I still have daydreams about playing the game.

[doc7924]

I never thought I could be so emotional over a game but even after almost 2 years of it being gone I still cannot stop thinking about it at least once a day. I can still picture in  my mind doing missions and just generally hanging around and wondering what I would be doing right now if we still had the game.

I made a screensaver with my screenshots and ones I got from people on here and it really hits home how much I loved this game for the 8 years I played.

I miss so many things its not even funny.

Thanks to Icon I can at least revisit zones and even ones I never really spent time in.

The real sad thing is that unless the actual data files are used by someone to restart the game, its gone forever.
Even if any of these new projects are close enough, it wont be Paragon and wont have all the same groups, buildings, etc.

[MWRuger]

Me too. It's one of those things I think about and miss every day. I've tried to forget and let it go and "move on" as so many have helpfully suggested. But I can't.

When people say that or "it's just a game" I get a little more angry. Don't you think I would if I could? Does anyone honestly think that I wouldn't like to just snap my fingers and "let it go"?

There are many things in my life that i wish didn't matter so much to me, but they do. Nothing I've tried will change that. I just have to learn to live with the pain and hope that i get so used to it so that it's just another ache that I can deal with and still function until I can play again. There are some losses that are beyond the power of anyone to fix, this isn't one of them.

One day, I'll find my way back there, to my home.

[Drauger9]

I still day dream about the game too, as I've said before. I can still picture in my mind how some of the powers would inter-play with one another.

I'm a farmer at heart, so I can still see the big purple letters that said RECIPE flash on my screen.

I can still see parts of the ITF, still remember the back ground music for the Council farm.

It's all burned into my brain forever and thank God for that.

If I could just log on to my brute or fire/kin again, I'd be happy.

[Triplash]

When people say that or "it's just a game" I get a little more angry. Don't you think I would if I could? Does anyone honestly think that I wouldn't like to just snap my fingers and "let it go"?

Don't let them get to you. You found something that just "clicked" with you, deep down. The parts of that game lined up in just the right way, and it spoke to something inside of you. You might not have even known it was there until it did click. A lot of us around here share that feeling, you're certainly not alone in that. And you definitely don't have to feel bad that at some point in your life you cared about something.

What might be happening is, the people who say things like "just let it go", have never found their something. Or the thing that clicked with them isn't in danger of being taken away, so they have literally no idea how to relate to people in a situation like ours. For example, those people who have a deeply rooted love for the game of baseball, or for surfing, or for bird watching. Try and suggest to those people that one day birds could be nothing more than a memory, or that there's a possible future where it's against the law to play baseball. They just can't wrap their heads around it.

The only people who say things like "just let it go", are people who have never had to let go of something they really care about. Don't mind those people. They don't get it.

[Sailboat]

COH wasn't like other games.  Youngsters might not have been around for "The Curse of the Superhero Game," but for years and years, promised superhero games failed to actually launch, including one that was essentially actually finished except for mission content.  We eventually got the Freedom League single-player game and a few text-based stories, but that was it.

Then COH launched and we not only had a modern MMO, it turned out to be vast and innovative.  So many people who had waited SO LONG for such a game flocked to COH, and the community that formed wasn't just fans of the game or fans of the genre, but long-denied fans of the genre who finally had a home!

And the Dev team benefited from player feedback (up to a point).  We had a hand in making our home bigger and better.

And it didn't fade -- it was still a viable profit-making MMO when it was killed.  By surprise.

So it indeed is a different situation from every other "waah, my game shut down" complaint.

[MWRuger]

Thanks Triplash!

I think you're right that many of those who say those kind of things just don't understand how loss works because they have never really lost something or someone that they care about. Sadly, one day they will. I wish it weren't so, but it is.

This isn't like losing a loved one, where nothing can be done. That's a loss that you just have to take and live with. City of Heroes isn't like that. It can come back and I think, no matter how quixotic it may seem, that it will.

Until then I will just wait and hope.

[saipaman]

Sometimes I even feel like I'm playing the game.

[MaidMercury]

After a year and a half, I don't have visions of the game anymore. NCsoft gave us the message load and clear.
I still saved my FRAP files, and the game install...even cloned my drive....

Guess part of me still hopes the data may be useful one day....maybe in obsolescence,  it may be released, sold to
a 3rd party or something.

I have played old games still ran on private servers, like Star Fleet Elite Force...Crimson Skies.
...never know.....

[zeltech]

Been a while since back on this forum page.
Just wondering, if CoH will be running again on a private server?

Its my most favorite, next down the line is EQ.

EQ - Kunark, before All expanisons hit, The Pre 1999 EQ is on a private server with many many people playing it.

I love CoH tho and would love to play it again, is there an answer to this perhaps?!

Thanks all, i appreciate it.

Z

[Drauger9]

Been a while since back on this forum page.
Just wondering, if CoH will be running again on a private server?

Maybe one day but I'd guess it wont be anytime soonish.

One thing is for sure, I can tell just by hanging out on these forums. No one is giving up hope.

[Ice Trix]

My daughter and I went for a walk a couple of days ago, and spent the 30 odd minutes talking about favourite memories of the city and characters.

[AlienOne]

Don't let them get to you. You found something that just "clicked" with you, deep down. The parts of that game lined up in just the right way, and it spoke to something inside of you. You might not have even known it was there until it did click. A lot of us around here share that feeling, you're certainly not alone in that. And you definitely don't have to feel bad that at some point in your life you cared about something.

