Press Release: Paragon Chat Realignment

[Codewalker]

Important Announcement!
For immediate release.

Over the 9 months that Paragon Chat has been in operation, we have been closely observing the demographics of our target audience so that we can take their preferences into account. One thing we didn't expect was how much attention the project received from non-City of Heroes roleplayers, especially those hailing from a superpowered metropolis set in Michigan.

With the aid of several supercomputers, we used advanced datamining and hyperbolic extrapolation techniques to get a better feel for the situation. This data suggests that non-COH roleplayers using Paragon Chat outnumber former COH players by as much as ten to one. That certainly shocked us!

To help make these players feel more at home, we're rolling out a series of changes to Paragon Chat.

Phase 1 is already complete. Not only has the user interface been simplified, but with the 1.0 update we have introduced extra lag and stuttering in player movement.

Phase 2 involves upgrades to the game's graphics engine. The look is just dated, and not very representative of the source media. We have hired a crack team of graphics engineers, and they have spent literally tens of minutes coding a new graphics engine to replicate that unique comic book aesthetic that everyone knows and loves. We expect to integrate this new engine into Paragon Chat very Soon(TM). Here are some teaser images to whet your appetite - click on a thumbnail for a close up look!

https://chat.cohtitan.com/announce/atlas1-sm.jpg https://chat.cohtitan.com/announce/ouro1-sm.jpg
https://chat.cohtitan.com/announce/imperial1-sm.jpg https://chat.cohtitan.com/announce/stmartial1-sm.jpg

If the population keeps growing at its current rate, we will consider a Phase 3 and possible rebranding of the project to Millennium Chat. These are exciting times!

[AnimeMoose]

So the artwork will be this instead of the classic COX game?  I will admit that I am not a fan of this cell-shading style of artwork and it is one of the reasons I never got into Cham.... or however we are suppose to call  that other game.

[FloatingFatMan]

So the artwork will be this instead of the classic COX game?  I will admit that I am not a fan of this cell-shading style of artwork and it is one of the reasons I never got into Cham.... or however we are suppose to call  that other game.

Dude... Look at the date...

[alltrueist]

This is savage, but hilarious

[Golden Girl]

You'll need to update the character models too to make them look properly subhuman.

[Valtyr]

Thanks for this. It's just what I needed.

[Mothers_Love]

Nice try guys!  ;)

[AmberOfDzu]

I'm looking forward to the new Paragon Chat Cash Shop, too.

[duane]

The graphics do remind of champions, but that's ok.  It still looks like home.

Thank you for all your work and effort.   

[Azrael]

Ok.  Even Codewalker has a sense of humour.

However, if he goes for a 'frogman' stoop main character animation there'll be a mob with pitchforks and flaming torches...

Seriously though, just maybe Codewalker really is teasing here.  He's showing his 'chops' around the CoH engine.  Perhaps he can leave the render style as an option for those that like/dislike it to turn it on and off.

I'm surprised how effective it looked.  But CoH has better artwork and design underneath supporting it.

Hmm.  Intrigue.  What else could Codewalker and the team do in the future...if he can 'merely' do this to celebrate Apple's 40th birthday... :P

Azrael.

[AjD]

I've gotten to the point in my life where I can't stand april fools jokes, but I approve of this  ;)

[FloatingFatMan]

Oh god it's horrible. Funny ha ha joke, but can you please turn it off now? I don't have a sense of humour on April 1st. It's the first into the wood chipper, just before the damned pranksters. :P

[Soul Resonance]

But this can only be done AFTER all good things are brought to dust, yknow..build diver-I mean-balance reasons :P(Don't know how you nerf chat but I believe in you, CW :3).

[Megajoule]

I admit it, I laughed.

[LaughingAlex]

Barbaric but so funny.  I guess CoX had to load up on hallucinogens sometime :).

[Codewalker]

But this can only be done AFTER all good things are brought to dust, yknow..build diver-I mean-balance reasons :P(Don't know how you nerf chat but I believe in you, CW :3).

A limit on the number of chat messages sent per day, so that everyone has a fair chance to be heard.

[LaughingAlex]

Make sure to also release over powered items, wait a while for the cash from them to flow in and then nerf them to cater to some people everyone else hates :).  After all, lockboxes are the be-all-end all! :)

[LaughingAlex]

By the way is the unreliable local chats part of the joke?  Now i'm getting bad memories :(.  My local text keeps disappearing on everyone elses screens.

Edit: NVM doesn't seem to be any more than 1.0 transition, derp.

[Noyjitat]

Should of took full advantage of april fools and posted a convincing article about the deal being done. It would of been mean but still funny.

[Nyghtshade]

Should of took full advantage of april fools and posted a convincing article about the deal being done. It would of been mean but still funny.

I think "cruel" might be the word, actually.  Glad you didn't.   :)

[TonyV]

Should of took full advantage of april fools and posted a convincing article about the deal being done. It would of been mean but still funny.

Yeah, this is the one thing I don't joke about, because there's just way too much opportunity for bad feelings, misunderstandings, and trolling.  I want to make damn sure that if I ever say or post that City of Heroes is relaunching, people KNOW that City of Heroes is for real relaunching.

[joey645]

I know it's april fools haha but using Sweet FX to give it that cell shaded look is nice :)

[Solitaire]

Yeah, this is the one thing I don't joke about, because there's just way too much opportunity for bad feelings, misunderstandings, and trolling.  I want to make damn sure that if I ever say or post that City of Heroes is relaunching, people KNOW that City of Heroes is for real relaunching.

