If we start with no user data

[ag88t88]

Assuming there is no account data, but there is user data, wouldn't it be tied to the global name?  Could we just use our global names to identify ourselves to get our old data back?  I'm assuming most people won't remember any one's global name but their own.   Or at least use the sentinel files to establish validity of the claim on certain characters?

[Goddangit]

Even if we can't use the Sentinal+ to fully restore a character I'd like to grab my costumes.  Especially recreating an older costume finding my way through the menus to a particular part could be very time consuming.  Those menus are completely different than they were twenty issues ago.  Getting the colors as they were, the correct face and proportions...  And I don't see that even if someone developed a new costume offline and uploaded it that it would have any impact on gameplay.

IF by some miracle our old characters are made available to us, here's how you handle it.  Have a web page that will show a player all of their old available characters and the servers they resided on.  Allow the players to select a character and a live server to transfer that character to.  Work it just like the old server transfers.  If a name is taken they get the option to rename.  Only active players will be taking up names on the live servers so all those abandoned characters names will be free for others to use.

There are a few non-standard costume parts I have used and definitely would like back.  The DVD cape and rocket boots being the two most notable ones.  I agree with other comments I have seen on this -- Open them all up for VIP subscribers.

While I can appreciate many people want to get back to 50 ASAP, for me its about the journey.  Still, I'm not opposed to x2 XP and all that.  If I want to slow down I can always turn XP rewards off.  So I think those players should have that option.  Go for it.

[Triplash]

Even if we can't use the Sentinal+ to fully restore a character I'd like to grab my costumes. 

Someone else mentioned that in the New Efforts thread yesterday. Easy to miss with the way that thread has been zooming by lately though, hehe!

There is actually a utility for that, yep. It's called Senticon.

http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,9637.0.html

Older costumes might have some hiccups, due to costume pieces changing categories or whatnot, but from what I've heard it's pretty good overall. Hope that helps!

[Nyx Nought Nothing]

Assuming there is no account data, but there is user data, wouldn't it be tied to the global name?  Could we just use our global names to identify ourselves to get our old data back?  I'm assuming most people won't remember any one's global name but their own.   Or at least use the sentinel files to establish validity of the claim on certain characters?

Oh, i can remember at least a dozen global names and the associated major characters used by other players, and i doubt i'm all that unique in that regard, so i would advise against that approach. More likely to be useful is if the screenname and passwords for the game accounts have been retained. Then all you have to do is login using your old credentials. Game accounts and NCsoft master accounts are separate beasts, so if the game account data was retained and available as part of the sale i suspect that would work.

[MWRuger]

Assuming there is no account data, but there is user data, wouldn't it be tied to the global name?  Could we just use our global names to identify ourselves to get our old data back?  I'm assuming most people won't remember any one's global name but their own.   Or at least use the sentinel files to establish validity of the claim on certain characters?

It seems to me the relational part of the character data and account data has to be the global. It possible, quite likely actually, that the global is just a string of numbers meant to be matched with a translation table that links the two data bases. Also is it a randomly assigned key or something generated by using the global as a key? (doubtful since you could change your global and not loose access to your data, but it could have just been updated with a new unique key)

Without that table, it would be difficult to get at the data reliably.

But it should be possible to query out and character's name and original server. If a player can prove who there are in RL and provide that information, a query of the data should provide the global string and thus associated character data.

There would have to be fairly stringent id checks involved. Even if you don't have access anymore you wold likely need to know the email associated with the account.

It really hinges on whether the global translation table is available and whether email is associated with character data.

If not, identifying what's what and who's who is problematic. It could still be done, just not easily (read cheaply).

It can be done. It's a question of how much resources would need to be allocated vs how big a PITA it is versus benefit. But unless the data is irretrievably lost, it is technically possible. There are databases that have been around for decades, to be sure they have been translated and updated, but they were created long ago.

[artbunker]

I agree with this, but I'd also include all veteran and event costumes, even T9 ones, to be included as standard. I'd debate that handing over all the old veteran stuff for free (except badges and one-time use items), and implementing a new veteran system would be beneficial. I'd also suggest giving away the old powersets for free too, as they're a crucial part of some characters.

With I24 and other WIP content around the corner, there's plenty to be sold on the market. There were about 5 new costume sets in development, and about 13 new powersets to be implemented (5 of which are pool powersets), a solid amount to give the market some content to cover all the costume sets and powersets that were previously purchasable.

However, if people see this as too charitable, allowing players to have a pick of about 3 purchasable powersets and 5 or so costume packs for free could also work, then you can purchase anything else you need.

