How much hope do you have left?

[Illusionss]

I think there's a better than average chance it'll reappear.  Why?  Because old games are making a reappearance in this industry.

Asheron's Call 2 and Final Fantasy XIV, like CoH, were cancelled.  They were both brought back.  I'd have to say that this bodes well for us.  There is at least some precedent here that there is a market for games like ours.  After all, it's a whole lot cheaper to re-release one of your old titles than to design a new one from scratch.  Even if they chose to do nothing to it, the revenue they could generate would be pure take.

I'm much more confident we'll get CoH re-released than I am with the "Z" projects coming to fruition.

A relaunch of CoX would mean much loss of face by NCSoft.... I think it will be a long time - if ever - before we see that. If we ever do, like I say, it'll probably be bundled with something expensive.

I am becoming much more confident that Phoenix Project is becoming an actual, you know, thing..... I am hoping we can see something cool by the end of 2014. I know these things do take time. I can wait a while. I just dont want to wait like, eight years or something.

Dark: Only possible scenarios are [...] 2) the hype over one of the Plan Z's is so big that someone at NCSoft figures they need to slow down this upstart that tossing CoX back on the market is a great idea.

THAT, I could see happening. Oh yes indeed. If Phoenix Project succeeds, there are going to be some ticked off people over at the Idiocracy. Why? Loss of face. Again.

[Surelle]

SEGs is making progress.

Plan Zs are chugging away.

There's plenty to be hopeful for.

This.

NCSoft ever selling the IP....not so much.   

[MakoMako]

I'm renown for being stubbornly hopeful, by some.

Do I have hope of seeing City of Heroes again? Yes. This is the largest protest I've seen of any canceled MMO and so long as it can hold up, then it stands to send some sort of message. It may not be soon, but in time I do believe the City can return.

Do I have hope of Plan Z? I hate to say this, but not even a little. I noticed rocky drama bullcrap not even a couple months after the projects started, and even now I have to wonder on things. I don't want to play a new game. If I did, I'd be perfectly content with having moved to Champions Online. I want the one I paid for, already.

Plan Z is going to solve nothing but a person's desire to play a City of Heroes-ish game. Which won't win our battle with NCSoft, I'd hate to say. Though I'm sure the games will be fantastic in their own right, it's still a different thing entirely.

As it stands, hope and motivation seem to be what we're losing, when it's our most powerful aspect, and that's what NCSoft wants and was hoping for from day 1. And as far as I'm concerned, from what I'm reading here, they're winning just as they predicted.

Not even two weeks after the Black Friday announcement, I saw my Supergroup collapse into practically nothing due to hope that was lost -before the game even shut down-. It's disappointing that people want to move on, after such an injustice. Rome wasn't built in a day, and if people don't have hope now, then I wonder if they ever did to begin with.

So long as the hope can stand up, then the prospect of City of Heroes coming back remains. I'd say it's a good time to be stubborn, rigid, and unmoving in the demand to get the original game back.

[Rotten Luck]

My Hope transferred to the Phoenix Project.  It won't be City of heroes, but then I have to say I was starting to be burned out on Coh.  I would leave for a time then return and many others were doing the same.  In truth it was showing it's age, what kept me returning was that it was one of a kind. 

Like a Classic Mustang GT.  One of a kind, but showing the millage, still you want to take it out on the weekends for a spin.

The fun loving community what always drew me back.  That still alive if drawn out and thinned.  We still post here everyday and on facebook. 

Can Missing Worlds Media capture the spark that made City of Heroes special?  Who knows but Hope is continuing in spite of doubts.  Courage isn't always facing fears, sometimes it's the drive to keep going.  I even Hope Plan Z Virtual Studios: Heroes and Villains does well. 

Why... because if either makes it.  Then we do win against NCsoft, they saw City of Heroes as a problem maybe not a sink hole as in loosing money.  But as a burden on their views and a drain on their resources.  If either project works then it's sign that it was Management errors, (lack of advertisement, lack of production on CoH2) then anything else caused the shut down.  Besides what battle are we having against NCsoft?  They made a mistake we know it, like Lex Luthor they won't admit it.  There was no evil plot, no grudge, just a CEO or Board of Directors choice to cut the cord and do something else.  It could be 100% positive that once they made the call they figured out that it was foolish, or they could still think they are right.  No one knows, but them.  Ego now the driving force they would have to say "Yeah we shouldn't have done that."  Even selling now to someone would be the same as saying OOPs. 

