Kurrent

Arcanaville, thank you for everything you contributed to the game and its community. I hate statistics, mainly because I suck at them, but you did a great job of trying to put the esoterics of behind-the-scenes mechanics into a language we could sort of grasp. Plus you did it because you really enjoyed it, and that I appreciated even more. I never got to do much with you in-game, but I enjoyed the few interactions we had there and on the forums. I hope you find something equally fun and enjoyable in the future, and if CoX ever returns in some form or fashion, I sincerely hope to see you there.

I have loved some of the devs that have come and gone at Paragon, but I honestly think that as of August 30th, 2012, we had the best development, marketing and community team that has ever existed in any online game.

Dink and Tunnel Rat in particular were incredibly talented, considerate and gracious, and the work they and the rest of the team produced at the end was absolutely stunning. I can only hope that one day the game will return in some form and we'll be able to enjoy half the talent and cooperation we were blessed with in this game.

Thank you for the amazing work all of you have done. We truly, deeply appreciate it, and I think most of us always will.

My final problem with the Paragon Market is just that we can't buy the cool stuff we would have been getting in i24, just because they never had the chance to add SKUs to the costume pieces or powerset. Still had some reward points left over. Oh well.

And watching the in-game market destabilize has been surprisingly depressing. I'm optimistic and still crafting and putting things up for sale, but seeing the prices jump up and down wildly really is like constant reminders that people are gone and systems are decaying.

I approve of this plot.

Very nice.

Trassy, I think you're right on the money with most of them.

My guesses for the ones you weren't sure of...

62-397=I think this one really is OB-EYS. Can't think of any other possible combinations.
73-783=SE-RVE
782-63=STA-ND
844-45=VIG-IL

Looking at the first five, I had assumed Omega would provide a global level shift like Alpha, in addition to its power.

I kept thinking that Omega was going to be something that transcended just simple buffs or powers, and I kept coming back to the very first mission in Ramiel's arc. After all, it was supposed to represent what we would ultimately become as an Incarnate, and it only made sense for those powers like the Unlimited Radial Freeeeem to reflect what we'd finally obtain with all ten Incarnate slots tricked out. Following those lines to their conclusion, I had guessed (and hoped) that Omega would make a portion of our damage output unresistable, probably 25% for T1 going up to 100% for T4. That would certainly be more transcendent than another click or toggle power, and it seemed a very fitting yet simple idea for the final Incarnate power.

Lately the song that my mind has been associating with CoX, particularly given the impending closure, has been Starship's "We Built This City."

Costume/character creator that takes the freeform mix-and-match parts approach like CoX's did with more attachment and customization points. Separate zones and pieces for upper arms and forearms. Separate zones and pieces for upper legs and lower legs. Attachment point for navel rings and jewelry.

Decoupling costume parts and in-game stats, which CoX got exactly right. I shouldn't feel forced to wear an item which is totally wrong for a character just because it provides the best stats.

I prefer to use a macro that takes two simultaneous screenshots, one with the GUI and one without. That way I can use whichever I like better.

I bind my screenshot command to the Home key, so you can replace Home with whatever key you'd like:

/bind HOME "screenshotui 1$$screenshot$$screenshotui 0$$screenshot"

That should be easier for you. Hope it helps!

I'm trying to figure out how many badges are possible to obtain for both a character who is only Hero alignment and one who is only a Villain. Has anyone taken the time to calculate this already? If so, I'd greatly appreciate your insight. Thanks!

Not sure if Avatea counts as a dev or more of a community moderator like Zwill, but she was a redname. She took a job in China IIRC.

Thanks, Scorpion. ALL the devs were wonderful, but you were one of the ones who stood out for trying to make the entire game experience better for all players. We appreciate everything you put into this game, and hearing some of the things you had planned to address puts a smile on my even with circumstances being what they are. I hope you land at a studio where you're truly appreciated, because you did one amazing job while you were here.

