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A Mild-Mannered Reporter: No hope for CoH, no faltering for us
By now every City of Heroes fan has no doubt seen NCsoft's backhanded dismissal of the entire Save CoH movement. If by some coincidence you hadn't seen it, congratulations! Welcome to Wednesday; here's your bad news. NCsoft has heard us and responded with, "Aw, shucks, we really tried," which is the equivalent of a five-year-old child claiming that he did try to clean his room after three minutes of picking up toys and putting them back down in roughly the same spot. If I sound bitter, it's because I am. But what does this mean for City of Heroes? Is all hope truly lost? Have we lost the fight to save our city? Is there no chance for a reprieve or some shining light in the late night? Well... not much. But this is not actually the change that it's being framed as. This is what we went in knowing, and while it changes the game being played, it doesn't change many of the hard facts. I said in my first column that we were fighting a battle with a slim hope, and the fact that it's now pretty much no hope doesn't change much, nor does it mean we should stop fighting.
Ten things to do in City of Heroes before it's gone
A year ago to the day, I grudgingly, sorrowfully published Ten things to do in Star Wars Galaxies before it's gone. SWG was my favorite MMO of all time, and I was devastated to see it canned for licensing reasons, but I wanted to do it justice, and hey, at least I had my second-favorite MMO to fall back on, right? City of Heroes -- now that was a game that had staying power! Welp, so much for that. As we've been covering for the last month and change, NCsoft is pulling the plug on City of Heroes come the end of November, and the genre is faced with the loss of yet another pioneering and ostensibly profitable MMO long before its time. While there are still soldiers fighting for that slim chance NCsoft might sell the game to a willing investor, the likelihood is that it's game over for Paragon City, at least in its current incarnation. Fight on, I say; don't give up. But make sure you enjoy the game that exists right now, too. Log in. Play. You may never get the chance again. Today, I'll tell you 10 things you should do in City of Heroes... before it's too late.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Remembering my time in City of Heroes
Not long after my first column on the City of Heroes shutdown, I received an email that contained several of the testimonials from this full-to-bursting thread on the Save CoH boards. And they're not the only ones out there. There are countless stories about what the game means to people, ranging from the silly to the sublime, stories that can only really accumulate in a game that's run for eight solid years. When it comes to recollections about the game, I'm not Mercedes Lackey or Scott Kurtz or even Eric Burns-White. I'm what the byline says: a mild-mannered reporter. But I'm also a guy with a lot of feelings about the game, one that I've been playing on and off for nearly all of its eight-year run. To be blunt, I've got the microphone and you don't. So I'm going to go ahead and throw my hat into the ring when it comes to remembering City of Heroes, starting with the game that I played at launch for less than two weeks.
NCsoft crushes the hopes of City of Heroes fans
City of Heroes fans have been rallying around the movement to save the game ever since its shutdown was announced. There have been in-game rallies and operations to let the corporate side of NCsoft know just how much the game has meant to the players. Despite all of these efforts, the worst has come to pass. NCsoft has officially responded to the Save CoH movement in the form of a short press release stating that the company has heard player demands but has no plans to reverse its decision regarding the game's shutdown. The statement also claims that NCsoft has attempted to sell the game's code and intellectual property rights but was unable to find a suitable buyer. Despite the best efforts of a truly overwhelming number of fans, it appears that the game's sunset will not be averted. Fan reaction to this news has been understandably bitter regarding the lack of information and sudden shutdown. The game will be holding several events in the remaining weeks leading up to the shutdown on November 30th.
Save CoH movement invites NCsoft execs to play, petition passes 20,000 signatures
The shutdown date for City of Heroes looms over the game's fans, but the movement to save the game has maintained its intensity. The online petition to save the game has continued to gain steam, with just above 20,000 signatures as of this writing, and players continue to plan events and rallies to protest the decision. One player has put forth a unique idea: Instead of asking NCsoft executives to reverse their decision, he's asking them to come play the game. Other fans have taken to mirroring the letter and sending it to the address set up for CoH-related messages. The hope is that playing and experiencing the game will convince the people in charge how much the game means to the players who have spent years in Paragon City. If you've already signed the petition and sent your letter, you might be looking for a bit of happy news. That would come in the form of photos of the player-bought lunch for Paragon Studios, a gift from the community to the team. It's a sign of the dedication behind the Save CoH movement and an inspiration to those still hoping that the game's sunset will be averted. [Thanks to Jeffrey for the tip!]
