Am I the only one not upset?

I don't mind admitting that I am upset.

I'm not angry. I'm sure NCSoft had reasons behind this decision, even if they aren't 100% clear to all of us. I do find how they went about implementing the decision a bit perplexing and even frustrating at times--but I'm certainly not mad enough to go all rage/boycott/revenge on NCSoft like some players have. I understand that in the end, corporations are looking out for themselves and their shareholders, and often this means making choices that customers don't like or understand.

But I am a bit distraught. I'm not a big video gamer and other than CoH, I've never been into MMOs. This is the only game I play, and for the last few years, it's been my only real hobby. I work a full time job and I have a family including two kids that I spend a lot of time doing things with, so I don't have a lot of "me" time these days. What "me" time I did have, I primarily devoted to City of Heroes. Designing and playing superheroes has been a great creative outlet for me in a life that doesn't have that much room for creativity anymore. It was something I'd really come to look forward to doing.

I'll get over it. In time, something else in my life will replace City of Heroes. But right now I'm sad. There are still so many things I wanted to do and characters I wanted to play, and I thought I still had at least another year or two to do them. I just feel I wasn't "done" yet. It may seem silly to those who think "it's just a game," but that's how I feel.

I really don't see what's so awesome about the Monster Hunter animations. Seriously, they seem pretty comparable to CoH's.

I'm talking about the actual animations of the attacks, rolls, etc. of the player characters we see.

What's I see different is that there is more stuff going on with the characters' costumes, which makes them look a bit more detailed. The character has a rather dynamic ponytail, which has no direct CoH equivalent, though capes are sort of close. (I happen to think CoH capes are amazing, and have never seen anything I consider as good even after all this time.) The animations for the dragon-esque creature he fights are pretty nice, but then there's nothing terribly like that to compare them to in CoH. Maybe some of the new quadruped rigs, but none were used as big lizards or dragons.

But other than the ponytail, I'm not at all seeing what's so superior about the moves the player character is doing compared to ones in CoH. I compare them directly to things a Titan Weapons character would do, and I'm not seeing a lot to differentiate them.

I was the very definition of "newbish" when I first started playing. I can't even begin to count how many questions I asked over the help channel. But people went out of their way to make sure things were squared away. One guy even game me 2 mil inf "just to get me started." So, my experience was the opposite of yours.

I mean, I did play on Liberty at first, and the server was kind of small, but after making a character on Virtue, I was blown away by the amount of people playing. And this was before Freedom went live.

You're definitely entitled to your opinion though. I may not agree with it, but I"m not going to belittle it either.

Several months ago I decided to stop playing, I had my last semester of school to concentrate on, I knew my wife was being transferred to TN, and I had to find a new job in my new field. So with all the graduating, transferring, moving, etc me and the wife decided to stop playing for awhile.

While all this was going on and I was in TN, as I had already started my new job, my wife was wrapping things up in OH. Our condo got hit by lightning and wiped out both our pc's...SO once we got settled we figured we would build new pc's and start back in November just in time for the Winter event. BUT, guess what NC pissed on those plans.

So now we hope that Paragon or TonyV or baby jesus can save the game. We have still so much to do and this game still has far to go. I am not really mad just disappointed I guess, the wife on the other hand is pissed, I guess that's why she always makes brutes lol.

Besides we have made alot of friends here that has carried over into rl and love the fact that we can get together and play. So heres hoping that something happens in this games favor.

I've said all along that this game means different things to different people. I am upset because, as someone above mentioned, 80+ people were laid off. "It happens all the time," you say? Well, that's true, but it's also pretty sad. These people have been busting their butts, some of them for more than 10 years, working all sorts of crazy hours and being really good at what they do. I guess that it always bothers me when someone works really hard, does a great job, and their big fat reward is a swift kick in the a** out the door. You know how your mom always told you that if you work really hard and are really smart that you'll do well? Statistically speaking it might work out that way in aggregate, but this is just evidence that on an individual level, sometimes you're completely at the mercy of people who do not have your best interest at heart, and there's a steep price to pay for it.

Nevertheless...

I get it, I really do. To some people, this is "just a game." It shuts down, you move on to something else, ho hum. I've never demanded anything else from people who really don't care that much.

