New efforts!

[Zerohour]

This is crazy how long this process is taking. I'm starting to feel like NCSoft is doing this on purpose just to see how long they can drag it out for. I also think it's very one sided of them to expect the team involved in the purchase to respect their culture and business ways of doing things, yet don't show the same respect for the team and their own cultural differences.

[Cailyn Alaynn]

By the way, for any fans of Sword Art Online...
Imagine...

City of Heroes being built for NERvGear. Think about that and drool.

[Gorvi Guile]

This is crazy how long this process is taking. I'm starting to feel like NCSoft is doing this on purpose just to see how long they can drag it out for. I also think it's very one sided of them to expect the team involved in the purchase to respect their culture and business ways of doing things, yet don't show the same respect for the team and their own cultural differences.

You do what you have to do. They hold all the cards at this point...and I want my damn game back.

[Talon Blue]

This is crazy how long this process is taking. I'm starting to feel like NCSoft is doing this on purpose just to see how long they can drag it out for. I also think it's very one sided of them to expect the team involved in the purchase to respect their culture and business ways of doing things, yet don't show the same respect for the team and their own cultural differences.

Personally, I wasn't expect the return to be quick. I suspect IF things are going smoothly in negotaions, City would be back sometime in the spring next year. Any longer than that and you may run the risk of the hype dying out before it's return. Again, that's just what I think. But if they wait for this semester to finish, I'd be cool with that. :)

[BadWolf]

This is crazy how long this process is taking. I'm starting to feel like NCSoft is doing this on purpose just to see how long they can drag it out for. I also think it's very one sided of them to expect the team involved in the purchase to respect their culture and business ways of doing things, yet don't show the same respect for the team and their own cultural differences.

This isn't a "cultural differences" thing; this is just normal when doing business at this level. NCSoft is a multinational corporation selling a property to an unknown entity. They are going to do a lot of due diligence to make sure that they aren't selling this to someone who will mismanage it, damage the brand to the point that it's worthless, or entangle the legal rights in such a way that it can't be resold should they fail with it. It's a long, drawn-out process by its very nature, not because NCSoft is a Korean company or because they don't like us. As I have told everyone who has complained about the timeframe: No news is good news. No news means the talks haven't fallen through yet, even if they're not going as fast as we want them to.

[MM3squints]

This is crazy how long this process is taking. I'm starting to feel like NCSoft is doing this on purpose just to see how long they can drag it out for. I also think it's very one sided of them to expect the team involved in the purchase to respect their culture and business ways of doing things, yet don't show the same respect for the team and their own cultural differences.

In a sentimental sense, this game may be top of the priority in gaming for us. In a business sense for NC Soft, they are probably thinking of third quarter revised profit, next near business plan, current projects and possible acquisitions, maintain day to day operations. CoX is probably down on the list next to scratching their butts.

[Ironwolf]

This is crazy how long this process is taking. I'm starting to feel like NCSoft is doing this on purpose just to see how long they can drag it out for. I also think it's very one sided of them to expect the team involved in the purchase to respect their culture and business ways of doing things, yet don't show the same respect for the team and their own cultural differences.

It isn't really taking very long it just feels like it to us. This all started in March. Since then they have gotten through to the guy who says thumbs up or thumbs down, provided a technical expertise sample and laid out the business plan. NCSoft is a huge company and the $500k to $1 million this is likely selling for is peanuts to them. In fact they were asked if they could wait until August for NCSoft to consider it. I would imagine they had to get attorneys involved and find out exactly what they "could" sell. I know some people have the idea that why not just write the check and lets go!

It isn't that easy I am afraid.

[archaist]

By the way, for any fans of Sword Art Online...
Imagine...

City of Heroes being built for NERvGear. Think about that and drool.

I'd be terrified to be stuck in CoH. I would specialize as a Stone Tank and most certainly wouldn't be in the lead group.

[Cailyn Alaynn]

I'd be terrified to be stuck in CoH. I would specialize as a Stone Tank and most certainly wouldn't be in the lead group.

