And the mask comes off.

[TECHWON]

COH Forever

[Number9]

I lived and worked in Japan for many years, and while obviously not identical there are a great many similarities in the business culture's of Japan and Korea.  Sounds like the Hail Mary team did just the right thing in their approach and its a shame that earlier efforts had not followed a similar tact.  It's clear that this isnt yet a done deal and from my experience in East Asia its very possible that this deal could stay in limbo for a while and then a polite "no thank you" issued.  So Im prepared for that, and I think everyone else should be as well.

But, Ive also got my CC ready for whatever account creation with whatever holding company turns up with CoH i23 servers!

Thanks to the team for making this effort, truly in the spirit of heroes.

[Angel Phoenix77]

There are some really cool ideas floating around for A.E. and Bases, but those are both beasts that will be tackled much later on. They might not even be present in an initial release.

could that also be for account based holdings like in Co?

[Blackshear]

There are some really cool ideas floating around for A.E. and Bases, but those are both beasts that will be tackled much later on. They might not even be present in an initial release.

So long as I can reupload my saved AE mishes once it is relaunched.  AE was important for roleplayers because it gave us the ability to create actual content for our stories.  Hidden amongst all the farms there was some great RP-related content on AE!

[JKPhage]

All I can say is that you guys continue to amaze me. I can't say thank you enough for all that you do. Keep up the good work, and know that we're all pulling for you to make it work somehow. We have faith that you will!

[Rubberlad]

Not surprised but I hope it works out. Good luck!

[Nalerenn]

I have no words for how happy this news made me. Or how excited.

Back when I played City of Heroes in the early years of the EU community, I was in the latter years of high school, but I had thought 'Man, I would love to get a job working on this game'. I'd even say that it was thanks to City of Heroes that I decided to go into college to study games design. City of Heroes sadly was shut down during my college year and since then, numerous issues got in the way of continuing my studies. But I didn't quit, I decided to work on things on the side in the meantime. I even messaged Ironwolf and sent him details to forward to the team. Knowing now it was MWM? Blows my mind and reignites that dream from ten years ago.

Nate, and everyone at MWM and those not who are working on this deal, there are no words adequate for the thanks I have for your work here. That's not an exagguration, I am honestly at a loss for words (despite the wordy post, natch). So what I say next, know that what I mean is orders of magnitude greater, even if we still are at a stage where the deal might not happen.

Thank you.

[Hyperstrike]

For people worrying about "how long can a CoH 1.0 implementation last".

As long as they can keep the servers stable, honestly, it's almost indefinitely.

There is, currently, NOTHING in the Win9 pipeline that looks to affect anything CoH could do AT ALL.

The biggest hurdle will be building a working game loader/patcher, as a certain amount of the game is primarily client-side stuff that CAN be accessed/worked with/fixed at will.  Just so long as the server and client agree on the acceptable version number.

[Beltor]

Forum Stalker checking in. I chose to stay until the end. Glad to say that may be a long way to go.

[Hagis]

/em salute

Long time player here. (Since just before Issue 4.) Posted a bit here and there on the game forums back in the day. Got my wife into CoH, and watched her go from being burned-out on the world's largest fantasy-themed MMO to someone who cackled with unfettered joy every time her sparkle fairy-based electric/electric/electric blaster dropped a world of hurt on the baddies. Then the game got shut down and we were in shock....and then we found out she was pregnant, and our gaming hobby got shoved aside as more important things took precedence.

Fast forward two years (to the day!) that we found out CoH was shutting down, and we're both trying to figure out if it'll be possible for our little one to join us in Paragon someday.

As a gamer and a fan, I am happy that there's a chance to get the game back. As a father, I remember the times I played on PUGs where others were playing with their kids, and I remember how most people were cool with that. Maybe it meant slowing things down for a mission or two, but the majority of folks were okay with that. From where I sit, you can't put a price on that. My wife and I mourned the loss of the game, but it was the community that we truly and deeply missed.

And now, I can only sit back in humble amazement and watch what this community has done. Not one, not two, but three successor games......plus a continuation in the Atlas Park Revival Project.....youtube videos galore (can't wait to see what Samuraiko puts together if this works out)....

Please allow me to add my and my wife's thank-yous to the chorus. Consider our expectations managed, our excitement tempered, and our gratitude unbending.

[lapucelle]

Step by step, day by day. The deal isn't signed yet. But you guys deserved to know where we stand, and you'll be there with us every step of the way.


Be happy for what we got today, but there's still a lot of steps between now and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGButr9F8eY

- Warcabbit

[Achilles6]

so...still in a holding pattern. gotcha. 

[blacksly]

Without source code, nothing can be added. Whether powers can be modified (balance etc) depends on how much of the numbers and power mechanics are hardcoded into the server.

Do you have a definite source for this belief?
If the database with power information is external to the source code (and it makes sense that, just as map and sound files are external, good programmers would keep a database external to the executing code), then clearly it would be possible to add to that database, if the database format can be figured out. Since it was once figured out in reading the data (as we can see in Mid's and in the powers data here on Titan), we can clearly add more powers (and probably powersets) to the database.

