New efforts!

[Paragon Avenger]

"Dollar bubble" sounds like a new chain of "everything's a dollar" style stores.

Or really expensive soap bubbles.

[Paragon Avenger]

It is time once again for ...
The Weakly Update:

Greeting superheroes and supervillians.  We have great news to share with you.  This news is so great that you will probably lose control of your bodily functions.  You might wet yourself or worse!  If you fall and bang your head, a court might find me liable.  This is bad, very bad.  I can't afford to hire a team of lawyers to fend off all the law suits that you people might lodge against me.  I have to protect myself from that kind of exposure.  Maybe if I down-play the news.  Yeah, we have nothing new to share with you.  Talks are on-going.  Everything is on-track, but taking much longer than expected.  Just don't sue us.

[LadyVamp]

"Dollar bubble" sounds like a new chain of "everything's a dollar" style stores.

Trust me.  I wish it were a change of "everything's a dollar" style store, but it's not.

[LadyVamp]

It is time once again for ...
The Weakly Update:

Greeting superheroes and supervillians.  We have great news to share with you.  This news is so great that you will probably lose control of your bodily functions.  You might wet yourself or worse!  If you fall and bang your head, a court might find me liable.  This is bad, very bad.  I can't afford to hire a team of lawyers to fend off all the law suits that you people might lodge against me.  I have to protect myself from that kind of exposure.  Maybe if I down-play the news.  Yeah, we have nothing new to share with you.  Talks are on-going.  Everything is on-track, but taking much longer than expected.  Just don't sue us.

In other words, talks are on going but action towards a resolution are stalled.  Thanks for the update.  Lawsuit is in the mail  (j/k)

[blacksly]

...a court might find me liable. ...  Just don't sue us.

Expect a letter from my lawyer.

[ivanhedgehog]

Expect a letter from my lawyer.

My lawyer will also be sending you a letter. We are currently using the letter "J" as we got a very nice discount on those. Use it wisely.

[Fireheart]

My law suit has been taken to the Cleaners.

Be Well!
Fireheart

[Tahquitz]

My lawyer will also be sending you a letter. We are currently using the letter "J" as we got a very nice discount on those. Use it wisely.

Your letter looked like it was made by a 4-year old.  Your lawyer should be ashamed... unless they are in preschool, then it's very lovely and I'll hang it on my refrigerator.

[HorseManDemon]

Your letter looked like it was made by a 4-year old.  Your lawyer should be ashamed... unless they are in preschool, then it's very lovely and I'll hang it on my refrigerator.

I, for one,  am tired of this double standard that pre-schoolers always seem to benefit from. So I've decided to post my outrage to Internet forums,  where it can really make a difference!

[Goddangit]

I, for one,  am tired of this double standard that pre-schoolers always seem to benefit from. So I've decided post my outrage to Internet forums,  where it can really make a difference!

http://www.iambetterthanyourkids.com/

[Angel Phoenix77]

I am not sure if this article was shared yet, I also do not want to ripoff the band aid as it were http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/189896/behind_the_scenes_of_the_paragon_.php. If this was shared before, can the admins delete this post.
In a way I think this is why the team has been vary cautious in dealing with NCSoft, they do not want to make a mistake that might NC t pull up the tent. I can also see why they are moving very slowly, it is better to go slowly and have a higher chance to get what yo want then be a bull in a China hop and not get what you want.

[Tahquitz]

I've read the article before, but there is no need to delete your post.  If nothing else, this thread is here to suck the marrow out of whatever bones NCSoft left for us, for better or worse (and we've read plenty of worse...)  And there's a chance some recent new users of Titan Network haven't seen it yet.

So by all means, share. :D

[Angel Phoenix77]

I've read the article before, but there is no need to delete your post.  If nothing else, this thread is here to suck the marrow out of whatever bones NCSoft left for us, for better or worse (and we've read plenty of worse...)  And there's a chance some recent new users of Titan Network haven't seen it yet.

