Announcing Our European Community Coordinator

[ QUOTE ]

As SophieX has already pointed out, the way things stand right now, if you want to play the European version, you'll need to buy the European game. We are looking into both account and character transfer for existing European players and as soon I hear anything definite on either, I'll be letting you know.

[/ QUOTE ]

Couple of thoughts on this. I would much rather get my account on there as it will be a whole lot easier to find teams at the time I tend to play. It's not impossible but I'm not exactly spoiled for choice tho.

However if this is provided at launch, I'm not exactly going to have many people in the low - mid 30's to team with. It'll be months before there is a base around my level.

Tricky one.

And there's more...

Rangus asked:

[ QUOTE ]
To Bridger - Are you M. Southerns?

[/ QUOTE ]
No

WingedKagouti clarified his question:

[ QUOTE ]
Would it be fair to assume no difference in Content (villains & zones) or Character Creation (costume & powers) compared to US?

[/ QUOTE ]
It would be fair to assume that, although as I mentioned, we have some ideas for 'goodies' similar to those in the US DVD Edition.

Nickwild came back for more:

[ QUOTE ]
And are we actually going to get the comic? Or are we going to have to continue importing it?

[/ QUOTE ]
The comic and all the issues associated with it are still being considered. As soon as we have news, I'll let you all know.

hereismyname asked:

[ QUOTE ]
Since the game will still be set in the US, does this mean the units won't be converted to metric?

[/ QUOTE ]
That's right - Paragon City will being sticking with the Imperial system.

[ QUOTE ]
Lord of the rings and the matrix were released worldwide in every language simultaneously. there probably isn't much of a different in the number of translations needed tbh. If they can do it so can everyone else, they just choose not to. and it bites the big one.

[/ QUOTE ]

A movie script like that for the Matrix tends to run to around 20,000 words or so, of which maybe a half is dialogue and would need translating - around 10,000 words.

I really have no idea how many words there are in City of Heroes, but it's a whole lot more than that - and many of them (power descriptions and so on) are tricky to translate without changing the meaning.

Also, check your facts - The Matrix was released 31 March, 1999 in the US. It didn't get to the UK until 11 June, and Russia had to wait until 14 October. Hardly 'simultaneous'...

[ QUOTE ]
I live in Europe. I play CoH on a USA server. Why should I have to move to an Euro server ? My SG is on Pinnacle, my friends and compatriots too.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's the point I was going to make. PLEASE please please, pleaseeee give us access to both sets of servers. The SG I founded almost 3 months ago on Justice is all European and I believe the largest all Euro clan on Justice, but we're still not huge and finding a team at your lv at odd times (for us) is still a problem. Despite that I would like to stay there as I know a lot of people on the server that are not European, so even if my entire group moved servers then I'd still be minus half of my friends list.

And just to say that we should AT LEAST get the option of a one time char transfer, I mean it's a little bit of a raw deal to have to shell out again for the game just to play in my own damn timezone.

Also one other question, please answer this, if there's only going to be 1 or 2 servers for English speaking people in Europe then wouldn't there be a lack of server space for characters? I currently have more than about 20 character slots in use over various servers and if there were only 2 servers then I'd need to delete some of my old chars, and if there was only 1 server I'd have to lose half my alts, or move them to a server where I don't speak the language.

I was just thinking about how this relates to City of Villains...for those Europeans of us looking forward to that as well. (And I'm including hoping to get onto the Beta here.) The EU servers keeping up release dates with the US servers - does that include CoV, or is that going to be 6-odd months behind like CoH is? Is it even going to be possible for EU players on US servers to get onto the US CoV beta?

[ QUOTE ]
Try reading the second part of my post: why someone who'll buy the european version of CoH can't start playing with me ? Community management is simply a non issue.

[/ QUOTE ]
Boy, I bet all the people working at NCsoft as part of their community team - CuppaJo, Aura, Tisirin and now this new guy - will be reeeeal happy to hear that community management is a 'non-issue'.

Oh, and as to why someone buying the European version can't play with you... how about this... because NCsoft said so??

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Try reading the second part of my post: why someone who'll buy the european version of CoH can't start playing with me ? Community management is simply a non issue.

[/ QUOTE ]
Boy, I bet all the people working at NCsoft as part of their community team - CuppaJo, Aura, Tisirin and now this new guy - will be reeeeal happy to hear that community management is a 'non-issue'.

Oh, and as to why someone buying the European version can't play with you... how about this... because NCsoft said so??