City of Heroes issues sunset FAQ, event schedule
Paragon Studios -- or what's left of it -- has just released an FAQ aiming to clarify the sunset process for its doomed superhero MMO City of Heroes. Like last week's status update, the FAQ reminds players that the game will formally close down on November 30th, and though you can spend existing cash shop points, you cannot create new F2P accounts or upgrade your existing account to VIP. The FAQ outlines the refund process in detail; NCsoft will be refunding outstanding subscription and gametime card balances. In happier news, Assistant Community Manager Jessie "Hitstreak" Lawrence took to the forums this afternoon to post the schedule of sunset events, which appear to be existing holiday and themed events from seasons past: Summer Blockbuster: October 5 - October 8 Double XP: October 18 - October 22 Halloween Event: October 26 - October 29 Winter Event: November 9 - November 12 Rikti Invasion: November 23 - November 30.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: To save City of Heroes, we must be jerks
The City of Heroes community has been great in rallying to save the game, but I'm wondering whether that's enough. If you missed it, this week has not been a good one for efforts to keep the game alive. I'm not going to reprint everything laid out in TonyV's recent post, but the short version is that there are currently no signs that things are changing. NCsoft has set up an email for players to send letters, one that I suspect is not read vigilantly, and there have been no signs that any of the various talks about the game's future have resulted in anything. It's the email thing that really set me to wondering about whether or not City of Heroes fans are the right people to be protesting. While I love you guys -- beyond a shadow of a doubt -- there's a certain revolutionary spirit necessary for an effective protest. I'm not entirely certain that we've got that. And if there was ever a chance to save the game, we may just be unable to do what's necessary.
Fan-made video promotes the movement to save City of Heroes
City of Heroes players have been rallying around the movement to save the game ever since the shutdown announcement was made. It's been nearly a month with no official response regarding the movement's requests from NCsoft aside from a special email address, and that's enough to make almost anyone start to despair. But a new fan-made video is meant to help inspire the protest, mixing machinima footage with narration, screenshots, and music to produce a tribute to the immense movement to avoid the game's demise. Starting with the unexpected August 31st announcement, the video shows off excerpts from several of the news stories surrounding the announcement and the major in-game rally at Atlas Park, with footage by several notable fans. The narration is spliced together from a variety of sources, including some quotes from our own Massively Speaking. The video also contains links and information for anyone looking to take part in the Save CoH movement. You can see the full video just past the break.
The Soapbox: Diablo III's endgame is fundamentally flawed
Diablo III was arguably the biggest online game release of the year, but its predecessor's decade of consistent popularity left some pretty big shoes to fill. Despite being the most pre-ordered PC game in history and selling more than 6.3 million units in its first week, Diablo III has started to seriously wane in popularity. I've seen over a dozen friends stop playing completely in the last few months, and Xfire's usage stats for D3 have dropped by around 90% since June. Guild Wars 2's timely release accounts for some of the drop, but there's a lot more going on than just competition. The Diablo III beta showed only the first few levels and part of the game's highly polished first act, and soon after release it became obvious that parts of the game weren't exactly finished. PvP was cut from release, the Auction House was a mess, and Inferno difficulty was a poor excuse for an endgame. Poor itemisation made the carrot on the end of the stick taste sour, and the runaway inflation on top-end items is crying out for some kind of ladder reset mechanic. But there is hope for improvement, with new legendary items, the Paragon level system, and the upcoming Uber boss mechanic taking a few steps in the right direction. In this opinion piece, I look at some of the fundamental flaws in Diablo III's endgame and suggest a few improvements that would make a world of difference.
