New efforts!

[MM3squints]

Water was pretty much the most perfected blast set.

This is true +3 Tidal with the a non crashing tier 9 was so fun to use

[doc7924]

Assuming that the game comes back, I am guessing/speculating that the most likely outcome would be a complete account wipe with everyone starting from scratch (if only to avoid legal hassles of transferring account/payment data from NCSoft to the new caretakers).  I would also guess/speculate that all content would be available to monthly subscribers; again to create the easiest possible transition to the new caretakers.

Just a guess.

Will I be sad if my characters are lost?  Sure.  Right up until the moment that I do my very first clear of the Sewers in Atlas Park. ;)

Yes it would suck to not be able to just log in and play like nothing happened and lose items bought or gained from veterans.
But on the other hand - I would look forward to playing again and would have no problem re-making my favorite heroes.

[blacksly]

If the files can be use to restore levels, badges, inf, powers and what was slotted into them that's fine.
If the missing data is regarding costumes, that is what the tailor shops are for.

Inf and what was slotted is one thing that absolutely could not be used. Without any hacking of the Sentinel files, you could easily put all of your ultra-expensive IOs on one character and save him, then respec and move them to another character, then save that other character. It would be a bit of work, but a lot less than actually earning those IOs in any other way. A player could multiply their IO stash an effectively unlimited number of times (well, limited by the number of character slots, but then again you only have a finite need for all of them, also). Not to mention that the Influence is even more easily shifted around.

Hacking rares, man. Next thing you know, it will all be gone to the Americas.

[LaughingAlex]

I used to run +4x8 - solo on my Water/Dark corruptor. It really was like cheating, it was self power leveling.

Even 8x even level the experience you gain was absurd if you were soloing.  More enemies and higher tier enemies = more exp.  It was more a matter of killing them fast and efficiently.

[MM3squints]

Even 8x even level the experience you gain was absurd if you were soloing.  More enemies and higher tier enemies = more exp.  It was more a matter of killing them fast and efficiently.

I did 4/8 no bosses and went through a council map with a fire/psi within 7-10 minutes. As long you take out the boss 4/8 isnt that bad

[Minotaur]

I did 4/8 no bosses and went through a council map with a fire/psi within 7-10 minutes. As long you take out the boss 4/8 isnt that bad

I used SS/fire brute when I wanted to PL and did +4x8 with bosses, aggroing 3 groups at a time so they filled in the gaps :)

[MM3squints]

I used SS/fire brute when I wanted to PL and did +4x8 with bosses, aggroing 3 groups at a time so they filled in the gaps :)

Tried that once, but for dom once they try running at you by the 2nd group they give up and head back, so my logic was just replace that boss with a Lt, that will it will be a confirmed kill xD

[Harpospoke]

I used to run +4x8 - solo on my Water/Dark corruptor. It really was like cheating, it was self power leveling.

Holy smokes...I've got to see something like that in action when the game comes back.   I think I could bump the lvl up to +2 at most on a couple of characters.    Jeez I suck!   lol

I need to give Corruptors more of a try too.   I think I only made one that got to lvl 15 or so.   Too busy making every possible Controller I guess.

[Harpospoke]

Inf and what was slotted is one thing that absolutely could not be used. Without any hacking of the Sentinel files, you could easily put all of your ultra-expensive IOs on one character and save him, then respec and move them to another character, then save that other character. It would be a bit of work, but a lot less than actually earning those IOs in any other way. A player could multiply their IO stash an effectively unlimited number of times (well, limited by the number of character slots, but then again you only have a finite need for all of them, also). Not to mention that the Influence is even more easily shifted around.

Hacking rares, man. Next thing you know, it will all be gone to the Americas.

If someone went through that beating over and over....let them have it.   They earned it.

[Lupur]

All this talk of Dark Defenders is making me go all mushy..

My first toon was a Dark Defender, he didn't get very far cause of chronic altitis, but I still have a massive soft spot for defenders..

When Going Rogue came out, he got instantly re-rolled into Dark / Dark / Dark Corruptor, and would run +2/x8 wtih no difficulty on both sides [vigilante4lyf]  8)

Dark Consumption was just amazing after a Blackstar ( if anything lived ) and could keep oppressive gloom running just in case :D

Having all 3 of the cones with KB / KD and double tar patch because of Fluffy just made it so lol. In PUGs, most people had no idea what was going on most of the time :P

[sniff] Damn how I miss that sheep.. [sniff]   :'(

[[edit: repetitiveness is repetitive]]

[Teikiatsu]

Ergh. All this makes most excellent sense. You are completely right. And that means we probably won't be getting our stuff back.

Oh well! Fire up the servers, I have everything saved, right down to bios/descriptions and what can be done once, will be done again.  8) beats not being able to do it AT ALL, right?

It can be done BETTER

[blacksly]

If someone went through that beating over and over....let them have it.   They earned it.

