Discussion: NCsoft Acquires City of Heroes!
By
AaronH,
Posted on: 2007-11-06 13:55 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
Just wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS and wish you all the best on the new venture!
Dasher
HELP SAVE THIS GAME!
If we can save this game, I promise I will never complain about Travel Power Suppression again! You have my word on it!
"The customer is always right."
More great stuff! Keep it coming!
Oh..I'm sorry, it wasn't a derogatory statement. Please feel free to hate. /sarcasm
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PS: So MUO gets Statesman, Synapse and Manticore, and CoH gets Back Ally Brawler and Positron? And you call that a even deal?
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We also get Castle, WarWitch and pohsyb. We win by a landslide.
Be well, people of CoH.
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Im with Happy_Killmore.
Sadly, I think NCSoft forgot a bribe here. They forgot to bribe the hard, core, dedicated player. Ill grant, that group is probably not as large or as influential as any of the other three bribed, but its the group I belong to, and the group everyone I play with belongs to. And my cheeks (pick one, of the four) are feeling a little stung here. As if Ive been slapped. Taken for granted. Why would we quit over something so silly as a new owner? We've been playing for 3 years, why quit now? Why indeed. Of course we wont. These bribes arent about making players feel good about the new owners. These bribes are about business, pure and simple, and for some reason that sends a dark chill down my spine for the future of a game I love.
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That article was full of stupid. Loaded with it. I'm not an ignorant man. I can be a jerk, but no one I know would say that I'm stupid. Or a chump.
Yet I don't feel chumped. I can certainly see that these little perks, incentives, bribes, whatever you wish to call them, might be construed negatively by the more paranoid of the world, but I see them rather as junk given out because there's no harm in doing so.
Other than the hurt feelings of those with overblown senses of entitlement.
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Of course, Im not calling YOU a chump. Im saying I feel like a chump. None of that is an attack on you, personally or collectively. I find it interesting that you took it that way.
I believe my point stands. These bonuses are carefully targeted at three sets of players that NCSoft does not want to leave CoX just because they purchased it. This is a brilliant move, and I would normally applaud it. Except for this curious blind spot on a (for now) ignored fourth set of players.
I would hate for that blind spot to propagate from a couple of bonuses in a purchase announcement to overall direction of the game. If they announce that they are getting rid of the debt system entirely, for example, Ill know it has. And THEN would be the time to consider jumping ship.
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There's been nothing *wrong* with the last couple of updates, in the same way that there's nothing wrong with an episode of a sitcom that's just a "clips show" of previous episodes.
Issue 9-11 have been very kewl, but they have also focused on narrow areas of the game that built additional content out of older content.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - almost immeditely after the launch of Issue 8, something scary fell out of the sky and slapped both Cryptic and NCSoft across the face. Plans for the player-voted moonbase/rocket launch sites, NCSoft GM support, a new paid expansion, Villain Epic ATs, a repaired CoP trial, and many other hinted/planned developments suddenly froze in their tracks and the game went off on the tangent of issue 9-11, exploring quick and easy wins without tackling the real difficult stuff they originally had planned.
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Inventions were easy, recycled content? We had a Co-op task force before I-10? Repeatable story arcs are nothing new? Random, zone invasion events are somethign we've seen a lot of in the past? Customizable weapons are old hat?
I'm sorry, but issues 9 through 11 had many things that were, in essence, totally new to the game. They might have re-used some things, (the RWZ, existing missions for flashbacks, etc,) but they all delivered totally new experiences in-game; things you couldn't do before. (And, for the record, I8 was probably one of the least new issues; scanner and safeguard missions were hardly revolutionary, the faultline revamp, while cool, also didn't really introduce anything new; Vet rewards were really the only "new" feature there.)
As far as the rest of it goes: there have been plenty of hints in the last few issues that a moon base and/or space station are coming. (the GvE maps, mentioning them in the I10 story, the space implications of the I11 stories
the paid expansion is being given to us for free in this series of issues, and Posi's already said they are trying for Villain khelds in early 08. (And I personally think that there's foreshadowing of them in I11's story arcs.)
All in all, there have been huge changes to the game since last year at this time; if the devs had announced in January that they were planning all of these things for '07, I wouldn't have believed them. At this point, I think they've earned the benefit of the doubt. Agree with them or not, loot, raids, flashback, new powersets, and power customization (no matter how limited) are things that people have been asking for for a very long time. If anything, I think this year has seen the devs being more sensitive to player demands than any other. (Of course, I've only been here 2 years, so I don't have a huge basis for comparison.)