Star Trek Online producer says game is 'kicking butt'
Star Trek Online Producer Daniel Stahl isn't beating around the bush about the state of the game. According to him, STO has both purpose and a leg-up on much of the industry. "When you consider what it takes to run an MMO in today's highly competitive marketplace," Stahl writes, "STO has been kicking some butt. Despite what some may think, we have a deliberate path and long-term goals that we've been tracking quite well against. STO has not only survived, but is thriving at a time when many MMOs have kicked or are about to kick the bucket." Stahl goes on to rally the troops by citing how much the team has accomplished this year and what its focus is on for November's Season 7 update and beyond. The team's biggest priorities are in enriching the foundry, overhauling PvP, buffing up Klingon content, and a possible Romulan faction. He also mentioned that Cryptic has hired "great talent" from 38 Studios and Paragon Studios to join the team.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: A personal tribute to Paragon Studios
When I started my career at Massively, I wasn't hired to be the City of Heroes guy. I wasn't hired to be the anything guy, although I quickly earned a reputation. It was a few months after I got hired that I got the opportunity to start doing a pair of weekly columns, one on City of Heroes and one about the online Final Fantasy installments. This was due to the fact that my affection for City of Heroes was well-known on staff, and I was already knee-deep in the game, so... It wasn't quite three years ago, but it was close enough. And I've said many times that my professional career has been tied in directly with City of Heroes because of that. As I've grown as a writer and a journalist, I've been working alongside City of Heroes. So today I'm not going to talk as much about the game itself. I'm going to talk about the people of Paragon Studios, some of whom I had the good fortune to interact with over the years and all of whom seem to be absolutely astonishing human beings.
City of Heroes reveals pre-sunset billing and refund plans
NCsoft has been silent regarding the impending shutdown of City of Heroes past the initial announcement. An update has finally been posted, one that promises sunset events hosted in-game in the lead-up to the shutdown, although exact times and dates are not yet included. What is detailed is the policy for VIP status and the refund policy for players who had recently purchased Paragon Points. Anyone who had an active subscription for VIP status as of September 1st will be granted VIP status for the remainder of the game's operation. Players whose subscriptions had lapsed will be unable to renew those subscriptions, unfortunately. Any subscription fees paid as of September 1st and the value of any Paragon Points purchased on or after August 24th can also be fully refunded to you. Players with game time cards will need to contact support to receive a refund. It's certainly not the update that players have been hoping for, but it's at least a step toward knowing what will happen next with the game.
City of Heroes fans buy Paragon Studios a meal and proclaim allegiance
The zeal of the City of Heroes fanbase has not wavered, and fans continue striving to avert the game's shutdown. But it's not just the game that's suffered; the staff at Paragon Studios has been hit with a heavy load as well. TonyV, mastermind behind the movement to save CoH, knew of a restaurant that the studio employees frequented for meals and started a fundraiser to buy the staff a meal. It took three hours to raise $1000, enough for the entire team to have a nice dinner out courtesy of the fans. Fans are also organizing further events in-game. Two massive joint task force runs are scheduled for September 20th at 9 p.m. EDT and September 22nd at noon EDT. Players are asked to gather in Steel Canyon in record numbers to run Positron's Task Force en masse, showing that the entire playerbase is indeed Positron's Ally. Check the official thread for more details and start clearing some space on your schedule for next week. [Thanks to Dr. Toerag for the tip!]
The Perfect Ten: Ways MMOs explain infinite resurrection
Why? Why do we die in MMOs and receive an infinite number of resurrections? Are we in a type of hell defined by endless combat and suffering, doomed to never escape the cycle? Is this a cruel experiment being performed by supreme alien beings from afar? Does that make us the living undead, immortal Highlanders, or something even more significant? If you're looking at me with that look you have in your eye right now, I'd like to remind you that asking these questions is more in line with the core of RPGs than just mashing the 1-2-3 buttons. The rules that make up and dictate our virtual lives should have both meaning and sense, yet so many of these games expect us to just blithely accept that we can come back from the dead over and over without nary an explanation. Well, I like explanations. Even if it's just polite nonsense, a thought-out reason as to why our characters are death-proof tells me that the devs treat their game with a higher degree of integrity than others. So here are 10 MMOs in which the endless cycle of death and resurrection gets at least a backhanded explanation instead of "shut up, just accept it."
