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City of Heroes: Paragon Studios and City of Heroes Closing

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Comments

  • kitaradkitarad Member LegendaryPosts: 7,910
    Such a wonderful game .The game that truly started the do away with trinity shit. You could go with 8 defenders and play missions or no tanks or just iluusionists and party I mean really party.What a sad announcement.

  • Xondar123Xondar123 Member CommonPosts: 2,543
    Originally posted by Teala
    If this proves anything, it proves that even decent free to play games can meet with the chopping block, and no game is immune.

    I think it proves the NCSoft is simply not a good company. Their catalogue is littered with the corpses of dead games, and all those games had one thing in common: they were owned and eventually killed by NCSoft.

     

    I won't forgive them for this.

     

    City of Heroes was my favourite MMO and I dedicated hundreds of hours to it. I'm so incredibly sad to see it go.

     

    This only confirms my suspicions that the MMO genre iks slowly dying. It had a good run, but the utter lack of vision and creativity in the modern industry means that no good games are being made, there's nothing to capture the imagination and inspire people to keep playing. There used to be many, many interesting articles about a lot of good, interesting games posted to this website. Now the games being reported on are second rate B-grade games at best, and pretty much nothing to do with MMOs interests me anymore.

  • fiveodanofiveodano Member Posts: 15

    This was my first MMO and one I kept comming back to. For the last four years I would only play once or twice every few months, but for the first four years I played everyday. While most games I play I was just as happy to solo as to team up, City of Heroes had a way of bringing players together. If City of Heroes had the same gameplay and universe it has now but the looks and dynamics of Champions Online I think it could have made another 8 years. And yet as old as it looks its still a fun game to play. When it first came out everyone took the same path to the endgame, now you could get to level 50 taking many different paths. It seems odd that a game that has had so much content created for it over the years would just disapear like this.

    I will never forget in the first year the game lacked content going from about mid 30's to 40's and everyone would go meet in the sewers in Steel Canyon. We would fight (or teleport) to an area where The Sewer Trial would begin and exploit a bug to power level past the late 30's grind. And at times there would be hundreds of us trying to get in on a team. It was a huge party and a great social event. There were many other parties and (as I call RPG'ers) friends I never knew.

    I am really going to miss this game.

    DoctorShe

  • Po_ggPo_gg Member EpicPosts: 5,749
    Originally posted by BarelyEin
    First Auto-assault and now this. You break my heart NCsoft.

    Same... AA was a tougher case for me though, I actively played it when they pulled the plug...

    I don't think it's NCsoft's of f2p model's fault, simply we're getting old, less and less free time for play, and there are way too many games 'fighting' for those limited timeframe (at least for me). I loved the years I spent with my heroes (and a few villains), but I didn't play lately with CoX, (my main acc has a 850+ days of inactivity, the other has more than 2 months)

    Anyway, it's still a sad thing to see one of the big names closing, it was a great game.

  • JorendoJorendo Member UncommonPosts: 275

    A real shame they close the studio and the game. Those people have made one of the best running MMO's in my eyes. So many years and till today they are the only ones who managed to make a really good super hero game. Champions online...i know was made by the original CoX creators, just sucked. It never had the feel CoX had. Sony's DC UO, gone free to play after months, also no having the feel CoX managed to create. 

     

    Cox also was one of the few MMO's i would return too every now and than to play for a month and having a blast. 

     

    But all good things come to a end sadly. So who's gonna bet with me that they will close Aion next year? The bets are open!

  • spookydomspookydom Member UncommonPosts: 1,782
    Nothing lasts forever. We had some good times City of Heroes.  :(
  • rdrakkenrdrakken Member Posts: 426

    I liked City of Heroes, but when they announced they would be using Freemium instead of actual F2P I knew it was just a matter of time.

    If you chose to do something half-assed, you dont deserve to succeed. CoH could have recovered and grown...

    Companies need to learn quick that Freemium does not save a game, just extends the life a short amount of time...F2P players dont want partial games and they dont get suckered into paytraps so going freemium misses the target consumers. Your game isnt good enough for a sub, thats why so many players left the game...paytrap doesnt trap enough people because the games arent worth paying for.

