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Have to fix BAB's list for accuracy:
Cryptic:
1. Positron
2. BAB
3. Castle
4. Ghost Widow
5. War Witch
6. Constellation replaced by Hero 1 (story bible)
7. JLove
8. Ken Morse (Art Lead)
9. Nick replaced by Don Pham (environmental/3D artist)
10. Brett replaced by Graham
11. Blue Steel (design support)
12. Serdar replaced by Mynx (Producer)
13. Richard (AP/Build Engineer)
14. Aaron (Lead programmer)
15. Garth (who moved over to Core Tech before the acquistion)
I think that is everyone.
Office support, HR, and Senior Management were all handled by Cryptic proper.
Issue 9 got a lot of attention from Jack, Poz, and Mike Lewis simply because the Invention System and Auction House was SO huge, and unlike anything we had done before. It took a village to raise that child.
John Yoo left RIGHT before the 15 person pair-down.
As for the comment about the two teams not stealing resources from one another. It is true. Anyone who left the project (Serdar, Constellation, Nick, Brett) was replaced by a new hire.
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Ack...forgot about Brett. 
Still, I was close.
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And Aaron, but, you know, he's only the Lead Programmer and all. 
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I mentioned him in an earlier post, but he somehow fell of the list. Sorry Aaron, you rock!
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You should put up guide rails to prevent any other accidents. A safe work place is a happy work place!
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Let's double up to 120 and kill off WoW once and for all... 
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Please no. The best thing about World of Warcraft is that it draws all those players you rather not want in -your- game.
Admitted, it also draws a lot of players you would not mind having around here.
Nadira
Just taking a moment to add my thanks and support...
Thanks sincerely for building, maintaining, and adding even more still to this great pastime through some very "skinny" days.
I can just see in a few years time...
Troy Hickman's new graphic novel called, "15"---an adaptation based on the graphic novel "300."
I'll leave casting the roles of Xerxes and Leonidas to someone else.
Cheers,
~ Jonathan
"15"
Go tell PlayNC, thou who passest by,
That here, obedient to their laws, CoX's devs try.
"THIS...IS...NCNC!"
*kicks Statesman into the PlayNC pit*
The best comics are still 10�!
My City of Heroes Blog Freedom Feature Article: "Going Rageless?"
If you only read one guide this year, make it this one.
Super Reflexes: the Golden Fox of power sets!
WARNING: I bold names.
<QR>
I'm ecstatic that so many people read this thread and got an idea about some of the barriers faced by CoH/V's devs over the past 2 years-ish. It's important that people know this. But I think it's important to correct a misconception or two.
I don't want to go into it much on the board, but I've written up a piece that summarises how I see things going down. The short of it is that I don't see Cryptic being the ones who cut the dev team (although they may have decided who moved to where). You can read my thoughts in the link:
Sometimes Divorce is Best for the Kids: Cryptic, NCsoft and City of Heroes / Villains
The other area I though should be addressed is the idea that MUO was responsible for any change to CoH/V. My perception of what happened is the other way around: CoH / V was 'pared' (to use Positron's phrasing) and suddenly Cryptic had 45 staff to find projects for. Then along came MUO, with it's long stride and cocksure grin...
I could be completely wrong - only the people who were there know for sure. But I think it's stupidly simplistic (although probably fun) to think that MUO / Emmert were responsible for everything that happened.
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"15"
Go tell PlayNC, thou who passest by,
That here, obedient to their laws, CoX's devs try.
"THIS...IS...NorCal!"
*kicks Statesman into the PlayNC pit*
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Changed it to keep the same feel as the quote from the movie. Hope ya don't mind, Daemodand.
Nice article, Unsub! I think you got pretty close to the truth, but of course we may never know.
Agua Man lvl 48 Water/Electric Blaster
"To die hating NCSoft for shutting down City of Heroes, that was Freedom."
