And the mask comes off.

[Arcana]

The second most important part is the apparent addition of LUA scripting to missions. I'm not a programmer, so I don't really have a good idea of what that actually means, but it's my understanding it would have given the devs almost infinitely more freedom to do crazy things during missions, from branching decisions to NPC behavior to whatever.

LUA is a well-known light-weight programming and scripting language.  Angry Birds most noteably is written in LUA.  The devs added a LUA execution engine to the game engine and started adding hooks to certain parts of the game.  In theory you could change the behavior of the game in any way by writing LUA scripts instead of changing and recompiling the game code.

In practice, that requires (ironically) changes to the game engine to make work.  Put simply, if you want to be able to write some LUA code that says something like "if player clicks on door then spawn three minions" you have to add functions to LUA you could call from your scripts that could do things like call a function when the player took an action, or instructed the game engine to do something like spawn a minion.  These functions would need to be integrated into your LUA engine in order to allow the game engine to call LUA scripts (to trigger scripted behavior) and to allow the LUA scripts to invoke game engine behaviors (to make things happen in the game).  That part was only just getting started.  They could do things with the LUA engine in I24 and I25, but there was a lot more work to do to give the devs "infinite freedom" to do whatever they wanted with the scripting engine.

[Saedor]

Again, no new info, but still good media coverage...

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/09/03/city-of-heroes-license-could-be-resurrected

[Surelle]

Again, no new info, but still good media coverage...

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/09/03/city-of-heroes-license-could-be-resurrected

At least all these media mentions show NCSoft that players still care about CoX.  After all, if no one knew what it was or cared that it was dead, no one would bother reporting on it.  Clearly the mainstream gaming media knows that CoX still burns brightly in the hearts of many (as it does in some of their hearts too probably) or they wouldn't waste page space on it.  So I hope NCSoft doesn't get too upset about all the  writeups.

[duane]

At least all these media mentions show NCSoft that players still care about CoX.  After all, if no one knew what it was or cared that it was dead, no one would bother reporting on it.  Clearly the mainstream gaming media knows that CoX still burns brightly in the hearts of many (as it does in some of their hearts too probably) or they wouldn't waste page space on it.  So I hope NCSoft doesn't get too upset about all the  writeups.

As long as they stay positive in tone and message

[Rejolt]

Save city of heroes mentioned the legacy server would be time sensitive and would have to piggy back APR to stay on longer. I had a hard enough time playing those final 3 months when I knew things were ending.

[Remaugen]

Save city of heroes mentioned the legacy server would be time sensitive and would have to piggy back APR to stay on longer. I had a hard enough time playing those final 3 months when I knew things were ending.

But knowing that our story will continue with APR/CoX 1.5 removes those worries for me.


We're almost there!   

[Sinistar]

Save city of heroes mentioned the legacy server would be time sensitive and would have to piggy back APR to stay on longer. I had a hard enough time playing those final 3 months when I knew things were ending.

Yes but should COH return, that doesn't mean that APR/1.5 will launch soon after.  Also didn't some of the articles mention that legacy CoH should remain online after 1.5/APR launches?

[Nyghtshade]

Admitting freely that I'm a very non-computer-technical player, I have a question about player data.

Everything I've read so far states that no player data is on the table for the Hail Mary Team deal.   This of course means no recovering character builds.

What about character costumes?  I know that when I open up the ICON program -- (and a million thanks! to everyone who had a hand in restoring at least this part of the game for us) -- all my "saved" costume files for ALL my characters are there, presumably because they're still stored in the CoH files on my PC.

If that's the case, would all our costume-designs, at least the "Saved" ones, still be available to us should the deal go through and City of Heroes be opened up again for play?

[Blondeshell]

I think it's highly doubtful the "Load Costume" button would be removed, so you ought to be able to re-use all saved costumes that have valid pieces.

[Rejolt]

Yes but should COH return, that doesn't mean that APR/1.5 will launch soon after.  Also didn't some of the articles mention that legacy CoH should remain online after 1.5/APR launches?

I'm not worried even about data going from legacy to 1.5. I'm worried about that sense of speed and movement COH legacy has that every hero mmo has lacked. Champions has only lunge powers for in fight movement thanks to the severe movement suppression (cohs seemed to start suppression at the beginning of the attack animation). Dcuo isn't horrible but the animation quality is poor compared to the other two.

