Miller's Loregasm!

[Teege]

For those interested in some lore information from Miller, I caught this on Twitter. (feel free to move this as needed, but I want to get it out there as I know people were looking forward to it!)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/19qbHHrRmifxGPz60-_ApLNiwOmF5QVEMrXHgB1Nrd4o/edit?pli=1

[DrDarkspeed]

[Paindancer]

Hmmm....

This is  a little disheartening.  While it could be seen as 'the way thing were going to be under NCSoft and I am spilling the beans beacause under company X it can be different' .

[Victoria Victrix]

I think this might be one of the most pertinent answers:


Sounds like there was some serious drainage of CoH resources to the other project, Like what happened with Cryptic and the Marvel MMO. Maybe it was the other poject getting cut that made Paragon non-viable for NCSoft?

If I were to hazard a guess I would say it still boils down to NCSoft "refocusing" on Korea and the Far Eastern markets.

[billymailman]

I think the losing the environment artists thing was a joke. AFAIK, they had lost several to the Super Secret Project, since one thing you need a lot of when making a new MMO is environment artists.

[Vulpy]

Hugo Figures and Agent Gally.  Were they ever going to be successful in liberating the Bane Spider network? If not, what ultimately happens to them?

MM: What issue/storyline were they from?

...I have a Katana/Willpower Scrapper who goes by "Abel." He initially referred to Figures and Ido as "Adam" and "Eve." ("We had tasted the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and for it we were cast out. But what we had left behind was not Eden, and we were not innocent.") It really was one of my favorite stories in the game, so I made a spinoff character from it. ^.^;

[Ampithere]

I do find it a little disheartening because of this wording:

If there is a miracle and somehow CoH is saved, we reserve the right to change any and all answers given in the doc, to maintain suspense and surprise.

But at least he said "we" reserve the right. That means there is still a chance Paragon Studios can get the game. I think.

The point is it's not over till it's over.

[ukaserex]

*Spoiler*

What did Recluse look like under his mask?

MM: Jesse Ventura



Heh, I lol'd!

[The-Hunter-JLJ]

I do find it a little disheartening because of this wording:

But at least he said "we" reserve the right. That means there is still a chance Paragon Studios can get the game. I think.

The point is it's not over till it's over.

Heck, it ain't over THEN. Lookit Star Wars Galaxies, and there's other examples. This is a long haul sorta thing. Don't be discouraged by setbacks, they are gonna happen. That's how you tell you're where you need to be, you start taking damage. Heroes drag themselves back up or pop an rez and get back in the fight.

[Teege]

Heck, it ain't over THEN. Lookit Star Wars Galaxies, and there's other examples. This is a long haul sorta thing. Don't be discouraged by setbacks, they are gonna happen. That's how you tell you're where you need to be, you start taking damage. Heroes drag themselves back up or pop an rez and get back in the fight.

And if you've ever teamed with me you know I go through a lot of those.

[downix]

Heck, it ain't over THEN. Lookit Star Wars Galaxies, and there's other examples. This is a long haul sorta thing. Don't be discouraged by setbacks, they are gonna happen. That's how you tell you're where you need to be, you start taking damage. Heroes drag themselves back up or pop an rez and get back in the fight.

*hits #7*
*Rise of the Phoenix*
I am blaster! I will hit debt ceiling more times than there are stars in the sky! No matter how many times I fall, I will always get back up, again, and again! Giant Monster, Arch-villain, or Hamidon it matters not! My team relies upon me!
*faceplant*

[emu265]

I actually really enjoyed reading the loregasm.  It's a little sad to know all the stuff we'll never see (or may never see), but it's still cool to know. 

[Osborn]

And if you've ever teamed with me you know I go through a lot of those.

My cousin who would play with us a lot in a semi-static group died so often due to him being bad at the game that we called him the Krillen of our group. His main power set was folding up like a napkin.

My other friend at the time said "They should make a power that taunts all the enemies on the map at once", at which point I said "We already have it, it's called Tai", which was his character's name.

I'm going to miss this game if it goes.

*Spoiler*

What did Recluse look like under his mask?

MM: Jesse Ventura



Heh, I lol'd!