This right here is the best solution. While I brought a lot of stuff, I do realize the need for the new investors to make money on this game as well. the 3 purchasable powerset and 5 or so custume pack sounds like a great compromise.

Oh and no instant 50's please.  While I did spend the last few weeks of the game in AE a lot, I had already played through 8 years worth of toons between my account and my best friends. I already knew how most of the toons and their powers worked so I just wanted toons PL'd to 50 in AE.

I saw how some folks who didnt know what they were doing at all with thier toons. Let me tell you going through a full Maria Jenkins arc, and your blaster is blapping without any SO's at least is fustrating. Or seeing a controller(my favorite toons) jump front line and try to be a brute with their powers  SMDH. I understand the arc i mentioned is a 45-50 arc, but I think folks get my meaing. Imagine PL'd 50's in a Lambda or BAF with no idea what their doing. You thought we were pissed off in UNDERGROUND.. Man that would be a nightmare in those other two trials.

For the record, I would be more than glad to train new players in the game or assist them in anyway possible, but a insta 50 off rip. Hell No. Talk about killing the game . Also I think having PB and WS unlocked at 20 is still a good idea. It doesnt take that long to get to 20 in COH/COV . Well maybe COV , but in COH .. that wont take that long doing it the un AE way.

[MWRuger]

There are people who see 50 as an all-but insurmountable hurdle, and/or simply wish to recreate a character exactly as it was.

The other prestige options can be added to the market.  In the case of the alt Sprint you mentioned, it was in fact already in the Vet Rewards/Paragon Rewards.

No it actually wasn't included. It was one of the few things that never made it. Positron even had a poll where he asked what people thought about selling it in the store.

You are thinking of the pre-order sprints.

[Scendera]

Open all veteran rewards to everone, and open the VT's. Reasons:

The VT's are not stronger in any way than the other AT's. And rightly so. But blocking them off is pointless. They behave differently, but not in some way that would require someone to go through 50 levels of some other class before they could figure this one out.

I'd be happy if they did this. I wasn't remotely near the level of most of you guys and I'd like to think I figured my PB out pretty well. Admittedly, she was around the 18th character I'd made, but...

[gec72]

The way I see it, everything that was developed under Paragon Studios and earlier would be fair game to sell at discounts for a limited introductory period. My take on it would be to offer everything separately, and also put together four bundles, so individual players can pick and choose what matters more to them.

Bundle 1: The full set of Vet Rewards
Bundle 2: All the previously released power sets
Bundle 3: All the previously released costume pieces
Bundle 4: A large number of "convenience extras" like costume slots, inventory increases, cape and aura unlocks, character slots, and so on. This one can be picked up repeatedly, for folks who really want to trick out their account.

For the first 3 months the price per bundle would be really low, say $15 each. That would allow a player to pick up "the entire game", and a nice little pile of extras, for $60. That's comparable to the price you'd pay to purchase a console title or other computer game outright.

After that the price goes up, and for the next three months the price per bundle would be $25 each. Still a good price, but clearly you get the best value by getting in early. For the six months after that, the price per bundle increases to $40 each. And finally, a year after launch, the bundles remain but the introductory sales are over and they take on their full, long-term prices.

On top of that, selling consumables like Super Packs, XP boosters, dual inspirations, and so on could net them a tidy revenue stream until their own new content is ready to be added into the mix.

I was thinking something like this as well. Assuming those acquiring the game are going to want some initial return, I think (unfortunately) we would have to buy back some things that we previously had. But it can't be anything near the initial layout and it could well be part of some discounted, preorder deal (which I think only old vets are really going to be interested in). Continue to make them available for those who take a while to come back or even for new players.

Server-wise, start with a small set of new servers. If after a while the player base is looking good or old character data is then feasible, bring the "old" servers online (or at least allow for some sort of import of the old characters onto other current servers; it still amazes me that transfers were done via  - by whole or in part - a Perl script. Crazy. You would think that there would be some version of the character data existing already though - I mean, they pretty much have to be able to build character data table structures anyway, so there has to be something to build them from. There would be that, but no actual data backups/dumps?).

Super packs, etc. seem like a whole other level of complexity. Though they would be nice, I am more than fine without them.

Oh - I maintained two paid accounts for 6-7 years. I would absolutely go back to paying $15/mo. if the game came back. I would do this even if they couldn't salvage old characters. I was an altaholic as it was, so most of my 50s were parked anyway. Given enough character slots* I could always recreate them anyway**.

* If there is anything that is a must in my mind, it would be loads and loads of slots.

** Some of my 50s were on my "son's" account, so I would probably want to move them over anyway. Starting fresh is one way, I suppose.