But even if to you it's "just a game," surely you can empathize with those to whom it is more. Have you ever been in one of those bases that, when you walk in, you think, "Holy sh**, someone spent hundreds of hours designing this"? That's passion. Me, I'm not a base builder, and I've never spent more than a couple of hours or so on a base to make it look at least passable. If some program glitch came along and destroyed any of my bases, I'd be like, "Meh. Whatever, I'll just throw a new one together later, no biggie." That's how you sound about the game in general.

However, if that same glitch destroyed the work of art that some people's bases are, places into which they've poured hundreds of hours of their creative effort (and it shows!), then even though I'm not into base building, that would absolutely rip me apart emotionally. Not because I'm personally affected, but because the product of someone's creative energy has been destroyed, and that's a shame.

I've tried to convey to people that it doesn't really matter much how you feel about the game. It doesn't really matter if you even play the game. I see the detail that some people put into their characters. I see the intricate storylines that people have created in Architect Entertainment. I see the awesome pieces of art that people have commissioned in honor of their characters. And yes, I see how incredibly hard the writers, artists, coders, designers, and other staffers at Paragon Studios have worked to create the framework in which that stuff exists. And when I think about some company flipping a switch and turning it off because of some organizational realignment, it really makes me feel queasy inside.

Do you like football? Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm a huge Atlanta Falcons fan. I've followed them for years. I went through the ups of the 1998 Super Bowl season, through the downs of Michael Vick's dog fighting conviction and Bobby Petrino's 4-12 "lost" season. With their schedule and talent this year, I really think they could go all the way. The past four years have been great--after 43 years without back-to-back winning seasons, they've now put together four in a row, started 2-0 in their fifth, and gone to the playoffs three of the last four seasons. In other words, they're doing pretty well.

So what do you think fan reaction would be if all of a sudden Roger Goodell announced that he's really proud of the Falcons, but they're just not in the league's long term goals? Thanks for the support, but the team will be shutting down operations after the November 29 game against the Saints, and the front office staff are all being laid off. They're not going to be selling any more tickets to the games, but if you already have season tickets, you can still go. And don't worry, they'll refund season ticket holders what they paid for the unused tickets. The team isn't moving, it's simply vanishing into oblivion. You might be able to keep watching Matt Ryan when he moves to Oakland or Julio Jones when he moves to Miami, but you'll probably lose track of most of the players as they go their separate ways.

People would at first be stunned, then they'd likely go nuts. Even people who have no interest in football would likely--hopefully--say, "That's just wrong." Does the NFL have the right to do such a thing? I'm pretty sure they do. Do the fans have the right to be upset about it? Oh, hell yeah. Would people saying, "I don't understand what the big deal is, you can always just watch other team" help alleviate the frustration and anger? Not a chance.

How do you think fans would feel when some people say, "Am I the only one not upset by this?" The answer is simple, because it's the same way we feel. We're not asking you to like our game, but please don't trivialize how we feel about it. And even if you don't like our game, please at least have the respect for us to support what we're trying to do, quietly if you prefer, or out in the open by doing things like signing the Save City of Heroes petition. You don't have to be an avid member of a community to have the bare decency to not want to see it go away.

If you're thinking, "I didn't say that I want it to go away," you might think that, but by posting threads like these, hopefully you can understand how demoralizing it is to us who are trying very hard to fight for it to continue. You may not mean to convey that, but that's definitely what is being conveyed. Other people who are fighting but tired see this post, and it might be the one that tips them over from, "I'll support them and see how it plays out" to, "Why am I doing this when other people think it's a waste of time?"

So are you the only one who's not upset? Of course not. But please, I see no purpose in advertising your apathy to us. If you want to go, then go, and let those of us who are continuing to fight continue to fight. If you're right, come December, it's no skin off your teeth. But if you're wrong and there is a way to save this game but you convinced the people we need to stop supporting our effort, then you've needlessly done a heinous disservice to our community.

If your morale hinges on a few message board threads, TonyV, you've got bigger problems to worry about than the aforementioned threads...

And I don't say that unkindly. I think you guys have succeeded in doing some good even if the game still gets permanently shut down. It hasn't been a wasted effort. But there's nothing wrong with the espousal of pragmatic or even apathetic views in this circumstance. Indeed, for many people the act of pointing out how little something has affected them is often a defense mechanism against the fact that it has.

I'm with Tony on this one.

If you don't care, then why are you even still here? Why bother to post? Why not just move on?

It seems like some people just like to troll because they want attention, or they do it to bring everyone down.

But....for every troll, there are a lot of people who *do* care and *are* working to get CoH under another publisher and Paragon Studios employed by same.

