RogerWilco
-
Posts
383 -
Joined
-
I'm not giving up hope until the servers go dark.
I'm following TonyV, I think it's the best we can do.
I do agree that NCsoft doesn't seem to be handling the PR very well. They could have at least sent an email to their existing customers.
I've seen big companies on the inside. There are also cultural differences. In general I abide by the adagium, "Do not attribute to malice what can be attributed to stupidity".
The only thing we can do, is to try and speak with one voice and as loud as possible. TonyV is making all the right moves in my view, I will keep doing what he suggests.
There are exceptions, where actions like this have worked on some form. My personal favourite is when the Apolyton fansite was allowed to continue work on Call to Power and got the source code. -
1) Not a fantasy MMO but set on "present day" earth. I want to throw cars and leap tall buildings.
2) Superpowers (Laser Beam Eyes yay!)
3) Very high customization, through Archetypes, Powers, costume designer, etc. No cookie cutter builds. Everyone was unique and looked unique
4) Roleplaying though Origin, background story and wikis.
5) OSX support!!!!
6) Ragdoll physics.
7) Lot's and lot's of content, and a lot of very good stories.
8) Nice mature community. -
I have a similar problem. I still have about 6000 PP left.
My subscription originally lapsed at the end of July, and I would have resubscribed then, but then I got a friend to upgrade to VIP status and my account got an extra month until August 20.
As I was on holiday during that time, I had planned to resubscribe in early September...
I have ordered some boxes from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com doesn't ship to The Netherlands. They will probably be EU codes, I hope I can apply them to my account, I think I might have a NA client, as I only joined after NA/EU were merged.
They should start arriving around September 22-28.
In the mean time most of my characters are locked, as nearly all are Rogues. (Everything over level 20).
I'm wondering if spending 1200 points on unlocking Going Rogue would allow me to enable them or that I should wait for one of my boxes from Amazon to arrive. I probably would need an invention licence and some other stuff, like the SSA, as well.
I'm a bit hesitant to spend a lot of my PP on stuff that I can hopefully get as soon as the stuff I ordered from Amazon arrives. I don't know if this would have an effect on a potential refund.
I then have the problem that I'll be out of the country for work for most of October, so maybe I should wait until November. But then things might not even still be online, even though the rumour is that the servers will continue until the end of that month.
I don't know what choices to make, so for now I'm just playing on the Beta server. -
I would advise to have a strong hard look at Mutants and Masterminds before developing something from scratch.
I would suggest taking M&M as your basis and developing on top of that. The main thing that seems to be missing are Inventions and the associated mechanic to slot powers. Next to that CoH would not use skills.
It's based on D20, so a lot of tabletop gamers would find it familiar. It's also based on the Open Gaming Licence, so you just can use large parts of it.
Sure combat in CoH is more complex, but that's way to complicated for a tabletop game to simulate.
Other than that I agree with the other posters that you should avoid using the CoH name and associated IP, it can land you in trouble.
An extensive guide on how to adopt M&M to play CoH style might be ok though, if you avoid most of the specifics. I think a guide on how to build a character in M&M that plays like a "Dual Blades" Brute or SuperStrength Tank would be ok. Writing down the stats for Back Ally Brawler would not.
Just like M&M could make stats for a Power Suit Archetype, but not for Iron Man or Positron. -
Very nice.
While I also have a windows PC, I really appreciate that CoH runs on my Macbook as well. -
Quote:I seem to have a NA version of the game anyway. I used one of the codes for a special aura the devs posted in one of the other forums. I had to use the NA version.Originally Posted by Megajoule
Find a buddy in the US that you trust to order it for you and send you the code?
Caveat: I have no idea if there are different codes for EU. -
Quote:I'm a post-Freedom player. I think Praetoria should have been the main new starting area. Parts of Paragon City but especially the Rogue Isles looked very dated by today's standards. Paetoria looked much better.Originally Posted by SupaFreak
I kinda feel Paragon Studios had an idea the pressure was on to take City of Heroes to a new level since the announcement of "Champions Online" and possibly "Marvel Universe Online", because that's when it seemed that NCSoft had dedicated more efforts to adding to the staff and funding for City of Heroes. This was around Issue 15, and since then... big changes came about that weren't previously possible with the limited staff.
