This Has just Been Posted In-Game

That's what I thought too...

This is good news (even if nothing ultimately comes of it). I'm cautiously optimistic that the game still has a future -- but still hopeful nonetheless. Hopefully they can bring everyone back that was laid off last week too.

Thank you for reminding me of Mass Effect and what the fans accomplished there!

There are those who say that petitions and letter writing compaigns never, ever work. That NCSoft has never done anything but shutter MMOs and kill them without selling them.

Those people who say that... they keep using the word NEVER.

I SAY...

LOOK!

Look at HOLD THE LINE and the other Mass Effect 3 protests and what THEY accomplished!

They forced... FORCED - EA/Bioware into releasing the Extended Cut DLC when all indications are that the personalities at the top of EA and Bioware had no intention of giving in - at least at first.

True - Extended Cut does far less than most Mass Effect fans had hoped. For many, it simply made the ending - acceptable. Not great. Not epic like it should have been. Just acceptable.

But that's MUCH better than it was!

The fans and organizers of Hold the Line and others SHAMED Electronic Arts... EA... THE VERY DEMON of the Gaming World... Into actually BUDGING even that far.

I don't think you realize just how HUGE that is. Take a moment to think about it.

Mass Effect fans were nowhere NEAR as tight knit as our community. They were scattered. There were fan groups and fanfic writing communities, but nothing centralized. Until enough of them realized that they were ALL pissed off. It took about 2-3 weeks - almost a month before they really started to move.

But move they did. And LOOK at what they accomplished!

Can we do any less? Can we AFFORD to do ANY LESS THAN THEY DID?

We can do MORE.

We are UNITED from the START. It hasn't taken us WEEKS to get moving. It's only taken DAYS. Maybe even HOURS.

We are collectively a JUGGERNAUT.

And we are ALREADY up to steam and moving forward!

Yes - it is wise to keep in mind we could fail. We could devastate ourselves emotionally if we do not acknowledge the simple fact that the odds are not in our favor.

But is that any reason not to have hope? NO!

We have every reason to believe that WE CAN DO THIS. IT IS MORE THAN POSSIBLE.

There is no more determined fighter than one who fights for their home.

PARAGON CITY IS OUR HOME.

Dig your feet in. Take a breath. Pop an inspiration or two if you need to...

THEN CHARGE FORWARD.

And the gates of all possibility will FALL BEFORE YOU.

IF we avert disaster, I want a damn badge out of all of this. Account wide.

Bah, I'll just be glad the game isn't going dark if we avert disaster. I enjoy this game too much to see it go, badge or no badge.

Not a whole lot. Bioware still stands by the worst parts of the ending (Starchild/Catalyst), and the fans now look to the rest of the world like over-entitled, whining manchildren.

And the new ending is still terrible.

NCSoft is going to ignore us like they ignored Tabula Rasa's fans. I heard many of the same things when it was shutting down.

"Through the End and Beyond" sounds about right.

"You have survived the near-annihilation of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. Even when things looked hopeless, you fought onward."



.

*THAT* would be totally awesome. I'd be so behind them all the way if they could manage that.

Thank you so much, Golden Girl! You have really made my day, no matter what happens.

I have always liked you on these boards. I know I never posted much but I always read these boards, and your continually positive outlook must make you a great person to know in real life.

And thanks for giving us some official word-- all the "false rumor/attention seeking" posts were getting to me here.

I will continue to hit other games' boards and the blogsphere with petition links, and do my part to spread the word.

Whether all our efforts pan out or not, it's good to know Paragon themselves are still dedicated to continuing the franchise (and probably that other game they were working on, too).

What I am getting at here is that the paradigm of expectations between consumers/fans and the publishers of games has been altered between when Tabula Rasa was shut down and now. And the Mass Effect fans were the ones that showed how it could be done.

NCSoft is also in a MUCH more vulnerable financial state now than they were during the Tabula Rasa days.

A further difference even between us and the Mass Effect community - they were dealing with a hostile EA. And when they dealt with Bioware, they were either dealing with execs who obviously partook of the EA corporate cultures or a set of developers who were muzzled and afraid of losing their jobs if they spoke out.

And they STILL got a concession. You may think the ending is still bad. I agree with you. But it's better than the stinkbag it was before.


Paragon Studios employees are already out the door in many cases. They've been laid off. What're they going to do, FIRE them if they take up our side or talk to us directly and honestly? Oops...

It is one thing to be realistic, it is another to be fatalistic.

Or to put it another way - you're NOT HELPING.

Very much agreed! Any encouraging news is gratefully recieved and will be spread around. I would be happy to spend more on my sub - even contribute a little cash if it would help keep this wonderfull game going.

Even if they're pointing and laughing, they're still pointing. This is a case where very little would be "bad" publicity; if we got a three-minute human interest story from CNN's odd-story reporter, do you think the people we want to make an impression on would be saying "Look at those losers she poked fun at?" Of course not. They'd be saying "Those fans got their story airtime on CNN. Maybe we should look at picking them up..."

Now, the public at large might think we're weird forever after, but we were (largely) comics and video game nerds beforehand. They thought that already. And now that I think about it, we are just one good PR stunt away from getting the aforementioned reporter--whose name escapse me--to produce a story about us.

Newton: I observed Mercury's perihelion moving 43 arc-seconds per century more than it should. Is this WAI? --Einstein

I suspect the legal issues with Richard Garriott that eventually followed would also have played a part in NCsoft's decision to hold onto the property.

As an MMO that's proven it has a (very) loyal fanbase and can still make a profit, CoH could be attractive to outside investors. Of course, given how business works noone involved in any discussions is likely to be able to say much about it in public until it's a done deal, one way or another.

So, fingers crossed, and hope for the best.

/me smiles behind her helmet's faceplate and chuckles darkly, a deep metallic female voice rumbles from the "Yes, this is what heroes do. They save things. I am not one of them...I destroy things that do not serve my purposes"

"Paragon City...for all its...frustrations, serves MY purposes for now. Destroying it does not serve my purposes...those who would destroy it, are acting at cross-purposes to ME. A more...unwise course of action I cannot imagine"

Tee hee!

Classic quote of the day.

Thanks a lot for this thread, people. I'm off to work now, but I will be smiling all day, if only for what might be.

Go Go Paragon! Go Go Us!

Here it is

http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes

http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes

Quests?!

And where did you read that in the article you posted a link to?

Closest I see is "It’s impressive to see a community band together to save something that they truly care about, and frankly we’d be immensely surprised if NCsoft wasn’t paying attention to this ground swell of support for what seems to be one of the MMO genre’s most beloved games."

Edit: or were you quoting Alpha Wolf?

No expectations, Zwill. Just hope.