If the prestige thing takes affect after I-11 goes live it'd be great... 150 x 20,000 Prestige...
The SGs with multiple branches due to the small SG size limit would be much better off then.
But yeah as a previous poster said the Debt thing an CoH/CoV freebie thing are marginal at best...How about giving everyone a free month? Or at Least a free month for every 12 months they've played (rounded up)...
NCSoft has all that Lineage money from Asia they can afford to give us a lil somthing 
EDIT: Gotter the person you are replying to never says anything was easy, recycled content. They said it was unoriginal and built out of older content. Inventions? Built out of the Enhancements stuff. Issue 10? Second Rikti invasion, groundwork was already there from the Beta Invasion though new tech and a new way of doing it were employed the basic idea wasn't original. Issue 11? New powersets which melee has needed for a LONG time and should have been added 5 issues ago really if they weren't gonna port some CoV melee stuff over...also Flashback something we've been asking for since Beta of CoH in 2004.
BUT, by that same token many if not all of the issues have been unoriginal. 
Though personally I do agree that a huge blotch on their record will always be the CoP. A way for a big chunk of an SG to join together and complete a task? That was a huge reason why I even bought CoV to begin with. I wouldn't mind seeing someone step up and say they're fixing it as we speak or otherwise I'd like at least a portion of the 60 bucks I spent at CoV Launch back :/ I almost never utilize a base other than for teleporters so if they don't wanna give us what they promised in the ads that's quite literally false advertising especially after all this time and it's still not done. Hell, they won't even talk about it anymore it seems.
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...
When will leadership of the Freedom Phalanx pass from Statesman to Captain British?
...
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Well, it will pass to somebody, because --
DUN DUN DUNNN --
Statesman has secretly been working with Lord Recluse all along.
Surely I'm not the only one who never bought that good-guy act? Statesman (the character) was always a jerk.
I don't get the folks who think they're somehow entitled to something special because they bought both CoH and CoV. That's not how the game market works. People who wait get better deals (unless the game disappears). It's always that way. So my reaction is ::shrug:: For the record, I bought CoH three times, CoV three times and GvE four times, with a total of four currently active accounts.
And I still want more slots per server, please. How about a way to (free or cheaply) transfer slots (not just characters) from one server to another? Could you move that to the top of your list once you get settled in your new offices, guy? Thanks.
So it looks like the Lineage games are also fully owned by NCSoft. Is that correct? Anyone have any experience with Lineage/Lineage II? Could we find any insights on what might be in store for CoH there?
The change certainly looks to have the potential for great things. New things and changes always bring disagreement among the players, particularly the forum players. So in a way, it's going to be the same thing no matter what. 
::wanders off to look for a NCSoft NorCal wish list thread::
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[*] Regen is not getting nerfed.[/b]
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Whew thank god Neutra, all this had me worried for a bit.
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Surely I'm not the only one who never bought that good-guy act? Statesman (the character) was always a jerk.
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Hehe, Statesman the Dev hasn't been too far from his namesake in that department most of the time.
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Of course, Im not calling YOU a chump. Im saying I feel like a chump. None of that is an attack on you, personally or collectively. I find it interesting that you took it that way.
I believe my point stands. These bonuses are carefully targeted at three sets of players that NCSoft does not want to leave CoX just because they purchased it. This is a brilliant move, and I would normally applaud it. Except for this curious blind spot on a (for now) ignored fourth set of players.
I would hate for that blind spot to propagate from a couple of bonuses in a purchase announcement to overall direction of the game. If they announce that they are getting rid of the debt system entirely, for example, Ill know it has. And THEN would be the time to consider jumping ship.
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First off, Ex and LH have hinted that there are more "presents" to come; so it might be that there's something coming that you'll love.
Secondly, to everyone who feels "cheated" for paying for both halves, ask yourself this: if you had known, at the time you bought both halves, that you could have gotten half for free if you just waited until today, would you still have bought it? I can honestly say that I would; I've enjoyed playing both for the last 2 years, and I wouldn't have wanted to wait that long to experience the other half of the game.
Does this mean that there will be a bigger development team working on COX or a smaller one? The presants are cool and all but are we losing anything in this deal?
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Im with Happy_Killmore.