As I evaluate what has transpired with the major improvements since and what was successful and what was not, I see a huge amount of upgrades that were pure win for new and existing players... but 1 major addition to the game that did not go over well that I'm sure cost a lot of time and money was: Praetoria.
I can only imagine that if all the time and money spent on Praetorian zones and content (regardless of how awesome they are) were instead spent on updating & creating content (TFs/SFs and events) for the existing zones with a new player experience (which eventually happened anyways: Atlas and Mercy) instead of further moving new players away from the existing where we would be now.
I know I tried hanging in Praetoria when GR was released for a while and helping new players, but those I helped and added as Global Friends seemed to just disappear too quickly.
Were the Praetorian zones really needed at this time over upgrades to the old zones or should they have waited until there was a demand for them? Based on their population on my server... I would venture to say they could have waited. Visiting Praetorian maps through stories, trials and task forces would've sufficed until then.
This is where I feel Paragon Studios failed on bringing in and retaining new players, and ultimately why NCSoft got frustrated to the point of shutting us down. Everything else they've done was pure win and successful for the existing playerbase.
I also liked how both factions, the Resistance and the Loyallists played in the same area. It could have made the game feel more alive.
I also liked the storylines a lot. Tunnel Rat and Noble Savage became my friends, not just NPCs. In Paragon City and the Rogue Isles there were hardly any interactions with the major NPCs until level 40+. All you got were Flambeau and Dr. Graves.
I think that it would have helped a lot if free players starting out the game would have started in Praetoria. If you're trying to sell subscriptions, it helps to make your game look good. -
Quote:I resent you calling me a freeloader just because I happen to be Premium right now.Originally Posted by Ukaserex
Are you serious? We were notified on 8/31. The last day is Nov. 30.
That's three months. So, we got prep time.
You want VIP status? Non-VIP were too cheap or broke to support the game with a subscription and you think they're entitled to free VIP? Seriously?
If they gave them free VIP, then they'd have to refund every VIP that's paid for it - or it wouldn't be in the least bit fair. Of course, no one said life was fair.
I just wish NCSoft had a paid subscription from everyone who's stated that they should give free VIP to everyone, then maybe the game would have been profitable enough to keep.
I don't care to read/hear how free and premium players supported the game by spending money in the paragon market. If those same folks had been subbed, CoH might not have needed to switch to the hybrid model ( a desperation move) in the first place.
I have zero sympathy for free and premium players who whine about not having vip access -- (except those that just found the game in the past month. For those newer players, I have sympathy.)
I joined this game in December 2011. I was VIP until August 20. This was an initial subscription and extensions I got because I got 2 friends to subscribe as well.
Next to the VIP subscription I spent enough in the Paragon Market to have Tier 9 rewards. (I've been VIP for 8 months, you do the math).
My subscription just happened to end on August 20 and I was on holidays from then until September 9. I wanted to subscribe again on September 10 but I cannot.
I could not renew my account before August 20 because I needed to use PayPal. Originally my account ran out before my holidays, but because I got some friends to upgrade to VIP, it was extended into my holidays.
I tried ordering some games from Amazon.com so I could apply the codes to my account and get VIP status back that way. But they don't ship it to outside the USA. I tried the game shops overhere, but none of them have or ever carried CoH. -
Quote:Minecraft is the other game I play a lot.Originally Posted by CatMan
Indie developers.
Like: Mojang
If I was going to develop a game, I would do it along the lines of Minecraft and avoid the producers. Notch essentially self-published the game.
I was never very good at the First Person Shooter and Real Time Strategy games. As I'm getting older I don't even try any more.
What I'm looking for in a game today is:
1) Ability to play with friends.
2) Either allow you to create your own content, or lot's and lot's of content.
3) No long learning curve or grind.
I don't care so much about the graphics (see Minecraft), even though I do have a high end system and played CoH in Ultra at 1080p easily.
There are a lot of people nowadays, in their 30's like me, with jobs and money to spend who grew up on games in the eighties and nineties and now just want to be a "casual gamer" as the WoW crowd would call it.
I wish I discovered City of Heroes sooner, I've been here less than a year.
Don't let my Premium status fool you, I did my part to support this game. I got to Tier 9 in 9 months. I was only unlucky enough to have my subscription lapse for the last week of August, while I was on holidays.
