New efforts!

[Burnt Toast]

Except CoH didn't have 100,000 subscribers ...we didn't have that since beginning of 2010. The best guesstimates were (high) 70k (low) 55k... I think it was somewhere in the middle of that... not trying to be a negative Nancy, but I just don't like people thinking there were 100,000 active accounts when the announcement came...seems a tad misleading.

I again don't have insight to NCSoft's boardroom - however looking back in hindsight you see a merger with Nexon going on right as they close City of Heroes and Paragon Studios was losing money - on paper.

If you were going to merge with a HUGE company and looked down your list of properties that would be studied under the merger and you saw 1 - just 1 title losing money. What would you do? Remember when they merged with Nexon they would have to EXPLAIN - all of their business decisions. I can see the conversation now:

Nexon: Why are you keeping this title going? This studio is losing money.
NCSoft: well it has 100,000 customers.
Nexon: Your next lowest title has more than 3 times that many customers. Why are you keeping that open when you closed Auto Assault, Tabula Rasa and other titles?
NCSoft: I guess due to company reallocation of assets we need to cut this one off.

I would bet that this conversation or one very much like it happened. If there was no merger the game may have stayed afloat a bit longer. With no CoH2 in the works though the days of Paragon were numbered.

[Burnt Toast]

I HIGHLY doubt they would let a 3rd party app (Sentinel) which can be easily edited...be used to restore any type of character data.

you make some very interesting points.  Granted my knowledge of the full reasons for the shutdown are lacking, I'm mainly looking at it from the viewpoint of being a well paying customer that had their product yanked away with minimal reason given. 

A bit of a myopic point of view, but still a valid one. 

Now as to the Going South thing, well that depends on NCSoft's definition of Going South.  Not everyone is going to return on the first day of any relaunch, though of course that would be nice.  I would also expect that not all the servers are coming back at the time of relaunch and that server consolidation prior to relaunch would be more likely, after all I can think of one or two servers that could be described as Dead Zones in terms of their population.

Then of course there are some other questions that would need to be answered prior to relaunch, for example:

1. Subscription costs if any
2. Will it be the VIP/Free Player system again or back to the old subscription system for all?  Some people I played with were a bit miffed after going F2P that they lost usage of IO's unless they bought an inventor license for 30 days.

3. Did our accounts and characters survive or is it start all over again? For some this could be a make or break decision factor.   If our characters didn't survive, we did have that XML downloader to download all our character data, could we use that to restore them?  I think I heard a tale that there was an error with the costume data but that can be fixed with some time in the tailor shops, the main thing is the character back with their powers, IO's, incarnate powers, character name, etc?   

Note that I said that for some this could be a make or break factor, for me I'd be back. I can farm/PL as well as the next person it's just I'd have 100 characters to rebuild......takes a bit of time :)

4. Do all the servers return? If not and all our characters survived can we transfer the ones from the non returning servers to the active servers?

5. Supergroups and Bases: I'd expect these did not survive, if they did that's great if not no big deal.  Perhaps a limited time offer of starting a base with a few million prestige and one of the base badges would excite people.

As to whether the new team can make new content, as long as the AE is operational I suspect that many will entertain themselves with that as a new content builder.

Then some people will of course make suggestions for tuning up or adjusting certain things.  Will powers be altered at all?  New powers brought in?  Power customization for Khelds and Granite armor?  Just some examples.

Heh....I know if I were on a new team for CoH I would happily open up the data files for Peacebringer and Warshades and make a few minor tuneups......giving Warshades and PB at their creation the ability to choose flight or teleport for their travel power, and especially ripping knockback out of all PB powers.....
Also super speed would need a tune up, maybe see if adding the ability to run on walls so that walls and bumps in the road aren't a problem any more....Also granite armor, I would try to give that power a facelift as it were....

Just some thoughts....

[JanessaVR]

I HIGHLY doubt they would let a 3rd party app (Sentinel) which can be easily edited...be used to restore any type of character data.

Indeed.  I'd take the opportunity to outfit all of my characters with top-flight purple IOs.   ;D

[Turjan]

I again don't have insight to NCSoft's boardroom - however looking back in hindsight you see a merger with Nexon going on right as they close City of Heroes and Paragon Studios was losing money - on paper.

