Memphis_Bill

There'll be a lot of these, I'm sure.

I don't see myself moving to another MMO. Tried them. They just don't stick.

I left COH once, annoyed... and came back not long later. COH is a jewel, and all the team - past and current - can be proud of it.

I'm not sure how much I'll be in game. I've tried to just go in and get screenshots, and can't do that at the moment.

So, at the moment, I'm posting a list of characters - "all of me," as it were. No bragging, I'm an altaholic, I know it. But something to think on - most MMOs don't really encourage this. You end up as "Fighter #8907234" or "Mage #987987432" or whatnot, just a few standards, and personally I can't get into them. But this list... even the characters that repeat names (different servers, taken from my CIT list) - each is different. Different reasons for being. They're all *individuals,* in a way. Some aren't fleshed out much, some have long, complicated backstories. Some are soloists, some have long interactions with friends and other characters. But I haven't been able - or *interested* - in doing this in any other game, not even those that let you have more than a very few characters. Each has been an adventure, no matter what level they're at - either a logn one, or one with much promise of what's to come, to see how THEY perform, what stories THEY could tell.

Each one's a thank you for this unique gift that was COH.

And so, thank you and goodbye from them all... and those missing, and the couple duplicates from server hops and the like.

Abyssal Echo
Agonicing
Alisia Bersa
Alsciaukat
American Maid
Application of Force
Arborwar
ARC Twilight
Archus
Archus Ebonglow
Aria Hightalon
Aria Lulais
Arkansas Stone
Ashsong
Athellia
Atomagus
Aurora Chase
Aurora Crush
Bill of Wights
Bioshell XP1
Bladecraft
Blaze Elementia
Brimstone Cowboy
Burl
Butcher's Bill
Butchers Bill
Caduccia
Caitlyn Haruspica
Caitlyn Snow
Carine Lucidia
Carolina Jessamine
Cassius Lumens
Cassius Lumens
Caticetrophy
Cautera
Cautera
Cendrillion
Charade de la Mort
Charade de la Mort
Chicago Cat
Chillgrave
Chloradian
Chloradius
Chloropsychosis
Chloropsychosis
Chlorostorm
Ciera Icelash
Clair de Lune
Claws for Concern
Cobriza
Compulsion's Heart
Coronelle
Cosmique
Crimson Seas
Cryo Havoc
Cryo Might
Crystal Miss
CTI Dreamer
CTX Resolute
Cumulin
CXA Renegade
D.Vines
Daddy Crimson
Daughter of Dusk
Dea D'Raibead
Deadly Diana
Dei's Chord
Delia Mochinye
Demerath
Demonetique
Desert's Sting
Devil's Herd
Di Vira Coate
Diana Avatarra
Dissonant Vision
Disunity
Disunity
Drake Macellaio
Dreamer in Elm
Dreamon
Dreamscape CTX
Duskvolt
Duskwall
Dynama Red
Ebonheiress
Eboniline
Eirwen Morana
Elecetera
Element of Truth
Elespada
Erin Snow
Erin Snow
Eventide Strike
Ex Caliber
Family Joules
Fel Lynne
Feliney Assault
Feliney Assault
Feliney Mischief
Flamepoint Miss
Flarepoint
For Grape Justice
Forte Blanc
Fulcrum Neu
Full Metal Jackie
Gaionic Lancer
Gateskeeper Aruss
Ghostlight Gail
Greenhouse Girl
Gregor Malkov
Harmonic Convergence
Heart of Winter
HeaRT-BReAKer
Heartward
Hellion Keller
Hiemal Partisan
Home Fires
Home Guard
Hot Purrsuit
Hydress
Hyperborean Wraith
I can fix that
Ignia Elemenia
Incineria
Inemoc 10
Irresistable Force
Irresistible Force
Jaeger Bolas
Jaeger Ravilla
Jimmy Tuna
Karacine
Karkina Red
Katie Moraine
Keres Mot
Khlorus
Kit Starborne
Kizimwi
Lady 302
Lady Alban
Lady Aneira
Lady Celandine
Lady Memphis
Lady Moquerie
Lapis Lady
Lemon Law
Libratech
Lil Red Rotting Hood
Linnurata
Linnurata
Lion Zero Three
Louisville Slaughter
Lucky Murphy
Luna di Anima
Mabsuthat
Machaseren
Machaseren
Madison Longshot
Maj. Carinae
Manhattan Funk
Manorossa delDestino
Materra
Medicat E
Medikitty
Memphis Bill
Memphis Bill
Memphis Bill
Memphis Bill
Memphis Bill
Memphis Bill
Memphis Bill
Memphis Bill
Memphis Bill
Memphis Bill
Memphis Bill
Memphis Bill
Mew Electromage
Mew Mystic of Flame
Mica Gneissohn
Mint ChocoCat
Minty the Second
Mira Bellatrix
Miss Mys-Tech
Molly Gunn
Molotov's Fury
Moquerie
Mordia Rys
N-field Guardian
Najaya
Nami Winds
Narcissea
Neutron Flux
Nightflare
Nightmare Shared
Nightwren
Nitrea
Novella Ebonglare
Nuclear Shadows
Nuria.net
Obsidian Flake
Ocelot Omega 3
Ounce of Purrvention
PainDemic
Paradox Archer
Penitent Shadow
Piracat
PISCES project
Polly Trauma
Polly Trauma
Polly Trauma
Priestess Blade
Project VISTA
PyrelIa
R U Healr
Radianne
Rae Twist
RASTER Mk II
Ravenswrath
Re-Fused
Redoubtable
Redwraith
Regina Arctus
Rei Falcon
Rei Sunn
Rez Dispenser
Rockin Little Tank
Rodeo Dominatrix
Rogue Stiletto
Rook Maiden
Rose Galvani
Rose Portia
Rosy of the Ice
Sample 57
Sancta Pinnea
Sandwolf
Sangrenia
Sanguine Phantasm
Satoria
Scarlett Bloom
Scarlett Bloom
School Spirits
Scionic Pulse
Seeker209
Sgt. Areson
Shotgun Sal
Sinister Nova
SinThesia
Sirian Shade
Sis.Link
Spark of Jealousy
Starr Blaze
Steel Temper
Stellar Windwalker
Sternteufel
Sunhaven
Surehaven
Sworn to Shadow
Sworn to Shadows
Techlone
Temporal Operative
Terminal Entry
Theorum
Theorum
Thermomanic
Therra Arcson
Therra Arcson
Therra Arcson
Therra Cena
Therra Corva
Therra Elya
Therra Fortuna
Therra Halsturm
Therra Malevola
Therra Mortea
Therra Paladina
Therra Portier
Therra Vindicta
Thesa Satori
Thought Bubbles
Thyree
Trinia
Trixie Trapsy
TTC-1001
Tundra Runner
Turisa Lightfoot
Typhon's Herald
Umbral Flare
Unnatural Acts
Unnumbered Sorrows
Valtech Guardian
Verge
Via Silentia
Violet Flame
Viperian
Voidbane
Voidbane
Voidbreaker
vonDrakkar
X-11 Jaguar
Yahr'veng
Yvette Horizon