Even doing it the easy way, one respec for each character, you can forward your 18 most expensive IOs and a max amount of Influence to each character. Repeat that 10x, and you have 180 purples or something and 10x the maximum Influence. It's really a small amount of time for the payoff. One hour, two maybe?

[Number9]

I'm a long time lurker here, and finally decided to register.  I had long given up hope that CoH would be pulled from the bin when I for whatever reason decided to check these forums (an every-other-month-cross-my-fingers habit) and discovered this thread and the almost horrible hope it gave me. 

I have to say I'm of two minds.  My inner Ralphie Parker says "I will get that Red Rider BB gun for Christmas!."  While my more adult cynic side immediately thought of Paul Newman's character in Slapshot, and the con he runs to draw attention to his failing team as a last ditch (dare I say Hail Marry) attempt to get the attention of potential buyers.  Well Im just hoping and praying that the Red Rider BB gun will come out from behind the couch this fall.

I discovered this thread a few days prior to the Massively article, and Ive beentelling gamer pals and ex-CoH players about it.  So far all have said they would buy the game again if it were available - six folks including myself.  I know another handful of friends in my older-gamers group that had never played CoH put expressed interest.  If the game does relaunch and if it gets some promotion, and especially if it is available via Steam I think you would get surprising numbers of returnees and new players.

Some thoughts:

1. Starting fresh if all the account data is gone, would likely be a positive thing for the game.  The more people crammed into starting zones the better IMO.

2. Relaunch with several servers, better to have too few than too many.

3. If at all possible market the game via Steam - this would be the best way to attract new players and returnees.

Anyway, Ironwolf, you are either a true hero or a true villain.  Here's to hoping you are the former.

[Harpospoke]

Even doing it the easy way, one respec for each character, you can forward your 18 most expensive IOs and a max amount of Influence to each character. Repeat that 10x, and you have 180 purples or something and 10x the maximum Influence. It's really a small amount of time for the payoff. One hour, two maybe?

10 respecs in an hour?   They got me beat.

If the decision came down to that issue (I doubt that would be the reason) I wouldn't say it comes close outweighing the benefit of restoring characters.    Toss them all out because a small minority of players who:  Knew about the Sentinel files....wanted to find a way to exploit them....found a way to exploit them...and then went to all that trouble.   Sounds like a vanishingly small number of players you would be targeting by harming a much larger number of players.   

And this exploit would result in a player I didn't know having purples and a lot of influence.   ...Which sounds like most of the players I played with already.   A lot of gnashing of teeth....not a lot of benefit.

[Kistulot]

If anything starting with too many people having purples would be helpful for happy game flow. Sure there wouldn't be as much inf in throwing them up on the market if they aren't desperately 'needed', but the low prices would help a new person on their first 50 get a really awesome setup and then pass it on by throwing up the purples they find for a reasonable enough price.

[Harpospoke]

If anything starting with too many people having purples would be helpful for happy game flow. Sure there wouldn't be as much inf in throwing them up on the market if they aren't desperately 'needed', but the low prices would help a new person on their first 50 get a really awesome setup and then pass it on by throwing up the purples they find for a reasonable enough price.

That's another good point.   The law of supply and demand.   The more purples there are, the lower the price.   More supply/less demand.

[Super Firebug]

3. If at all possible market the game via Steam - this would be the best way to attract new players and returnees.

If it has to be, I'd hope that it's be available outside of Steam, too. As I think someone else expressed earlier, I don't like the idea of someone monitoring my gameplay. (We live in enough of a surveillance state, as it is.)

[Waffles]

If it has to be, I'd hope that it's be available outside of Steam, too. As I think someone else expressed earlier, I don't like the idea of someone monitoring my gameplay. (We live in enough of a surveillance state, as it is.)

...Que?

[Surelle]

If it has to be, I'd hope that it's be available outside of Steam, too. As I think someone else expressed earlier, I don't like the idea of someone monitoring my gameplay. (We live in enough of a surveillance state, as it is.)

Aw, don't worry.  Steam never becomes mandatory if you don't buy/download a game through Steam; you can always play a game (er, outside of Valve's I guess, haha) just by getting it from the devs/publisher instead.  Steam just presents a game to a much larger audience, by featuring it to the millions of players who already use Steam.  Oh, and Steam's July/Summer and December/winter sales can't be beat!  You can easily buy thousands of games for up to 75% off.  They're amazing!  I got a bunch of point and click adventures and some Diablo-type RPGs that way.  They feature most games from every genre, including F2P MMOs.

[Number9]

If it has to be, I'd hope that it's be available outside of Steam, too. As I think someone else expressed earlier, I don't like the idea of someone monitoring my gameplay. (We live in enough of a surveillance state, as it is.)

Most (possibly all) Steam games can be launched so that it doesnt show up in Steam that you are playing said Steam game.  Whoever takes over CoH will, like all MMOs marketed on Steam, have their own account log-in and updater etc.  It would be possible to just log into the game via their desktop shortcut and avoid launching via Steam.  Key thing is that if it were marketed via Steam a great many more gamers will see it and purchase it.

Edit: err, what Surelle said.