New efforts!

[LaughingAlex]

Howdy folks. I'm Duane and I'm the guy who contacted Justin at Massively.

I'm sure lots of you want my head, but I thought I'd come here and explain my reasons for contacting Massively; after which you are free to reach whatever conclusions you wish.

I'm as big a fan of CoH as anyone here. I played in the beta, I preordered, and I maintained my paid subscription status to the end. I took great delight in playing with my kids, running behind them with an Empathy Defender and doing my darndest to keep them out of permadebt (is there anything more reckless than a ten-year-old boy playing a Fire Blaster?).

I've downloaded the Icon package, and my kids and I still enjoy dreamin up new heroes. If CoH returns, I'll be first in line with my wallet out.

Let me be clear about what I did and did not do. I did not tell Justin "hey you should go check this out!" and point him to this thread.  What I -did- do was ask him if he had heard anything to corroborate the information that was being shared in this thread. That was the extent of our contact, and as of this writing I have not heard back from him.

If this has made any of you angry, then I apologize.  I understand and share the passion for CoH that many of you have. If I've caused you stress or heartache or disappointment, I'm genuinely sorry.

However, as has been pointed out, this is a public forum.  This thread is visible even to guests/unregistered users.  I assumed, reasonably, that any information posted in such an environment was not the sort of material that would be considered sensitive or secret. If the people involved in the negotiations thought that the information here was likely to disrupt their endeavor, then I would have thought that the post would be redacted or deleted after the first fifty or hundred thousand pageviews.

Some of you will think me insincere and some of you will be so angry with me as to spit on me; I can accept that.  Again, to anyone who's been made distraught by the Massively article, I apologize.  To those who would accuse me of violating some sort of confidentiality, I would respectfully disagree for the reasons stated above.

I look forward to the return of CoH, as well as the launches of City of Titans and Heroes and Villains with an eager heart and open wallet.

Please forgive any typos here; I'm on an iPhone 4s and I have big thumbs.

I forgive ya man.  They were bound to find this eventually as it was, it's just shameful to me that they decided to report it the way they did.  We all make mistakes and I accept your apology. 

[TonyV]

Howdy folks. I'm Duane and I'm the guy who contacted Justin at Massively.

I'm sure lots of you want my head, but I thought I'd come here and explain my reasons for contacting Massively; after which you are free to reach whatever conclusions you wish.

Would it make you feel better if I told you that I never wanted your head to begin with?  It's not like it's exactly been a state secret or anything, as these are public forums; anyone who is mad that something kind of newsworthy was actually picked up and posted on a gaming news site should really check the logic circuits in their brain because something clearly isn't working quite right.

I still contend that NCsoft is going to do what NCsoft is going to do.  Trying to scrutinize the inscrutable is sort of fun, but in the end, it's a waste of time not really worth worrying that much about.  I also still contend that how we stick together as a community is much more important than who said what to whom and when.

Hopefully there are some lessons learned here, though.  Anything disclosed in this thread is going to be talked about, posted and reposted in various places, and analyzed to the point of absurdity.  To Ironwolf and whomever is giving Ironwolf information: If you want something not discussed, don't put it out there for discussion.  Saying, "Guys, don't mention this elsewhere" isn't a viable safeguard against dissemination of information.  When you do post something, always expect it to be plastered on billboards and written in neon lights, and temper what you say accordingly.

And for god's sake, to the rest of you, don't get all pissed off at the messenger, that being Duane or Justin.  Duane didn't do anything most of you haven't also done, and not to put too fine a point on it, Justin was doing his job.

[Drauger9]

*edited* Because I don't know why people do the things they do. I can only assume and I'd rather not.

I'm not mad at you Duane. I can understand why you contacted Massively and like I said before. It looks more like a blurb than an article. So hopefully it wont do much.

Take care.

[Angel Phoenix77]

Hi Duane..

Am I angry at you...no not really. I'm upset and disappointed not at you completely. But at the situation, as you explained in your post you have a passion for City of Heroes. As the rest of us... as I would assume of Justin from Massively he has a passion for gaming. As the rest of us.

What upsets me with you is, I'm sure you've read the thread here? Maybe a half a dozen times or more as I have. Hoping you might of missed a kernel of information like I have. If that's true, then I'm lost at how anyone could miss where it's been said to keep this quite-ish. (in so many words or less). Now in your case, I can see your excitement getting the better of you or your curiosity or what ever. To contact someone that's you'd assume is "in the know" or what ever. To see if the can confirm what's been said here. That's fine but please don't do the whole Public forum thing. I know just as well as anyone else. This forum has long been forgotten by anyone that doesn't love CoH. Do you really think anyone from Massively, PC Gamer, IGN or any gaming news outlet comes by here or would? Nope as has been proven by the article that's now out there. They would of never known anything about this unless they was "tipped off" because we're not worth the time of day to them.

Now that brings me to why I'm upset and disappointed with Justin. I'm disappointed with him because he's a Journalist but as I've said we're not worth the time of day to him. As has been proven here, yeah it's a public forum but I'm sure he read it. He'd have to, too get what little (thank God) information he put into his article. He's obviously intelligent (I'd hope) or he wouldn't be a Journalist. So how could he of not gleaned the weight of what that article could become? Again, why couldn't he of made an account here and talked to the community? I think it would of made a better article (eventually) to see what we've been threw. What we're hoping for and how we've stuck together. It would of made a better article if he would of talked to us and understood. That first we didn't want an article until after everything was final and if he would of waited. Then if we do get the game back you know what? He could of celebrated with us. It could of been an article for the gaming ages. An article about hardship, about struggle, about loss, about hope and about victory.

