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"Keep NcSoft from shutting down City of Heroes" petition passes 10,000 names

135

Comments

  • superniceguysuperniceguy Member UncommonPosts: 2,278
    Originally posted by Quirhid
    Originally posted by superniceguy
    Originally posted by Quirhid
     

    I am already subbed to it for 6 months as of last week until March 2013, and have bought 5 15 day time cards, to activate 3 more accounts, which I am not sure will actually work. What more is there to do?

    Why assume people are not putting money into it?

    Because signing something is far easier than actually putting money on the table. And some posters did admit they signed the petition but had no interest in paying or playing it. There is no way of knowing how many signatures in that petition came from people like these.

    People can not really pay anything anyway, they have cut off all billing. You can not buy more points, and you can not buy a subscription.

    Currently free accounts are virtually unplayable. The only hope is that a Time Card will work, and get it to VIP status, beyond doing this petition

  • superniceguysuperniceguy Member UncommonPosts: 2,278
    Originally posted by Quirhid
    Originally posted by superniceguy
    Originally posted by Quirhid
     

    Who is doing harm to NCsoft? No one

    They will see the petitions, and if they can keep it going they will as Smedley was able to do with EQmac. If they see they can not keep it going they will not.

    The fact that this is a rushed announcement, and there has been no official schedule set up yet,  has hopes that they are just seeing what the reactions of people are, from the shutdown announcement. If there are loads of people protesting against the closure then it may not get shut down, and operate a Plan B.

    Are you saying that if they don't really mean to shut it down, they wont, but if they do, they definitely will?

    When SWG shut down, it had more of an organised timetable of events, from day one of its shutdown announcement. This has not

    Sep 15th was last day that billing was accepted. Oct 15th was the day the that free trials to other SOE games would launch, and the start of end game events.

    All NCsoft have done currently is announce that the game will close by the end of the year, and turned off all billing. It is only rumoured that it will close on Nov 30th, and nothing official atm.

    They will shut it down if it does not get much protest. If loads of people protest to it, and GW1 starts to drop interest then they may close GW1 instead. I can imagine those eager for GW2 would have tried GW1 before GW2 launch to get a taste of what GW 2 might be like, so can see GW1 being quite popular, but now that GW2 has launched, I can see GW1 interest dropping right down.

  • QuirhidQuirhid Member UncommonPosts: 6,230
    Originally posted by superniceguy
    Originally posted by Quirhid
     
    [...]

    All NCsoft have done currently is announce that the game will close by the end of the year, and turned off all billing. It is only rumoured that it will close on Nov 30th, and nothing official atm.

    They will shut it down if it does not get much protest. If loads of people protest to it, and GW1 starts to drop interest then they may close GW1 instead. I can imagine those eager for GW2 would have tried GW1 before GW2 launch to get a taste of what GW 2 might be like, so can see GW1 being quite popular, but now that GW2 has launched, I can see GW1 interest dropping right down.

    Sure. But GW1's servers are very cheap to run. Infact it is partly what allowed them to go into B2P instead. It has also been one of the most popular MMO titles as hinted by Xfire for a long time now (I guess it has declined significantly now that GW2 released). If you can trust Xfire that is.

    I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been -Wayne Gretzky

  • RobsolfRobsolf Member RarePosts: 4,607

    Unless folks start subbing and/or dumping cash into it, it ain't gonna happen.  Don't care if they get half the globe to sign it.  You can't cash signatures.

    I'll miss the game alot.  But in general, there's just something especially horrible about an online game going down the tubes.  Think of all the hours of work and play invested into something that's just gone with one stroke of the delete button.  Every second spent developing content, every second put into playing it... all the fruits of the effort... just gone.

  • superniceguysuperniceguy Member UncommonPosts: 2,278
    Originally posted by Quirhid
    Originally posted by superniceguy
    Originally posted by Quirhid
     
    [...]

    All NCsoft have done currently is announce that the game will close by the end of the year, and turned off all billing. It is only rumoured that it will close on Nov 30th, and nothing official atm.

    They will shut it down if it does not get much protest. If loads of people protest to it, and GW1 starts to drop interest then they may close GW1 instead. I can imagine those eager for GW2 would have tried GW1 before GW2 launch to get a taste of what GW 2 might be like, so can see GW1 being quite popular, but now that GW2 has launched, I can see GW1 interest dropping right down.