  • ThornrageThornrage Member UncommonPosts: 659

    It was where I first used my namesake.  I left SWG for CoH and spent over a year fighting clockwork, freakshow, circle of thorns, the lost and so many other groups. 

    I played a dark melee scrapper and took him all the way to 50. Also had a blaster up to high 30s. I had some other characters but those 2 where the ones I played the most.

    Had some good times. Was in the CoV beta, getting up at 2am to play in the beta because I was stationed in Germany at the time.

    So long CoX, and thanks for all the fish.

    "I don't give a sh*t what other people say. I play what I like and I'll pay to do it too!" - SerialMMOist

  • jpnolejpnole Member UncommonPosts: 1,698
    Originally posted by Reas43
    Originally posted by Aeolron
    Sorry to see it go but when you have games like gw2 these sub based games are in trouble, my guess is that future mmorpgs will follow in gw2 footsteps

    Sorry to harsh your moment of GW2 fanboy gloat but, CoH was F2P.
     

    You're a shining example for your peers.

    Sorry to harsh on your moment but CoH was a memeber of the stripped down F2P model. Games under this model aren't really F2P. GW2 is 100% fully F2P with no penalty for avoiding the cash shop. CoH was great in it's time but this was bound to happen. All MMOs will have to be Box fee and F2P (with no restrictions) going forward. The only exception is WoW where millions have characters they have put 1000s of hours into and can't let them go from a mental standpoint. Otherwise, subscription fees are done. Stripped down, cash shop centric games are done. Thank you GW2.

     
     
     
  • VirusDancerVirusDancer Member UncommonPosts: 3,649
    Originally posted by jpnole

    Sorry to harsh on your moment but CoH was a memeber of the stripped down F2P model. Games under this model aren't really F2P. GW2 is 100% fully F2P with no penalty for avoiding the cash shop. CoH was great in it's time but this was bound to happen. All MMOs will have to be Box fee and F2P (with no restrictions) going forward. Subscription fees are done. Stripped down, cash shop centric games are done. Thank you GW2.

     
     

    GW2's 100% F2P?  Well, damn - what are all those people paying $60-$80-$150 for then...?

    I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?

    Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%

  • jpnolejpnole Member UncommonPosts: 1,698
    Originally posted by VirusDancer
    Originally posted by jpnole

    Sorry to harsh on your moment but CoH was a memeber of the stripped down F2P model. Games under this model aren't really F2P. GW2 is 100% fully F2P with no penalty for avoiding the cash shop. CoH was great in it's time but this was bound to happen. All MMOs will have to be Box fee and F2P (with no restrictions) going forward. Subscription fees are done. Stripped down, cash shop centric games are done. Thank you GW2.

     
     

    GW2's 100% F2P?  Well, damn - what are all those people paying $60-$80-$150 for then...?

     

    Can you read?

  • VirusDancerVirusDancer Member UncommonPosts: 3,649
    Originally posted by jpnole
    Originally posted by VirusDancer
    Originally posted by jpnole

    Sorry to harsh on your moment but CoH was a memeber of the stripped down F2P model. Games under this model aren't really F2P. GW2 is 100% fully F2P with no penalty for avoiding the cash shop. CoH was great in it's time but this was bound to happen. All MMOs will have to be Box fee and F2P (with no restrictions) going forward. Subscription fees are done. Stripped down, cash shop centric games are done. Thank you GW2.

     
     

    GW2's 100% F2P?  Well, damn - what are all those people paying $60-$80-$150 for then...?

     

    Can you read?

    Yes, you said "GW2 is 100% fully F2P"...

    Odd that you should ask me if I can read, when you are the one that typed it...when it's B2P and not F2P.  When there will be additional B2P expansions as well.  And you could have avoided the cash shop in CoX as well.  Will people completely avoid the cash shop in GW2?  Heh, ANet's counting on them not avoiding it.

    I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?

    Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%

  • jpnolejpnole Member UncommonPosts: 1,698
    Originally posted by VirusDancer
    Originally posted by jpnole
    Originally posted by VirusDancer
    Originally posted by jpnole

    Sorry to harsh on your moment but CoH was a memeber of the stripped down F2P model. Games under this model aren't really F2P. GW2 is 100% fully F2P with no penalty for avoiding the cash shop. CoH was great in it's time but this was bound to happen. All MMOs will have to be Box fee and F2P (with no restrictions) going forward. Subscription fees are done. Stripped down, cash shop centric games are done. Thank you GW2.

