What does the city council do?

[Enchantica]

I was just wondering; what does the city council do? I  see that they are always on the COH discord but I never hear from them. I see the GM's online as well but I am confused as to the line between the two...... Please don't ban hammer Me I am really just wondering the difference between the two , who does what and whatever.. I am drunk btw and am not trying to offend.  I just have friends who contribute alot to the game and I wonder how what and how you become paragons favored heroes, Omg please don't be mad I ask in the nicest way.

wait forget it.

Edited Sunday at 04:42 AM by Enchantica
i mispelled does

[Lines]

You can think of the city council as like,

 

Um...

 

Sauron

 

And the GMs are his Orcs.

 

Yup, that illustrates it well, I think.

[Troo]

Things like:

On 10/1/2024 at 6:58 AM, Widower said:

Name Release Begins November 1st

 

The City Council has decided that we will activate the long-awaited name release policy on November 1st, 2024 at 9:30 PM Eastern Time. As a reminder, the policy is as follows:

 

..and:

On 4/27/2024 at 12:30 AM, Dacy said:

Yesterday, we were informed that the Homecoming City Council has decided to dissolve the Community Representative role. This means, effective immediately, the Base CRs are not officially CRs anymore, and no other CRs will be assigned for any HC faction or group.

 

The City Council cites the reason for this change is that an official role within the community requires ongoing oversight and support. And they have determined that they are not currently able to provide the level of support they feel the position deserves, and hope to bring it back at some point if they are able to give it the support it needs. However, they assure us that they value our insight and communication, and still would like to hear from us, but informally.

 

When did it become a thing?

On 1/4/2024 at 7:34 AM, Homecoming said:

Will the management of Homecoming change in any way?
Yes. We will be forming a new leadership group - the City Council - to head up the project going forwards.

 

The City Council will include the original Homecoming admin team, representatives from the other servers we have been working with, and a few additional members from our Game Master and Development teams. Cipher will remain the project lead.

[Snarky]

This will shock no one.  
 

i had no idea we had a “City Council”

 

Do they represent the Rogue Isles?  If so the name is off.  

[ChocolateMercenary]

8 hours ago, Enchantica said:

I was just wondering; what does the city council do? I  see that they are always on the COH discord but I never hear from them. I see the GM's online as well but I am confused as to the line between the two...... Please don't ban hammer Me I am really just wondering the difference between the two , who does what and whatever.. I am drunk btw and am not trying to offend.  I just have friends who contribute alot to the game and I wonder how what and how you become paragons favored heroes, Omg please don't be mad I ask in the nicest way.

wait forget it.

Get kidnapped in task forces.

[Skyhawke]

[Go0gleplex]

Like any City Council...they make decisions about issues that nobody knows are issues and if lacking an issue to make a decision on then they'll create issues to make decisions about that nobody finds out about until they do become an actual issue. That and they work for Nemesis. :P 

[dtjunkie]

Turn into warwolves when they get down to one HP.

[Ironblade]

13 hours ago, ChocolateMercenary said:

Get kidnapped in task forces.

 

Don't get me started on that one.

"Wait, the head of the City Council is named Robert ALDERMAN?  ALDERMAN?!?"

[Michiyo]

13 hours ago, Go0gleplex said:

Like any City Council...they make decisions about issues that nobody knows are issues and if lacking an issue to make a decision on then they'll create issues to make decisions about that nobody finds out about until they do become an actual issue. That and they work for Nemesis. 😛

This.

[TheMoneyMaker]

The City Council used to legislate things like what level heroes had to be to get into hazard zone and when they could get a cape. It's good to see the current government being more proactive.

[Mopery]

12 hours ago, dtjunkie said:

Turn into warwolves when they get down to one HP.

One of my favorite things in-game is when a Council/5th Column Vampyr is defeated... and immediately becomes a vicious full health Warwolf!

Edited Monday at 04:03 AM by Mopery

[Nerio72]

On 12/7/2024 at 9:40 PM, Enchantica said:

what does the city council do?

