Reality Bytes

I got into the game soon after launch. I think it was perhaps a month old. Prior to that, I hadn't heard of it at all but had heard of the MMO concept since hearing about WoW was practically unavoidable at the time. I was a hard NO on the concept as the idea of paying full price for a game and then having to shell out a sub to keep playing sounded downright diabolical. But a good friend of mine got to playing CoH early on and talking it up and I was like, fine, show me. So he did. And that was when a big fishhook spooled out of the internet, hooked me by the wallet, and reeled me in. I ended up having a continuous sub from then till they shut down. I was there when the servers went dark, torch held high in AP. From there, I recall the various rumors and questions of whether someone might buy the game and revive it, whether enough pestering of NC might get them to change their mind and revive it, and all the whispers of there being a private server somewhere out there. There were of course plenty of discussions of fan groups trying to start up their own successor project too. I even backed CoT and still hold the hope they will eventually launch with something great. Time will tell. Eventually of course, those rumors of a rogue server proved true and then spawned the varied private servers we have now. I got on HC early on, played for a bit, and then dropped out as other things took priority. And then a bit ago, some friends I used to play with told me they were back and so, I am too. I think the key selling point for me was the customization. I could play my own hero, or later, villain, and I was the center of my own story. The game had big central heroes and villains, but they were more flavor than substance to me. I was the central character of the game, (everyone was), and I didn't feel like I was standing in Statesman's shadow. That was an important part of the game to me and something I didn't consider possible in a Marvel or DC MMO, should one ever come out. Everyone knows who the big dogs of those universes are and not having them front and center in a game based in their universe is just impossible. I didn't want to just play as one of their heroes, and I knew if they allowed me to make my own, I would be relegated to being in the big dogs' shadows. (And that's basically what happened so far as I know.) Champions sounded a bit interesting as a pseudo clone of CoH, but CoH already scratched that itch and I didn't really care for the art style. So CoH stayed my home until it couldn't be any more.

FWIW, I did spot an article saying GameStop is going to keep selling it at the old price. How long they can keep that up is an open question but if there is one near you, you might be able to stock up on cheap(er) codes for a bit at least.

I have read the books and watched the series and it is just, *chef's kiss*. And there will be a season 2! I'd almost say they improved on the books with the Sanctuary Moon scenery chewing. That stuff is in the books but more as a description of the episodes by MB than much actual show dialogue. He only really repeats dialogue when it gives him an idea or inspiration to do something. Otherwise it tends to be of the form, 'in episode <number>, <stuff happened>'.

I'll offer a few things I picked up elsewhere. Judging by leaked set pics, the full Strip is in the show and it was set up for seemingly three different time periods, one pre-war and two post-war. The post-war ones were noticably different in their level of destruction. The most destroyed one is presumably the 'now' of the show. The prior one is, who knows, but still showed definite damage. So possibly/probably pre-NV? And the plan seems to be to not pick a canon ending to NV and just be ambiguous about it. Bethesda supposedly didn't want them to set anything about NV in stone. So there may be hints, but vague enough that you can make a case for most any of the possible endings. And as it is over 10 years later, no matter the ending, they will write it such that something happened to change it to whatever it is in the 'now' of the show anyhow. The deathclaw is supposedly a mostly/entirely practical effect and we will supposedly see all of it.

Reality Bytes, former Tychian, rebuilt and rebooted on Excelsior. He isn't what he used to be, but we have the technology... Also recreated are Moon Rose (now Moon-Rose) and Shirley I. Jest. Pretty sure I have a list of my other alts saved...somewhere. Haven't gotten around to rebuilding any of my villains but the main one was Evil Entourage. Still getting back into the recall of how to play this game. The muscle memory is there, but it is really atrophied. I was a player from quite near the beginning and was there in AP when the servers shut down for good.

The code is out and private servers are a thing people can do. Little or nothing NCSoft can do about that. Large public servers like Homecoming however are an unanswered question. Big public targets are relatively easy to shut down with lawyers. So you could roll your own server to play on privately with close family and friends and probably have little or nothing to fear. But we don't yet know the future of Homecoming and any others like it that may emerge. TonyV is a longstanding pillar of the CoH community and I have faith he'll do all he can to secure the blessing of community servers. But there are no guarantees. The future of public servers like this is still very much up in the air. So hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.

Sounds great, except this bit is going to be impossible I expect. I can't imagine NCSoft ever handing the code over willingly. Unless there's another legal avenue I can't think of, the leaked code is all we're ever going to see I would expect. If TonyV can somehow pull off a miracle and get a sanctioned server situation arranged, then legal cover for at least some server(s) will be possible. Otherwise, it will take some creative lawyering to find a safe harbor I imagine.