Massively: Is automation preferable to MMO closures?

[OzonePrime]

Would be tickled with maintenance mode!
Beats running around by yourself, which is all we have now. I miss the chat channel humming. I miss seeing friends.

[Sugoi]

Would be tickled with maintenance mode!
Beats running around by yourself, which is all we have now. I miss the chat channel humming. I miss seeing friends.

I agree with most of  what you stated above, but....

I was playing Champions Online and DC Universe Online occasionally just due to the fact that I could fly.... not because the game was good.

Thanks to Codewalker's efforts, we can fly again around the old neighborhood, bringing back so many memories.  Something we couldn't do a month ago.  Is it just me, or has Icon/CoH just gotten back into the 'electronic paper doll' stage so many people made fun of years ago?

And folks, 3AM East Coast time on 1 June is the 6 month memorial of the shutdown of the finest MMO to ever exist.  I will be staying up to give it the moment of respectful silence it is so obviously due.

[therain93]

I agree with most of  what you stated above, but....

I was playing Champions Online and DC Universe Online occasionally just due to the fact that I could fly.... not because the game was good.

Thanks to Codewalker's efforts, we can fly again around the old neighborhood, bringing back so many memories.  Something we couldn't do a month ago.  Is it just me, or has Icon/CoH just gotten back into the 'electronic paper doll' stage so many people made fun of years ago?

And folks, 3AM East Coast time on 1 June is the 6 month memorial of the shutdown of the finest MMO to ever exist.  I will be staying up to give it the moment of respectful silence it is so obviously due.

Sounds like a short notice call to action ( ' ;

[detour]

Perpetual Maintence mode or no game at all???
 
No contest.

This.

[Thunder Glove]

If it had gone into Perpetual Maintenance Mode, it would have been likely that they would have let Paragon finish I24 before doing so.   Perpetual I24 would have been so much preferable to the current situation of not having a "home".

[Hyperstrike]

Would I take CoH more or less on maintenace mode?

IN AN *RIKTI TRANSLATION FAILED* HEARTBEAT!

The game had a few bugs here and there, but by and large, it was very VERY well maintained.

Plus, with AE, there was always the ability to put new content in.  Even if the devs never laid another finger on it.

Contrast this with CO.

Ugly hack on top of ugly hack.  And not "ugly" from a code perspective.  I'm sure there were parts of the CoH code that'd drive most programmers into convulsions.  But ugly from a user's perspective too.
Things breaking left and right and just never being fixed.
Events that and additions that, if they're tested at all, are tested only minimally before going live and breaking horribly, to be abandoned shortly thereafter.
NO provisions for user-generated content.

Had CoH dropped to the level of support that CO has currently, the game would still be COMPLETELY playable (with a few exceptions, like to always-crashing Tyrant personal mission).
Whereas whole swaths of CO barely function and are gradually getting more and more unstable over time.

Now add to that, the fact that CoH was, quite literally, ten times the size of CO.

CO has SIX regular zones and five temporary crisis zones that you lose once you outlevel/complete them.
CoH has SIXTY regular zones.

Yes, this spread the population out more.  But it gave people a broader swath of things to do.
With CO, you run 2-3 characters with minor alterations in where you go and you've pretty much done EVERYTHING in the game.

With CoH, people griped about things like Radios always being the same 20-25 maps.
With CO, the Alerts are always the same 10 or so.

And NCSoft's support division isn't one group per unit, it's not as if they incur significant extra costs in doing GM duty for CoH.

Granted, I'd HATE losing the guys at Paragon.  Hate it like poison.  They deserved a LOT better than what they got for the work they did.

But if the community stayed in CoH, I'd be there.  I solo a lot, but being able to jump on with a few hundred of my best friends and gab while I'm beating someone's face in is a pleasant way to spend an evening.

[TheMindfulFool]

If you would have asked me a few months ago, I would have said I'd rather have closure than an automation system. However, after spending these months without a game, I think maybe I was wrong.