I'm not mad at you Duane because I can understand why you did what you did. It's a lot to put faith into someone you don't know. I've thought about asking around myself before but we've tried pretty much everything and we're running out of options. So when you don't really have much left, alittle faith in others isn't much to ask.

Good luck to you and let's all cross our fingures (you included).

I also agree with this, thank you Drauger9 for putting it exquisitely as you did. For myself yea I was mad but I let myself calm down.
Duane, if you had a question about this effort you could have posted it or sent a message to Wolf I am sure he would have told as much as he could or already did. I understand you loving this game it took me 2 games to figure that out, and I am sure you did not mean to harm this effort. But what is done is done, we now just have to hope the team gets the project done to NcSoft's expectations. So in the end I too forgive you. 

[Dev7on]

Hey guys, I just came back home from seeing Gaurdians of the Galaxy. I would like to say that it was decent movie it also had a since of humor on it too lol. Then, when I checked the Titan forums I saw something that unexpectedly punch me in the face.

1. Ironwolf have a new granddaughter. Congratz to Ironwolf!!!

2. The Massively article that got people furious. That got me scared because I thought it might cause the negotiation to break. We already had our problem with Facebook I don't want to deal with the same problem about the article. I understand that Duane was doing his job and he just apologized to the CoH community for that. Hopefully "WE" can forgive him and move on.

Thank you,
Dev7on

[Dr. Bad Guy]

  Anything disclosed in this thread is going to be talked about, posted and reposted in various places, and analyzed to the point of absurdity.

So lets analyze PANCAKES!!!!!

[Aggelakis]

I understand that Duane was doing his job and he just apologized to the CoH community for that.

Duane wasn't doing his job, Duane was the "civilian" in this case; he sent a question to Justin at Massively (shoulda sent your question to Eliot :p ) and never got a response.

Justin didn't do his job correctly, but he was technically just doing his job. He forwarded the question to his boss, who told him to run with it. Instead of contacting Ironwolf or doing seemingly any kind of research, he just wrote about it. It's technically his job.

[NegativeIQ]

Duane wasn't doing his job, he sent a question to Justin at Massively (shoulda sent your question to Eliot :p ) and never got a response.

Justin didn't do his job correctly, but he was technically just doing his job. He forwarded the question to his boss, who told him to run with it. Instead of contacting Ironwolf or doing seemingly any kind of research, he just wrote about it. It's technically his job.

True

[Dev7on]

Duane wasn't doing his job, Duane was the "civilian" in this case; he sent a question to Justin at Massively (shoulda sent your question to Eliot :p ) and never got a response.

Justin didn't do his job correctly, but he was technically just doing his job. He forwarded the question to his boss, who told him to run with it. Instead of contacting Ironwolf or doing seemingly any kind of research, he just wrote about it. It's technically his job.

  ...... OK

[Drauger9]

So lets analyze PANCAKES!!!!!

I like waffles better their little square pockets are perfect for syrup.

[Dr. Bad Guy]

And the new TMNT sucked so bad that we mocked it unmercifully til the asked us to leave the theater. And I LOVE TMNT.  I had the original black and white  issue  signed by Eastman and Laird. (Don't ask. It got lost in the great "moms really pissed" purge of 1990)

[Ohioknight]

...It's not like it's exactly been a state secret or anything, as these are public forums; anyone who is mad that something kind of newsworthy was actually picked up and posted on a gaming news site should really check the logic circuits in their brain because something clearly isn't working quite right.
...
 When you do post something, always expect it to be plastered on billboards and written in neon lights, and temper what you say accordingly.

Yeah, personally I'm rather surprised it took this long to break in a significant gaming site -- we haven't exactly been shy here and it's been a minor obsession on Facebook COH groups since June.

[Angel Phoenix77]

I like waffles better their little square pockets are perfect for syrup.

better yet pancakes and waffles

[Dr. Bad Guy]

MMMMM Pancakes and Waffles

[Drauger9]

And the new TMNT sucked so bad that we mocked it unmercifully til the asked us to leave the theater. And I LOVE TMNT.  I had the original black and white  issue  signed by Eastman and Laird. (Don't ask. It got lost in the great "moms really pissed" purge of 1990)

That's sad to hear , TMNT was the first movie I ever saw in theaters and I was thinking about going to see this one. Is it really that bad?

better yet pancakes and waffles

..... that's so crazy it might actually work!

[Ohioknight]

had the original black and white  issue  signed by Eastman and Laird. (Don't ask. It got lost in the great "moms really pissed" purge of 1990)

I had a second printing first issue -- sold it in the early 90's for a few hundred.  Never a big Turtles fan, I just thought "oh that's a pretty cute/funny riff on Miller and the Xmen -- with funny-animal Turtles ha ha, why not" and bought the first issue (one of the vast flood of BW titles spewing into the shops at the time -- I liked "Power Play" a lot better)

[LaughingAlex]

And the new TMNT sucked so bad that we mocked it unmercifully til the asked us to leave the theater. And I LOVE TMNT.  I had the original black and white  issue  signed by Eastman and Laird. (Don't ask. It got lost in the great "moms really pissed" purge of 1990)

That sucks to hear.  It seems modern movie writers don't seem to get it anymore .

[Wyrm]

MMMMM Pancakes and Waffles

Skip the waffles and just give me bacon pancakes.

It's dumb for a food to taste that good.  Dumb.

[okami]

Rule 2b: You do not ask anyone in the media to corroborate your information on Fight Club.

[Luna Eclypse]

That sucks to hear.  It seems modern movie writers don't seem to get it anymore .

Most action/fantasy movies are made today for an audience with an ever-shrinking attention span. They have to have cheesy CG and explosions every 5 minutes or their ADD kicks in. Storytelling is almost dead at this point. Not to mention there are so many young actors now that are just so completely nondescript and unremarkable. The acting is just as accountable as the writing.