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Have to fix BAB's list for accuracy:
Cryptic:
1. Positron
2. BAB
3. Castle
4. Ghost Widow
5. War Witch
6. Constellation replaced by Hero 1 (story bible)
7. JLove
8. Ken Morse (Art Lead)
9. Nick replaced by Don Pham (environmental/3D artist)
10. Brett replaced by Graham
11. Blue Steel (design support)
12. Serdar replaced by Mynx (Producer)
13. Richard (AP/Build Engineer)
14. Aaron (Lead programmer)
15. Garth (who moved over to Core Tech before the acquistion)
I think that is everyone.
Office support, HR, and Senior Management were all handled by Cryptic proper.
Issue 9 got a lot of attention from Jack, Poz, and Mike Lewis simply because the Invention System and Auction House was SO huge, and unlike anything we had done before. It took a village to raise that child.
John Yoo left RIGHT before the 15 person pair-down.
As for the comment about the two teams not stealing resources from one another. It is true. Anyone who left the project (Serdar, Constellation, Nick, Brett) was replaced by a new hire.
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Ack...forgot about Brett.
Still, I was close.
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And Aaron, but, you know, he's only the Lead Programmer and all.
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Now you're just tryin to be hurtful 
Scrapper Slotting Basics
Brute Slotting Basics
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What perplexes me is what others have mentioned, as well - the content the Surviving 15 came up with was superior in every way to the all the content that came before.
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I saw several posts reflecting upon this topic, so I'll share some of my insight. The other team members may not agree, so remember this is just my "take" on things.
Since the team was so small, we had a lot of flexibility. With few people, there was little time lost due to infrastructure and bureaucracy. If I had an idea, I'd run it by Hero1 or Positron and, after a few minutes discussion we'd go back to our desks and "do it." A lot of "let's try it and see if it works" development took place.
Additionally, since we had such stringent constraints, we had to really stretch our creative muscles to come up with things that *could* be done with the limited resources we had. Nothing stirs the imagination like a challenge, and between time constraints, commitment to our release schedule and a genuine desire to make the coolest things we could, we were quite challenged. "Under the gun" might be a better term, since you lot aren't a terribly forgiving group as a whole (and as much as I grit my teeth about that now and again, that is entirely how it *should* be!)
Ultimately, we shipped some very good work. There was definitely room for improvement -- things were not as polished as we'd have liked in many cases, for instance. Still, I'm proud of what we did, and know that the rest of the group feels the same. Anyway, thanks for your continued support! Here's hoping the next couple of years see even better things!
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My hats off to the 15! The last few issues have been phenomenal, and to do so with such a small team, you must have some efficient pipelines. Being agile like that is great. I am the lead dev of a small software startup, and we stomp our competition when it comes to producing new features, bug fixes, or enhancements due to our agile nature. Our product though is nowhere near the size or complexity of COH/COV, so that to me makes it even more impressive of what you have all accomplished. Looking forward to seeing I12!
P.S I have been dabbling in game development as a hobbyist for several years with the Torque X framework , and am real curious what software is used for the animation, graphics design, and general development. My guess would be 3dsmax and some C++ editor. I dont expect an answer, but thought I would toss it out there to anyone who might know
Well, you've obviously hired a bunch of new folks now.
It's been a week or two already, why haven't we been introduced to them yet!?!
They need to meet their futurely adoring fans.
Enjoying every AT in the game.
Remember the Golden Rule: Skill > Build
Leader of the True Blues on Liberty
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...probably b/c he just figured out how he's gonna remove all BU-type powers from the game
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D: nooooo!!! Don't say that!!
Without BU, Dwarf form in PB's is gonna be horrible for damage against high damage resist enemies. (Not that it's stellar with BU, but at least it helps against Rikti.)
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You should put up guide rails to prevent any other accidents. A safe work place is a happy work place!
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But that would only encourage them to lean.
/obscure?
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Just taking a moment to add my thanks and support...
Thanks sincerely for building, maintaining, and adding even more still to this great pastime through some very "skinny" days.
I can just see in a few years time...
Troy Hickman's new graphic novel called, "15"---an adaptation based on the graphic novel "300."
[/ QUOTE ]
I'm already working on a graphic novel called "15," but it's an autobiographical piece involving my humiliation at the hands of Chris Hanson and Dateline NBC...
And more to the point, the folks behind this wonderful game never cease to amaze me, and I sincerely thank them for countless hours of fun and excitement.