So...hooray. A few trolls have tried their best to drag everyone else down.

It didn't work.

Nothing else to see here, move along.

Realistically no on line game can be expected to live on forever. While I had hoped for a longer run with COH than it appears we will get the fact is people get tired of doing the same thing and move on.

I think what upsets most of us that are old vets is the fact that after the COH experience its very hard to find another game that gives us much...

1. Character options There are almost no games out there that have the type of character creator available that COH has. When Cryptic intorduced CO I checked it out expecting, at the very least, to have something simliar that allowed me to design how my character looked. The fact is most games, including others by NC Soft, allow you to pick on of a dozen or so hair styles and colors, about that many faces and a skin color. Yes other option become availbale later or can be purcahsed seperately but only COH offers so many different looks before you even enter the game.

2. Powers Once again we have fourteen different arch types and a whole list of different powers that each can use. Then add in the various pool powers and its possible for eight controllers to team up an not a single one have any of the same powers. Also once again even other NC Soft games don't give the amount of powers choices and options. I have played Guild Wars and yeah I can accumulate a whole list of powers but I am only allowed to actively USE 8 of those at a time.

3. Varied ways to play and level Farming or PLing aside COH has so much content now that it's possible to level numerous characters without doing the same content again and again. Let's see I can Steet Hunt at low levels gain levels that way. I can run the DFB and DIB and in a matter of a few houirs be level 20. I can head to Kings Row followed by Steel/Skyway/Faultline and run missions from as many as 5 or 6 diiferent contacts to do the same thing. At level 10 I can start doinf Task Forces, Pos 1, Posi 2, Synapse, Penny Yin (preceeded by Sister Psyche), Moonfire, Hess, and Citadel and be practicaly 30 without ever talking to a single contact. Radio and newspaper mission exist from as early as level 5 all the eay to 50.

FAR too many other games are set up so that every single character you own runs the exact same set of mission again and again and again if you have mutliple characters.

This was my first MMO and the culture shock was searching for what I will play once its gone has made me appreciate what we had and what the Devs gave us here even more. If there is another game out there with as many varied ways to look and play I'd like someone to show me where it exists because I will miss what we had here.

TonyV,

I'm really only going to say this in the most polite and dignified manner that I can because you're doing a lot for the community and I don't think anyone here would think of you as anything less than as a dedicated crusader for a noble cause.

But it's grossly and unjustly unfair to come onto a thread where people are just not simply as emotionally invested as you are and then say that those people (which include myself) are apathetic and therefore become a waste of space that should move on.

Is that not precisely the indemic 'us vs. them' culture that you yourself want to avoid? It's impossible for myself to look into your mind and gauge the true depth of your emotional commitment to this game save to say that it is more than mine.

But does that invalidate the amount of emotional investment that I do have in the game? I've signed petitions, I've written letters. I've done what I feel I can do in my position, with my time and what I feel I'm personally capable of to support the cause.

NO. It does not.

You can't come onto this thread with a judgemental 'well, you don't care about the game as much as I do' attitude and therefore through that line of thinking invalidate our opinions and feelings. Because if you do that, you demonstrate a fundamental hypocrisy of the very first paragraph of what you said where you said and I QUOTE:

I get it, I really do. To some people, this is "just a game." It shuts down, you move on to something else, ho hum. I've never demanded anything else from people who really don't care that much.

And then at the end you say:

So are you the only one who's not upset? Of course not. But please, I see no purpose in advertising your apathy to us. If you want to go, then go, and let those of us who are continuing to fight continue to fight. If you're right, come December, it's no skin off your teeth. But if you're wrong and there is a way to save this game but you convinced the people we need to stop supporting our effort, then you've needlessly done a heinous disservice to our community.

Which is it at that point, Tony? Are you the reasonable man who says we're entitled to feel as we feel and you want nothing less or are you the more unreasonable man who has done an about face and demands of us to not 'advertise our apathy'?

Is that a fair and reasonable viewpoint? You sir, are not the moral arbiter of my investiture and ongoing interest of this game. You sir, are not in a position to dictate to me my fondness, support, positive attitude and general like for this game simply because I am in a position in my own life where I am not as emotionally as invested as you are.

I cannot manufacture that interest, I cannot manufacture that commitment and nor would I want to because that in turn would make me the hypocrite.

I would urge you to reconsider the statements you've made here in the fair view of the experiences of everyone here not being equal in both emotion and commitment. Because those things are the very things are the cornerstone of your very own cause.



S.