Lightbender

Out of curiosity, how will NC Soft be reimbursing all the time and effort we put into the game?

I played and paid for this game with the (apparently mistaken) belief that I was building up to something that continues to get better. I put 7+ years of time into this game. The "characters" that are going to be so nonchalantly removed from me represent not so much the money I put into the game rather the time I spent building them up. A person can pay the monthly bill and not play. The characters only progress with the time invested.

While it is true that I paid a monthly subscription to play the game, I was under the impression that we get more than a month's enjoyment. Each consecutive month played builds up to something better. I didn't start a new level one character at the start of each billing cycle. Now I have 7+ years of time put into these characters. The money was gone each month and I understood that, but the time was supposed to continue to accumulate into better gameplay. So, again, how is that time going to be reimbursed?

There is a lot to be ticked off for regarding this act on the part of NC Soft. But what upsets me the most is the attitude that "it was just business". Those characters represent long hours and late nights of my life. I willingly traded that time to not only have fun at that moment, but also to INVEST in something. Now, NC Soft is going to take that time invested and just delete it?

I'm not asking to have NCSoft to go belly up on something that doesn't bring in massive wads of cash. But I am very interested in knowing what efforts were being made to reimburse the players for years of dedication to thier game? What exactly do I have to show to 7+ years once the cord is pulled? Did they even attempt to sell the game or find alternative means to allow players to have access to thier invested time?

The utter disrespect shown by NCSoft's silence is disgusting.

Simply put, I won't be putting any more money into NCSoft or anyone related to NCSoft (that's you, Nexon). I'll be certain to make everyone else I know understand this situation.

Does anyone know if Funcom has any relationship what-so-ever with NCSoft? I'm pretty certain EA doesn't.

A friend wanted me to try out Dungeon Fighter which looked like an interesting game, but it's Nexon. Nexon has large investments in NCSoft, and I won't touch anything related to NCSoft. I'll also make certain anyone else mentioning NCSoft/Nexon games understand how the situation with CoH went down.

TSW looks interesting. The "no levels, no classes" comments on the site bring back fond memories of one of my favorite games: Ultima Online. Any game that can balance character abilities and progression without classes or levels certainly has my eye.

Well, this got much more serious than I intended. Honestly, the original post was done after 3 very large tumblers of Capt&Coke, so I'm surprised I remember posting at all, spelled mostly everything correctly, didn't swear every other word and didn't pass out before hitting the "Submit Post" button.

Personally, I think falling numbers are certainly part of the issue, but in the end NCSoft just wants to abandon NA. It's a battleground that they are losing in, while they are doing well in Asia. Yes, GW2 is marketed here, and B&S is supposedly going to make the move. But I have the feeling B&S won't make it here, and GW2 will go the way of CoH's support in EU in short order. NCSoft just don't market NA like they should if they really cared about establishing/keeping a presence here.

Where am I getting this from? Mostly, just stepping back and looking at the big picture. Why haven't they given any real explanation to "why"? Why are they allowing themselves to get dragged through the mud, when they certainly they saw this coming? Because they just don't give a crap about the NA market anymore.

Or maybe they are just assmonkeys.

Ok, so I've jumped around the servers the last couple of evenings. All I'm seeing are smatterings of people asking if anyone is doing iTrials and nothing actually running. Even Freedom, which used to run iTrials nearly 24/7, or at least it felt like it, appears nearly dead.

First, are my perceptions shared by others? Or am I just not "in the right place at the right time"?

If this is really the case and iTrials are struggling to start, then I propose that we start pooling our resources. Many VIPs likely have a number of server transfers available. Should we start moving our most beloved lv50's to one server, so we have a better pool to work with? If so, which server? Freedom or Virtue come to mind, since they have the largest playerbase to start with. But I'm good with any server that still has a well established VIP playerbase.

I'm certain it's going to be a bit disappointing to move a character for some. I've been on Victory for, well, ever. It was just recently I moved a couple 50's to Freedom to get more iTrials in, fully with the intention of moving them back "home" later. The thought of leaving a couple of my favorite characters on Freedom and outside thier SG is like "leaving a man behind".

