New efforts!

[GenericHero05]

What I am hoping for, in my perfect little world, is that the deal has already been completed but they are waiting until November 30 to make the official announcement. At that point, just tell where I input my debit card number.

[MGLZadok]

As someone who was following this long process since page 4 or 5 let me just stress, again, patience. I want the game back as bad an anybody here but jostling the hands of those juggling the chainsaws of this negotiation is dangerous and counter productive. I don't anyone is intending to do so, but it might happen just the same. Let's try and stay positive

I want it yesterday. I want it to never have closed. I want all my stuffz.

But I'll settle for what I can get when I can get it, rather than what I want. I know many feel the same. We have waited this long, we can wait a little longer, especially when the process is still going forward.

BTW, there are few who were angrier than I with NCSoft and while I haven't invited them out for a drink, I am taking a wait and see approach. I advise everyone who has the hate on for NCSoft to do the same.

I had close friends that played Tabula Rasa and watched that get sunset (my computer wasn't up to snuff at the time).  I played Exteel and watched that get sunset.  Then City, a game through which I bonded with my friends, was sunset.  All I'm saying is NCSoft has killed several things that were close to me and mine.  I'm not saying they owe it to us to make this deal, but...they do.  To this day, I haven't even entertained the thought of getting into another NCSoft IP.  Yes, it's partly out of hateful spite but it's also on that logical "well, they're just going to sunset it, probably sooner than they should" mentality.

We were a loyal, giving community.  They implemented the helper system where you can mark yourself as a helper or as someone who needed help.  And people used it.  My wife is addicted to WoW and that shocked her that the community would get into something like that.  But they took that for granted and didn't foresee or care about the backlash.

All I hope for, if this deal goes through, is that the financial situation is clear and efficient.  Maybe not on the i23 clone server but on City 1.5/2.  There's not one major MMO that has perfected the free-to-play model that today's gamer society desires (unless you consider Path of Exile a major MMO, but even then the dollar-to-in-game-currency ratio is terrible).  Even City's free-to-play model was terrible which, while it may have been to "encourage players to subscribe anyway", defeats the purpose of a real free-to-play option.  You look at a game like League of Legends' free-to-play model where they can give $5 Million prizes to the winners of their world tournaments and colleges are setting up collegiate e-sports teams because that many people play it.  And when you have that many, even a small percentage (1-10%) of players buying from the store makes a big difference.

[Lupur]

RE: Payment Model

Seeing how the game will be running in maintenance mode from now until forever, I think I have a solid idea for how this could work.

If the 'new' store has the same things up for sale as the original one, then there should be plenty of nick nacks for folks to buy.

Superpacks, xp boosts, inf boosts, extra inventory, extra toon slots, opening at's, extra powers, etc.

The idea is a pretty simple one, its to try and encourage folks to spend a little every month for a long time.

For the first purchase of at least $5.00 worth of 'points' every month, you get an additional $5.00 worth of points.

Sure, for those that 'want it all' they just do one massive buy up, but for those that just want to experiment, or slowly build things up, this would be perfect.

$5.00 isn't exactly huge, but if enough folks do it, it could keep the game running indefinitely basically.

It would then be just a matter of pricing.

If they make each powerset and each AT somewhere equivalent to $7-8.00 then that would give folks the incentive to try something new every month.

It sounds reasonable to me *shrug*

[Kriiden]

Personally, I'd prefer to get everything that was finished and in game  (non-consumable) to be either granted to all accounts instead of repaying for everything again. I'd prefer to pay for NEW content, but obviously I'd be willing to pay almost anything to get the City back. I think something along the lines of pay a small amount for everything already released (For maintenance mode) and a regular business model for 1.5.

[Jorge Firebomb]

Regarding monetizing the maintenance mode of Issue 23, it seems like it would be relatively cheap to just run a single server (multiple computers of course, but only one "world" so to speak). It seems highly unlikely that the game would draw in more than one server could handle, doesn't it? So the costs of upkeep should be pretty small, and could probably be financed by such things as paid re-specs and offering costume packs or pieces for sale. Things like extra character slots are also likely candidates for a small fee, and while I'd like all archetypes to be available to everybody, I can understand locking the epic ones behind a pay wall. You probably don't want a complete newbie playing one of those anyway, they have some interesting quirks. Maybe have an equivalent of VIP for people that want to do Incarnate content, but for a minimal cost, maybe like $15 for 3 months of VIP?