Perhaps it is time to move on, not because CoH won't return.  If it does I be signing up as fast as I can log in.  But mostly so it won't happen again, we won't be tied down by a CEO of a publishing company mandate.  Either H&V, TPP, or both will be a product of love and determination of a community, and hopefully published by that community funded via crowds.  If not we will work our tights off to find a worthy Publisher to launch the titles.  That above all else is something to have hope in.  No matter what happens, no matter how bad, we will rebuild and struggle on.  We are heroes and that is what we do. 

[JaguarX]

My Hope transferred to the Phoenix Project.  It won't be City of heroes, but then I have to say I was starting to be burned out on Coh.  I would leave for a time then return and many others were doing the same.  In truth it was showing it's age, what kept me returning was that it was one of a kind. 

Like a Classic Mustang GT.  One of a kind, but showing the millage, still you want to take it out on the weekends for a spin.

The fun loving community what always drew me back.  That still alive if drawn out and thinned.  We still post here everyday and on facebook. 

Can Missing Worlds Media capture the spark that made City of Heroes special?  Who knows but Hope is continuing in spite of doubts.  Courage isn't always facing fears, sometimes it's the drive to keep going.  I even Hope Plan Z Virtual Studios: Heroes and Villains does well. 

Why... because if either makes it.  Then we do win against NCsoft, they saw City of Heroes as a problem maybe not a sink hole as in loosing money.  But as a burden on their views and a drain on their resources.  If either project works then it's sign that it was Management errors, (lack of advertisement, lack of production on CoH2) then anything else caused the shut down.  Besides what battle are we having against NCsoft?  They made a mistake we know it, like Lex Luthor they won't admit it.  There was no evil plot, no grudge, just a CEO or Board of Directors choice to cut the cord and do something else.  It could be 100% positive that once they made the call they figured out that it was foolish, or they could still think they are right.  No one knows, but them.  Ego now the driving force they would have to say "Yeah we shouldn't have done that."  Even selling now to someone would be the same as saying OOPs. 

Perhaps it is time to move on, not because CoH won't return.  If it does I be signing up as fast as I can log in.  But mostly so it won't happen again, we won't be tied down by a CEO of a publishing company mandate.  Either H&V, TPP, or both will be a product of love and determination of a community, and hopefully published by that community funded via crowds.  If not we will work our tights off to find a worthy Publisher to launch the titles.  That above all else is something to have hope in.  No matter what happens, no matter how bad, we will rebuild and struggle on.  We are heroes and that is what we do.

hear hear.

[Lightslinger]

I definitely have hope that CoH will back back one way or another.

I'm positive that CoH will be back in the form of a community server, either through SEGS or a more up to date version. CoH will be back thanks to coders working like dogs to get back what we had. Seriously, I'm 100% positive that our community can and will do this, but I do believe it will be a while longer, years even.

As for a successor, I have a lot of hope in The Phoenix Project, I just think it is still a longshot. They know this too, what they're trying to do is unprecedented but I still have hope that we'll see the spirit of CoH in TPP someday.

[Sajaana]

To those who say NCSoft won't touch CoH because of a "loss of face," they already lost face because of this closure.  Bringing it back would help them gain face.

Besides, when has this publisher ever done anything in the name of "face" before?  They haven't.  They say they are committed to a GW2 expansion that isn't even planned.  And such blunders don't phase them.  The one pattern I see in this publisher is that it exercises its prerogative to change its mind.  They say, for example, "We are committed to Tabula Rasa long term."  And that is true for them...on that day.  And then two months later, they say "we're closing down Tabula Rasa," as if what they said and did two months earlier didn't exist.  They say "we are committed to a GW2 expansion," and that is true for them, on that day.  Then they get the word from Arena.net and pretend that what they said before didn't happen.

The one thing about NCSoft that we can say is that what they say and do today might be different than what they say and do tomorrow.  All they need is for the right moment to arise, and their plans change.

Remember that the reason they closed down CoH in the first place is because they wanted to close down Paragon Studios.  They accomplished that.  They got their restructuring.  What are they going to do with this?  Who knows, but the fact that they have it and haven't seen fit to part with it shows me--more than anything else--that they still see the value in it.

I can see several scenarios where they would want to put CoH in play again.  If they fail to meet sales expectations in Asia, they can re-release this in North America as a counterweight.  If Wildstar fails to meet sales goals, they can re-release this as a way of making up the difference.  They can re-release this as a way of sweetening the deal on their older properties.  There are so many scenarios in which this can be re-released, I'd have to think it's a good bet it will be re-released in some way, for some reason.