[/ QUOTE ]

Many europeans play on USA serves, till now the only problem eurpeans got is the 20 minutes-1 hour downtime for restart (and not every day). Is this a community management problem ? Until today it was not a problem... I've always found wonderful GMs and a quick response to my problems and these are more important community management problems.
Did you read the thread ? People who's going to buy European version of the game won't be able to play on USA server, and probably, viceversa. Do you think retailers are going to have both version ? Or just the european one ?
And, yes, I think this is a major issue.

hmmm. Will players from North America be able to play on the euorpean servers? I ask this, because being Canadian, I find a lot of my views and thoughts are more similar to europeans than americans, and I may enjoy the community better...

...no offense to the americans...

[ QUOTE ]
hmmm. Will players from North America be able to play on the euorpean servers? I ask this, because being Canadian, I find a lot of my views and thoughts are more similar to europeans than americans, and I may enjoy the community better...

...no offense to the americans...

[/ QUOTE ]

I am not taking offense at this comment, because I too believe that my viewpoints might be better shared with our european counterparts, BUT

I dont play CoH for its witty political commentary, but rather its fun value. CoH is like a first date, theres three things to avoid talking about: Politics, Religion, and Commitment

[ QUOTE ]
And there's more...

Rangus asked:

[ QUOTE ]
To Bridger - Are you M. Southerns?

[/ QUOTE ]
No

[/ QUOTE ]
Ok, are you the guy who wrote the recent Eurogamer review? o_O

[ QUOTE ]
Many europeans play on USA serves, till now the only problem eurpeans got is the 20 minutes-1 hour downtime for restart (and not every day). Is this a community management problem ? Until today it was not a problem... I've always found wonderful GMs and a quick response to my problems and these are more important community management problems.

[/ QUOTE ]
Ask a non-English speaking European who'd like to play CoH if they should play on European servers or American servers.

Hmm, let's think. If they have customer support issues... who do they talk to? An American GM based in NCsoft's US offices? Or a European GM based here?

While of course NCsoft could hire multilingual GMs for the US, why even bother? It'd be easier to recruit people in Europe. Don't get me started on the difference in timezones. (BTW, wouldn't you like it that the game didn't go down about 2pm every day? Sure, it marks the end of my lunch-hour but I'd prefer to play on European servers that don't go down when I might want to play...)

There are bigger issues here than you or I are aware of - and I'm willing to bet that example (of customer support languages) is just the tip of the iceberg.

BTW, of course I read the whole thread; how would I have picked up on your insights if I hadn't?

This may be a major issue for you, but I daresay you (and everyone else here who's from Europe) will not make up the majority of potential European players. Not now... not ever. The vast majority of those players may never even care about playing on US servers.

You just happen to have a voice right now and a way to talk to NCsoft directly.

If I was you, I wouldn't squander that.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Many europeans play on USA serves, till now the only problem eurpeans got is the 20 minutes-1 hour downtime for restart (and not every day). Is this a community management problem ? Until today it was not a problem... I've always found wonderful GMs and a quick response to my problems and these are more important community management problems.

[/ QUOTE ]
Ask a non-English speaking European who'd like to play CoH if they should play on European servers or American servers.

Hmm, let's think. If they have customer support issues... who do they talk to? An American GM based in NCsoft's US offices? Or a European GM based here?

While of course NCsoft could hire multilingual GMs for the US, why even bother? It'd be easier to recruit people in Europe. Don't get me started on the difference in timezones. (BTW, wouldn't you like it that the game didn't go down about 2pm every day? Sure, it marks the end of my lunch-hour but I'd prefer to play on European servers that don't go down when I might want to play...)

There are bigger issues here than you or I are aware of - and I'm willing to bet that example (of customer support languages) is just the tip of the iceberg.

BTW, of course I read the whole thread; how would I have picked up on your insights if I hadn't?

This may be a major issue for you, but I daresay you (and everyone else here who's from Europe) will not make up the majority of potential European players. Not now... not ever. The vast majority of those players may never even care about playing on US servers.

You just happen to have a voice right now and a way to talk to NCsoft directly.

If I was you, I wouldn't squander that.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have to agree with you this time. The community management is just the tip of the iceberg. However, GMs won't be speaking my language even in Europe and people will be playing with their friend even if they have to play in a server where they do not understand a thing.
I really don't agree with NCSoft policy, for many different reason (internet = freedom of choice, but this is a bigger concept ) and, as you said, I just explain my opinion.

most games ive played in before have had servers in different areas that you were free to join, although you usually joined the closest one due to ping of course. but having the ability to join any of the servers and meet people from all over is important.

i dont see why they need a "european" version of the game, rather then servers you can join that are in britian, france or germany. and if you join a french or german server, it downloads the necessary language changes. some people in the us may even want to join an european server to practice their french/german, play with friends etc...

making people buy seperate us and european versions is a big mistake.

