Scarlet Shocker

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  1. A statue of an ordinary person in City Hall where the City Rep stands and a plaque that gives a badge saying "People Power"

    "The People of Paragon heard the call and were not found wanting. A City was saved."
  2. proof there are far too many bean counters and lawyers in the world.
  3. Quote:
    Originally Posted by JayboH View Post
    What I can tell you is that it is extremely unlikely for them to ever say 'derp! maybe we will reverse all decisions and hire everyone back just to show how weak and stupid we are' so realistically I don't see anything happening that will ever let us play the game beyond Nov 30 - and that includes anything the Titan Network comes up with. Maybe I'm pessimistic but I just don't see anything happening.

    I have a different view. Whatever happens, we'll find out soon enough.
  4. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Alexis_NA View Post
    Guys, the EULA you agreed to when adding paragon points or setting up a game subscription clearly states that there are no cash refunds.

    It sucks, but legally, I don't think you'd have a leg to stand on with NCSoft.

    Disclaimer: IANAL, I just read EULAs compulsively.

    I actually bought some points after the announcement that the game was to close and no more purchases could be made (supposedly).

    Were I to pursue that, NCSoft wouldn't have a leg to stand on because of statutory law - as FFM stated no EULA can take that away.

    However at this stage - getting NCSoft embroiled in lots of little law suits is going to do a good deal more harm to our bigger picture so let's just hold fire until we know what the score actually is.

    All purchases are well documented, so it's perfectly ok to hold on for a little bit.
  5. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Apache_Eagle View Post
    Unless I've missed something on the interwebs NS Soft hasn't made any response to the fact that CoH is recv'ing more coverage on the mmo and gaming websites than it has in years as a result of the community's attempts to save the game. Anyone hear anything?
    That's a good thing.

    It means they are clearly aware of the community's response but are taking their time to make a careful, measured response.

    It seems likely the decision to sunset CoH was a knee-jerk reaction. A second similar reaction to the fans could really blow up in their face.

    Add to that that if they are also in talks with anyone about the game's future, then they won't want to speak publicly.

    In other words, no news is good news.
  6. Scarlet Shocker

    Cash-eesh

    There are some strange numbers being bandied about as "fact" - when the truth is we really don't know.

    But what we do know is that CoH was profitable but realistically, in decline over the long term. The trend seemed downwards.

    However it could be made to be profitable and the reaction amongst much of the community is evidence that there's a lot of passion for this game.

    You can bandy statistics about all you want but it's commonly accepted that for every community action that is taken there are plenty of supporters who agree with the action but don't act themselves. Sometimes it's naked apathy, sometimes it's too busy, a lack of perceived benefit, or perhaps even fear of ridicule or making a decision. I'm working from memory here but the general consensus is that for every person who signs a petition, there's roughly about 5 people who support the principle but don't. (From memory, studies vary and range from 3-10 - but that was in the days before there was an internet if you can imagine such a thing.) But ok let's say the ratio is roughly 1:4 once we've filtered out dupe signings etc.

    So we've roughly 15000 sigs currently = 60000 potential subscribers. At $15 a month that's $900,000 a month. I'm guessing that would only support a smallish game, ie a skeleton dev team and only a few servers.

    However, that's just the raw basic numbers. There are other considerations - if the fan base can make a comprehensive case to demonstrate that there is profit to be made from the game, then the shareholders must ask the board some very interesting questions.

    Fighting for this game isn't for everyone. But this game and community has done a great deal for me over the years. Trying to keep it online and active is a worthy goal and personally I would much rather say "I tried my hardest and failed" than "Meh couldn't be arsed."
  7. Quote:
    Originally Posted by FloatingFatMan View Post
    In the EU at least, I don't think they can legally refuse to refund you.

    They cannot. Contact your local Trading Standards department.

    But be aware they may well kill your account stone dead if you do ask for a refund - if they are so inclined.
  8. Thirty 7 from CoHtitan has done a lovely twibbon design for your twitter account.

    If you don't know what twibbon is, it's a little marker that shows up on your twitter avatar - highlighting the fact you support a particular cause.

    Get your twibbon here - it has a nice "saveCoH" banner on it so that your followers can see the cause you're supporting:

    http://twibbon.com/cause/Save-City-of-Heroes
  9. That was excellent stuff chaps.

    Thanks TonyV for your excellent work and taking the lead on this - thanks too, Maressa and everyone else involved.
  10. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mad Grim View Post
    My character is four feet tall and has no shiny bits whatsoever.

