Zwill. Devs. Fellow players.
The last 8 years have been amazing. I know many would think us all silly to care so much about a game being shut down, but I say to heck with those people.
We may be nerds and geeks and gamers and basement dwellers one and all, we may be "accused" of living fictional lives because we play games like this. But by god we are more ourselves than most people could ever claim to be!
We, the community of City of Heroes/Villains along with the lovely people at Paragon Studios, have always shown great solidarity and pride over who we are. Player meets, ingame events, social encounters of several varying kinds. I have always, and will always, take GREAT pride in saying I have been a part of this!
Those who know me personally also knows what this game has meant to me, things I can't bear to put into writing here and now. So I will just say that the extreme hardships I have gone through in my life would most likely have broken me, had it not been for this game and the people in it.
I encourage you all, especially the developers, to take great pride over what we have accomplished here. City of Heroes was not just a game, it was a second home to thousands and thousands of people where they could forget about troubles and hardships and lead a happy carefree life alongside others just like them, like me.
I bow especially for you, Andy 'Zwillinger' Belford, you took up the job as Community Manager for a community that was already flourishing and you made it EVEN BETTER. You have been truly fantastic.
Finally, to my comrades at the Union server. Thank you one and all for some truly amazing experiences, lots of laughs and frustrations has been shared in our very tight-knit server community. I have not always gotten along with each and every one of you, but even families have their disputes. I salute you all.
With this message I now bid you all farewell, Gods speed in whatever endevours you take upon you. Know that this paragonian will never forget what we had.
Most sincerely, and with a heavy heart: Kristofer 'Brimmy' Kjellberg....
@EU Brimmy - Union and Exalted servers
Thanks for all your hard work, Zwillinger, in taking this community into new social media, with the Coffee Talks, the Facebook Friday questions, etc, and most importantly, pouring yourself into your work. Your efforts were worth it. If you chose to continue what you've been doing, the next stop will be lucky to have you aboard, but here's hoping there's bigger and better things waiting for you and the rest of Paragon Studios.
Loose --> not tight.
Lose --> Did not win, misplace, cannot find, subtract.
One extra 'o' makes a big difference.
Andy, thanks for all you did for the players, the game and the community. It was a real pleasure having you around.
It was even more of a pleasure getting to meet you and talk to you. I'll never forget crashing the Private Meal the night before the first Pummit. You took it right in stride and Pepsiman captured the moment.
Thanks for putting up with all of my intentional incorrect spellings of your name. I had started off with just random letters, but it got to be more fun trying to make up a name that fit what I thought about you in the context of the moment.
So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
ZWILLINGER
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
A fond rememberance...
I was doing the impossible, or at least slightly insane. I was leveling a Brawl/WP Brute to 50, solo, street sweeping, no teams, no missions.
I had run into a situation where I needed the Freedom Phalanx Reserve badge... and one of those is the 100 Fake Nemesis.. Ugh...
But... HEY! The Nemesis Invasion! I can do that and get them there! ('cause the one in the Shadow Shard was takin' me forever to do...)
Even better... Zwillmesis was doing the rampaging at Atlas Park on Pinnacle!
I tanked 12 Fake Nem GMs that he spawned... And got my badge. It was a glorious night. Wouldn't have necessarily known it was Zwill except he kinda goofed the "BEWARE MY INVASION" part with his actual Red Name instead of the Nemesis one. 
Anyway. Good dang times, sir. I thank you, and the entire staff at Paragon. Thanks to Paragon for an excellent 7+ years... And to you, Andy (as well as the others, natch) much luck on your next chapter of whatever it is you wind up doing. Whoever gets ya is getting a good one.
August 31, 2012. A Day that will Live in Infamy. Or Information. Possibly Influence. Well, Inf, anyway. Thank you, Paragon Studios, for what you did, and the enjoyment and camaraderie you brought.
This is houtex, aka Mike, signing off the forums. G'night all. - 10/26/2012
Well... perhaps I was premature about that whole 'signing off' thing... - 11-9-2012
Thank you, all of you, so much for everything.
The longer version, over on the main thread.
My characters at Virtueverse
Faces of the City
You guys created an awesome playground, and invited us into it.
Every minute I've spent (and will spend) in City has been fantastic, except for that one time the vampire Archon killed me, then when I rezzed he ran back over again and punched me and killed me again. I said some mean things, that day.
But the rest was pure goodness.
Please try MA arc ID 351455, "Shard Stories: Scavenger's Hunt." Originally created for the Dr. Aeon contest, it explores the wild potential of one of the City's most concept-rich but content-poor settings: the Shadow Shard.
Shortly after you arrived, I believe I sent you a PM expressing how impressed I was with the way you were tackling this job...
That never stopped and only continued to be more impressive.
Great, great job, Zwill and thanks for also being a fun, cool, nice and sincere guy (either that or you fooled me good!). 
It's great that you're all taking this in stride, but I think it really sucks arachnos ***.
This game and Paragon Studios, in my opinion, are the best in the business. And to have it pulled out from you and us like this is just an injustice that all of us super-powers should be able to prevent... 
Still... I hope to cross paths again.
- Paul "The Electric-Knight" Thomas
P.S. (kinda jokingly) Now do you see why I hated awesome costume bits being held behind the Tier 9 system that I was JUST ABOUT to finally reach?? 
@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
I literally *just* found out about this and I have to say I'm devastated. I've made so many friends here and had so many good times, that I just don't know what I'll do without City to come back to. I'll definitely miss everybody that I know here, all my very good friends, and I'll be playing until the servers go down for the very last time. Thanks very much for the fun, Zwil, you've been a great Community Lead, and I hope you all at Paragon Studios find some place to go.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Texas Justice
ZWILLINGER
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In all honesty, thanks TJ. Meeting yourself, and many other notable/infamous community members was a real treat. As someone who played the game on and off since Beta, it really personified why I got into this business in the first place.
