Save Paragon City! efforts coordination

Cross-posted on the Titan Network forum

Hey all, I've noticed that a lot of people are putting together disparate efforts to save Paragon City, myself included. We need to work together as a team. In that spirit, I'm starting a thread to list what's being done and by whom. If you want to save Paragon City, please direct your energies to an existing effort if possible instead of kicking off another thing to divide everyone's attention even further. For example, please don't create a new Facebook page, as several are already created and one page with 10,000 supporters is much better than 100 pages with 100 supporters each. If you know of something that's not listed here, please let me know and I'll edit the post to add it.

For the sake of maintaining a high signal-to-noise ratio, please try not to derail this thread. It is intended as a reference, not a discussion of the merits or lack thereof of the efforts. Also, please bear in mind the topic: to SAVE Paragon City. There are a lot of threads and efforts going on to remember City of Heroes and perhaps to commemorate the end of City of Heroes if that comes to pass, but these links are sites and efforts specifically dedicated to making sure that doesn't happen.

• We are heroes. This is what we do.: A rallying cry from the Titan Network, as well as a new forum dedicated to efforts to save Paragon City.
• Titan Network's crowd funding appeal: The purpose is to explore the possibility of using crowd funding to acquire or license the IP, code base, and client distribution rights to City of Heroes. Sponsored by the Titan Network.
• Keep NCsoft from shutting down City of Heroes petition: An effort to convey to NCsoft the importance of keeping City of Heroes active.
• VALVe email campaign: An effort to encourage Valve to acquire City of Heroes. Valve has an extensive distribution infrastructure and City of Heroes might make a good addition to their portfolio.
• NCsoft write-in campaign: Let NCsoft know how much City of Heroes means to you and how important it is for the game to continue on. Remember, the idea is to save City of Heroes, so please do not use it as an opportunity to vent. This will hurt us MUCH more than help us.
• Save our City of Heroes: A Facebook site dedicated to saving City of Heroes.
• City of Heroes Can Not Leave: Another Facebook page dedicated to trying to save City of Heroes.
• Open source the code for City of Heroes: A petition to request for NCsoft to release the code base for City of Heroes as open source.

Hey, thanks for adding the Valve email campaign - 'ppreciate it.

An open letter to NCsoft

I know this is a resource page, but I have to say this, and if you want me to take it down, I understand and no offense.

Thanks, man.

I'm mad at them. They don't, and can't, understand that this game, and this player base, is different.

I think that when you make a Superhero game that is truly heroic, you bring out something special in people.

I don't know if any of this will work, but, in the end, that doesn't change anything, does it?

It wouldn't stop Superman. It wouldn't stop Batman. It wouldn't stop Spider-Man.

See, as cheesey as it is, I grew up with those guys, and they had a lot to do with what is best in me.

Win or lose, we'll be wearin our boots.

i am fully supporting the petition as well as tony in the efforts to start a kickstarter and to not keep all eggs in one basket, assisting the valve email campaign

You in the right direction. All of you are.

Very proud, Tony.

Keep up good work!

We should try to convince Z to sticky this.

I24 Proc Chance = (Enhanced Recharge + Activation Time) * (Current PPM * 1.25) / 60*(1 + .75*(.15*Radius - 0.011*Radius*(360-Arc)/30))
Single Target Radius = 0. AoE Non-Cone Arc = 360.

Here's a couple ideas to get non-forum people in on our efforts:

--Play as much as possible, team as much as possible, talk about not going down without a fight as much as possible, post link to this thread whenever applicable (which should be frequently if the above steps are followed).

--Replace in-game character bios with a "Save our City!" message with a link to this thread (and a note that no forum log-in is necessary to view it; I just checked to verify this). Save previous bios to a text file if necessary.

Also, I saw another thread started to ask Blizzard to acquire CoH. http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=296453
TonyV, if you're on, please update the OP.

Stay strong, and keep up the good fight!

Blizzard... could also be an option, frankly. Their own success with WoW might help CoH, and they wouldn't be in direct competition since they have diametrically opposed playstyles.