Sadly, I think NCSoft forgot a bribe here. They forgot to bribe the hard, core, dedicated player. Ill grant, that group is probably not as large or as influential as any of the other three bribed, but its the group I belong to, and the group everyone I play with belongs to. And my cheeks (pick one, of the four) are feeling a little stung here. As if Ive been slapped. Taken for granted. Why would we quit over something so silly as a new owner? We've been playing for 3 years, why quit now? Why indeed. Of course we wont. These bribes arent about making players feel good about the new owners. These bribes are about business, pure and simple, and for some reason that sends a dark chill down my spine for the future of a game I love.
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That article was full of stupid. Loaded with it. I'm not an ignorant man. I can be a jerk, but no one I know would say that I'm stupid. Or a chump.
Yet I don't feel chumped. I can certainly see that these little perks, incentives, bribes, whatever you wish to call them, might be construed negatively by the more paranoid of the world, but I see them rather as junk given out because there's no harm in doing so.
Other than the hurt feelings of those with overblown senses of entitlement.
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Of course, Im not calling YOU a chump. Im saying I feel like a chump. None of that is an attack on you, personally or collectively. I find it interesting that you took it that way.
I believe my point stands. These bonuses are carefully targeted at three sets of players that NCSoft does not want to leave CoX just because they purchased it. This is a brilliant move, and I would normally applaud it. Except for this curious blind spot on a (for now) ignored fourth set of players.
I would hate for that blind spot to propagate from a couple of bonuses in a purchase announcement to overall direction of the game. If they announce that they are getting rid of the debt system entirely, for example, Ill know it has. And THEN would be the time to consider jumping ship.
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So you feel like a chump because the fourth group got nothing yesterday? I'm in that same group. I bought CoH, CoV and the goodie pack from GvE.
Prestige bump? Does nothing for me. Both bases are fully functional and we're sitting on unused prestige in the millions on both sides.
Debt removal? I'm a soloist. My debt is gone before the mission I get it in is over.
Opening up of both sides to all accounts? Actually, this might benefit me if I re-sub an ancient buddy account that was CoH only. If I don't, since I don't really care for dual-boxing, then this also has no benefit for me at all.
So now we must ask ourselves, why do you feel chumped but I don't? You paid for a product, you got what you paid for. Others are now getting it for free and you expect some further handout to cover your "losses."
Rather than seeing these handouts as Lighthouse posted earlier, you see them as bribes to keep people around.
I find your beliefs to be without merit or rationale. Lighthouse's post makes sense to me. Get everyone with any access full access so maybe they'll play more. The other junk is nothing more than "hey, we can do this quickly, let's do it!"
I don't see this blind spot to the fourth group. I have gotten what I paid for out of this game. I have always paid the same monthly subscription fee as EVERYONE else for a single account, and I've had access to both sides since CoV go live.
Again, I can see no other reason for this negativity to opening up both sides but an overblown sense of entitlement.
That said, please feel free to send a letter directly to NCSoft with your grievance. Perhaps you'll get a free month tacked on for your trouble.
Be well, people of CoH.
Well I suppose that's neat but it doesn't mean much to me as I already have both games and I don't care all that much about SG's. And debt... I mean who cares. Debt is meaningless in this game anymore. it's gone almost as soon as ya get it. If they said we will refund the price of you coV/X in free game time... Well now that'd be cool. Ya know seeing as I bought CoV and the Gvs.E edition... And now they are just going to give it away. I'd love 2 months of in game time... Ah well.. It's ok to wish isn't it?
From my point of view insourcing is rarely ever a bad thing, outsourcing however is nearly always a bad thing for customers. So I have little worries about this
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Here's to hoping this announcement is DOUBLE good news for me. Staffing up GOOD!
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For those interested in gainful gaming employment, check out the NCsoft North America Jobs Listing. Positions for "Mountain View" would be in our newly formed NCsoft NorCal Studio.
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hmmm. They have an opening for "Powers Designer".
hey Castle, can I use you as a reference?
Level 50 is a journey, not a destination.
▲Scrapper Issues List - Going Rogue Edition▲
Are people still complaining about that? I thought it was settled twenty pages ago. If you bought the game, then you got a free month when you bought it. If you didn't buy the game, then you don't get a free month when they open things up. That free month is the extra thing you get that other people don't get.
Avatar: "Cheeky Jack O Lantern" by dimarie
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Free Stuff you say, and I use this announcemnt as the guage. (S) Heroes and Villains available. (R) I already have that, on my personal 2 accounts and the 2 I bought for friends. (S) Debt Amnesty. (R) What is that, something that I could do myself by playing anyways which I will do anyways. (S) 20K more to prestige for SG. (R) This might be a bonus but its not an individual one. No help if your not in an SG or are not concerned with it.
