NCSoft acquires "City of" Franchise!
By
2Negative,
Posted on: 2007-11-06 13:34 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
Sellouts.
Gratz.
No, Auto Assault just stunk. I'd been hoping for Car Wars, not... whatever that was. As it turns out, so was everybody else.
But Auto Assault suffered from something CoX does not, at this juncture - it was an entirely new product.
And Auto Assault was more NetDevil's failure, anyway.
So the comparison is still invalid. 
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If only the PlayNC people can resist making sweeping changes to the game and trying to optimize or overhaul it in any way for the sake of better sales, then maybe there will be a light at the end of the tunnel.
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That is the core of people's concerns. So long as they can resist making sweeping changes just to change we should be fine. I do think that the sweeping changes happened back in I5 and I6 so we are safe but we will see.
But it's MY sadistic mechanical monster and I'm here to make sure it knows it. - Girl Genius
List of Invention Guides
NCsoft already had the publishing rights to CoH. So it could do anything it wanted with the IP. The only change is that they now control the sevelopment as well. That is something to be worried about but if they stay true to thier word and keep the same development team then we should see no major changes.
This is pretty interesting news, I'm not really sure what it means to the average player yet, if anything.
If they really are getting more people and resources working on the game, I have one big request: Before working on any major changes, assign a team to streamline the game. Better ingame documentation, more intuitive game systems.
So when the "big push" brings in all those new players, the game is ready for them!
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I'm cautiously-optimistic about this.
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Well, that's where I am. I'm not surprised with the news as there seemed to be a conflict of interest. With that out of the way, I hope that the new (old?) devs/publishers make this awesome game even better.
I am really looking forward to COX duking it out in earnest vs MUO. May the best MMO win!
I've got an important question regarding this switch. As Jack will longer be with us, can I be Statesman? I promise to say "Soon!(tm)" a alot! 
My Deviant Art page link-link
CoH/V Fan Videos
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/me Notes with Nervousness that the biggies are all named individually... _except_ States.
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That is because States stayed at Cryptic to work on MOU.
But it's MY sadistic mechanical monster and I'm here to make sure it knows it. - Girl Genius
List of Invention Guides
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okay Ex since your fielding questions, does this mean that the ENTIRE City of Heroes and Villans staff is staying on? like say...Jlove, Warwitch, and all the rest?
And this is kind of wishful thinking but since you guys are now officially with NCsoft...does this mean we can have CuppaJo back?
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Everyone from the current team signed on with NCsoft, this includes.
Sexy Jay
Ghost Widow
War Witch
BAB's
Castle
Positron
all the programmers and other design staff that are not currently under signature names.
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/me Notes with Nervousness that the biggies are all named individually... _except_ States.
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As Terra said, he's staying with Cryptic to work on Marvel Universe Online and other potential projects.
He's pretty much been doing nothing for about a year now, ever since he made Positron Lead Dev.
He'll be missed, but hey, like I said, he wasn't doing anything anymore.
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/me Notes with Nervousness that the biggies are all named individually... _except_ States.
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He hasn't been on board for a while. It's no biggie.
Sexy Jay, biggie. War Witch, the others, biggies.
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
Repurposed
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My concern is that it'll turn into SWG all over again.
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I am an optimist on this score. The industry saw the player reaction to the shenanigans with SWG and I hope that something was learned.
Also, my personal opinion is that if anything, CoX will not get that kind of changes, but will be used as a cash cow to set up the rest of the franchise - whether this is MMO/single player games in different styles or even a sequel, where they go to town with crazy ideas good and bad.
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I agree 100% with spidermonster on this. Statesman left CoX over a year ago to help develop Marvell Online. Everyone else who has been working on CoX for the last (awesome) year is moving with the game to the new studio. Even grumpy, yet lovable BAB... 
Any similarity between this news and SWG's "New Game Enhancement" debacle is, well, I just am not seeing it.
Cautiously optimistic...
-Buxley
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I'm grumpy but loveable?
.... heh? Oh, and: [ BAB] POST FASTER!!! [/BAB]
Edit: First after a redname. ^_^
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/me Notes with Nervousness that the biggies are all named individually... _except_ States.
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He hasn't been on board for a while. It's no biggie.
Sexy Jay, biggie. War Witch, the others, biggies.
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Agreed...I'd also be a lot more concerned if we lost BaB's & Castle. They've been doing a lot to improves the powersets for the last year or so .
COH/CoV - Virtue
8 Ball - Lev 50 Kin/Energy Defender
The Canadian Fist - Lev 50 Ice/EM Blaster
Omega Ghost - Lev 50 Robo/Dark MM
Ghostfall - Lev 50 Arachnos Crab Soldier
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My concern is that it'll turn into SWG all over again.
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I am an optimist on this score. The industry saw the player reaction to the shenanigans with SWG and I hope that something was learned.
Also, my personal opinion is that if anything, CoX will not get that kind of changes, but will be used as a cash cow to set up the rest of the franchise - whether this is MMO/single player games in different styles or even a sequel, where they go to town with crazy ideas good and bad.
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I agree 100% with spidermonster on this. Statesman left CoX over a year ago to help develop Marvell Online. Everyone else who has been working on CoX for the last (awesome) year is moving with the game to the new studio. Even grumpy, yet lovable BAB...
Any similarity between this news and SWG's "New Game Enhancement" debacle is, well, I just am not seeing it.
Cautiously optimistic...
