This is a direct copy/past of TonyV's post at the City of Heroes forums. TonyV is the center of Titan Network's efforts to save CIty of Heroes. 


It is being copied in case it is taken down. The reason should be very obvious once you read the entire post. Do so now. And take his call to action and advice to heart. 






Cross-posted at Titan Network forums
Hey all,
[SKIP TO "TL;DR" TO BYPASS SOME FLUFF]
(but it's worth a read if you think I've lost my mind)
So here's the situation. Two weeks ago today, we received word that NCsoft is closing Paragon Studios and shutting down City of Heroes. Since that time, the community has pulled together with amazing strength and clarity. Our story has been published on over two hundred news sites and blogs, we've gotten notable personalities including Mercedes Lackey (who has unwaveringly supported and promoted this game for years), Neil Gaiman, Sean Astin, Felicia Day, Scott Kurtz, Tara Platt, John Kovalic, and John C. Wright to support us. I personally have been on an Internet streaming radio show, and a pre-recorded interview from yesterday is due to be played on a broadcast radio station tomorrow. Our community has reached out even further through social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter, through user-submitted articles such as iReports on CNN (one of which was vetted by a producer), posts on other gaming forums to rally our extended community to our cause, and we have touched literally millions of people.
Over the past two weeks, I have tried my best to communicate with NCsoft. I have been copying upper-level management on our press releases as well as sending e-mails imploring them to talk to us or provide some sign that our Option A--allowing Paragon Studios to acquire the game--is being seriously considered. I presented this not as a demand or even as charity, but in clear terms of how this would benefit NCsoft both financially and in terms of public relations not just to the City of Heroes community, but to the community of gamers--their customers--as a whole. I have tried to convey that I respect their business decision, but that there are alternatives in which we all can win and that our community can avoid being needlessly destroyed as a casualty of a strategic realignment.
Unfortunately, I have heard nothing back from them but silence, the silence is deafening, and now we are at serious risk of losing even if we win. Our development team is a highly qualified group of people with proven talents in developing successful games. We have undoubtedly lost some through finding other employment, and we are at the time now where if we don't fall through to our next course of action, our window of opportunity for retaining the people who made this place great will be irrevocably closed.
TL;DR READERS START HERE (yes, I know it's still long, bear with me, this is really important)
Before any of this craziness was going on, I managed to get e-mail addresses for NCsoft management. Not e-mail addresses you'll find on any public publications. I have stressed that our goal is not to cause NCsoft harm, neither financially nor reputation-wise. At this point, I am convinced that our message just isn't getting through. I still think that they do not understand why this game is so important to us. And it might be my fault; if they have not been seeing the news or our efforts with the rallies or the outreach, what does the word of one random stranger on the Internet really mean?
So for two weeks, I have been desperately resisting doing this because I don't want it to be mistaken as a sign of harassment, but we have to get our message through. I am now asking you all to contact the following people at the following addresses. Let them know what this game means to you. Tell them your stories. Send them your pictures. Stress how much our development staff has meant to us over the years, why they are unique in the industry, the story of how fun it was on Game Night before the Player Summit, how nice the artist was who signed your Blue King #1.

: Mr. Taek-Jin Kim, CEO
[url=mailto:sy@ncsoft.com: Dr. Song-Yee Yoon, Chief Strategist
[url=mailto:dikim2@ncsoft.com[/url]: Mr. Dong-Il Kim, CFO
Please note them now, because there's a chance that this post might be taken down quickly.
I hope that the e-mails will stress positives, reasons why we believe releasing City of Heroes to be acquired by a third party is a good business move that benefits everyone. However, I know that there are still a lot of hurt feelings in the community, and I suspect that there will be some negative e-mails sent no matter how much I ask them not to be. I will ask that you at least do this for me: Tell them why you are hurt and angry over a game being canceled. Express to them what you're feeling, how in the past five years this makes five games now (Dungeon Runners, Auto Assault, Exteel, and Tabula Rasa as well as City of Heroes) that NCsoft has shut down; why that is having a very negative impact on their reputation; why you have started "Boycott NCsoft" movements and why you are telling friends in the gaming community--their customer base--to avoid titles such as Guild Wars 2 and Blade and Soul, titles they need to thrive. If you are angry over having sunk costs in City of Heroes that cannot be recovered (extended subscriptions, Paragon Points, microtransactions for which you feel you are not receiving the full value of), be sure to point out how these issues go away if the game continues.
Send them e-mails. Tell your friends, supergroups, coalitions, and teams. Post on Facebook. Tweet it. Yell it out your front door if you have to, butget the word out.
I know some of you might disagree with this strategy and opt not to take part, and I understand; it's your choice. Please know that this has been a well-thought-out decision that I've struggled with and I was really hoping that there would be some hint that things would be resolved by now. I wish we had the luxury of continuing our current plan of urging one-on-one communication or waiting until we receive some sign that things are going our way, but we've gotten to the point that now, every day we wait is one more day that our development team is permanently at risk of dissolving through attrition, one more day that we lose players who become demotivated, one more day until November 30 when this all becomes a moot point.
I'll continue posting news and updates on the Titan Network forums. You guys are the best damn community ever. We really need you now.
__________________
We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time.
(If you love this game as much as I do, please read that post.)

