The time is 1:00 a.m. In two hours, almost to the minute, we reach the anniversary of the game's closure in the early hours of December 1, 2012.
I really, really miss City of Heroes and all it entailed. I might try Icon, but I haven't yet; the music files, my HeroClix pieces, the CCG cards, my reminiscing with friends and girlfriend all mean that the game is still very fresh in my mind.
If I didn't have church in the morning, I'd likely stay up 'til three a.m. Eastern thinking back and reflecting, but I do, and I have a lot of papers to grade tomorrow, so I can't really do that.
As I think I've said before, there have been many games that I've backed off playing--simply slid away from over time to where I didn't really care to go back to play them as much. Some of these have been online games: The Kingdom of Loathing, Graal Online, Gunz Online, Diablo 1-3. For the first three, there was some sense of closure, some sense of completion. For the Diablo series, I still install and play a little of those from time to time. I don't know if the first two games in that list (The Kingdom of Loathing and Graal Online) are even still around, as I haven't checked them in ages, and Gunz closed quietly without my knowledge. I simply tried to log in, and it wasn't there, and it didn't really hit me, as I hadn't played it in months. When I lost my level 45 Warrior (Diablo 1) to a botched reinstall and my tweaked out 92 Paladin to not playing long enough to keep it active, there was a sick feeling in the stomach--regret--but not like the loss of City of Heroes. I don't know that any of us who was actively playing in the months near the end was truly ready to see the game go.
All we can do is look to the future, with the various options available in the light of spiritual successors. It's obvious that, by this time, the push to get NCSoft to reopen the game is likely a lost cause; it would be a wonderful, blessed miracle if they DID, but their track record is notoriously poor in these matters.
So here's to holding hope for the future of this community and for the future of the offshoots being brought up to honor the memory of City of Heroes. May they all flourish and do well in years to come.
But for me?
I miss our City.
-- Tubbius of Justice Server