NCsoft Response to City of Heroes player and fan suggestions

This is my second reply to this thread, wherein I'm quoting what was said and my reply on Titan Network forums.

[quote author=chasearcanum
NCSoft,

We wanted to let you know that your message has been heard and your concerns have been taken into serious considertion. We appreciate your response and acknowledgement of our emails, notes and packages we've sent in support of the game. Closing Paragon Studios and shutting down City of Heroes should not have been easy. Bad decisions never should be, and this was a monumentally bad decision. Bad for your creative teams, who now operate under the uncertainty of an overseer that doesn't seem rational or consistent. Bad for your shareholders, who have been deprived a positive revenue source, both current and future. Bad for your players, who have entrusted you with the custodianship of the social network. Bad for your reputation, which continues to be tarnished by your demonstrated lack of the consistent and stable behavior a successful service provider must offer. Bad for the individual players who have brought our own creations to life within this online world. You have been given options that would dissolve your relationship with City of Heroes and Paragon Studios in a way that preserves that community, reassembles as much of the development team as possible, leaves our creative contributions intact, and possibly even provides compensation for your shareholders. You have continued to make bad decisions by rejecting those options.

You say your options are exhausted.

We have not exhausted all our options. We will provide opportunities to save yourselves from your own folly. We will celebrate the work of the development studio you so abruptly dissolved. We will demonstrate the value and strength of the community you are working to destroy. Should NCSoft come around and find an amicable resolution, we will recognize the merits of your actions. Should you not, we will warn everyone we know everywhere we go of the hazards of placing any trust in NCSoft, protecting others as best we can.

We are heroes. This is what we do.

(at least, this is what I was going to post.... not sure if I should use TonyV's signature line.)
[/quote]

I very much like what you said in your post, ChaseArcanum. While NCSoft may be all business, so are we!! And our motivation is not maximizing our portfolios or profits but the love all enthusiasts have for their chosen hobby. (Note, one definition of "hobby" is "obsession".) I imagine NCSoft did NOT anticipate this reaction to their decision to "sunset" City of Heroes, and callously laying off the Paragon Studios development team late Friday afternoon of Labor Day Weekend (U.S.) with no warning probably made sense to bean-counters (accountants) with no vision or thought to the harm NCSoft is doing to its reputation as a MMO publisher, nor what impact this decision and how they handle the on-going situation may make to their future financial prospects in this industry.

As others have pointed out, NCSoft upper managment did NOT work with Paragon Studios; there was no hint that anything was amiss, or that NCSoft needed more profit from CoH (if in fact that's the issue). Nor were steps taken or even explored that I know of to work with the CoH Community to make CoH a product still considered viable by NCSoft. As we all know, new Powersets and other market items were released less than 10 days prior to the shutdown notice. Maybe I'm naive, but this seems a very strange way to run a business, one where all the hype was our eager anticipation of Issue 24. I've worked for and gotten laid off from companies that went out of business, but always we employees knew/were told by management that things weren't looking good, and everyone worked harder to save our jobs and the business. Steps could have been taken. Certainly the dev team should have been in the loop that their jobs were on the line. NCSoft and the Studio could/should have explored via Community Relations ways to reach NCSoft's goals. But no one with enough clout at NCSoft did this. I hope NCSoft gets a clue, quickly, that stonewalling us with silence is counter-productive since it leads only to speculation (some quite unflattering) in how this business decision was reached. They also should clue in that their recent actions are opposite to and fly in the face of their stated Core Values: http://global.ncsoft.com/global/abou...siongoals.aspx Rather than promoting Happiness (or even mere Enjoyment) what NCSoft did and HOW they did this has provoked Grief reactions ranging from sorrow to anger, and turned the publisher into the biggest Arch-Villain ever to menace Paragon City. Joy-killers! Sorrow-bringers! are epithets NCSoft is earning by its actions. Yet, they still have a chance to turn this around and salvage this debacle, if only they have the wisdom to do so, and demonstrate with integrity the values they profess.

Pessimistically, I expect NCSoft to revert to more silent stonewalling, especially now when today's PR tactic has backfired and encourages us to continue our efforts to save City of Heroes. Stonewalling would be a mistake typical of Top-down management. Despite the fact that we fans are remain upset, NCSoft still has a Golden Opportunity to reach out to us, to work with us, to craft a Win-Win scenario so that we CoH enthusiasts can continue what we love in a way that helps NCSoft reach corporate objectives.