Michelle,

Thank you so much for making this. It's a brilliant video, and seeing that so many of those characters were your alts makes it even more amazing. It's lovely in a very haunting way, and it captures so much of what all of us are feeling now.

I did, however, make the mistake of watching this at work, right before my first patient. Now I'm exerting some serious willpower to keep from crying in front of my staff.

Beautiful job. You truly do make art in all senses of the word.

I'd certainly be interested in talking to you. If you have any heroes on Liberty or villains or Triumph, I'd love to have you along one evening as well. This was a unique game, and I'll enjoy sharing it with others as long as the servers are on.

The Infected in First Ward, particularly the Subjudgators. Those things are just horrifyingly nasty no matter your powersets or AT.

The main reason people are fighting so hard to save CoH is that it's more than a game. It's our community. It's our version of Facebook, or MySpace, or Twitter, or Reddit. It's where we go to talk, to hang out, to pass information and connect with our friends. So...

Has anyone approached NCSoft with the angle of saving CoH from that point of view? Facebook is a social media system where you can play games. CoH is a game witha social media system. The line between the two is blurrier than one would think at first glance. If I want to play games, I can fire up my PS3. If I want to have basic chat and IM, I can use the Playstation Network. But if I want to actually hang out with my friends and do stuff, there's nothing out there like CoH. NOTHING.

If NCSoft simply kept CoH alive, no further development and only basic maintenance, the costs for doing so would be minimal: servers (which they already have), server space, skeleton crew for maintenance (which would most likely already be employed to maintain servers for other games as well, so no new hires would really be necessary), electricity (which is negligible, particularly if the servers are maintained at a central site). Many of us would still continue to pay monthly subscription fees to maintain access to the already existing VIP content, and CoH could still have many FTP customers pass through.

What would the financial upsides be for NCSoft in keeping COH alive as social media? Well, ongoing subscriptions, to begin with. Ingame ads (which is an argument for another time, but bear with us for just a moment) could raise quite a bit of money. Ability to cross-promote their other products without advertising costs in the CoH world. Maintaining goodwill from the CoH community and the gaming community in general. Being the first to debut an innovative concept that will generate a tremendous amount of buzz in the online gaming community and a significant amount of mainstream mention as well.

I think this is a possibility that someone needs to pitch to NCSoft. It has no risk of releasing property rights which someone else might make more profitable, very little financial risk or drain, a pre-built customer base, and it lets them look smart and caring instead of cold and aloof. It has almost certain profitability and potential to become much, much more. Facebook is one of the biggest software companies in the world, and CoH is a lot more fun. There's room to turn this situation in a win for both us as players (keeping our community) and NCSoft (maintaining steady profits as a definite with potential for greater profits).

More than likely NCSoft will be pulling out of North America and possibly Europe in the future, so they can concentrate on Korea first and Asia second. They understand that market better and keep their efforts focused on their homefront.

I think we were only an experiment to them, with mixed results in the end and profit margins insufficiently high enough to justify the ongoing hassle of putting up with us as players and employees.

I'm done with NCSoft and their products forever. I will also do my best to make sure that my friends, my children and their children never support NCSoft. The only exception would be CoH returning in some form, which I'd pay to play happily as I have done for eight and a half years, and I don't see that happening. I'm afraid NCSoft will be nice and happy in the Asian market, and whatever we in North America, South America and Europe do will matter very little to them.

Michelle, thank you again SO much for doing this. The fact that you're willing to put your time and effort into doing something like this lifts my spirit immensely. Nothing can ever bring back the loved ones we've lost, but as long as we remember them, they're never entirely gone. Thank you.

Jo

I highly doubt this much planning and forethought went into the decision, but doesn't it seem like NCSoft waited until right before the single biggest, most eagerly anticipated update EVER to pull the rug out from under everyone?

Farthest I ever got on a character without a defeat was an Invul/Warmace Tank who made it to level 37 before the Envoy of Shadows took her down one-on-one. It was really fun, because whenever I was playing her after that, I never turned down an opportunity to fight him again, just because.