You know what? He might had been joking, but I could totally see it.

[StarRanger4]

*hits #7*
*Rise of the Phoenix*
I am blaster! I will hit debt ceiling more times than there are stars in the sky! No matter how many times I fall, I will always get back up, again, and again! Giant Monster, Arch-villain, or Hamidon it matters not! My team relies upon me!
*faceplant*

+2 for truth!  I've started using the running joke I've been face down so often I can tell just where I am from the taste of the dirt.

[Victoria Victrix]

You know, my character Victoria Victrix is a writer, and both in her character bio and the sig line on the forums it says:

"Author of Good Taste: The Definitive Guide to the Turf, Carpet and Sand of Paragon City"

[Vulpy]

You know what? He might had been joking, but I could totally see it.

That was more-or-less my exact thought process, too.

[Teege]

You know, my character Victoria Victrix is a writer, and both in her character bio and the sig line on the forums it says:

"Author of Good Taste: The Definitive Guide to the Turf, Carpet and Sand of Paragon City"

*picks up a copy on his way home from El Super Mexicano*

[downix]

You know, my character Victoria Victrix is a writer, and both in her character bio and the sig line on the forums it says:

"Author of Good Taste: The Definitive Guide to the Turf, Carpet and Sand of Paragon City"

*must get autographed copy*

[Matthew Orlock]

The next Incarnate power sounded interesting. A Patch area for debuff to mobs Buffs to players? Sweet.

[Olantern]

Now that all the "what we were going to" has been made public, it makes me wonder what the Paragon producers are negotiating with NCSoft about.  It seems unlikely (though not impossible) that something like this would get released if the devs who wrote it believed they'd work on CoH in its current form again.

So, what possibilities does this open?  New devs, new publisher, new story, same game?  Paragon Studios reconstituted and working on some completely different project, trusting to the loyal base of CoH fans to get them through the tough early years of establishing their product?  Olantern overthinking the implications of this?  Something else?  No, I'm asking you.

That was a fun read, regardless.  I found the disagreements among devs about story elements the most interesting part, but there were a lot of entertaining revelations.

[eabrace]

So, what possibilities does this open?  New devs, new publisher, new story, same game?

I'd say definitely new publisher since NCsoft already decided they're done supporting the title.

New devs?  Certainly a few at least.  Regardless of what happens here, we can't expect (or ask) all of the former Paragon employees to sit around and wait to see what happens if they can find another job and resume paying the bills.  The faster negotiations are wrapped up, the more developers we would be likely to retain.  But even if they'd wrapped up last week, the fact of the matter is that some developers are still going to have offers on the table that might pay better to consider.  Any way we paint there, there would be some turnover in the group of developers that would be coming on board.

Same game?  Hopefully.

New story?  Maybe some new threads at least.  See thoughts above on new developers.  And with new writers come new story ideas.

Paragon Studios reconstituted and working on some completely different project, trusting to the loyal base of CoH fans to get them through the tough early years of establishing their product?

I could support that.  (Well, not all by myself, obviously...)

[chaparralshrub]

Personally, I'd like some fresh blood. Some of the things they did in the Who Will Die story arc I just plain didn't like (actually, I really didn't like the concept at all, but I'm particularly cheesed with one of the people they killed off). I'd like to see some re-writing/re-thinking on their part.


Basically, if I'm playing a hero in CoH, I want to be able to play and fight along side of the signature heroes in the game. If I'm a villain, I want to be able to kill them myself instead of having NPCs do it for me. While this doesn't preclude having a well-written story in which some of the major NPCs die, I would rather said story basically remain a "what if" and not be made canonical so that said NPCs are no longer available for other stories and, especially, PC missions.

[laufeyjarson]

Many of the things in the big list of answers were marked as being made up quickly.  Many others were clearly things they could rethink.  I don't think this big discussion gives away the farm.

[Luna Eclypse]

"Why did the Nicti turn humans into wolf-like creatures?

MM: Because Jack wanted werewolves in the game. Oh you wanted an in-universe answer? Um, the Nicti wanted werewolves in their organization."

That got a spit take laugh out of me. I love the joking and ribbing at Jack.