So by all means, share. :D

Thank you :), this was an interesting read. I found another article, this time could explain a bit onwhat might be happening with the team and the deal. http://massivelyop.com/2016/08/29/new-report-says-south-korean-mmorpg-companies-are-facing-a-crisis/
   

[ukaserex]

I am not sure if this article was shared yet, I also do not want to ripoff the band aid as it were http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/189896/behind_the_scenes_of_the_paragon_.php. If this was shared before, can the admins delete this post.
In a way I think this is why the team has been vary cautious in dealing with NCSoft, they do not want to make a mistake that might NC t pull up the tent. I can also see why they are moving very slowly, it is better to go slowly and have a higher chance to get what yo want then be a bull in a China hop and not get what you want.

Thank you for posting this reference; it's something I hadn't seen before, or I don't remember seeing it.

It was interesting, in retrospect.

This part was particularly amusing: " Others mailed cakes to NCsoft's Korean headquarters to protest the decision." (emphasis mine)

I'm certain it was "capes" and not cakes, but amusing, still.

[MagnitudeZero]

Why am I picturing Marie Antoinette saying, "Let them eat CAPES!"?

[LaughingAlex]

Thank you :), this was an interesting read. I found another article, this time could explain a bit onwhat might be happening with the team and the deal. http://massivelyop.com/2016/08/29/new-report-says-south-korean-mmorpg-companies-are-facing-a-crisis/

Not a surprise, they have focused to much on graphics and not enough on innovations to even the pacing out.  They are likely facing the problem hard games began to face in the mid-late 1990s: The earlier customers are getting older, have jobs, lives and more money to spend on other titles.  All the while production costs skyrocket with advanced graphics.

In the early nintendo-hard days, the average customer was a kid who wouldn't get new games often, so something with a huge amount of playtime through extreme difficulty was perfect as they could get 50+ hours of gameplay out of a game with only really 4-5 hours of gameplay.  But as production costs rised with graphics quality and gaming technology in general became more complex and required more bodies and minds, the number of customers had to increase, meaning studios for a time had to lower the difficulty and the bar for a wider audience.

The same is likely happening in South Korea.  MMORPG's which could keep players playing for a long time can no longer do so anymore because those players are tired of the skinner box and are enjoying quicker paced games.  Good mobile games can be fun and fast games, so they are on the rise there.  But so are other game genres.

So mmorpgs, which had been refusing to adapt for over a decade, are finally seeing the true consequence of a lack of innovation combined with skinner box tactics; suffering sales and ever lower profits.  The only difference between a bad MMORPG in the year 2016 and a bad mmorpg in the year 2010 is the graphics quality, and that is likely true of the genre for the year 2010 and the year 2005, the year WoW came out.

11 years of stagnant innovation and exclusive graphics development will do that to an industry.

[RybackStun]

Thank you for the links to both of those articles.

It really is interesting to see how different things could have been had the coin flipped the other way for CoH.

[Paragon Avenger]

This part was particularly amusing: " Others mailed cakes to NCsoft's Korean headquarters to protest the decision." (emphasis mine)
I'm certain it was "capes" and not cakes, but amusing, still.

LOL, I was wondering why people were mailing cakes to NCSoft in protest.  It sounded like a silly way to protest anything.

The Doofus Corp.:  Let's do something stupid!
Protestors: Doofus did something stupid.  Let's mail them cakes, that'll teach them.

[LadyVamp]

This part was particularly amusing: " Others mailed cakes to NCsoft's Korean headquarters to protest the decision." (emphasis mine)

I'm certain it was "capes" and not cakes, but amusing, still.

depends on the type of cake I suppose.  But, you are correct.  I remember the story about sending capes to NCSoft's Korean headquarters in protest to game shutdown

[Mistress Urd]

I won't give NCSoft another penny nor will I ever play any of their games no matter how much my friends beg me to join.

That's my protest.