up some numbers to frame this properly

In other words, if your expenses, are 1,000,000 a month, and that 1 million earns you a revenue of 1,050,000, then you pocket, 50k a month or 5%. But what do you do if you know that the same 1 million invested in something else is going to return you 250k a month? or 25% if it is put somewhere else?

That's why right there...They simply want to put the money somewhere else.

They decided to shut down rather than phase it out...why? Because announcing that they were going to stop development and freeze the game status would have killed the game anyway...probably would immediately drive it to a loss.

The next question, is why not sell it? Because, they would continue to own all the intellectual property....forever. This means they own all of your characters, all of your stories and story arcs. They can literally make a movie or comic book on YOUR concept and they get all proceeds. Do you know what all that creativity is worth?

So delete you characters right? I'm sure they have the capability of preventing any sort of permanent data loss. Hell, they probably have all historical data on every character you ever made. Deleted or not deleted.

Our best hope, our best hope...is that someone like steam or some other service is willing to buy it and keep it active. It would be mildly feasible that all character data is maintained somehow.

This whole thing saddens me as I feel like this game was the last piece of childhood I had left in me. Even though I've been away from the game, not a single day went by that I didn't think about it. I feel it's actually part of my personality. It is at my core, just like Voltron, GiJoe and Transformers...G1 on all counts.

So this is just the end of another era. Another phase gone by for all of us. We hope for some sort of resurrection. But any sort of Plan Z will ultimately come up short due to funding. It is a mathematical certainty.

Our second best hope? Some other game materializes and fills the gap. Where we can all reassemble and do what we do best.

And now, with CoX gone...there will be a void to fill...and someone will fill it. That, my anonymous friends, I will guarantee you...it is also a mathematical certainty.

See you later.

JohnX
John Wrath
John Sigma
Axonius

Can anyone speculate on the chances of an offline version of CoX materializing somehow?

While an offline version doesn't restore the community we have, it would still give something back to the players.

CoX was my first MMO. I just found out yesterday about the closure as RL has really pulled me off the game for the last few years. I am one of those very casual gamers.

I stuck with CoX because I knew I could always go back to it and pick up right where I left off.

This entire thing has me questioning ever getting back into an MMO at all, much less re-signing up to CoX in some new iteration.

Even if the game gets extended somehow, it will still only be temporary, for what, maybe a few more years? The game clearly had plenty of life in it, but sooner or later, it was going to be gone anyway.

The lack of permanency in any MMO has me entirely turned off from the genre in any way, shape or form.

Since I largely soloed anyway, my personal hope is that someone manages to hack it such that you can play it on your own computer where no one can ever turn if off on you again. i.e. an offline version.

Overly melodramatic here, but live long and prosper. You helped make things better that they were when you came in. No more could have been asked. Good work, and good luck.

Were I a billionaire, I would buy Paragon and keep it alive.

Good luck Posi. You and the City will be missed by thousands.

Damn the corporate overlords. Damn them to hell.

Why I love this game.

I’m a pretty busy guy. Even when CoX first came out I was super busy in RL. CoX always gave me a nice “brain dead stress relief” and I kept my account alive.

I’m a casual gamer. I know that definition is up for challenge. But since 2004, I have two level 50s. That’s it. One villain and one hero. And the villain picked up about 5-10 levels under architect exploits (which I regret to this day). I think I have one other toon in the 30s. I think I may have 2-3 others in the 20s. Nothing significant has ever been deleted. If it’s possible to be a casual gamer on an MMO, then I would think that I qualify. I’ve never had a purple drop. I’m not sure I know what an incarnate is.

I rarely team as I get pulled in a lot of different directions at any given time. My wife, my five year old, school, my job, my job and my job. I’m very fortunate.

I play the game on a 11 inch Lenovo laptop. No video card. And it works great.

I’ve participated on the forum boards. I’ve posted some dumb things. I’ve posted some good things. I’ve read posts that upset me. I’ve posted things that were emotionally charged…But I enjoyed reading and writing every %$#&@%g one of them.

I do not know for sure, but I imagine that in the last two years, I’ve logged less than 20 hours on the game. I’m so far behind on what’s going on in the game it’s ridiculous. I might be that one idiot you complained about one year ago. I might also be that uber player you saw two years ago that convinced you to build a tank because of the awesomeness you saw.

But you know what? I can log in and pick up right where I left off without missing a beat. I get rusty of course. I forget about what powers I have. Sometimes, I forget what my powers even do. I forget my “super combos”. I forget what my build strategy was. But ya’ know, a couple of missions, and I got it all back. I’m a super hero...and I can fly.

Have a nice day. And I’ll see you in the game.

Ugh. The whole thing could have been soooo much better. I'l still watch it even though I think the movies have been botched.

Forget journalistic....I want a politician primary with CEO secondary.

Journalistic...psh..What would be the tier 9? Summon Lindsay Lohan?

I've never liked the expression "huge psi hole". Makes it sound like a guaranteed death sentence.

A better way to say it would be that psi oppenents offer more challenges to an invulnerable-based build.

"Eugene Roddenberry, whose dad created Star Trek, has seen one of our tests though, and it blew his mind. "

Getting credibility from the Star Trek creators son? Priceless.

Much to vague. There are probably droplets of truth (like maybe he is "multi-instumental") and maybe he's done enough acid to convince himself that he is special. Smells like a scammer who is trying to make a buck.

You guys know what happened here right? Hawkeye was going for the big XP using an old kill stealing tactic if Thors HP got down enough.

But like a smart blaster, he ran cause he knew he didn't have the big gun ready. Another problem was that he probably didn't have stun arrow slotted up enough.

You guys should have seen right through that one.

Best duo?

One word....Two crabs..

Oh wait, thats two words....but that doesn't matter cause your enemies won't have time to say two words cause they'll be face down.

I want to like this. But the viking outfit has always thrown me off of Thor for some reason. Even the comic version looks corny and over the top.

If you stick to the lowest possible difficulty settings, just about any tank or scrapper will suffice. Once you get into the 30s, it would likely be mathematically impossible to die in a mission that is set to the lowest possible difficulty.

I can vouch for Inv/dark Tank though. I play at a pretty high difficult and my only deaths are due to unplanned AFKs and a surprise Sapper or two. Think I'm playing at 3 heroes and +3 levels. I could go higher, but then my rate slows down.

ET