Thank you, so very much, you and all the team.

one fo the few times I've bothered with twitter was to say thanks to you and some of the devs. I'll say it here, too.

Thank you.

I don't even know where to start thinking about "what a good last vid would be."

.... would love to send you a character file or something, since you'd probably end up doing it while I'm at work, the hours I tend to work.

Geez... (Right now I'm trying to find a certain piece I wrote way back when, not sure I still have it. And thank you, by the way, for pushing me to post the one I did back when I did.)

Maybe fitting in a bit of a tour? Sure, the trials, peek at Praetoria, the Shard, etc....


Too down right now.

Thanks.

Can't let it go without a nod to the purple side. Only one 'shade has gotten to 50 for me - Violet Flame, part of the "squid squad" with a couple of friends.

By wassy, with another version of Voidbane -


Our trio. Vi's on the left.



Done up by Sorah Suhng:



And with the person on the right in the trio, hanging out in pocket D:

I have... oh, so many...

All the versions of my forum-namesake.

The "Therra tree." Therra Arcson - first 50, elec/elec blaster. Therra Paladina, her continuation as a Peacebringer, also 50. Therra Malevola, creaton of the COT, meant to damage her reputation and cause chaos before taking her down - didn't quite work for them. Dark/Therm. 50. Therra Cena, Elec/Elec Dom, Praetorian... need to finish that one. Therra Vindicta, other dimension, "if just one thing changed...." - namely, getting a thirst for vengeance and order after her partner died. Elec/elec Brute, 50. Mortea, stalker. Halsturm, Merc/Storm, just because. And more...

Voidbane, PB, hunter of voids...

all the ones I've had art done of. All the ones I've RPd with and made friends with...

oh, so many who will never get to finish their stories.

The devs have already been let go, basically.

While I'd like to see the servers released so we can independantly keep going... I wouldn't hold my breath there.

"How can we come out ahead after the game has been shut down?"

You say "Well, that was a hell of a ride."

Too many answers...

From an MMO standpoint? Arcanaville said it at one point - they made mistakes. They happened to make some very fortuitous mistakes that made this game so incredibly different from everything else.

I mean, how many MMOs out there generally start out assuming you're equal to at least three minions? My blasters, Khelds, etc. can spend time clearing Perez Park's streets at low level without dying (much.)

Other MMOs? You're 1v1 without a team, most times. 2v1 maybe - but things may be dicey. 3, 4, 5, 6? Not unless you're talking absolutely minimum enemies - a few mice or something.

COH decided to forego set classes. Yes, we have ATs, but an Ice blaster is nothing like a Fire blaster. Other MMOs may dual class or have something else akin to primary/secondary - but COH really let you mix things up. My Fire tank plays far, far differently from my Stone tank. My Energy/Energy brute was a "heavy Stalker" back in the day, whereas other brutes could be tanks. Other games, a Cleric is a Cleric, a Healer is a Healer, they're pretty freaking interchangeable...