Now comes a less certain question, and it is this: once the studio hacks the database format, and adds in a new powerset and powers for it, what happens? Is the executable code written so that it will read all the way to the end of the database, regardless of how many powersets it may contain, and display all of those powersets as appropriate? Or is it hard-coded to know that a Blaster character has access to exactly X primary powersets, and therefore will not read X+1 powersets for Blasters, even if a new Blast set is created?

So the real question, I think, is whether the code for reading the powers database allows for an extendable database, or whether it has a fixed size. I have a strong belief that it will be possible to hack the database and add new powers... that is not such a difficult task, and I think it's been at least partially done before (the reading part, but writing should follow from it). But I have no information on whether the code will accept a database that is modified in size, or not, and be able to display it in the game in usable format. It may read a new powerset into memory, but not show it as an available powerset at character generation, for example.

Do you have more information regarding the extensibility of the powers database than I do (which means, any at all)?

[Zombie Hustler]

Congrats to all involved, and thank you. Regardless of what comes, thank you for continuing to try.

With that said, one of the things about this info that has me intrigued is the possibility of having multiple games set in the same City of Heroes continuity. Something that has long been a dream of mine in MMO terms is to have some kind of "cross world" continuity- ideally, the same game engine, but with different servers emulating different cities, worlds, and/or genres but by which you could 'port your character from one to the other.

Now, that doesn't sound exactly like what might be happening here, but there still is that possibility in terms of continuity of story that could be a chance for something very revolutionary in MMO gaming. In comic terms, it would be like having a server for Marvel's New York City based heroes, a server for their Los Angeles based heroes, etc. You could have both the East and West Coast Avengers active at the same time! Sure, since these current games seem to be using their own engines and things, you couldn't just have your main show up on the other system, but depending on how well MWM, Valiance, APR, and H&V play together, they could still theoretically design storylines that reference one another, keep continuities interwoven, while still playing with the CoH sandbox. It really could be something unlike anything any other MMO or MMOs have attempted (at least, to my knowledge).

[ThePhlebotomist]

Thank you so much for working to bring back City of Heroes.

I hope as the relationship develops over time, I24 and someday the source code can be included in the partnership.

[worldshaking00]

Thanks for letting us know, one way or the other.

[adarict]

While the news is interesting, I'm not seeing how this is much better than what we knew yesterday. It is one step closer, to be sure, but if I understand the update, all we have gained is confirmation that NCSoft is willing to actually consider a deal. Maybe I misread it, but I didn't see them say even the licensing of the IP is a done deal. Everything else is just what the negotiations are wanting.

Assuming the deal goes through with the terms they are discussing, I had a question about moving forward. According to the terms, we would end up with the binaries of I23. This would allow the group to put up a working server. No updates etc. Ok, I get that. I don't know exactly what APR/cox 1.5 really is, or how they are moving to unreal engine. Are they just building it from scratch and including the old environment and missions etc? My question is, if the binaries are turned over, and the IP rights are licensed, does that give the new device group the ability to legally reverse engineer the server? Would that even be worthwhile? I don't know if reverse engineering would make Cox 1.5 easier or not. If nothing else it could at least give them the ability to do updates to the original game.

Unreal would make a lot of things nicer in Cox, but it would also make it into a different game. No matter how much they try, it isn't going to play exactly like the original. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but still.

Maybe I misunderstood the whole announcement, but it just seems like people are jumping to conclusions and maybe setting themselves up for disappointment. It is a positive thing and a step in the right direction, but nowhere near any kind of certainty.

[lapucelle]

Well, now you know who's the negotiating party.

[ukaserex]

Maybe I misunderstood the whole announcement, but it just seems like people are jumping to conclusions and maybe setting themselves up for disappointment. It is a positive thing and a step in the right direction, but nowhere near any kind of certainty.

Well, I don't think the CoH fanbase would be the CoH fanbase if we didn't assume the best would play out.

But, to their credit, Ironwolf, Downix, TonyV, Irish Girl - all of them have said that nothing is certain yet. We just have to wait for what can be.

[Relitner]

Truly inspired work from MWM and APR! You all have my respect and gratitude!

I also supported the kickstarter, and ever imagined anything this amazing. I cannot begin to imagine the time and effort this must have taken on a volunteer basis. Which leads me into my next question (which, suppose, is more of a concern).

I knew what I was getting into with CoT. But now the lines are blurred a bit. Will this continue to be a volunteer effort? From a volunteer studio? Are there plans to stand up a brick-and-mortar studio with employees who work on these projects? You all possess a far greater business acumen than I, so I won't go into the blah, blah...MMO's cost millions. But MMO's cost millions... and take years of development from a dedicated, full-time (plus) staff. You'll need much more capital than the 600K from KS.

I'm not doubting your ability to make this happen, I'm just unsure about the longevity and staying power of the group as it stands now (given what we know).