Discussion: European Services Update
By
Angelxman81,
Posted on: 2012-03-30 10:34 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
This information makes me sad. I understand the reasoning, but it still makes me sad. 
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I hope our French & German co-heroes continue to stay with us in Paragon City & I look forward to teaming with them.
Is it possible that some community-made modifications might help some French and German speaking players to stick with the game after this?
I know it wouldn't be remotely the same, and wouldn't be as extensively covered within their language... but the idea flitted about in my head and I was curious if there might be anyone already going in that direction.
Or are icons the extent of what the community can realistically manage to modify in such a way?
I'm not calling for anyone to do this... and I'm certainly not qualified... but I do hope that members of the community being affected by this work out ways to make the transition better.
It's time we all speak the same language anyway... Let's choose one... How about pig latin?
@Zethustra
"Now at midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew come out
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
and round up everyone that knows more than they do"-Dylan
This was the one unfortunate thing about the launch day of I21 - when Exalted shot straight to red, along with others like Justice, infinity and Guardian, and even the 2 English Euro servers hit yellow, Zukunft and Vigilance were stuck at green - and when I checked them again for the latest 2XP weekend, it was the same situation.
I hope the German and French players will be able to integrate with the new communities that form there.
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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That's OK, I've barely seen any on this side of the Atlantic (I'm presuming you're EU)
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Originally Posted by Super_Corlagon
True, they haven't really been promoting the game over here. Two or so press releases a year, don't notice anything else.
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On Justice
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Out of curiosity - will Paragon be adding to the help window in game, giving it the ability to swap between Eng/French/German files? Even If they want to add a pop up that they might be out of date, being able to look up that info in French/German in game might help.
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
We're still committed to providing support for our Euro Communities, and will continue customer support in these languages. I agree, it is disappointing that this has come to pass, however the decision had to be made.
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I think "Vigilance" is fine as a name for an English server, but "Zukunft" might need a rethink - like either changing it to "Future" , or to a totally new name.
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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Oh, thanks for your solidarity with french community. It seems that you're really sorry about this decision. It's ironic, of course. Your post is a vulture one.|
Originally Posted by Golden Girl
I think "Vigilance" is fine as a name for an English server, but "Zukunft" might need a rethink - like either changing it to "Future" , or to a totally new name.
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it's shame to see that...
Almost thought this was an April Fool's joke...
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They're a little easier to spot |
Originally Posted by Devlin_Quaid
Almost thought this was an April Fool's joke...
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@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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Originally Posted by Energizing_Ion
Why is it "shame on them"?
Sometimes businesses have to make "the hard choice" so I'm guessing they need to cut some spending and the least amount of people affected by it. Unfortunately that's the EU servers. |
The reason why it's "Shame on them" is quite clear. When these people bought the game in their respective countries, they spent money. Money that people had to work for. Money that is now in the hands of NCSoft.
In this context, when you "cut spending", you have basically done a bait and switch.
Yes, those players can continue to play, but if they don't know English they're going to have a very rough time tabbing out and translating. (obviously some things will be self explanatory, but imagine how an iTrial will be with people who would read the league chat, but can't translate it fast enough)
Moreover, some of those people may have taken advantage of the buy 6 get 1 or buy 12 get 2. Are those people going to get a refund? I doubt it.
I understand that resources are scarce. I get that. I know businesses have to make hard choices. But this is one their research most likely showed well ahead of time. And if they didn't do the research before they expended the resources, someone up high needs a verbal lashing at a minimum.
Imagine if Ford began selling a 2012 Mustang, but in 2013 said that they wouldn't make any more parts for it. Better hope things don't break.
Not the best analogy, but it gets the point across.
You don't offer things for sale and then invalidate the purchase.
How would you like it if they said that because Liberty doesn't have enough players on a Sunday night to do an MoDD and an MSR at the same time, they were gonna stop supporting Liberty?
