Say a thanks? Share a memory!

[John Spegal]

Thank you So much for bringing this game back!!!  I used to play it all the time until the last month or so, when I just could not afford to play it anymore.  Internet got cut off, and all that,and when I finally got my internet back and went to log in, I got that dreadful message that the game had been shut down.  I was so very  sad when that happened.  Now I get to relive those days again when I played both city of heroes, and city of villains.  so once again, thank you so much

[Caerwiden]

I've been playing since before 6pm yesterday and it's now 6am.

 

What have you done to me?  :D

[JimWraith]

From my old screenshot collection, something pre-AOE nerf.

 

[Deadlink removed.]

 

Thanks to the Devs for bringing this game back from the dead.

Edited February 24 by JimWraith

[markofantares]

I played on Virtue. I was friends with Mindswipe (online). I created a character, a EM/WP Brute that I could play with his supergroup. We were in Recluse's Victory fighting Hero supergroup for a storyline. I was wrecking and he was too. We were chatting via mic and just having a blast being villains. He even took some screenshots for the supergroup website and I used some for my Virtueverse character page.  We spent a few hours in Recluse's Victory and had a blast. I remember it vividly.

 

Unfortunately, after the game shuttered, I lose contact with Mindswipe.

 

Thank-you so much for reviving this game. I've been playing WoW since the game closed. I love that game but it can never capture the feeling, that sense of wonder and excitement that City of Villains (Heroes) did. My first MMO.

 

Thank-you Thank-you Thank-you Thank-you

[_NOPE_]

My City of Heroes Story

 

I won’t go through my whole history, but I’ll sum up. I was a Navy brat that never had a real home, who was raised as a latchkey kid. My parents weren’t a father and mother (one I never knew, and the other was largely absent), but rather Mr. Rogers and Lady Aberlin. I learned what was right and wrong from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sailor Moon, the Toxic Crusaders, and many, many others. From those “weird” shows, I learned that this “weird” kid wasn’t so weird, and indeed, could become something extraordinary. The amazing powers were cool, but the things that stuck with me (even though these weren’t traditional “superheroes”) were the concepts of compassion, justice, bushido, honor. I learned that the strong should care for the weak, that those with power to do good, MUST. I learned from my media morality messengers that people can still do great things in the world, even when they are “weird” or unacceptable to the masses. I learned that I was not alone.

 

Now, with that out of the way, how does this relate to City of Heroes? Well, through some miracle of life, I managed to get through college and graduated with a degree.

 

In Computer Information Systems.

 

Immediately after Y2K, when thousands of developers were laid off since their work was no longer necessary.

 

In a tri-college town where dozens of students were graduating each year with degrees in my same field.

 

I had also screwed myself by not specializing, instead taking a little bit of networking, a little bit of programming, a little bit of electronic engineering. I had made myself a “jack of all trades, master of none”, and had screwed myself to every job because there was always someone else that was more of an expert in that area than I was. So, I delivered pizzas and worked in the Geek Squad in a Best Buy (with a BACHELOR’S in CIS). It went this way for over a year with no hope in sight of jumping into the tech career that I wanted. A life with no meaning. I got depressed. I got bored and lonely, as I was no longer surrounded by fellow students that were forced to interact with me. I got dark and considered ending my failure of a life.

 

Then, like a ray of sunshine into the darkness, came City of Heroes. It was an escape. It was a purpose. It gave me the chance to be a HERO! To emulate (at least virtually), all those weirdo fictional heroes that I had looked up to when I was a kid. I took me away from my depressing life and gave me hope of better things to come. But it wasn’t just the game. This world was filled with an entire COMMUNITY of people who, just like me, were inspired by many of the same media stories that I was. They, too, learned the same lessons of right and wrong, justice and compassion, that I had learned from books, movies, and TV shows. And they weren’t afraid to live out those fantasies, those morality plays, in a digital world where they could be the heroes that they always wanted to be. I had found, not just an escape from the drudgery of a depressing life, but a HOME. A place where I could be myself and be the best me that I could be. The me that I couldn’t be in the real world.