    No, I will not try to find myself >.>

    Oh, but you already did. You found yourself amongst friends, amongst believers, amongst people who are not prepared to let a corporation simply roll them over and tell them it's done.

    you found yourself amongst heroes
  11. I enjoyed that but I'm thnking I wanted to make a toon called "Necromantic Rod"

    either that or the biggest double entendre you can imagine! (it'd be dead funny... srsly)
  12. If Super Ready weights the same as a duck I figure we should burn something.
  13. Thanks Zwillinger for the update.

    I am taking this to mean no news is good news
  14. I've been in touch with both the http://www.expressandstar.com/ and http://www.birminghammail.net/ to let them know the meet is happening and why.

    I'm not sure what response we'll get but figured better to let them know ASAP.
  15. I'm not completely sure of the point you're trying to make but some context is required there.

    Let's not forget that this was just after the launch of Going Rogue - and for that, the Dev team had expanded massively - IIRC from about 15 people to over 80.

    Going Rogue was the platform for the End Game and most of that was built into GR - so once GR launched, there would almost inevitably be huge layoffs. But even after the Dev team was significantly bigger than before
  16. But this means...

    Wait... are you trying to say that something isn't mereman's fault?

    I cannot process this!
  17. Excellent work thanks for sharing!
  18. excellent work.

    Thankyou so much for this!
  19. Scarlet Shocker

    The Last Day

    Beat up Frostfire then dance under Atlas with my friends
  20. Scarlet Shocker

    City of Creators

    I'd love to be part of this

    And I'm working on something currently that has the perfect synergy!
  21. Quote:
    Originally Posted by FloatingFatMan View Post
    Sorry Tony, but I disagree.

    Sure, NCSoft have done a lot for us; but last Friday, our good buddy snuck up behind us, and stabbed us in the back.

    TonyV and Zombie Man have made the most sense of this so far. The Elephant in the Room isn't NCSoft. It's not another game. It's Nexxon.

    What is their role in this. They take over a big slice of the NCSoft and CoH gets axed. Nexxon are into the mobile and social markets. As the largest single shareholder there, with NCSoft not doing so well they may well be pulling a lot of strings.

    The good news is, if a credible offer for the IP of CoH comes in, the board of NCSoft is legally obliged to give it serious consideration. And in one respect that fact that revenue seems to have fallen year on year on the game plays into our hands becaue ti would take a seriously big miracle to make it a challenger to any of NCSoft's current titles. Thus selling the IP is low risk.
  22. just seen an interesting Loading Screen Tip:

    Quote:
    The Back Alley Brawler Task Force and Lord Recluse Strike Force are some of the toughest tasks in the game.

    Tell us about how that made it into the tip loading Screen and the process that ended up with Ms Liberty giving us the TF instead of BAB? What options did you consider and what was the deciding factor?
  23. Whatever happens, there's a lesson here for games companies.

    It's a very valuable lesson to most of the industry it seems to me.

    Just looking around the interwebs, it's clear that NCSoft have dropped a clanger with this and it's shocked the industry as a whole. But perhaps, to counter that, the whole industry is sitting up and taking notice and going "Whoa! Those fans have it together and are behaving in a concerted manner to try and save their game."

    It's making heads pop up in the gaming community at what was an unforseen reaction. It might just make gaming companies think twice before making knee-jerk changes to their games.

    It's probably too late for CoH. I suspect that CoH's time is done and soon it will be pixel-dust on the wind. But I also suspect that whatever the outcome, NCSoft is going to feel that wind for a long time to come and it will hurt the company more deeply in the long term than it can imagine because their ill-considered actions has been a stone that casts many ripples.

    But the next time a business looks at closing it's game or emasculating it - this has been a precedent and they will look at the options more closely. Can the game be saved with more revenue? What can the fans do to save the game? Maybe if NCSoft had asked that before they closed the game - well we can but speculate.

    Let's hope that however this pans out for us, it'll make the industry think twice about how they act. Even if it's just to take a moment to stop and ask the fans.

    Or it could just be wishful thinking
  24. Scarlet Shocker

    Where are you?

    Scarlet Shocker is on da map innit!
  25. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Cobra_Man View Post
    Keep your spirits up Riff.

    It's not over until the fat lady sings.

    True. It's Dr Who's grandson who is holding the Trophy as captain of the Bears!!! Maybe it's an omen!