Troy Hickman - So proud to have contributed to and played in this wonderful CoH universe
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Overshadowed by Villain-player 'outrage' about Rockjaw's comments was a very important piece of info that came out of the Omega Sektor event. As previously stated by Jack Emmert and commented on recently by War Witch, 2006 saw the CoH/V team cut by 75% / from a team of about 60 to a team of about 15. It provides some insight into why David 'Zeb' Cook left, why Emmert stepped off the project and why content releases slowed in 2006.
More interesting was the fact that War Witch was the only person who did zone creation during that time. It seems increasingly likely that Castle was the only person working on power systems, BAB was leading probably only one or two people in looking after animations (he'd need someone else to hold the camera while he swung his sword around - bow wow chicka chicka bow wow! ;-), SexyJay probably had costume design all to himself or as part of a small art team (two or three people).
We're aware of Ghost Widow as a programmer and there are probably a few more, but not a huge number (so perhaps 5). Positron would have needed to be a man of many skills (deck of many things?) to help guide things forward and to pick up the slack where it appeared.
(I'm sure I'm forgetting some people, but I think pohsyb came back to CoH/V when it was bought by NCsoft, so he wasn't on that list.)
So: 15 people. Enough to keep the game going but certainly not sizeable to enough to release huge content releases for free every 4 months. The fact that they recovered to release 3 very good issues in 2007 is testament to the work ethic of the team.
Having seen a number of "WY ISN"T THIS BUGZ FIXXED???" threads appear recently, here's your answer: 15 people.
My thanks to those 15, both known and unknown to the forum community. It was appreciated.
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I just now saw this thread none of this surprises me. After COV sales under performed due to the high volume of bad word of mouth this game got from ED that statesman cut the staff is no surprise at all. ED should have happened before COV most felt it was brought on by PVP right or wrong that perception caused so major flak. That and Statesman poor handling and backtracking he did on the subject
Pinnacle
Langar Thurs-Katana/SR 50; Hejtmane-DM/DA 50
Rogue Spear-Spines/DA 50; Hypnosis-Ill/Rad 50
Sir Thomas Theroux-DM/SR 50; Melted Copper-Fire/Shield 50
Byzantine Warrior-DB/ELA 50;Blade Tempo-50 DB/EA
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due to the high volume of bad word of mouth this game got from ED that statesman cut the staff is no surprise at all.
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lol - make up more stuff please, you're good.
* No word of mouth existed about ED: COV launched to huge results, and everyone who started the game at that point *never knew the difference* because COV *included it to begin with*. No one who owned only COV at the start had a CLUE why there was any issue with slotting. it's a perfectly good change, that some people (ie: map-hoarding tankers) didn't like. Get over it. It's old news.
And: Statesman didn't cut the budget. Others did. Read up on the history before you start making stuff up dude.
None of this is a surprise? Really? Because it seems to me that like the rest of us, YOU are also still here, PLAYING the game. A GREAT game at that. ED and all.
They've done a huge amount of work, essentially on a shoestring, for so long. They deserve all the kudos they can get.
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
Repurposed
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As for the comment about the two teams not stealing resources from one another. It is true. Anyone who left the project (Serdar, Constellation, Nick, Brett) was replaced by a new hire.
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Love ya' Pos, but lets be honest. New Hire != Veteran Core developer.
You can point to body counts, but the loss in experience is what we are talking about. And I can name too many posts about seeing 'what the engine can do', esp with IO's (e.g. to hit changed to global accuracy), that any startup core developer would know.
But overall, great job in the recovery!
50 Tanks: Invul/ss, Fire/ice/fire, Ice/em, Stone/fire
WP/Stone, dark/dark, shld/mace
50 Other: WS, SS/dark/sc brute, BS/Regen/WM scrpr, fire/fire/force blaster, rad/kin corr, mind/rad ctrl, ill/storm cntrl
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due to the high volume of bad word of mouth this game got from ED that statesman cut the staff is no surprise at all.
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lol - make up more stuff please, you're good.
