Scarlet Shocker

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Sad to see you go.
I still miss FNFC.

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Yeah that was fun.

But let's not talk about PVP... I'll only get more depressed

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Btw, I wish people would stop saying "you will all come back!!". Because it makes our inevitable return all the more shameful

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Fixed for you

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There is nothing inevitable about a return and to such an event shameful is hardly likely to encourage anyone to return.

That's a bit low even for you joking GG. It disappointed me

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I think Positron could lean a lot form this thread - don't tell us about new power sets, new TFs, possible graphics updates, plans to curb MA farming, brand new zones, forward planning up to I20, the next booster pack or anything like that - just say you love us, and we'll all be satisfied.

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Not totally true, but a feeling of appreciation from the Devs would go a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG way.

Apparently they were dispensed on an "ad hoc" basis. The fundamentals for getting a title were simply "keep still long enough for a GM to tag you" I believe

Sorry you didn't get one tho

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Us long term veterans are saying goodbye out of courtesy to the people we never see in game but chat to on the forum. Some we agree with, some we don't. some we love, some we hate with a passion. We are giving our reasons for going and try to do it in a constructive way rather than saying "this game sux".

Have you not noticed the pain between the lines of the leaving posts? People have made friends, met partners, had children, moved house, lost loved ones with CoX as a place to retreat to and escape the pain, or brag about the rugrat, or just to escape from real life for a while.

Friendships change and alter in life. Some get stronger and others fall by the wayside. CoX is a friend that for many of us has moved in a different direction than we wanted and lost its way. we have tried to explain our problems but the friend isn't listening so its time to part. Thats not to say some or all of us won't be back at some point. I'll probably pop my head round the door in a few months time to see whats happening, but for now allow the people who have put three, four or even five years of their lives to say their goodbyes.

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Excellent point... Except for that 10 farewell threads on a single day thingy. And similar "epidemic" when Brighton dev team was fired.

I have nothing against farewell threads as such, or farewell threads caused by recent events, but don't you see that the entire first page consiisting of them (at the moment I started to write the OP) is a bit... Unusual, to say the least?

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As paying customers who have supported the game in various ways, financially, and vocally and many of us tried to keep the doomsayers at bay, we have every right to express in reasonable - if at times - passionate ways why it's time for us to stop supporting the game and move on to pastures new (or at least move away from existing pastures.)

There's a very good reason the front page is flooded with them and it's not simply a "bandwagon" but it may be that yesterday was the catalyst that caused a chain reaction. It could have gone two ways.

Oh and I fixed the title for you

That was great to read. Thanks for showing up yesterday and today.

We know that in you we do have someone who cares as passionately for us as we care for the game

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Beautiful story, Scarlet. And I hope you don't leave, either.

But if you do, as you said in your story, there's always room for you should you decide to come back.

War Witch

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Thanks... and I hope you didn't mind me taking your name in vain

Thankyou too to everyone who has posted such nice comments in this thread. I truly am touched

Take care buddy - keep in touch.

And thanks for a final piece of beautiful artwork - sad it had to come to this.

Left

Ok I'm posting this a couple of days early because it's only fair to give as many as possible a chance to add to it before Ghost Raptor actually goes. His leaving day's officially Friday but if he's got any sense that'll be spent in the pub.

I just wanted to publicly say thanks for all the hard work he's put in during his time here, managing us grumpy lot when we want to say FTW and it doesn't meant "For the Win."

But also I think it's important to express how accessible he was. He worked really hard for us at Omega Sektor and it was a pleasure to meet him and the rest of the crew, and the help he gave me in setting up the interviews I did was invaluable. Without him I'd never have managed to get such great material.

We've also had some interesting debates with regard to that noblest of sports, with some friendly banter for good measure, him being an Aussie and me being a Pom, and this year is a special year in that regard and long may the banter continue. It will be a matter of large regret if by some miracle England wrest the urn from the ancient foe and he won't be here for me to publicly taunt him (all in good fun of course.)

So long Alex. Thanks again for all your help mate, you will be missed.

Riff

With both those things you cite that's only half the story.

They announced the Vault and yesterday was the first inkling it had been shelved. No word from them until we asked a direct question. They should have told us it wasn't going to happen or it was "A very long way off" etc.

