I am humbled and honored by what you guys have achieved. That's coming from a hard core C++ & C# developer in the high end of the industry. I know what it must have taken to get this up and running, and I'm assuming you had to compile the actual processes themselves. I can only imagine what the configuration is like for something this proprietary.
For my wife and I, this was a very, very big memory. She had never played any MMO, and so for me it was like watching the most dear person to me go through what I went through with EQ. And then this was doubled, because even though I was a seasoned MMO player, this quickly became my favorite game of all time - and it still is.
The combat system in this game is so orthogonal, and the power effects are so balanced - everything has a purpose and an effect. Tactics actually matter - knowing your build and how to play is the difference between you or one of your teammates taking a dirt nap. This is the only game I've ever enjoyed healing in, and healing is one of my favorite roles.
From a graphics perspective, it should be studied. It's a very low-poly game, which was an amazingly wise choice on the original developers' part, because they deliberately set out to make an MMO which could support a frame rate with enough head room that 30-50 people could be blasting away (like say on a giant monster event) and zero lag on the client. That combined with the quality of the animations and this game not only still stands up next to newer games - it still exceeds them. There is nothing out there with the level of craft in the billboard effects which make up most of the power effects, which are superb. That combined with the sound quality is a lethal blow which hooks you so completely.
Take SWTOR for example - I've been playing this as a consolation for years (waiting and hoping for someone to put out a decent superhero MMO - there are none, sorry Champions and DCUO, and Marvel? Please.) SWTOR is a great game in it's own right - immersive, huge story, great graphics...but pretty crappy combat system compared to CoX. The animations are goofy, the speeders are slower than superspeed and have no physics.
So, yeah, this means a hell of a lot to us. We spend the first 7 years of our marriage in Paragon City and had probably 9-10 50's each, several decked out with incarnate builds.
As others have said, if it all came to a halt today, you still did something so wonderful, so sublime and so meaningful to so many people...well, it can't really be expressed in words.
You have my deepest and humblest thanks!