Step one.. get the game from NC Soft.. Lets focus on that...
Despite the one being in panic yesterday (and I'm greatly sorry for that. I am usually pretty much cool about things usually), I agree with that statement. Especially since I find it scary how we all want something different added or removed to it. But at the same time, It had to be expected since there is a large variety of gamers and it makes the community be divided (not in war but still divided) on what people want.
The game was finely built to get pretty much all kind of players happy in different ways. They were like, in a mental image, in the middle of all the different kinds of players. Now the blanket has been left untouched in the middle, everyone wants to pull the blanket on their side to get what they think would be good for the game. The only issue is there are so many kinds of different players in this game, reaching a large amount of community, that it is unavoidable that while some people think that "A" is a good idea, others will say that "B" is more adapted to them and others will say that "A" and "B" are not good since "C" needs to happen.
What I'm trying to say is CoH was a nice balance for everyone but a very fragile balance as well. While I know that it is mostly for the entertainment of it that some ideas are thrown around, let's not forget that some ideas might frustrate others. It is not because we are all whiny brats but mostly because there was tons of ways to enjoy CoH and your idea might fit well for your way to play CoH but would cut literally the fun for people who were enjoying it in a different way.
I guess it's why I was claiming the game shouldn't be changed that much. But at the same time, while I would be just happy to have the game like it used to be and never move from there, while I would be to just have a copy to play on my own personal server that could totally be set for that, while I would live very happily with a I24 version of CoH with some of my friends, I know too that if a company purchases it and sells it to users, it will have to evolve to continue to sell.
However, I think that balance will always have to be considerated and maintained or we might lose some people in the long run. And while there are some great ideas thrown around, I understand that some great ideas thrown by ones are a game killer for the others and vice-versa.
All that to say, to come back on me backing up the statement of focusing on first phase, we should probably just do that to avoid those who could buy it see a community that is divided by their own personal opinions because they want the balance to be broken by their own vision of the game.
Yes, I think that, if the game evolves, not only the core must be maintained but that fragile balance as well. CoH was a game for all kind of players and CoH needs to stay a game for all kind of players. That was what proved how huge CoH community was and how awesome people were in it and how they got united to fight for their game. We can't let anything divide the community, especially not ourselves, because we all have a different vision of CoH that would require to implement things that might hurt the other visions.
By the way, I'm not saying people are at war or anything. I just see how some of those debates about implementing or removing stuff could easily start fights so I just try to calm down flames before they start to burn.