And the mask comes off.

[Stitchified]

Fundraising idea for Nate and crew:

Allow players to pay ahead of the re-opening to reserve character names (across all servers) and global names. The alternative is (of course) to just roll a name in-game and hope nobody got it already.

At $20 each I'd probably pay for only 2.
At $10 each I'd probably pay for 5.
At $5 each I'd probably pay for 7.

So for me, $10 per name seems to be the sweet spot for the revival effort to make the most money from me ($50).

How much would the rest of you be willing to spend if the names were reserved for $20, $10 or $5 each?

Eh... Personally, I don't think that there should be a cost to Reserve Names, that'd be like making people buy the Peacebringer, Warshade, Arachnos Widow & Soldier Archetypes... Top of that, $5 for 1 Name? That alone is a bit expensive just for a character name...

Lineage 2 is NCSoft's baby, their signature game.

It's like choosing to hire your less talented best friend over a more talented acquaintance. Not saying it's a good choice, but that's the way NCSoft seems to handle things.

That said, just because Lineage 2 is F2P and is considered an inferior game to CoH doesn't mean it deserves to be shut down. It could still be bringing them lots of money from the korean market.

I'm not saying Lineage 2 should be shut down, I just don't think it makes sense that NCsoft has a game that's completely F2P still running, and yet shut down CoH when it was making them money, no matter how small, CoH was still making them money... At the very least, they should've tried to sell CoH before now instead of sitting on it, specially when the reason given for shutting down CoH was because it wasn't making them money

[Aggelakis]

I'm not saying Lineage 2 should be shut down, I just don't think it makes sense that NCsoft has a game that's completely F2P still running, and yet shut down CoH when it was making them money, no matter how small, CoH was still making them money... At the very least, they should've tried to sell CoH before now instead of sitting on it, specially when the reason given for shutting down CoH was because it wasn't making them money

Lineage 2 being f2p doesn't matter when Lineage 2's money intake dwarfed City's. F2P still means micro (and not-so-micro) transactions.

[Stitchified]

Lineage 2 being f2p doesn't matter when Lineage 2's money intake dwarfed City's. F2P still means micro (and not-so-micro) transactions.

Good point, I just find it hard to believe that Lineage 2 was making way more money thru only those kinds of transactions when CoH had people paying $15 every month

[MegaWatt]

i really wish we could use a different chat server architecture similar to Cryptics current line games....i HATE the concept of having to reserve names despite the game already having freaking @Names.

UNIQUE NAMES SUCK!

[Arcana]

At the very least, they should've tried to sell CoH before now instead of sitting on it, specially when the reason given for shutting down CoH was because it wasn't making them money

To the best of my knowledge, NCSoft never officially gave a specific reason for shutting down City of Heroes.  Nor is it likely they would have.

[Mistress Bloodwrath]

To the best of my knowledge, NCSoft never officially gave a specific reason for shutting down City of Heroes.  Nor is it likely they would have.

Yeah, I don't recall an official reason either. It was just "We're shutting you down. By the way, here's an advertisement for Boobs & Soul."

[darkgob]

To the best of my knowledge, NCSoft never officially gave a specific reason for shutting down City of Heroes.  Nor is it likely they would have.

Admitting that it was an act of spite would have been bad PR. 

[Remaugen]

Admitting that it was an act of spite would have been bad PR. 

I just cannot accept that it was an act of spite or maliciousness. There had to be a valid business reason, right or wrong, someone had to think retiring the game was a good idea and best for business at that time.

While we as players don't get it, the idea of a Korean business showing loyalty to American customers really seems to be a "foreign" concept to NcSoft. I do think they learned something from the unanticipated public backlash, while it may not significantly change their business model, it does now give them pause a for consideration. 

[Stitchified]

I just cannot accept that it was an act of spite or maliciousness. There had to be a valid business reason, right or wrong, someone had to think retiring the game was a good idea and best for business at that time.

While we as players don't get it, the idea of a Korean business showing loyalty to American customers really seems to be a "foreign" concept to NcSoft. I do think they learned something from the unanticipated public backlash, while it may not significantly change their business model, it does now give them pause a for consideration.

One can only hope that NCsoft learned from it, it'll suck if it turns out that they haven't learned a thing...

[Arcana]

While we as players don't get it, the idea of a Korean business showing loyalty to American customers really seems to be a "foreign" concept to NcSoft. I do think they learned something from the unanticipated public backlash, while it may not significantly change their business model, it does now give them pause a for consideration.

I'm sure the next time they buy an MMO from an American developer and attempt to operate it in the North American market with a wholly owned subsidiary composed of former employees of that developer and then decide to shut it down, they'll contemplate it for several more minutes before starting the paperwork.

[Aggelakis]

Good point, I just find it hard to believe that Lineage 2 was making way more money thru only those kinds of transactions when CoH had people paying $15 every month

Koreans spend beau coups on their f2p games. Like, insane amounts. They kind of have to, otherwise it's a monumental grind. It's still a grind even after spending money to boost their gameplay!