And no, I'm not counting Marvel Heroes point to move interface (shutter).

[Dal]

Admitting freely that I'm a very non-computer-technical player, I have a question about player data.

Everything I've read so far states that no player data is on the table for the Hail Mary Team deal.   This of course means no recovering character builds.

What about character costumes?  I know that when I open up the ICON program -- (and a million thanks! to everyone who had a hand in restoring at least this part of the game for us) -- all my "saved" costume files for ALL my characters are there, presumably because they're still stored in the CoH files on my PC.

If that's the case, would all our costume-designs, at least the "Saved" ones, still be available to us should the deal go through and City of Heroes be opened up again for play?

I think they should be, given you have the costume files in the appropriate folder once we get the game back.

[Remaugen]

Admitting freely that I'm a very non-computer-technical player, I have a question about player data.

Everything I've read so far states that no player data is on the table for the Hail Mary Team deal.   This of course means no recovering character builds.

What about character costumes?  I know that when I open up the ICON program -- (and a million thanks! to everyone who had a hand in restoring at least this part of the game for us) -- all my "saved" costume files for ALL my characters are there, presumably because they're still stored in the CoH files on my PC.

If that's the case, would all our costume-designs, at least the "Saved" ones, still be available to us should the deal go through and City of Heroes be opened up again for play?

No one can make any promises, but I think Blondshell is right, if the load costume button remains and you still have valid costumes in your folders, then I think you should be able to load them.


We're almost there!   

[Cymmetri]

Alright, I'm digging through the Issue 24 change log.
There certainly were quite a number of changes... But, So far...Everything looks good.
So. I *think* I'm going to go ahead and say it...

Revival will feature Issue 24.

Issue 24: RESURGENCE.

 

[ivanhedgehog]

Save city of heroes mentioned the legacy server would be time sensitive and would have to piggy back APR to stay on longer. I had a hard enough time playing those final 3 months when I knew things were ending.

why would it be time bombed? it does not have to come down..as long as people are playing it. no one said there was a time bomb attached. win 9 could possibly kill it, but even that wont effect you if you dont upgrade win versions. 2020 is a long way away.

[Ultimate15]

Again, no new info, but still good media coverage...

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/09/03/city-of-heroes-license-could-be-resurrected

IGN also made a video of this article and posted it to their Youtube page (they may do this with all of the articles they release, but still): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK6sBGijSQk

However - and this is just something I wanted to bring up to everyone - there is a new thread over on the big City of Heroes Facebook page (the one with over 4,000 members) regarding this article and the comments are hinting at some confusion with the i23/i24 stuff. Irish_Girl, I think people were taking your 'announcement' regarding i24 for APR as the state in which the game will be brought back via maintenance mode. I'm not sure if someone wants to step in and clarify over there that maintenance mode will be i23, but I figured I'd let ya'll know! Because...YEAH.

Also, omg this is all so exciting. I'm crossing every finger and hair I have that NCSoft will see this through with us. Take my money. This is what we do.

Step 1: get the game back.

[brothermutant]

First, a BIG fan of the idea (hope?) that CoX will be back in the future.

Second, I would be ecstatic to remake all my toons (ok, maybe 5-10 of them...major altaholic here). I am sure I never experienced the whole set of missions CoX had to offer. While I would probably try to get one up ASAP to gather inf/recipes/components for aiding the other toons, I have already thought about how I might change my original Mid's build (just downloaded it again and been playing with alts for the past few days).

I would like anything they were testing in i24 (?) to be added but whatev. I think the changes on the forums were geared towards some real balance to the Blaster sets (most NEVER used sniper blast or nukes for obvious reasons). My fav toon class was the MMs. Took me forever to get those macros down and understand how to make more but it will all come back to me soon (I hope). Being able to solo GMs again, that will be the best.

Lastly, I thought I understood that the potential time limitation was somehow part of the unfinished agreement. Such that, once/if CoH1.5 and/or CoT come out, they (NCSoft?) would make the CoH Legacy be shut off again. That's how I took the posts here and elsewhere. I am sure this is not set in stone, but that's how I interpreted it. This would be OK I guess so long as I can play CoT or CoH 1.5/APR once CoX closes (again) AND that the ability to play either of those games doesn't suddenly cost me another disc purchase in addition to the monthly sub.