     
     

    GW2's 100% F2P?  Well, damn - what are all those people paying $60-$80-$150 for then...?

     

    Can you read?

    Yes, you said "GW2 is 100% fully F2P"...

    Odd that you should ask me if I can read, when you are the one that typed it...when it's B2P and not F2P.  When there will be additional B2P expansions as well.  And you could have avoided the cash shop in CoX as well.  Will people completely avoid the cash shop in GW2?  Heh, ANet's counting on them not avoiding it.

    You know what I meant smarty pants. Once again for clarification. Thanks to GW2, all MMOs going forward will be BUY TO PLAY with NO SUNSCRIPTION FEE. In addition, in order to compete with GW2, the game play CANNOT BE RESTRICTED by the cash shop. 

  • ShaddyDaddyShaddyDaddy Member UncommonPosts: 192

    http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/3/feature/6634

    I'm just curious how it went from that to, "Hey that's it boys. Lets close up shop." Hell, even the end of the article has Matt Miller saying, "2012 is shaping up to be one of the best years for City of Heroes in terms of content and updates. And I haven’t even started talking about 2013". I guess he didn't talk about it because he knew it wasn't going to be around?

  • VirusDancerVirusDancer Member UncommonPosts: 3,649
    Originally posted by jpnole

    You know what I meant smarty pants. Once again for clarification. Thanks to GW2, all MMOs going forward will be BUY TO PLAY with NO SUNSCRIPTION FEE. In addition, in order to compete with GW2, the game play CANNOT BE RESTRICTED by the cash shop. 

    People that want free do not want to pay, though.  I can understand where subs are taking a hit - economy's rough - folks prefer to spend a little here for what they actually use than perhaps seeing something as a waste of money.

    A person could spend $60 for GW2 up front or they pay $5 a month for some other game for 12 months.  For the guy that does not have more than $5 a month to throw at something, they're not going to be looking at GW2.  They would be looking at games that use a model similar to CoX.  DDO, LotRO, STO, DCUO, CO, AoC, and the list goes on and on.  It's the model that SWTOR's likely to take.  Some folks are surprised that RIFT hasn't gone that way.  Some folks are wondering if TSW will go that way or just shut down.

    It's a model that has worked - but the issue is the market's full of them now.  It's massively crowded, so to speak.

    It really sucks in CoX's case - cause it was so out of the blue.  Awesome recent announcements, plans for the rest of the year, hints at next year... and then - bam.  Really cheesed at NCSoft.

    I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?

    Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%

  • IggiePuffIggiePuff Member UncommonPosts: 146
    Originally posted by Reas43
    Originally posted by Aeolron
    Sorry to see it go but when you have games like gw2 these sub based games are in trouble, my guess is that future mmorpgs will follow in gw2 footsteps

    Sorry to harsh your moment of GW2 fanboy gloat but, CoH was F2P.
     

    You're a shining example for your peers.

    Yes it was F2P... but to unlock everything, you had to pay a monthly sub.

  • jpnolejpnole Member UncommonPosts: 1,698
    Originally posted by VirusDancer
    Originally posted by jpnole

    You know what I meant smarty pants. Once again for clarification. Thanks to GW2, all MMOs going forward will be BUY TO PLAY with NO SUNSCRIPTION FEE. In addition, in order to compete with GW2, the game play CANNOT BE RESTRICTED by the cash shop. 

    People that want free do not want to pay, though.  I can understand where subs are taking a hit - economy's rough - folks prefer to spend a little here for what they actually use than perhaps seeing something as a waste of money.

    A person could spend $60 for GW2 up front or they pay $5 a month for some other game for 12 months.  For the guy that does not have more than $5 a month to throw at something, they're not going to be looking at GW2.  They would be looking at games that use a model similar to CoX.  DDO, LotRO, STO, DCUO, CO, AoC, and the list goes on and on.  It's the model that SWTOR's likely to take.  Some folks are surprised that RIFT hasn't gone that way.  Some folks are wondering if TSW will go that way or just shut down.