I can imagine articles published months from now about this our "darkest hour", about the creative and constructive Community response (in addition to our fan outrage and unhappiness), and how NCSoft rose to the challenge courageously and worked WITH the Community of fans (and previously loyal customers!) If NCSoft has the vision and foresight to do this, I can imagine them coming out better than ever, re-establishing trust, and adding a layer of patina rather than deeper tarnish to their corporation.

Meanwhile, the pessimist in me believes they'll "raise the drawbridge" and retreat further into their corporate castle of isolation. That said, I plan to work with TonyV, Mr W and others for figuratively storming the castle walls. I was rather impressed with the CNN iReporting and Cresting Twitter Trends, as well as other suggestions on the forums--but then, I may be easily impressed. ;-)

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aka @Kristoff von Gelmini, leader of small SG bases (Infinity/Victory/Virtue/Protector), member of The House of Tera (Justice) and various others (Champion/Infinity/Victory/Guardian/Freedom).

That announcement is utter hogwash.

Judging by the way NCSoft has handled this entire episode, I don't think they had any intention of a making any negotiations. To me, this is one more piece of bad-faith from NCSoft.

We know there were buyers; NC just went "through the motions" rather than seriously negotiate.

So, NC this is the count so far ...
1) Taking money from people up to a suprise closure
2) Dumping your staff just before a holiday weekend
3) A "thanks for the money kkthxbai" closure message on a profitable game
4) Taking days to announce a closure date
5) Attempting to take subscription money from people after the announced closure
6) Taking weeks to announce refunds
7) Throwing away customers who have been loyal for years - many with multi-account subscriptions
8) Dumping a Community Manager who actually understood the Community feelings
9) Ignoring the prospective buyers and people who still want to be customers of CoX
10) Keeping non-profitable games going at the expense of CoX because they fit your Korean market better

Well, you are a disgrace to the business community. It's obvious that you don't care about your customers, their views or their money. So it won't bother you a bit if I never touch any of your products again, will it.

You do not deserve the type of loyal customer you have had with CoX. You deserve hacking kiddies who play for two days then go on to the next shiny.

I'll leave it there because what I actually want to post would be word-filtered to an incredible degree.

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SAVE CoX info:
Titan Network efforts
Saving CoX events/FB info

I *will* say, I'm not giving up.

If NCSoft think this BS message to get us to STFU and keep quiet is going to work, they are dead wrong.

You're still going to hear us and you're going to KEEP getting bad press.

Suck it up; you reap what you sow.

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SAVE CoX info:
Titan Network efforts
Saving CoX events/FB info

First They Came... For a Game

First they came for Auto Assault,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't an Auto Assault player.

Then they came for Dungeon Runner,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Dungeon Runner player.

Then they came to Dragonica,
And I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Dragonica player.

Then they came for Exteel,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't an Exteel player.

Then they came for Point Blank,
and I didn't speak out because I never heard of Point Blank.

Then they came for Tabula Rasa,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Tabula Rasa player.

Then they came for City of Heroes,
and we are standing our ground.

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Need help making your own CoH comics or read other's comics at cohcomicindex.com

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Storylines:
Introductions, Obey,

"We wanted to let you know that your voices have been heard and your concerns have been taken into serious consideration ... We've exhausted all options including the selling of the studio and the rights to the City of Heroes intellectual property, but in the end, efforts to do so were not successful. City of Heroes has a special place in all of our hearts, and we want to ensure its reputation and the memories we share for the game end on a high note." The NCSOFT® Team

I do not believe any of this for a second. If NCsoft had exhausted all options for selling there would have been some leak of an inkling from those involved. People selling commercial property do not announce the closure and then seek buyers; they try to sell and only announce closure once they see they can't move it.

As many have stated, this episode has ruined any regard I've had for the NCsoft brand. Like many, I will enjoy my final days on CoX but I will never buy or use another NCsoft product again. NCsoft has demonstrated its disregard for customers and staff and demonstrated they are a company not be trusted again.

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I found the message from NCsoft discouraging and then it just made me upset. I have little faith in NCsoft. Week or so ago I asked a coworker how her play on Diablo3 was going and she said it was not as fun as the older version and one thing she pointed out was lack of her friends playing (her community). I mentioned about the whole shut down CoH/CoV and she came back with Guild WarsII was just released. My response was after NCsoft decided to close our game scatter the community as much as I might want to try one of their games I would not do business with them in the future.

You will be able to find me being a hero on Victory and villian on Freedom until they shut down the servers.