What might be happening is, the people who say things like "just let it go", have never found their something. Or the thing that clicked with them isn't in danger of being taken away, so they have literally no idea how to relate to people in a situation like ours. For example, those people who have a deeply rooted love for the game of baseball, or for surfing, or for bird watching. Try and suggest to those people that one day birds could be nothing more than a memory, or that there's a possible future where it's against the law to play baseball. They just can't wrap their heads around it.

The only people who say things like "just let it go", are people who have never had to let go of something they really care about. Don't mind those people. They don't get it.

Wow.

Yes.

Wow.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[Illusionss]

Triplash: The only people who say things like "just let it go", are people who have never had to let go of something they really care about. Don't mind those people. They don't get it.

Whoop, there it is.

Its like people who have never been through the death [especially an unexpected death] of someone close to them. Yep, no biggie. No problem. Get over it. But when it happens to them, they'll [maybe] finally get a clue.

[Arcana]

The real sad thing is that unless the actual data files are used by someone to restart the game, its gone forever.
Even if any of these new projects are close enough, it wont be Paragon and wont have all the same groups, buildings, etc.

The game I started playing at launch was mostly gone forever long before shutdown.  The bands of street sweepers in Bricks were gone by I3.  The quads I used to hunt in PI were eradicated not long after they even arrived.  The calls for pickup help for the AV portal missions were a memory by I5.  The lunatic gate-swarms of Perez were balanced out of Radiation Emission and only the oldest old timers remember them.  Sewer hunting was replaced by the low sewer trial.  Inventions replaced saving for SOs.  The Big Blue Hand came and went.  The game we played was never exactly the game we remembered.

What mattered was the developers, the player community, and the freedom of the game.  No successor game will reproduce Atlas Park or the Rikti War Zone.  But even Paragon Studios destroyed Galaxy City and replaced the Rikti Crash Site.  If the game has the same structure and freedom in equal measure, if it encourages the same kind of player community to accrete around it, if the developers maintain the same open door to its players, it won't be the same game, but it could be what the game might have eventually become.

[MWRuger]

I never really had a problem with the game changing. Things always change. I got into the game because some friends of mine who had played for years wanted me to. Later they told me that the ITF was nearly impossible. Well, it probably was for a while until people figured it out. Things Change.

One of them, who played for like 8 years asked me how my blaster could wade into mobs. I explained that I had slotted sets that increased his positional defense and popped a small purple to softcap. He had no idea what I was talking about. He still just slotted SO's and had no idea of the benefits of set bonuses. Things change and he just missed it.

It took me about six months before I knew more about the game then they ever did. I explained the lore to them, how sets worked, took them on badge tours, how to use knockback as soft control, and also showed them how to beat the ITF  .

I tried to explain marketing and how to be filthy rich.But they just couldn't get it. It was easier just to give them money when they needed it.

Not because I'm wicked smart like Arcana, but because I loved the game so much that I read everything that I could find. I read the paperbacks, all the comics, most of the wikipedia (except for missions I hadn't done yet because of spoilers), I bought every version of the game I cold find, both of the Prima guides, whatever hero clicks I could find.

I only got to play for five years, but in that five years so much happened. I was bummed when Galaxy City got the Axe, I even missed doing the old Posi. (i would sometimes solo it in Ouroboros). But the point is things always changed.

But it didn't matter. It was still fun and the spirit was there. The players where some of the best people I have ever met online. Most were so helpful and fun to team with. One time I was playing Captain Mar-vell homage on a double XP weekend and got the entire team wiped. I was expecting a flame (and I would have deserved it) and all that was said was "yeah, maybe next time wait for the tank to grab the aggro."

Someone once saw a Frankenstein toon that I was running and sent me 5 million inf. Why? He was looking for a team and the "The Doctor's Monster" came up in the search and he really liked the concept. Where else does that kind of thing happen?

What never changed, what no Dev could nerf, what no troll could destroy was simply the camaraderie of the players and the genuine affection we all shared for the game, warts and all.

I know in my heart that I would still be playing and would probably play until something killed me. I could always count on City of Heroes to make my day better. That's why I want to play again before I die.

[Angel Phoenix77]

Same here, but for me it is more about regretting backing a bad game (champions online) than sticking with  city of and taking a break.
During this downtime I've watched and rewatched as many YouTube city of heroes videos.

[MWRuger]

Arcana, I have to ask: What is the Big Blue Hand?

[Arcana]

Arcana, I have to ask: What is the Big Blue Hand?

Some time back around, I think it was I4, the devs decided that the hand icon that your cursor changes into when you are mousing over a hot spot on screen was too small, so they enlarged it.  For some reason, the enlarged hand looked goofy to a lot of players, so they shrunk it back down again.  While it was enlarged, many players made random jokes related to the big blue hand, often in regard to power nerfs.  You know: unyielding was nerfed, but the blue hand was buffed so we're even.  That sort of thing.

I think it was around the same time the devs fixed the healing power of mission doors (at launch, exiting a mission or passing through an elevator door would automatically reset your health to full.  So if you were low on health, you could theoretically run into an elevator and immediately run back through the elevator to where you started from, but restored to full health, and continue the mission.  There was a time when teams would pull AVs to elevators specifically for this reason: elevators were the strongest emps in the game at that time).

[MWRuger]

Thanks for sharing that! That was from before my time in game. What a great story! That elevator thing sure would have made soloing even easier!

[thunderforce]

I think it was around the same time the devs fixed the healing power of mission doors (at launch, exiting a mission or passing through an elevator door would automatically reset your health to full.

That surely must have been fixed before the Council issue and EU launch. I started playing shortly after EU launch, and elevators were for going somewhere safe to pop Rest, not direct sources of healing. I know it's a few years back now, but I'd bet that bug never existed for me...