    Sure. But GW1's servers are very cheap to run. Infact it is partly what allowed them to go into B2P instead. It has also been one of the most popular MMO titles as hinted by Xfire for a long time now (I guess it has declined significantly now that GW2 released). If you can trust Xfire that is.

    I was not even going by Xfire, but whatever NCsoft can see as fact.

    With City of heroes hinted at closing now, there is more chance people will not be putting more money into GW1 when that could close as well, and even if CoH was not closing GW2 is in, GW1 is out, but if GW1 closes then it will not stop people still spending money in the store with City of Heroes.

    The point is that there is a stronger chance a petition will work with City of Heroes, than any other MMOs

  • cfeakescfeakes Member Posts: 1
    Originally posted by smokedogg311
    Unless your sending them a nice chunk of money in with that petition then you can kill CoH goodbye.

    Iets do the math 9 million paying subscribers for coh as of Friday. The reason cov is getting shut down is this: GW 2 had a 6 million dollar cost over run on there budget although I agree coh isent racking in the bucks its quarterly profits  are over  10 million dollars. Not once has coh ever  gone into the red.  this information is public. NC Soft wants to pad for GW 2.

     

    There is absolutely nothing wrong with people supporting a cause they might not be involved with. If i dident have cancer i would still support cancer research. i have supported coh from its infancy I subscribe and pay for three accounts  and have done so for 8  years.  If enough people care and take action they can make a difference. The other side you won't see is that another company is working on trying to gain the rights to coh. Coh titan network. So please dont judge the people who stand up for something they balieve in and dont judge those that might support us.

  • superniceguysuperniceguy Member UncommonPosts: 2,278
    Originally posted by Robsolf

    Unless folks start subbing and/or dumping cash into it, it ain't gonna happen.  Don't care if they get half the globe to sign it.  You can't cash signatures.

    I'll miss the game alot.  But in general, there's just something especially horrible about an online game going down the tubes.  Think of all the hours of work and play invested into something that's just gone with one stroke of the delete button.  Every second spent developing content, every second put into playing it... all the fruits of the effort... just gone.

    Signing the petition is the only thing you can do atm, becuase as soon as they announced the closure, they stopped all billing. Which I do not understand, as they could have said we have until 30th Sep to resub / buy points which will allow us full access to 30th Nov (or whenevr it closes), and they could have gotten some more money.

    Some people probably cancelled so they could spend time and play GW2, but I bet a lot would resub now if given the chance. It seems that NcSoft have shot themselves in the foot atm, unless they change things over the coming weeks. It just seems like they just cut off all billing to prevent any law suits or something. Nothing with this closure is finalised atm.

    I would be happy buying more points, but NCsoft are not allowing me to. I'm just glad I have a sub until Mar 2013!

    At least with SWG they gave a few more months to resub.

  • spookydomspookydom Member UncommonPosts: 1,782
    I loved City of Heroes for a time, but I can never see myself playing it again. I would feel a bit hypocritical signing it. I am in two minds about this whole thing really. Part of me thinks that there is not an infinate ammount of mmo gamers out there and too many games on the market and that COH has had it's time and should be let go. The other part of me belives that in a world that allows shit like Rappelz and Maplestory or even the granddaddys like EQ and UO to keep trucking along. Why isn't there any room for COH?...........I know it's easy to pick holes in this. Just putting my thoughts down.
  • SenanSenan Member UncommonPosts: 788
    Originally posted by Enerzeal

    What the hell is wrong with some of you? People want to take a swing at saving a game they love to play. If people who don't support the game with money want to add their voice to it then so be it! So what if this doesn't bring it back, so what if it might seem a little to little, it's been proven to work before, so why not let them take a swing at saving something they love?

    Why do people call this a stupid cause? 

    Why do people mock them for making this petition.

    I swear MMORPG.com is spiraling down into the deepest part of the shit...

     

    I signed it, not because I play it, but because I would rather see a few people get their game back, how ever little hope it may contain.

    Amen to this. Some of the members of this community can be downright pathetic at times.

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  • adam_noxadam_nox Member UncommonPosts: 2,148

    While it's unlikely this will work, the game still has probably 50k devoted players.  Saying that only 10k randoms who don't even play signed the petition is ignorant.

     

    And they could put the game into service mode.  NCsoft must think it will look bad to have a service mode mmo in it's portfolio.  It believes GW2 is the future.  Well ncsoft, look at the mmorpg forums only a week after release and see how your future is doing. 

