Advertisements/Future of CoX


Aett_Thorn

 

Posted

As we all know City of Heroes/Villains Player base is decreasing slowly. Not because people don't like hero themed games but because we do not advertise. When i go to different sites online I see a lot of Ad's of Web browser games or mainly WoW. If even the F2P games have ads why don't we? I really think if you promote the game more the player base would increase. I know CoX does all the Hero Con's and such but most people who attend Hero Con already know about the game. Thus resulting in promoting already existing players. I believe that NCsoft should be concentrating on expanding the player base and promoting to players that don't already know the game exists. They could accomplish this by placing more ads on websites, placing ads in gaming and pc magazines and attempting to promote the game to countries other than just America.



Off Topic:I also think that the Suggestions and Ideas Threads should be moved to a more important area of the Boards. As this is srs business not "For Fun!"


 

Posted

I agree with this entirely.
The population in game does seem to be declining, and with Going Rogue around the corner, they really should be concentrating on advertising and pushing the game to new players.
More countries than America do exist, and do have people who would play the game, IF they knew about it.
The population in CoX could rise dramatically if NCsoft would consider promoting the game in other countries. Just having the game on the shelves isn't going to be good enough.
A lot of people walk into a games store to buy something they have already heard about, or buy something that grabs there interest while they are in the store, so why can't we advertise the game more to encourage more people to play it?
I know at most of the game stores near me, the staff don't even know what City of Heroes is, nor have they ever played it, thus they would not be able to explain to a potential customer, what City of Heroes is, or what is so special about this MMO.


 

Posted

I totally agree. You HAVE to speculate to accumulate.

To do nothing as we have seen, is tantamount to suicide.

but hey what do I know? I am only a player. But as a player, I care deeply for this game and want to see it continue.


This game NEEDS a serious marketing campaign. It cannot rest on it's laurels and hope for the best with the playerbase as it is.




LLAP


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blpup View Post
As we all know City of Heroes/Villains Player base is decreasing slowly. Not because people don't like hero themed games but because we do not advertise. When i go to different sites online I see a lot of Ad's of Web browser games or mainly WoW. If even the F2P games have ads why don't we? I really think if you promote the game more the player base would increase. I know CoX does all the Hero Con's and such but most people who attend Hero Con already know about the game. Thus resulting in promoting already existing players. I believe that NCsoft should be concentrating on expanding the player base and promoting to players that don't already know the game exists. They could accomplish this by placing more ads on websites, placing ads in gaming and pc magazines and attempting to promote the game to countries other than just America.



Off Topic:I also think that the Suggestions and Ideas Threads should be moved to a more important area of the Boards. As this is srs business not "For Fun!"
just because it wouldn't be me if i didn't do this once a week.....

where is your "proof" that the game is loosing people because they don't advertise? while i agree that they should look at doing something, i find your assumption false.

as for where this section belongs, here is good. there is a very good reason why this section is where it is.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharker_Quint View Post
just because it wouldn't be me if i didn't do this once a week.....

where is your "proof" that the game is loosing people because they don't advertise? while i agree that they should look at doing something, i find your assumption false.

as for where this section belongs, here is good. there is a very good reason why this section is where it is.
OK Lets NOT advertise and just sit back and watch our population grow magicly?
and i don't see you coming up with any idea's

The suggestions and ideas forum name implies that it is something to be taken seriously, and something which may at times be looked at for the future of the city of heroes franchise, which leads myself to believe that the suggestions and ideas forum SHOULD be moved, as having it under the title for fun, implies it is all a joke.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blpup View Post
OK Lets NOT advertise and just sit back and watch our population grow magicly?
and i don't see you coming up with any idea's

Well like i said this isnt a joke thread as i am serious
then you should have emailed one of the devs or mods. just because this game does not have the numbers of WoW or other MMO's does not mean it is failing. look at the time of year it is. schools getting out, parents taking vacation time and all sorts of other things that affect the population just like during school start up and christmas and every other holiday out there where the pop seems to dip for a little bit.

of course it would help if maybe they fixed the bugs and other problems with the game before going live rather then just pushing things through.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharker_Quint View Post
then you should have emailed one of the devs or mods. just because this game does not have the numbers of WoW or other MMO's does not mean it is failing. look at the time of year it is. schools getting out, parents taking vacation time and all sorts of other things that affect the population just like during school start up and christmas and every other holiday out there where the pop seems to dip for a little bit.

of course it would help if maybe they fixed the bugs and other problems with the game before going live rather then just pushing things through.
Have you been in game recently? Have you looked at how less active the channels are? Have you looked at search and noticed how many less names appear? It hasn't just been a recent thing either. I've been noticing it for months, on multiple servers, at multiple times during the day/night.

