Overall Active Player Population Down?

[Primantis]

1 hour ago, ed_anger said:

Other servers are much, much worse, population wise. Pleiades just merged with Rebirth, both mostly deserted. From Reddit:

 

“Pleiades never recovered from the server debacle they had a few months ago, when they had to shut down and relocate... before it was a small server, but active, more or less on par with Rebirth; after it was pretty much deserted, 1 or 2 people online, sometimes none.”

 

 

Wow you weren't kidding! All of them combined would still have less pop than a single shard on Homecoming.

 

Still it's great to see other private servers up!

 

In my opinion, Homecoming really hit a.. Homerun with its timing and professionalism. Not only were they the first out the door with stable (permanent) servers.. But they also had a grounded dev team. While everyone else was acting like spoiled manchildren, Homecoming was over here just doing their thing. ❤️

Edited August 1, 2019 by Primantis

[AkuTenshiiZero]

The initial rush wore off, that's all.  For my part, I don't play every single night anymore, but I'm still here.  This was expected, it happens to every game whether it's a new one or something revived like CoX, it always starts with an explosive amount of activity that then settles down into people playing a few nights a week.

 

Of course, most of my acquaintances quit because they powered their way to max level and then got bored.  I still maintain that people with the "endgame is the real game" mindset are not going to last with CoX, and that attitude is too ingrained in younger gamers for something like CoX to really gain any ground.  There's a real lack of the slow pacing we had back in the late 00's when this game was at it's height.

[jubakumbi]

17 minutes ago, AkuTenshiiZero said:

The initial rush wore off, that's all.  For my part, I don't play every single night anymore, but I'm still here.  This was expected, it happens to every game whether it's a new one or something revived like CoX, it always starts with an explosive amount of activity that then settles down into people playing a few nights a week.

 

Of course, most of my acquaintances quit because they powered their way to max level and then got bored.  I still maintain that people with the "endgame is the real game" mindset are not going to last with CoX, and that attitude is too ingrained in younger gamers for something like CoX to really gain any ground.  There's a real lack of the slow pacing we had back in the late 00's when this game was at it's height.

The content locusts and end game players Never really liked CoH.

They were around, some visited a lot, but this game was never based around progressive raiding and the like, it has always been a haven for people that like making new characters a lot.

 

Now, with the progression where it is, we can make those characters and realize thier potential as fast or as slow as we desire.

 

'Young" has little to so with it IME - I see 50's and 20's play fast and slow.

'Caught up n the buzz' and 'peer pressure' have a ton to do with these issues though.

People that 'just have to be where the other people are' will always flock to AAA games.

 

CoH fills the same niche it did on Retail live, IMO.

 

This game is a big coloring book for the kid in all of us and therefore can be used to speed though with an aitbrush or taken slowly using the dot technique.

I prefer this to having code based roadblocks, even if some people cannot find it fun to slow themselves down without code blocks.

Edited August 1, 2019 by jubakumbi

[Dallayna]

15 hours ago, jubakumbi said:

The server runners already noted the overall population has leveled off and declined, to a lesser extent than they expected at the time.

For a personal note, I play less, just like I would in a retail game...I play as it suits me again, not out of some frantic need to make sure I get to play before it goes away again...that mood has passed and changed into a more normal MMO playstyle, for me.

 

Now CoH is just another game in the list, it gets played when I feel like it...I imagine I am not alone on this.

You're not. Both me and the husband have been doing this as well. When we first got on, even though it was silly, we were honestly afraid that it'd get pulled offline before we could ever play again so we pretty much lived at our keyboards for that month. We've since mellowed out about it. We're still playing but we're not on every morning before work and every night from the second we get home and, yeah, I'm pretty sure almost everyone is doing the same thing too.

 

So, it's not that we're not on, it's just that we're not on right now. Multiply that by a few thousand and yeah, the number of players on at the exact same time is going to go down as various players take the night off to rediscover sunlight and other aspects of RL again. 😄

 

Besides, while the day to day numbers might be going down, take heart in the fact that so is the donation window-- it's been taking been taking steadily less and less time for the team to meet the monthly goals in order to keep the servers open.

 

Surely that fact that folks are literally lining up to keep the throw money into the hat in either higher numbers or at a faster rate in order to keep the game running is a good of an indication that Homecoming ain't going anywhere for awhile. I mean, frankly, I would be more worried if it suddenly takes several hours for them to meet the "rent" then I would worry over a few numbers in the real time snapshots.

