Abraxus

I'm just saying there is historical precedent for this scenario with industries a LOT bigger than NCSoft, with a lot more money at stake. At some point, the reality of the situation, regardless of how it came to be, become a factor for consideration, leaving two choices. Fight for the past, or capitalize on the present. Those aforementioned industries chose the former, and lost a lot of money in that fight, and ultimately lost the fight. What's being offered is a much easier, and mutually beneficial choice, so it is not beyond the realm of possibility that they would take advantage of it.

I totally get that, and they pretty much did shine previous efforts on for years with no results. The difference here is, we already have the game, and the code is an infinite resource on the web. That was never the case before, and a chip that no previous negotiating team had to play. So, even for NCSoft, they face a new reality that changes the balance of things drastically. Their choice now, is to figure out how to capitalize on this new reality, or try to maintain the status quo, and spend time and resources, attempting to police a game that they didn't see much of a future in for the longest time. Now, it has a great potential future, and they can be a part of it. Any business would look at that, and see opportunity, despite their first impulse to crush their enemies. That's why I'm encouraged. Because it's a potential win-win for them. The other alternative is a futile effort to put the genie back in the bottle, and one only has to look at what happened to the music, movie/video industries to know how that ultimately turns out. They fought mightily to keep things as they were, and spent a lot of money to do it. But, in the end, the changes they fought so hard against, happened anyway, because of the power that the digital age, and the web gave to their customers. They forced a change that was a long time coming, and just needed the leverage to get them to see a different point of view, or admit that it just no longer made sense to fight the crushing tides of change. Either way, it happened. There are no guarantees. But, the chances of success are better than they have ever been IMHO.

Another "there it is in a nutshell" post IMHO! Thanks for summing it up so succinctly! I'm sure it would have taken me 3 paragraphs to articulate the same sentiment. 😉

I believe a lot of those settings can be saved "as default", and so should come up automatically when a new character is created. I've gotten that to work with most of my window customizations, except the additional power trays that I always create (beyond the default 3). But, that is still a lot less work than it was before I saved those values to default.

And there ya have it! This was an interrogative thought experiment, which now has some definitive answers/information. Thanks to "Number 6" for taking the time to share some information with us, which makes us all a little more informed when it comes to the back-end architecture. 😎

Yup! As much as I love the game, without the great community that has always surrounded it, an important element would be missing, making it less overall.

I don't share this concern, as I don't see this happening much. But, I totally respect your take on it!

I liked the flexibility of their costume designer, but not the overall style of the characters it produced. Besides, if serious development is happening here again, we could have things approaching this in the future. I for one, intend to be here to find out!

My thoughts exactly. One of the few things Champions did that I liked better than what CoH had.

I will admit though, if Champions was more of what he thought was a good game, then it is a good thing he left when he did. I would hate for him to have stayed, and pushed CoH in directions that Champions embraced. Just not a fan.

Well, in this scenario, one would hope that a solution to that would be offered before such decision was made. Being a "glass half full" kind of guy, I assume good intentions in these things, until I have reason to feel otherwise, as opposed to thinking that everybody is intentionally trying to screw me over with every change that life brings. Implementing a global naming system could deal with that issue. I believe I have seen discussions about that, and that the verdict was that it would be difficult, and probably not something they wanted to tackle unless there was a more compelling reason. Well, this would be a more compelling reason. Plus, if the NCSoft deal is successful, I think we can look forward to much more bold plans for the future of the game. As for the multiple instances issue, I kind of already addressed that above. Something to the effect of, the 64-bit client might also give the mapservers the ability to handle instances more efficiently, and not need to spawn extra instances so frequently because of player population/activity. I don't know that is the fact of things, but it sounds like a possibility that would make consolidation possible, with minimal effect on play/convenience. Since this is essentially a thought experiment, this is all just theory, and what things it could improve based on the new realities. Not shackled by the old. 🙂😎

Plus, if the mapservers too benefited from a 64-bit client, in theory, more players could occupy a single instance without the server giving up the ghost. So, that might not be a major issue either. Again, this is all a mental exercise for discussion, especially since I am not a developer, and have no idea if the basic premise is even sound. I just thought it was an interesting question. So, by all means...carry on! 🙂

Can't imagine what the problem would be there, but I respect their opinions, whomever they are. 😎

I was wondering 'twixt myself about the benefits of the 64-bit client down the road. As we know, it gives the client access to hardware resources beyond those restrictions dictated by the 32-bit version. So, I wondered if, perhaps, a 64-bit server client makes it possible to consolidate servers to host more players, with less resources necessary? There is much I don't know about the back-end operations, so it could just be ignorance on my part, and much more would have to be done for this old code to take full advantage of modern hardware. But, follow me here. Think of a world where two shards, rather than 4 (leaving the European server as is, to minimize lag) could host all of our players. The consolidated numbers of players mean there would be a lot more folks around for pretty much an endeavor one might want to participate in, whether it be missions, TFs, Hami Raids, Incarnate Trials, MSR, etc. What do you all think? Would that be a good thing in your estimation?

