NCSoft acquires "City of" Franchise!
By
2Negative,
Posted on: 2007-11-06 13:34 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
All I'm going to say at this time is that the devil you know is preferable to the devil you don't.
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Is Statesman still with City of? or is he now just an MUO person?
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He's pretty much been just MUO for quite some time now.
Virtue Server
Avatar art by Daggerpoint
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Fortunately, with this, the "When MUO comes out they'll abandon COH, MUO is COH II" stuff can stop.
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'Cause they did abandon CoH! We were right! HAHAHAHAHA!
We just never considered that NCSoft would pick up the development team and keep going full steam ahead. 
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Fortunately, with this, the "When MUO comes out they'll abandon COH, MUO is COH II" stuff can stop.
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Somehow I don't think the conspiracy theories will end. Pretty soon NCSoft is going to be in cahoots with Microsoft and Marvel Comics to sabatotague CoX so that MUO can succeed. And anyone who denies this is obviously working for Microsoft.
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I hope this doesn't sound pessimistic (I have no reason to think this will negatively impact the game), but what do the following parties have to gain from this deal?
NC Soft
Cryptic
The Players
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Ok I'm completely guessing here, but here are my theories:
NC Soft - More control over one of their most succesful properties in the US. Less complication over royalties if they decide to offer multi-game pricing.
Cryptic - Money, more time to focus on their other projects (MUO)
The Players - Hopefully more development resources and better pricing
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Agreed, except for the pricing. I doubt that will change, but I am looking forward to what might. We've often seen the words "that requires too much time/manpower" or "that's lower down on the list of priorities." If they get more money, they can hire more people do do more things. Customize more thing, add more QoL changes, more content, etc. Yay!
~Missi
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(QR)
Just to clear up something that's been irking me:
Jack isn't just "an MUO guy"; he's Creative Director for Cryptic, which means he has his hands in all the cookie jars now. Some more than others, I'm sure, but everybody has projects they're more personally committed to.
Positron: "There are no bugs [in City of Heroes], just varying degrees of features."
Real quick like:
PC to 360 would be easier than PC to PS3. Both consoles have USB ports, though, so adding keyboard and mouse is trivial. Microsoft said they'll allow MMO's to require the harddrive. And even though MS is publishing MUO, they're not going to stop competing MMO's on. If Blizzard, for example, wanted to bring WOW to the 360? MS would welcome them with open arms. Same with COH, I think - good, reliable source of revenue, probably people buying 360's just for it then getting other games for it "since they've got one already," etc. It would be a win/win, really.
At this time all discussion regarding COH on consoles is merely speculation.
Let's keep the discussion to the MMO, and what we do know and can answer with some assurance.
Ex
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This pretty much seems to clear the way for CoH on XBox 360.
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Fixed that for you. The Live Marketplace on the 360 offers the opportunity for people to (in theory) pay for their MMO subscriptions with Microsoft Points ... which means, they could buy prepaid cards at any video game or computer outlet ... no credit card required. Make it a 1200-point fee, that's $16 - enough that even after MicroSoft's inevitable cut, there's still probably a nearly-full, standard MMO fee left for NCSoft.
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This pretty much seems to clear the way for CoH on PS3.
Refixed
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This pretty much seems to clear the way for CoH on Macs.
Refixed
(Hey, a guy can hope, can't he?)
My arcs are constantly shifting, just search for GadgetDon for the latest.
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Anyone else have a sinking feeling that this game is goin' down?
@Dragonistic
Unless I'm quoting someone, EVERY SINGLE post above is QR.
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Wo... <ahem> Amazing. Just amazing. I figured Cryptic would hold on to that IP for the next decade.
Well, Cryptic gets a nice lump sum to pump their MUO. NCSoft gets a game that's been holding its own against WoW for years.
So I take it there's some sort of license deal for the "Cryptic AR" package?
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Anyone else have a sinking feeling that this game is goin' down?
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No, not really, at least not me
Does not always detect CoH
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Considering it's pretty much the same people running the show I don't see there being too many negative changes.
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My concern is that it'll turn into SWG all over again. Publishers, so far, in my experience are more interested in getting bullet point features onto their marketting promotions and on packaging as possible rather than actually adding features that are of use and are of a high quality. Take a look at SWG and its development history, it has alot of 'features' but their half broken and the publishers didn't care because in the end it looks good from a marketting angle.