Any suggestions for another game are welcome. Especially something with good stories. The stories in this game were the most immersive I encountered since the MYST series. -
I got 358Y-SK8G-8AAY-QVTP-Y4NM to work on my account.
Oddly enough it's a NA code while I'm an EU player.
You need to have some weird site like iecheck.com or something like that non-blocked if you use NoScript.
Thanks! -
Quote:Yeah. This puzzles me as well. This just doesn't seem to be the most profitable scenario, finances don't seem to have motivated this move. The lack of communication, the very sudden way this was dropped on us (and apparently PS staff), it's just weird.Originally Posted by DarkCurrent
Profitability doesn't seem to be any part of the equation here. As you allude to they could have a) cut costs without ending the game, b) increased profits by reorganizing, or c) ended it with much fanfare and to do.
a) lay off half the staff for instance and keep the game going. It would slow the dev cycle, but we've been there before and many would still keep playing. If the salaries are as much as you're suggesting that would save big bucks and not lose them much revenue.
b) more revenue... they could've bumped subs a couple bucks a month. Given our current situation, I'm certain the vast majority of players would have agreed to an increase. They could have consolidated servers. Cut the server numbers in half. Less operating and maintenance costs. Or they could've just sold the IP. Make millions on the that and wash their hands of the expense to develop and operate. Afterall, CoH doesn't fit their plans anymore and is such a small market share it's no threat to their other enterprises.
c) fanfare... hey thanks CoH team and players. Unfortunately we need to move in another direction. I know this sucks, but we want you all to enjoy as much as you can before the doors close. We're planning lots of fun activities, give-aways, and events to reward your 8 yrs of loyalty. Afterward, we hope you stick with us to enjoy one of our other fantastic NCSoft games.
Instead we got d)... a big **** you and see ya later. If you stick around for our other games great. If you don't, oh well. Doesn't really matter what you did for us the last 8 years. We're moving on.
It's very bad PR. We only had 5 people in my gaming community playing CoH. Now everyone is talking about it. -
My guess is that at $2.5 million per quarter they were in the black.
In my experience running a 20-25 man software company takes somewhat over a million euros, so somewhere in the $1.5 million/year ballpark. I would expect as similar number per quarter for Paragon Studios.
This leaves them with bringing in somewhere in the $0.5-1 million dollar per quarter in profits.
That's a very respectable profit margin if that calculation is correct even if the number doesn't make a big dent in the total NCsoft portfolio. -
Quote:I can't say it any better than this.Originally Posted by SpyralPegacyon
You gave us a world where we could fly. I can't thank you enough for that.
-
I've been in the game less than a year, I wish I discovered it sooner because now there are many things I will never get to see.
Thanks for making it a real Role Playing Game, not just an MMO. I loved this game for the stories. I've played Dungeons and Dragons and Mutants and Masterminds for many years. I've played other MMOs as well, and none came close in how immersive the stories were. Only MYST gave me a similar feel.
I did my best to support this game, I got to Tier 9 in 9 months. Unfortunately my 6+1 + 2 friends I converted to VIP ran out in the last week of August while I was on holidays, so I'm stuck on Premium now.
I don't have the millions to save this game all by myself, but I'd contribute if I could.
Thanks to the whole Paragon Studios Team. -
This is not the moment to do this.
Maybe if they actually turn of the servers and this forum. Then the community is gone and there is no reason to hope to get it back. -
Quote:It doesn't allow shipping to my address (In the Netherlands). Apparently you need to live in the USA for this. :-(Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
Amazon is selling old editions. Buy them and add the codes to your account.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_sabc?url=search-alias%3Daps&pageMinusResults=1&suo=1347372812425#/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=city of heroes&sprefix=city%20of%20her&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aci ty%20of%20heroes -
Unfortunately I can also just reply in this thread at the moment.
I was planning to come earlier, but my holidays got extended a little, I was sailing the North Sea until last Sunday evening. This was in itself a good thing, but it means that I failed to renew my VIP subscription before the 31th and am on Premium now. (expired on August 20).
Sorry for missing the event, I hope you had fun. -
I would, although I would miss the MMO aspect.
