NCSoft acquires "City of" Franchise!

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Don't worry... I'm still around too.

Us ghosts are just quiet.

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That can't be right. Casper never shuts up.

The only thing I want to know is NCSoft's stand on in game ads. We've been told before that there were no current plans to put ads in CoH/CoV. Is this stilll true? One company or the other had to be considering it or it would never had been brought up in the first place.

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In the interview on woot radio, Posi said that if they ever bring ads to CoX (and he stressed that was a big if...) then they would do it in such a way as to not upset players, and would make sure there was a way to opt out.

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Don't worry... I'm still around too.

Us ghosts are just quiet.

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I wish you'd speak more.

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...optimism rising...


...sig changing...


RRRRRAAAAAWWWWRRRR!!!


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Seriously, though... I like the look of things to come. But I want details; I want to know what these "back on the table" ideas are, what's planned to go into the next couple of updates, and when can we look forward to expanded powerset lists for all ATs?

Come on, I want more weapon selections for brutes and electric stuff for tankers!!

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*snippage*

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Dude, bad form ... at least my links were work-safe ... O_O

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Hmmm... yeah, I didn't think it was that bad, but you may have a point thar. I will edit!

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Thanks. ^_^

And for the record, I sought a second opinion on that ... she agreed, it was just over the line into NSFW territory. O_O

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I gotta say, this scares the crud right out of me. Not because I have anything against NCSoft, mind you. I have nothing bad to say about them. Honest.

It's just that this game has been so great so far with the Cryptic team, and it makes me nervous when people start talking about messing with something that works.

What worries me more is that I didn't see States, War Witch, Ghost Widow, or Manticore.


I dunno. I guess I just fear change.

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Apparently, you have not read the Dev Digest, where War Witch and several others, BAB included, have chimed in.

Jack "Statesman" Emmert left COH long ago to work on Marvel Online. Keep up.

The *entire crew* of the dev team ARE WORKING on this game still. The only differences include "more money", "more people to work for them" and "new office space".

Try reading the whole thing, because we know everyone is on it.

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I read the press release. It only mentions Posi and two others. I didn't know Jack left for MUO. The last I heard from him was his promotion to the lead man for both games.

I knew MUO was going to be a problem for COH as soon as they announced it woudl be made by Cryptic. Marvel files a law suit against them, then settles, and then a few months later they're making a deal to develop a game? That doesn't bode well no matter how you look at it.

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The *entire crew* of the dev team ARE WORKING on this game still. The only differences include "more money", "more people to work for them" and "new office space".

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I think I pinned down where my feeling of dread comes from: EA.

Anyone remember Origin Studios? We Create Worlds? They were bought out by EA, and the only difference was goign to be more money, more resources, better abilities to make great games.


Anyone buy Ultima IX when it came out?


I know, Gariotte is with NCSoft now. I know, my fears are largely unfounded. It's just this automatic reaction with me. I've seen it happen so many times where a small company makes a great software product, so a big company comes in and buys them out, promising that the only change will be the developers have more resources, and things always go south.


Not saying it's gonna happen. Just saying "once bitten, twice shy."

I really hope this will be the beginning of a whole new era, and COH will do bigger and better things, and stay around as long as Everquest, UO and The Realm (yea, that's right. I said The Realm) have.

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The *entire crew* of the dev team ARE WORKING on this game still. The only differences include "more money", "more people to work for them" and "new office space".

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I think I pinned down where my feeling of dread comes from: EA.

Anyone remember Origin Studios? We Create Worlds? They were bought out by EA, and the only difference was goign to be more money, more resources, better abilities to make great games.

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As I understand it, NCSoft has owned 50% of CoH from the beginning. That would make it quite a bit different from the Origin / EA deal.

You could actually consider this as NCSoft expanding their pre-existing ownership instead of Cryptic selling out.

Except that this isn't a case at all of another strange company coming in and purchasing something they didn't already own. This was NC's project *from the start* from before beta. They have always been involved. Please read the thread, mmkay? Particularly, go play spot the redname, because the 3 that we've had that I can recall off the top of my head (babs, war witch and ghost widow) more than made my mind up.

