And the mask comes off.

[HEATSTROKE]

 the veteran stuff doesnt bother me.. Id like to see a way to regain the levels and IO's but that gets very close to Pay 2 Win which I realize a very large majority have an issue with..

[Surelle]

the veteran stuff doesnt bother me.. Id like to see a way to regain the levels and IO's but that gets very close to Pay 2 Win which I realize a very large majority have an issue with..

I wondered if they could just give all subscribers XP buffs.  Everquest 2 does this.  And if they opened up all vet and shop power set/costumes to subscribers too, we'd be back to where our old accounts were in no time.  And think about how fun it would be just getting characters leveling again.  It would be like back at launch, only with 23 issues' worth of extra fringe benefits.   

[Waffles]

In full honesty, the only vet rewards I really gave a damn about was the vet pieces.

http://s1292.photobucket.com/user/Resselydoc/media/Archangel_zps3fbe1734.jpg.html

[Phaetan]

Of course, the Paragon Store itself was actually ran by an outside company unless I'm terribly mistaken.  This would make reopening it for business a little more complex.

[Mandrake]

I'm kind of surprised there is such a desire for previous character data. I miss my characters and all don't get me wrong, but I am actually looking forward to the day that I can start them from scratch and play them from 'start to finish' all over again. Sure, you could always /respec but think about starting over with a clean slate right from the start. Especially getting to start over and getting to play all of that content all over the place that we just played as it came out.

I can't imagine *not* wanting to re-explore the whole world again one I'm back inside the game - plenty of time to get all of the location badges, and plenty of others as I'm sure I won't be the only one vying for raids to be spawned, TFs to be formed, you name it.

I dunno - I guess it would be cool to just have all my toons waiting for me, but again - I'm kind of looking forward to logging in, and having a bunch of empty slots staring back at me... just waiting for me to create (and destroy)!

[HEATSTROKE]

Of course, the Paragon Store itself was actually ran by an outside company unless I'm terribly mistaken.  This would make reopening it for business a little more complex.

I think you are correct..

[Surelle]

I'm kind of surprised there is such a desire for previous character data. I miss my characters and all don't get me wrong, but I am actually looking forward to the day that I can start them from scratch and play them from 'start to finish' all over again. Sure, you could always /respec but think about starting over with a clean slate right from the start. Especially getting to start over and getting to play all of that content all over the place that we just played as it came out.

I can't imagine *not* wanting to re-explore the whole world again one I'm back inside the game - plenty of time to get all of the location badges, and plenty of others as I'm sure I won't be the only one vying for raids to be spawned, TFs to be formed, you name it.

I dunno - I guess it would be cool to just have all my toons waiting for me, but again - I'm kind of looking forward to logging in, and having a bunch of empty slots staring back at me... just waiting for me to create (and destroy)!

I doubt we will get our characters or account info back.  However, even if we did, we could still roll new characters too.  You could do the "start to finish" thing again that way as well.  But in the end, it's not only not likely we'll see our old characters or accounts ever again, but let's face it, it's not exactly set in stone that CoX will ever get up and running again either.

[Nyx Nought Nothing]

A lot will depend on just what is in this mysterious 'server image'.

This could simply be a cover to use files that an employee "liberated" before the shutdown.

That statement makes slightly less than no sense. They are negotiating with NCsoft to acquire the server image. NCsoft owns the game outright; IP, source code, account information, server images, everything. There was no need for an employee to "liberate" anything since NCsoft owned it lock, stock, and barrel.

That's like being being the owner of a store and sneaking in through a skylight to open up every morning. Sure, you can do that, but why the hell would you?

[Taceus Jiwede]

Your argument falls apart. You said $6k for everything, but then $25/page. Both of these numbers are suspect, so let's go and look at what real professionals cost, and how much VO runtime real game titles have.

For a typical MMORPG, we are talking about 100,000 minutes of dialog to voice. According to Interactive Voices, Inc, one of the largest VO management groups in the US, the going rate is $100 per minute of recorded dialog. That's $10 million to record.

Does that include the actors as well?  I work in a recording studio and while we specialize in music we do voice over's too sometimes for commercials and auditions.  Nothing to big but we have done a few auditions for people trying to get small roles in some well known animated movies.  We charge an hourly rate of $60 an hour for our services.  Given we are doing 10-20 minutes of VO at a time.  And we certainly are not one of the biggest VO companies in the US either.  I was just curious what was included for that rate because if you had actors already paid and you were confident in their ability to capture the moment you could record all 100,000 minutes for $99,960 at our studio.  Still way more money then $6000.

[Ironwolf]

Given that NcSoft apparently didn't keep anything other than an image of the game, is it likely they will have the data that can indicate how long someone was subbed to a game that no longer exists?

Not exacty, what is being negotiated is to lease the IP, have a holding company run the Legacy CoH using an image and NCSoft keeps the source code. It is available but not for sale as apparently it gives away the setup of some other games. The data may not be possible to link to this image - easily. They have said repeatedly - FOR NOW.