  • OSF8759OSF8759 Member Posts: 284
    Originally posted by Yaoiman

    Most of the people upset about this game closing didn't even play it. They just want to hop on the bandwagon.

     

    10,000 sigs of random people who aren't going to play the game is not going to do anything.

    This.

    NCsoft set us up the bomb. We have no chance to survive. Make your time.

  • VyethVyeth Member UncommonPosts: 1,461

    If everyone on that list donates at least a dollar, then perhaps I am sure they will make a case to look into keeping at least one server open.. or even give out the required software to run a personal server..

    But as onther users have said, names on a list does not mean much, especially if the reasons for the closure are largely financial..

    If the game had over 10,000 people subscribed to the game prior to the f2p switch, it would have maintained itself longer..

  • HammerHeartHammerHeart Member Posts: 5

    I see a lot of speculation here about why this is happening and guys, I have to say, that if you haven't been following what's going on with CoH, you shouldn't speculate. It doesn't help.

    Fact is, CoH was thriving and has a very strong community going. the devs were very involved and had new content in beta for many months to come. It's not dying because it wasn't making money.  According to their own reports, CoH made 2.5 million for NCSoft in just the 2nd quarter of this year.


    I've seen other MMO's die. I was playing some of them when it happened, but In all my years of gaming, nothing has affected me, my family and gaming friends as much as the sudden, callous manner that NCSoft pulled the plug on City of Heroes. Like a light switch. No explanation, just gone. Wham! In one day, everyone at Paragon Studios was fired.


    In a vast sea of 'yet another fantasy-based MMO', CoH is completely unique and now that specialness is being crushed and taken off the playing field. NCSoft doesn't even want to sell it. Even though CoH is a popular game that is making money, they simply want to kill that potential competition.


    This action on the part of NCSoft should cause outrage all across the gaming industry. You don't treat paying customers and dedicated employees in this manner, and if publishers like NCSoft aren't sent a loud and clear message this this is not acceptable, then GuildWars 2 may well find themselves in the same situation down the road. Oh and btw, this is not the first time NCSoft has done this to a game and it's community.

  • HammerHeartHammerHeart Member Posts: 5
    Originally posted by alacres
    Originally posted by Enerzeal

    What the hell is wrong with some of you? People want to take a swing at saving a game they love to play. If people who don't support the game with money want to add their voice to it then so be it! So what if this doesn't bring it back, so what if it might seem a little to little, it's been proven to work before, so why not let them take a swing at saving something they love?

    Why do people call this a stupid cause? 

    Why do people mock them for making this petition.

    I swear MMORPG.com is spiraling down into the deepest part of the shit...

     

    I signed it, not because I play it, but because I would rather see a few people get their game back, how ever little hope it may contain.

    Amen to this. Some of the members of this community can be downright pathetic at times.

     

    Well Said. I just don't get some people. Hey guys - we are ALL gammers here, we all share that common bond so why the biterr, negitive statements about a sizable group of players that want to try and keep their game alive? What is that?

    Sometimes I think some people just like to tear something down because it makes them feel superior in a twisted way, and from most of the comments I've read here, a lot of you have no clue what CoH is really like, nor are you informed on what's happening.

  • storytellerstoryteller Member Posts: 2

    I'm all for doing everything I can to help save the game.  I've paid and played the game for 8+ years continuously.  I still have years and years of content and goals I'll never be able to do.  Many of the things the community is trying and suggesting probably won't work, but if there is a way, any way, to save the game that's been the core of my last decade, I'm going to help with my vocal support and $$$ support when the time comes.

     

    --Jason, the Storyteller

  • TibernicusTibernicus Member Posts: 433
    Originally posted by OSF8759
    Originally posted by Yaoiman

    Most of the people upset about this game closing didn't even play it. They just want to hop on the bandwagon.

     

    10,000 sigs of random people who aren't going to play the game is not going to do anything.

    This.

    NCsoft set us up the bomb. We have no chance to survive. Make your time.

    You don't think that a well known, well loved MMO thats been running over 9 years can't get 10k signatures from fans? You think it makes more sense that people are just bandwagoning?

  • FrodoFraginsFrodoFragins Member EpicPosts: 5,898
    Every game, except apparently Alganon, requires a certain profit margin in order to keep running.  Petition signatures won't change that.
  • TibernicusTibernicus Member Posts: 433
    Originally posted by FrodoFragins
    Every game, except apparently Alganon, requires a certain profit margin in order to keep running.  Petition signatures won't change that.