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I've yet to see one person offer up a reason NOT to allow a cosmetic nod to buying early at full price,

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Have you been actually reading the posts or just spinning (as you accuse others of) just those parts that support your worldview?

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What kills me is that Ex has already issued a statement which gives a nod to the idea. It's "sekret" but something is in the pipeline... yet the kneejerk reaction continues when the devs themselves support the marketing model. How self defeating.

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Ah yes, the good old MMO tradition - spinning the slightest and most cryptic of Dev statements into ironclad proof that what you want to happen is already a given... They just won't talk about it yet.

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I've yet to see one person offer up a reason NOT to allow a cosmetic nod to buying early at full price,

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Have you been actually reading the posts or just spinning (as you accuse others of) just those parts that support your worldview?

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"Because we want to accuse you of being a greedy, self-centered entitlement-obsessed prig" is not a reason.

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Don't worry... I'm still around too.

Us ghosts are just quiet.

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The dead never change...

...development teams. :3

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20,000 Prestige
Also after the launch of Issue 11, all Supergroups will receive an additional 20,000 Prestige per Supergroup member, meaning SGs could acquire up to 3 million Prestige based upon their Supergroup membership roster! Actual date will be announced shortly.

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I don't like to be critical of the development team, but I am not wild about this. Yes, on the surface it looks like a good thing, but the actual effect of it from now until the day it actually happens is that the established sg's will start to grab players that might otherwise join growing supergroups, thereby squeezing out struggling sg's during a critical period in their growth.

After it happens, I predict a lot of the 'placeholder' characters will be kicked from their groups, leaving them angry and (rightfully) feeling used. That will make them leery of joining another supergroup.

Overall, I guess I think this is a bad move on the new team's part.

It has good intentions though, so I am not going condemn the move based on it.

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20,000 Prestige
Also after the launch of Issue 11, all Supergroups will receive an additional 20,000 Prestige per Supergroup member, meaning SGs could acquire up to 3 million Prestige based upon their Supergroup membership roster! Actual date will be announced shortly.

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I don't like to be critical of the development team, but I am not wild about this. Yes, on the surface it looks like a good thing, but the actual effect of it from now until the day it actually happens is that the established sg's will start to grab players that might otherwise join growing supergroups, thereby squeezing out struggling sg's during a critical period in their growth.

After it happens, I predict a lot of the 'placeholder' characters will be kicked from their groups, leaving them angry and (rightfully) feeling used. That will make them leery of joining another supergroup.

Overall, I guess I think this is a bad move on the new team's part.

It has good intentions though, so I am not going condemn the move based on it.

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you should be using your amazing power to see into the future to prevent disasters and help the police, not look into some game's development cycle.

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Yes, on the surface it looks like a good thing, but the actual effect of it from now until the day it actually happens is that the established sg's will start to grab players that might otherwise join growing supergroups, thereby squeezing out struggling sg's during a critical period in their growth.

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I don't see this changing the recruitment dynamic at all.
From the POV of the recruit if they want to join a big SG with a pimped out base, that's what they're gonna do, 20k or no 20k.

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After it happens, I predict a lot of the 'placeholder' characters will be kicked from their groups, leaving them angry and (rightfully) feeling used. That will make them leery of joining another supergroup.

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nonsense.
there is ZERO motivation to kick anyone since you get 20k per member regardless.

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posted by BAB . . . I am completely stoked. You guys should be too. We literally would not be here without you guys . . .

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No, I am Stoked. really, in-game Look me up on Justice...level 50 fire/energy blaster named Stoked with @Stoked as global. hehe just had to reply to that, could not help it

I am glad for City of ... I think it is a great thing that has happened!!

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I've yet to see one person offer up a reason NOT to allow a cosmetic nod to buying early at full price,

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Have you been actually reading the posts or just spinning (as you accuse others of) just those parts that support your worldview?