The thing I would have been worried about was that CoH most alluring feature was its constant updates. Every Friday, something was happening. Either a small thing was being released or news was being shown -- I loved it. And to know that wasn't going to happen again would have been a real downer.

That being said, this is worse. Not having a home to fly around in is awful. I've tried a few games and they just lack in a lot of ways. So, maybe I wouldn't have wanted an automated system forever, but I think an automated system would have allowed for our voices to be heard more. We would have had the ability to show people that people -still- played the game, and maybe get NCSoft to hand it over to someone after awhile.

Or maybe that's just a pipe dream, who knows.

But the short version of this talk is I think I would have been wrong to want the game to close instead of doing an automated system. I think CoH's most amazing attribute was the fans and their creativity, not the constant additions done by the devs.

[JennSpace]

To answer your question, No Doubt*!  I would have played and kept my City of Heroes account live forever, EVEN if they'd have put CoH in maintenance mode. I'm a comics fan and this game allowed me to be the superheroine I could never be, as an alternative to you know ...dress as SuperGirl and jump off from my window and try to go touch the sky! XDDDD 

[Twisted Toon]

To answer your question, No Doubt*!  I would have played and kept my City of Heroes account live forever, EVEN if they'd have put CoH in maintenance mode. I'm a comics fan and this game allowed me to be the superheroine I could never be, as an alternative to you know ...dress as SuperGirl and jump off from my window and try to go touch the sky! XDDDD

Better you dressing as Supergirl than me. 

I'd probably choose Green Lantern to dress up as though.

[OzonePrime]

Would be tickled with maintenance mode!
Beats running around by yourself, which is all we have now. I miss the chat channel humming. I miss seeing friends.

I guess I should have said running/flying around by yourself. Have been flying. Have recreated all of my alts and have them saved. Even saying hello to the trashcans 'cause I'm just tickled to death with this little bit.
Thanks again, Codewalker!

[JennSpace]

Better you dressing as Supergirl than me. 

I'd probably choose Green Lantern to dress up as though.

XDDD, I'm not too fond on Green Lantern to be honest ^^ but yeah, he's a LITTLE more masculine than SuperGirl 

[Optimus Dex]

If it was still available to play I would still be paying. Maintenance mode - slowed development  whatever . Just so I could play. I liked the controls  I loved being able to fly or super jump. I just want to be able to play a super hero game.

[Twisted Toon]

XDDD, I'm not too fond on Green Lantern to be honest ^^ but yeah, he's a LITTLE more masculine than SuperGirl 

I could make a very butch Supergirl.  Ok, maybe not all that butch, since I'm rather wiry...and stuff.

I like Green Lantern because his powers helps stretch the imagination.

I mean, can you imagine the interesting contests you could come up with catching the bad guys? 

But, to each, his (or her) own.

[Lycantropus]

Between the game being operational at all (with mission architect available to me) I'd gladly go with maintenance mode (without MA?) I'd gladly go with maintenance mode. (for the record, I never Unsubbed once I started- I never got bored or frustrated with it- just made a new alt with a new story- or wrote others with the MA- and kept going)

At least I'd have the option of when "I was tired" with Co* and when I (would inevitably) go back. Nothing has held my interest, my imagination, or my enjoyment of just playing a game, that CoX has, and fear it never will. If what @Codewalker is doing with Icon is any indication, I'll load it even if I don't have any evil to fight, and just fly around the places I love to explore like I used to.

Automation at least gives the players the option to keep playing (potentially subscribing with whatever benefits it came with) and making the most of whatever the game had going with it. Sunsetting is... nothing.

If anything, I'd keep playing with my SG which had more than 4-5 members, which is all it seems any MMO's support nowadays. We [HAVE] at least 6 regulars with a few more that show up from time to time. Most MMO's nowadays are... awkward with that number.

My son said you know you love a game when you can describe it in the most unappealing way to someone else and still want to play it.

City of Heroes had a lot of things I could dump on it on, and still I love it and want to play it... it's still better than anything else I can think of off the top of my head that I've played, even when I'm bitching about it.

I just want my City back. Nothing fits like Paragon did... warts and all.

Lyc~