And I wonder how many Mai Thai's I'd had before that pic...
Andy Belford
Community Manager
Paragon Studios
Quote:
Not nearly enough :-D
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
And I wonder how many Mai Thai's I'd had before that pic... |
[Admin] Anti-Matter: I was in ur dimenshun, killin ur d00ds.
[Admin] Emperor Marcus Cole: Good job, Anti-Matter. Troll them.
Freedom, Virtue, Exalted
Great stuff by you and Freitag today Zwillinger. Must be hard but I appreciate that you were out there.
I don't suffer from altitis, I enjoy every minute of it.
Thank you Devs & Community people for a great game.
So sad to be ending ):
Thank you Zwill, and of course the rest of Paragon Studios, for everything. I'm going to miss this game like oxygen.
----- Union's finest underachiever -----
Farewell CITY of HEROES
The First, the Last, the One.
Union: @ominousvoice2059
Zwil, thanks for putting up with us, for hosting the Coffee Talks, and for fielding/diverting all of our probing, inane, and (once in a blue moon) answerable questions.
Any chance of a Community Coffee Talk Capstone?
Zwill, Andy... it was a blast. Thank you for being there with us.
Raid Leader of Task Force Vendetta "Steel 70", who defeated the first nine Drop Ships in the Second Rikti War.
70 Heroes, 9 Drop Ships, 7 Minutes. The Aliens never knew what hit them.
Now soloing: GM-Class enemy Adamaster, with a Tanker!
Thanks to all the people that made this such a great game for so long. This has been a great ride over the past 5+ years. I wanted to finally break my forum lurker status to say thanks, to the Devs/team who worked so hard to create such a great game, and to the players, who made this such a great game to play. I wish you all luck in the future and hope to see you all again.
Thanks Victory, you were all great.
Lord Y...
Quote:
I don't think you'd had that many.|
Originally Posted by Zwillinger
In all honesty, thanks TJ. Meeting yourself, and many other notable/infamous community members was a real treat. As someone who played the game on and off since Beta, it really personified why I got into this business in the first place. And I wonder how many Mai Thai's I'd had before that pic... |
Now, we won't discuss how many you might have had the Saturday night at the Spring Pummit ...
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
I cant post in the main thread (no VIP account, atm, or anymore 
) so, here will have to do.
The gaming world has lost its Grandfather today, it will live on in our hearts and minds forever thanks to the great community, that I'm proud to be a part of (all be it in a very small way).
City of Heroes was my first MMO, and I always thought it would go forever. The ability to drop in, do a few missions and drop out is what kept me here, there was never any pressure to be the best of the best.
To The Dev Team: You guys where the best, always willing to engage the community, take on suggestions and listen to problems like it was life or death and I wish you all luck with your future, you are all very talented people and I know you will find it easy to move on to other jobs (just please, don't go to zynga lol).
Goodbye City of Heroes, I will wear my Player Summit 2011 T-Shirt with pride.
[LEFT][COLOR=White][B]City of Heroes: Gone to the Europeans[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=Red][COLOR=SeaGreen][B][COLOR=White][B] since 2011[/B][/COLOR][COLOR=Black][B][COLOR=Green]
@DBeaver // Defiant[/COLOR][/B][/COLOR][U][U][B][COLOR=Red]
[/COLOR][/B][/U][/U][/B][/COLOR][/COLOR][/LEFT]
Zwillinger, tell me again where you bought your favorite hat so I can buy and wear one in your honor.
Friends don't let friends buy an ncsoft controlled project.
Thanks for all the fun ustream and twitch shows Andy. I still can't believe this is happening. City of Heroes is my spot.
thanks for the good times mate. /cry
Remember to take your cap with you !
I just want to thank everyone on the city of Heroes team. I started playing beta and went on to play since then. The character creator was awesome and i met a wonderful RP supergroup. Please keep the way the character creator was I would spend hours looking at random costumes and it was actually my favorite part of the game.
There were people in it from all over the world that I even met personally. I made awesome friends and....
One I met in particular that after playing for a year we decided meet on one of my vacations. I expected to never see him again after 4 days. We have now been married for over 4 years. Your game did change our lives.
Both of us thank you for a wonderful game and hope the next project is just as great!
Thank you,
Sara (Iceborne) and Johnny Pyre
Supergroup: Aurorae
Alts: Oriphiel, TuNDR-a
It was a pleasure to meet you in Chicago in July. I'm at a loss for words, like someone else said, I hope everyone at Paragon Studios has soft landings.
Quote:
No, no, thank you—thank you and everyone at Paragon Studios.
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
Thank you.
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I want to thank all of the Devs for this game. I've only been here since April, but already, it's some of the most fun I've had in my gaming career of 25+ years.
What can I say that hasn't been said? Thank you, this sucks, au revoir.
I have only been playing since 2010, but City of Heroes has been the best community I have had the privilege of being in. Virtue server for life, but in all seriousness - my heart literally sunk at seeing the news. I have made friends, and I have made memories. Some of the best I have ever had in my life.
I have played many MMOs in my 24 years, but none have ever come close to gripping me as much as City of Heroes has. It's not fair, and it is not right how this happened...especially not as suddenly as it did. I will agree with previous posts when I say we will not let this go down without a fight. You all came together and made the best MMO ever in m opinion, and you also gathered one of the tightest fan bases ever regardless of quantity. Every thing you did you did for your players, and that is what will make people never forget City of Heroes. If there ever comes a time where CoH comes back I will be right there to rally people to it.
For all the devs years of service. For everything you have done for us. Thank you... *hugs Zwill*