Mostly, I agree the recent statement from NCsoft was poorly executed and while it looks gloomy Nov. 30 is still far enough off. We might not change NCsoft mind but we can let them know we still care and wont give hope. So try to keep playing, participate in special events and let the developers know they just didn't create a game but a great community.

Celtic Fist

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'Exhausted all options'?!

Bull fething horse dookie!

Hell, if they were serious about that, why not TELL us the price, and the players can buy the damn game!

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I like (most) of what you have to say here, Capa Devans, and understand and empathize even with those things you said that I don't completely agree with (or at least would have said in a completely different way.) Here's a condensed version (below) of what I'm writing to my SGmates on guildportal (3 very active ranking SGs prior to the shutdown notice on 3 different servers that ran events daily.)

While there's some lovely stuff worth reading on the official forums, I find the most seriously constructive stuff on Titan Network. On both forums, players were feeling sad, crushed and devastated all over again, taking today's PR announcement to mean It's All Over and that attempts to save City of Heroes have failed. Among others, Mercedes Lackey wrote candidly on Titan today (as a CoH fan) how she felt, until her husband Larry Dixon sent her his interpretation (which she then shared with the Community on Titan and which I agree with; link: http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.....html#msg57520

Guys, it's not over!! We may not win, but this PR move has ultimately rekindled hope. NCSoft responded today - not as we would have liked but they responded. We need to maintain and even double/re-double our efforts. At minimum, keeping player numbers up is helpful to showing NCSoft and the rest of the industry just what a good product and loyal fan base is here in City of Heroes, potentially gives the dev team some leverage (as well as personal encouragement), and dammit the Game is still fun, and the players are now nicer than ever! Yes, I know it hurts to love this so much and think of it all going away. There have been times when I haven't played CoH for exactly those reasons, and I respect that and am NOT urging you to play CoH when feeling that way. There are times when I'm the only player (or close to it) on a number of global chat channels; however, Justice United, Victory Badges, VIP (I dunno VIP's home server, if any) and others remain about as active as before, except that players are as I said being nicer to one another than ever, teaming up to help each other more than ever, etc.

I may get in trouble with some of you for using a Pet analogy; however, I feel losing CoH is very much like losing a beloved pet. Yes, one did not expect the pet to live forever and yet the grief at losing a beloved family pet is real. But in this case the pet ain't dead yet. I feel rather like a kid who for 3-1/2 years got to keep and enjoy a pet, only to be told suddenly and with no warning, that the pet is gonna be put to sleep in 2 months, and for reasons not fully nor adequately explained. Yes, I felt genuine sorrow about this (and may again) but right now I'm back to anger, back to fighting to keep Fluffy, and gonna spend all the time I can with Fluffy until the end. (See my note about NOT playing if it causes pain or sorrow; nor is this a guilt-trip but my venting Rant about how I feel about this.) And at the moment, TonyV and Titan looks like the best shot at somehow saving and keeping Fluffy, where there is/was a thread for entrepreuners to raise capital to buy the IP, since presumably this is "Just Business" for NCSoft as well as other discussions related to Community action. Please note, I'm not urging anyone to a specific course of action (I haven't extracted any of my characters, for instance) other than to Keep Up The Fight/Fan Action(s) to Save CoH in whatever (legal, sane) way is appropriate for each of us.

Additionally, I understand there's a TwitchTV podcast scheduled for later today (Wednesday) from the development team, and Melissa "War Wtich" Bianco told me personally during the Player Rally on Virtue (where there is still an AP33 and an ongoing /em holdtorch vigil) that she and the other devs are watching what we the Community do and say very closely (or were.) Heck, the devs are probably bound by contractual agreements with NCSoft that do not apply to us.

Here's hoping until the light go out--and even then, in this venue, Resurrection is a real possibility (there's a discussion thread on killed MMOs that were later brought back.) Keep Hope, Keep Active and if you can, Keep Positive. But make no mistake, this is a fan/RL business "battle." The fans of Joss Whedon's FIREFLY series were deprived of many seasons of enjoyment, but we got the film "Serenity." Like then, I don't want just "Serenity" (better than nothing by a whole lot, imo) but want the entire series. I encourage us each to play smart when it comes to what we're saying to NCSoft.