But I can safely say this much.  Whether they re-release this or not will have little to do with "saving face" or "losing face."  Frankly, the attention span in this industry is so short, nobody will remember one way or the other why the game closed in the first place (besides us).  They will do it because it makes sense to do it.

And our job ought to be to remind NCSoft, and ourselves, and the public at large, how sensible it would be to put CoH back in play whenever the opportunity arises for us to do so.  Because unlike Final Fantasy XIV, it doesn't require a wholesale redesign to put it back in play.  Unlike Asheron's Call 2, it isn't a contentless dinosaur with stone age technology.  Yet both those games were put back into circulation.  And ours can be too.

[damienray]

LOTS of hope here for a relaunch of our CoH as it was.

[Illusionss]

To those who say NCSoft won't touch CoH because of a "loss of face," they already lost face because of this closure.  Bringing it back would help them gain face.

It would not; bringing it back would be a tacit admission that the closure was wrong.... and although they may know that now, they will never, ever admit it in public.

Remember that the reason they closed down CoH in the first place is because they wanted to close down Paragon Studios.  They accomplished that.  They got their restructuring.  What are they going to do with this?  Who knows, but the fact that they have it and haven't seen fit to part with it shows me--more than anything else--that they still see the value in it.

My money says that the reason they are not going to part with it is 1. Spite for the playerbase causing a huge additional loss of face re their protests and 2. because some ninnyhammer thinks that the longer its closed, the more people will get shunted into GW2 out of nothing to do.

And our job ought to be to remind NCSoft, and ourselves, and the public at large, how sensible it would be to put CoH back in play whenever the opportunity arises for us to do so.

If sheer spite were not a factor I'd agree, but sadly I think spite has a lot to do with it. They're doing this to teach us a lesson, although the lesson we learned isn't exactly the one they had in mind: that the people holding the keys to any MMO out there now simply cannot be trusted.

[Illusionss]

Mako: Plan Z is going to solve nothing but a person's desire to play a City of Heroes-ish game. Which won't win our battle with NCSoft, I'd hate to say. Though I'm sure the games will be fantastic in their own right, it's still a different thing entirely.

NCSoft is going to do what they want, they do not give a tinker's curse what we or any segment of their playerbase want. How we "win" battles with NCSoft is by finding something better - and thus denying them our entertainment dollars.

OF course things will be different. They might even be better.

Do I have hope of Plan Z? I hate to say this, but not even a little. I noticed rocky drama bullcrap not even a couple months after the projects started, and even now I have to wonder on things. I don't want to play a new game. If I did, I'd be perfectly content with having moved to Champions Online. I want the one I paid for, already.

The drama has been over for a while, AFAIK.

The problem with Champions, at least to me, is that the game is even more dated-looking than the City was. It looks awful. They have some cool costume pieces, but it just looks horrible overall.... see, I'm not just willing to put up with just any old thing. I want something that does not use the blocking-mechanic incessantly, and something a little easier on the eyes.

[johnrobey]

To those who say NCSoft won't touch CoH because of a "loss of face," they already lost face because of this closure.  Bringing it back would help them gain face.

Besides, when has this publisher ever done anything in the name of "face" before?  They haven't.  They say they are committed to a GW2 expansion that isn't even planned.  And such blunders don't phase them.  The one pattern I see in this publisher is that it exercises its prerogative to change its mind.  They say, for example, "We are committed to Tabula Rasa long term."  And that is true for them...on that day.  And then two months later, they say "we're closing down Tabula Rasa," as if what they said and did two months earlier didn't exist.  They say "we are committed to a GW2 expansion," and that is true for them, on that day.  Then they get the word from Arena.net and pretend that what they said before didn't happen.

The one thing about NCSoft that we can say is that what they say and do today might be different than what they say and do tomorrow.  All they need is for the right moment to arise, and their plans change.

Remember that the reason they closed down CoH in the first place is because they wanted to close down Paragon Studios.  They accomplished that.  They got their restructuring.  What are they going to do with this?  Who knows, but the fact that they have it and haven't seen fit to part with it shows me--more than anything else--that they still see the value in it.

I can see several scenarios where they would want to put CoH in play again.  If they fail to meet sales expectations in Asia, they can re-release this in North America as a counterweight.  If Wildstar fails to meet sales goals, they can re-release this as a way of making up the difference.  They can re-release this as a way of sweetening the deal on their older properties.  There are so many scenarios in which this can be re-released, I'd have to think it's a good bet it will be re-released in some way, for some reason.