 

The City of Heroes community, and especially forum, helped me navigate a rough real-life road. When I got prematurely married, divorced, moved away from everyone and everything that I knew, and started a new life hundreds of miles away from it all. When I got to my new physical home and discovered that I didn’t KNOW how to relate to people outside of preconceived roles and forced situations, the City of Heroes community was there for me, offering comfort and support. When I went to counseling to try to determine the cause of my “issues”, and was diagnosed with high functioning autism, the City of Heroes community was still there for me, showing me that what matters isn’t who you ARE, but who you choose to BE.

 

I’ve spent the better part of the last decade working through my issues, learning how to pass for “normal” amongst neurotypicals, but I always relied on the City of Heroes community as my crutch, my way to get through the rough times. Their support helped me to finally get my first job in the tech industry a decade after my graduation, find the love of my life who accepts me for who I am, and start my own family. And then, after all the community had given me, it then disappeared, evaporated into the wind. The community was taken from me, from us, unceremoniously. Thankfully, at the time, I had largely moved on into the “real world”, but a part of me always yearned for a return back to a world of heroes and villains, where I had a chance to be something greater than I am, and where there were old names and “faces” that I knew as friends. I got by my loss a bit with a small subset of the greater CoH Community, the Paragon Unleashed forums that I had started years ago, but it was a pale echo of the previous, vibrant, community. Good people there, by the way.

 

And then… this happened. Leandro’s “secret server” got revealed. But that was just the spark that re-ignited the fire. With his generous and brave release of the source code, the community seemingly came back from the dead, and with full force. I had my digital home back again. And, more importantly, I now have another chance to give back to the community, to the people, that had already given me so much.

 

So, here I am, force fields in one hand and lightning in the other, ready to step up and provide whatever I can, so that the other “weird” kids like I used to be, have a chance to find their own purpose, their own meaning, and their own home. It was taken from us once before. Never again. And that’s why whenever I see either a new, or old face, appear on these forums, my answer will always be the same: “Welcome Home”.

 

So, thank you. Thank you to the amazing and fantastic community of heroes that helped me through my young adult life and saved me time and time again from both myself and the harsh, cruel world. Thank you to the dozens of volunteers, the coders and GMs, community reps and good old regular forum posters that fill this reinvigorated community with a sense of life, a sense of hope, and a sense of purpose. To everyone here, I say thank you all. And, once again…

 

Welcome Home.

[DarkTower]

I am humbled and honored by what you guys have achieved. That's coming from a hard core C++ & C# developer in the high end of the industry. I know what it must have taken to get this up and running, and I'm assuming you had to compile the actual processes themselves. I can only imagine what the configuration is like for something this proprietary.

 

For my wife and I, this was a very, very big memory. She had never played any MMO, and so for me it was like watching the most dear person to me go through what I went through with EQ. And then this was doubled, because even though I was a seasoned MMO player, this quickly became my favorite game of all time - and it still is.

 

The combat system in this game is so orthogonal, and the power effects are so balanced - everything has a purpose and an effect. Tactics actually matter - knowing your build and how to play is the difference between you or one of your teammates taking a dirt nap. This is the only game I've ever enjoyed healing in, and healing is one of my favorite roles.

 

From a graphics perspective, it should be studied. It's a very low-poly game, which was an amazingly wise choice on the original developers' part, because they deliberately set out to make an MMO which could support a frame rate with enough head room that 30-50 people could be blasting away (like say on a giant monster event) and zero lag on the client. That combined with the quality of the animations and this game not only still stands up next to newer games - it still exceeds them. There is nothing out there with the level of craft in the billboard effects which make up most of the power effects, which are superb. That combined with the sound quality is a lethal blow which hooks you so completely.

 

Take SWTOR for example - I've been playing this as a consolation for years (waiting and hoping for someone to put out a decent superhero MMO - there are none, sorry Champions and DCUO, and Marvel? Please.) SWTOR is a great game in it's own right - immersive, huge story, great graphics...but pretty crappy combat system compared to CoX. The animations are goofy, the speeders are slower than superspeed and have no physics.

 

So, yeah, this means a hell of a lot to us. We spend the first 7 years of our marriage in Paragon City and had probably 9-10 50's each, several decked out with incarnate builds.