Empathy defenders would be freaking RICH.

[Rejolt]

Empathy defenders would be freaking RICH.

With heal aggro and RNG, I'd be looking at Sets with more regen and resist buffs

[JanessaVR]

I'd be terrified to be stuck in CoH. I would specialize as a Stone Tank and most certainly wouldn't be in the lead group.

I'd stick with my Controllers (if I lock you down, you can't hurt me), but yes, I'd find the most quiet spot I could and try to stay out of any major action.

I actually did put some thinking into this situation a while back, as from a RP perspective, I like to note where my major characters live in CoH.  Taking into account where major invasions and attacks seem to occur in the storyline (and from personal experience), as well as which zones have the most the vicious critters roaming about, I came to the conclusion that Steel Canyon and Croatoa were my best bets for as much peace and quiet as I was likely to get in all of Paragon County.  SC mostly just has street punks roaming about, and isn't rundown like Kings Row.  Croatoa has some nice farmland areas where the occasional wandering Fir Bolg is the most likely menace.  So I'd pick those areas.  I used to have Talos as my #1 spot, but then Mot moved in next door and I made a note that my characters living there had promptly moved out.

[Sinistar]

By the way, for any fans of Sword Art Online...
Imagine...

City of Heroes being built for NERvGear. Think about that and drool.

Ohhhh, the characters I had that I could be stuck playing as......the power......THE POWER!

[CrimsonCapacitor]

This is crazy how long this process is taking. I'm starting to feel like NCSoft is doing this on purpose just to see how long they can drag it out for. I also think it's very one sided of them to expect the team involved in the purchase to respect their culture and business ways of doing things, yet don't show the same respect for the team and their own cultural differences.

I know this has been brought up before, but I'm going to try to put things in context:

In my day job, I'm a science-type.  I work for a somewhat large company doing R&D things.  Often, we have to work with an outside company to bring our ideas to market.  Because we don't know how their stuff we didn't invent works/have any knowledge of their manufacturing process, and they don't know exactly what problems we're facing as we try to incorporate their tech into our products, we often have to have Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA's) signed by both companies.

Essentially, an NDA says, "If you tell anyone outside of our two companies ANYTHING that you learn by working with us, you'll owe us money and we will possibly sue your company into oblivion!"  The lawyers are paid a lot of money to make that much more eloquent, but that's essentially what's involved.  You usually haggle over minor terms such as how long after the NDA is signed do they need to keep their mouths shut, etc.  It then goes to people far up the food chain, they sign it, and it's official.  We then get to have honest, open discussions with the outside company.

Sometimes, though, these simple legal documents get hairy.  I, personally, started setting up an NDA with a company in January, 2014.  We've worked closely with this other company before, work well with them, consider them a primary supplier, and have a great relationship with them.  As of today, October 8, 2014, that NDA is still not signed.  I can't talk to them about what I want to do.  They can't help me with doing it.  It's holding up a big project on my end.  My boss, my boss' boss, the other company's equivalent of my boss' boss have all tried to get the lawyers to finish haggling/editing and just get the thing signed.  We all want to work together. 

The lawyers aren't budging.

As I understand it, they're arguing over the "you'll owe us money!" part.  One of them (I'm not sure which) is saying that there needs to be a cap on the damages if anyone spills the beans.  The other is saying, "No, there shouldn't."

So this has devolved into a "Yes way!" "No way!" argument that doesn't appear to be solved any time soon.

And this is for a relatively common legal agreement between two companies.

Now make that a notch or three more complex:  We want to purchase the IP from NCsoft, AND license their spaghetti code for I23 to run while we convert the game over to U4/get the lore and mythology out to other games. (And yes, I'm saying "We" as a community, not that I'm involved with it at all)  That's a LOT more complex, a LOT more can go wrong, and a LOT more the lawyers have to haggle about.

This is a dance, and we're early in the dance.  Let the process happen.  You can't rush it, and everyone has to feel comfortable/OK that what is being agreed to works out for both companies.  I know its difficult to wait, and I know it's even harder to wait without updates (trust me.  I'm a speedster.  Standing still is VERY DIFFICULT for us.)  But things are happening....