Covnam asked:

[ QUOTE ]
What about Dev responses? Will we have to check each board's dev digestt? Or will there be a single one that links to all boards? Or will the devs simply only post in one forum?

[/ QUOTE ]
This is a good question, and one of the many things that we're currently considering - particularly given that not all the Cryptic team are fluent in written French and German. We have some ideas that we're looking at, but I'd be interested in anyone else's opinions or suggestions...

Fenris_XYZ asked:

[ QUOTE ]
Can North Americanos play on the Euro Servers?

[/ QUOTE ]
Not with the US version of the game, no. I guess they could import a European copy and sign up for a Euro account if they really want.

SimoneP asked:

[ QUOTE ]
In the page about the search for community coordinators is required even an Italian Localisation Manager , but you didn't mention about italian speaking servers. Does this mean that we will have just an italian distribution of the game, maybe with an italian manual, but no italian servers?

[/ QUOTE ]
Although this could change, at the moment we have no plans to localise City of Heroes for Italian (or Spanish, before someone asks). However, NCsoft is launching several new games next year (take a look at the official site for details), some of which will be localised into Italian, hence the position you mention.

BigBadButch mentioned:

[ QUOTE ]
I really have no idea how many words there are in City of Heroes

[/ QUOTE ]
According to our localisation team, we recently passed the 800,000 mark. Their best estimate is that we'll be close to a million words by the time the entire game is translated. So yes, that's quite a lot more than the few thousand words of dialogue in a movie...

Maxx_Tech brought up City of Villains:

[ QUOTE ]
I was just thinking about how this relates to City of Villains...for those Europeans of us looking forward to that as well. (And I'm including hoping to get onto the Beta here.) The EU servers keeping up release dates with the US servers - does that include CoV, or is that going to be 6-odd months behind like CoH is? Is it even going to be possible for EU players on US servers to get onto the US CoV beta?

[/ QUOTE ]

The plan is for City of Villains to be released simultaneously in the US and Europe. As far as the beta goes, we're hoping to have a European beta running alongside the US one.

Rangus continued his efforts to find out who I am:

[ QUOTE ]
Ok, are you the guy who wrote the recent Eurogamer review?

[/ QUOTE ]
Nope

B

[ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
Can North Americanos play on the Euro Servers?

[/ QUOTE ]
Not with the US version of the game, no. I guess they could import a European copy and sign up for a Euro account if they really want.


[/ QUOTE ]

Will either/both the US and/or Euro version be available for download? I'm thinking mainly if an existing Euro supergroup stays put on a US Server, and somebody new wants to join up with them after the European release.

[ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
Ok, are you the guy who wrote the recent Eurogamer review?

[/ QUOTE ]
Nope

[/ QUOTE ]

Ha I accused him of being you this morning too!

[ QUOTE ]


SimoneP asked:

[ QUOTE ]
In the page about the search for community coordinators is required even an Italian Localisation Manager , but you didn't mention about italian speaking servers. Does this mean that we will have just an italian distribution of the game, maybe with an italian manual, but no italian servers?

[/ QUOTE ]
Although this could change, at the moment we have no plans to localise City of Heroes for Italian (or Spanish, before someone asks). However, NCsoft is launching several new games next year (take a look at the official site for details), some of which will be localised into Italian, hence the position you mention.


[/ QUOTE ]

How about Portuguese?

If pointless segregration of the player base according to which version you buy has the same disastrous effect on the community of English speaking Europeans that it has had in every other MMOG, I fear for my continued subscription.

Which is a real shame, because I love the game as it stands, but I am not putting up with the same crap I have on certain other MMOGs that have made this decision.

I'm really saddened by the decision to force existing euro players to buy the game again before they can play on the european servers. This is a clear disincentive for the most dedicated euro gamers to join their local servers and join the community there.
It looks to me that the only people with a strong incentive to move to the new servers are people who wish to play on the non-English servers.

I think this is a bad decision, one that I hope will be addressed, although as it is a business decision I doubt it will change.

BTW, welcome to the community Bridger I was so hoping the UK rep would be called Cuppatea as well.
I think I know who you are, 1st initial S?

[ QUOTE ]

How about Portuguese?