Yes, I know NCSoft has burned bridges with a lot of us, and yes, I know a lot of what's being said here is perfectly natural venting as a reaction to sudden loss and grief, but do please think before posting if what you're saying is gonna encourage NCSoft to "play ball" and negotiate such that we get to restore Paragon Studios (our beloved Devs) and keep City of Heroes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMrN3Rh55uM

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aka @Kristoff von Gelmini, leader of small SG bases (Infinity/Victory/Virtue/Protector), member of The House of Tera (Justice) and various others (Champion/Infinity/Victory/Guardian/Freedom).

So NCSoft thought that lying straight to our faces would make the flames die down? Really? They'd have a bigger chance to douse fire with gasoline. If anything this is just going to give them an even worse PR backlash than what they've been getting so far. If anything this is EA levels of PR fail.

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All this negativity and hopelessness... am I going to have to break out the sargent again! ;P

Don't give up peeps, all this message says is that we got their attention, we hurt them and they are asking us to stop. All I have to say is, take off the white gloves, and put on the brass knuckles.

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"You wear a mask to hide who you are, I wear a mask to show who I am"

Arc ID 91456: The Zombie Apocalypse Task Force:poster 1, poster 2


CLICK THE ABOVE LINK TO HELP DO YOUR PART TO SAVE C.O.H!!!!!

I don't think they even tried to save Coh and if they did, they would have told us, I still call this ******** and I think we will continue to try and save Coh.

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Never play another NcSoft game, If you feel pride for our game, then it as well, I Superratz am Proud of all of you Coh people, Love, Friendship will last for a lifetime.

Global:@Greenflame Ratz
Main Toons:Super Ratz, Burning B Radical, Green Flame Avenger, Tunnel Ratz, Alex Magnus

Okay. I've been trying to stay positive on this. I've been trying to stay civil on this. I've been trying to give the guys at NCSoft the benefit of the doubt.

But there's only so much horse manure I can take. And, truth be told, I passed it a while back and have been holding onto the edges of my civility with mildly tacky fingertips.

Well. I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!

I really REALLY wish I knew what the hell NCSoft's problem was. It's like dealing with a schizophrenic off their meds.

"Exhasted all options". BULL! If they'd exhausted all options, the game would be SOLD!

This means that they're asking for a completely unrealistic price or conditions of sale.

Or it means that, for whatever reason, they simply want to bury the title and have NOT been engaging in negotiations for the property in good faith. They've just been stringing both potential buyers, and the community along, trying to keep us quiet.

The first is stupidity, plain and simple. The fact that they won't even discuss the asking price even points at the second.

The second is just shady business. On par with the forged Garriott letter.

In both cases, it may have actually accomplished what they want, had they not been so ham-handedly clumsy about their public presence.

And, if this stands, they've essentially announced to the world that they've adopted a "churn and burn" model. But they're doing it with supposedly Triple-A titles!

• Use one title's revenues to finance the next
• Spend as little money on the title as possible post-launch
• Once they've milked the title for all they think its worth, they close up shop and move on to the next thing.

This is a VERY dangerous business move. Since one or two not-very-successful products can basically crater them. I mean, look at AutoAssault and Tabula Rasa. In a full-on churn and burn, that would have basically destroyed the company right there.


And worse, it absolutely DESTROYS customer retention. In a print medium, a game from a churn and burn is still playable, weeks, months, years, DECADES after the game ceases to be produced. Not so with an MMO. And players only need this to happen to them a couple times before they simply give up on the medium and look for something else.



Were I ArenaNet or Carbine, I'd be VERY VERY nervous right about now. Once the sales fall off for GW2, that's it.


And worse, NCSoft, in its headlong rush to kill this game dead are pointing out (in thousand-foot high, flashing neon pink letters) exactly how ephemeral cash shop setups are. They're willing to nuke a money-making title, shortly after new paid content is released, on a short timeframe.


This isn't just sucktastic for the people who actually bought into the cash shop, it's also a dangerous flash point that's bad for EVERY game that uses this kind of economic tool.



Yes...everyone understands that you're paying real money for electronic gimcracks. Everyone understands that the stuff will go away sooner or later. This is not only sooner, but pretty nearly "immediately".


Okay, now some people, in a couple places have been suggesting retaliation against NCSoft. Turning Anonymous on them, etc, etc.


First, the Anon guys are just as dangerous to YOU as they are to anyone else. They make all sorts of noises about "social justice", etc, etc. Bull. They're a bunch of criminals with a big crowd of know-nothing cheerleaders.


Second, that THEN allows NCSoft to play the victim in all this. We want to avoid that option like an ebola ward. They're not a victim here. They're an aggressor, and need to be pointed out as such.


