Kinda scary to read about the people who have developed new habits since shutdown and how that might keep them away. I get that. I might struggle to find the same amount of free hours too. Do I practice guitar less or play less basketball? Hmmm....
On-topic, the community is what really made the game for me.
In real life, I don't really feel like part of a social group very often. Even when I'm talking about human beings in general, I tend to say "they" or "people" instead of "we". After the Save-the-Game campaign began, I noticed something; the CoX community is my "we". I would give my dad updates on the situation, saying "we're gonna just keep playing until they shut the servers down" and "we have a petition going on-line" and stuff like that.
I want my "we" back.
That's all.
That's pretty damn awesome.
I know people who spent hundreds of hours crafting just a few toons to make them awesome. I can see how they'd be unwilling to come back if it meant having to redo all that.
Me, I was always more interested in the story and trying out new powersets so I'd be happy to start over if it meant I had COH back.
I've got a couple of friends whom I just can't convince to come back unless they get their characters back. As you said, they spent countless hours working on them. They were way more into that than I was. I only had 16 50s from 8 years of playing....that's not impressive at all from reading this forum. So at first the prospect of losing 8 years was a big deal to me....a lvl 50 represents a huge investment of my life.
But then various posters described ways to powerlevel characters back to 50 in a matter of days so I should be fine within a month. I can learn how to do it I'm sure. So my fears of characters being lost was mitigated.
But I do get it how others might be too discouraged to come back. I would never say, "I'm amazed at the number of people who wouldn't go back if they had to remake their characters again" or "It really confuses me too that people wouldn't be thrilled at the chance to have an excuse to recreate their main and do it BETTER that time" or "I also am surprised that so many people are saying a wipe would mean they would not bother with a relaunch".
CoX was different for everyone. It was more than just the game mechanics to some....they felt it was a world that actually existed in some way and the characters were a big part of that. There are emotions involved there. Nerdy? Yah....but without emotion I wouldn't have played either.
My only real concern now would be the cost. I want to come back with two accounts again. But I'm a musician for a living now so the budget isn't what it used to be.
I'd miss my vet perks and powers :-D
I loved logging in with a brand new alt for the first time, and waiting almost a minute for all the popups to stop. Then I'd start claiming all the rewards and sorting my power tray...Pocket D jump pack/VIP Pass, beast/ninja run, sands of mu, nemesis staff, remove fog of war, etc, etc. Not to mention the ability to pick travel powers at 6. I loved that my investment, play and commitment over the years gave me a much better QoL and enjoyable start to the life of an alt. I don't think I could break out of prison again, find Kalinda and go through it all again without those perks.
I also had so many free respecs/tailor tokens that even with a new character, I could probably go through their entire career and never pay for either (or do the trials, though I usually did them for the badges anyway).
That was a great "problem" to have, right? First thing I had to do was stand there in front of Ms Liberty and sort everything out. Sands of Mu and Nemesis Staff...sigh...I would miss those for sure. They made it worth slotting for global acc all by themselves.