[downix]

Does that include the actors as well?  I work in a recording studio and while we specialize in music we do voice over's too sometimes for commercials and auditions.  Nothing to big but we have done a few auditions for people trying to get small roles in some well known animated movies.  We charge an hourly rate of $60 an hour for our services.  Given we are doing 10-20 minutes of VO at a time.  And we certainly are not one of the biggest VO companies in the US either.  I was just curious what was included for that rate because if you had actors already paid and you were confident in their ability to capture the moment you could record all 100,000 minutes for $99,960 at our studio.  Still way more money then $6000.

That would include the actors.

And that is 100,000 minutes *finished*, not raw recording time. With a typical recording ratio of 12:1, that means 1.2 million minutes of audio recorded, if you went straight through. Considering half to 2/3rd of time is not actively recording, we're looking at closer to 3.6 million minutes of studio time. It would be $3.6 million to rent your studio for such a project. Add in the voice actors....

[LaughingAlex]

Not exacty, what is being negotiated is to lease the IP, have a holding company run the Legacy CoH using an image and NCSoft keeps the source code. It is available but not for sale as apparently it gives away the setup of some other games. The data may not be possible to link to this image - easily. They have said repeatedly - FOR NOW.

If NCSoft is just leasing the ip then couldn't they if CoT included CoH cannon...couldn't they shut CoT down later then? :S

[Power Gamer]

If NCSoft is just leasing the ip then couldn't they if CoT included CoH cannon...couldn't they shut CoT down later then? :S

You show promise my apprentice.

[ivanhedgehog]

 
No disrespect Downix, but you're wrong on this one. 
 
 
Just plain wrong. 
 
And you've now got three people who have worked in this exact field telling you so.   You're comparing budgets and companies used in AAA productions to what we're talking about, and that makes no sense.  If we had that mentality, CoT would never have made it out of kickstarter. It's like someone saying "you can't make an MMO for less than a million dollar kick starter.  Star Wars The Old Republic cost 200 million to make."
 
Sure, it did.  But you aren't making ST:TOR and it didn't HAVE to cost that much.

swtor cost 200 mill because of the VO. and now they cant add story content without breaking the old stuff. I have 18 55's already and hearing the same vo over and over gets old real fast.

[Aggelakis]

Not exacty, what is being negotiated is to lease the IP, have a holding company run the Legacy CoH using an image and NCSoft keeps the source code.

Downix said NCsoft is SELLING the IP (e.g. the story/characters part of the game), not leasing it.

NCsoft is LEASING the engine (e.g. the mechanics part of the game) to CoHI23.

Whatever company is set up to PURCHASE the IP will then turn around and lease it to successors, if they want.

EDIT: Ugh, I'm getting so damn tired of people not reading.

[ivanhedgehog]

I wondered if they could just give all subscribers XP buffs.  Everquest 2 does this.  And if they opened up all vet and shop power set/costumes to subscribers too, we'd be back to where our old accounts were in no time.  And think about how fun it would be just getting characters leveling again.  It would be like back at launch, only with 23 issues' worth of extra fringe benefits.   

I will have 2 accounts subscribed as soon as they tell me its possible...sounds great to me

[Waffles]

EDIT: Ugh, I'm getting so damn tired of people not reading.

You dissin' mah Irondawg?!

[LaughingAlex]

Downix said NCsoft is SELLING the IP (e.g. the story/characters part of the game), not leasing it.

NCsoft is LEASING the engine (e.g. the mechanics part of the game) to CoHI23.

Whatever company is set up to PURCHASE the IP will then turn around and lease it to successors, if they want.

EDIT: Ugh, I'm getting so damn tired of people not reading.

Thats what I read to in the Downix post.  I even asked what was the case just in case as a friend of mine was rather worried.

[Waffles]

That would include the actors.

And that is 100,000 minutes *finished*, not raw recording time. With a typical recording ratio of 12:1, that means 1.2 million minutes of audio recorded, if you went straight through. Considering half to 2/3rd of time is not actively recording, we're looking at closer to 3.6 million minutes of studio time. It would be $3.6 million to rent your studio for such a project. Add in the voice actors....

I believe the problem is they think you are speaking of the short term, when you are in-fact speaking of the price of the long-term finished product.

[Ohioknight]

Downix said NCsoft is SELLING the IP (e.g. the story/characters part of the game), not leasing it.

NCsoft is LEASING the engine (e.g. the mechanics part of the game) to CoHI23.

Whatever company is set up to PURCHASE the IP will then turn around and lease it to successors, if they want.

So, am I understanding ... Nate got the ball rolling, but now it's in the hands of South Korean folks who are negotiating a deal to buy the IP for a company.
And Nate will not be involved in running that company, but we don't know who exactly WILL be running that company (which may not exist but is being planned for)

So the masks for the folks who are negotiating and potentially purchasing and running and putting up the MOO-LAH for all this are still on.  No?

Or am I missing something -- I keep seeing that the structure of the company is not yet determined, but I also read that "we know who will be running the servers" --
Do we know who WILL be involved in the new IP company if the deal is successful, and we're just not saying... or does nobody know...  confus-ed.