War Witch

Hey, I kept my promise.

And you're welcome! Enjoy!

War Witch

Hey all,

I do enjoy using social sites (they're handy for high school reunions, catching up with old work-mates, networking - if you're into that - and a bunch of other things).

My Twitter account is a Personal Account and being a Dev is just one of the many parts of my life. The other aspects of being just me is the fact that I have many varied and exciting (and boring and tedious) interests which I comment on (including what I ate for lunch or why my cat is adorable).

I also get to follow some neat people and find out what they're thinking about at any given moment and some people follow me (unless I bore them to tears) and they stop following me. I just write what I feel at the time.

I also totally understand that Twitter is not for everyone and that's cool, too. Trust me, nothing City of Heroes official will ever come from my Tweets unless it's already common knowledge. That is why I don't use: @COH_WarWitch.

Thanks

War Witch

Well, I guess this thread goes to show, you definitely can't please everyone all the time, eh?

WW

(But I do try.)

Hey, everyone

For those of you that I had a chance to spend time with yesterday, it was really wonderful talking to you! Five years! FIVE YEARS City of Heroes has been in our lives and I just wanted to take a minute and say "Thank You."

*Big silly gooey post coming...*

I've been working on City of Heroes for 7 years (yes, SEVEN years).

So, a lot of changes over the years. For me, I've said goodbye to some amazing people and then I've been blessed with seeing them again later on with the new studio. I've met some perfectly wonderful players over the years, too.

What I love about the player community, every single time I'm with you guys, is that you're really amazing people, with passion for the game, loyalty, and you're just really decent and interesting people.

I've probably said this before and I sometimes fear I sound like a broken record saying it, but - for me - the greatest joy that comes from my job is meeting and talking to you guys. I mean that most sincerely.

Some of my BEST memories at events have been those in-person gatherings. We had a great time at Omega Sektor (UK) and HeroCon (US) and that's because we were just a bunch of people talking about a game that we all love to play (and work on, for me).

It gives me no greater joy than to hear you guys tell me you like something we've done right and I don't mind hearing about things you believe we can improve on.

In all things, I believe that you truly care for the game and the relationships you've formed playing it. I definitely saw THAT while I listened to the back-and-forth banter between you, even in casual conversation.

So, the quick list of things I most remember about City of Heroes over the last 5 years:

- Atlas Statue used to be hollow and you could see right through it
- I once accidentally deleted all of the purse snatchings from Galaxy City and didn't notice until it went live
- The picture on the wall in the hospital is a photograph of the dev team at E3 before we launched (it was my first E3 -- I was so excited to be there)
- Atlas Park was the very first zone I populated (I didn't even build my own spawns back then)
- I laugh at my own dialogue AND easter eggs
- Crey's Folly was adopted as the winning name by a player, the internal name for it was Enviro-Nightmare
- I remember when you couldn't jump in the game (pre-launch) because the code hadn't been built yet
- I remember when spawns were generically "generated"
- I remember seeing "real people" in the game for the first time in beta and being overwhelmed
- The fun G4 interview where I got to play "Amazon" (and those posters behind Oculist were mine - that was my desk and I'm looking at my Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman poster now)
- I remember when Positron was hired
- I remember when Manticore was hired
- I remember when I went from the part-time office manager to a full-fledged associate designer and - oh my - that was a big deal!
- I remember coming in over the weekend so I could build all those atmospheric spawns for Pocket D and researching all those TERRIBLE one-liners!
- Spending time with players at the Omega Sektor event and getting to see all those alts!
- the endless easter eggs in the Invention Tutorial (and the one I think only 3 people have found to date)
- The Shadow Shard Invasion
- The 5th Column / Council Battles
- The Rikti Invasion
- Save Sally!
- Cimerora and the feeling of stepping out of that cave and that music starting (gives me chills)
- Trying to figure out how to pronounce Ouroboros (and yes, that's why I put in the atmospheric spawn about it)
- The very first time I saw our game box on the shelves
- The pride I felt when my nephew called from Canada to tell me he saw COH on the shelves and told all his friends (thereby making me the "cool aunt")
- The pictures from the forums of all the incredible things players have done with their bases
- The amazing videos over the years players have made

That's just off the top of my head, and completely out of order I'm sure. It's been an amazing five years and I truly hope that we have another five years and another five after that and... (well, you get the idea).

