Abraxus

Welcome home! This week, the Halloween event is going on, so go knock on some doors!

Sometimes, the best things can't be explained. They just are... 😎

This too shall pass. 😎

It will be Saturday, July 25.

Or, perhaps be willing to be patient. Good things come to those that wait, and the small "under the hood" tweeks are just as important in their own way. Those kinds of things are what give us the rock-solid stability we have come to expect, and are typically precursors for the cool stuff that we don't even know about yet. I'm good with that vs. the shiny of the week approach.

I don't know if that's a record, or not. But, it was pretty darned fast! Looks like I didn't get to contribute this month, but I'll make sure to be right next to my computer on July 25, when the next window opens!

Some of the potential benefits if a deal was reached: 1. Be able to openly advertise far and wide! Keep in mind that word of the existence of these servers has pretty much been person to person over the web. But, practically every day, folks arrive saying they loved this game, and only JUST found out this was here. Imagine how many more would come home with an active advertising campaign, and how many who have never heard of it, but might want to try! 2. Video streaming would likely be encouraged again. Something many are chomping at the bit to do. 3. Once the legal stuff is settled, the Devs can concentrate on doing what I'm sure they have on the back burner, pending deal approval. Things they want to do, but really can't dive into until the long-term legality is established, and there is nothing standing in the way to do what they really wanna do! Obviously, this is a lot of conjecture, based on information publicly available, with a heavy dash of extrapolation. But, it's probably not too far off the mark, given what we know. And, there are likely more benefits that I can't even imagine at this point, but will come to light soon after the deal is done, should that be the case. So, there is a lot to hope for here. But, be patient. The world has become an insane version of itself in the last few months. So, between that, and the slow nature of these things in the first place, patience is the name of the game here. But, I feel strongly it will be richly rewarded when (notice the optimism) this thing is done.

Work continues as it has from the beginning. Perhaps more slowly, given the current state of the world. Perhaps more methodically, so that implemented changes are thoroughly tested before going live. Much goes on behind the scenes that we are always completely unaware of, but there is always something brewing. Considering the complete volunteer nature of this effort, I'd say we're doing pretty well. You might not get a new costume piece, or other shiny of the week here, but you do have a stable, 64-bit client for both PC, and MAC, and a high enough constant population to do pretty much anything you want in-game. All in all, not a bad situation which will only get better with time.

Oh, don't feel bad if you take him down. I've done it myself quite often. It's somehow weirdly cathartic! 🤣

My absolute favorite memory is one of the first I have of CoH. A group of my friends, who had been playing Everquest together for years, told me that they had been in the Beta for CoH, and that after years of me telling them I wasn't interested in their fantasy genre game, and having to listen to them talk about it whenever we got together; that I could finally join them in playing this game! They knew I loved the super hero genre, and this was our chance to finally be able to play together, and have discussions that were inclusive of ALL of us for a change. Two weeks after it went live, I had the game, and was preparing to play with my friends. I spent no less than 3 hours in the character creator (even as it was back then, with much less in the way of choices), because I had a picture in my head of what I wanted to see in my first hero. After all that time, it took me another hour to pick a name. What I came up with was what you see here as my user name, and the avatar is today's equivalent of that first character. I recreated him on Homecoming, albeit in a slightly different power configuration. But, when that first iteration first stepped foot in Atlas Park, and heard the theme, my heart soared as if in some way, a real hero was born. He is still a part of my pantheon of L50/Incarnate characters, and I don't play him as much. But, I still consider him my "Lead" character, now, and forever.

Yeah..."Bigger, Better, Faster" is not really a thing on Homecoming. Here, things are rolled live after extensive testing, and if that testing reveals that there is much more to implementing a new feature right than they thought, they don't roll it out. The content might not come out as quickly, or often as some might prefer. But, typically it's done right, and if there is an issue with it, it's fixed ASAP. That is just the way it works here.

I didn't know about the donations until a couple of months in, so I missed those. But, I've been donating pretty much every month since, and I've never seen it take more than a few hours. Never days.

I played a defender to 50 with it. I agree completely!

