Abraxus

*Whistling to myself as I walk by without making eye contact* 😇

As a Dad myself, who likewise introduced both of my sons to the game, I know from the other perspective how this feels. My older son never really got into it. But, my younger son began by just embracing the "pew-pew-pew" factors of the game. Now, he is 21, and he is teaching me new things about the game. Real "Cats in the cradle" moments there to be sure. We still have not found much common ground, but CoH was, and remains the one thing we have no end of enjoyable conversation. Welcome back, and by all means, pass on this legacy! I'm sure it will be something you will both remember fondly forever.

I have said on many occasions that getting to play this game again is a very rare second chance that life seldom grants to anyone. I feel fortunate every time I successfully log in, and play the only game I've ever wanted to play since the very first time in 2004. None of this would be possible without you guys keeping it going every day, and continuing to actually make it better! So here's to ya boys (and girls) of the Homecoming Dev team! May Paragon City live forever, and the wings of justice never lose a feather!

I don't believe anyone is being intentionally marginalized. I DO believe that if the reporting of the issue(s) are handled through correct channels, they will eventually be dealt with. The Devs are dealing with an entire game, and they can only address so much of it at a time. Again, patience, and realistic expectations, combined with dialog on the issue reporting threads will go a long way.

I believe they are doing the best they can to stay on top of issues, and that if we keep our expectations realistic, and have a little faith that they are acting with the best of intentions, we won't be disappointed. For the record, I played a few MM back on live, and I found it to be far more work than other archetypes, and as a result, I didn't enjoy playing them as much as other types. That might be a feeling shared by many other players, and could be a more realistic explanation for the low numbers for MM players overall.

That's a huge leap isn't it? The whole "If, then else" thing seems a bit too absolute.

We are free to ask for whatever we like. I think the major differences come in our reactions when the answer is not what we want to hear. Again, I stress realistic expectations, which hopefully precludes us from being so invested in something we want, that we are angered, or severely disappointed when it can't, or doesn't happen.

Realistic expectation. The Devs have attempted to set things according to that concept IMHO. However, there is a lot of interpretation happening on exactly what constitutes "reasonable". They tell us, to the extent possible what's happening. They do their best to give us new things in the game with the resources at their disposal. All the while, still negotiating with NCSoft, so there are probably some paths of development they are either not willing to commit to without that being completed, or the lack of agreement keeps them from pursuing. We obviously can't know things like that, because they can't say. But, we ask anyway, and when they can't respond satisfactorily, we criticize. For a game that was gone from this Earth for 7 years, was miraculously reborn, and given back to us to play, I think it is doing pretty well. We so easily forget how against the odds it is that the game is even here for us again, and once past that fact, we start to think of it like any other game out there where it becomes "What have you done for me lately?". After just 9 or 10 months, we lose perspective on how fortunate we are to have a second chance at all, and start to want more of this, and more that. Personally, I think they're doing great.

By the same token, there are threads from folks who only JUST found out that CoH is alive again. I see a few of those a week. Imagine if Homecoming was able to actually advertise that fact, rather than letting word of mouth alone dictate the pace of new player influx. I suspect there would be a dramatic rise in overall player numbers for a few months, and then when the shine wore off for the new crowd, the numbers would decrease again. But, probably would still be elevated above today's numbers, having left behind another wave of die-hard CoH lovers, who will play as long as it's available to do so. I look forward to the day we can find out if I'm right, or not.

Welcome home, and glad that you are able to share in that rare second chance that we have been given.

Better, and better!

And, here we are 17 years later (give or take), still playing, and having a blast!

I would love to see a story line where the forces of evil are winning. Things in Paragon City, the Rogue Isles, and Praetoria, are looking grim for anyone not already on the wrong side of justice. The people suffer, and things stand on the brink of darkness everlasting. At the last possible moment, during a titanic final stand when all seems lost, the Well of the Furies decides to balance the scales once again, by bringing Statesman back. His resurrection indeed gives the forces of good just the morale, and power boost they need to pull victory from the jaws of defeat. But, rather than being the end of the story (which can never happen), instead leave it as a major battle won to prevent the forces of evil from dominating the future, knowing that the struggle goes on. The daily efforts of every hero will still be needed in every city, to carry on the never ending efforts to foil the plans of those who would bring darkness, and doom to everything they touch. At least that's what popped in my head the moment I read this thread.