Just because you personally haven't noticed it, doesn't mean that game population must not be going down. Instead of being so quick to jump on a thread and demand proof, maybe you should take a long around in game, and realize that if more advertising was done, more players would join, which was the point of this thread.

If we did have more advertising, maybe we wouldn't notice the population spikes as much, as we would have more active players in the game. If we didn't just concentrate on getting players from America, chances are the game would be more active at different times, throughout the day, as well as during holidays.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharker_Quint View Post
then you should have emailed one of the devs or mods. just because this game does not have the numbers of WoW or other MMO's does not mean it is failing. look at the time of year it is. schools getting out, parents taking vacation time and all sorts of other things that affect the population just like during school start up and christmas and every other holiday out there where the pop seems to dip for a little bit.

of course it would help if maybe they fixed the bugs and other problems with the game before going live rather then just pushing things through.
Dunno how long you been playing. But back in the day Server status's use to be Yellow not green.

Edit: Even Virtue and Freedom are green which says ALOT


 

Posted

I agree with the OP(at least as far as the need for advertising goes). If we dont see where the advertising dollars are being spent then it pretty much means they are not being spent that well. I am surprised that I do not see this wonderful game advertised in comics and comic publications more. A long time comic book store owner asks me every now and again if I still play "That superhero online game". I always answer yes. To this day he has not seen an ad for the game save one that was in Wizard about 8 months before launch.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blpup View Post
Dunno how long you been playing. But back in the day Server status's use to be Yellow not green.

Edit: Even Virtue and Freedom are green which says ALOT
No, it doesn't. Especially considering that they've increased the server hardware a couple of times, especially those that handle Virtue and Freedom.

Also, notice how he agreed that there should be advertising. All he said was that you should offer proof that the game's lower population is based on lack of advertising.


It could be due to many factors right now. Lack of advertising might only be a small percentage of that drop. It could be due to people being in the various betas and tests that are going on now, people that have taken a break waiting for GR to come out, the summer holidays, etc.


I happen to agree with Sharker: the game should have more advertising, but also know that the game's population is at best only marginally related to said advertising right now.


Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Snoofles View Post
Have you been in game recently? Have you looked at how less active the channels are? Have you looked at search and noticed how many less names appear? It hasn't just been a recent thing either. I've been noticing it for months, on multiple servers, at multiple times during the day/night.

Just because you personally haven't noticed it, doesn't mean that game population must not be going down. Instead of being so quick to jump on a thread and demand proof, maybe you should take a long around in game, and realize that if more advertising was done, more players would join, which was the point of this thread.

If we did have more advertising, maybe we wouldn't notice the population spikes as much, as we would have more active players in the game. If we didn't just concentrate on getting players from America, chances are the game would be more active at different times, throughout the day, as well as during holidays.
Please show facts that in-game populations are down.


My global channels are just as active as they were before. Maybe even more so.

Annecdotal evidence can go either way on this. So, if you have some actual PROOF, then that would be welcome.


Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus

 

Posted

wow. a bunch of replies and the only one who actually read what i said and understood it was Aett. he gets 2 gold stars and the rest of you get a bag of coal.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharker_Quint View Post
wow. a bunch of replies and the only one who actually read what i said and understood it was Aett. he gets 2 gold stars and the rest of you get a bag of coal.

Barbecue at my place!


>


"I am a Tank. I am your first choice, I am your last hope." -- Rune Bull

"Durability is the quintessential super-power. " -- Sailboat

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharker_Quint View Post
as for where this section belongs, here is good. there is a very good reason why this section is where it is.
Very true! Alot of brainstorming goes on in this section and brainstorming is loads of fun as far as I am concerned! Also leaving us in the For Fun section prevents folks from making the assumption that their suggestions are going to be implemented in the game. It is, after all, just for fun.


>


"I am a Tank. I am your first choice, I am your last hope." -- Rune Bull

"Durability is the quintessential super-power. " -- Sailboat

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blpup View Post
Dunno how long you been playing. But back in the day Server status's use to be Yellow not green.

Edit: Even Virtue and Freedom are green which says ALOT
You do know that the dots indicate server load, not population?

As Aett said, the servers, particularly freedom and virtue, have been upgraded over the years to handle more load. Population has grown, but server capacity has grown more, thus the green dots.


Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blpup View Post
As we all know City of Heroes/Villains Player base is decreasing slowly.
Every game loses population over time. Everquest used to be huge. What's their population now? I'm not saying we *haven't* lost population, but we have been very steady - a "slow bleed" over six plus years. That's not bad.

Quote:
Not because people don't like hero themed games but because we do not advertise.
Assumption. WAR advertised. They don't have much in the way of population. Tabula Rasa advertised. They are dead. Advertising is not the magic bullet. Could we use more? Absolutely. Is it "The Cause?" Nope.