-
Quote:Yeah. I had an active subscription up to August 20. I was on holidays until last weekend so my subscription lapsed for 2 weeks. Now I can't go back to VIP.Originally Posted by HelinCarnate
Yup, some of us were planning to resub when the next issue came out but get nothing. Those that were active on the day of the annoucement get up to 3 months free. The rest of us get nothing. Way to go out with a whimper instead of with a bang.
I would pay 3 months subscription to ride the game out to the end. -
Quote:That's a good idea.Originally Posted by Texas Justice
Transfer them to Beta, log into Beta on them and say goodbye there.
My subscription ran out on August 20, while I was on holidays until last weekend. So I missed the ability to renew my subscription.
This might give me at least the ability to log into them. -
Quote:I dropped to Premium on August 20, while on holidays and would like to go back to VIP until November 30.Originally Posted by Necrotron_RO
It would seem that you can still upgrade to VIP by applying a valid retail box code to your account as well. I just upgraded to VIP by applying a Going Rogue Complete Collection code.
Do you have any idea how I could obtain such a thing? I don't have any codes applied to my account as of now. -
Quote:I am a post-Freedom player. I subscribed for the first time in December 2012.Originally Posted by BViking78
Even if I'd do I dunno.
I mean.
Firstly you can notice that 99% of the people that say yes on this thread was on CoX before Freedom and secondly Freedom itself is the result of not enough subscribers.
Sure now more people had the chance to try the game and all but I don't think it would work out anyway.
At the end I agree with Golden Girl, it seems to me that money isn't the only and main reason, dunno
Unfortunately my subscription ran out on August 20, while I was on holidays. I had planned to renew it today for at least another 6+1 months.
I also got two of my friends to join this game and become VIP, extending my subscription.
I have also spent enough on the Paragon Market next to the VIP subscription to have attained Tier 9 in the last 9 months. I really liked that option as it gave me access to things like wings and cool costumes when I wanted. I still have about 6000 unspent PP.
I would cancel my WoW subscription before I'd stop playing CoH. -
Quote:I want to chime in on this sentiment. I didn't like how Wizards of the Coast handled the switch from 3.5 to 4 of their Dungeons and Dragons franchise. I've never bought a 4th edition product because of it.Originally Posted by Captain-Electric
Word for word, this describes the stance I'll default to after November if NCSoft carelessly sacrifices our community (carefully worded form letters to the Press notwithstanding) without first seeking another home for it. My stance certainly does not matter in and of itself, but I have a feeling it matters along with thousands of other customers and all the ill-will they're capable of spreading over the next decade. I was there in September, 2004 in the last moments before Earth and Beyond's servers flickered out for the last time (Galileo server forever! Jenquais forever!). I watched (and helped) that community stick their thorns in EA's side for years and years afterward--efforts which did NOT go unnoticed LOL (and now we're all playing our game again--for free on our own servers
). Trust me and stay away from the lame-o club, NCSoft. Not the road you want to go down! Do the right thing while there's still time! 
What NCsoft is doing now is much much worse and would make me boycott the company for as long as they exist.
People have long memories. I know my mother still sticks with certain brands and avoids others because of things they did 20-30 years ago. -
Quote:I bought extra Paragon Points to get into higher levels of the Tiered VIP Rewards.Originally Posted by White Hot Flash
That's about how I feel about this particular situation.
Anytime you buy Time in advance, you're running the risk that you won't be able to actually use it when the time comes to do so.
And whoever stockpiled thousands of points "just in case" gets no sympathy at all. Why would you spend money for points you might use later when you can just spend money for points that you want to use right now? Why should a company refund someone for poor planning by the customer? If this sounds harsh, it's called Life. Welcome to it.
If I were looking for refunds, I'd stick to game time only. Microtransactions are usually "buyer beware." -
Quote:My VIP expired on August 20th, while I was on holidays. I wanted to renew it today, now that I'm back, and I still would, even just for 2 months. I don't seem to be able to.Originally Posted by TimTheEnchanter
So is there a confirmation that gametime cards will work?
Overall, very annoyed how NC handled this. Just dropping the bomb on a random day with no forewarning at all.
When SOE found out SWG had to be closed, they worked their hearts out for the final months to get something cool to the players, and let them see what the future was intended to be.
But this... who knows how many would've bought VIP again even just for 2 months? Give the devs time to at least give the game a proper sendoff. Sheesh.
I'm very annoyed that they dropped the bomb like this, in the middle of my holidays.