Cryptic have proven themselves to have the attitude that if something is to be done, then it HAS to be done well. That kind of attitude is why I'd give any game they made a decent look because thats how games should be made. However NCSoft is a complete unknown except for Tabula Rasa which I have seen first hand and it smells of the same kind of attitude which dragged SWG into the gutter. Lots of features, not polished and features added which don't actually improve the experience for the player.
While the development control is with the devs still the choices in where the budget is spent and where deadlines are made is more firmly in the hands of the publisher now, not the dev team.
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The thing this keeps calling back to mind for me is EverQuest. EQ originally launched with Verant Interactive as their developer with SOE publishing. A couple years after release, Verant was absorbed by SOE, giving them full control of EQ. Looking back at this event, most fans of EverQuest regard it as when things started going wrong with the game. The first expansion they launched is still largely thought of as one of the worst, which is mostly due to SOE forcing it out the doors early to ensure a pre-Christmas release, and future expansions tended to follow that model. Even worse, it seemed like SOE only looked at EQ in terms of what would make them money rather than what would be good for the game. This resulted in things like the much bemoaned Legends server and the Legacy of Ykesha "extension" (which was akin to charging $22 for an Issue). Of course, it's also worth noting that many of the heavyweights behind EQ's creation started leaving after the merge as well.
That's partially why I can't be completely optimistic about the changing of the guard.
To be fair, I do realize Cryptic and NCSoft are completely different companies, and it's unfair to judge them in the light of the mistakes that SOE made. It's entirely possible NCSoft will keep their mitts off the game and let the former Cryptic employees keep this game going in a positive direction. At the same time, I can't shake thinking of the possibility that NCSoft will start poaching this game's talents to use on whatever other big MMOG they have in their back pocket that'll be the "Next Big Thing (TM) - like they did with CuppaJo, Cricket, etc. What assurances do we have that, in three months, they won't have moved War Witch, Castle, and Back Alley Brawler to Lineage III or whatever?
Too early to proclaim DOOOOM, but I'll remain cautiously optimistic, but excited to see where this pushes the game. (Hopefully we see some new expansions and merchandise!)
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This pretty much seems to clear the way for CoH on XBox 360.
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Fixed that for you. The Live Marketplace on the 360 offers the opportunity for people to (in theory) pay for their MMO subscriptions with Microsoft Points ... which means, they could buy prepaid cards at any video game or computer outlet ... no credit card required. Make it a 1200-point fee, that's $16 - enough that even after MicroSoft's inevitable cut, there's still probably a nearly-full, standard MMO fee left for NCSoft.
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This pretty much seems to clear the way for CoH on PS3.
Refixed
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This pretty much seems to clear the way for CoH on Macs.
Refixed
(Hey, a guy can hope, can't he?)
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Hell, doesn't the Mac OS ship with Bootcamp now? I don't see the incentive for a new version for Mac.
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Question!
Will this transaction have a positive impact on the Cathedral of Pain getting implemented and base raids being touched up and finalized, or are they essentially off the table now at this point?
Does this mean that huge Cryptic banner is coming down from the side of the building in Galaxy City? If so, one wonders what they'll put up in its place.
::Braces self for the in-game advertising debate again::
My mind wanders so often you've probably seen its picture on milk cartons. - Me... the first person version of the third person Steelclaw
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Anyone else have a sinking feeling that this game is goin' down?
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No, not really, at least not me
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I think what makes this a non sinking thing is that the entire dev crew has followed the game, they are sticking to their three expansions a year plan and are planning to hire more developers too... not really what happens to a sinking game imo.
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Anyone else have a sinking feeling that this game is goin' down?
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No, not really, at least not me
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I think what makes this a non sinking thing is that the entire dev crew has followed the game, they are sticking to their three expansions a year plan and are planning to hire more developers too... not really what happens to a sinking game imo.
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LOL... are you saying that the developers are rats who decided the ship's not sinking yet so why abandon it?
My mind wanders so often you've probably seen its picture on milk cartons. - Me... the first person version of the third person Steelclaw
I keep seeing people laud the last year of development. I am not seeing it. Where are the new zones for the core user base of PVE people. Where is the new content for people like myself that actually LIKE the last 10 levels of the game? I have seen the biggest changes to this game in the form of:
loot
pvp
raiding (Bases and Hamidon)
I loathe NCsoft. Every single game they touch focuses on loot and PVP. Guess where we've been focusing the past 6 issues.
The "old" CoH staff didn't keep repeating the same tired canned paragraphs and sentences. I LIKED the occasional "unprofessional" remark from States, et al.
I may stay for the players, but even that ends at the first paid expansion. I have 3 accounts, and the last thing I need is to add my son in soon, making expansions a costly prospect. Nope. You start upselling me, and that will be the last straw.