[Mistress Urd]

Thinking about it, either we ALL get our stuff back or we ALL start fresh. Anything else brings up questions about fairness and derailing the game because player A has to start fresh but player B got all of his stuff back is PANCAKE!

[Peerless Girl]

Thinking about it, either we ALL get our stuff back or we ALL start fresh. Anything else brings up questions about fairness and derailing the game because player A has to start fresh but player B got all of his stuff back is PANCAKE!

Yup. That was more or less my point in the other thread. It's got to be all or nothing, and given the potential issues with sorting out account and ownership issues, I'm willing to bet it's 90% likely to be "nothing".

[Hafnium]

I don't mind the idea of selling insta-50 levelers.  As has been said in many posts, this game can be played so many different ways.  And some players want that pantheon of their old 50's as soon as possible.  Some chunk of INF could even be included in the purchase so that the newly minted 50 could be slotted with SO's.  That also create cash for development of the game (likely CoX2).

However, most of those old toons had gear (IO's, Hami-O's) that will still take months to acquire and purchase.  So the next question is, would an insta-50 button and a pile of INF meet the needs of the players wanting to recreate their lost toons en mass?  If not, then it doesn't meet the community needs, and will only be a point of contention for those who see it as P2W.  Or as a pitfall for players new to CoX.

[Mageman]

As I have stated earlier in another post I think that NCSoft should work with the new owners of CoX to ensure that all the account data is transferred in some manner. Preferably, logging into your NCSoft master account to get some form of unique code and verification code to ensure that you're the actual owner of the account. Failing to do this, I think that the new owners should restore as much as possible at launch and to throw the rest of the data away (bringing it back a "piece at a time" is a waste of time and resources).

That said, I think that the new owners should put everything on sale for 75% off and offer players a "bundle" as compensation for the loss of account data. This bundle would include all veteran rewards, 10 bonus character slots, and all costumes and powers available up to I23 (including the special purchases - like those available in the CoV collector's edition), and MAYBE one instant level 50 character (although I think if I have to start over, I wouldn't want this - leaving it as an option for the new owners). After 3-6 months, this sale would go away and the bundle would now cost $200.

One thing I haven't seen anyone mention is I think they should put a timer on the creation of characters (or the importing characters from old accounts). People keep complaining that the "best names" are already taken. Limiting people to ONE new OR imported character once per day per account (something like a timer that resets every day at midnight). Then they have to choose which name they want the most, and give everyone a chance to get a good character name.

Part of the reason for the timer is to prevent people from filling all their slots with character names real fast at launch and people (like me) who work having to wait until they have some free time to create their first character and finding out that their character names are already taken. This, IMHO, is a fair and balanced way to help people create characters and choose names for them.

[jacknomind]

I don't mind selling *an* Insta-50.  I don't like the idea of people just re-casting their stable of 50s, though, because it disincentivizes both themselves (from re-engaging with the game) and other players (if this is a P2W option).

I don't want to just fly around Peregrine for 20 minutes and go, "Well, that was fun!".  I want to join a sewer team.  But on the other side of that coin, looking at a totally blank slate is a little overwhelming.

[AlienOne]

I've read many different opinions of what people considered fun about CoH.  That was the beauty of the game.  It was so vast with a wide range of stuff to play with that the was something for everyone that loved the game, even if, and especially if those things were unique to each person. 

I hope that the account data can be restored because I don't have the time I once did, and because I'd rather create something new to level up that go on a the level 1-50 + incarnate quest that I've already completed once with my mains. 

I have several characters, which I fit into the CoH universe. My favorites became my mains, because I enjoyed them so much, both in my head/on paper and in the game.  I built them and created them like I wanted them with years of play time.  I'd want to play them again more than any other character but to do so again would be somewhat a chore.  If I have to re-create what I've already done, would this be like rebuilding a sandcastle at low tide in hopes the high tide stays away?

Maybe it's different for the rest of the the players out there, but anymore, my time investment needs to come with more than a fond memory.  I have a family to take care of now, and if my time isn't spent in ways beneficial to more that just me than I'm being selfish with that time.

So, if the character account data is gone, I may not be able to invest in the game as to do so what be a selfish endeavor: and for a game like CoH there needs to be a significant time investment.  And my free time at this point is really just parts of weekends.  Time when I should be spending with my family ironically becomes un-heroic when I play CoH.

So if there's a way to pay for what I've lost (as long as it's fair and reasonable) I may need to go that route instead of the time investment I made before.
Because If I have 4 hours a week to play I'd consider that the most I could hope for.  With that amount of time, it would take me a long time to get back to where I was.  I hope there's another way.