As the saying goes, "I may look lazy, but on the molecular level, I'm quite busy."

[hurple]

They are going to do a lot of due diligence to make sure that they aren't selling this to someone who will mismanage it, damage the brand to the point that it's worthless, or entangle the legal rights in such a way that it can't be resold should they fail with it.

This is too funny... considering it's NCSoft being discussed and how badly they, themselves, have mis-managed the property, nearly damaged the brand to the point it is worthless, and are bureaucratically entangling the rights in such a way that they haven't been re-sold even though multiple entities made generous efforts to purchase them.

[Felderburg]

I've been looking at ArcheAge for a while, and my recent google search for it found: http://www.reddit.com/r/archeage/comments/2ikaar/there_are_russian_land_grab_hacks_trickling_into/

The Trion CEO talks about the hacking there, so they're clearly not ignoring it. What I found most interesting is that he seems to imply that Trion can't modify the game itself, which I guess makes sense since they're just the North American publisher, not the developer.

[BadWolf]

This is too funny... considering it's NCSoft being discussed and how badly they, themselves, have mis-managed the property, nearly damaged the brand to the point it is worthless, and are bureaucratically entangling the rights in such a way that they haven't been re-sold even though multiple entities made generous efforts to purchase them.

1) The only thing they mismanaged was the shutdown itself, and as has been mentioned before in this thread, they were in the middle of a merger and had to make a lot of decisions in a hurry.

2) Who says the brand is worthless? People associate it with a very good game that isn't around anymore. That's far from the situation that, say, "Duke Nukem" is in. :)

3) Really, we only have rumor and speculation as to what the previous offers were and whether they were, in fact, generous. Someone could say, "I made a generous offer to NCSoft and they turned it down," when further investigation might indicate that they thought twenty bucks and some pizza coupons was pretty generous for a shuttered game, or that they made that offer to a potted plant in the lobby that turned out to have very little decision-making power. :) Really, it's not worth worrying about. This effort looks to be working, the only thing impatience can do is derail it, so why not just calm down and think happy thoughts?

[downix]

This is crazy how long this process is taking. I'm starting to feel like NCSoft is doing this on purpose just to see how long they can drag it out for. I also think it's very one sided of them to expect the team involved in the purchase to respect their culture and business ways of doing things, yet don't show the same respect for the team and their own cultural differences.

Do also realize that this is the busiest time of year for them, the end of the convention season leading into the holiday season. The people we are talking to are also managing other potential deals picked up from the conventions, which is why the flurry of announcements that this studio gets picked up by that publisher, this new title enters development, etc, is common at this time of year. We are, honestly, small potatoes here. Act with respect, and don't push, and you stay on the table. And once the more pressing material is done, we're sitting there ready.

[Cailyn Alaynn]

Do also realize that this is the busiest time of year for them, the end of the convention season leading into the holiday season. The people we are talking to are also managing other potential deals picked up from the conventions, which is why the flurry of announcements that this studio gets picked up by that publisher, this new title enters development, etc, is common at this time of year. We are, honestly, small potatoes here. Act with respect, and don't push, and you stay on the table. And once the more pressing material is done, we're sitting there ready.

Personally I believe pure clean patience is the thing most likely to get us what we want. Two years we've been waiting...what's another couple months? Chump change, lol.

[Rejolt]

Personally I believe pure clean patience is the thing most likely to get us what we want. Two years we've been waiting...what's another couple months? Chump change, lol.

I don't plan on "panicking" until next spring. The fiscalquarter ends in late March/early April (I believe) so if talks are slow until then so be it.

[Phaetan]

For those complaining about the slow action, keep in mind that until the recent activity, it had been TWO YEARS since the game shut down.  A couple of months isn't much in comparison, particularly since most of those two years were spent with no suggestion that anyone might be able to reacquire the game.


Yeah, yeah, patience.  How long will that take?