 

But that's me and I could be wrong. (shrug)

[jubakumbi]

2 minutes ago, Dallayna said:

Surely that fact that folks are literally lining up to keep the throw money into the hat in either higher numbers or at a faster rate in order to keep the game running is a good of an indication that Homecoming ain't going anywhere for awhile. I mean, frankly, I would be more worried if it suddenly takes several hours for them to meet the "rent" then I would worry over a few numbers in the real time snapshots.

 

But that's me and I could be wrong. (shrug)

I think you are right on the money (pun intended).

 

This thing does not take much to keep alive and there are plenty with cash in hand to insure that, so these virtual worlds should be here a while.

 

TBH, my biggest interest now resides in seeing how the population fares when some of the supers games in progress make it to retail...

Will we gain or lose population? ... I can see arguments for both...

Life is interesting.

[Lunchmoney]

I know my locals aren't playing anymore. 

Back on Live I had about 20 friends who all played and we had a nice SG etc. 

Homecoming I managed to get 8 back in the game. 

Today it's just the wifelet and me. 

[TheOtherTed]

15 hours ago, Shazzie said:

Doesn't mean I will play all the time (though boy howdy have I been for the past month I've been here), but it does mean I'm here for the (very, very) long haul.

1.  I just wanted to thank you for saying "boy howdy." 😄

 

2.  Where I live, it's been too hot to play any game that was released in this millenium.  Weather seems to have turned, though, so I'm itching to play more.

[Sidious]

I lost this game once. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon.

 

Lot of this has to do with summer being in full swing, people going on vacation, outside doing things. I'm fairly sure there will be an uptick in people once fall and winter set in.

 

Still though, couldn't help to get the word out that it's back.

Lots of people I know were interested in it coming back when I was talking to them back in May.

[Abraxus]

I get all the reasons why things are, as they are, at the moment.  It all makes perfect sense, and I am among those who don't get to play as often as I'd like.  But, like so many who have posted on this thread, this is my "forever game", and I don't want to lose it again for no better reason than the hard realization that not enough people believed that the content, and the dynamics of the game, far outweigh the fact that it is somewhat dated in appearance, and code.  I want to believe there is a core of players (admittedly, I hoped for a more consistently higher number of them) that will always be here, and letting the devs know with our consistent presence, that what they do for us is justified, and worthy of long term support.  Let's face it, without them, we would be relegated to finding someone with a private server, or setting one up for ourselves.  Options, perhaps.  But, not good ones IMHO.  No substitute for hundreds of folks playing at the same time, populating all manor of endeavors that I can choose to join in, or team with local mates, or just solo.  I want to keep those choices for a long time to come!

[Frostbiter]

A Dooooooom! thread was inevitable I suppose.

[Obitus]

The way I see it, there's no call for concern until the population drops to a level that wouldn't sustain a single server.  We're far from that point.  Money is an even smaller concern; if there ever comes a day when we can't find ~500 people to toss in $10 bucks each per month, I'll eat my hat.

 

Decline from the peak numbers we saw at launch is only natural.  Gotta keep in mind, though, that the trend won't go on forever.  There is a core of players who are gung ho about this game, and more or less always will be.  At some point, the decline will level off.

 

It's certainly possible that the game could die, but I can almost guarantee that a lack of player interest won't be the cause.

Edited August 1, 2019 by Obitus

[Abraxus]

8 minutes ago, Frostbiter said:

A Dooooooom! thread was inevitable I suppose.

I don't subscribe to that level of desperation.  Just gauging the player temperature out there, and collecting thoughts on the subject. 

[Twisted Toon]

I have 2 accounts. I rarely log on to the second one. Mainly because my internet connection (at the moment) is done by making my phone a WiFI hot spot. It won't handle 2 accounts running concurrently. It barely handles 1 account and Firefox. Honestly, I'm surprised it even handles 1 account. I occasionally have issues with lag. But, not very often. Even on a team of 8.

 

That is one of the reasons why I think CoH is one of the best games out there. A crappy 75Kbs connection can still play the game effectively. Can't play STO or SWTOR with that kind of connection.

[Gregg247]

Just as an aside, how are you guys able to see how many players are online?  

[_NOPE_]

1 minute ago, Gregg247 said:

Just as an aside, how are you guys able to see how many players are online?  