Similarly the CoP... That launcehd when? Issue 9 IIRC. Either way that was in 2007 and it should have gotten fixed (or scrapped) by now. Leaving it, and us, hanging isn't really acceptable. If they can't fix it then tell us. If they can, then tell us when.

Good luck wherever you find yourself

Take care mate.

Good luck in the future. Maybe I'll catch you in Millenium City

Take care buddy, keep in touch

Good luck.

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IMO opinion, you are far to dependent on this game to let it affect your emotional state so much. You need to get away completly for a while and get a fresh perspective.

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I'd take issue with that on a number of levels, not the least of which is that unless I'm mistaken you don't know anything about FFM that he doesn't put out here.

But, and it is an important point, when the place you go to "get away from it all" whatever that may be, is screwed over by powers that not only do you have no control over but seem to refuse to listen to you... then it's always depressing. Same as when you took the wife and kids to the new restaurant and they served you dog droppings on a plate. It can get to you, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Scarlet Shocker leaned over the railing at Pocket D, looking down at the dancers raving in Zero's club. The music was loud and repetitive just how the regulars liked it. She swilled the dregs of the martini around in her glass and knocked it back, then looked at the woman in green beside her. A whimsical notion crossed her mind then; red and green, opposites but complimentary. With those two colours you could make up almost the entire spectrum.

"You've got something you want to say." War Witch looked at Scarlet and there was a smile on her lips and warmth in her eyes. Since Scarlet was hunched over the rail, it was one of the few occasions the shorter woman could look her in the eye. Not many could ever do that.

"It's time to move on," admitted Scarlet. "I am torn I guess. I've not been sure, but... it's time to go."

War Witch studied her tea for a moment then looked at Scarlet. "Are you sure? Paragon still needs heroes like you. People who will fight the good fight, no matter the cost."

"That's exactly it, people LIKE me. Not me." Scarlet shrugged and stood, suddenly dwarfing her smaller friend, and first confidante. War Witch, or at least one of them, knew most of Scarlet's secrets. There weren't too many places for an eight foot tall rock star-turned-superheroine during times of crises of confidence, or when the burdens of leadership were too much. But War Witch was always there... either her ghostly self on the hill in Croatoa, or Pocket D. Scarlet was still unsure of how the two related to one another, but frankly, she wasn't sure she wanted to know. What she did know was that she could tell her friend anything and although the phantom would never presume to tell Scarlet the solution, somehow it always made things seem clearer.

War Witch studied her friend for a time. "I think I understand. Where will you go?"

Scarlet shrugged a smaller shrug and walked over to the barman, signalling for a refil. "I'm not totally certain. Millenium City may be an option... or... I'm not sure."

"Metropolis?"

Scarlet looked shocked and raised an eyebrow. "Not likely. The guy in blue is too much like Statesman. It'd be swapping like for like... besides, that bat guy... he's twisted and freaky. I couldn't work with him."

"Well I guess you could just travel around for a while. You're bound to come up with something marvellous." There was an impish grin on War Witch's face, as though she'd struck a plan.

"I don't think they're ready for me yet, and as a famous person once said, 'That's another fine mess you've got me into Stanley.' I just don't want to get into something I know I'm not going to... well I guess I dont' want to meet my doom yet, or get smooshed by some hulking great thing. I guess I'll pass on that." Scarlet sat, kind of disconsolate. "Besides, I'm good... but I'm not that good. They beat up world-breakers for breakfast, I mean on a galactic scale. I can't cope with Recluse or Ghost Widow without backup."

War Witch sat beside her and placed her hand on her friends. Her tea had cooled by now. "Don't sell yourself short Scarlet. Tell me truly, what's brought you to this?"

Scarlet sniffed, feeling choked for the first time since she'd plucked up courage to admit it to her friend. "I guess it takes more than just being a hero. I've been here a long time and I guess you've got it covered. We... by we I mean the rest of us... we're kind of superfluous to requirements. Freedom Phalanx and Vanguard and the Vindicators... they've got it all sewn up. The rest of us heroes are just making up the numbers.