[Sinistar]

Just had a funny thought, should the game get restored we should all obtain blue auras for our characters to signify the hope that we all had that the game could be restored one day.



"Look to the stars, for HOPE burns bright!"

[Arcana]

No one can make any promises, but I think Blondshell is right, if the load costume button remains and you still have valid costumes in your folders, then I think you should be able to load them.

The primary caveat on using saved costumes in any resurrected game is that some costume parts needed to be unlocked to be used by the player or by a specific character, and so the same limitations would apply there.

There's a second, more minor caveat in that even when the game was running there were some older costumes that were in a sense "grandfathered" to the player in that you could have them and save them, but they would not load back.  A part might have been renamed or replaced or some other thing happened and you couldn't really select it anymore, but the character itself still had it.

The basic rule is that if you could have rebuilt your character's appearance in theory in a brand new account in CoH, that costume will almost certainly load into a resurrected I23.  Otherwise, a saved costume would probably still work in a resurrected I23 provided you unlocked all the parts through gameplay or purchase, or the operators of the game unlocked them for you.

[Sinistar]

The primary caveat on using saved costumes in any resurrected game is that some costume parts needed to be unlocked to be used by the player or by a specific character, and so the same limitations would apply there.

There's a second, more minor caveat in that even when the game was running there were some older costumes that were in a sense "grandfathered" to the player in that you could have them and save them, but they would not load back.  A part might have been renamed or replaced or some other thing happened and you couldn't really select it anymore, but the character itself still had it.

The basic rule is that if you could have rebuilt your character's appearance in theory in a brand new account in CoH, that costume will almost certainly load into a resurrected I23.  Otherwise, a saved costume would probably still work in a resurrected I23 provided you unlocked all the parts through gameplay or purchase, or the operators of the game unlocked them for you.

Perhaps they should compile a list of all badges of all types, map, history, defeat, achievment, etc that unlocked costume pieces/weapons, for example: defeat 100 rularuu bosses = badge + rularuu weapon unlock.

Then should the game return and we have to start anew, they make sure those costume bits are locked again and issue a reminder that such things will have to be unlocked again even IF you had a saved costume with the item.

Also the Ouroborus badge/power was obtained by being exposed to time travel either by obtaining certain badges or someone opening an Ouro portal for you and you go get the map badge in the zone.  Should the game return and they somehow find a way to use Sentinel to slightly restore our characters and they are concerned that having badge X will not activate power Y upon restoration, then do not restore the ouro badge/power and also remove any badge that may have unlocked it and issue a statement to all that they must regain said badge to regain the Ouro power.  If memory serves one of the Recluse Victory map badges enables one to have the Ouro power, and their were other ways to get it.  I need to find that old guide to Ouroborus....

Also that could also be used for the incarnate powers. Sure we had them, but if characters cannot be restored with them, then remove all the badges that unlock incarnate powers, though do NOT remove the achievement badges from the trials as they were not tied to the powers.  Then characters can just run the Incarnate tutorial missions to unlock the ability to become incarnate, then they can run the trials ad nauseum again to unlock the available incarnate power badges and slots.

[Surelle]

I'm just going to throw this in here:  If the CoX i23 image ever does get rezzed, whomever is running it is going to need to run it on a shoestring budget to keep it running at all.   There will be no full CS team "restoring" this, "compiling lists" of that, or working on "petitions" for much of anything.  Even some people on these boards have stated they will only play if it's free because they're broke etc. and here resides the last bastion of CoX fandom by far, let's face it.  And If there are 100 active users currently posting on CoH Titan I'd be surprised.

Perhaps there were 60,000 people playing at the time of shutdown, with maybe half of those either paying for subs, or for cash shop items, or both.  That number will likely be even lower once the CoX image comes back.  There isn't going to be character or account info available for many reasons that have already been detailed multiple times on these forums.  There will be no code changes because there is no code.  The engine is dated now. 

I'll be the first in line to pay and play, believe me, but I think we need to be realistic about our expectations.  I wouldn't be surprised if the CoX i23 team winds up volunteering much of their work time as it is.  People just need to be more reasonable in their expectations and accept a....more streamlined experience.  And that's if NCSoft just doesn't politely say no and walk away, of course.  And I still say if they'd wanted to sell, CoX would have already been long gone to Paragon Studios back at the end of 2012.