Abraxus

Good point! When it's being used to test a release candidate, the rules are the same as live. But, for all that time in-between, go crazy!

Does it not work for you?

Can we at least give the impression that we don't assume nefarious intent with changes? Jeeze! These guys have given you back a game that was gone for 7 years, and worked their bloody asses off to make it something great for everyone. I don't believe that any part of the conversation regarding these changes was "Hey, let's see how many people we can piss off, and make leave the game!". I have no doubt there was specific intent here, but not the one being attributed.

There is always a lot of discussion about how things don't come together for characters until their 30's, and that folks don't want to invest in something that may ultimately disappoint. Incarnate powers, still a big mystery to a lot of folks out there. The Pines/Mids builder is great from a stats/academic perspective, and can answer some questions. However, if you REALLY want to get the feel for something, or explore possibilities by taking your toon out into zones and trying things out for real, jump on the Beta server, Justin! There, you can create a character, level him to 50 instantly, give them almost unlimited influence, craft Incarnate powers all the way to T4, all for free! In fact, the most arduous thing about it is actually slotting all of those levels, much like a Respec. But, it is like a practical version of the Hero Builder utility, where you can take what you have done, find an appropriate level mob, and observe the effects first-hand, rather than in theory. Sometimes the stats are great, but if the accompanying visuals aren't satisfying, it leaves one wanting. So, go there! Use the server to experiment! Hammer out your theories, and potential builds without the worry of commitment. Then, take what you have learned back to the live server, and know for sure what to expect. For me, I was able to do some things I had only wondered about, but hesitated to commit to on live without knowing more. This gave me the opportunity to take it for a test drive before buying, metaphorically speaking. I highly recommend the exercise. **Disclaimer** I am not dissing the Mids/Pines builder in any way. I say use it in concert with the Beta server for an even better experience. But, in the end, numbers on the screen don't equate to the real experience, whereas, the Beta server will do just that.

Awesome! I rode for years, until a couple of crashes discouraged my continued participation.

Has your experience been otherwise? For me, Homecoming servers have been rock-solid since the beginning, with the exception of scheduled maintenance, and updates.

There actually is a LFG flag you can put on yourself for Task Force option, and there are ways to use the LFG queue to put together teams for many things, just like what is done to start DFB trials. Problem is, not enough folks use them, because it's easier to broadcast on the LFG channel, and assemble that way. Nothing right, or wrong there. Just the state of things at the moment. I believe the original concept here was for the game to be like a living comic book, with speech in speech bubbles, and read, rather than listening to them, just like a comic book. Personally, I have no problem with it remaining that way, but I know it bugs some folks.

Actually, I loved relearning everything! It was an absolute pleasure to have the opportunity to be a noob again! 😎

Sentinel is an interesting AT. Trades secondary attacks for a higher degree of toughness, and dials back the damage just a bit as a trade-off. I haven't gotten into one too heavily yet, but the longer the game is around, the higher the likelihood that eventually, I'll try them all again!

Hard to tell someone what he will enjoy playing. It's a totally perspective driven, subjective experience. For myself, I have more Dominators, and Blasters than other ATs. But, I also have some Scappers, some Tanks, some Brutes, a Controller, and a Defender. Some of them are toons that I have to be in a mood to play. Others are to provide completeness, or balance to a team if that's what's called for. In other words, I have a toon for pretty much any situation I find when I log in. The important thing is that I DO login with all the frequency that life allows, and be ready to have fun no matter what's going on.

Any idea how much work has gone into modernizing the client to 64-bit? Might not have added as much content as the others, but what they have accomplished is to future-proof the client against OS updates that would invalidate it, sooner or later. Case in point, the newest update to the MAC OS kicked 32-bit app support to the curb, so players on those other servers, enjoying those new ATs that play on MAC computers, won't be able to play the game at all once that update is installed. Just a case of differing priorities, and timing.

When Icon, and later, Paragon Chat came on the scene, while they didn't provide for actual game play, they did offer the ability to create (or re-create) characters, and save their costume, and power profile files to a local drive. In the years I participated in those two endeavors, I pretty much recreated most of my mains from the original live game, and just flew them around zones, listening to the zone theme music, feeling nostalgic while at the same time, keenly aware that the most important elements were still missing. When Homecoming made it possible to play again, I was already using the Tequila downloader for those two projects, so playing on the live server became another option on that menu. This, in turn, allowed me to just call up those saved files, and most of my mains were reborn into the live server within an hour. 15 of them anyway (out of the 25 L50 characters I had when the game shut-down), and I've added 5 more back since then. But, whether you re-create old, familiar characters, or something brand new, I guarantee you are in for the time of your life rediscovering the game, and learning it all over again!

I recall clearly the very first day I logged into this game, after completing the tutorial, and finding myself standing at the steps leading up to the statue of Atlas. I was in awe. 15 years later, I was able to feel that again when the Homecoming server went online. Actually brought a tear to my eye, and I had to just stand there, pan around a bit, and take it all in. At the time, I didn't know how long it would last. But, since then, I have grown more comfortable that the game will never be completely taken away again, and set to work by creating 20 characters, playing them in PUGs, on teams with friends, and soloing them, depending on the time of day, and circumstances. In short, I couldn't be happier to be back in Paragon City! Pretty sure you will feel the same way.

