gec72

Yes, I do get that. But, characters are characters, and these are basically ones that have no strings attached. No threat of lawsuits from heirs of creators, no rights that revert back to owners, no need for licensing agreements.

Sure, they aren't very well known. But neither were the Red Circle characters. Could probably say the same about some of the Charlton characters and even the more recent Milestone characters. I know these are all DC examples and they've been marketed or incorporated into their universes with varying degrees of success, but they thought it worth the attempts to do something with them. The CoH characters will never reach the heights of either of the big two, but the universe or at least parts of it could be useful.

Does Wizard101 count? I know I've seen more commercials for that than I have for CoH. Oh, Pixie Hollow too, but you know, Disney.

Some of us are? I played CoH because it wasn't a video game. At least not by my definition of it. A computer game yes, but not all of those are video games.

If I wanted to play a reaction-based combat game on a console, I would play a reaction-based combat game on a console. I have consoles. I don't typically play them though, my kids do (and when I do play them, I silently steam as my kids beat my *** at them).

True, and I knew that would be brought up. But I'd say that you're paying a premium just by playing an MMO, as opposed to your standard out-of-the-box game (again using Civ as an example, I know folks who played that game for thousands of hours for a LOT cheaper than what I paid for CoH).

And I will admit that I don't keep tabs on other MMO so I don't know all of their pricing structures, though it seems like with F2P and what I hear of GW2 (buy box, play free) that paying a monthly fee is not as standard as before? I know I certainly had a choice of dropping to F2P with CoH, but I opted to continue paying a monthly premium.

I believe it is spelled Fathom.




(I know, standard typo. Couldn't pass up the opportunity to reference another obscure underwater video game. )

Also, compare to some other game franchises that are out there. EA's Madden series has been around since 1988. Now, the delivery system is different from CoH's as the game is re-released yearly, but the franchise is still going strong. Sometimes installments highlight just a few features but are essentially the same as the last version (like CoH's issues), sometimes they have more meaningful overhauls like this year's "new physics engine promoting real in game physics" (compare to CoH's own ragdoll changes, or Ultra Mode).

This is what gets me about people saying that CoH is an eight-year-old game. It's not. If you were to able to play I24 and then I1, you would be playing two different games. Sure, the games would be the same thematically, but they would be vastly different in content and in technology. Just as Madden '13 would be from Madden '04.

I was talking to a friend about this the other day - one that played CoH, regularly played WoW, and probably tried about everything else out there (he is also of the opinion that it makes little sense on the surface what NCSoft is doing...and he's an economist! ).

He brought up gear, and how is tied to appearance. I wondered...why would they even do that? That takes away options for customization. "Because players want to be seen with their kewl loot. It's for their egos." That mentality is SO far from my own. Heck, half the time I don't even want to be seen at all in the game. Strutting around showing off accomplishments is the furthest thing from my mind. I'd much rather show off creativity via character concept, if anything at all.

(Similarly PvP does nothing for me - I'm not going to gloat if I win, but if I lose (and I will, bc I am not l33t), whee, I get to hear a mouthful from some jerk. Yay!)

This part is absolutely true. I started playing CoH when a dozen or so friends got me to sign up during a trial period in 2005. One or two lasted for a couple years (actually, one may have even predated me). After that, I was the only one playing.

The others moved onto other games. Basically they're of what seems to be a very large set of players (probably the majority) that tries almost any MMO when it comes out, plays it for a number of months, then moves on to the next new game.

This seems like such a regular pattern that I don't know why it isn't standard procedure for companies like NCSoft to develop games with the idea going IN that they are going to help develop, then reap the early rewards/box sales, then when most players have moved on except for a dedicated smaller number, spin the game off. Either sell the IP or license it, either way you get something and can move on.

Not serious. I think it's somewhat silly to think that if it was that evident that Paragon was sinking, you didn't have many more [Tunnel] rats leaving the ship. If you think that your job is in jeopardy of going away, you start looking. They don't seem to have been.

I think it's also silly to expect that folks playing an online game are supposed to obsess over stockholder meetings and earnings reports. If someone buys the new Assassin's Creed, do you think they do a full background check on the financials of the company developing it? Heck no. People don't sign up for fantasy football leagues but think Hmm, I don't know about using Yahoo again - their new CEO is untested!. Players (by-and-large) are interested in what is in or what is being added to a game. And Paragon had been adding a buttload to City.

Yeah but he should have known he was going to be fired. Apparently he didn't pay enough attention. Or went to work with his eyes closed. Or didn't notice he was being paid by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Or something.

And will no doubt continue to do so until November 30th, if not beyond.

Other than their word, we can't really prove that they did make an effort though either. And following the original announcement which was scant on details and caught most of us off guard, it's hard to have faith that their PR is entirely truthful.

FWIW (and I am assuming that isn't much), I have three forum users on ignore. One was put there very recently (post-announcement trolling), another has been there a few months to maybe a year.

Another_Fan was the first user I ignored, and has been the list for a few years following any number of posts tilting at blasters, the market, etc.

Jackasses may look different to different people.