Well said, Saya.
Iscariot's Guide to the Tri-Form Warshade, version 2.1
I'm sorry that math > your paranoid delusions, but them's the breaks -- Nethergoat
P.E.R.C. Rep for Liberty server
While I disagree about the boycott, in light of Titan Networks efforts, I'll hold back on namecalling, blame, and threats (even the empty ones) until we've been told outright by NCSoft that there is nothing left to be done, followed by the timeless anecdote about doors and accidental hits in the butt.
For the brief time I knew you Sayaki, it was an honor. Thanks for hanging out with us this summer...
Hello Triumph, Moderators, Devs, and random passerby,
Since July, 2005, I have been playing CoH. When I started, it was a decent game. I remember the first time someone flew past and I was enthralled by it. I was alone though, and had no interest in playing WITH people. People are scary, and untrustworthy, especially on the net.
Then I made a friend on Triumph. He dragged me into random teams with all sorts of heroes. It was about 3 months before I realized that it was the same group of people on different alts. It was another 6 months before I accepted an invite to their SG and started being really social.
And you know what? Being social rocked. It turned a good game into something I truly loved. I made friends that have become my best buddies offline, and even fell in Love. This game gave me a means to get to know people and to become a leader of events on a regular basis. This game became my online home, over the years.
People have bashed the game often, and rightly so. The game is old, and full of bugs. The graphics are out of date, despite the best attempts of the talented crew of programmers it has had. One can look at any number of other games and see that. Games like Skyrim and SW:ToR have put it to shame with contacts that actually talk to you, that look like human beings instead of marionettes. The missions are often full of typos and the worst grammatical mistakes. Heck, there are taskforces that have foes saying things like "We'll get you yet Starget!!!" Someone just made a minor goof. As a game, CoH is way behind the times, and has fallen into disrepair.
That said, there are things about CoH that no other mmo or game has and that we are likely to never see again. Our costumes are 100% our design. We dun need some epic raid gear to make a costume awesome, we can be epic looking from the moment we make our toons. Best yet, our costumes dun make one whit of difference to how well we do our jobs as tanks, trollers, or w/e.
We have User generated mission content. Sure, a number of us use it for farms, but many others make real stories, in depth and detailed. The closest any game comes to that is Spore, and it doesn't do half the job.
We have REAL base design. The engine is clunky at times, and the graphics can be glitchy, but anyone who has spent time touring with @War Base, or @Stacker, or @Turbo Starr can attest that there is real art being produced. Champions attempted this, and failed. No other mmo can give you this.
Most important of all though, is communication. I'm not just talking about Developers that are in that game, playing at our side. I'm talking about a pure Hero talking to a pure Villain on a completely different server. It doesn't matter what faction you are. It doesn't matter what zone you are in. It doesn't matter what server you are playing. You can talk. You can create custom channels that can be accessed from anywhere by those on them. Even the best of the modern games cannot touch this. ToR is failing because it's people cannot communicate like we do. WoW had troubles because factions couldn't talk to one another, and this let people dehumanize those they could gank. No MMO on the market today will be able to build a community like ours without this freedom of open conversation.
CoH is behind the times. I doubt it makes money for the people in the board room anymore. It is 8+ years old now, and so far out of date that new players can't even be bothered to notice it amongst all the shiny toys out there for them to gape in awe at.
That said, CoH is the best MMO that has ever been on the market. Our Dev team made it that way, and our community kept it that way. That is why I am still here after so very long a time. That is why I will stay until the day they pull the plug on what has been such a large, influential part of my life.
That day is November 30th, 2012. Or so we have been told. I agree. It is time for CoH to retire. I do not agree it should have been done like this. Cutting development, merging servers. That lets a community ease into the end of their game. Many MMOs have done so, and the people drift off until it is shut down for good. Just shutting us off with 3 months notice...
We didn't deserve that.
The Dev team and Crew at Paragon did not deserve that.
We will petition and we will rant and we will rail at this. It will make no difference. The official notices are out. The ball is rolling. CoH is about to die.
The people at Paragon are likely already putting their applications on Monster.com. I hope that other companies see their skill and talent and give them higher paying work. I hope they can use what they have learned here to great greater works than ever CoH was, some day. I wish you all the best of fortunes in your futures. Thank you for all you have done for us!
Some of us will refuse to purchase NCSoft products because of this. I think this is a good idea to make your point that their termination of this franchise was wrong, but it is a bad choice as well. If we do not support a company that has brought us great work in the past, they will stop being able to produce great work in the future. Our talented developers that have been reassigned instead of ink slipped will lose their jobs as well. Other game makers will decide the great things done by this company are not worth moving to other games. We all lose for this.
I hope our players have the ability to move on, and trust that they will. Share your knowledge of what made CoH the best game to ever be ended with anyone who will listen. Play Guild Wars 2, and encourage the devs there to bring in the things you loved. Send in requests for a CoH2 that is fresh and up to date. Move to Secret World and bring friends. But never forget, it was you that made this game something that could make an out of date, unrealistic game like this something that kept me, and many others, enthralled and happy for most of a decade.
I love you all for that. Even you annoying trolls and gold farmers.
Thank you for so many years of companionship.
Good bye CoH, I'll stay here with you till the end....
@Sayaki, aka Michael Alcock.
-Michael: Ill/Storm Troller <><><><><><> Slide-Show Base-Tour: Its a London Thing