Abraxus

There is no due-date per se. The donation window stays open until the amount needed is reached. Then, it automatically closes. 🙂

Got mine in!

The unfortunate part of our American holiday season, is that, to the world it appears that it's all about the commercial aspect. The shopping, the eating, the unadulterated consumption. However, this time of year is also when our charitable efforts are at their highest levels of the year. A lot of people realize that "Thanksgiving" also means helping in some way for those who cannot do for themselves, and the Christmas season is not one necessarily of self. Our philanthropic impulses peak at this time of year, and the mechanisms that allow us to easily donate in many ways, are in full swing, and do a lot of good. Granted, it should be a year-around thing, and we need to do better as a society. But, this time of year does bring us a little closer to that high ideal.

I didn't track stats back in the day, but I feel like the population on the Red side was always lower than the Blue. Without something to compel Blue-side players to spend more time in the Rogue Isles, it will likely continue to be that way. However, if the NCSoft deal were to be completed, allowing for a much more broad advertising campaign about the existence of Homecoming, the population in both places would rise noticeably. It might not fix the problem, but it should help with the sparse population there. As far as development, well it's hard to know what is possible. We all want more, but resources are much more limited than they were back in the days of live. But, I plan to be around to find out, and see what happens!

Hurray for the Winter Event! But, I mapserved 30 seconds after logging in. Not a good sign.

Evolution is, for sure, three things. 1. Inevitable 2. Typically painful in some way 3. Absolutely necessary In order to remain viable from a support/development perspective, changes become necessary that will only be possible if certain parts of the code are improved/modified to the point where it won't work for everyone. In the end, improvement is realized for the greater good. For those potentially left behind, it will require some evolution on their part. There will be some that won't be able to do so for various reasons, and while I dislike that eventuality, said improvements can't be held up indefinitely to accommodate, and I don't think anyone would reasonably expect that to be the case.

I am thankful for the friends, and family in my life. I am also very thankful to be back in Paragon City, and for that feeling of confidence that it will be there waiting for me any time I can find the time. This has been an unbelievable year for the game, and the community. I hope to see things continue on the course that has been set, and thrive.

Such a strange conundrum. Folks want the shiny new features, and to see the game advance/grow. But, when that kind of advancement comes with the cost of legacy support, then things change a bit. Bottom line folks. CoH will undergo changes, because that's what we constantly ask the Devs to do for us. The price of that change will be moving the line of legacy support up a bit to allow those changes to be implemented using modern tools. It's been great having that legacy support go back as far as it has to this point. But, that was never going to last forever if we wanted the game to grow. Some will be left behind due to inability, or unwillingness to upgrade to keep up. That is regrettable, as I don't ever want to lose a single player. I want to see us grow always. But, in order to move forward, lines inevitably have to be drawn. Nobody is being targeted, or marginalized. It's simply a matter of keeping up to minimum requirements, or not. Other games, and newer versions of games always raise the bar. There is no reason to expect that CoH would not be the same.

I was actually more concerned that it was some kind of DOS attack from folks who don't care for Homecoming. I hope that was not the case.

I love it when another hero (or villain) finds their way home. Hopefully, all of them will eventually hear the city is alive once again, and come home as well.

The donation window will open in the morning hours of November 30 (relative to your timezone). During that window, you can contribute, and it stays open until they hit their goal for the month, which varies in size from month to month. Once the goal is hit, the window closes, and the next opportunity will be the last Saturday of the next month. 🙂

I'd be fine if the presents, and the Winter Lord started appearing the day after Thanksgiving, much like my Christmas spirit. But, that's just me. 😉

I hope they are able to find a way to ensure anyone who wants to, can play for as long as they want going forward. But, like you said, I'm just not sure how feasible that hope would be, especially since I don't know what changes would need to be made to implement the features that they hope to bring to the game.

Change is inevitable. Legacy support always complicates real change to the point where, in order to accommodate what has been, some of the changes that everyone is clamoring for, are difficult, or impossible to implement. Just with anything in the tech industry, at some point, a line will have to be drawn, and support for something holding up progress will have to be dropped, in order to move forward. There are always repercussions with change. The hope always is that they are minimal, and fixable. In some rare cases, that will mean someone might be left behind, which is regrettable. But, that should never stop innovation, or the push to make things better.

Typically, by the time you hit 50, you are pretty flush with cash anyway. You can burn a bunch on a spiffy I/O build, but even then, it builds back up again fast between regular accumulation, and the sale of drops that you don't really need. So, I typically leave XP on, and use the Vet levels to accomplish a lot of my Incarnate builds. 20 Empyrian merits every three Vet levels (for the first couple of dozen) is pretty handy. They drop off slowly, but surely after that, but you still get them until Vet Level 99. You can pretty much slot out all of your Incarnate slots multiple times with that stuff.

It's not perfect, but there are things that, fortunately, are available to mitigate things a little. Difficulty settings set sufficiently high enough to present more of a challenge. Teaming with folks that wish to play with the same preferences as oneself, just to name a couple. It may not be perfect, but it's still more fun for me than anything else I've played in the years since it was gone.

