Call to Action: Thank the media

[Rae]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2019337/this-is-how-you-shut-down-your-mmos-servers-for-good-glitchs-graceful-exit.html

A mention for us, and something NC Soft should read.

[DrakeGrimm]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2019337/this-is-how-you-shut-down-your-mmos-servers-for-good-glitchs-graceful-exit.html

A mention for us, and something NC Soft should read.

...is it odd to shed tears for a game you never even heard of?

* DrakeGrimm sighs.

I'm getting sentimental and emotional in my old age.

[Rotten Luck]

I'm with you DrakeGrimm.  That one I wish had the advertisement it needed, I would have played if I had known it was there.

[Segev]

Holy cow, the switch of traditional greeting-signs from "hi" to "bye" on the penultimate day, while a touching gesture, would probably sting more than almost anything else. How small a change to be so...sad.

[BobMc]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2019337/this-is-how-you-shut-down-your-mmos-servers-for-good-glitchs-graceful-exit.html

A mention for us, and something NC Soft should read.

Wow!

Makes me sad for a game I never even heard of till CoH was closing, and the very classy way, including opening all accounts and "continuing to release content almost till the end".

The contrast between Glitch's and City's endings is so very painfully different.

[dwturducken]

The difference may lie in how the development is structured in each case. With us, it was a subsidiary studio who all were dismissed on the day of the announcement. Perhaps Glitch was one of several games handled by the studio, so the devs involved were just adding things in their spare time while still working on their other games. I don't really know anything about them, but, yes, it sounds like they did a terrible thing in a really terrific way.

[Rae]

http://www.dealspwn.com/time-heroes-community-thousands-abandoned-fought-123890

Our Mercedes in action at dealspwn. Its a great article - show it some love.

http://www.mediumdifficulty.com/2012/12/11/ephemeral-existence-picking-up-the-pieces-of-city-of-heroes/

And our devs have their say at medium difficulty.

[NecrotechMaster]

that article on mediumdifficulty giving us some of the devs thoughts started to make me teary eyed again

[DrakeGrimm]

Paragon and CoH got a mention in this article.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/12/11/20-studios-we-lost-in-2012

[eabrace]

And a video to go with that IGN article.

http://www.ign.com/videos/2012/12/11/game-studios-we-lost-in-2012

[mikoroshi]

http://www.mediumdifficulty.com/2012/12/11/ephemeral-existence-picking-up-the-pieces-of-city-of-heroes/

And our devs have their say at medium difficulty.

Not thrilled about the line "Characters gathered in the game's starting hub, Atlas Park, in the game's final moments, shouting obscenities at the game's publishers," makes us seem like a bunch of jerks.

[dwturducken]

I didn't see it on Champion, but I think most of the attention was on Virtue. I guess it depends on which instance of Atlas the observer was in. I know there were some harsh words for NCSoftcore throughout the evening.

[Quinch]

This is from a fan slash former player and not technically press, and a little bit on the oldish side, but...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cws8RWrv2k

[TimtheEnchanter]

I didn't see it on Champion, but I think most of the attention was on Virtue. I guess it depends on which instance of Atlas the observer was in. I know there were some harsh words for NCSoftcore throughout the evening.

... the 10 or so players who were able to get through the Virtue queue after the final mapserve attack only 10 minutes before shutdown?

[dwturducken]

OK. I can see where that would set one's nerve on edge.  :)

[Blitzwing]

Wow!

Makes me sad for a game I never even heard of till CoH was closing, and the very classy way, including opening all accounts and "continuing to release content almost till the end".

The contrast between Glitch's and City's endings is so very painfully different.

...that...SONG...'Goodnight Groddle'....  *honestly cries*   :'(

That's how you take a bow, folks....

...those of you from Pinnacle will hopefully remember me as a nice guy, who never had an ill-word for anyone or anything...that song just pushed me over the edge into 'beside myself with rage' at NCSoft...now, it's -personal-...I have a few favors I think I'll be calling in....   >:(

[Globetrotter]

Meta's Verse: Interview with Melissa Bianco and Matt Miller on City of Heroes - Dec 14, 2012

http://www.onrpg.com/MMO/City-of-Heroes/interview/Metas-Verse-Interview-with-Melissa-Bianco-and-Matt-Miller-on-City-of-Heroes?p=2


Heartbreaking!