    The difference with this game is that everyone is under the impression that it's making a profit and has quite a lot of subs, and that it's being closed for restructuring reasons, not profit reasons. Hence why they want other publishers to pick it up.

  • SenanSenan Member UncommonPosts: 788
    Originally posted by HammerHeart

    I see a lot of speculation here about why this is happening and guys, I have to say, that if you haven't been following what's going on with CoH, you shouldn't speculate. It doesn't help.

    Fact is, CoH was thriving and has a very strong community going. the devs were very involved and had new content in beta for many months to come. It's not dying because it wasn't making money.  According to their own reports, CoH made 2.5 million for NCSoft in just the 2nd quarter of this year.


    I've seen other MMO's die. I was playing some of them when it happened, but In all my years of gaming, nothing has affected me, my family and gaming friends as much as the sudden, callous manner that NCSoft pulled the plug on City of Heroes. Like a light switch. No explanation, just gone. Wham! In one day, everyone at Paragon Studios was fired.


    In a vast sea of 'yet another fantasy-based MMO', CoH is completely unique and now that specialness is being crushed and taken off the playing field. NCSoft doesn't even want to sell it. Even though CoH is a popular game that is making money, they simply want to kill that potential competition.


    This action on the part of NCSoft should cause outrage all across the gaming industry. You don't treat paying customers and dedicated employees in this manner, and if publishers like NCSoft aren't sent a loud and clear message this this is not acceptable, then GuildWars 2 may well find themselves in the same situation down the road. Oh and btw, this is not the first time NCSoft has done this to a game and it's community.

    This post right here should be the end of this argument. I just recently started playing CoH again and it was by no means lacking in players. Multiple servers that I've messed around on seemed healthier than most mmos I've played to date, including some that are considerably newer than CoH. 

    The development team also seemed active enough and if you look at the last interview done for the game on this site (back around August 10th), you'll see that the team itself obviously didn't have a clue this was going to happen. 

    So yeah, I wholeheartedly agree with this post - if you haven't been following (or at least playing) CoX recently, there's really no point in speculating. It's very unlikely that this decision was made based on a lack of player interest in the game.

     

    Edit to include the link to the interview I was talking about - http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/3/feature/6634

    Take a look at the last line said by Matt Miller himself - "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….."

    Yes, those are truly the words of a Senior Lead Designer that is worried the game is becoming unprofitable to the point of an imminent closure...

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  • HammerHeartHammerHeart Member Posts: 5

     

    This story is now being followed on 44 different boards and blogs, Including CNN. The latest information is this:

    [Admin] Alpha Wolf: "Sorry guys but I don't have any new update. I know Paragon management is having discussions with NCSoft and investors. Continue get people to sign online petitions, post on game forums, and just continue to make noises so NCSoft cannot ignore players."

    This is encouraging news. Please, go hit any boards you know of and talk about what is going on with CoH. The more media coverage and support we have, the more likely that these talks may succeed.

     

    image

  • VyethVyeth Member UncommonPosts: 1,461

    Ya know, with all this petitioning and publicity or what have you, the game may actually have quite a population increase if they do choose to bring it back..

    I for one may re-install and even throw a few bucks in the cash shop as a "good job" support for all the people who put forth their voices, and to help prevent the situation from repeating any time soon..

  • ZzadZzad Member UncommonPosts: 1,401
    Originally posted by smokedogg311
    Unless your sending them a nice chunk of money in with that petition then you can kill CoH goodbye.

    Pretty much that im´m afraid....

  • herculeshercules Member UncommonPosts: 4,924
    Asheron call 2.  And auto assault closed because they were never profitable ,swg closed because some lost the ip licence.coh made a hell of a lot of money in the heydays for ncsoft and can still be with  server merger and reduced staffing.
  • pantangienpantangien Member Posts: 5

    NC soft california has already react:

     

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  • SnarlingWolfSnarlingWolf Member Posts: 2,697

    Just because CoH had players doesn't mean it was making money. That is the problem with F2P.

     

    All thes people who think that they just shut down a profitable game for fun are out of their minds. The game WASN'T PROFITABLE so it shut down.

     

     

    These 10,000 people should have all spent $10 in the store last month to keep the game running instead of spending nothing and then making a petition.

This discussion has been closed.