Did we miss the signs of the apacolypse?
There are a couple of people here now playing the Nostradamus role, claiming to have predicted the downfall etc...
It like the 4tran guy that was going around a lot game forums predicting doom for the game, only so he could come back eight years later and say I told you so.....Pfft. |
What we had here was an unique and good for that matter game, yet no effort to really grow the population and or keep up the revenue. Remember the decison makers probably dont play and all they see are charts, graphs and dollar signs. If it dont look good in that respect, then it may be the first one to go. While at the time, many people loved the relatively small and "close" community, it is not good for buisness in the long run.
Was it still turning a profit? Sure, but 2 million/every three months is like an average salery person picking up every penny or nickel they see. Sure it's a penny or nickel they didnt have before but it's not much to worry about losing. I dont even bother with pennies and when I get change back in pennies, they either end up in the trash or never leave the store. I dont even bother picking up nickels or dimes if I drop them. Is it a dime that could be added to something? Of course, but not worth the effort bothering with it to gain it. Given the age and it seems that the engine was reaching the point where not much else major could be churned out of it, given the number ideas that were said to be "impossible" or "too hard to do without fiddling with a bunch of codes" it either was closing it now or let it die a slow death and wait until they started to lose money then close it down. Any sensible person that could see something that in the future they could start actually losing on, would do what they can prevent that and get out while they are ahead.
If they let the game died a slow death, then not only would it possibly cost them more money than they pull in at some point in time, but also means that the IP would be near worthless as it is probably viewed that with less players, means less interest in the game, the less the IP is worth. If they yank it now, that have all the data to prove that the IP is worth something and then could add to that worth, and given that they had potential buyers or maybe, that adds to the value and just by keeping it, they could make more money in a tax write off than this game could make in over a year assuming that the cash flow didnt continue to decline. Then when they decide to release it again, maybe with updated material, people will come back and even new players too. Like a reset button with sell the IP and then spend 10s of millions trying to recreate or buy another one down the road.
Worse that can happen if they hold on to the IP is that in a few years it is worthless but they still didnt lose money. Worse that can happen if they sell is that they may gift drop the entire COX market to someone else and lined someone else pockets.
-Female Player-
I really don't think there was any need to quote me in that wall of text since it really just appears you had a bunch of personal stuff you needed to get off your chest so to speak.
The point of my post more specifically deals with people coming here now trying to claim they predicted this all along which is utter bullcrap.
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
pretty sure alot of people predicated this when f2p launched but didnt want to admit it.
Or maybe what "utter bullcrap" consists of is looking at the revenue numbers for the past two years, realizing there should have been two major positive events, and thinking that the game was doing well.
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![](http://rectcraninversion.tripod.com/att1.gif)
They were wrong when it would have mattered
They are wrong now.
Do you think they have the integrity to admit it ?
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
NCsoft dropped the bomb on Paragon pretty suddenly. If Paragon knew CoH was gonna cave, or if there were any legit warning signs, they wouldn't have worked on I24 and planned ahead as many issues as they did.
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Zwillinger posted an I24 teaser pic on Facebook at 8:00 or 8:30am on Black Friday. He wouldn't have done that if he'd known the rest of the crew would be kicked out the door before the end of the day.
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The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
Or maybe what "utter bullcrap" consists of is looking at the revenue numbers for the past two years, realizing there should have been two major positive events, and thinking that the game was doing well.
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This.
Zwillinger posted an I24 teaser pic on Facebook at 8:00 or 8:30am on Black Friday. He wouldn't have done that if he'd known the rest of the crew would be kicked out the door before the end of the day. |
I would guess Brian, Posi and WW knew something was going to happen. Zwill might have been too far down the food chain or due to his job talking with us was intentionally left out of the loop so he couldn't "give it away" due to a change in how he interacted with us.
Rumors of a downsizing in a MMOs dev staff is as bad as a server merge to the perception of potential new customers, as well as those looking to re-up.