Well, I always assume that I only actually see about 10% of what is being written about anything regarding the game, if even that much. So, given the number of them that I saw, and the associated extrapolation based on that estimate, I figured the problem for worse than the statistics currently show. But, if Jimmy sees the numbers, and says it's not a mass exodus, then I figure he has access to much more pertinent data than my anecdotal examples.

What had me so concerned were specific posts in various CoH related Discord servers, and FB groups saying things to the effect of "Hey! XXXXXXX server has this new kewl thing. I'm wanting to try it out, but I don't know how to do it. Anybody help?". Or "Stability, and large numbers are great, but I just GOTTA try this new thing! XXXXXX server, here I come!". But, apparently the numbers are small enough not to be of major concern, so I won't be concerned.

There ya have it! The numbers speak, and allay my concerns! I knew some would cry "squirrel" and run for the new stuff. But, apparently the majority of us know what we have, and a reasonable idea of what the future will bring (perhaps not specifics, but in general). We're good with just playing the game, enjoying the second chance we have all been given, and keeping a weather eye on the horizon for the things that we know will justify our choice a thousand times over.

I certainly understand how real-life can take precedence, and that voluntary projects have to be prioritized accordingly. I don't think anyone would disagree. My only concern is that while HC is is obviously the largest, most stable environment, that caters to both MAC, and Windows environments; the other servers are out there adding those little "shiny" things that get folks attention, and entice them to head over to try them. Stability is fantastic, and I appreciate it above any "shiny" of the week costume piece, or new Mastermind pet. But, there are a number of folks who prefer the latter, and are leaving. I'd hate to see our momentum drift away at this stage of the game. On the other hand, I'll also be the first to admit that I could be generalizing what I read in the various platforms that I belong to for the disparate incarnations of the game, and interpreting it as worse than it really is in reality.

Does it not also require your Alpha to be at T3 as well?

It has been pretty quiet on the announcement front. Always makes me wonder if it's not "The deep breath before the plunge", or "the calm before the storm". Either, or, could be applicable. But, it is a bit disconcerting reading about folks who roll over to other servers offering their latest shiny little costume piece, or powerset changes. Everyone wants the coolest stuff. I get that. HC has opted mainly for the long-term, under the hood changes that will ensure the game is viable through OS changes, and updates. The others have opted to make changes to the game as it is, without doing that heavy lifting first. It's the easier, quicker path, that has more immediate appeal. But, eventually they will all be faced with making the kinds of foundation level changes that HC has already done, and their development on the shiny of the week will slow as well. Then, we're gonna look light years ahead.

They have, and I'm sure they will do more. Just been in a bit of a lull lately. 🙂

I missed the window for the first time in months. But, I'm happy that the enthusiasm for CoH, and Homecoming are still so high that the windows close this quickly! I'll get ya next month!

Well, as it happens, Saturday (May 30) is the next opportunity! Typically the window opens around noon ET/9-ish PT. There is an announcement in the Homecoming Discord, and here on the forums, and they accept donations until the pre-established goal is met. In the past, that has taken anywhere from 2 to 3 hours. Sometimes a little longer, depending on the goal.

To be clear, there is no compulsory payment. Donations/contributions are completely voluntary, so if "Pay what you want" is nothing, that's perfectly fine.

This game always meant a lot to me as well. I could just never really let it go. I played a couple of other things after it went away, but it was always what I yearned to play. When Icon came around, it sparked an ember of hope, and provided such a wave of nostalgia, but ultimately felt lonely. When Paragon Chat came along, we moved a step closer to the game we remembered. By that time, I had used the character creator, and save file function to re-create all of my favorite mains. That ember of hope was fanned higher, and the nostalgia factor went through the roof. But, in my mind, I figured this probably as far as it would go, unless the SEGs team was successful in re-engineering the game, which was going to take years. Then, like a super nova, the game burst back into existence a little over a year ago, and I felt as if the universe had granted me a rare second chance to experience something I truly loved again. I have played regularly since then, with no end in sight. We all have our reasons for feeling about the game as we do. Those reasons run the spectrum from nostalgic, to a release that allows them to cope with life in ways that nothing else does. So, I am even more grateful that it is back, and the good that comes from folks gathering here to play together. If only the world at large could better approximate the vibe created by this game.

Welcome back! I think we all share your feelings on this game.