So, as I've always said, one of the best parts of my job (and it's a shame to call it that because I love it so much) is the opportunity for me to put things in the game that I hope you will enjoy and to talk with you.

You guys are what make the game great. Without you, it's just graphics and sound, AI and FX. You put the heart and your own creative spin on everything in City of Heroes and that is what continues to amaze me.

Thanks guys! Happy 5th Anniversary!

Love War Witch

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

That was so cool...

Normally, I don't touch Badges or Powers or anything like that, but it sounds like they desperately need some love.

WW

I know you guys haven't seen much from me lately. (Massive stuff going on as you can imagine!) Good stuff, too!

But I am slowly picking my way through more missions and doing stealth grammar and spelling touch-ups. I'm not sure anyone's noticed yet, I hope you have!

But I guess it remains to be seen.

Although I DID find a doozy the other day (some Circle of Thorns guy yelled something to the effect of, "I sweat you will rue this day!!"). *groan*

So I'll keep plugging along as I have time.

Thank you for your awesome feedback on this, by the way. Much appreciated.

War Witch

*groan* I'm slowly making my way through this list.

I did do a run-through on all City, Hazard, and Trial spawn dialogue, looking for typos and grammatical errors. I HOPE I've gotten most of them. If I haven't, do let me know.

This does not include Contacts.

I have not written missions, except for the ones you guys know about (Eden Trial, Sewer Trial, Hero Invention Tutorial, Villain Invention Tutorial), but I would LIKE (in all that free time I have) to go through and fix some of that peskiness a small piece at a time.

I don't know when that'll happen, though, since I'm usually tasked with other things that bog me down pretty heavily.

However, given that typos and grammatical errors make my teeth itch, I do want you guys to know that I KNOW there are issues and I DO want to see them looked at.

I know -- it sounds totally wishy washy that I haven't given anything concrete, but I'd rather surprise you happy than disappoint you sad.

War Witch

Yes, I blame me for those clues. I thought the whole "Redbook" (vs. Cosmopolitan) thing was pure brilliance. Just me?

WW

P.S. And the urn clue was...well...as close as my brain could get at the time.

Also, the ParagonWiki reference below is not completely my intent:

"Arcane items Lot# 49 (shipping crate) -- Next mystery: Answers hidden within this box are the key to the tragedy of its necessity.
Refers to simply a box leading to… "

It's not simply a box. I was referring to the flight data recorder (aka "black box") in planes used to identiy what caused the accident.

Thank you thank you thank you!

You should have seen me squeal (it was embarassing, really) when I saw we had a gift. I pretty much do that when I see anything I didn't have to order myself.

You should see me and stationery.

WW

Again, thank you. Figures they'd want to take a pic on the day I wear my gym strip to work. (*groan*)

P.S. TargetDummy, you didn't send a return address so I could write a thank-you note!

[ QUOTE ]
War Witch, the best thing to come out of those awful CoH promotional comics way back in the before time. I actually think I have them lying around still in a box...

Wonder how much they'd be worth now! D:

*Searches Ebay*

[/ QUOTE ]

I think I have a few of those lying around, too. Not many, but yeah, that first promo comic (hence my icon) really was the one that started it all for me.

WW

[ QUOTE ]
So there was some misunderstanding on my other thread where I posted some sketches of my WAR Witch Elf, and I felt bad making our War Witch here thinking that it was a pic of her, so I give you the one and only:

War Witch

[/ QUOTE ]

WOW. You rock the house!

Thank you!

War Witch (not the Elf)

[ QUOTE ]
hehehe, I like to keep the viewer wanting more...

Those boards were actually influenced a bit by Warhammer Online which I just got after playing the trial.

Updating at the moment, so instead of playing, I'm sketching Witch Elves
War Witch
War Witch 2

And it's NOT that War Witch...

[/ QUOTE ]

Yay yay yay yay! *clicks* Oh...

Well, looks terrif anyway.

WW

Everyone and their dog beat me to the Facebook COH Fan Page.

Wow! That is great news, FlyByKnight!

How exciting for you! That is so awesome!!

War Witch

SF rocked the house. She was great. I got to say hi to her sisters, too.