-Buxley
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*rolls his eyes*
OK History Lesson. SWG Sucked form the start and sucked worse with each NGE they ever tried. It was never sold to another company.
MXO Was successful, if niche, at the start. Then it was sold to Sony and now sucks.
If we are going to compare these lets do it right. I don't believe we will have a MxO debacle here. NCsoft has made good money with CoX and I would imagine they don't want to change it now. Especially if they acquired the entire dev team.
CoX is also getting rather old. Odds are Cryptic was not wanting to spend the time and resources that would be eneded to update teh game or send the game to Version 2. Heck look at all the long standing problems we've had that have been outright ignored. Maybe Cryptic just enver wanted to spend the money to solve them. The Valentines day bug comes immediately to mind. New Hardware may well fix that immediately.
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The Prestige Grant will be following Issue 11 so the Supergroup cap will be 150. Also, when we run the Grant will be announced with plenty of time to allow you to recruit.
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o.o this is only sorta on topic but... with the 150 sg increase and the bonus prestige thats being handed out.. does this mean that the sg overhaul so that the membership would be by global instead of individual characters is trashed?
@.@ for that matter, what implications does the move have towards the large number of half finished systems in the City of Franchise? things like sgs (size, offline promotion/demotion), souvenirs (its been 3.5 yrs, are we ever getting the pictures for them?!), global chat issues (inviting your sg when someone's hidden doesn't work), the poor ignored gladiators and bases...
I am Sleepy! Hear me Yawn!!
Veni, Vidi, Dormivi!
-Alpha Kitty of the Guardian chapter of the Legion of Catgirls
Never forget--Sleepy could conquer the world, if she could just stay awake long enough. =) -Llanwe
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I too am cautiously optimistic. The change so far sounds positive I simply wait to see if there is truth in advertising. Honestly though (and I may kick myself) I don't forsee a massive screw up here unless NCSoft refuses to heed the advise of Positron and his team. These are good people who I have admired (more-so since they took the helm of the game) I thik NCSoft would be stupid to underappreciate their opinions. The fact they bought the team over whole though... says to me they too agree this team is bright and capable.
I'm also reading about expansion talk and more... I don't know about you but the idea of that excites me! It was somethign that seemed to fall by the wayside when Cryptic was in charge. I honestly couldn't see them NOT favoring one of their super hero titles over the other... The sale was necessary and right-minded.
One question: How does this change the policy toward in game advertising? Just interested... I actually think done well (which I would expect from this team) it could be cool. Of course I've heard some horro stories too.
This actually makes me feel more sure of my CoX future.
The balancing act of Cryptic handling both CoX and MUO seemed precarious at best.
True competition can breed good things.
Jack, will miss ya bud. Didn't always agree with what you said or the way you said it, but you almost always made things lively.
Personally I hope no one else picks up the Statesman mantle. While it's right for Statesman to stay with CoX the mantle was yours to wear.
To _Castle_, Posi, BAB, WW and all the rest that are sticking with the CoX boat, thanks! Good to know yeall are still with us. This past year has been awesome.
A counter to something I read earlier, Ex and LH great to have yeall here with us. I think yeall have been doing an excellent job of things. Keep up the good work.
Finally:
I welcome our new South Korean Overlords!!!
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You know just because Jack's not on the team, doesn't mean his Nerfbat isn't sitting right there on the desk.
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yeah, but jack sold the IP of the nerfbat, so it can only do 10 points of "wth?!?" damage now...
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Didn't see this coming, but it makes sense.
Hope you CoH/V devs got a pay rise out of this ;-)
This thread is too large to read all of it, but I hope they make Stamina inherent.
--NT
They all laughed at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian.
But I showed them, and nobody's laughing at me now!
If I became a red name, I would be all "and what would you mere mortals like to entertain me with today, mu hu ha ha ha!" ~Arcanaville
To the best of my knowledge, the North American launch of Lineage II was intended for western audiences (despite its South Korean origins). And unless I'm mistaken, it and the partnership with Destination Games were the primary reasons for establishing NC Interactive (NCsoft's US subsidiary).
My point still stands. Other than Guild Wars and City of, NCsoft's track record is less than stellar. In my opinion, Tabula Rasa turned out exceptionally disappointing. Aion looks interesting, but I suspect it will primarily appeal to Korean play styles.
Hopefully NCsoft will have the good sense not to meddle too much with CoX's proven success. Hopefully. Their recent negotiations with Sony Computer Entertainment though scares the crap out of me.
HMM,With States gone who will pick up the mantle of Statesman?Or will the character be taken with him??Maybe give the mantle to someone named Jean-Paul?Hmm no he didnt do a good job with the batman mantle LOL.
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What about pohsyb? He's a programmer and posted sometimes. Is he coming with us?
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Actually we acquired the whole COH team +1 pohsyb is coming with us!
Ex
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YAY!!
pohsyb is awesome.
*sends cookies to everyone involved*
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As far as keyboards go...
...it'd be awfully time-consuming to compose sentences with a controller.
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There was a link in my response to the Keyboard question. Follow it ... it's a keyboard that attaches to the 360's controller (wireless or otherwise), and has most of the keys of a full-sized keyboard - ALL of them that relate to sending text. ^_^
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...oh, God, I just imagined Atlas Park broadcast chat over Live headsets. AAAAAH NOOOOOO GOD NO
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Probably, if voice comms were added, they'd be "team-mates only" ... or maybe also, a channel for each Supergroup.