We came, we saw, we kicked some arcs!

Words cannot adequately relate the emotion that I feel right now for everyone, not only at Paragon Studios, but for all of the fans that made this the most enjoyable, memorable, and rewarding experience in my career. But words are the medium at hand, so I will take care to wield them to the best of my ability.

Working on City of Heroes was a dream come true. Of all the MMOs that I have played or worked on, it was (and still is) my favorite. Story, character, community; all of these things the game had in spades and still there was more to be found with each breath I took sitting in my chair, striking those keys like a carpenter with a hammer - building it higher.

I have been here for just over four years, the longest I have been on any project, or at any company for that matter, and those four years were amazing. I got to be there when Praetoria was being built. I got to throw my hat into the ring and say, "I think THIS is what we should do", and I got to have people say, "Yes, that is what we should do, now you go do it." I became Mr. Praetoria, my vision got to be realized, and best of all, you all got to experience it. As a story teller, nothing could beat that. Or so I thought...

I got to be there during Hero Con 2009. There, I had the honor of revealing to you the spectacle that was Praetoria by speaking in character, as a Praetorian, about the glory of Emperor Cole, how amazing he was, and how absolutely delicious the water was. I was overjoyed when the attendees "got it" within about 5 seconds and realized just what we meant when we said, "Praetoria: Utopia at a cost". I could not have loved you all more than at that moment. Or so I thought...

Then the forum signatures declaring loyalty started to show up on the boards and I knew that Praetoria had struck a pleasure center somewhere in everyone's brain because it was spreading like wild fire. "This" I recall saying, "is the greatest thing I have ever seen!" Or so I thought...

For years we have provided the world with an MMO where you can play super heroes (and villains) who give it their all to help the needy, rescue the endangered, and fight the good fight. Never deterred by the hazards thrown at you by me and others like me, the world could always count on you to save it (or make it a better place for yourself). But now... now I think we see the real heroism that is in each and every one of you.

Because until now, I thought that the greatest thing I would ever see was some fantastical story I dreamed up being enjoyed by thousands. I thought that I could not love you all more than seeing your smiling faces at Hero Cons, Meet and Greets, and Player Summits, or reading your kind words on these forums. I thought that my greatest accomplishment was to have the chance to write the story I wanted to tell. But now I know that isn't it at all...

It is you.

You are the greatest, most loving, and most accomplished group of people I have ever met in my life.

Thank you for being you.

-John Hegner

I was wondering when you were going to show up - and you can be rightly proud of Praetoria - it's the single biggest and most complex storyline in the whole game.

damn you golden girl! And yes we did!

All I can say is, never has a post-apocalyptic dictatorship looked so incredibly beautiful, awe-inspiring and tempting to live in, and the revelations of what madness lay beneath the surface hit all the harder for it. I'm going to miss just roof-hopping around Nova Praetoria and taking in the atmosphere of it all. Thanks for all you did to make it come to life, and here's to hoping we'll get to live out an even bigger vision of yours down the road.

Indeed, and I personally salute you. For you and your storytelling ability got me to create Emperor's Adul8r, my main character Retail Retali8r's far-future form. In those stories - some disturbing, and some poetic - she found her home in Praetoria.

Your Cole is the one version of him that *she ever liked*. Sure, she knows what kind of rule it really is. But she has been loyal to him til the bitter end and beyond.

Way beyond, if the game winds up closed for good - she'll be logged out under his statue in Nova Praetoria.

I absolutely love Praetoria. It's beauty is unmatched. It reminds me of parts of my home city San Diego, in ways. (we have neon skylines too!) Yes, it's a clean and neat place with a dark underbelly, but what city doesn't have that? The world as well, thank you for bringing it to us. Compelling relationships between heroes and villains abound.

I am just tremendously saddened that I can never complete Emperor's Adul8r's journey to 50 AS a Praetorian. I have no interest in forcing her to become a hero or villain. She is already both, RR blueside, and Retali8ed Retailer on red. An immortal dimension-hopper like her needs the full treatment. She's 24, might hit 25 if I can arrange it, but I can't team properly with her, can't join a sg, and can't even use further tailor slots (I just bought the 6th slot 2 weeks ago PURELY for her to have a third costume).

In short... >_> *glances up* sorry, in long... Thank YOU - pretty specifically you - for producing Goldside. I know it's a group effort, but you did a terrific job, Emperor's Adul8r salutes you.

you did good protean , the stories were really good , it was just the difficulty .
And then the F happened that made GR less then satisifying .

Sorry this community of all things should be sometimes told the truth .
Instead of trying different approach , the love for Paragon Studios/CoH is great enough to lets us dig deeper into our wallets .

So thank you for all the work

John, Before I say anything else. Thank you for making a compiling story. It was this, to me, that was one of the components that made this game worth playing. There are of course many. But, a good story is part of the escape the game provided.

I was at that panel, and we did get it in 5 seconds. And we loved it. There was a collective murmer. My contribution was a chuckle. Such, a brilliant recasting of the goatee trope that Praetorian was. It was City of Heroes with the influence of Cole leading that world to a different place. Originally, with the same goal but, with a different way to "achieve" it. I could not wait to play it. I enjoyed every minute of it when I did.

--Rad

Thank you, Protean!!

I love this community as well, but I just want to make sure you understand that you and the whole team (and War Witch raved about you to me the first time I spoke to her when Going Rogue launched)... you guys are THE best in the business.
The story arcs, the innovations, the game play, the absolute enthusiasm and love that every single Paragon Studios employee I have ever had the pleasure to talk to or just hear from, the ability and willingness to communicate and interact with the entire community... and the modesty to take those experiences and apply them to your craft... It all has made it a blast to be a customer, fan, player and a part of this awesome game.