 

As others have said, if it all came to a halt today, you still did something so wonderful, so sublime and so meaningful to so many people...well, it can't really be expressed in words.

 

You have my deepest and humblest thanks!

[Dr. Sinister]

Big thumbs up to the group involved in the project.  I'm enjoying the nostalgia.  For me, I didn't get into CoH until 2007.  My first mmo was WoW but after the Burning Crusade I didn't like the direction it was going and looked for something else.  I eventually found Tabula Rasa which I played the hell out of all the way until the servers got shut down.  Disappointed I looked again for "that mmo".  I eventually got an email from NCSoft stating that they've gieven me some free keys due to being a participant in Tabula Rasa.  I picked Aion, Lineage 2 and City of Heroes.  I checked out Aion for a bit but I was not very keep on the art style of the game.  Lineage 2 was also not what I was looking for but both were free so I couldn't complain.  I then looked closer at CoH.  I don't totally remember anything except making a villain as I very much recall the prison break out scene.  Once free from the starting zone I was treated to an Alien invasion.  It was awesome.  People working together to fight off the invasion as some many different forms of villain and heroes involved in it was awesome.  As a huge pen and paper rpg player, I first got into RPGs with dungeons and dragons.  Somewhere back in 87, 88 a friend introduced me to the TMNT rpg and I was instantly hooked.  Followed the Palladium universe all the way to Rifts but it was Heroes Unlimited whereCoH really caught my eye.  Just the thought of playing as tour own unique hero or villain is just awesome.  Anyway, writing this on my phone as I sit waiting for a doctor.  I hope this takes off and NCSoft will see that there is enough people who really want this game back and will either look at relenquishing the IP to another company or open the servers back up.

[Paladin]

Thank you, to everyone who had a hand in this and the community that kept this spirit alive.

 

I still dreamed about City of Heroes after all the time spent within it, and fondly remember the people I shared time with. Thanks to the work that has been put in we can relive those memories and make new ones. Words really aren't enough to express how meaningful what you've done is to myself and so many others. Thank you for bringing to life the good times that we'd all relegated to our memories. I never thought I'd see the day when I could stand watch among the towering buildings of Steel Canyon again.

[Obsidius]

Page 26 from the old CoH Forums' Triumph server page (thanks to the wayback machine (https://web.archive.org/web/20120904092111/http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=112879&page=26)).

 

 

Over 13 years ago my wife's main hit 50, with me a few days after.

 

 

[Jumbley]

At risk of sounding melodramatic, my life changed when City Of went away. The concept of death, of impermanence, honestly didn't really sink in for me until years after the game had closed down, and I found myself yearning wistfully for something that I could never have again, feeling that deep sorrow that comes with loss. Some folks learn about dying after losing pets or family members: for me, it was an online video game about Superheroes.

 

What's been accomplished here is nothing short of a miracle. Whatever happens now, I got to spend time with a friend I lost so long ago, just one more time. 'Thank you' just doesn't feel like it's enough, but it will have to do for now.

[Cyanide]

I never played this game back in the day, so I haven't a memory to share.

 

You guys are putting a lot of effort into this though, so you definitely have my gratitude.

 

You guys are putting yourself through hell for something you love; a "thanks" doesn't really cut it, to be honest.

[Harlequin565]

Thankyou from the heart of my bottom.

 

Got pulled onto some portal corp missions in PI today as a "lowly" 26 controller working up to being my "main" again. 1st time in PI for 6 years. It was such a huge blast playing with people who are colourful on the screen and colourful in personality. The missed hello $target macros, the inevitable "oops" as someone autoruns into a bunch of mobs... But above all, the banter that's a little RP, a little RL, and a lot CoH.

 

Thankyou.

[Beyonder]

I thank to everyone who involved to bring back this game. I feel like my void is filling back after I can play this game again. this game by far the best MMO I ever played.

[knightaudit]

I would like to thank all involved, for helping to bring back an old friend. You guys are awesome and I cannot thank you enough. Keep up the great work.

[Sealdy]

My brother and I talked often about how we missed CoH and how that is the one game we truly wanted to play again. Now not only are we able to play again and meet up with the awesome community, we also got a virtual machine running with the game.

