And the mask comes off.

[opprime2828]

Aye, I would anticipate the number of servers being halved, and the ones that do return would the names of the servers that tended to bigger populations such as Freedom and Virtue. 

I can't see the euro servers returning, one of them maybe.

 
 
But...but Justice.  It was...Justice.  It was where I knew 9 out of 10 teams I'd get on knew what they were doing but were still in it just for the fun.
 
I know it was lonely, but still...
 
 

[Shard]

The only people I would use the word "unfair" to describe would be those who got their VIP status jacked up by billing cycle, and ncsoft refused to fix it. They couldn't get into many of their characters to save them.

Perhaps I misunderstood the point of Sentinel when I snagged it before the shutdown - I had largely thought the only practical utility it could have was in restoring what the character looked like, possibly the character sheet stuff.

Is it purely build info?

[Surelle]

Also folks, I wouldn't count on getting the same number of servers we used to have. Those of you with 80+ chars might have to settle for way less.

And what was the default for open character slots per server?  6?  But the max per server was what, 36?  I'm wondering how that will be arranged too.

I do recall somebody in one of these megathreads saying something about the server list possibly being the same (they were all housed on only 2 computers anyway in the end years), because bits of data from the i23 backup image would be pointing to one or another....but I don't know if it was an official statement or not, and besides that, this whole CoX i23 thing is far from a done deal at this point.

Mainly I just hope whomever the i23 financial backers are, they are a pro studio with experience doing this kind of thing (the overall running of an MMO).  Perhaps Shard is one of them, it seems it from his posts, but I don't know.  Whomever it is, they've got a lot to hurdle making sure that even if they get CoX i23 back up, they can keep everyone including the buyers happy enough that it doesn't go back down again.  I admire their perseverance and good intentions, though; without them and Ironwolf plus Nate/MWM (and all the silent former PS peeps, Titan Admins and whomever else has helped behind the scenes) we'd have no hope at all, right now anyway.

[Ankhammon]

There were gold farmers, yes.  However as Codewalker states once they shut down chat and email functions for the trial accounts it got better.

That's why I say that if the game returns, no trial accounts: period.
That helps cut out gold farmers, and those that used trial accounts for name griefing.

Musta been life on the not so full Infinity server that saved me from that kind of thing. I heard them but just ignored the accounts and within a minute or so they went away.

No trial accounts sounds like shooting your foot to get rid of an itch though. If the game comes back, won't the new company be trying what they can to get new players? It wouldn't and shouldn't be just about those of us who went before.

If the game sale gets announced, it's going to create a pretty good buzz around the gaming community. This will get lots of people wanting to know what this CoH thing was all about and they might sign up for a trial account when they wouldn't for a full game.

[dwturducken]

You could've just done what I did to get item images for the wiki: cropping screenshots in Photoshop. Low-tech, sure, but it worked.

I wouldn't call Photoshop "low-tech." It's more like using a power shovel when what you need is a gravel sifter. Maybe. I suck at analogy, suddenly.

On the topic of veteran rewards, since I only can check these threads once per day (or about every 11 pages), I would offer these two cents:

I don't care.

Since what we're going to get is, for all practical purposes, a "layover stop" on the way to CoH 1.5 with a connecting flight to CoH2/CoT, I'm just looking forward to getting back in there with you crazy Dutch bastiches while cooler, wiser, more savvy heads get the next stages ready for us. Personally, though, I would prefer an all or nothing approach. If there is a way, turn on all rewards for everyone, because, well, why not. This would require shutting off the "clock," though, which would likely be somewhere in the code. The more probable option is nothing, and we all start the clock over. That's fine, too. I'll feel a bit "nerfed," at first, but I'll get over it.

[Codewalker]

Perhaps I misunderstood the point of Sentinel when I snagged it before the shutdown - I had largely thought the only practical utility it could have was in restoring what the character looked like, possibly the character sheet stuff.

Is it purely build info?

It's both. Sentinel files contain the costumes (mostly; it needs some massaging to get to back to an editable costume), builds as in powers and enhancements, XP totals and level, influence, inventory of savlage/recipes/enhancements, and badges.

It's not a complete record of the character as there is some serverside state that the client doesn't have access to, like story arc completion and reward tokens, but it's a close enough approximation for a small or medium sized server of trusted friends.

[Ankhammon]

Also folks, I wouldn't count on getting the same number of servers we used to have. Those of you with 80+ chars might have to settle for way less.

Counting on em, no.

But the new company shouldn't go into it with any fully formed conclusions either. There will be a buzz if the sale is announced and that should be monitored to see what kind of crowd may be gathering.

[Codewalker]

Also folks, I wouldn't count on getting the same number of servers we used to have. Those of you with 80+ chars might have to settle for way less.

4 accounts in my household, and we played on almost every server except for Freedom and Virtue.

If it's a single server and we don't get at least 100 characters per account, I'm taking my business elsewhere.





...





Kidding.



Probably. 

[bugzee]

Doesn't it make sense that the APR/1.5 team should also be the ones to run the legacy i23 servers? Monthly sub costs will help cover the 1.5 development costs as well as keep the i23 servers running. It would also mean that the APR/1.5 devs will have access to the database so that eventually they can figure out how to make a script/tool that ports the i23 users over to APR/1.5 once its ready.

