Brian touched base with me last night and said he is getting in touch with TonyV.
I can neither confirm nor deny this...
I'm not being coy, really. The thing is, I don't know how much leeway Brian has in being able to talk to people. If he's under some kind of NDA or severance package and I talked to him, even if it was just him saying, "We really appreciate the hard work everyone is doing!", it could get him into hot water and complicate any talks he might be in with NCsoft. If I haven't heard from Brian and denied this and then if he calls me tomorrow, next time the question comes up and I don't deny it again, that's as good as admitting that it's true to most people.
I will say that I have talked to Paragon Studios staff in various capacities. I won't name any names, but everyone I've talked to has expressed sincere gratitude to the community and to our efforts, and has told me that those efforts are making a huge difference. Anything past that, I need everyone to not infer that I'm getting from any former Paragon Studios staffers, it's just me saying stuff I can't back up but that I hope you'll put some measure of faith in. That would include stuff like: I'm still optimistic that we're not dead yet. I'm hopeful that NCsoft has not made a final decision to kill off City of Heroes forever. And we can't give up yet, there's still more battle to be fought.
I know that trusting a random Internet stranger who keeps saying, "I can't say anything about that..." is probably more than a bit flustering. Believe me, I wish I could spill everything I know (with sources!) and everything I'm speculating (with reasons!), but I can't. Not yet. Maybe some day I'll write a tell-all book, but don't look for it on store shelves anytime soon. Really, by the time I could write it, hopefully all of the NDAs and severance agreements will be over and done with and you'll be able to get all of the answers you want straight from the mouths of the horses themselves. I do think that as some of these severance packages start running out, we'll start getting some more communication, so I promise, things won't be so secretive forever.
In the meantime, we're going to be holding some more events and I have a Call to Action coming up (*ahem*
you New Yorkers out there, get ready!). These aren't just bread and circuses, they are really having a positive effect on our own morale, generating publicity, and winning over people we really need to our cause.
So if you're wondering, "What can I do?", there are three main things.
First,
keep playing the game. Keep engaged with your supergroups. Are they smaller? You leaving will only make it worse. Keep showing up for the ones that remain. Keep running those task forces, those incarnate trials, those PuGs and coalition events. When we schedule something, show up if you can. Aside from being fun, it also generates great publicity. Don't get discouraged. Or if you do (as we all do sometimes), don't stay there long before dusting yourself off and continuing to have at it.
Second, if you have talents such as being
a video wiz,
musically inclined,
artistically inclined,
comically inclined, ...whatever your talent is, if you can spare some of it for our cause, please do!
Third, stay tuned in. Things really may change on a day-by-day basis. You never know when that one thing that you can really help us out with will come along. Plus, the more you stay engaged with us, the less attrition from our player base we suffer. Even if the game does shut down on November 30, we can continue to fight and work on alternatives. But if people get to where they just don't care any more, that will be when our movement really does meet its match.