COH is very different from most MMOs. Some people may complain about "grind" here, but I'd have to think they've never played some of the Korean-based MMOs - insane grind. Some things people "expect" just aren't here - including having everyone standing around outside doing missions.

Hell, look how fast COH crashed and burned in Korea...

Quote:
When i go to different sites online I see a lot of Ad's of Web browser games or mainly WoW.
Blizzard has more money than God, and WoW is based off an IP (owed by blizzard) that existed for ten years before the game - plus, they can advertise on their own site to a captive audience on Battle.net.

Quote:
If even the F2P games have ads why don't we?
F2P = "Log in, buy stuff to continue playing past the basics." They're not exactly penniless.
Quote:
I really think if you promote the game more the player base would increase.
Conversely, we've been getting quite a few new players both on the forum and in-game - I'm running into them constantly and answering questions - which, of course, means the player base *is* increasing.

Again, not arguing that we shouldn't advertise more - we should - but assuming it doesn't because we don't advertise is false.
Quote:
<snip>and attempting to promote the game to countries other than just America.
You do see the EU forums, yes? That we have UK, French, German, Australian/NZ players?

You do recall, as mentioned above, "City of Hero" crashing and burning *fast* in Korea?

It's been done, it's being done.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison View Post
You do know that the dots indicate server load, not population?

As Aett said, the servers, particularly freedom and virtue, have been upgraded over the years to handle more load. Population has grown, but server capacity has grown more, thus the green dots.
Propaganda! How dare you try and argue with the truthiness of the OP's assertion!


>


"I am a Tank. I am your first choice, I am your last hope." -- Rune Bull

"Durability is the quintessential super-power. " -- Sailboat

 

Posted

This is off topic, but did CoX used to publish the number of subscribers that they had? I thought I remembered numbers being published, but that could have been speculative. Anyone else remember that?


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr_Zek View Post
This is off topic, but did CoX used to publish the number of subscribers that they had? I thought I remembered numbers being published, but that could have been speculative. Anyone else remember that?
NCSoft used to in their quarterly reports. Though I haven't seen them doing that lately.


Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus

 

Posted

You guys might not take this seriously as I do. And most of yall wanted proof of some sort. And if most people do not notice a server population change your probably playing on Freedom or Virtue. Cause back in the Old days lvl 50s would just stand in Atlas chatting on my server and now theres no such thing and Teaming is hard to come by unlike the old days where you could go in the hollows and meet several teams just waiting to add more heroes on there missions.

FREEDOM


GUARDIAN


JUSTICE


LIBERTY


PINNICLE


PROTECTOR


TRIUMPH


VICTORY


VIRTUE


INFINITY


CHAMPOIN






Added up all those servers = 1.5k+ players online/not hidden/non spike times

Which is a decent number for 11 servers like 100+ pop per server basicly. teams are of 8. So thats like 12 full man teams per server divided by 2 due to heroes and villains. so thats 6 teams per side. Awesome numbers right?

EDIT: Oh and -1 per side cause i only play on 1 server


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blpup View Post
You guys might not take this seriously as I do. And most of yall wanted proof of some sort. And if most people do not notice a server population change your probably playing on Freedom or Virtue. Cause back in the Old days lvl 50s would just stand in Atlas chatting on my server and now theres no such thing and Teaming is hard to come by unlike the old days where you could go in the hollows and meet several teams just waiting to add more heroes on there missions.
You just took those pictures now? During off peak hours? While everyone's at work or school?

I happen to see plenty of people hanging out under Atlas when I occasionally fly by.

You are forgetting the large number of vets that are smart enough to hide from searches.

Also, just judging by your general attitude, I wouldn't be surprised if you aren't on a lot of ignore lists and have trouble teaming yourself because of your reputation. This is just an assumption, of course.


Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.

 

Posted

the game is well established and has a solid profile in the gaming world. the devs have been doing effective (and cost effective) promotions for a while now.


a boxed expansion with new gameplay directions will do more for CoH's future viability than ads.


The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.

My City Was Gone

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blpup View Post
Added up all those servers = 1.5k+ players online/not hidden/non spike times
what point are you trying to make?

because your numbers are meaningless.


The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.

My City Was Gone

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison View Post
You just took those pictures now? During off peak hours? While everyone's at work or school?

I happen to see plenty of people hanging out under Atlas when I occasionally fly by.

You are forgetting the large number of vets that are smart enough to hide from searches.

Also, just judging by your general attitude, I wouldn't be surprised if you aren't on a lot of ignore lists and have trouble teaming yourself because of your reputation. This is just an assumption, of course.
Please note the post on the bottom and your assumption is wrong


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nethergoat View Post
what point are you trying to make?

because your numbers are meaningless.
People wanted proof of some sort so i gave it to them