Perhaps, but the system is at the same stage, with much less development resources to throw at it in the reincarnated version of the game, in order to balance it out. Especially, when considering how many other aspects of the game need/want attention as well, with the limited resources available.

I feel that the Incarnate system was intended for much more development, that could have addressed a lot of the concerns you mentioned. Unfortunately, most of that never left the development stage, due to the original shut-down. Now, in the resurrected game, we are dealing with the Incarnates as they were, and the same issues (for some) surrounding them. If any of the ideas for the development in this area are known, perhaps it will be pursued to the extent possible once the Homecoming team is free to do whatever they wish with the game, with the closure of the NCSoft talks. Also, to have sufficient manpower to deal with the huge amount of things across the board that folks would like to see improved, augmented, fixed, expanded, or addressed. I hope someday, all of these things get their moment in the development process to contribute to this game being even better than it is. But, we have to keep a perspective for the moment, that it is still currently operating is something of a gray area legally, with an all volunteer (and small) team of folks who all have day jobs to support themselves, and do this for nothing more than the love of the game.

Well, the SCORE server was low population due to the fact that it was a fairly well kept secret, with invites going only to the folks who knew someone already a member, and promised not to advertise the fact that there was a live CoH server still out there. They crafted a few changes to allow the smaller population to thrive, despite that low population. I'd imagine some of those things are being re-evaluated due to the increased population after Homecoming sprang into existence. You are correct when you note that the daily player numbers have fallen since April/May when all of this happened. Some of that was expected, just due to the nostalgia factor wearing off for returning players, and the realization for new players that the game wasn't really their thing. However, bear in mind that if the NCSoft deal actually happens, open/widespread advertisement would become possible (as in shouting from the rooftops of social media, etc.), which would likely bump up the numbers a bit. Especially considering the number of folks coming our way (and to the other CoH servers as well) who say they only JUST found out that this was actually a thing, and loaded it up as soon as they could. There are likely a lot more of them out there, along with a potential glut of folks who have played the other Super Hero games currently available, and found them...wanting.

I think you'll be hearing something soon about it. It's that time of year!

Obviously, I'm no insider. But, if I had to speculate, working on the underpinnings of the game, in preparation for their future vision for this game would seem like the wise path, especially with a small, all volunteer organization. Dedicate your limited resources to things which will contribute to the long play, rather than the short term. However, some of it might be influenced by their legal limbo, where approval of their deal with NCSoft could mean freedom to do things that might be even a little more "gray area" than where things already find themselves. Once done, in theory, they would have practically unlimited freedom to do what the wish to further the game in every way. Until then, it's not unrealistic to think that they might not want to proceed too quickly, lest they have to step back to keep from crossing a line. This is all speculation, based on the little information we have, but it makes a certain amount of sense, to me at least. 😎

I just played an Emp Defender to 50, and have 4 out of 6 Incarnate slots at T3. While I agree that there is perhaps less NEED for heals/buffs etc. in the late game, they are still needed. I find myself still throwing a heal on someone who is getting pounded on, throwing adrenaline boost on someone who hasn't quite solved their endurance issues yet, and no damage dealer would ever say "Nah! I don't need your damage buff!". There is also the three AOE toggles that run constantly giving damage/defense/to-hit bonuses to anyone in the vicinity (you're welcome). So, while I might not always be furiously working to keep folks alive, I find there is still enough to do to feel relevant. Besides...if one is playing a Defender, you have pretty much taken on the mantle of making others more powerful than they typically are anyway. So, being the hero themselves is typically not what they are about. I have always been ok with that on my Defender. If I want to be the hero, I'll get out a Blaster, a Scrapper, a Brute, or a Tank. Perhaps even a Dominator. In the roles of all my alts, those are the guys who do things that actively draw aggro, and take the risks. I know there are other ATs that do, I just don't typically play them, so I can't speak to their proper use. But, I have had, and continue to have fun with my EMP Defender.

I have a freshly minted Level 50 Empathy Defender. I have found that even playing with mainly L50 members, not everybody has solved their END problems by that point, so I hit them with Adrenaline Boost. People still die, despite my best efforts to the contrary, on occasion. I hit them with Vengeance, then Rez them. I try to spread Fortitude to all the damage dealers on the team. I use the small single target heal when I see a squishie loosing health, and I use the BIG heal when I see a Brute, or Tank losing steam. I keep my Defense, Damage, and To-Hit buff toggles running all the time. For some, they help. For others, they are already soft-capped, and don't need it. But, it's there regardless. If things are running smooth, I attack more. If things are hairy, I heal/buff more. I think Healers still have a roll in the later game. But, like all Archetypes, that role does evolve a bit towards the later levels, but as long as you can role with those changes, playing one is still fun.

For item number 1, there is a quick answer. Just go to Night Ward. Take your character up the path to the house on the hill, which is very close to the portal exit. Go in the door, and you are immediately awarded the Midnighter badge.

So glad there are SO many folks who feel the same as I do about this game.