Bitter but still paying...

All my friends except one left for good.

I am still having fun, though. So i ain't going nowhere. I went to the other games for a little while, and they don't keep me playing.

Being alt-centric helps.

Responding to the OP.

I have not been shy about expressing my extreme dislikes of Praetoria and The Incarnate System. However negatively I feel about those aspects, this is the only MMO I play because the game is so huge with more than enough content for me to completely ignore all the parts I dislike and still have lots to do.

It's worth the 14.95 per month in entertainment value to me because it is really fun to do the easy stuff and simply chill out and relax. I set my own pace and missions by playing strictly solo. No teaming irritations. No task forces. No trials. Nothing that will cause a rise in blood pressure or stress. For a couple hours each day, I can escape to my little hero world and the real world fades away.

Yet, some of the other posters are right, I do get upset when they install new elements to the game that I cannot participate in. The only reason I strongly object to the Incarnate System is that it is a Roadblock to my characters' advancement. All the other teaming parts of the game (TF, Trials, etc) I can skip yet continue to advance my characters' levels doing stuff solo.

The Incarnate System stops my preferred mode of advancement dead in its tracks - and I don't like that and don't think it's a fair way to treat a paying customer.

Yet, taking the bitter with the sweet, the sweet parts of the game are still sweet enough to keep me hanging around and enjoying them.

I'm not sure how many returning players Freedom will attract. When subscribers leave a game, it's usually for a good reason, and everyone I've ever known that has left City of Heroes tends to be back from time to time for all of a day, never to be heard from again for another year. I have a friend of mine that played the game with me for, like, a day, before politely explaining to me that he liked WoW because it had raids and gear and loot and PvP. Strangely enough, talking to him about Inventions and Incarnates hasn't gotten more than a "meh" out of him, so I'm not sure what his deal is. When CoH goes freedom, I'll definitely bug him to try the game again, since he'll be a Premium subscriber, and if he likes it enough I might even get a few extras for him. However, I strongly suspect that I won't be able to keep him in-game for more than a day anyway.

Beyond that, I have another friend who managed to ask me when City of Heroes is "going free" twice in the span of a week, despite me telling him "not for a few months" both times, so he's clearly excited. I highly suspect he might be interested, though I also highly suspect he'd never pay money for the game. We live in a culture that has seen me mocked and ridiculed for paying for a game instead of pirating it, and it's doubtful that someone with his budget and beliefs on software property laws will start paying for an MMO. Knowing him, I'm also not sure how long he'll stick with the game before he gets bored. He's not exactly the patient type, but I'll do what I can to keep him around if and when he tries the game.

Contrary to popular belief, I do actually enjoy playing with my friends when I can achieve that, it's just that I don't know anyone in my area who plays the game and most of the friends I've made in-game either are in radically different time zones, have left the game or otherwise log in too infrequently and play on different servers from me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

I won't presume to speak for others but here's my take on it, as someone who may be perceived as a complainer by some in the community.

First off, I have played the game for over five years so that tells you something about how I feel about the game - but I often find myself at odds with certain elements of the game that the Devs can implement. That can be stories and the overall direction of the game - such as the Incarnate storyline. (Not to be confused with end-game content - but simply the fact that I have to be incarnate.)

Similarly there's other elements I dislike... but ultimately the things I dislike are far outweighed by the positives. So I continue to sub - although I have unsubbed for times when I felt that a section of the community that I care about was totally ignored. But once I learned those concerns were being seriously addressed, I subbed straight back.

Finally - and this is the most important aspect of this I feel - I am a paying customer. As a subscriber and buyer of Paragon product if I just sat back and let the Devs do stuff I really really dislike without voicing my opinion then there's two things going on: They don't understand what I like (and therefore have the opportunity to make more stuff I like and thus take more money off me) and then I stop enjoying the game.

But if I just post a small "I'm a bit meh about X" in a thread of 76,583 posts that won't get noticed. If I start a thread saying "I really hate XYZ" then at least there's a chance that somebody might notice it - whether they choose to do something about it is up to them. So far I'm still playing so it can't be all bad.

"You got to dig it to dig it, you dig?"
Thelonious Monk

I think we've got some great responses to the OP.

For me I love the game. Still, after 6 years.

Does that mean I won't complain about certain things that are BAD or terrible repeatedly and vehemently. No.

As I've said before when I stop posting criticisms at all, is when you can expect I've already unsubbed. If you aren't getting criticisms from posters who are unhappy it means:

a) they are happy with some things happening.

b) they no longer care. That's the time you need to watch out for them unsubbing.

I really don't know what the OP is talking about. I don't find any of the posters from the last year since I18 to be bitter, angst ridden or whatever silly word you want to call them.

They don't hate the game. They are just giving feedback in the way you OP also do: bluntly.

If they hated the game you wouldn't see their posts. They would just unsub.