* No word of mouth existed about ED: COV launched to huge results, and everyone who started the game at that point *never knew the difference* because COV *included it to begin with*. No one who owned only COV at the start had a CLUE why there was any issue with slotting. it's a perfectly good change, that some people (ie: map-hoarding tankers) didn't like. Get over it. It's old news.
And: Statesman didn't cut the budget. Others did. Read up on the history before you start making stuff up dude.
None of this is a surprise? Really? Because it seems to me that like the rest of us, YOU are also still here, PLAYING the game. A GREAT game at that. ED and all.
They've done a huge amount of work, essentially on a shoestring, for so long. They deserve all the kudos they can get.
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Please when cov released they did not even bring there subs up to 200k which they broke in COH it gave them about 70k boost in subs. Please I was on the board when ED was leaked during COV closed Beta. Three months after COV released they lost a 1/3 of the subs they added and by 6 months they lost half of the subs and it is kind of plateau on a steady stream of about 130-150k subs.
Yes I know how many subs they had at every 3 month mark because I read all the investor reports over the last several years. COV underperformed from what they expected it to do.
Pinnacle
Langar Thurs-Katana/SR 50; Hejtmane-DM/DA 50
Rogue Spear-Spines/DA 50; Hypnosis-Ill/Rad 50
Sir Thomas Theroux-DM/SR 50; Melted Copper-Fire/Shield 50
Byzantine Warrior-DB/ELA 50;Blade Tempo-50 DB/EA
A boost of up to 1/3 more players is still a boost. Just because it might not hit imaginary "good" numbers to you, it's still *excellent* boosting. COV underperforms *to you*. Not to the investors, sorry. Seeing as how the games, I dunno, still being played? And supported? Guess again. ED was no deal *whatsoever*. I was in beta, been there, done that. I thought it was a fantastic idea. And frankly: I don't know where your numbers are coming from, but you only know raw numbers, and not "numbers left because of X or Y." Your supposition is just that, not fact.
Every single game on the market - and I'm not including the obvious exception because it's so out of the realm of reality that it's not worth comparing to - takes dips constantly. This game has been consistant, and every issue brings BACK players who have otherwise decided "I must go!" Not too many games do that - none, that I know of, really. This is the game that players come BACK to. Read up on some of the 'I'm back!' threads to see that much. This is just the top of the heap, in the forums. I've run into plenty of people in game who have come back, after a long absence, and asked what's going on with the new stuff.
They are impressed as most of us are, with the things that the FREEMY FIFTEEN have done. Why not take your head from your nethers, and admit they've done a fine job? I mean.... that IS what the thread's supposed to be about, not more venting about very, very old news.
Please read my FEAR/Portal/HalfLife Fan Fiction!
Repurposed
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A boost of up to 1/3 more players is still a boost. Just because it might not hit imaginary "good" numbers to you, it's still *excellent* boosting. COV underperforms *to you*. Not to the investors, sorry. Seeing as how the games, I dunno, still being played? And supported? Guess again. ED was no deal *whatsoever*. I was in beta, been there, done that. I thought it was a fantastic idea. And frankly: I don't know where your numbers are coming from, but you only know raw numbers, and not "numbers left because of X or Y." Your supposition is just that, not fact.
Every single game on the market - and I'm not including the obvious exception because it's so out of the realm of reality that it's not worth comparing to - takes dips constantly. This game has been consistant, and every issue brings BACK players who have otherwise decided "I must go!" Not too many games do that - none, that I know of, really. This is the game that players come BACK to. Read up on some of the 'I'm back!' threads to see that much. This is just the top of the heap, in the forums. I've run into plenty of people in game who have come back, after a long absence, and asked what's going on with the new stuff.
They are impressed as most of us are, with the things that the FREEMY FIFTEEN have done. Why not take your head from your nethers, and admit they've done a fine job? I mean.... that IS what the thread's supposed to be about, not more venting about very, very old news.
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Where did I berate them 
I said i was not surprised to find out there where 15 of them and that I put on Statesman not the Devs.