    It's a model that has worked - but the issue is the market's full of them now.  It's massively crowded, so to speak.

    It really sucks in CoX's case - cause it was so out of the blue.  Awesome recent announcements, plans for the rest of the year, hints at next year... and then - bam.  Really cheesed at NCSoft.

    I see your point. I would argue that people who want something for nothing (F2P) are asking a bit much. With the B2P model, GW2 has already raked in millions with millions more to come. The bottom line is that, as a game dev, you have to be able to make your payroll. GW2 has made payroll. Also consider that expansions will come. If done correctly, revenue from expansions can offset revenue generated from sub fees. The way business operate, they don't want to cater to the cheapskates who will pay $5/month. They want to find that sweet spot where they can provide the best content for the best price. In this case I think GW2 nailed it by providing a big, gorgeous world to explore for the now standrad AAA PC game price of $60. As word of mouth and positive internet reviews from average players roll in, sales will continue. The original GW sold millions of boxes and was a cash flow positive business venture. Same will hold true for GW2. With no sub fee, players have nothing to lose and that alone will continue to drive box sales. Heck they even had to suspend sales fo their game because the servers were filling up too fast:

    http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/08/31/guild-wars-2-suspends-digital-sales

  • YizleYizle Member Posts: 517
    Originally posted by Aeolron
    Sorry to see it go but when you have games like gw2 these sub based games are in trouble, my guess is that future mmorpgs will follow in gw2 footsteps

    I am a fan of GW/GW2 but your post is misplaced and fairly ignorant. By the way did all those sub games follow in the footsteps of GW1? No.

     

    As for CoX I enjoyed my time there. Odd they are pulling the plug last time I was there when it was f2p it was still very populated. That has been about a year though. Will miss the game. I actually still have it installed to drop in once and a while.

     

     

  • YizleYizle Member Posts: 517
    Originally posted by SunYam
    Originally posted by Reas43
    Originally posted by Aeolron
    Sorry to see it go but when you have games like gw2 these sub based games are in trouble, my guess is that future mmorpgs will follow in gw2 footsteps

    Sorry to harsh your moment of GW2 fanboy gloat but, CoH was F2P.
     

    You're a shining example for your peers.

    Yes it was F2P... but to unlock everything, you had to pay a monthly sub.

    It had a cash shop just like most f2p games... oh and GW

  • jpnolejpnole Member UncommonPosts: 1,698
    Originally posted by Yizle
    Originally posted by Aeolron
    Sorry to see it go but when you have games like gw2 these sub based games are in trouble, my guess is that future mmorpgs will follow in gw2 footsteps

    I am a fan of GW/GW2 but your post is misplaced and fairly ignorant. By the way did all those sub games follow in the footsteps of GW1? No.

     

    As for CoX I enjoyed my time there. Odd they are pulling the plug last time I was there when it was f2p it was still very populated. That has been about a year though. Will miss the game. I actually still have it installed to drop in once and a while.

     

     

    Again, you have to make payroll. You can't make payroll when a game if free and not enough people are playing it AND using the cash shop.

  • VirusDancerVirusDancer Member UncommonPosts: 3,649
    Originally posted by SunYam
    Originally posted by Reas43
    Originally posted by Aeolron
    Sorry to see it go but when you have games like gw2 these sub based games are in trouble, my guess is that future mmorpgs will follow in gw2 footsteps

    Sorry to harsh your moment of GW2 fanboy gloat but, CoH was F2P.
     

    You're a shining example for your peers.

    Yes it was F2P... but to unlock everything, you had to pay a monthly sub.

    The GW2 gem store works very much like the STO store.  Heck, you can even buy coin for cash - just buy gems for cash and trade them, no?  Needs those upgrades that require coin?  Break out the wallet and find somebody looking to buy gems for coin.  But hey, that's just one aspect.

    You want to unlock more bags, well - you can farm coins to buy gems or you have to buy the gems.  Lucky for you, there's going to be that market for those transactions.

    I'm not sure why folks are pretending that it is anything other than it is.

    I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?

    Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%

  • VirusDancerVirusDancer Member UncommonPosts: 3,649
    Originally posted by jpnole
    Originally posted by VirusDancer
    Originally posted by jpnole

    You know what I meant smarty pants. Once again for clarification. Thanks to GW2, all MMOs going forward will be BUY TO PLAY with NO SUNSCRIPTION FEE. In addition, in order to compete with GW2, the game play CANNOT BE RESTRICTED by the cash shop. 

    People that want free do not want to pay, though.  I can understand where subs are taking a hit - economy's rough - folks prefer to spend a little here for what they actually use than perhaps seeing something as a waste of money.

    A person could spend $60 for GW2 up front or they pay $5 a month for some other game for 12 months.  For the guy that does not have more than $5 a month to throw at something, they're not going to be looking at GW2.  They would be looking at games that use a model similar to CoX.  DDO, LotRO, STO, DCUO, CO, AoC, and the list goes on and on.  It's the model that SWTOR's likely to take.  Some folks are surprised that RIFT hasn't gone that way.  Some folks are wondering if TSW will go that way or just shut down.

    It's a model that has worked - but the issue is the market's full of them now.  It's massively crowded, so to speak.

    It really sucks in CoX's case - cause it was so out of the blue.  Awesome recent announcements, plans for the rest of the year, hints at next year... and then - bam.  Really cheesed at NCSoft.

    I see your point. I would argue that people who want something for nothing (F2P) are asking a bit much. With the B2P model, GW2 has already raked in millions with millions more to come. The bottom line is that, as a game dev, you have to be able to make your payroll. GW2 has made payroll. Also consider that expansions will come. If done correctly, revenue from expansions can offset revenue generated from sub fees. The way business operate, they don't want to cater to the cheapskates who will pay $5/month. They want to find that sweet spot where they can provide the best content for the best price. In this case I think GW2 nailed it by providing a big, gorgeous world to explore for the now standrad AAA PC game price of $60. As word of mouth and positive internet reviews from average players roll in, sales will continue. The original GW sold millions of boxes and was a cash flow positive business venture. Same will hold true for GW2. With no sub fee, players have nothing to lose and that alone will continue to drive box sales. Heck they even had to suspend sales fo their game because the servers were filling up too fast:

    http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/08/31/guild-wars-2-suspends-digital-sales

    If GW2 can time the expansions right, and they offer enough to continue driving business - then yes, they will have a sustainable source of income that will keep the game running.  It's a gamble, and no matter how much one may despise NCSoft or dislike GW2 - one has to see it as an ambitious plan that if it works out could change the face of MMO gaming.

    For me, it's fighting the hate of NCSoft more than any hate of GW2.  If ANet can keep out the P2W nonsense and roll hard with this - I seriously wish them the best.

    I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?

    Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%

  • GibboniciGibbonici Member UncommonPosts: 472

    It's a shame to see it go, I played for 5 years and loved it. It'll always rank as one of my favourite games but it's no surprise that it's closing at last. It had a fantastic run but after redownloading and playing it again a couple of weeks ago, I think it's definitely run its course.

     

    It's a shame they never went for a CoX2. They had a good core to the game and it was completely unique in the social aspect (never, ever played a game with so much teaming going on) and I think with a totally new engine, a load of extra flexibility and updated features etc, it would've been a roaring success.

     

     

  • VirusDancerVirusDancer Member UncommonPosts: 3,649
    Originally posted by Gibbonici

    It's a shame they never went for a CoX2. They had a good core to the game and it was completely unique in the social aspect (never, ever played a game with so much teaming going on) and I think with a totally new engine, a load of extra flexibility and updated features etc, it would've been a roaring success.

    Or not.  It may have faced the issues that both CO and DCUO faced.

    Still, yeah - each time they upgraded some of the visual aspects of the game - changed a little here or there - I was hoping that at some point we'd see CoX2.

    I've no idea where I'm going to get my CoX experience out there now.  It was my go to game for when I just felt like hitting something and watching it go flying...heh.  Have to wonder if the world's going to get angrier without CoX...lol, meh.

    I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?

    Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%

  • YizleYizle Member Posts: 517

    May have to log back on and give my bots/FF MM another round.

    Hmm or my Plant/storm corr. Or Fire/time.  One thing I really enjoyed was all the different combos you could make. Huge amount of choices. And they made sure you had a ton of character slots up front to make a lot of different alts.

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