From the Server Status Page

[Chuckers]

I, for one, can't believe how easily I have been sucked into the must-play-CoX-every-night vortex again. If I am home, and awake, I am playing CoX. Just as hooked now as I was when it was live. Will I play other games? Maybe if something comes out that's on the PS/4 and super awesome, but I know it won't get the love and attention CoX is getting from me. 

[_NOPE_]

It's always a good idea to give CoX the attention it deserves...

[Abraxus]

18 minutes ago, The Philotic Knight said:

It's always a good idea to give CoX the attention it deserves...

...and it deserves all the attention you have to offer! 😎

[Robert D.]

As this my first post on here I would like to say Hello to all COH fans.  I have always been a super hero fan since I was a kid and it did not matter on which side of the comic universe they fell, I liked them all.  And I still  recall the day when I walked into Walmart to buy a new computer game for myself when my eye happen to catch the site of this new game in a nice packaged box with Statesman right there on the front cover.  I read that this was unlike any super hero game you have ever saw, and left me intrigued and reading more.  Saw that it was $50 plus dollars but I had that much on me and figured what the heck at least it looked like a game that I would love.  Took it home and opened the box and started to read but found out that this was a paid subscription game and I must have missed that it said that on the outside of the box,  As MMO's were kinda new at that time and I had never had the chance to ever play one so I really did not know what it meant nor did I have the money in which to pay that amount every month. 

So I did what most people would try and do and try and return it to get my money back for the game.  But as predictable when I took it back to Walmart they informed me that once the package was opened that they could not let me return it.  So disappointed I just returned home and figured that was a quick 50 bucks flushed, and stuck it on a shelf to be forgotten.  A couple of weeks later I picked it up again just to read the nice book that came with game just to learn a little bit more about the game, but then discovered another little piece of paper that said that you could start the game with a free 3 month subscription and then just cancel or continue on with the paid subscription from there if you wanted to.  So I thought to my self why not.  Signed up and played my self silly every minute that I had some freed up time.  Played out that 3 month free trial and loved the game so much that I found the money every year in which to keep up on the yearly subscriptions, that is until that very disappointing day when we all got the inevitable shutoff that we got.

So when the son told me a few months ago that some private server had got the game back up again and running I was just ecstatic and could not believe my ears what I was hearing.  Got It downloaded and started playing non stop ever since.  I really don't care that I was not able to get my old characters back, that was then and this is now.  Besides I have been able to enjoy just starting over again, learning once again what I really love about the game in the first place is following the story arcs, developing my characters looks and powers and everything else about the game.  And who cares if the game is old as the hills and out of dates as some of the newer games on the market.  As long as my computer is able to handle it, it fits me perfectly.  And now even better now that my son and daughter are older and they have the game on their computers, and with the Discord channel we have set up, it is so unbelievably awesome to be able to play this and do missions and help each other out, at the same just makes my day.  Besides I have already surpassed my previous character that I originally had.  IGN: EmeraldRain and already at 50+4 with Incarnet powers and only getting better.

I would like to take the time to Thank the people at Homecomming so much for bringing back the game and making it available to all of us to enjoy our good old days we had when we first played this game for the first time.  

[_NOPE_]

2 hours ago, Abraxus said:

...and it deserves all the attention you have to offer! 😎

 

2 minutes ago, Robert D. said:

As this my first post on here I would like to say Hello to all COH fans.  I have always been a super hero fan since I was a kid and it did not matter on which side of the comic universe they fell, I liked them all.  And I still  recall the day when I walked into Walmart to buy a new computer game for myself when my eye happen to catch the site of this new game in a nice packaged box with Statesman right there on the front cover.  I read that this was unlike any super hero game you have ever saw, and left me intrigued and reading more.  Saw that it was $50 plus dollars but I had that much on me and figured what the heck at least it looked like a game that I would love.  Took it home and opened the box and started to read but found out that this was a paid subscription game and I must have missed that it said that on the outside of the box,  As MMO's were kinda new at that time and I had never had the chance to ever play one so I really did not know what it meant nor did I have the money in which to pay that amount every month. 