The major point, though, is that a maintenance mode server that doesn't have to support development of future content and doesn't necessarily have to turn a profit (I think it would be a wonderful idea to have the corporation officially running the server be a non-profit) really doesn't have to bring in huge amounts of money.

Ideally this is something that the negotiation team and whatever backers they have, have already figured out and presented to NCSoft. I'm hopeful that we'll get news about the setup eventually.

[Sinistar]

I agree the tone needs less impatience and much much more daydreaming of what we'll do first when CoH does come back online.

I for one am downright giddy with anticipation, but I'm not sure which character I'll remake first.

Main thing when things come back online is to reclaim as many possible character names that we had lost.
Then get our bearings, and start having fun again.

[FloatingFatMan]

As for the Baron just pull his heart plug :D

Pff! That was just a silly invention of the movie and has no place in the proper world of Dune!

[Sinistar]

Pff! That was just a silly invention of the movie and has no place in the proper world of Dune!

Out of curiosity, though I suspect your Avatar is the answer: did you prefer the 80's Dune or the SciFi Channel miniseries?

[Remaugen]

Out of curiosity, though I suspect your Avatar is the answer: did you prefer the 80's Dune or the SciFi Channel miniseries?

I prefer the novels foremost, the 80s Dune was an abomination in many ways. The SciFi version was surprisingly well made though.

[FloatingFatMan]

Out of curiosity, though I suspect your Avatar is the answer: did you prefer the 80's Dune or the SciFi Channel miniseries?

Actually... A mix of the two.  Apart from Ian McNeice, the acting compared to the movie was not as good, and some of the sets were extremely dodgy (many of the desert scenes were clearly in a studio).  That said, the mini-series was far closer to the first three books than the movie was.

McNeice, though, was a FAR FAR superior Baron!

[Sinistar]

Actually... A mix of the two.  Apart from Ian McNeice, the acting compared to the movie was not as good, and some of the sets were extremely dodgy (many of the desert scenes were clearly in a studio).  That said, the mini-series was far closer to the first three books than the movie was.

McNeice, though, was a FAR FAR superior Baron!

I agree about the acting between the two versions, but the miniseries was definitely closer to the books.

Also I just checked Wikipedia and it seems that the Director of the movie has stated that he pretty much had control of the project stripped from him and has distanced himself to the point that some versions of the movie list the director as the pseudonym Alann Smithee.

[Jorge Firebomb]

How can you hate the 80's Dune, man? It had Sting! And Patrick Stewart! Also Patrick Stewart still looks almost exactly the same as he did in that movie (and in Excalibur for that matter).

Honestly Dune was too big for the 80's movie, even the ultra-extended version that ran like seven thousand hours.

The books have the advantage of not needing special effects, so they are clearly the superior version (though they did start getting kind of weird). The 80's movie and the mini-series both had pluses and minuses to them.

[Sinistar]

How can you hate the 80's Dune, man? It had Sting! And Patrick Stewart! Also Patrick Stewart still looks almost exactly the same as he did in that movie (and in Excalibur for that matter).

Honestly Dune was too big for the 80's movie, even the ultra-extended version that ran like seven thousand hours.

The books have the advantage of not needing special effects, so they are clearly the superior version (though they did start getting kind of weird). The 80's movie and the mini-series both had pluses and minuses to them.

Nothing against Sting, or Patrick Stewart but the 80's movie was not as good as it should have been.  When the director abandons and distances himself from a project and gets to use the alias Alaan Smithee, then you know something was wrong.

Ironically the pilot movie for the Macgyver series also listed Alan Smithee as director then went on for over 100 episodes.

Also Patrick Stewart as Gurney Halleck was fine, but imagine if he was Duke Atreides?

[FloatingFatMan]

Nothing against Sting, or Patrick Stewart but the 80's movie was not as good as it should have been.  When the director abandons and distances himself from a project and gets to use the alias Alaan Smithee, then you know something was wrong.

Ironically the pilot movie for the Macgyver series also listed Alan Smithee as director then went on for over 100 episodes.

