Next_Player

Well, as a customer, I can say their acceptable loss does not sit well with me and they've not only lost any future prospective business from me, but I will continue to remind people about how NCSoft doesn't care about their customers --only their bottom line.

Here's a thought, though: Why not try to reduce costs from Paragon Studios before closing it and the game altogether so abruptly? Why not cut the super secret projects? Why not reduce staff? Why not merge servers and/or take other cost-saving measures to give the game a little more life? While it would have spelled out a slower but still assured doom, the players would have seen the writing on the wall and then the PR backlash wouldn't be so bad. Also, look at how people have been rallying to this game in the past two weeks? If we had say 6 months worth of time, for example, of NCSoft making obvious attempts to reduce costs on the game rather than cancelling it outright, then the customers would see what they're doing and maybe rally financially and see the game make a comeback before the plug was pulled.

There was no effort here. A callous decision was made to simply cut us off with a couple of months to go despite that we were all looking forward to the release of Issue 24 with something I would say goes beyond a passing or casual interest. Its a slap in the face to customers who have spent years supporting the game --and thereby the company-- leaving us with nothing to show for it after its gone.


When COH went free-to-play, I decided to go premium. I have spent plenty over the years buying every City of Heroes/Villains version and collectible that I could get my hands on. So I could keep paying $15 a month for access to some things that I would very infrequently use. I had only two level 50 characters and spent most of my time alting between various lower level characters, so incarnate stuff was never a big deal to me... something I'd get into later on down the road when I had both time and more money.

But even after going Premium, my support for the game was still financial as I continued to buy new powersets and costume pieces and temp powers. I've spent more money than I should have on the Paragon Market. You see, if I was subbing for $15 a month, I'd get those 400 points to use every month, but more often I wanted more stuff right away up front. There might be times I spent more than $15 a month... but what about those sub people that don't buy anything beyond their sub fee? Maybe THEY are the freeloaders for not making the Paragon Market more of a success.

Its a ridiculous assertion... as bass-ackwards as your's. The game's hybrid F2P model was designed to get income from both ends. I don't think anyone expected everyone to give up on subscriptions, and I don't think anyone expected everyone to maintain subscriptions AND spend extra money on the market stuff. Everyone contributed... yes, even the Free2Players, because I've seen more than a few occasions where teaming is difficult and thank goodness for the added numbers of players to the game to give the paying players reason to keep playing.

But you feel free to believe only subscribers' opinions matter. In the mean time, I agree with any and everyone who believe that VIP status should be opened up to everyone before the game closes. I don't think that time is now because for one, it would shatter any hope of the game being saved. Right now, there's still a guarded sense of optimism in some people. They're hoping that 33 Atlas Parks, thousands of signatures on virtual petitions, and media attention from celebrities and non-gaming related news mediums will force NCSoft to take notice of their fans and have the decency to sell the game to someone else who will maintain it. Take that away and any the remaining days of the game will be overshadowed by doom and gloom with a few bright, shining last hurrahs here and there.

And secondly, there's no reason to open everything up just yet. As pointed out, it would be somewhat unfair to the people who have actually paid for VIP status... but let's say November, with only a month left to play. Would anyone who is a VIP really begrudge everyone else getting access to all content for one last month before the game is gone forever? Are people really that petty that they would say, "Too bad, you didn't pay for it so you don't deserve one last opportunity to see all the game has to offer before they shut it off"? Because really, if that's the COH gaming community that exists, I've been gaming with my eyes and ears closed all this time. I was under the impression that the community as a whole was a lot more inclusive.

I'm waiting for this treatment on several of my characters...

I don't.



I only love lots of it.