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: The fight to save City of Heroes
City of Heroes fans took to the streets on Saturday. Specifically, they took to the streets of Atlas Park, running a massive in-game protest against the game's cancellation. I'm going to assume that you were there if you're reading this column, as I certainly was, and I got quite a number of screenshots of the whole protest part of the event. If you missed it, we've got video. I didn't stick around for the costume contest, mostly because it turns out I didn't have a slot for Melissa Bianco with a crab backpack. The protest was the brainchild of TonyV, who is also the organizer behind the entire movement to save City of Heroes via a special message board dedicated to keeping the community organized. And considering what I've said in the past regarding other games that have shut down, you probably knew I would have something to say about this movement. It's something I support, but there's more nuance to it than just that. So let's talk about the fight to save the city.
Paragon switching to 10 man raiding in Mists of Pandaria
Even the mightiest among us are not immune to the decline of 25 man raiding. Paragon, who you may remember as one of the world's leading 25 man raiding guilds, is switching to a 10 man raid with the release of Mists of Pandaria. Reasons given include raider burnout during Dragon Soul, difficulty of recruiting players to fill those gaps (and I can attest to that one in a general sense, even far less progression oriented 25 mans are struggling to recruit right now) and player schedules changing. It should be interesting to see how Paragon does as a 10 man in Mists of Pandaria. Some guilds thrive after the switch, others rebuild and re-enter 25 mans. I personally can't help but think this is a symptom of the gradual erosion of 25 man raiding, myself, but we'll see. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Leaderboard: Fight for City of Heroes or let it go
You may have heard of this little kerfuffle involving NCsoft summarily shutting down City of Heroes and axing Paragon Studios, as well as a massive player movement to save the title. It's... been mentioned. Some people see it as a David vs. Goliath story, with NCsoft taking the role of the giant that tramples over the little people while pursuing the almighty dollar (or won). While the protesters have a lot of support, both inside the game and in the larger MMO community, there are those who have taken NCsoft's side in this. They see an aging game that perhaps needs needs to be let go after its good run. So while they may have sympathy, these players are at peace with City of Heroes sunsetting this November. But where does that leave you? Are you part of Occupy Paragon, or do you think it's time to let the game go? Vote after the jump!
The Daily Grind: Would you still play if you had to start over?
In their struggle to save their game from sunset in November, City of Heroes fans are faced with a dilemma: What if their heroic measures work but only halfway? What if they manage to save the game but not the team and the game stays on life support? Or what if they save the game and the team but not the servers and everything on them -- would people still play? That exact situation has already hit Ryzom players, whose servers are set to be wiped and consolidated in an effort to keep the game online. So suppose your favorite game lost all of its data for some reason. Your characters are gone, with no hope of retrieval. No levels. No currency. No twinking gear. No achievements. No vet rewards. No guilds. No resources. All of it, gone. Would you start over? If not, would you take it as a sign to play another game? And if so, what would you do differently the second time around? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
One Shots: Still got it
Runes of Magic was a F2P game before the cool kids joined the F2P party, but it's been a little neglected by MMO players. Massively reader Andrew wants us to know that it's got some spark left in it: While Runes of Magic may be three years old, the graphics are still looking great. There's some awesome vistas in RoM that appear when you take the time to control+z your interface and look around. This shot is from Southern Janost Forest. In fact, Andrew sent us two pics, and they're both behind the break along with a few more of your One Shots!
Fans show spectacular support for City of Heroes
Years and years of acting out a super-human ideal in-game have apparently worn off on the players of City of Heroes. Faced with the news that their beloved game is due to sunset before the end of the year, CoH fans have been putting on a tremendous show of support for the game and Paragon Studios. Saturday saw a massive rally on the in-game steps of City Hall in Atlas Park as players gathered to show their support and love for Paragon Studios and its employees. The support campaign continues, however: Intrepid CoH fans have organized a call to action to bombard NCsoft with capes and masks through the mail. Fans are also rising up to share their feelings via letters to Taek Jin Kim, NCsoft's CEO, which has caught the attention of fantasy writer and CoH guest author Mercedes Lackey. In response to the original call to letter-writing action, Lackey said said she was extending an offer to NCsoft to endorse, uncompensated, any and all NCsoft products if the company can only find a way for CoH to live on. Skip below the cut for a short clip showing a composite of the 3,000-odd heroes spread across 32 instances of Atlas Park on the Virtue server, or hit up the official boards for some screenshots from the unity rally.