Welcome home man!! I love seeing these kinds of posts! I'm hopeful that in a "post-deal" world, that more mainstream advertising will result in a LOT more folks realizing the game is back, legitimate, and actively being developed, leading to them also finding their way home.

I agree with most of what's already been written here, with some exceptions that were a little "out there". However, there is one thing I think could add a different twist to future development in a "post-deal" era. The SEGs team has been working for years on a totally revamped version of the game. They are still FAR from a complete working client, but through their efforts, they have insights into the existing code, and their vision of what the new one could look like, that some collaboration might be beneficial. They have shunned any implication of involvement with any of the new communities that sprang into existence following the leak of the code, mainly due to potential legal issues which they have worked hard to avoid since their inception. However, in a "post-deal" world, that would no longer be an issue, and their insights on the game code could be mutually beneficial to both teams, and by extension, beneficial to the players. I'm not a coder. But, they are, and their experience with that code could avoid future "reinventing the wheel" situations for problems that they already had to solve, or at least found methods to improve. In actuality, I'd like to see all of the teams coalesce into a single entity, working with, and for the community at large. But, I know that's probably not realistic. Too much water under the bridge for a lot of them, which is regrettable. So, we will hopefully attract a lot of them back with features, and improvements that no other server has. My hope is that, with a deal in place, that active advertisement will occur to pump up the numbers of players significantly. The larger the population, the more opportunities to fill teams, and fill otherwise low populated zones, like Pretoria, and the entire Red side. But, to do that, and have any hope of keeping folks for the long term, they will have to have compelling reasons to stay, which is where a lot of the suggested improvements will come into play.

To be fair, most of the time when I participate in a weekly TF, the difficulty settings are not cranked very high, and everything dies pretty quickly. If the team leader could be talked into turning them up, it's a little better. But, most of the time, the interest is in running them quicker, rather than harder.

Pretty sure that was still part of the Winter event.

Welcome home!

I feel like if things were still THAT far apart, they wouldn't have said even as much as they did. It was painted as something like the heavy lifting was done, with details left to settle. That could still take months, but I can't imagine years.

I love playing super heroes. I have since I was a kid, and got my first taste of comics, live action series like Batman (campy as it was), Super Friends, and the like. As I got older, I still loved the genre, but since I was never much of a cosplayer, it just kind of took a backseat to everything else in my life for lack of ways to express it which worked for me. That is, until 2004 when this game first came out. Finally, a way to live out my super hero fantasies (in a manner of speaking), and share that experience with others who felt much the same way. This game makes it feel like a super hero story that you have the power to craft to your liking. The moments I enjoy the most are those when a team is quite balanced, and working exactly as intended. However, I also really love those moments when I realize that the configuration of a team is all wrong for what we are attempting, and yet we find a way to make it work anyway! I love the ability to make things more difficult when I really want a challenge, or not so much, if time is a factor, and I just need some quick game time to cap off a great day, or sooth a bad one. I love being able to get by with the minimum of enhancements on some characters, if I so choose; or doing the research into powering them to new heights of invincibility if I wish to go that route. I very much enjoy the ability to farm a character for resources, or designate one to play only mission content (solo, or team). I sometimes make it a point to work a zone as much as possible to get ALL of the content exposure, and feel like a part of the lore. All of these things, and so much more are there, and with so many choices, I absolutely do not tire of playing. This game is a perfect fit for me, which is why my desire to play anything else went right out the window the moment it returned.

After spending the last couple of years around Halloween, doing the Paragon Chat version of Trick-or-Treating, and also the glowie package opening during the Christmas season, I'm very much looking forward to doing the real thing on a live server this year! Anyone else jonesin' for some holiday CoH action?

Hey! I'm excited for the possibilities! I love the idea of having an additional, and more up to date reference library. But, I'm more of a content consumer, than a creator.

If that's the price, then I'll pay it. Just give me a little advanced warning, so I can let him know that his circumstances are about to change drastically, and he might have to relocate to South Korea. 🤣

Part of the perception issue might revolve around the information already provided, which alluded to the majority of the big issues already being agreed to, with only the minutia left to deal with. That tacitly implies that it could wrap up quickly. Whether true, or not, it's not hard to imagine folks drawing those conclusions, and setting some mental timelines. Just to be clear, not judging here. I don't possess enough information on which to base an intelligent opinion, or judgement, and outside of the actual negotiating team(s), neither does anyone else. But, in the absence of fact, the vacuum fills with supposition, assumption, and fearful imaginings of all kinds; including the creeping feeling that the longer it goes on, the less chance of success it has. In all likelihood, not true. Just summing things up as I have observed them. Obviously, most of this has already been discussed at length in this thread, and I don't want to spark another wave that becomes a circular exercise. 🙂

Yup. That's pretty much the long, and the short of it. When the legal haggling is done, and the "I's" are dotted, and the "T's" are crossed, then it will be done. Not a second before that. 😁