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pretty sure alot of people predicated this when f2p launched but didnt want to admit it.
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People coming here now saying that they predicted this are full of bullcrap. Repeatedly saying a game is going to be close for 2-5 years does not qualify as a prediction in my book since all games are going to close at some time.
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
Aside for the couple of people that have been predicting the end of the game "for years", there were not people around here predicting the game would end Nov 2012, that just did not happen for whatever reason.
People coming here now saying that they predicted this are full of bullcrap. Repeatedly saying a game is going to be close for 2-5 years does not qualify as a prediction in my book since all games are going to close at some time. |
-Female Player-
Aside for the couple of people that have been predicting the end of the game "for years", there were not people around here predicting the game would end Nov 2012, that just did not happen for whatever reason.
People coming here now saying that they predicted this are full of bullcrap. Repeatedly saying a game is going to be close for 2-5 years does not qualify as a prediction in my book since all games are going to close at some time. |
The people predicting the games decline from bad developer decisions and policies were 100% correct. The examples are there and unmistakeable. I remember the ultra mode beta when people were complaining right and left the new warehouse maps were killing their graphics cards. Devs response, silence and put them in anyway. How do you expect people to continue to play when you put in features that make it completely unplayable for them ?
The horrible consequences of adopting fatalism as a personal philosophy. "Everything ends so why bother ?"
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Basically there are two givens, the beginning and the end, what we do control is how we react in the middle and what we do in the end.
-Female Player-
Complete tripe. Is this your new line ? The "Revenues didn't matter" started sounding ridiculous even in your own ears ? All games close ? Tell it to Everquest, Ultima Online, Meridian 59 all still going.
The people predicting the games decline from bad developer decisions and policies were 100% correct. The examples are there and unmistakeable. I remember the ultra mode beta when people were complaining right and left the new warehouse maps were killing their graphics cards. Devs response, silence and put them in anyway. How do you expect people to continue to play when you put in features that make it completely unplayable for them ? |
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
Missed portents?
1) About a year ago, the Test Server was wiped. Not in itself evil; we always knew that the devs reserved the right to wipe or even shut down the test server at any time. But after six years of unofficial support for the tester community, all characters were wiped. No warning nor explanation was given. Everyone, including many advanced native characters were just gone one day. Note that the test server had been overwritten before; the devs would announce that a backup would be made, a copy of Freedom (?) would replace it, and when the testing was over, the actual test characters would be restored. Not this time. |
It has always been a condition of the test server that players may be wiped and it is not a server to play the main game on. There have not always been backups made - and let's not forget with the list merge they suddenly found themselves with not one, but two test servers. One from the NA shards and one from the EU.
To maintain both of those would have been a waste of resources so however you cut it, wiping one test server is not a portent of doom.
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Thelonious Monk
I mean I know you have issues, but you really need to stop making things up and attributing them to me. I did not say "Revenues didn't matter". You making that up and then going on some rant is ridiculous and low brow. Stop it.
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So while it is clear that COH was not a huge money maker (reports have it at 10 million per year), it was NOT closed due to a decline in sales because of AE or ANY other feature/issue. That claim is personal axe grinding crapola with no real factual support from the parties involved. |
Nope more like "Everything ends, so choose how you will go out. Whimpering, complaining about what everyone knows would happen eventually, drink the pain away, have a good time while there is time, enjoy the ride to south of heaven, another day in the land of death, or just watch it all burn to ashes."
Basically there are two givens, the beginning and the end, what we do control is how we react in the middle and what we do in the end. |
-Female Player-
I'm just pissed that it's a complete shutdown, I see no reason why this game couldn't have entered its sunset in maintenace mode with plenty of loyal customers still paying.
I get that active development would have to cease and the staff trimmed back but a total shutdown during what many saw as a resurgance is just insulting. There was enough current content to keep me playing for years.
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Phoenix took me.
Carried me in his claws.