I can't wait for that day to come :)

[saipaman]

I know it's april fools haha but using Sweet FX to give it that cell shaded look is nice :)

But is was probably a poor choice to make given that it happened almost simultaneously with the release of PC 1.0.

At least one person reported thinking that something had gone wrong with the PC installation and were galvanized into inappropriate and unnecessary actions.

[LaughingAlex]

It was a cruel prank in some ways, particularly because it reminded some people of CO.  I was in the mindset it was a joke day as it was, but some would have thought "THIS is out of line".

Of course the post was brilliantly clearly an april fools joke.

[saipaman]

Some people stumbled into the prank without ever reading that post.  Those are the people I feel for.

[MaidMercury]

I missed the joke entirely...until later.

Is this true- Non CoH chat folk outnumber us long time players 10:1?  :o

[Paragon Avenger]

Personally, I can't wait for the lockboxes drops.

[Codewalker]

Some people stumbled into the prank without ever reading that post.  Those are the people I feel for.

There were a few Europeans and one New Zealander who were confused and asked in the channel or the forums. Since it was midnight in their local timezone before the post went up, which was not unexpected (the target was to post right as the US was going to bed and the EU was about to wake up), I messaged them one on one and let them know what was going on. They were pretty cool about it and were gracious enough to keep the surprise to themselves until the announcement.

After that went up, all anyone had to do was ask in the global channel. There were people on all day reposting the command to shut it off, and I was monitoring on and off.

But is was probably a poor choice to make given that it happened almost simultaneously with the release of PC 1.0.

Meh. I wasn't going to wait a whole year for it, and half the point was to show off some new rendering features that the 1.0 client tech makes possible. The shader is a very real thing and is not entirely a joke - there are a number of more sloppy ways it could have been done that would result in incorrectly rendered graphics.

Maybe turning it on by default for a day confused a few people, but as far as pranks go, a visual effect that in no way impairs functionality is very mild. If people are really butthurt by that, well, some people just aren't happy unless they're unhappy I guess. Many more have commented that they enjoyed the friendly crack at Champions.

A couple people even asked me if it was possible to turn it back on after the event (it is, the same command works). There are actually knobs to customize the effect that are not hooked up to the options menu yet, but will be.

At least one person reported thinking that something had gone wrong with the PC installation and were galvanized into inappropriate and unnecessary actions.

Kneejerk reactions are never a good idea, no matter what the circumstances. We have plenty of people on the forums and in the channel who are willing to help if they see it. Since it's a volunteer effort, you might have to wait more than 4 minutes and 21 seconds for a response, though (one came 1 minute later, but the person had logged off by then).

Is this true- Non CoH chat folk outnumber us long time players 10:1?  :o

*taps forums on the side* Where's the rolleyes smiley on this thing again?  :roll:

[Brigadine]

Yeah, this is the one thing I don't joke about, because there's just way too much opportunity for bad feelings, misunderstandings, and trolling.  I want to make damn sure that if I ever say or post that City of Heroes is relaunching, people KNOW that City of Heroes is for real relaunching.

I agree, that wouldn't have been a very funny joke. More like mindless torture..

[saipaman]

Kneejerk reactions are never a good idea, no matter what the circumstances.

I absolutely agree.

Huge amounts of anxiety could be avoided if more people would simply take a deep breath, count to twenty and spend a few moments pondering causes, solutions and consequences.

[TimtheEnchanter]

How... how... HOW did you miss the opportunity to call this a "realignment of company focus?"  8)

[Paragon Avenger]

Hey yeah, should we make a "Completely Fake News ..." for Paragon Chat?

[Lycantropus]

Or should we call it TPN for Totally Phony Network. ;)

(that said, thank you for giving me a place to log into, lurk, and love seeing other people fall in love with the City again)

Lyc~

[Tahquitz]

Hope you enjoyed this joke last year, because April 1st it's triggering again!  If you want to disable it, type "/usecelshader 0" for the current session.

This will shut off automatically on April 2nd.

[Codewalker]

Sadly, I didn't have time to put together an April 1 surprise this year, but the "event" from last year is still in the code and is triggered based on the date on the local clock.

[kalistowns83]

You sure fooled me, i spent almost two hours trying to figure out what went wrong with my game or my computer. Even rolled back my video card drivers because i recently updated them, thinking it was the cause. I'm a little annoyed at the time this made me waste.  :-\

[Lycantropus]

LOL! I had completely forgotten about this! I logged in and was like "!?"  :o

Hehehehe

Lyc~

[Doc Artz]

Hope you enjoyed this joke last year, because April 1st it's triggering again!  If you want to disable it, type "/usecelshader 0" for the current session.
This will shut off automatically on April 2nd.

So after today we need to download  the  latest version of Paragon chat? Could you please provide or point us dummies to a link for simplifying downloading the upgrade? Thanks ;D
Doc  8)

[Doc Artz]

Sadly, I didn't have time to put together an April 1 surprise this year, but the "event" from last year is still in the code and is triggered based on the date on the local clock.

:-\

Sorry for being a pest but please allow me to ask the same question for help :o. So, after today we need to download  the  latest version of Paragon chat? Could that be the reason I haven't been able to log in today? :roll: Would you please provide or point us dummies to a link for simplifying downloading the upgrade? Thanks....again
Doc Artz  8) ;D

[Codewalker]

Um, no, absolutely nothing changed about the download or the login today...

[rodharris]

code walker, i have loved every thing that you guy's have done for us and the amazing effort you all have put in on the game, thank you very much!!, i must say i'm with anime moose on this one, i don't care for the look at all, i like the old C of H look!!

[Godlike]

literally tens of minutes!  :o