As for people talking about how CoH didn't make money. Did you miss the fact that 80 people were laid off? That less than HALF of them were actually working on CoH? Outside of a few shared resources (like managerial and office staff), the rest were on the new project. That's not a studio that's not making money.


So, NCSoft, with their childish antics, have made their position clear.


Fine.


The gloves are now coming off. Enjoy the ride.

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Sounds like the company line for "We see that we've ticked off alot of gamers and getting alot of bad press in the community. Here's a contrived statement that should make us look good. Please buy GW2 and Blade & Soul. Forget how we DON'T really care about gamers, just their money.".

NCsoft- you guys can blow it out of your ***!!! There is no way possibly that a company in the MMO industry, after seeing the attention this is getting, wouldn't snap up COH/V simply just to boost their image and maybe introduce their products to a new fan base. Then, adding on a stable product that comes with the greatest community in MMO gamedom is something that no smart business would pass up. What, did you jack the price up of the IP in your "attempts" to sell? Or is this more corporate bulls*^t?

Either way, I will play till the servers go down. Then I will take my screenshots over to WoW(don't really want to but no other MMO comes close or will ever replace COH/V). Anyone that still decides to support NCsoft after this, more power to you.

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We've exhausted all options including the selling of the studio and the rights to the City of Heroes intellectual property, but in the end, efforts to do so were not successful.

Let me see if I can sum up this process. Imagine if you will a cube farm. One NCsoft guy says over the wall hey Bob you want to buy COH. Bob says no. Thus the exhaustion of all options.

I agree with many others I think this is a PR cease and desist move to stop the negative press.

Given all the information or lack of available to me I will make the very purposed decision to not purchase from NCsoft and advise others to do the same.

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Pinnacle
Arch light L50 INV/SS
Psiberia L50 Kin/Psi
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Infinity
Arc Voltinator L50 SS/Elec
Mind Fire Kinesis L50 Fire/Kin
Flaming Screamer L50 Fire/Sonic

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@Eternal Twilight
Friends don't let friends buy an NCSoft controlled project.
Save Paragon one more time!
http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index....ic,4877.0.html

Petition to end shutting down CoH:
http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes

Look, guys.

Don't give up hope. If you do, or already have done so, you have failed yourself.

There can always be a silver lining.

However, at this point, NC Soft is really, *really* EA-terrible levels.

So, yeah. I just woke up two hours ago, so I don't feel like really making a huge post here, just.... believe. In the game. In yourself.

Keep fighting, for our City!

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Save City of Heroes!

I'm not going gently into this not-so-good-night...

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Troy Hickman - So proud to have contributed to and played in this wonderful CoH universe

Now is not the time for defeat.

Now is the time for action and rage.

Rage.

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My guides:Dark Melee/Dark Armor/Soul Mastery, Illusion Control/Kinetics/Primal Forces Mastery, Electric Armor
"Dark Armor is a complete waste as a tanking set."

I used to daydream about ways in which I could be a protector of the city in which I live: anything from a full-blown flying superhero to a far more practical/realistic whip-using, smoke-and-mirrors utilizing rooftop patrol, stopping muggings and minor disturbances.

Now I find myself daydreaming about what powers/skills I would need to sabotage the reputation of NCSoft as a company (i.e. screwing with the servers of their other games, sending out false information directly from their offices without being caught, etc.). I hate it, but I can't help thinking about it.

Congrats NCSoft. You've turned this Hero into a Vigilante.

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@Winter. Because I'm Winter. Period.
I am a blaster first, and an alt-oholic second.

Like everyone else, I think the "official response" is bull-crap. We all know there are buyers and interested parties. NCSoft has simply made a corporate decision to kill the game, rather than sell it.

I have no hopes for an "11th hour" save. This is it.. while the game may emerge in another incarnation but this current one is finished. I do want to see how it all ends, but it's clear to me that NCsoft has zero interest in saving or selling the game.

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My level 50 Dominators:
Madame Mindbender 50 Mind/Energy
Fly Agaric 50 Plant/Thorn
Nate Nitro 50 Fire/Psi

Personally, they can just die for all I care, I'm not giving up hope, go die in a gutter ncsoft, die a gutter and make it a slow and painful one.

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My Lego Models http://www.flickr.com/photos/30369639@N07/ lemur lad: God you can't be that stupid... I'm on at the same time as you for once, and not 20 minutes into it you give me something worth petitioning?
Lady-Dee: Hey my fat keeps me warm in the winter and shady in the summer.

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