And Thank YOU!!! LOL it's the community of players here on every server I've played (the majority of them) as well as their quality every bit as much as the beautiful artwork and special effects, nifty powers, etc. that made this all so special! I was welcomed to game, just as you describe with experienced players giving me tips, advice and INF/loot simply as a welcome to CoH! It stuck with me and I committed to passing the Good Will along to new players I met in-game.
This is totally unlike the other (admittedly a small handful) of MMO's I've tried since starting CoH, where I've been looked at funny and suspected of no good, simply for healing or buffing another player in passing. Why? Because routinely we do that here, sometimes pausing to say Thanks or even have a longer conversation, or rushing away without a word to thwart the bad guys, or pull off that devious caper.
I'm gonna mish the humor on the global chat channels, as well as my many CoH friends as much or more than any character I played here. I'm gonna miss being on way late, when someone pipes up, I'm bored, I'm gonna hold a costume competition and poof a small CC materializes out of nowhere, as well as teaming up with my SGmates or doin' a Hami Raid or iTrial. Heck, happily for my alt-itis, I still love all the lowbie content too, as well as several (many) AE missions.
So, yes! Thank you, fellow gamers! Your heroism, generosity, humor, and creativity made this the uniquely wonderful gaming experience that it was and presently still is. No matter what the venue, whether MMO or paper and dice, the game is only as good as players and the game referee. Thank you all for being super!
aka @Kristoff von Gelmini, leader of small SG bases (Infinity/Victory/Virtue/Protector), member of The House of Tera (Justice) and various others (Champion/Infinity/Victory/Guardian/Freedom).
mail sent to ncsoft
Quote:
hate to break it to you Ncsoft..but your should have added more stuff to coh before you quit us
GW 2 is gonna fall and ill tell you why..YOUR UP AGAINST THE BIGGEST MMO IN THE WORLD>>WORLD OF WARCRAFT
COh you could have
cut the servers to one
raised the monthly
sold us issues
sold the company to another company
BUT NO you took the hacksaw way and its gonna cost you 120k subscribers
in short words **** YOU NC SOFT
hope it gets into their thick heads
as Ood Sigma said....We will sing to you, Doctor. The universe will sing you to your sleep. This song is ending. But the story never ends.
Man these posts make me sentimental.
COX community, let's buy a piece of land and name it Paragon. Then we can have actual leaders with the names of the in-game heroes.
After civil wars, famine, and starving babies, I'll probably return to my current house.
But farewall you fun monkeybunch!
-BurnSucka.
"Melt 'em like butters!"
To everyone who ever sent a tell saying "Nice costume", or "Great bio", to everyone who ever dropped a level 50 SO on a level 2 character for starter funds, to everyone who dropped a heal or a buff on a newbie struggling with Hellions (or a not-so-newbie up to their eyeballs in Rikti), and yes, for every unasked-for drive-by Mystic Fortune, I say THANK YOU. For everyone who ever politely answered a question that you had heard 500 times before, THANK YOU.
As you can see from my post count, I'm not exactly active on these here forums. Though I probably haven't gone more than three days without diving in and reading what drove people to praise or disgust, often passionately stated, and passionately disagreed with. And funny thing, that passion for the game - for what helped it or hurt it - is what made me choose City of Heroes as my first MMO.
I heard about CoH when it was released. It interested me, but no way was I going to pay for a box and then a subscription too! City of Villains came out, and that was even more interesting, but, again, I pay for a game, then I have to pay more?! That's crazy talk! So I again said 'thanks, but no thanks'. Then a couple years later I read about this new Mission Architect, so, well now, that was very interesting. And it's on City of Heroes? I liked that idea, and yes, I liked liking the idea of CoH, too. Hmmmm, but I had friends who played MMOs, and despite the fun they had I also heard about the crud infesting MMOS - unwelcoming to noobs, vicious forums, the right builds or players ignored... I did NOT want to put myself through that sort of garbage to get to the point where people would actually play the game with me. Ughh....
So, I decided to go to the forums, and see what the community was like.
And my, what a time I picked to jump on in. The 5th Anniversary month was about to drop, and the forums were alight with the *pancake*storm (see what I did there? I really do read the forums) about the newish Mission Architect "problems". Words were being said; Positions were being staked. And everything I read here actually made me want to try the game.