You don't stop supporting the servers, you market more effectively to increase the population. Every business decision must be made as if the business is going to live on indefinitely. Cutting back is not the right way to go, and it sure is a cheesy way to treat subscribers, even if there weren't that many of them.
"Most people that have no idea what they are doing have no idea that they don't know what they are doing." - John Cleese
@Ukase
Zukunft is my home server and I have always played with the client set to English. The translations to German have always been ranging from okay over ridiculous to plain horrible or none existant (too many p-strings instead of text to count). So my reaction to this announcent was actually YES!! THANK GOD!!
There are so few players remaining on Zukunft who don't speak English and don't have characters on English servers anyway that I can't see this change really mattering much.
Actually it might prove beneficial for the server population as it allows English speaking players to create characters there and play without a language barrier.
Thanks, Paragon, I welcome the change.
http://ashuroa.livejournal.com/
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Getting rid of the translation is not getting rid of players, thank for your consideration. Vigilance's community is and will remain frenchspeaking.
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Originally Posted by Golden Girl
I think "Vigilance" is fine as a name for an English server, but "Zukunft" might need a rethink - like either changing it to "Future" , or to a totally new name.
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I don't think you know what the term "Bait and Switch" means.|
Originally Posted by Ukaserex
The reason why it's "Shame on them" is quite clear. When these people bought the game in their respective countries, they spent money. Money that people had to work for. Money that is now in the hands of NCSoft.
In this context, when you "cut spending", you have basically done a bait and switch. |
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Originally Posted by Wikipedia
First, customers are "baited" by advertising for a product or service at a low price; second, the customers discover that the advertised good is not available and are "switched" to a costlier product.
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They have had value for their money. That is, they got a service for their subscription. That service is being phased out. They can choose to continue the service for the same money or stop subscribing.
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Originally Posted by Ukaserex
Yes, those players can continue to play, but if they don't know English they're going to have a very rough time tabbing out and translating. (obviously some things will be self explanatory, but imagine how an iTrial will be with people who would read the league chat, but can't translate it fast enough)
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Originally Posted by Ukaserex
Moreover, some of those people may have taken advantage of the buy 6 get 1 or buy 12 get 2. Are those people going to get a refund? I doubt it.
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Originally Posted by Ukaserex
I understand that resources are scarce. I get that. I know businesses have to make hard choices. But this is one their research most likely showed well ahead of time. And if they didn't do the research before they expended the resources, someone up high needs a verbal lashing at a minimum.
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
As I said in the announcement, there's always been a significant challenge due to the popularity (or lack thereof) of the American Comic Book culture, however Free2Play/Hybrid games are extremely popular in France and Germany. We had hopes that this popularity would overcome these difficulties and lead to a resurgence in population within these Communities. Unfortunately this has not materialized.
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Originally Posted by Ukaserex
You don't stop supporting the servers, you market more effectively to increase the population. Every business decision must be made as if the business is going to live on indefinitely. Cutting back is not the right way to go, and it sure is a cheesy way to treat subscribers, even if there weren't that many of them.
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With absolutely no communication in France about the F2P changement, how could they hope having more french subscriptions?
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Originally Posted by Snow Globe
Their research showed that it might be profitable to keep production in French and German. After reviewing the situation, it turned out that it wasn't profitable. So, because it wasn't profitable, they are ceasing the unprofitable operations. |
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
Sadly, no.
This decision brings no joy to anyone within the Paragon Studios team. We have long been proud of our ability to offer CoH in both French and German. Unfortunately we have reached a point where supporting the costs associated with localizing all of the game files, all marketing materials and all Community content was unsustainable. |
Going by some of the truly blatant errors in the last SSA mission, it looks like you're even having trouble localizing for English...
It's now official. These servers have GONE TO THE AMERICANS!
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Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
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There will still be plenty of French speakers on Vigilance, but there's also going to be quite a few English speakers who are going to start playing on the server - so I think that there's going to be an active English speaking community on Vigilance too, which will, eventually, be bigger than the French speaking community.