[/ QUOTE ]

You forgot Flemish...ask about that, too.

[ QUOTE ]
I STILL believe the whole Euro server idea is a bad bad bad horribly awful bad idea.

[/ QUOTE ]

There is actually a strong case for European servers when you look at it from a purely techincal perspective: ping times. Transatlantic ping times can be fairly high at peak hours and if the rest of your gaming system (both PC hardware and internet connection) is top notch it can be frustrating to see the game being 'choppy' due to transatlantic network performance, and it can affect gameplay. A geographically closer server helps to combat this problem.

The other main benefits seem to be:

1. Language localisation. However, this could just as easily be done on a 'global' server. Plenty of French speakers in Canada, guys...

2. Better support for the physical servers during the European peak playing times, since the support staff will be working European hours.

3. Server events in peak European hours.

4. Possible minor gameplay differences that would require a different version of server code ("we have some ideas for 'goodies' similar to those in the US DVD Edition." - Bridger).


So it's not like the whole idea is bad. I think the real question everybody is asking is, do the benefits really outweigh the disadvantages? Obviously Cryptic thinks "yes", or we wouldn't be having this discussion, but it is also obvious that some players disagree.

Segregation is a word being thrown around a lot. Let's not forget that right now the entire player base is 'segregated' across 11 different servers, with no way to interact between them in game. The real issue is that if we want, we can reroll on a different server (and hopefully one day transfer characters between them). Ignoring the technical feasibility of it, that option will simply not be available to us once the European servers exist - our choice of server will be largely determined at the time and place of purchase, with seemingly no way to reverse that decision without paying out again.

Simple answer (and I realise this is easier said than done): give the players a choice, and give them the option to change their mind. I've said it before and I'll say it again: the current policy is like saying I have to buy the game again if I wanted to play on Protector instead of Victory.


One last point on server numbers. Bridger, you've said there will be 'at least' 1 server per language. Right now I have enough alts that I have to spread them across 2 servers. If I wanted, I could create 99 different characters; I don't want that many, but it's nice to know I'm never in danger of running out of slots. If we only get 1 English-speaking European server, a monolingual English-speaking European player would only realistically get 9 slots to use. That would be an issue to me. Yes, just one server is unlikely, but my point is again about choice; another 9 English servers is unlikely, so our alt's numbers will be more restricted than players in the US. The disadvantage could well be marginal, but it will be perceived to be greater by some.

id be intersted to know what happens to those of us that bought a pre order account and gained a prestige running power.

would something like this come accross with the transfer if transfers are even possible ?

The technical issue is a red herring.

In a non-twitch game (CoH counts for these purposes) the additional transatlantic ping is largely irrelvant. Any choppy connection you have (as opposed to one that has permanently high latency) is almost always caused by your own ISP communicating with your PC, not by the wider internet.

Localisation is a real issue, but for people playing France, Spain, Germany and maybe Italy only. Because lets be honest, no one else is getting a translation, and English speaking nations don't even want it. That said, obviously there's nothing wrong with offering a translation to these countries. If it would require seperate clients for each language (due to localisation delays), no reason you can't just have us run seperate instances ala test. But hell, if you are so sure you are going to do localisation in a matter of days (DAoC said that too - they currently run 6 months behind) you won't even need two clients to be installed, since surely you can delay the English language launch until the translation if it's really only going to be a few days (lol).

Also, pointless segregation kills the population of every server dead outside primetime, which lowers the enjoyment to be had if you happen to be the poor controller who, for whatever reason, ends up wanting to play at some odd hour one day.

Segregation is a real issue.

[ QUOTE ]
Yes, just one server is unlikely,

[/ QUOTE ]

They said similar things about daoc.

Howver, european english speaking players of that game remain so pointlessly segregated between the US and EU run servers, that only two english language EU servers could ever be supported, not even giving players an opportunity to experience all three realms.

[ QUOTE ]
Server events in peak European hours.

[/ QUOTE ]

As the Coh devs well know, the best server events run over a period such as entire weekend, so that everyone gets a chance to look over the content.

No time is convienient for everyone, even if they happen to share a time zone.

In my experience, Segregation is not the same "evil" subject in Europe that it is in the US. Then again, Euros didn't seem to think about it as much either. So don't assume that NCsoft is segregating its player base, this is a purely technical decision.

My question is, can US players make heroes on the Euro server. I know a few of my "new" friends will be switching to the Euro servers due to poor ping ratings and I'd like to make a hero over there so I can "hang out" one in a while.