I just want to say something. This is partially an expansion of my last post on the previous page. But hear me out.
People on this thread and elsewhere seem to be focussed on the technical aspects and "when can I log in again"?
Issues with the game engine and source code and the like pale into insignificance compared to freeing the IP from NCSoft.
Read the following again:
Old clunky game engine? Incompatibility with Win 9?
DOESN'T MATTER.
It's the IDEAS and the Intellectual Property that is the real heart and soul of City of Heroes - and if THAT part of the deal goes through as described, then that part of the game - the concepts - the background stories - the characters - the NPCS - the visual design...
THAT PART will have been put in the hands of people who actually CARE about it!
Eventually the game engine will HAVE to change, one way or another. But moving it to Unreal Engine - and allowing other games to be part of the City of Heroes story and reference it..
GOOD GOD... That's HUGE.
Do you know what this means? SERIOUSLY? Have you thought it out to the extreme?
I just have. And it boggles my mind.
Imagine not one or two - but perhaps a DOZEN games - all in the same overall universe story-wise.
IF... IF this is not just NCSoft yanking people around again. If they really allow the IP to go. Then game engines don't matter. CODE doesn't matter.
The Story and the World of City of Heroes can live on even if the original game engine is (or has to be) discarded.
City of Heroes?
Imagine WORLD OF HEROES as a FRANCHISE.
I'm having a hard time being too interested in that. City of Heroes was a great GAME. As a world it was only good, and many of the creative minds that worked on it, or played in it, could create another very interesting world. But keeping the particular world alive is more important and relevant for financial reasons, than for reasons of imagination.
On the other side, I've read lots and lots of books. Many of them were set in great universes (Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Star Trek, Star Wars)... and many of the books were just bad. Getting a dozen games, of different types, all related to City of Heroes... means next to nothing, if the games are bad. And if they're good, they could be good whether they're tied into CoH or not. I am not in the slightest bit hopeful that a related game is going to be a great game just because it's set in the CoH world. It could be great, yes, but if a team makes a great game... they would have made a great game whether they set it in the CoH or the CoT world.
The game itself (code and design) are what matter to me, because they are a clearly superior product.