Much love to you, your work and everyone over there. And, you need to know... we are not done believing in and holding on to you guys.

Heroes may die, but heroism never shall.

Man, I hate to say it but...I hate you.... Well, at least Protean himself. Not you personally. Seriously! Huge AOE and self heal! That sucks when you just say 'meh! I'll just solo this with my defender'. Cruel I tell you!
I will say thank you, however, for getting me off my butt and make my first team to beat you.
You are devious.
Thank you.
For all you've done for/to us.

I'll repost this here, because Protean told me that he liked it the first time I posted it a couple of years ago:

Before I forget my manners (again), thanks for being so generous with your time (and info, as much as possible) at the Player Summits, via PMs, and all that. Thank you for not taking it TOO personally when I said I was going to smack you... and thank you for holding up the lore as best as you did.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Thank you for letting us play in your playground with you, Protean!

May you keep dreaming, keep creating, and keep discovering new levels of amazement.

Thankyou for giving me a world where I could be a (and villain).

I lost track of what I was intending to say earlier...
Just started that off to say that, because of all those great qualities, you guys (and this game) deserve to continue on for quite some time and should be rewarded for your fantastic work... And the recent events are insane and totally undeserving of the fantastic team you guys have put together over there!

Cheers, mate, Was just in Praetoria, enjoying it again.

#FPARN

(Fifteenth Post After A Red-Name)

Thank you for some great story arcs and for the compelling Praetorian Earth content, Protean. I really enjoyed it.

Thanks for Praetoria, Protean (and everyone else who helped, natch). Praetoria, more than any story or zone in the game, has been by far my favorite of everything. I mean, I loved blueside when I first started playing (it's what hooked me), but I quickly came to prefer redside, because villains are always so much more fun to play and write.

Praetoria, though, is what I wish the game had been since day one, had it had the capability and vision to be so. Shades of grey, morality plays, these are my favorite themes as a reader, a writer, and a roleplayer. Life is nuanced, and layered, and messy. And while I certainly wouldn't want to play a game called Real Life (I'm not very good at it), placed against a backdrop of super powers and the chance to achieve spectacular heights and morose lows, that is the kind of rich fantasy life I want to play in. I want to create for (oh, if only I'd ever gotten off my *** and written those Praetoria AE missions I wanted to write, like "A Connecticut Rikti in Emperor Cole's Court").

So thank you, Protean, for that.

Except for the part where you blew it all up, damn you to hell!

(But not really that last part about Hell. That was just the Charlton Heston in his "good days" in me coming out.)

Dear Mr. John Hegner "Protean", THANK YOU and your colleagues for all of this!!! I started May 2009, my first MMO, and I never stopped. Sure, I'd seen friends play WoW, UO, even spent an afternoon while I friend walked me thru playing EQ1, but none of those grabbed me. One session of City of Heroes with an old gaming buddy I'd lost touch with but who'd been playing CoH from Week 1 was all it took!

I enjoyed the game under Issue 15 and with each new issue and expansion just kept getting better!! (Man, I am so wanting to play under Issue 24, experience the blaster powerset revisions but especially the new content and Nature Affinity.) The Incarnate system, the BlockBuster summer event, Capt Mako's Shark Week, the new IO sets, just kept upping the Awesome!!

During my 3 and a smidge years, I took sometime to try some other MMO's but all paled compared to CoH. I've even had players in other MMO's look at me strange or worry that I'm up to no good by Healing and Buffing them in passing, as is so common here. We may not be the largest, but the Community of Players here is heroic, generous, humorous, helpful and generally good-natured. Also loyal as anything. I knew this MMO Community was special, but not until this crisis did I realize to what extent. Ditto for the development and related teams at Paragon Studios. If crisis brings out the True Colors, then I have to say the true colors shown here reflect very well on all concerned. (*excepting whoever made the decision to sunset City of Heroes at NCSoft.)

Back to you, sir. THANK YOU for Praetoria! I was thrilled when I rolled my first Prae toons when Going Rogue came out. Not only were these some of the very prettiest city zones - and what an amazing night sky! - but the intracies of the interweaving plots, the purposeful ambiguity of whether Loyalists or Resistance were the good or bad guys, the more mature content to the storylines, the remarkable and satisfying continuity with everything Praetorian and related to Praetoria.

Like a lot of people, my Praetorian characters retain their Praetorian roots, and my second favorite character is a blaster on Victory who still introduces himself as Mark Davis, Powers Division, and whose battle cry is "Greetings from Emperor Cole!" (It was fun using that in the Magisterium trial on Tryant, whom my character insists is obviously an evil doppelganger, not the real Cole.)

Well, here I am digressing into happy memories.

THANK YOU AGAIN and Here's hoping one way or another Issue 24 and beyond can proceed as planned 'cause, baby, you got game!

P.S. Golden Girl, Thank you! That was hysterical!!!

Thank you for your time and effort, for those wonderful stories.

We are here to stay, and nothing will stop us. We are all one right now.

THANK YOU

;em Salute

Thankyou Sir.

I loved Praetoria.... correction - I love it.

That showed a maturity of storytelling that wasn't present in many earlier arcs and told some great tales - even if I didn't get them initially and it took a later reveal to find out what was happening.

I still wanted to the ability to remain a Loyalist til the end though!

Hence I created my own Supergroup: The Praetorian Imperial Secret Service.

Because in Praetoria, the P. I. S. S. Takes You!

(and I even got Avatea to join that with one of her alts)

"You got to dig it to dig it, you dig?"
Thelonious Monk

It's been a pleasure, Mr. Crusher. Engage.

(Had to sneak one last one in)