And once again crybabies, gift horses, whiners and will pay me back for my losses. Do you purposfully go out of your way to insult and demean people for stating thier own opinions? Ok peachy, you love this. Fine. Enjoy. Was there any insults thrown your way?
I don't want money. Obviously if I bought as many accounts and pay monthly I don't need it. Yes they could have made these changes, not said thank you and moved on. But they did, and they obviously wanted to give back. I appreciate it, I honestly do. But the way they chose to give back does nothing for me. It gives back most to those people who gave least to this game, not the people who did. All I ask is that the people who did buy both games, have 12 slots per server on their account keep them and those that didn't buy both games stick with their 8. If in the event they get 12 slots then the people who did buy both games get maybe 2 additional. The first doesn't do anything in addition for me, it just doesn't reward those who spent least. The second gives me something tangible. Agree or disagree, just don't insult me.
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Now see i can see that ones that didn't buy both only getting 8 spots.Instead of the 12.
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Or give the people who paid for both games 16 slots instead. I think that would be the best way to go with this. Seriously part of why some folks bought both games was to get the extra slots and base additions so I think it is fair to add the extra slots to those who bought both games. If they dont give us extra slots then they need to give us a prestige power or accolade that sets us apart from the other customers to really let us know the devs care. Hell I would settle for them them making all vet reward attacks on those accounts have Two SOs worth of accuracy built in.
Bump and Grind Bane/SoA
Kenja No Ishi Earth/Empathy Controller
Legendary Sannin Ninja/Pain Mastermind
Entoxicated Ninja/PSN Mastermind
Ninja Ryukenden Kat/WP Scrapper
Hellish Thoughts Fire/PSI Dominator
Thank You Devs for Merits!!!!
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Here's to hoping this announcement is DOUBLE good news for me. Staffing up GOOD!
[/ QUOTE ]
For those interested in gainful gaming employment, check out the NCsoft North America Jobs Listing. Positions for "Mountain View" would be in our newly formed NCsoft NorCal Studio.
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hmmm. They have an opening for "Powers Designer".
hey Castle, can I use you as a reference?
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*cracks Fanboy upside the head with a Nerf bat*
Silly fool. We want Arcanaville to take that job.
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Does this mean that there will be a bigger development team working on COX or a smaller one? The presants are cool and all but are we losing anything in this deal?
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Everything Ex and LH have said lead me to believe that they're planning to expand the team. It looks like NCSoft is renewing it's commitment to this game, and planning to nurture it's further growth.
Edit: Plus, just look at NCsoft's job page, and how many programming openings they have at the Mountain View location. (CoX's new home) Definately a good sign, as far as I'm concerned.
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Here's to hoping this announcement is DOUBLE good news for me. Staffing up GOOD!
[/ QUOTE ]
For those interested in gainful gaming employment, check out the NCsoft North America Jobs Listing. Positions for "Mountain View" would be in our newly formed NCsoft NorCal Studio.
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hmmm. They have an opening for "Powers Designer".
hey Castle, can I use you as a reference?
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*cracks Fanboy upside the head with a Nerf bat*
Silly fool. We want Arcanaville to take that job.
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They can't afford her hourly rate.
That said, give Fanboy the job because he listens to Arcana.
Be well, people of CoH.
I am quite surprised and happy to see as little DOOOOOM mongering about this announcement as I was expecting to see once we heard about it. So there is that.
The initial 'gimmees' that they are handing out are pretty simple to slap onto the game; so I would suggest a wait and see attitude for a bit on our part. Especially those who feel they "got nothin' from this". Being that even after so much time, and so much desire for it that 16 slots arent available to veterans yet, perhaps it is a feature that needs to be worked on for some reason. BUT with the money that the game draws in from subscriptions and the like being pooled in one spot now and earmarked for CoX, I'd wager a guess that we will be seeing a bit more 'gimmees'.
Maybe the Devs just want to see what the 'old timers' really want to get as a reward for their loyalty. Hey, it's possible.
Either way, I'm jazzed that with the breakaway from Cryptic, the Devs have chosen to stay with the game for the majority part.
Ninus Lvl 50 Bots/Dark/SM Mastermind Badges: 1384 @Ninus on Global
Put an Ebil MasterMind in the Obal Office: It wont be the first time
Campaigning for Global Global Ignore Champion since 2009!