Pinnacle
Langar Thurs-Katana/SR 50; Hejtmane-DM/DA 50
Rogue Spear-Spines/DA 50; Hypnosis-Ill/Rad 50
Sir Thomas Theroux-DM/SR 50; Melted Copper-Fire/Shield 50
Byzantine Warrior-DB/ELA 50;Blade Tempo-50 DB/EA
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Just goes to show you.. It's not the size of the team on the field, but how they play the game (in this case, that of development) that really produces quality.
Heck. I still like this game better then my other main game. <.<
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Agreed. I recently quit EQ2 (with no hate, just 4 years in one game), but I'm still able to get really excited about CoH. That's amazing at this point in its lifecycle.
lolchampionsonline
The City of Heroes Community is a special one and I will always look fondly on my times arguing, discussing and playing with you all. Thanks and thanks to the developers for a special experience.
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Agreed. I recently quit EQ2 (with no hate, just 4 years in one game), but I'm still able to get really excited about CoH. That's amazing at this point in its lifecycle.
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And yet, you're at DOOMCON 4. Hmm.
www.SaveCOH.com: Calls to Action and Events Calendar
This is what 3700 heroes in a single zone looks like.
Thanks to @EnsonsDeath for the GVE code that made me VIP again!
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Agreed. I recently quit EQ2 (with no hate, just 4 years in one game), but I'm still able to get really excited about CoH. That's amazing at this point in its lifecycle.
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And yet, you're at DOOMCON 4. Hmm.
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The DOOMCON is a measure of the pulse of the forums, not my personal level of doom.
I can't even bring myself to well up any personal doom after the MoG fix. And in any event, Doomcon 4 is not bad
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The DOOM CONdition index
DOOMCON 5 Normal peacetime posting
DOOMCON 4 Pre-Issue speculation
DOOMCON 3 Pre-Issue anticipation; pre-issue patches; major nerf-herding
DOOMCON 2 Mostly Nerf-free patch; good content; major non-issue nerf patch
DOOMCON 1 Open Forum Warfare; Think Issue 5 & 6.
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The City of Heroes Community is a special one and I will always look fondly on my times arguing, discussing and playing with you all. Thanks and thanks to the developers for a special experience.
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<QR>
I'm ecstatic that so many people read this thread and got an idea about some of the barriers faced by CoH/V's devs over the past 2 years-ish. It's important that people know this. But I think it's important to correct a misconception or two.
I don't want to go into it much on the board, but I've written up a piece that summarises how I see things going down. The short of it is that I don't see Cryptic being the ones who cut the dev team (although they may have decided who moved to where). You can read my thoughts in the link:
Sometimes Divorce is Best for the Kids: Cryptic, NCsoft and City of Heroes / Villains
The other area I though should be addressed is the idea that MUO was responsible for any change to CoH/V. My perception of what happened is the other way around: CoH / V was 'pared' (to use Positron's phrasing) and suddenly Cryptic had 45 staff to find projects for. Then along came MUO, with it's long stride and cocksure grin...
I could be completely wrong ...
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... and I think you are.
Your premise is that the Producers somehow forced the Developers to slash their budget and staff (and how did they force them to do that?), then turned around and bought the product and immediately threw gobs of money at it. That requires two stretches of the imagination. Possible? Sure, anything is possible. But this is so far from Occam's Razor.
The simpler and more likely scenario is that the Dev team cut their staff to work on some version of CoH 2 cutting NCSoft out of the picture. And so, NCSoft bought CoH from them to develop it right.
Put it this way: If NCSoft is the real villain of the 'paring down,' and starved the development of CoH, then why did the whole Dev team (plus some others!) jump ship from Cryptic so readily to work for their cruel taskmasters?
I don't have any more privileged information than you do, but my scenario is much more likely.
Speeding Through New DA Repeatables || Spreadsheet o' Enhancements || Zombie Skins: better skins for these forums || Guide to Guides
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BAB was leading probably only one or two people in looking after animations (he'd need someone else to hold the camera while he swung his sword around - bow wow chicka chicka bow wow! ;-), SexyJay probably had costume design all to himself or as part of a small art team (two or three people).
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I've actually been the sole animator and FX artist since Issue 8. So glad to say that's no longer the case XD
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if that's the case...did Castle foward you my PM? >.> I was hopin for a response, then was heart broken