"I guess in the beginning... I felt like I was making a difference, you know? There was so much to do, and we were doing it and learning the job. Now I'm not even sure anyone even knows I'm here. I tried to get to speak with Positron the other day. I'd got some intel, figured it would help him coordinate stuff but it fell on deaf ears. We're not making any headway and, I think, some people at the top like it like that. We've stopped being important. Now it seems like we're just here to make up the numbers!"

War Witch nodded. "I understand. But, you've been here a while. Most heroes - and villains - don't stick around half the time you do. You've seen - and done a lot."

"So I'm burned out? Maybe but it's more than that. Millenium City's looking pretty exciting right now and the Freedom Phalanx are mostly saying 'Jam tomorrow.' We try and hone their skills fighting each other in the arena and so they change the rules so you can't actually do what you do out there in the streets; it's pointless. Now they got into bed with Aeon Entertainment with their fantastic new facility and what happens? First time they hit the streets in anger they hit it face first. Half of them just go around in circles doing the job they think needs doing. They don't learn their powers old school, they just pick what sounds good and then get face planted the first time they get out there. Kind of makes a mockery of doing it 'old school.' And don't dare even mention 'Soon!'"

War Witch grinned. "C'mon Scarlet, things change. You're old and wise enough to know that people will take short-cuts whenever and wherever they can. You've even done it yourself on occasion."

"Sure I have," she admitted. "But that's not been a constant. I've done it because I wanted to get to a specific point, not get to retirement age before I'd worked the beat. Sure it's less tough than when I was a rookie and look what happens? People don't stick with it as long. This way they'll do all their training and then jump ship when they realise how tough out there it can really get." Scarlet sniffed and snapped her fingers irritatingly for another drink.

War Witch leaned back in her chair and grinned. "Scarlet, I do believe you're sulking," which elicited a pained look.

"No, I'm not sulking but I'm a few miles away from happy. I'm not bored either. There's stuff I still want to do. But when we... the heroes on the street, ask something of the support network it's not forthcoming. If anyone in Freedom Phalanx ever pays attention they just expect us to get over it or fit around them. I hear it's even worse in the Isles. Why clean up a city when nobody cares?"

War Witch nodded, in understanding. "You realise you probably won't win too many friends if you quit."

The drinks arrived, Scarlet's martini and a chai latte for War Witch. Scarlet sipped on hers first then sucked the olive from the cocktail stick. "It's never been the number of friends that important. It's the quality and I've got a wealth of that from my time here. If anyone feels I'm an idiot for this, well that's not a problem I have to deal with. My friends are all grown up enough to choose their own path, without my help. I don't even expect everyone to agree with me, but I suspect I'm not alone here."

War Witch nodded and stood, preparing to leave. "You know we'll still be here if it doesn't work out wherever you find yourself. So long as there's a Paragon, there'll be a place for you."

Scarlet frowned at that. "That only works so long as Positron and Freedom Phalanx realises they need us. Without us, well... there won't be a Paragon. But one things for sure," she brightened as she spoke. "They can't have my stuff! You never know... I might just be back some day."

Ok I was really disappointed by two things today:

Positron's general demeanour in Pocket D. That's been dealt with elsewhere but suffice to say the guy lost a shedload of brownie points in my eyes. He came across to me as disinterested and anxious to be elsewhere. He was very selective in the questions he answered and one of his responses to me was pretty damned awful from a PR exercise.

Then the Big Announcement. That was very very weak. Everyone gets to go into closed Beta. So in fact it's open beta by definition. How the hell they'll manage the info gathering process I don't know but that's their problem. But there was nothing in the big announce to excite.

But... wait a moment. There is a glimmer of hope.

Think of it this way: If "closed beta" starts this week, we might expect I15 to go live by the first week in June. (Oddly enough)

But that would then mean we would have had Mission Architect, 2 TFs, a Booster (ok it's paid but it IS new content) costume parts, emotes, new IO sets and the odd other shiny I've forgotten.

Let's glue that together into one lump and for the sake of argument call it Issue 14.5. Ok so it's delivered in two slices but that ain't bad actually. If we then say that I14 to I15 is "extended testing under rigourous conditions" we then get a good issue in June

Trouble is that means we've not had a good issue update for a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time.