But I can safely say this much.  Whether they re-release this or not will have little to do with "saving face" or "losing face."  Frankly, the attention span in this industry is so short, nobody will remember one way or the other why the game closed in the first place (besides us).  They will do it because it makes sense to do it.

And our job ought to be to remind NCSoft, and ourselves, and the public at large, how sensible it would be to put CoH back in play whenever the opportunity arises for us to do so.  Because unlike Final Fantasy XIV, it doesn't require a wholesale redesign to put it back in play.  Unlike Asheron's Call 2, it isn't a contentless dinosaur with stone age technology.  Yet both those games were put back into circulation.  And ours can be too.

This.   All of it.   I not only concur, I agree with Sajaana's assessment.

(Nattering) I heard from a friend that she'd seen in the movie house an ad for GW2, which got me wondering 1. did NCSoft suddenly get smart? and 2. is GW2 either going great guns or doing so poorly they're "resorting to spending money advertising like other corporate capitalists"?? 

I gotta say, I have a great deal more hope for CoH than I do for NCSoft--but hey, that's their lookout and business, not mine.

[Mister Bison]

I have:
- 22689 forumers
- 43442 posts
- 2 new games projects
- 2 city of heroes "emulators" or assimilated
- 1 single game we loved.

all that many reasons to hope.

[LadyVamp]

To those who say NCSoft won't touch CoH because of a "loss of face," they already lost face because of this closure.  Bringing it back would help them gain face.

If we can only get them to get over their stubborn pride. 

[Twisted Toon]

I can see several scenarios where they would want to put CoH in play again.  If they fail to meet sales expectations in Asia, they can re-release this in North America as a counterweight.  If Wildstar fails to meet sales goals, they can re-release this as a way of making up the difference.  They can re-release this as a way of sweetening the deal on their older properties.  There are so many scenarios in which this can be re-released, I'd have to think it's a good bet it will be re-released in some way, for some reason.

If this is one of the scenarios that comes about, NCSoft will have made, yet another, major blunder. Paragon Studios, and it's core Devs, made CoH what it was at issue 23. The Community would, maybe, support the game if it was brought back with Paragon Studios (the original devs, not a group of newbies) in charge of the game. If that doesn't happen, then CoH, most likely, won't be CoH any more.

[blacksly]

...Paragon Studios, and it's core Devs, made CoH what it was at issue 23. The Community would, maybe, support the game if it was brought back with Paragon Studios (the original devs, not a group of newbies) in charge of the game. If that doesn't happen, then CoH, most likely, won't be CoH any more.

As a counter point, a lot of players were very happy when Statesman left, and he would certainly be one of the main names of the "original devs".

The main goal of getting a team together would be that they love how the game is designed and wish to make it better as opposed to wishing to change it.

[Triplash]

The main goal of getting a team together would be that they love how the game is designed and wish to make it better as opposed to wishing to change it.

I completely agree. However, it would be difficult to convince most players of that if the names were all unfamiliar.

As for me and my hope levels, well it's like this. I was playing around in Mids and I tweaked some numbers. Turns out that, as long as I can keep my "Stay Busy" and "Keep in Touch" toggles active, I'll be running at perma-hope.

 

[johnrobey]

As for me and my hope levels, well it's like this. I was playing around in Mids and I tweaked some numbers. Turns out that, as long as I can keep my "Stay Busy" and "Keep in Touch" toggles active, I'll be running at perma-hope.

 

Yay for Mids and perma-hope!!!!  You totally rock, Triplash!   

[Perfidus]

Wow, perma-hope without hasten?!

[johnrobey]

Wow, perma-hope without hasten?!

You rock too, Perfidus!!   And I don't think Triplash has revealed whether Hasten is or is not part of the build.  Heck, for all I know, he may have engineered it on Mids both ways!     Just FYI, I have known sneaky, wily gamers to do just that, have multiple builds for essentially the same P.C. and then, Blammo!  They do something totally unexpected yet in such a way that once again Saves the Day!   Bwahaha!  Never underestimate those wily, crafty heroes!   

[LadyVamp]

I completely agree. However, it would be difficult to convince most players of that if the names were all unfamiliar.

As for me and my hope levels, well it's like this. I was playing around in Mids and I tweaked some numbers. Turns out that, as long as I can keep my "Stay Busy" and "Keep in Touch" toggles active, I'll be running at perma-hope.

 

Don't think you'd need all of the core team.  Just one or two of the lead devs would be enough to bring a lot of us back with high hopes.