I deal with corporate automatons all the time. They don't get my business. Real people do. Change my game experience to be just like every other generic MMO out there, and you get what they get: zero.
This is all my opinion, and is a statement of factual actions to be taken by me under a given set of circumstances. This is in no way a "threat to quit" post. I am stating factually that this game presented value to me, at release and is the only MMO I have ever paid for. I also have seen this game diverge ever farther from it's gameplay experience at release. I expect to cancel my subscriptions. I hope I am wrong. I hope I am so wrong that I beg forgiveness from all of you, and praise the staff unrelentingly.
I leave you with a lyric well understood by anyone in a long term relationship, or on the leading edge of a mid- life crisis (both here....):
Well I always say, it would be good to go away
But if things don't work out like we think
And there's nothing there to ease this ache
But if there's nothing there to make things change
If it's the same for you, I'll just hang
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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.
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Hrm. Maybe this is going to turn out like MxO 
Of course what made MxO great was the live event team. That was cut when they moved to Sony.
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Yet, everything I hear, is that MxO actually became a fun game after SoE started "messing with it." What was fun only due to regular gimmick events, became an everyday fun thing.
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It doesnt look like anything like that is being cut here. (Guess I'll leave my Suggestion to add a similar system to CoH off the suggestion board :/)
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Well, the only possible thing to cut would be the free Issues releases, but looking at how they handle Lineage II, where they do a very similar model, I highly doubt that will change. If anything, they may put even more emphasis on these releases.
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Of course they also completely redid the combat system when they went to Sony. Same as they did with SWG. I don't know what it is with Sony liking to change core systems.
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From what I hear, the combat changes to MxO did make it a better game, many were changes that had been demanded by the community for a long time, but the dev team was too busy with live events to bother with them.
As for the SWG NGE, it was actually Lucas that demanded the change, they wanted the game to become more "twitch based", suits that simply saw KOTOR success and wanted something that looked more dynamic, regardless the player opinions. I hear many things on how Smedley (not sure if I am writing it correctly) warned Lucas that the change was not a good idea, and it turned that even he underestimated the drastic reaction where they lost almost half the player base.
But that another company, this one is this one. In the topic of City of Heroes:
This is in many ways good. All the fears many had that Cryptic would stop supporting the old game in favor of the new can now be put at rest because Cryptic wont be the one handling the game any longer. If anything, it the team will be more competitive against Marvel Universe Online and DC Online since they truly will require to keep their current base and compete with two big names to gain new players. I foresee highly demanded systems finally being implemented in the future, systems like Power Customization.
The one thing that does worry me a bit, is that perhaps Cryptic knows their MUO game is so killer, they knew CoX would not be able to compete and figured it may be a better idea to sell the healthy cow than have it die in their hands.
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Hell, doesn't the Mac OS ship with Bootcamp now? I don't see the incentive for a new version for Mac.
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Since my PC died, that's how I've been playing CoH, but I'm tired of rebooting for it. Transgaming has a thing called Cider that can wrap around Intel games to make them Mac games for fairly minimal effort.
Naw, I'm not expecting it, but thought I'd join in.
My arcs are constantly shifting, just search for GadgetDon for the latest.
The world beware! I've started a blog
GadgetMania Under Attack: The Digg Lockout
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I keep seeing people laud the last year of development. I am not seeing it. Where are the new zones for the core user base of PVE people. Where is the new content for people like myself that actually LIKE the last 10 levels of the game? I have seen the biggest changes to this game in the form of:
loot
pvp
raiding (Bases and Hamidon)
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Rikti War Zone. LRSF, STF, Lady Grey SF. One zone and three task forces that work in the late game.
Heroes
Dysmal
Lumynous
Sam Steele
Pluck
Wile
Slagheap
Pressure Wave
Rhiannon Bel
Verified
Stellaric
Syd Mallorn
Villains
Jotunheim Skald
Saer Maen
Jen Corbae
Illuminance
Venator Arawn
Taiga Dryad
Tarranos
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Anyone else have a sinking feeling that this game is goin' down?
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Not in the least.
Awesome. Sow where are the NEW zones, again?
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Of course what made MxO great was the live event team. That was cut when they moved to Sony. It doesnt look like anything like that is being cut here. (Guess I'll leave my Suggestion to add a similar system to CoH off the suggestion board :/)
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.
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Hrm. Maybe this is going to turn out like MxO
Of course they also completely redid the combat system when they went to sony. Same as tehy did with SWG. I don't know what it is with Sony liking to change core systems.