WW

[ QUOTE ]
I think this may be one of the best threads ever.

[/ QUOTE ]

Seconded.

This is one of the things I LOVE about our forums.

War Witch

Hey all

Wow, it's been a whirlwind couple of days that I haven't had much time to sit down and throw in my two cents on the whole thing.

I don't know if you guys know this, but I've been working on City of Heroes since the early part of of 2002....lonnnnng before we launched.

And it has been the absolute greatest experience for me. I had the dream story of how I started in this business (which is truly rare) and how I got to work on a project with a handful of other people to put together this game called City of Heroes. I had no idea how it would be received when it first came out.

From the first day of open beta to each time I sneak on and say hi to people, either as War Witch or my normal characters, you guys are the reason (besides my team, which I adore) that I love doing what I do.

You laugh at my silly NPC comments and easter eggs and you have been nothing but wonderful and supportive since day one.

I'm not going to lie, the decision to leave Cryptic was hard for me. They gave me my start and I will always be grateful for everything they've done for me. Having said that, I LOVE City of Heroes and I love you guys and, ultimately, the choice to stay with the project was a no-brainer.

I'm also thrilled that everyone else who came on board, did. One of the greatest joys I have in working with my team is getting a chance to get to know every single one of them and care about them as if they were an extension of my family (okay, fine, I'm less snarky with my team). What this means is plenty of feeding of food and laughter around cubes.

Ultimately, a job is a job, but it's the people who really make it worth it and I love my team. I'm not being cheesy or trying to sell you anything, I truly do. I work with some top-notch people and they (and you guys, of course) are the reason why I love coming to work each morning.

I am truly blessed to have the job that I do and I'm grateful that I get to do it, every day (even on the days when it sucks - yes, there are those days on occasion) with people who are so hard-working and talented.

NCsoft has been nothing but amazing to me since the first day I met them way back when we were working out of the Jury Court office and I really do enjoy working alongside them every day.

I haven't read all of the comments about how everyone is reacting to the news, but if you do want my opinion (looks like I'm giving it anyway), I'm excited. I'm excited and happy and I will stick around on City of Heroes/Villains as long as they'll have me.

(Man, I can yap when I feel like it...sorry, got all misty-eyed there.)

So to you guys, who have been most faithful over the years and to anyone who is new, I definitely look forward to many more awesome issues and times together with you. You guys are the reason I'm here and I couldn't be happier.

Great. Now I have writer's cramp.

Love you guys!

Melissa

AKA War Witch

Okay, I just gotta say...as a Canadian living in California, that earthquake scared the SNOT out of me.

I'm totally not ashamed to admit it.

I had three kids, a roomate, and a husband looking at me and saying, "Are you kidding me with this? Knock it off, you're scaring the cat."

That was totally not fun. It was the opposite of fun. It was unfun. But...I'm fine. I'm aaaaaaaaaalllright. Ohhhhkay. Just peachy.

Phewwwww.

War Witch

Happy birthday, villains!

It seems like just yesterday I was.. {cue whimsical music}

...just getting to work, swooping down on the kitchen for some free doughnuts and chai... {music comes to a screeching halt}.

Waitaminit, that was yesterday.

Okay, it seems like TWO YEARS ago, I was hanging out at Fry's Electronics with a bunch of other devs signing posters and showing off my Ozzie Osbourne costume.

(Actually, it started as Dorothy of Ozzfest, but I couldn't take the shoes anymore and changed. Now THAT was a versatile costume!)

Thanks for some awesome years, people!

War Witch

[ QUOTE ]
Confirmed, CuppaJo will be there, as well as Cricket!

Note to OP, this is an NCsoft player Meet & Greet, so while it would be nice to have our Cryptic Developers out to Austin for this, we only unchain them from their desks at the end of each day.

We will try and pull something together for out here in the San Jose area where meeting the Cryptic Team will be more feasible.

Ex

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd be up for that.

WW

Very nice.

I loves it, too!

War Witch

Well I still think it's cool that someone took the time to work on a pic, anyway. All the rest of this discussion was:

"Blah blah blah War Witch blah blah blah blah, render blah blah blah Poser blah blah blah stuff I can't pronounce blah blah blah."

So needless to say, I was super really impressed.

War_Witch