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Yeah. I did. Why don't you quote for me the one you are thick enough to think is a valid addressal of a marketing tool and not a facile reduction of the issue to a temper tantrum?

Buyer incentives in an MMO don't really tie into a "world view", just so you know, mate, as seriously as you may take it.

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Ah yes, the good old MMO tradition - spinning the slightest and most cryptic of Dev statements into ironclad proof that what you want to happen is already a given... They just won't talk about it yet.

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"which gives a nod to the idea"

Nice try, though.

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I've yet to see one person offer up a reason NOT to allow a cosmetic nod to buying early at full price,

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Have you been actually reading the posts or just spinning (as you accuse others of) just those parts that support your worldview?

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"Because we want to accuse you of being a greedy, self-centered entitlement-obsessed prig" is not a reason.

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It's fascinating that keeps getting brought up, and somewhow folks who believe they should be recompensed can't actually refute it. Nor do they bother to try.

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I've yet to see one person offer up a reason NOT to allow a cosmetic nod to buying early at full price,

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Have you been actually reading the posts or just spinning (as you accuse others of) just those parts that support your worldview?

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Yeah. I did. Why don't you quote for me the one you are thick enough to think is a valid addressal of a marketing tool and not a facile reduction of the issue to a temper tantrum?

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An interesting spinning target you offer there - first you claim there haven't been any. And now you essentially state "well yeah, there have seen some, I just didn't like them".


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Buyer incentives in an MMO don't really tie into a "world view", just so you know, mate, as seriously as you may take it.


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The belief that your are entitled to such incentives does however tie into a worldview. I thought that since you toss big words around with such abandon, that you actually understood the meaning of them - my mistake.

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Ah yes, the good old MMO tradition - spinning the slightest and most cryptic of Dev statements into ironclad proof that what you want to happen is already a given... They just won't talk about it yet.

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"which gives a nod to the idea"

Nice try, though.

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Nice spin and dodge. Does Parry follow or proceed?

BAB's post remains one of the best proofs of why this community is so much darn fun. Devs who love and play the game as much as we do..... it's a good thing.

As long as they don't cut your funding, reduce it or downsize your dev team, I'm all for this merger.

Glad to hear you're retaining creative control. That's a great sign. I was worried that PlayNC Inc. might trash Cryptic as most corporate folks often do after a merger.

No, I havent read all the posts, but I suspect this hasnt been brought up yet...

Whats the verdict on this?

I am not positive but I believe that's the 2nd of the logos. The original was the more complicated "Cryptic Studios" logo, but I haven't had time to search my 12,000 screenshots for the logo shots from before. NOticed it though honestly I'm not sure when that particular one went in game. When Cryptic's logo itself changed, or just this week.

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I've yet to see one person offer up a reason NOT to allow a cosmetic nod to buying early at full price,

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Have you been actually reading the posts or just spinning (as you accuse others of) just those parts that support your worldview?

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"Because we want to accuse you of being a greedy, self-centered entitlement-obsessed prig" is not a reason.

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It's fascinating that keeps getting brought up, and somewhow folks who believe they should be recompensed can't actually refute it. Nor do they bother to try.

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Recompense - wrong word.

I do not believe that I am in "need" of any "recompense". However, I would like another shiny thing ... and independant of wether I like it, or deserve it, or whatever ...it would be a good marketing and customer-relations move to provide said shiny thing.

So I will repeat:

"Because we want to accuse you of being a greedy, self-centered entitlement-obsessed prig" is not a reason.

Now, try and come up with a R E A S O N, not an insult or aspersion.

(Q)

Holy geez.

I log in, I go to the character screen, I see five new slots and I'm all like, "dood, wth?" So I click one, and see that I now have full access to COV and its costume pieces. Again, "dood, wth haxxorz? oh noez did i do somethin illegal?" So I check my mail, delete all the crap, and find out NCSoft's just given us the full game. Awesome.

You new dudes are alright.

You mean four new slots, right, Ghost? 'cause I still have only the same 12 slots I've had since COV launched ...