/em Starts on dinner for tomorrow. Need to peel some onions.

[Segev]

And we STILL don't know why they wanted not just to stop running it, but to end it. We can guess, but we don't know, and we don't know if our guesses hit anywhere near the mark.

[Atlantea]

Meta's Verse: Interview with Melissa Bianco and Matt Miller on City of Heroes - Dec 14, 2012

http://www.onrpg.com/MMO/City-of-Heroes/interview/Metas-Verse-Interview-with-Melissa-Bianco-and-Matt-Miller-on-City-of-Heroes?p=2


Heartbreaking!




/em Starts on dinner for tomorrow. Need to peel some onions.

I left the following post there:

It is not over yet. Not by a long shot. The Save City of Heroes movement is still working hard to make a difference. We're in this for the long haul. If it takes another 10 years, we WILL bring City of Heroes back. One way or another.

We loved and still love the good folks at Paragon Studios and they are utterly blameless. If the core group of developers at Paragon reformed for a new project, we would INSTANTLY flock to it. But we're hoping that we can turn this around and make NCSoft see the light and sell the City of Heroes IP and code to a responsible party. And here's hoping that if that happens that the Paragon Studios people can come back under the aegis of a new publisher.

Never forget who is responsible - NCSoft.

NCsoft has closed 1/3 of all MMOs that have EVER been closed. They have locked down for themselves the title of "MMO Killer".

This closure did NOT HAVE TO HAPPEN. The reasons are STILL opaque. NCSoft still have NOT explained themselves. The other 4 closures before City of Heroes, they could at least drape the fig leaf of "well this game isn't profitable" over those shutdowns. Even the most hardcore fans of those games would understand that if a game isn't profitable and is losing money, then a company is not obligated to keep it running.

But that was NOT the case with City of Heroes. City of Heroes NEVER had an unprofitable quarter in the 8 years it was in operation! Not a single one! It was never going to be a WoW killer. But then - what is? It was a steady reliable source of income to the tune of millions of dollars per years.

Under what twisted "logic" does closing down this game make any sense at all? It makes no business sense, that's for certain.

And it certainly makes no Public relations sense. NCSoft's name is now ANATHEMA in the Western gaming market. They are justly reviled. And even now they are attempting to leverage a change of shell companies through stock purchases to obfuscate their ownership ties with their remaining western games.

http://www.reuters.com/finance...
http://www.reuters.com/finance...

In the future, Any game developer studio would be wise to steer WELL clear of NCSoft. They're 'business logic' is irrational at best and shady to near illegal at worst. And any stockholders should think about unloading their shares.

I want to wrap up my post here by taking a moment aside to make note of a caveat.

Arenanet, the makers of Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, and Carbine, the developers of the game Wildstar, who are both owned by NCSoft, should not be considered to be the targets of the same wrath that is falling on the heads of their owners.

They are studios full of fine creative folks who love their games as much as Paragon Studios loved theirs. If anything, we have every sympathy for them, because if the axe falls again, it will almost certainly fall on Carbine first, and then Arenanet. And if anything, many of the people in the Save COH movement are beginning to consider that our fight may become their fight as well. If nothing else, perhaps the outcry over City of Heroes will keep them safe a little longer.

[johnrobey]

Meta's Verse: Interview with Melissa Bianco and Matt Miller on City of Heroes - Dec 14, 2012

http://www.onrpg.com/MMO/City-of-Heroes/interview/Metas-Verse-Interview-with-Melissa-Bianco-and-Matt-Miller-on-City-of-Heroes?p=2


Heartbreaking!




/em Starts on dinner for tomorrow. Need to peel some onions.

I'm always glad to read what the devs have to say.  Thanks for posting the link in this thread, or I might have missed reading that article.   :)