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Originally Posted by Incan
Getting rid of the translation is not getting rid of players, thank for your consideration. Vigilance's community is and will remain frenchspeaking.
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@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
The response on the German thread has been fairly overwhelming.
It's as if a billion voices cried out...
Okay, maybe a couple hundred thousand...
Okay, maybe a couple hundred...
Maybe a couple dozen?
A dozen?
A few?
A couple?
At least one?
Nah, it's been pretty much silence...
Granted, this hit the servers at around 8PM their time.
Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.
It's sad for some players - and sad news generally but I get the reasons behind it.
There is, I guess, one small, upside in that those of us who are more linguistically challenged can team with our French and German colleagues - perhaps.
Let's hope this helps integrate the community rather than becoming an issue, but I would feel pretty low if I was a French or German player
Thelonious Monk
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No, I don't think this will happen, I'll be there to let them know there's a lot of englispeaking server with englishspeaking community that they could play on |
Originally Posted by Golden Girl
There will still be plenty of French speakers on Vigilance, but there's also going to be quite a few English speakers who are going to start playing on the server - so I think that there's going to be an active English speaking community on Vigilance too, which will, eventually, be bigger than the French speaking community.
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Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
The response on the German thread has been fairly overwhelming.
It's as if a billion voices cried out... Okay, maybe a couple hundred thousand... Okay, maybe a couple hundred... Maybe a couple dozen? A dozen? A few? A couple? At least one? Nah, it's been pretty much silence... Granted, this hit the servers at around 8PM their time. |
You know that its quite well known that the German community prefer to use a seperate forum than to the official one?
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Actually, Vigilance got it's 2 yellow dots for I21, and it stayed that way for a time.|
Originally Posted by Golden Girl
This was the one unfortunate thing about the launch day of I21 - when Exalted shot straight to red, along with others like Justice, infinity and Guardian, and even the 2 English Euro servers hit yellow, Zukunft and Vigilance were stuck at green - and when I checked them again for the latest 2XP weekend, it was the same situation.
I hope the German and French players will be able to integrate with the new communities that form there. |
Maybe you did not saw it because of the time difference (when we it our top frequentation spot, it's still early in the US).
What is sad is that we fought to keep Vigilance alive for years now, going through the total absence of a Moderator for quite some time, to the semi absence of those who were appointed to the french community. The pasts years, if it wasn't for Avaeta, it would have been a desert in the realm of communication.
It was not actually. Vigilance Community held the forum in order, went for the info in english and translated it in french, without the help of Rednames.
We kept our heads above the water, even when we saw this coming when F2P was announced and we perfectly knew that there would not be any publicity in France, so we would have to do it ourselves.
Now this. A kick in the head of a community trying it's best to advertise and support CoH. I truly don't know if many French players will leave the game. But what I do know is that those who are planning to are the core of our community. A good deal of my ingame mates will go, and i don't know if i'm willing to stay after 7+ years (didn't get my 7 Year vet badge by the way ^^) of loyalty rewarded this way.
I can understand the logic of the numbers, but please understand as well the bitterness of this "update" (really bad choice of words) for us, and the reasons why so many of us are planning to leave, feeling used and then tossed away when we became unprofitable.
Truly a sad, sad day for me.
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We Germans are talking usually on a inofficial Board about News like this. So the official Forums are nearly zero frequented.|
Originally Posted by Hyperstrike
The response on the German thread has been fairly overwhelming.
It's as if a billion voices cried out... Okay, maybe a couple hundred thousand... Okay, maybe a couple hundred... Maybe a couple dozen? A dozen? A few? A couple? At least one? Nah, it's been pretty much silence... Granted, this hit the servers at around 8PM their time. |
I think, the Crowd will begin to reponse in the next Hours (maybe after End of Work).
Then, what will i discuss? I have to take it like it is.
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Originally Posted by EU_Damz
You know that its quite well known that the German community prefer to use a seperate forum than to the official one?
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