Also Patrick Stewart as Gurney Halleck was fine, but imagine if he was Duke Atreides?

Stewart would have made a better Duke than he did Gurney, and infinitely better than they actor they DID have in the role.  Jurgen Prochnow is a... spotty.. actor, at best.  Seriously, watch the "Special edition" that got Smithee'd... Some of the restored scenes with Jurgen were... terrible and cringe worthy.

If you can, get hold of the fan edit. It's actually really well done and manages to improve the movie! They even edited in some special effects they didn't bother with in the "official" special edition.

[Power Gamer]

Keep in mind that the mini-series had the luxury of being able to differenciate itself for an older mold, and the power of commercial breaks which force the writer to build tension in ways not neccessary in movie format.

[archaist]

All I hope for, if this deal goes through, is that the financial situation is clear and efficient.  Maybe not on the i23 clone server but on City 1.5/2.  There's not one major MMO that has perfected the free-to-play model that today's gamer society desires (unless you consider Path of Exile a major MMO, but even then the dollar-to-in-game-currency ratio is terrible).  Even City's free-to-play model was terrible which, while it may have been to "encourage players to subscribe anyway", defeats the purpose of a real free-to-play option.  You look at a game like League of Legends' free-to-play model where they can give $5 Million prizes to the winners of their world tournaments and colleges are setting up collegiate e-sports teams because that many people play it.  And when you have that many, even a small percentage (1-10%) of players buying from the store makes a big difference.

I think its unfair to compare the MOBA genre, specifically league of legends to MMOs like WoW and CoH. The LoL free to play model only works because of their large player base. I've seen many reports advising newer MOBAs against the specific model league has its not meant to maximize profit.

In relation to MMOs, you just aren't going to have the player base to follow that model. Additionally, the esports scene keeps game retention rates higher then normal. Its hard to incorporate a MMO into the esports scene aside from pvp, which only a fraction of the player base will ever be interested in as PVE raids are the staple of MMOs. Is there a better model then what CoH had? Probably. Is the the league model what we should shot for if/when CoH comes back? Probably not.

[FloatingFatMan]

Keep in mind that the mini-series had the luxury of being able to differenciate itself for an older mold, and the power of commercial breaks which force the writer to build tension in ways not neccessary in movie format.

I thought the pacing was fine, it was just the dodgy set design, especially for the desert scenes, that was off putting.

Oh, and I think they totally missed that a Sietch is meant to be wholly UNDERGROUND!! Silly buggers. :p

[BadWolf]

Personally, while I understand that the Lynch movie doesn't really work well as an adaptation of the novel, it's nonetheless a wonderfully watchable film. It's tremendously immersive, and strange, and surreal, and downright gorgeous in places. You have to be willing to take it as its own thing, which I understand can be very difficult for fans of the book (I remember reading the book for the first time and just being gobsmacked at how brilliantly it worked as a political thriller in ways the movie never did) but when you discard your expectations, it's great.

Plus it has Sting prancing about in blue crab-panties, shouting "I WILL kill him!" Which never stops being funny.

[FloatingFatMan]

Personally, while I understand that the Lynch movie doesn't really work well as an adaptation of the novel, it's nonetheless a wonderfully watchable film. It's tremendously immersive, and strange, and surreal, and downright gorgeous in places. You have to be willing to take it as its own thing, which I understand can be very difficult for fans of the book (I remember reading the book for the first time and just being gobsmacked at how brilliantly it worked as a political thriller in ways the movie never did) but when you discard your expectations, it's great.

Plus it has Sting prancing about in blue crab-panties, shouting "I WILL kill him!" Which never stops being funny.

I saw the movie first, which made me seek out the books.  I will always love the movie just for that one thing alone.  And yes, it IS a good movie.. .I just wish they'd never made that special edition, as it was... well.. There's a good reason Lynch withdrew his name from it!

[Felderburg]

If any movement power gets change it should be adding vertical motion capability to super speed.
It is kind of funny yet irritating that potholes, walls, buildings all block a super speedster when they should be able to cruise over them.

That would be nice. Of course, they can't go too far with it, otherwise super jumping becomes obsolete. In DCUO, their super speed is essentially a combination of super speed and super jumping (and is ridiculously fun to run around with!).