Exactly. This is something I was pondering at the time. The phrase "realignment of company focus" keeps coming back to haunt me about the whole thing - while many of us at the time pointed the finger at NCsoft as the 'company', it may have been that the realignment in question had more to do with NCsoft realigning to suit the company Nexon rather than themselves.

All these things will never be known for sure to us of course...but that's okay. Odds are a lot of us would never understand them even if they were explained to us! And ultimately it doesn't really matter anyway. We all know what does matter, and that's why we keep checking this thread!  :D

[Aggelakis]

Except CoH didn't have 100,000 subscribers ...we didn't have that since beginning of 2010. The best guesstimates were (high) 70k (low) 55k... I think it was somewhere in the middle of that... not trying to be a negative Nancy, but I just don't like people thinking there were 100,000 active accounts when the announcement came...seems a tad misleading.

He didn't say 100,000 subscribers. He said 100,000 customers. Active accounts. Free, preemie, and sub. That number comes from the original TFHM statements made by (I think) Mercedes Lackey.

[Mageman]

As far as I'm concerned, if NCSoft IS INVOLVED with the restoration of CoX. They are trying to sell the game to someone else. Without that involvement, there will be no return.

As far as them being involved with the game after it comes back online, then that's another story. If they have more than a token involvement, then more should be required of them.

1) Restoration of the account data. I can't stress this enough, they were paid by the players. A purchase is a purchase, even if it's only virtual. Now, how they want to ensure that someone else doesn't get your account data, that is up to NCSoft. But there should be something done for it.

2) Once the accounts are restored, some method of restoring the Characters and Supergroups/bases.

[Sinistar]

I HIGHLY doubt they would let a 3rd party app (Sentinel) which can be easily edited...be used to restore any type of character data.

Granted there is the potential for dishonesty, on the other hand if say someone sent in a file for a character that had all purple IO's, 2 billion inf, level 50, all available incarnate powers max slotted, 9999 vanguard merits, reward merits, and 9999 of each salvage piece ever in the game and all badges including bug hunter and passport.....well, let's hope that the files are checked by a human eye before being inputting ;)

[Captain Electric]

If I recall correctly (big if), wasn't there a component within the Sentinel files that would provide a tip-off, in case of any changes made to the data by cheaters?

[Fable]

As far as I'm concerned, if NCSoft IS INVOLVED

1) Restoration of the account data. I can't stress this enough, they were paid by the players. A purchase is a purchase, even if it's only virtual. Now, how they want to ensure that someone else doesn't get your account data, that is up to NCSoft. But there should be something done for it.

We have no rights to the account data, you payed them to play the game. That is all, what you earned in game does not belong to you. We all agreed to that via the EULA. Anything we get back beyond the game itself is a bonus. Personally, I'd like to see everyone start on an even playing field.

[FloatingFatMan]

Except CoH didn't have 100,000 subscribers ...we didn't have that since beginning of 2010. The best guesstimates were (high) 70k (low) 55k... I think it was somewhere in the middle of that... not trying to be a negative Nancy, but I just don't like people thinking there were 100,000 active accounts when the announcement came...seems a tad misleading.

Never heard of something called an "Illustrative example"?

He wasn't being literal...

[Winter Fable]

We have no rights to the account data, you payed them to play the game. That is all, what you earned in game does not belong to you. We all agreed to that via the EULA. Anything we get back beyond the game itself is a bonus. Personally, I'd like to see everyone start on an even playing field.

It's only a level playing field if people never had access to your names.We all know that people will be trying to take names that others thought of.I'm sorry all for the post about the names but for some of us our characters names were tied to their looks,powers and back story.I'm fine starting over at lvl 1 no and no IO's because teaming should be plentiful(if people stay out of AE and off of private channels).

[Captain Electric]

It's only a level playing field if people never had access to your names.We all know that people will be trying to take names that others thought of.I'm sorry all for the post about the names but for some of us our characters names were tied to their looks,powers and back story.I'm fine starting over at lvl 1 no and no IO's because teaming should be plentiful(if people stay out of AE and off of private channels).

You can be sure that a lot of lowlifes will be logging in on the first day to name-squat as many names as they can get their grubby mitts on (if account data isn't restored).

[Captain Electric]

In a very vaguely-related situation: when the Earth and Beyond emulator ended its long beta phase a year or so ago and the game went "live", there was a long-scheduled wipe. However, people did get to keep their characters and names. It's just that all the XP, credits, items, etc tied to those characters was wiped. Pretty fair deal IMO.