An open letter to NCsoft

One thing I've been doing is heading to the "Give Tip" section of gaming news websites such as Massively and IGN, and writing something to this effect:

'I'm @William Valence in the City of Heroes community, and as you may be aware NCsoft has decided to shut down the City of Heroes games. This comes as a huge shock to the players of the City of Heroes games as we've been an active and successful part of the NCsoft NA/EU market.

As NCsoft tends to play it close to the vest with numbers, the best I've been able to come up with over the last few years is that the CoH games makes about 2.5mil per report, and is about 55% of NCsoft's NA/EU gross.

It is not unreasonable that NCsoft has decided CoH no longer fit's with their future plans and goals, but our community finds it unreasonable that they would bury a successful game and it's community, a community that has supported NCsoft gainfully it's 8+ year tenure, with no regard for the players.

We, as a community, ask that you write an article voicing our plea

"Don't kill this community. If you wish to move a new direction, more power to you, but there is nothing like City of Heroes it won't compete with your future plans. It is the only super casual, non-grind, cosmetic based, super-powered MMO in existance. Allow Paragon Studios to develop the game independantly, or let them find a new publisher/parent company to take the IP forward.

We have supported you untill the moment you announced our termination. Just 10 day's prior we were celebrating yet another new powerset, and the beta forums were alive and giddy with excitement for future balance changes, long awated power sets, and freaking power pool customization. This game has a lot of life left to it. Give us the ability to support you in the future, by showing your support for us now. Let us keep going even if it can't be with you. Don't go scorched earth on our game and forget that player that have supported you will be burned in the process."

We don't know what to do, we're fighting for our game, community, and developers who have given us all we have asked for and thing's we couldn't imagine. The freedom for 1 in a Gillion+ character customization, and a level of content that beats out any two MMO's you can find on the market today. We are not done with this game and we need a voice.

Please help us keep our community alive."

The three goals here.

1. Explain how this came out of no were and that this is not a failing title being dropped.

2. Explain how this effects the community and as a result how it could effect other communities should the pattern continue to other NCsoft titles. Most importantly explain the rammifications of this action on the community to NCsoft relationship. If they burn us, we are unlikely to come back for more in the future.

3. Give them an out that makes them smell like an effing rose. Invite them to support our community. Say it's not unreasonable to want to go a different direction, but state how amazed you are at their level of support should they choose to let us exist outside their umbrella of titles. Build them up as freaking shining heroes compared to lesser faceless and souless competiters who would have killed us off.

I really don't know if this will help, but I'm still going to do what I can to spread this around as much as possible and invite others to do so as well.

To those dealing with NCsoft more directly, I hope whatever pressure I can bring this way helps.

Honestly, a few people dropping the type of tip I showed in their contact field would be a good way to show that this is a community effort. Then should, say, someone representing the titan network shows up and provides the story, there would be a demonstrated intrest.

My thought on best bet. Do both. Have individuals drop the tip lines these type of messages. Then on tuesday they'll find a lot of interest in the story, and an orginized group they can contact.

Oh, why not? Couldn't hurt, right? Here's what I'm sending to pc.ign.com:

I've sent a tip to the PA Report.

So far I've done Massively, IGN, Kotaku, and PA. I'm going to look up Mr. Yahtzee's stuff and see if he'll make a vid or something. Any others that anyone can think of?

There's VG247, and Extra Credits might be an idea to to contact, at the very least it'd make a good basis for an episode for them.

Tried Extra Credits, but it wouldn't let me submit the message. If someone could hit them up instead that would be amazing.

Bumping this thread because it is starting to get buried a bit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonyV [*]Keep NCsoft from shutting down City of Heroes petition: An effort to convey to NCsoft the importance of keeping City of Heroes active.

Also, I would like to encourage anyone who has not already done so to sign the petition. We are currently 711 supporters away from the 10,000 supporter threshold. Getting 10,000 people to officially voice there support for this game over one extended holiday weekend carries weight because it illustrates an ability to rapidly mobilize committed people.

Please make sure you add your voice to the chorus.

I just signed the petition. Only 330 more signatures needed to hit 10,000.

Not a bad number of signatures in less than 72 hours.

I can only hope that we're able to bring City of Heroes back to life.