Press Release: Paragon Chat Realignment

[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