Well the first thing is...

 

They don't talk about City Council

 

[UltraAlt]

On 12/7/2024 at 11:40 PM, Enchantica said:

wait forget it.

 

 

Well, too late for regrets ...

I guess we must put Enchantica on "the list" immediately.

Edited Monday at 10:19 AM by UltraAlt

[SeraphimKensai]

Twice a month, I and fellow City Planners have to make presentations to the City Council about applicant requests and give a recommendation for approval or denial based on criteria that we have in the City's Development Code.

 

These presentations are recorded and available for review by the public due to open meeting/government in the sunshine laws. However, hardly anyone ever watches them. In fact, the City Council barely even reads the executive summary on the front page of each staff report I make to accompany each presentation.

 

That said the City's Planning Department is recruiting. The hours are long. The pay is low. And the projects are constant. Apply today, and once to get enough experience you too can get professionally credentialed as an AICP Planner (which doesn't really mean anything else other than you get assigned more complex projects). Act now and don't delay.

[RCU7115]

On 12/8/2024 at 3:31 AM, Snarky said:

This will shock no one.  
 

i had no idea we had a “City Council”

 

Do they represent the Rogue Isles?  If so the name is off.  

I had no idea too. Must've missed the mail fliers advertising for the campaigns to represent this district or that district over the last few months. I didn't even see their names when I went to vote November 5th.

[TygerDarkstorm]

2 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

Twice a month, I and fellow City Planners have to make presentations to the City Council about applicant requests and give a recommendation for approval or denial based on criteria that we have in the City's Development Code.

 

These presentations are recorded and available for review by the public due to open meeting/government in the sunshine laws. However, hardly anyone ever watches them. In fact, the City Council barely even reads the executive summary on the front page of each staff report I make to accompany each presentation.

 

That said the City's Planning Department is recruiting. The hours are long. The pay is low. And the projects are constant. Apply today, and once to get enough experience you too can get professionally credentialed as an AICP Planner (which doesn't really mean anything else other than you get assigned more complex projects). Act now and don't delay.

My dad used to work in city planning so this is extra funny to me, lol.

[Go0gleplex]

@SeraphimKensai I worked 10 yrs in Public Works Engineering as the Permit Reviewer /Engineering Inspector/ Erosion Control Code Enforcement myself where the hours are even longer (32 hrs straight on-site for one emergency sewer repair project) and the public complaints never ending while trying to get things done with a never sufficient budget and learning to smile even as you know contractors/builders are lying to your face. Those council meetings were usually dead boring.  😉 

[GM Crumpet]

They have different responsibilities. Cipher is big boss and responsible for everything, Number Six and Telephone are our tech people and throw out hot fixes, plus oversee the server reboots. There are some over the devs, and some over other Servers. Globetrotter is both top boss of Vanguard and immediate overlord of the GM team. (All hail my spherical overlord!!). 

 

Michiyo is incredible and does a lot of work including things like the Modding tool and total overlord of Victory. 

 

The others have similar responsibilities and I don't understand half of what they do. When they start talking my eyes glaze over and I back away quickly in case I spook them (they are like deer, if you spook them they scatter) 😛 

 

Outside of Globetrotter and Michiyo I don't really have much to do with the CC unless the servers on fire. They are always about, and they play the game as much as any of us, but they don't micro manage or interfere too much.

[Techwright]

44 minutes ago, GM Crumpet said:

They have different responsibilities. Cipher is big boss and responsible for everything, Number Six and Telephone are our tech people and throw out hot fixes, plus oversee the server reboots. There are some over the devs, and some over other Servers. Globetrotter is both top boss of Vanguard and immediate overlord of the GM team. (All hail my spherical overlord!!). 

 

Michiyo is incredible and does a lot of work including things like the Modding tool and total overlord of Victory. 