Hell, Lineage-the-original-one just about equals the rest of NCsoft's game folio (including Lineage2) combined in the second quarter of 2015. http://mmos.com/news/lineage-1-profit-exceeds-blade-and-soul-aion-lineage-2-and-gw2-combined

[darkgob]

I just cannot accept that it was an act of spite or maliciousness. There had to be a valid business reason, right or wrong, someone had to think retiring the game was a good idea and best for business at that time.

Well I mean, Paragon Studios very nearly succeeded in purchasing the game and splitting off on its own, but conflict between NCSoft management and certain individuals at Paragon killed that.  Obviously there had to be a reason for those negotiations in the first place, but the end result was the game shutting down entirely (versus changing ownership) due to this conflict.

[Ironwolf]

Perspective:

When you have a game based in another country making less than 1% of what your other games make - then this game decides to try and buy its way out of your stable. It could definitely rub some people the wrong way - and it did. Then you add on top of that some personality conflicts and NCSoft decided - its not worth the aggravation.

I know to us walking away from $10 million a year seems like a lot - to them it is chicken feed. When you back away and gain perspective you see that NCSoft said - give the players a couple of months and then close it down, we have other things in the works with the Nexon mergers and don't have time for this.

Then we deluged them with emails and other things and they said make this stop and go away. Now we have an effort that has none of the personality issues and I would highly doubt if they are dealing with anyone who was in on the closure. They are talking to the dead game storage folks and the legal department. You likely have a VP of some sort thrown in - but this game to the main company is history. They find no reason to revisit a game that failed in Korea. Look at where their money comes from:
http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/9392/NCSoft-Earnings-Not-Everyones-Drinking-Champagne-in-the-Executive-Suite.html

Here they tie Wildstar who are VERY similar to CoH except they are earning less than when they shut CoH down. When you saw the statement by NCSoft about closing CoH to refocus on other locations - they meant - we can't seem to figure out what makes America and Europe tick - but we can make bucket loads in Korea.

[Ironwolf]

I'm sure the next time they buy an MMO from an American developer and attempt to operate it in the North American market with a wholly owned subsidiary composed of former employees of that developer and then decide to shut it down, they'll contemplate it for several more minutes before starting the paperwork.

Wildstar is sinking rapidly.

I think these forays into the American market that are failing is the reason Nexon is trying to step in. They merged and tied themselves to NCSoft and then watch NCSoft screw up game after game. I honestly think the Nexon executives think - we can do better - maybe they can!

[chuckv3]

Wildstar is sinking rapidly.

I tried the beta for a day or two. The graphics were amazing, but absolutely everything else was just MEH. So much so that I just logged out the 3rd time, after a total of maybe 20 hours of play, and decided I had seen all there was to see.

When are MMO companies going to realize that we want CONTENT and not just better graphics?

Of course this community also wants games where the holy trinity isn't the solution to all problems. We're so spoiled.

[Cailyn Alaynn]

Good point, I just find it hard to believe that Lineage 2 was making way more money thru only those kinds of transactions when CoH had people paying $15 every month

Couple things to keep in mind when making this comparison. You might have one person spending a couple hundred at a time on Micro in L2, on top of the bunch of people who are buying little bits at a time.
You've also got * A LOT * more people who play L2 than ever played CoH.

[darkgob]

Couple things to keep in mind when making this comparison. You might have one person spending a couple hundred at a time on Micro in L2, on top of the bunch of people who are buying little bits at a time.
You've also got * A LOT * more people who play L2 than ever played CoH.

[Rejolt]

A mobile gaming company admitted 50 percent of its income came from less than 1 percent of its players.

[MM3squints]

A mobile gaming company admitted 50 percent of its income came from less than 1 percent of its players.

[rebel 1812]

Perspective:

When you have a game based in another country making less than 1% of what your other games make - then this game decides to try and buy its way out of your stable. It could definitely rub some people the wrong way - and it did. Then you add on top of that some personality conflicts and NCSoft decided - its not worth the aggravation.

I know to us walking away from $10 million a year seems like a lot - to them it is chicken feed. When you back away and gain perspective you see that NCSoft said - give the players a couple of months and then close it down, we have other things in the works with the Nexon mergers and don't have time for this.

Then we deluged them with emails and other things and they said make this stop and go away. Now we have an effort that has none of the personality issues and I would highly doubt if they are dealing with anyone who was in on the closure. They are talking to the dead game storage folks and the legal department. You likely have a VP of some sort thrown in - but this game to the main company is history. They find no reason to revisit a game that failed in Korea. Look at where their money comes from:
http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/9392/NCSoft-Earnings-Not-Everyones-Drinking-Champagne-in-the-Executive-Suite.html

Here they tie Wildstar who are VERY similar to CoH except they are earning less than when they shut CoH down. When you saw the statement by NCSoft about closing CoH to refocus on other locations - they meant - we can't seem to figure out what makes America and Europe tick - but we can make bucket loads in Korea.

"deluge them with emails and other things"

I don't like how you make that sound like a bad thing.  A good business person would look at it as communication between themselves and their customers and thus a good thing.  A bad business person would think, "how dare this arrive in my ivory tower from the plebs and why don't they just send me money".