[Surelle]

...
I still don't get why the other two games turned down the licensing deal. They don't have to include CoH lore, right? And it'd be pretty hard to do anything other than "this is an alternate dimension" at this point, given the work that's been put in specifically to make the lore different from CoH.

So why not take the licensing, slap on an "Official CoH successor" sticker, and go with that?

Lots of reasons:  Maybe their lore, stories and quest lines are too far along (or will be by the time the CoX IP ever really gets purchased, if it ever does) for them to begin anew.  Or maybe they will have to (or worry that later they will have to) pay for the rights to license the CoX IP.  They may also worry that whomever controls the IP may be able to shut them down later.

And as none of us know even the details of what is on the table now never mind if it will go through or not (or what form it will be in if it ever does go through), we really can't blame them one bit.  I don't.

[Stealth Dart]

 

[Last Known Hero]

Doesn't it make sense that the APR/1.5 team should also be the ones to run the legacy i23 servers? Monthly sub costs will help cover the 1.5 development costs as well as keep the i23 servers running. It would also mean that the APR/1.5 devs will have access to the database so that eventually they can figure out how to make a script/tool that ports the i23 users over to APR/1.5 once its ready.

APR and 1.5 are separate teams and that could be more legal work to halt development. But the one team handling 1.5/i23 shouldn't have a problem with that regardless since they would have access to our account information.

[Tubbius]

 
 
But...but Justice.  It was...Justice.  It was where I knew 9 out of 10 teams I'd get on knew what they were doing but were still in it just for the fun.
 
I know it was lonely, but still...
 
 

I was on Justice!  All 4 years, 3 months! 

[MM3squints]

 
 
But...but Justice.  It was...Justice.  It was where I knew 9 out of 10 teams I'd get on knew what they were doing but were still in it just for the fun.
 
I know it was lonely, but still...
 
 

Can't be more lonely than Triumph xD I think the most I've seen online was less 100 and when I made a toon on Freedom in the final months just to do some incarnate raids, I almost had an epileptic seizure seeing how many people play the game O.o

[Phaetan]

Pinnacle player here.  If we aren't quarantined given a server of our own, drunker badgers will be everywhere on the servers.  I think you know the only reasonable answer to this.

[BadWolf]

Perhaps I misunderstood the point of Sentinel when I snagged it before the shutdown - I had largely thought the only practical utility it could have was in restoring what the character looked like, possibly the character sheet stuff.

Is it purely build info?

Its intended utility was to restore the character; however, it's an unofficial program and due to obvious time limitations, it's been stated that it was more "the best we can do to back up your characters before shutdown" and less "a way to restore your characters when the game comes back". There would be issues trying to design a way of importing your Sentinel file back into the game, and it's unlikely at best that any official revival would be willing (or even able) to resolve them.

[Gorgor]

Yeah, I heard about it in plenty of time to back up all the characters that were important to me. I have no idea how it will ever be useful that I spent the time to do that at this point in time, but yeah, I was in charge of 3 different quite popular TF channels, and you couldn't go more than 30 minutes at a time without having someone pop in and say "have you guys heard of this Sentinel thing?"

I never heard of it either, and had my 60 month+ badges, played continuously since the shutdown announcement, and dual boxed with both paid accounts.

To me, backing up my character meant taking screen captures of the powers and enhancement loadouts.

I heard there was a way to save your base, too, in a 3d way, as well as to save a demo or video.  I waited too long and tried to install a video capture freebie with a few hours to go and failed miserably, so a few dozen screencaps is all I have of that work of art (and not one damned desk used as a giant brick!)

[JanessaVR]

Also folks, I wouldn't count on getting the same number of servers we used to have. Those of you with 80+ chars might have to settle for way less.

A lot of my alt-itis back in the old game was a lot of figuring out what I really liked.  At this point, if we get the game back, I'm looking at just 3 characters - 1 each for Blueside, Redside and Goldside.  And I think that should do it for me, as I tried every class and quite a few powerset combos, and the list of what really works for me is actually fairly small.  I'd rather concentrate on the areas that really work for me, rather than those that were just so-so for me.

[Zubenelgenubi]

Alternatively,  since Codewalker explained to me the problems with the Sentinel files: IF they could still be used to partially restore characters such as name, level, powers, IO slotting, the amount of inf on the character and all the salvage they have stored on them, that would be fine.  I would then happily head to the tailor shops to reload stored costume files,  and happily pursue the reacquisition of all the badges and rerun the incarnate arc and trials.

IO slotting, Influence, and salvage might have been duplicated by one character taking all the good stuff out of base storage, making a Sentinel file out of it, then passing the IO's, Inf, etc. off to another character who is then backed up by another Sentinel file, rinse repeat. So I don't know if they would allow that.

For me, it's the BADGES and the COMPLETED STORIES and ARCS that I want back. I would be sad if my characters did not have all of their hideously expensive IO's still slotted, but the badges and records of the stories completed are that character's history. I would feel comfortable re-creating my characters if I had that at least. IF character date is never obtained, I would be very, very grateful if the new devs allowed us to use the Sentinel files to at least re-load our character's story history.

I am one of those for whom regaining all that history is very important.

[Nyx Nought Nothing]

.........
/Aggelakis?

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