It occurs to me that, when discussions regarding the game we love, degenerate into arguments that only divide us over something that used to bring us together; well, it's regrettable, and we should take a breath. Let's remember why we are here, and we will play the game. 😎

I feel the same way. But, when it comes to legal issues, our opinion on it doesn't matter. Our only real choice is to do what it requires, or be aware of the consequences if we choose not to. In this case, the consequences could be to "generic-ize" your character. It's not happening now, and it hasn't been said that it will happen in a post-NCSoft deal. But, it is a possibility to be aware of, and to plan accordingly, not unlike most other things in life. 😎

That's it in a nutshell for me. It's NOT a thing right now. All of this discussion is more of a "what if" scenario on the premise that the negotiations are successful, and the many permutations of what that might mean in the future. So, to perhaps give some thought to things of that nature, and each of us do our part try to avoid the obvious land mines now, to avoid a scramble in the event this DOES become a thing. Nobody is telling anyone else how to play, or what to make. But, the quest for legitimacy is liable to have an effect on what's permissible, and overlooked in the future, as opposed to the current landscape where anything goes. Some won't take the hint. Some won't care, until it affects them, or their character. Then watch the complaints fly about how they had no idea this was coming, or why it happened. Some might be able to legitimately make that claim, because they don't really read the forums, or anything else concerning the game, or the changes that a successful deal with likely bring. They just play. But, for those of us that do, if such a thing were to become a reality, none of us should be surprised by it.

I get the whole "Jack Emmert" sentiment, as his later days with the game weren't necessarily good. But, let's not forget that he helped bring CoH to life in the beginning, so for that at least, his name doesn't live in total infamy in my book.

I think most of us feel exactly the same way! Except the whole "second favorite" thing. CoH was the only game I wanted to play the day it closed, and it has become so again 7 years later.

I'm gonna have to visit that place more often! I did a few missions there last night, and the rewards were very nice!

Just means that nobody reported them, and the Devs never saw them. If they had, there would have been no letter, no warning. Just their character turned into "generic man" for them to go to Icon, and do it again. They might have told them after the fact, and gave them a free token to soften the blow. But, it was done. I don't believe it is happening yet. This is all conjecture on what will happen if this deal with NCSoft goes through. It could very well be one of the conditions, but nobody knows for sure. Easy way not to have to be concerned is, don't do it. Then, if it does become "law", it won't affect any of your toons. 🙂

Universe forbid that we actually exercise a little self-discipline, and not go beyond homages, and straight to out-and-out copy. I have an homage character, but I made enough differences that I think it could be fairly judged as such. But, I have seen a lot of toons out there, whose creators obviously used the freedom, creativity, and the power of the character creator to do darn near perfect copies of comic book characters. Most of them didn't even bother to alter the name, unless someone else already got it. Then it was some cute variation which was as close as they could get. I am more in favor of the multitudes of original designs that this many costume options afford. But, to each his own. If the day comes when the "generic bat" comes out again, I'm sure it will be used quite a bit in the early days, and less so as things go on. That's pretty much expected.

Lets not forget the aspect of the game that allows one to play just fine whether they are just slotting regular enhancements, crafted I/O enhancements, or I/O sets/bonus sets. Granted, you can increase your effectiveness by diving deep on the set bonus stuff, but you can play just fine if you are not into it on that level. Many other games seem to force you into the ultimate power route to do some of the later content in the game, whereas CoH has never been like that. If you want to have a farm character, it's kind of necessary. But, for regular content, you can do it however ya like, and still enjoy the game. But, to answer the basic question of this thread, yeah! I believe it really is as good as everyone says. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that you will find it the only game you will want to play, as so many of us do. But, you won't know unless you try. Also, don't be afraid to read guides, or ask for help in-game. Many don't give the game a decent chance by getting frustrated early on, and never reaching out. This is a fantastic community, and they like nothing more than helping folks understand what they are doing, and loving it more when they really hit their groove. Hopefully, you will feel that way. But, if you need help, and can't find any, give me a shout! I'll help ya! But, be warned, my enthusiasm for the game is infectious, so if you call on me, you might be stuck here forever afterward! 😎😉

After the Marvel suite was settled, they actually did police rip-off, and "too close to not be questionable" toons, pretty aggressively. I don't if, over the years that followed that folks just stopped doing it for the most part, or if they just relaxed about it, but I didn't notice it so much in the latter years, at least to the extent that they no longer felt the need to talk about it in-game, or on the forums so much.

It's what we do. No better explanation. If someone posts, someone responds. Or maybe that's just me. Yikes!!!