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hmmm. They have an opening for "Powers Designer".
hey Castle, can I use you as a reference?
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*cracks Fanboy upside the head with a Nerf bat*
Silly fool. We want Arcanaville to take that job.
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They can't afford her hourly rate.
That said, give Fanboy the job because he listens to Arcana.
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Bill's right. I steal ideas from... err, listen to Arcana all the time. She's definitely outside their price range too.
me? I'm a poor grad student. I'll work for free CoH and some ramen.
I'm not joking though. I'm really thinking of sending them a resume for this.
Level 50 is a journey, not a destination.
▲Scrapper Issues List - Going Rogue Edition▲
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Here's to hoping this announcement is DOUBLE good news for me. Staffing up GOOD!
[/ QUOTE ]
For those interested in gainful gaming employment, check out the NCsoft North America Jobs Listing. Positions for "Mountain View" would be in our newly formed NCsoft NorCal Studio.
[/ QUOTE ]
hmmm. They have an opening for "Powers Designer".
hey Castle, can I use you as a reference?
[/ QUOTE ]
*cracks Fanboy upside the head with a Nerf bat*
Silly fool. We want Arcanaville to take that job.
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They can't afford her hourly rate.
That said, give Fanboy the job because he listens to Arcana.
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I was eying that position as well. A year ago my wife would happily have moved to California, our circumstances have changed a bit (well one heck of a lot actuallY), so tis but a pipe dream for me to apply.
*prepares list of suggestsions for Fanboy and/or Arcanaville*
@Catwhoorg "Rule of Three - Finale" Arc# 1984
@Mr Falkland Islands"A Nation Goes Rogue" Arc# 2369 "Toasters and Pop Tarts" Arc#116617
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Of course, Im not calling YOU a chump. Im saying I feel like a chump. None of that is an attack on you, personally or collectively. I find it interesting that you took it that way.
I believe my point stands. These bonuses are carefully targeted at three sets of players that NCSoft does not want to leave CoX just because they purchased it. This is a brilliant move, and I would normally applaud it. Except for this curious blind spot on a (for now) ignored fourth set of players.
I would hate for that blind spot to propagate from a couple of bonuses in a purchase announcement to overall direction of the game. If they announce that they are getting rid of the debt system entirely, for example, Ill know it has. And THEN would be the time to consider jumping ship.
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First off, Ex and LH have hinted that there are more "presents" to come; so it might be that there's something coming that you'll love.
Secondly, to everyone who feels "cheated" for paying for both halves, ask yourself this: if you had known, at the time you bought both halves, that you could have gotten half for free if you just waited until today, would you still have bought it? I can honestly say that I would; I've enjoyed playing both for the last 2 years, and I wouldn't have wanted to wait that long to experience the other half of the game.
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Some of you are looking at it as just a free month, well a month of play time is $15 then the other $35 went to development cost of the game. Essentially we paid the developement cost of a game they eventually gave away for free. Think about how that looks for a second? Yeah I know the game depreciated in value but that is besides the point, those who paid more than $15 for the other game did not just pay for a free month.
Bump and Grind Bane/SoA
Kenja No Ishi Earth/Empathy Controller
Legendary Sannin Ninja/Pain Mastermind
Entoxicated Ninja/PSN Mastermind
Ninja Ryukenden Kat/WP Scrapper
Hellish Thoughts Fire/PSI Dominator
Thank You Devs for Merits!!!!
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Im with Happy_Killmore.
Sadly, I think NCSoft forgot a bribe here. They forgot to bribe the hard, core, dedicated player. Ill grant, that group is probably not as large or as influential as any of the other three bribed, but its the group I belong to, and the group everyone I play with belongs to. And my cheeks (pick one, of the four) are feeling a little stung here. As if Ive been slapped. Taken for granted. Why would we quit over something so silly as a new owner? We've been playing for 3 years, why quit now? Why indeed. Of course we wont. These bribes arent about making players feel good about the new owners. These bribes are about business, pure and simple, and for some reason that sends a dark chill down my spine for the future of a game I love.
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That article was full of stupid. Loaded with it. I'm not an ignorant man. I can be a jerk, but no one I know would say that I'm stupid. Or a chump.
Yet I don't feel chumped. I can certainly see that these little perks, incentives, bribes, whatever you wish to call them, might be construed negatively by the more paranoid of the world, but I see them rather as junk given out because there's no harm in doing so.
Other than the hurt feelings of those with overblown senses of entitlement.
Be well, people of CoH.