Yes, I read intemperate outbursts and ad hominem attacks. Straw men lined up and burnt down. And I also read the why of it all. The community was so very much in uproar because the members were passionate about the game. These weren't attacks about the influx of 'those newbies', but rather strong statements that those new players were learning the game in ways that would hurt them as players, and that would not convince them that this was a game to stay with for the long haul. That they would be sent off into a fun super-leveling fest, and when they quickly bored of it they would go, without ever trying the stories, experiencing the missions and the zones, and having the fun of learning all the ins and outs of how their powers and how their characters worked.
Of course, YMMV, and maybe I'm the only one who came away from that time with this impression, but that is what I saw on these forums, and hey, I decided, how could you not want to know how this game worked with a community like this driving it? After all, right next to the threads bursting with napalm and vinegar there were helpful and welcoming threads answering the questions posted by new members, often answered civilly and helpfully by the same people up to their elbows in passionate argument right next door. So, let's give it a try...
I rolled up a character (very slowly, because that Character Creator is so... wondrous), I did Outbreak (and for the record, I really missed Outbreak when it was canned, though I REALLY missed Breakout), went to Atlas, tried my first missions (Azuria, I think). Took me until I had leveled up two more times before I found where in the heck Ms. Liberty was standing (She was swamped by people leveling up - it was a weekend and the AE surge was fully upon the game - and I didn't see her as an NPC in that crowd. Yeah I know, but IRL I need glasses, too). I did Kings Row; I ran the Hollows, then Steel, and so on.... I LOVED this game. I paid for my subscription before the Trial ended.
And strangely, after it was the Mission Architect that spurred me to explore, I rarely went into there. I did the Dev Choice arcs, and award winners, but no, I quickly learned that this game was just the perfect canvas for me to create my own characters.
I caught a terminal case of alt-itis really fast. I refused the interventions. I snuck sips of it from my desk drawer. I just loved that this game let you make any character you could ever want, from any genre, and with any powers, and still have fun, and have a community that was just as in love with letting any idea bloom. I loved PUGs. I loved being able to see what other people created. I loved bios. I loved seeing characters breathing with life. I loved costume contests, whether win or lose, just so I could feel my jaw drop at how amazingly creative other players can be.
I've been at this for 3 years, and have rarely not spent a day without logging in. I maxed my slots on Virtue, and when they made more available they sure weren't available for long. My first character (a grav/force field controller, and yes, that IS an "interesting" choice for a new player) still hasn't made level 50, because I can't stop trying out new characters/stories (though she's real close. I and my wife are now dutifully leveling up our mains, and I'm at level 49.4 so far)
I had (and still have) kids, and they take a lot of my time. A lot of AFK whenever I'm on, so I never tried to experience deep RP sessions, or commit to task forces. I just couldn't in good conscience start something and then have to disappear or walk away. But I looked forward to having the time to do so. I still stayed true to how my characters would act and react, even if it was a solo mission.
Dang it - there are too many things not done! I always intended to use the MA and create stories about Captain Futura and the Tomorrow Squadron (I was immensely pleased to see that supergroup name wasn't taken). I always intended to create an account at Virtueverse and write that bio which was more like a short story for Donnie Brook, and how she grew up on Mercy Island. And all the other stories about all of my other characters. This game breathed creativity, in practically every character I saw - even the joke characters (sometimes especially them), and I had my fair share of them too.
Well, this is rambling far more than I intended, and there's so much I would like to say (in an entertaining way - unlike what I've done so far ^_^). I will be here until the lights go out - I have to get that level 50, I have to experience Night Ward, I have to park my characters, not just leave them at their last mission doors. Since Virtueverse is intending to go on, I will get logged in there and "migrating" my characters onto it. I will make those bios, and the little tales that made them living people. I may go to CO, or DCUO, and hope I can continue their stories, at least for a few of them, though I only have experience here, and a Guild Wars account that I barely touched. I guess I 'll head where I can find the most CoH players, because I don't want to miss the creativity, the helpfulness, the joy of seeing great people infuse characters with life, and do it all without the begrudging anyone of their knowledge.
THANK YOU Virtue. I never said it here, because I don't say much, but your example brought me here, and I tried to be just as helpful and encouraging as the folks who welcomed me over the years, too. My characters thank you, because without you, I would never have found a place where they could live.
sincerely,
Sanctitas
Captain Futura
Rip Roaring
The Edison Automated Man
Servant of Lamashtu
The Galvanic Pugilist
Mojo Dojo
Star Princess M
Donnie Brook
La Demoiselle
Chef Death
Sister Patience
The Dragon Lady
The Terracotta Warrior
Prickly Pear
and family...