Yes, I do hate how this is working out. I hate that a portion of the population apparently gave up, but at the same time I understand how fustrating it is to put work into something when you know the Reaper is around the corner to cut it all down. However I want to squeeze every ounce of fun out of this game as I can over the next 2.5 months. I want to be able to think back on the characters that I got to play out fully to my aspirations. I figure... I hope others feel this way as well. Unless we can get enough VIPs together on the same server at the same time, we have been cut off forever from the iTrial content.

Thoughts? Should we start making plans to consolidate?

(As a related note, if by any smallest, most miniscule iota of a chance someone who still has some power and still has the ability is reading this: We don't need free content. We don't need 10,000,000,000 influence or XP gifted to us. We need server transfers and character slots. While these other things would be fun at first, in a month and a half we might not have the playerbase left to do much on the lower population servers. Players who were F2P only had 2 slots total, so they probably can't roll up another char on a another server, nor can they purchase a new slot or character transfers. As some of us might be able to huddle together as the fire dies out, these others will unfortunately be left in the dark. That should not be the fate of such a great community as this one. Also, once the good news of the game being saved is announced, server transfers won't damage the game as much as other free stuff certainly would.)

I would like to compile a list of the reasons people heard either through the forums, in game, from friends, from enemies, or from spectral voices as to the contributing reasons why NCSoft killed CoH. You could also include any other depraved acts that NCSoft may have committed in the past. Really I don't give a ****. Just make something up. We could all use a laugh at someone's expense at this point. And that someone is NC Soft.

Remember that the boards may or may not be monitored. Assume they are not.

Ya, just looked up my billing status:

3 Month Subscription

Next Bill Date: Sept 22.

I really hope the rumor that VIPs will keep thier status until the end is true.

If, by chance, you haven't played through the "Introductory" arcs on redside, I suggest doing so. I found them to be much better written and much more interesting than the blue side.

Very, very disappointing.

The most heartfelt thanks to Zwill and all past and, um, I guess recently past people who made this game possible. Some really lucky companies will be gaining great assests shortly. You gave us a much needed and overwhelmingly great escape from the barrage of (mostly crappy) sword and sorcery MMOs. Again, THANK YOU!

And thank you to all the players over these many, many years. I can't even fathom how many people I got to "beat up the bad guys" with. This has been one of the most mature, helpful, and fun groups of online gamers I ever had the privilage to share a virtual world with. And I've seen many.

And nothing but ill will to NC Soft. All NC Soft games will be cancelled at the end of this month when this great game ends. No point putting money into anything that may randomly disappear tomorrow. It takes a Super Powered Idiot to cancel something that basically cornered a market and should only have been making money. If you have a few moments, please look over the list of profanity that would be blocked on these forums, and apply it to yourselves.

-- Lightbender, 8+ year veteran

Thanks! Looks good. I usually really get into these kinds of things (building roleplaying characters, putting together the perfect combinations of items in games, etc), but the IOs for some reason just feel a bit overwhelming.

Ok, the only things that suck worse than my humor are my search-fu and my IO set slotting skills. I got my Kin/Ice Stalker to 39, having a blast with him, but am now faced with piecing together a good build since I figure on playing him into the incarnate levels. Currently, he's just a mish-mash of things that sounded interesting at the time.

Anyone have a good Kin/Ice build to share or can point me to one? Playstyle wise, I'm non-PVP, 50/50 on solo and team. There aren't any specific powers I'm attached to, although I have been enjoying the AOE-crit blast of Burst, while I found Focused Burst as being useless. Moneywise, I'd like to avoid Purples but future purp advice is appreciated. LotG-types I'll grind for with merits over time. I already have the AT set to slot.

Thanks in advance!

I was baffled when I first saw the "progression tree", too. The lines on the tree make it appear as if the "total core" and "total radial" don't lead to anything. I was under the impression that if you took either "total" T3, you couldn't combine them into a T4. Likewise, the "core boost" and "radial boost" appear to only lead into one side of the tree.

I think it would have been better to simply lay them out as they did the paragon rewards. Just have four distinct rows without the lines.

I suggest going on to win at:

- Dungeons and Dragons
- Gardening
- Water Breathing
- A chess zugzwang
- Global Thermonuclear War vs WOPR
- Life (no, not the board game)

City of Heroes is only the first step!