But you still "need" to have one of each to do anything, where COH, you don't.

Plus on COH, my characters are *mine.* My look isn't my look until I get my first piece or two of upgraded gear. My look can stay the same from 1-50. I can use it to define who I am. My "gear" doesn't show - an dif it does, as far as a weapon, its look is purely FOR looks, and has no impact on how it performs.

I can solo from 1-50. I don't need to partake in raids. I don't need a holy trinity to survive, or get roped into an encounter with Elites or something.

I don't need to pay to train. That was just... irritating. I can understand paying for a way-off-the-wall skill - say, a Tanker who wants to learn to use some Ice Blast powers having to pay for learning and improving the powers, I could understand that. But the games that have you pay to train? That turns the game from "Playing for fun" into "Grind and work" very, very fast for me. Annoyed me in Aion. Annoyed me in TOR.

Speed - we can travel. We can fly - literally. No "Move at a slightly brisk walk for 30 levels, and your mission is 50 miles away."

No competition for resources. Nobody's gathered around trying to get 10 Wild Mouse Nose-hairs and 10 Muskrat Testicles in a 30 foot by 30 foot area. You need info, you kill 10 hellions... doesn't matter which 10, and they're *easy* to find.

Yes, sidekicking and teaming. TOR annoyed me there - "OK, um... I'm 10 levels under my friend, it'll take me 20 minutes to get to my ship and get to that planet then find them... oh, then they can do the same for me next week." Here, it's get together and go kick butt.

There's just so much that COH does differently... and that's not even getting into the *community.*

I haven't lasted a year in any other MMO. 7 years and change, with multiple accounts, here.

I don't know. I really don't. Neither do some of my friends... we're all still stunned, sangry - yeah, I'll leave that, combo of sad and angry, nto a typo...

I've got STO, which is ok, but I haven't logged in for a while. Not fond of champs. Had some stuff in Aion, but I left that long ago. LOTRO... just doesn't do it for me. Not fond of guild wars... TOR is just... meh.

This is the only MMO I've really stuck with. The only one that let me decide what I wanted to look like and why, instead of tying it to gear. The only one that really grabbed me and kept me. That let me make my own characters and their own stories, instead of being "fighter #908749308475 against that horde, again" or whatnot.


I really don't know, gaming-wise, what I'll be doing.

Friends and I play on L4D/L4D2 on occasion, but...

I don't know.

I'm of two minds on this.

On the one hand, I don't want to do business with NCSoft ever again. I don't want to give them a single penny. I want NCSoft itself to crash and burn.

On the other - I don't want another studio full of developers working on something they love to fail. I don't want them out in the cold either.

For me, admittedly, it's a moot point - I didn't like GW, so wasn't going to buy GW2 - but....


I really don't know what to say about this.

Pinnacle.

You were my first server. You're always home. You've had some of the best people I've ever gamed with. Hell of a place to start... great intro to the game's community....





.... yes, I say this without joking, I need a drink.

Since it's closing, what the hell, why not.

Problem being they *laid off the dev team* today.

*******.

So, with the news of the pending shutdown...

Seems I've been tied up with Kheldians since I started. I started in Issue 3, right along with them. And I remember - *still* remember - being on a team going through the Hollows arcs. We reached the door just as a Peacebringer finished their mission, popping out in Nova form.

I remember looking and going "What was THAT? That's... COOL."

That Kheldian kept me going even through all the blaster deaths - with our doubled debt ceiling. When debt mattered. When we had that nasty content gap in the late 30s you had to grind through one way or another.

On my birthday, actually, around 1 AM, I got to 50. And immediately rolled my Peacebringer. I've been hooked since. I *loved* that character. Still do. And PBs in general.

I learned the lore. I loved having a lore track *just for me.* Enemies dedicated to hunting *me.*

I decided that my blaster had finally gotten trapped, captured by the council. They worked on breaking her will, weakening her to become host to a Nictus and infiltrate her supergroup, destroying it from the inside... except that her patron goddess (being magic) and a scout for the Kheldians worked together to prepare and free her. She'd joined with the Kheld as the Council were coming for her, fighting her way out...

And really relishing revenge on the enemies that had given her problems on the way to 50. (Dwarf form was *very* nice... as was lightform.)

Therra Paladina - last name changed for, oh, a few RP reasons, generally involving a change of attitude and self-given mission - hit 50 about a year later, mostly due to altitis. The trip was a blast.





(really need a color version of that - love the look.)





Two PBs at 50, one 'shade. Took me longer to get into the 'shade playstyle, honestly.... I'm a PB fan at heart.


... and then they go and say the game's closing.

Wait... what?!


.... crap.


So... publishing server code?

What about the "secret Project?"



.... crap.

Rula-shin on, you crazy diamonds.

Problem with prepaying covered.
Auto-pay... eh. OK, maybe. But how often would it autopay?

Personally, I think it'd make more sense for the trainers around in every zone to be able to take base rent (as opposed to... *be tailors.* I mean, sure, that's convenient, but just very conceptually *weird* to me.)