Mission Architect - CoH killer?

What got CoH dropped was that NCSoft saw their investment $X in Paragon producing $Y returns, and believing if they used that investment elsewhere they would see greater returns than Y.

I have no data or source other than I myself. I have had my main account continuously active since September 2004. I bought a second account sometime after the Good vs. Evil box came out but cancelled it twice.

The first time I cancelled was right after the MA came out, but it wasn't specifically due to the MA or power-leveling. Rather, it was the Dev's heavy handed response and subsequent forum suppression. Since I wasn't permitted to complain about how it was handled on the forums, I cancelled the account.

If I recall correctly, I had several friends who responded similarly. Either they took a break, cancelled one or more accounts, or left altogether. But that was not unique -- the dev response to MA, ED, I13 PvP, Itrials, Freedom, burnout, and a whole host of other grievances large and small have led some of my friends to quit the game. Sometimes they come back, sometimes they don't.

Even my second account came back. I activated back up about a year later after Zwillinger took over as community rep and they introduced incarnate stuff, starting with Alpha. But then I had to cancel again after I lost my job and started my own business.

So, in response to the OP, I think the fall in profits in mid '09 was death by a thousand cuts. Some of it was MA (or the dev's reaction), some economy, some PvP rage, and a bunch of other reasons.

All I remember about MA was that everything outside AE was a ghost town for a good long while after it launched. Hardly any non-AE farm teams to be had - not even good ol' sewer runs -and since casual teaming was the reason I played, my interest quickly fizzled.

I don't know if enough people felt the same way to have a significant impact, but it is the reason I took an extended break.

Snape killed CoH

Re: all the AE babies ruining the game. Maybe they did. I wasnt there at the time (having started under Issue 15) and I played only content the first 2-3 months. I'd play my def during the day, usually soloing unless one of my new MMO friends happened to be on, maybe go up a level, but by evening more were on, and I'd team with friends who had work the next day. Often after they crashed I'd see people advertising for teammates to play AE and in far shorter but often less enjoyable time gained another level. Compared to dev content many of the AE missions were (imo) far less interesting. But of course, that was prior to my understanding that these AE's were often written for max gain (in XP or tickets) for the least amount of travel and effort and most had next to no story, unlike say TALOS VICE.

If that turned off so many veteran players at the time that they left game in sufficient numbers never to return which in turn resulted in the sunsetting of the game EIGHT issues later (almost nine, and I'm counting from Issue 15)... well, I'd be surprised.

As I posted before, one of my earliest friends had gotten into CoH (her first foray into gaming of any type) when her brother and his friends persuaded her to try it and PL'ed her first character to 50, a toon she subsequently rarely played. I met her on a low level tanker, her 2nd toon, "learning to play coh" in her words. As a grassgreen newbie to CoH and all MMORPGs, I often told players I was new and learning. I asked for constructive advice, or sometimes teammates took the time to explain what strategy we were gonna use. I also teamed with other new players so we could learn together. I appreciate that teaching new players (or even taking the time to type chat with us) could feel frustrating to many veteran players. By logical and erroneous extension, I can now assert it was NEWBS who killed CoH!!!! And yes, that's entirely intended as a joke.

Continued Best Wishes to the Dev Team and the CoH Community! For slightly more than 3-1/2 years CoH provided me with great entertainment and enjoyment. I wish it were continuing.

It was..........
Soap poisoning!



(it's a joke... people need to lighten up!)

AE was great for the soloist, 2 boxer, or PLer crowd. FOr those who wanted to do a legitimate team and get into the missions it was nearly impossible to understand what was going on, except for the mission leader. I think it was implemented poorly for legitimate teams and non leading team mates to even know what the missions objectives were. I suppose if the team used a teamspeak it could be pulled off. If the leader would read the dialog to you. I mean, sure, non leading teammates would get the bullet points (click 3 glowies, killed named boss and lackeys, etc) but the story, MAN, the story was what this was supposed to be about, and only the leader gets the window to pop up? C'mon!