 

The others have similar responsibilities and I don't understand half of what they do. When they start talking my eyes glaze over and I back away quickly in case I spook them (they are like deer, if you spook them they scatter) 😛 

 

Outside of Globetrotter and Michiyo I don't really have much to do with the CC unless the servers on fire. They are always about, and they play the game as much as any of us, but they don't micro manage or interfere too much.

 

 

I've missed it somewhere along the line, but I take it from the comment that "Vanguard" is the code world for the collective GM team, separate from other groupings in the complete strata that we players collectively call the "dev team"?  Are there other such code word groupings?

 

Speaking of Victory, how far along in process is the conversion to the 6th Shard?  And Paragon will be, what, the 7th?  Widower, in mentioning it back in January, said "a couple of months". 

[Michiyo]

15 hours ago, Techwright said:

 

 

I've missed it somewhere along the line, but I take it from the comment that "Vanguard" is the code world for the collective GM team, separate from other groupings in the complete strata that we players collectively call the "dev team"?  Are there other such code word groupings?

 

Speaking of Victory, how far along in process is the conversion to the 6th Shard?  And Paragon will be, what, the 7th?  Widower, in mentioning it back in January, said "a couple of months". 

Vanguard is the closed beta server.  This server was known as Paragon before the move to HC's backend.
Victory suffered a major hardware failure and all data has been turned over to the folks who can do anything with it.  Currently waiting for availability by the folks who can spin up a new server for it.

[Sanguinesun]

On 12/8/2024 at 1:40 PM, Enchantica said:

I was just wondering; what does the city council do? I  see that they are always on the COH discord but I never hear from them. I see the GM's online as well but I am confused as to the line between the two...... Please don't ban hammer Me I am really just wondering the difference between the two , who does what and whatever.. I am drunk btw and am not trying to offend.  I just have friends who contribute alot to the game and I wonder how what and how you become paragons favored heroes, Omg please don't be mad I ask in the nicest way.

wait forget it.

 

They are a non elected body, selected for their contributions to HC, that helps maintain the efficiency and oversight of HC under Cypher.

 

But in secret, they're known as the Legion of Broom. 😛

[Icono04]

8 hours ago, GM Crumpet said:

and they play the game as much as any of us

At the risk of sounding like a fanboi, this quote ia kind of the most important point. As long as the people who run our game still have the time and the desire to actually play the game, I feel confident that they will keep running it. Whether one likes their philosophy for Homecoming or not, it is surely better than not having a Homecoming to play on at all.

[GM Crumpet]

8 hours ago, Icono04 said:

At the risk of sounding like a fanboi, this quote ia kind of the most important point. As long as the people who run our game still have the time and the desire to actually play the game, I feel confident that they will keep running it. Whether one likes their philosophy for Homecoming or not, it is surely better than not having a Homecoming to play on at all.

We are also in contact with some of the original staff from the old days, though they aren't involved in running the game. When the licence was granted they broke anonymity and joined in the celebration events as their original signature characters. Many of them play on anonymous player accounts but are so busy with their own careers they don't have much time to actually play. To be honest I was as much a fan boy as everyone else and being able to talk to them was a thrill I'll remember forever.  Getting their blessing and listening to them being so complementary about the direction we have taken the game was just so amazing. 

[TygerDarkstorm]

8 hours ago, Icono04 said:

At the risk of sounding like a fanboi, this quote ia kind of the most important point. As long as the people who run our game still have the time and the desire to actually play the game, I feel confident that they will keep running it. Whether one likes their philosophy for Homecoming or not, it is surely better than not having a Homecoming to play on at all.

Just to iterate on the bolded part: Homecoming is not the only CoH server group in operation. If folks really don't like Homecoming's direction, they have the option to go play on one of those server groups or start their own server because the code is out there. (And no, this is not a "if you don't like it than leave" comment, just simply that the options are there for someone who gets fed up enough/decides it's not for them.)

 

But yes, it is nice to know the folks running the game do play it as well because sometimes I have wondered about it. I appreciate the Homecoming team and what y'all do for us.