Silence All Around

Hey all,

I posted this in another thread, but given the number of threads we've had pop up this weekend regarding NCSoft's silence, I felt warranted to post it as its own topic where more people might see it. (Might be considered cross-posting?)

NCSoft's silence may be infuriating, unjust, and seem like poor business management, yet there is another group of people whose silence we are not considering: The devs.

We know that the Devs have heard us. They have yet to disappear off of the map, which means they have most likely seen our frustration as well. But they have given us no information other than to notify us that Paragon management was in discussions (and only discussions) with NCSoft and investors. [source]

Given the relationship between us (the community) and the Devs/Community team, I firmly believe they would have told us by now if they, too, had received nothing but silence from NCSoft. Because they would be able to; if they received no response from NCSoft, they would have no reason to be quiet about what was going on (whatever that may be). While they would not badmouth NCSoft, they would have the decency to tell us that a wall had been hit, and give us the opportunity to focus our efforts towards solutions that did not involve NCSoft (few though they are).

I agree: the longer the silence, the longer we have to wait, the harder it will be to recover. I agree: not a word from NCSoft either way on the subject after two weeks is astounding and aggravating. But we have not heard word either way on the subject from Paragon either.

So let's give our Dev team a little credit: As many of us forum-frequenters know, the quieter the Devs and Community team are, the harder they tend to be working, and last we heard, they were indeed working toward a solution.

Have hope.

-Winter

Well said

You're not really cross-posting, since the other thread's getting a nuke up its rear. And your message deserves its own OP anyway.

There's enough crap flying around, so thanks for the reminder, and thanks again for keeping your eye on the ball, Winterminal. This makes sense; the devs won't forget about us. There are a lot of things I don't trust about this mess, but that's not something that's up for debate. I trust our team.

We may not get through this in the way that we want, or, maybe we will. But one thing's for sure, some people out there are trying to do something, and we need to hold it together, keep making noise in unison, and keep doing our calls to action as a community.

I'm very angry at NCSoft's decision. But I feel the most anger when I don't feel like there's anything we can do about it. But, we've been encouraged by our team, it's been said that our efforts ARE making a difference. How big a difference or in what way? We don't know. But since we've been told that our game's continued existence is worth a try, then it may very well be up to us and our continued antics in the press. The devs may be watching our efforts with as much hope as we have for their efforts.

Thank you for posting this, Winterminal.

The devs have done a really good job of steering this ship.

I'm willing to keep letting them have a free hand until they ask us for more.

I still have hope that the people who've been said to be both profesional investors and players of City of Heroes, combined with the devs, are giving NCSoft a lot of food for thought.

Just so you know, the 'devs' were laid off the day we were notified that everything is closing.

They're looking for new jobs themselves. Andy Belford even said so on his coffee talk on the 5th.

Let's not kid ourselves here, guys. It's probably going to close, and perhaps osmetim the future (like APB Reloaded) it'll come back...

I'll crosspost my reply here too, since this thread seems more appropriate.

Very well said. I had similar thoughts and while it seems that a lot of people are getting edgy at the moment I think we still have a lot of reasons to be hopeful. Just two weeks after the game was announced as closing I wouldn't expect to have a definite yes for continuing the game in some fashion, but we certainly could have gotten a definite no that it can't continue. The fact that hasn't happened certainly makes me think that there's at least some hope for the game continuing.

I think we just need to keep positive, keep doing things like the rallies, playing the game, buying the devs dinner and getting the word out. There's still a long way to go, no need to get discouraged yet.

As much as I've been bouncing back and forth between hope and crushing despair, thank you for the reminder. Just remember, the silence could always be worse.

Thanks for a positive thought Winterminal, in all the negitivity going around it's nice to read something a bit more uplifting, even if it is a long shot.

Yeah, the waiting is hard but, I'm sure they're trying. They love the game too.

Keep in mind that their severance packages are likely tied to a non-disclosure agreement. For financial reasons, I suspect no dev will comment openly on the closure except in the most broadest ways.

The longer the Paragon Studios folks are silent the better off we are. Why you ask? Simple the longer they are silent and not running crazy game breaking events on the live servers the more likely it is that a solution favoring us will be reached.

Think about it folks, if its possible that they can save the game then they're not going to do anything to screw up the live environment b/c they will want things to carry on after Nov. 30 as if nothing ever went wrong.

No news literally is good news for us.

Jester raises a good point. The fact that they're willing to discuss and taking this long to come out with a solid answer is a good sign. No's are quick. Yes's tend to take time. It could still be a no ( In fact, I'd say it's probably most likely a no, but it's less certain the longer it takes ), there are exceptions... But the fact that we have no answer yet is reason to hope.

Zwill just posted in another thread that there would be a message regarding "the cessation of player services" in the next few days.

I saw this thread before, but didn't get around to commenting...
Just wanted to say, nicely stated, Winterminal and thank you for contributing the positive and reasonable vibes.
I've been growing tired of a lot of the negativity around here. There' just a certain level of criticism and dissent and ongoing negativity that really is unneeded and very much unwelcome.
Anyway... let me not contribute to that element by ranting about it, haha...

Quote:

Originally Posted by BurningChick Not that anyone ever reads my posts ... But one other data point -- Posi hasn't posted his reply to our questions about the Story of CoH. If he spills the beans on everything ...

Ineed!

Quote:

Originally Posted by NightshadeLegree I currently have an almost superstitious dread of Posi answering the AMA. Rationally or not it's on my list of bad omens. (See, someone did read your post.)

And, yep... I somewhat dread seeing Posi post that stuff.
Maybe I'm living in denial, but I can handle the crocodiles for a while longer.
(and I read the post too, woohoo!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jester That's ok. NCSoft still has to proceed with basic shutdown procedures in case the talks do not pan out. Talks won't prolong the life of the game unless they are successful. So they still have to put out the details of what happens with left over credit on accounts etc no matter what happens.

Yep! Plus, honestly, there's little to no chance that NCSoft will be involved in the continuation of CoH. So, they will still have to handle their end of the bargain regarding our subscriptions and accounts and all of that.
So, even if/when we get further information about player/customer service cessations, it doesn't really mean a single thing in regards to selling CoH and letting the project, community (and, hopefully with time and favor on our side, Paragon Studios) continue.