High above the world.
So that I could see beyond tomorrow.
and I looked.
I beheld the future.
I saw the decimation of our kin. Hunted beyond hunting, death beyond death, to the last one. There were no more children, or grandchildren, or fathers, or mothers. This was the first Sign Phoenix game to to me, that the Children of the Weaver, the Humans, would give to us, The Garou.
And I looked.
And I beheld the future.
I saw the Children of the Weaver birthing. A great tide of Humans, rising. I saw more and more, until Gaia groaned at having to carry them all. Their houses overrunning, their rakes ******, their hands clawing at the parched earth, trying to feed from Her. This was the second Sign of the last days, that the Phoenix Showed me, that the Humans would do.
I looked again.
I beheld the third Sign.
So many. So many children. So many Humans. And they Fell against each other, one to one, and the Wyrm brought forth corruption and gave each a measure. And the strange Fire I saw. out of control, the great Plume Rising over the wilderness, spreading death where ever it shone, in the dark and cold land. And I heard the agony of the Seas as She keened, for some drunken fool had poured a lake of black death out upon her.
I turned my head away in disgust, but I could not help but look again.
And I beheld, then, the fourth Sign.
The Wyrm grew powerful; its wings fanned the breezes of decay. It spread its diseases and they were horrible: the Herd became afflicted with diseases of the head and the blood. Children were born twisted. Animals fell sick and no one could cure them. In these final days, even the Warriors of Gaia could not escape the palsied talons of the sickness-bringing deathbird.
A tear in my eye, I looked again, and the Phoenix showed me the fifth Sign.
I saw other Plumes rising like death-spears towards the beautiful sky. piercing it, letting Father Sun burn and parch Gaia. The air grew hot; even in the darkness of Winter it was warm. The plants withered in the sun. A cry of pain and disease arose from the dying forests; as one the relations cried tears of mourning.
Then, as though a veil were torn, the sixth Sign showed itself to me.
In these last days, Gaia shakes in rage. Fire boils from the depths. Ash shrouds the sky. The Wyrm skulks in the shadows made by these...and rears to strike. The old ones are gone; the Guardians of the pathways and the Crossroads are finished. In these final days, the sixth Sign will make itself known in the Packs that form. Each Pack will have unto itself a Quest, a Sacred Journey it must perform. Such is the will of Gaia.
And I saw the Sky turn black, and the moon was as blood.
And the seventh Sign I glimpsed, though I could not look on it in full. But its heat I could feel.
The Apocalypse. The final days of the world. The Moon was swallowed by the Sun, and it burned in his belly. Unholy fires fell to the ground, burning us all, twisting us and making us vomit blood. The Wyrm had made itself manifest in the towers and the rivers and the air and the Land, and everywhere its children ran rampant, devouring, destroying, calling down curses of every kind. And the Herd ran in fear. And the Dark Ones, Children of the Wyrm, crawled from their caves and walked the streets in daylight.
I turned my head from the sight. Phoenix told me: "This is as it shall be, but not as it should."
Phoenix left me then.
Now, I cannot dream. I can only remember the Signs, each one in perfect detail. These are the last days. May Gaia have mercy on us.
- The Prophecy of the Phoenix
(Sorry, this is the first thing that jumped in my head after reading the topic title... )
![](http://cagworks.net/quotepic.png)
"So while it is clear that COH was not a huge money maker (reports have it at 10 million per year), it was NOT closed due to a decline in sales because of AE or ANY other feature/issue.
That claim is personal axe grinding crapola with no real factual support from the parties involved."
Does not mean "Revenues didn't matter" as you made up. Reading comprehension FTL. You need to stop trying so hard to pick a fight where there is none to be had man.
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
OK, someone confess... This has all been a Large, Large Prank you all have Conspired to play on just me.![Stick Out Tongue](images/smilies/tongue.gif)
What next, you will tell me that The Statesman is not a Real Person?