 

So for a life that never will be without CoH again three cheers for making it possible. Hoorah! Hoorah! Hoorah!

 

You made dreams come true.

 

Thanks from @Sealdy

[Jaded]

This game holds such a special place for me and I am so thankful for you all bringing it back.  My husband and I met in this game.  We've been together 12 years, married for 10, and we never would have even met if it wasn't for COH.

 

Thank you so much for giving us the chance to play together again.  <3

[SuperOssi]

A big thank you to everyone behind the scenes!

 

I played the game intensively from 2005 to 2012. Now we have 2019 and for me, it's still the best game.

 

 

[Teppudama]

Thank you for giving us a chance to enjoy CoH/CoV again, it means so much!

I met a young man while playing back in the early years who invited me to join his SG, the Air Ninjas.  His SG was mainly a family thing but we had played enough to become friends despite not knowing each others real names.  His main toon was Tempest Fuget, and we spent a few years playing together off and on until I took a break from the game for a while.  When I finally got back on, I couldn't find him but instead found a couple other members of the Air Ninjas that turned out to be his parents.  In the time I had been offline, he had lost his battle to a brain tumor that he had never told me about.  I have missed playing or even just talking to him ever since and he is never far from my mind, even though the mental image I have is of his toon and not him.

Thank you for giving me a chance to enjoy the good times with him again, it means so much!

[Mira_Moonshadow]

I played CoH from beta up until about a year before it closed. I have alot of memories from my days running around the streets of Champion server but I think my fondest ones were of our SG doing MSTF runs for people who needed the badge. We just had a crack group of folks who dumpstered it and laughed all the while, we even managed an all Defender one with my Dark/Dark defender tanking. They may be silly video game achievments but they remain fond memories for me.

[Magi 1]

YEEEEEE HAW!

 

Ladies and gentlemen, boys, girls, robots, freaks and capes of every size and stripe, WE ARE BACK!

 

It's been a long time kiddies, and much like a Nemesis plot, we were caught unprepared when this glorious gem decided to rise from the grave for one hell of an encore!

 

But let's not let the sudden appearance of this gorgeous undead creation make us forget the brilliant necro-coders that made this mad-science possbile!

 

So to the revivifying force behind City of Heroes: Homecoming, lemme just say... thank you.

 

Thank you for being cool and collected enough to bring this out. Thank you for bringing back some damn fond memories. And thank you for throwing one hell of a party and inviting us all to join in!

 

Now we may not know if this'll last. Could be those demon-sorcerers over at NC-soft are already performing their ritual of 'Cease-and-Desist'. Maybe this won't last til' the end of the week.

 

But to hell with that! If this ship's going down, it's going down with a swingin' party and folks raising their glasses as we ride into the sunset! So thank you for giving us the opportunity, and I hope to see you in-game!

[DaimyoShi]

I would like to thank all that made this possible. There are no really words for it.

[blayes]

So excited to see this today - much admiration and thanks to those who have kept CoH alive. Looking forward to playing with some old and new heroes. cheers!

[RagabashMoon]

My other MMO friends are messaging me asking what's wrong... haha.

[Jaguaratron]

You guys rock, its amazing how this game has stood the test of time and how quickly you have adapted to overcome the technical issues to facilitate the thousands of rabid fans desperate to play again.

 

Now all I need is my Stone/Stone stalker in Granite armour..........

[DragonAlpha]

Thank you.

 

You've done so much more than bring back a game.  You've re-opened the space that has allowed so many lovely people to come back together again.  I don't know what it is about CoH that attracts such great people but it's still there.

 

Originally bought this game to play with my oldest friend who I don't get to see as often as I like and then got hooked on the community.  I probably played pretty much every day from then on (don't ask me years, I'm over 50, it would be a complete guess!).

 

Since it was shut down my life has change almost beyond all recognition.  The man I *knew* I'd spend the rest of my life with is dead, I've completely changed my career, and I'm starting to get used to a brand new, well, everything!  And then this comes back with the same atmosphere, community and banter to remind me of so much that I'd forgotten.

 

Thank you.