[Fable]

As far as names go, you have to remember that there wouldn't be a bunch of people with names just sitting there in an account they aren't using. Just imagine all the volume of names that would actually be opened up. While you may lose your name (I can imagine it would as bad as you think I will be) there would be so many other options. Admittedly, I'm not an RP'r and names mean very little to me. So I won't pretend to under stand your plight.

[Winter Fable]

They can wait 90 days if people have not come back by then,then open the names again.

[Taceus Jiwede]

As far as names go, you have to remember that there wouldn't be a bunch of people with names just sitting there in an account they aren't using. Just imagine all the volume of names that would actually be opened up. While you may lose your name (I can imagine it would as bad as you think I will be) there would be so many other options. Admittedly, I'm not an RP'r and names mean very little to me. So I won't pretend to under stand your plight.

I personally don't think it will be that big of a problem either.  I just can't think of too many people who would go "Nice! Now I can steal a bunch of names!"  I never even named my characters until they were created.  But if it is really a concern and your names mean that much too you.  Just try to be on nice and early when the game comes back.  If you can't get someone you know to do it.  I would even be willing to snag any names people REALLY want held for them for RPing characters and then just delete the character when that person is ready to make it.  Although at the same time, hoarding names isn't exactly fair either, first come is first serve.

Edit: Quote posted after I posted this.

They can wait 90 days if people have not come back by then,then open the names again.

I also think that is fair.  If they get account data that is.  If it is truly, truly a fresh start well it may be a first come first serve kinda thing.  All is fair in love and gaming.

[MM3squints]

As far as names go, you have to remember that there wouldn't be a bunch of people with names just sitting there in an account they aren't using. Just imagine all the volume of names that would actually be opened up. While you may lose your name (I can imagine it would as bad as you think I will be) there would be so many other options. Admittedly, I'm not an RP'r and names mean very little to me. So I won't pretend to under stand your plight.

If I remember correctly they made an anti name hording system. If a character with the name is non active for X amount of days (I forgot what the time period was) and was under lvl 38, then someone else can take that name and the original user will be generic. So even if someone dose name horde, unless they get all of those names to lvl 38, they won't keep them

[Surelle]

We have no rights to the account data, you payed them to play the game. That is all, what you earned in game does not belong to you. We all agreed to that via the EULA. Anything we get back beyond the game itself is a bonus. Personally, I'd like to see everyone start on an even playing field.

Still, the more NC gets actively involved, the more people (especially old players not quite as supportive of *any* comeback as the players on this forum) are going to expect to walk back into what they had.  It's tough.  I had max character slots on Virtue, 38 characters (lots of 50s), and was a tier 9 reward vet many times over with every extra costume and power set from the cash shop, special pets, etc.  I can see both sides of it.  Personally I am glad to get CoH back in any fashion, even on life support where we all start over from scratch (it would be fun as everyone else would be leveling with me too!)....but I know there are going to be a good chunk of people not willing to sink all that money back into the game again just to get back up to where they were.  It was hundreds and hundreds of dollars for me if not a grand over the 8 years I played (from the day after launch on till the lights went out in November 2012).

I understand, I spent that money without regret, and even spent some in the cash shop after the closure announcement in August 2012, but even I know it's gonna hurt a pinch seeing all the reward vet stuff so far away from me and no extra slots or power sets in my account anymore yada yada...  It would be easier for folks to make a clean break if NCSoft doesn't really have much to do with anything and they're just leaving their logo on it.  If it's mostly just a new team doing everything and getting the money, I trust them more to keep the game running, which is what we'd all ultimately like best.  And I'm still more than a little nervous that NCSoft will shut CoH down again if they feel like it.

[Fable]

I didn't play for eight years but I played for five and payed for every bit of that time so can under stand the vet rewards situation. I also had every pack they put out in the time I played (Valkyrie etc..). I can't imagine they'd expect people to re-up on everything. That'd be completely unrealistic IMO. It will be interesting to see how they keep old players happy (if at all) assuming the game comes back.

Edit: Thinking about it, they almost need to have the old char data. So like a keep the names/toons, vets, items bought and clear the rest.

[Last Known Hero]

It's been said somewhere before but the sentinel files don't work if trying to be altered I thought?

Anyways, if it does come back as a pay model then it would be financial suicide to let people have all of their characters back. I just hope SCoRE is continuing work (don't want updates but anyone positive about anything happening there?)