This is exactly where I stand.

I was a different person in a different situation with a different amount of time to play back in 2005-2012. Now, I've got a fiance', a wedding to plan, possibly having a baby, a house to pay for, and a job that requires a lot of time commitment.

To me, there is a monetary value to the 7 years' time I put into this game. If I were offered the chance to get even ONE (out of the 25+) of my level 50s back (especially if it were my beloved Warshade) with everything intact (All purple IOs, badges, costumes, vet rewards, and Incarnate content unlocked), then I would gladly pay for that.

Why? Because this is an old game. The audience that started playing this game back in 2004+ is a decade older with a decade's worth of changes to their lives.

Whoever is heading this effort cannot honestly think that the bulk of this community would have the necessary time to invest to get things back to how we had them. Anyone who thinks otherwise (or is depending on this) is dooming this group's next effort (CoH2?). Why? Because we'd all be too busy over the next 8 years getting things back to how they were!

For most of us (unless you don't have a job or are under house arrest), it's impossible to accomplish 5-8 years' worth of work all over again.


Before someone reads into what I say (again), let me say that I'm not saying "I won't play unless I get everything back!"

I AM saying that I certainly hope that the people getting this game back understand that the community they're dealing with now isn't exactly the same as it was when CoH was released the first time.

We may not have "moved on" (hey, we're all here furiously refreshing Ironwolf's update thread, right?), but we're certainly all a decade older.

That needs to be taken into consideration.

If it were me, I'd come up with some kind of plan that allowed people to get back what they had over their 6-8 years of gameplay in more like 2-3 years...mainly because you want to prime your audience to be "ready" for the project they'll inevitably be working on if/when they get the IP.

[HEATSTROKE]

This is exactly where I stand.

I was a different person in a different situation with a different amount of time to play back in 2005-2012. Now, I've got a fiance', a wedding to plan, possibly having a baby, a house to pay for, and a job that requires a lot of time commitment.

To me, there is a monetary value to the 7 years' time I put into this game. If I were offered the chance to get even ONE (out of the 25+) of my level 50s back (especially if it were my beloved Warshade) with everything intact (All purple IOs, badges, costumes, vet rewards, and Incarnate content unlocked), then I would gladly pay for that.

Why? Because this is an old game. The audience that started playing this game back in 2004+ is a decade older with a decade's worth of changes to their lives.

Whoever is heading this effort cannot honestly think that the bulk of this community would have the necessary time to invest to get things back to how we had them ourselves.

For most of us (unless you don't have a job or are under house arrest), it's impossible to accomplish 5-8 years' worth of work all over again.


Before someone reads into what I say (again), let me say that I'm not saying "I won't play unless I get everything back!"

I AM saying that I certainly hope that the people getting this game back understand that the community they're dealing with now isn't exactly the same as it was when CoH was released the first time.

We may not have "moved on" (hey, we're all here furiously refreshing Ironwolf's update thread, right?), but we're certainly all a decade older.

That needs to be taken into consideration.

DITTO...

[Serpine]

As I have stated earlier in another post I think that NCSoft should work with the new owners of CoX to ensure that all the account data is transferred in some manner.

One thing I've been wondering is if legally NCSoft can't provide the account information. This is a technically dead game, not a live product or even apparently one in a complete state with required tools. The login / character data they have may be deeply bound to our personal / financial transaction data. So there may be privacy laws that raise sensitive legal issues to essentially sell personal data to what amounts to a start-up company for use with an incomplete, not-currently-running codebase. Normally sales of MMOs have a level of concurrence in which they are still in a functional state when they are sold so you can justify it being a complete / related transfer. But since we don't have that here they might be required to something crazy/impossible like get discrete permission from every potential user to allow account information to be released to the new owners.

[Fridgy Daiere]

I think this was addressed earlier by a forum member, but I can't remember which thread or which person, sorry.  Their suggestion was that NCSoft send a mass e-mail to previous CoX customers (they still have our info; I've gotten several "Hey, come play ____!" emails from them) asking our permission to release our information to the new company.  There was more, with authentication protocols and everything, but it's late, and I don't want to tell you wrong.   

[Serpine]

That might be possible, but it may still expose them to unacceptable liability. Just theorizing.

[Noyjitat]

in order of importance
1: badges on my main character atleast ( I had every badge available to me)
2: Costume pieces and vetrewards including the one time vetrewards (phoenix wings, celestial etc)
3: IOs, including pvp, purple, sets etc. (Preferrably for one or more characters since I had 20 characters decked out)

Disclaimer: I just want to play and it won't be the end of the world for me if I have to earn it all again.