So I did what most people would try and do and try and return it to get my money back for the game.  But as predictable when I took it back to Walmart they informed me that once the package was opened that they could not let me return it.  So disappointed I just returned home and figured that was a quick 50 bucks flushed, and stuck it on a shelf to be forgotten.  A couple of weeks later I picked it up again just to read the nice book that came with game just to learn a little bit more about the game, but then discovered another little piece of paper that said that you could start the game with a free 3 month subscription and then just cancel or continue on with the paid subscription from there if you wanted to.  So I thought to my self why not.  Signed up and played my self silly every minute that I had some freed up time.  Played out that 3 month free trial and loved the game so much that I found the money every year in which to keep up on the yearly subscriptions, that is until that very disappointing day when we all got the inevitable shutoff that we got.

So when the son told me a few months ago that some private server had got the game back up again and running I was just ecstatic and could not believe my ears what I was hearing.  Got It downloaded and started playing non stop ever since.  I really don't care that I was not able to get my old characters back, that was then and this is now.  Besides I have been able to enjoy just starting over again, learning once again what I really love about the game in the first place is following the story arcs, developing my characters looks and powers and everything else about the game.  And who cares if the game is old as the hills and out of dates as some of the newer games on the market.  As long as my computer is able to handle it, it fits me perfectly.  And now even better now that my son and daughter are older and they have the game on their computers, and with the Discord channel we have set up, it is so unbelievably awesome to be able to play this and do missions and help each other out, at the same just makes my day.  Besides I have already surpassed my previous character that I originally had.  IGN: EmeraldRain and already at 50+4 with Incarnet powers and only getting better.

I would like to take the time to Thank the people at Homecomming so much for bringing back the game and making it available to all of us to enjoy our good old days we had when we first played this game for the first time.  

This right here. This is what keeps me coming to these forums... the fact that a piece of innuendo can be immediately followed by a heartfelt personal story, immediately followed by some jackanape getting all meta about how the forum and community works, all existing in peaceful harmony side by side by side. I love it!

 

[Nafsmar]

19 hours ago, yukkuri said:

And yet the donations keep closing so fast I never make it in time to donate. I think it's doing ok!

I missed it too. Maybe later this month.

[lordbasl]

I never played CoX when it was live commercially. But a lot of my friends did ... and the screams of anguish when Ncsoft pulled the plug were deafening. Years later, these friends continued to reminisce about How Awesome CoX Was.

I played Champions Online a bit, and I got to hate how so many archetypes are locked befind their thrice damned P2W paywall. 

 

Now I am here, and those friends of mine were right. I play at least a little everyday ... and while the numbers seem to have diminished somewhat ... they will recover. 

 

While I know that Ncsoft could slay the Homecoming with a single C&D letter, I will play and enjoy the game and support the HC / SCoRE teams!

[gtangsk]

Just want to echo what others have said on this thread. Really appreciate the hard yards put in by the administrators and the GMs to bring this game back and keep it stable.

 

As with many others, this is my 'forever game' and my comfort blanket. It's the game that I go to where I just want to chill out and not be too stressed about farming endlessly for potions and herbs to do endgame content. Sure, sometimes I play the more hardcore MMOs (big Eve online player and was in the WoW guild Ensidia for a bit), but this is the game I come back to time and time again. Sometimes I play more, sometimes I play less but you really miss it when the comfort blanket has gone.

 

I really hope the Devs, administrators and GMs know how much we appreciate the work they do. The donations are the donations and am always happy to put in a couple of shekels although I've missed the past donation windows. I don't think money will ever be an issue - hell, I'll fund the whole thing out of my pocket if needed (Wife: You paid how much to keep this server going?? Me: How much was that clutch I just bought you? :P), it is the lack of appreciation, interest and burn out of all the admins who keep this ticking that we need to be cognisant about. Money is relatively easy - commitment and prevention of burn out of the staff is the thing to be wary of. We really appreciate the work you do!

Edited August 2, 2019 by gtangsk

[miaasma]

13 hours ago, jubakumbi said:

I think you are right on the money (pun intended).

 

This thing does not take much to keep alive and there are plenty with cash in hand to insure that, so these virtual worlds should be here a while.

 

TBH, my biggest interest now resides in seeing how the population fares when some of the supers games in progress make it to retail...

Will we gain or lose population? ... I can see arguments for both...

Life is interesting.

i can only speak for myself, but personally, nothing in retail in the years since CoH's shutdown has acted as a replacement for the game, and nothing upcoming or announced seems anything like it.  it's sort of its own niche and, like when other MMOs were released when it was live, i doubt its population will dwindle much once newer games come out

[Healix]

In the summer months especially, people are doing other things. Populations tends to diminish on most all games. I think those of us who are true Paragoonies will hold tight to our game and not let go.