That's very hard to nail down for anyone. It's really a matter of perhaps narrowing things down to an archetype that you identify with, as far as inherent characteristics, and try one of the power sets within. Don't worry about regretting your decision! You have 1,000 available character slots, so you can literally try as many different combinations as you like, until you find one that works. Characters that don't work can have their resources transferred to a global account, for use by a new character if you like. There are literally no wrong decisions, unless you, yourself decide that a character is just not working for you. There are no specific things that are inherently "better" in the game. Just the ones that are better for you! Folks around here (in the forums, in Discord, and in-game) are very helpful. There is a link at the top of the forum page for Paragon Wiki, which has a lot of information with which to do some research, and learn more about your choices either before, or after you make them. The idea is to have fun, and there are dozens, if not hundreds of ways to do that in this game. Feel free to do any of the above, and if you are looking for something in particular, feel free to hit me up here, or in-game. My global handle is @abraxus!

It is a little on the surreal side when you think about it. It was actually May 2004 when it went live, if memory serves, and I jumped in a couple of weeks later. A group of friends that had already spent years playing Everquest, and boring me to tears about their exploits in that game when we would have lunch together, or attend the same social functions, decided they were going to jump to this game. Some of them had participated in the Beta, and they thought this was the game they could finally get me interested in playing with them. I recall spending 3 hours in the character creator coming up with my first character before we were scheduled to start playing. In fact, that is the one you see in my forum avatar pic, though he was less grandiose because costumes were much less elaborate (especially in the beginning) for low level characters. The name took another hour itself! When we actually started to play, and I found myself on the steps of Atlas Park, it just felt right. Even though I had a tough time adjusting to the mechanics of game play in an MMO versus the first person shooters that I was most accustomed to at the time, I knew this is what I wanted to play, and everything else just fell away. I played until the last few months before the shut down, and I always regretted not being there the night of the actual sign-off. Now, 7 years later, we have been given a rare second chance to play the game we love again, in a stable, well balanced, and supportive environment. Is it perfect? Are all of those things 100% across the board? Of course not. Nothing real ever is. However, for the most part, we are a happy community doing things that a lot of folks can't seem to do in the real world. That is, to come together to enjoy something, work together to accomplish things, and don't let our differences define what we do, or don't do here, or how we treat one another. There is a lesson there somewhere, but I won't drift into that. Instead, I'll just say that, after 15 years, there is no game I'd rather play, and no community that I'd rather be a part of to share it with.

Sorry about that! I didn't know exactly how that worked. I should have. But, yeah. It works on Torchbearer.

In, and done. A pleasure to contribute to the continued success of Homecoming.

After I was shown /macro_image "v_archetypeicon_mastermind" "Warpzone" "enterbasefrompasscode "WARPZONE-4141"" I have gotten very little use out of my own SG base. This place services both sides, and it is so much more convenient than anything our SG had come up with. If you've not used it before, you copy that string into your chat space, and it creates a power button in one of your trays. You click this button, and almost instantly, you are there. From there, you can get pretty much anywhere, except for Cimmerora. Not sure anyone has figured that one out yet.

Welcome back hero! Nothing more satisfying that hearing that another fan of the game has found their way back. I know there are lots more out there who'd love to play again, but just aren't aware that the game has returned. Hopefully, someday soon, things will change to the extent that the call can go out on all available channels to bring them ALL home.

Thanks to the Devs for the response to the issues raised with the name. I personally had no issues with it, but I recognize/respect the perspective of those who did. There will never be 100% consensus on one name, but I believe there is universal agreement that the name change accomplished what it was intended to do, which was to remove the associated negative connotations. So, I'd say quit on a winner there, let's move on, and concentrate on making this new set of changes as good as they can be prior to roll-out. 😎

Well, to be fair, the Incarnate system was an add-on/bolt-on (as so many things were along the way) that they probably would have streamlined a bit had the game been around longer. But, it's still possible for improvements when the Devs finally get 'round to looking at the Incarnate thing again. I expect it will get better at some point, but if it's biggest perceived failing is the non-obvious placement of the menu to access it, that's not so bad in the grand scheme of things. 😎

Hey! I understood that reference! - Captain America, The Avengers 😉

Come on folks. Let's not read RL issues into the game, and come to verbal blows over them. This is a 15 year old game, and many of these sets were already named by the original Devs, and being completed by the current team. There is no offense intended here, and this is where we come to escape this kind of thing in the real world. Yes?

Welcome back! Another wayward hero who found his way home!

True! They likely wouldn't be wasting their time if they knew it was not for the long-term.