I must admit I have enjoyed todays events (well as I write, yesterdays) but bottom line: "B- Must try harder"

I doubt I shall check out the "openclosed beta" and the MA has proven to be a curse rather than a boon and unless they clear up the issues with that it'll kill this game quicker than a quick thing on a day with "quick" written in large red letters on it.

Sadly it's a genie that can't easily be put back in the bottle and there's a rather plump lady in the corner warming up for her solo, for me at least.

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I overwhelmingly got the impression that Posi thinks it's their game, they know what's best and sod the paying customer.


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Posi is really Jack in disguise!

It was early in the morning for them, probably done before the start of the working day. I know how grumpy I get if someone calls me before 8am.

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That's no excuse. You think he's the only person had to do a PR job early in the morning?

The EU collectively pays some serious wedge for his and the rest of the Dev team wages - especially with exchange rates as they are. If that discommodes him for a morning then my heart bleeds.

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And a few other ideas by the sound of it. She was great =]

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She was great. But you know what? I got a distinct vibe from Posi that was "I'm done with this, let's wheel out the Canadian, they all love her."

He responded to some questions, but ignored any that seemed even vaguely difficult except the PVP questions because he was pressed repeatedly on them. To the question "What is so difficult about touching base wtih the EU from time to time" his reply was simply "I'm here now aren't I?" If he replied to my point that was once in 3 years I didn't hear it.

I overwhelmingly got the impression that Posi thinks it's their game, they know what's best and sod the paying customer.

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If you believe what the devs say, and there's no reason NOT to, before the MA they basically had to script missions manually. They had no tool remotely like it to make their jobs easier, and probably explains the lack of content lately.

Now that the MA is here, it's a tool THEY TOO can use to generate content much easier. Obviously, they have a more powerful version of it though.

Which makes i15 an even BIGGER "Huh?". They have the MA tool now, so no longer do they have any excuses for content light issues.

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To be fair, the devs working on I15 wouldn't have had this tool available at the time - since they are working on 2 issues in parallel allegedly.

But that then raises the question why not give us something else to mark the birthday and then create the SFs for I16? As has been pointed out already several times there's a lot of false promises made. They could have come good on some (even just one?) of those.

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even before the 5th aniversery was announced people were complaining that it would just be another invasion and asking why the Devs could come up with new stuff but look what happens when they do its never anuff here we are getting the anouncment of i15 mere weeks after i14 hit and were complaining that theres not anuff being added.

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It's not enough for the following reasons:

a) the Devs have known the exact date of the 5th Anniversary for some time now. They have had plenty of time to get something cool and exciting happening.

b) A large chunk of the dev team has been working on I15 for a LONG time. (I'd guess close to a year.) They come up with 2 TFs, one of which fails to plug a much needed hole in the Villain SF arcs.

c) The rest of the issue is simply shiny bits.

d) When you stack I14 and I15 up against previous issues, they are weak in comparison. ISsues 9 to 12 were excellent. Issue 13 gave us a new zone (albeit a bit wierd and not in any continuity) and an excellent TF.

I14 turned Atlas into CoF

I15 will not redress that.

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Could you all just go instead of complaining that you're going to go?

[/ QUOTE ]Would be kinda nice, considering they've been threatening to leave for... how many issues now, 3, almost 4? I dunno, I haven't been registered long enough to know if it's been any longer than that. Gets kinda old, we get it already...

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you've never ever seen me threaten to leave before but like many others here, I will be out that door unless Posi and the Devs do something much more positive than rehashed content and current I15.

By the time I15 hits Paragon Studios won't have a captive audience - and we've been promised time and time again that something special will be arriving then but I15... that ain't special enough.

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The game is what people make of it anyway. Also I don't expect the impossibility of pleasing all of the people all of the time or new things that come out without some faults.

I am not saying things are acceptable as stretch is always embraceable but I think that I am realistic.

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It's too little, too late

Will the last one to leave please turn the lights out in Atlas Park

What's really sad is this is meant to be a day for celebration - something to really get us invigorated and excited for the future and yet at seemingly every turn the Devs have missed a huge opportunity as if they are actively trying to [censored] defeat from the jaws of victory.

Clearly they are tired and bereft of ideas but their egos prevent them from listening to the great suggestions put forwards by the transatlantic player base.