Change your Yahoo mail password - your account has been compromised and is being used to send spam.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

Exciting Times - 14/Sep/2012
The Little Black Egg sat there.  It might not like them, but it had clear instructions.  There was the Original Instruction, of course, but the time was not right for that, yet.  Then there were the more recent ones, not quite so fundamental, but still needing to be obeyed.
It had to protect and maintain Mako, as an independent being.  Rather difficult, as it had no idea where Mako was, and the suggested time-scale for recording a memory update from her had gone way beyond 'critical'.
It sort of liked Mako, she was much more straight-forward than the Master.  Holding her memory, her 'soul' as the Master had called it, within, sort of gave it a feeling of being... wanted, valuable.  Somehow it must be able to help her.
It didn't have a lot of leeway, the bounds laid on it were so firm they were adamant.  There was also a resources problem, due to a lack even of spells it could make use of.  There wasn't a Forge, and raw materials, either, so that route was closed to it, too.  Having at least a temporary Mako would be so very useful...
Nearby it could feel something that had... possibilities.  It didn't feel magical, it didn't feel technological, it felt... different.  Had a new Power started playing on the board?  But, there was no feeling of personality about it.
Whether it could influence the local reality was unclear.  It followed the usual procedures, but there was no feedback.  A new experience - usually there was at least a feeling of resistance.  Having nothing better to do it delicately pushed, tried to shift probabilities, alter chance behaviour.  It could feel a human nearby, that seemed the best bet.
At last, a change.  It didn't care for itself, being nearly indestructible, and unaging, but it felt time was running out for Mako.  The human had a feeling of anger and guilt.  There was movement.  A new environment.
When it was abandoned, in a pile of other materials, it wondered.  Then it felt the possibilities, changing, becoming more pregnant, and it did its best to encourage them.  It wasn't a summoning and shaping spell, it wasn't a Forge, but it felt like something it could use.
The Little Black Egg held all the patterns of Mako's memories, the plans to build or rebuild her, down to a molecular level, in all parts but her organic brain.  Somehow it hoped it could work around that, as it fed the patterns outward, and felt the materials be re-woven, as needed.  There was some resistance, in the weapons, no matter how hard it pushed, but then there was a sudden give, as if a compromise was reached.  Maybe in the non-functioning Krem cell?  And, something else substituted.
A delay, not enough organic materials.  For some reason the surroundings couldn't be harvested, it "wasn't appropriate".  But, things seemed stable, and the time was usefully used in storing solar energy.  It could have fed in energy from its own deep reserves, but something held it back from offering that.
The final resource.  Delivered, processed, some excess stored against future need.  Interesting.  It could now see how to weave a mammalian brain together from dead matter.  Worth remembering.  Mako's mind image went through some sort of filtering process, which it again fought against, but she at least felt stable and sane.  For thoroughness, it took a copy of the result.
BOOTSTRAP.  Mako was waking.  That instruction was satisfied, at least for now.  So, it could follow the Master's latest one, "Go Away!  Stop Bothering Me!".
And, it was gone.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

OK, this is getting annoying. I'm trying to view a site that uses shtml files for some unknown reason.

Whenever I click on a link to one of these files in Chrome it declines to open the file, it prompts me to "keep" or "discard" the file as it "may be dangerous". 

I'm running Chrome with Adblock and Noscript enabled. And it still does this. I can save the file locally and open it which lets me view the text, but the images do not display because the page uses local links rather than fully-qualified ones.

ANNOYING.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

Okay. I thought the game was badly broken and I did a complete uninstall and reinstall. 
Still having the same issues. But I've since found out it may not be my computer/client OR Champions that's at fault. 

Quote:Atlantea, it's because you're in Texas. My roomie and some other CO players did some trace-route research, and there's an issue with two pipeline providers, Time Warner and Cogent, who are for some reason losing a crap ton of packets in their data hand-off. A Time Warner engineer (not a support tech) has the trace route data from the players and has opened an investigation as of last night.

From the following post on the forums. 

Quote:By no means am I to be credited with this, but it's the truth. If I'm right, Hyperstrike was the first to say this (though I could be wrong but I don't care, it's good advice... and bears repeating) if we really want to win against this.
One of the biggest things they're going to look at (if they're inclined to look at anything) is numbers now. We need to show support and solidarity BY PLAYING THE GAME.
I'm sure they'd like nothing more than for us to vent our spleen and then move on to other games (their games if given a choice). That justifies them closing it down. That's what they're hoping on if they're determined to shut us down. We made noise and that's great, BUT THAT'S NOT ENOUGH. Not until November 30th when there's no choice. If you feel the need to protest after that, there's no recourse but to speak with your wallet.
Right now, we still have our game, and leaving can be just as vital as our voice when it means we aim to stay.
Titan contiunes to come up with 'solidarity' events. The next Positron Rally (on Thursday and Saturday to run both Positron TF's is) just more fire in the bellies of our participants, and data to those who can mine it to show how important we are to those who swore to stand behind Paragon Studios... Both it's employees and the game they created. Each of these are pivitol in making our case.
It hurts. I know. It's sad to look at... (whatever) I know. The thing is, for now, we CAN'T STOP PLAYING.
Us 'moving on' is exactly what they want. If, 3 months from now there's little to no playerbase, they'll close the doors with little regret, and probably little press. They will have won. After all, WE gave up. It's not enough to have energy now... 
If it means so much to us, honoring those relationships that we know will contiune beyond this game...
If it means so much to us, those relationships that have passed us from other causes, that we'll never see again.
If it means so much to us, the server communities we formed, and will never see in this inacarnation again..
IF IT MEANS SO MUCH TO US, the development team that we praise for their time here and don't want it to stop... further enriching this game in ways we've rarely or never seen in any other MMO...
We need to keep playing. We, the players, need to dredge up the strength to log in and keep fighting the good fight (for heroes) and taking what's ours (for the villains). As the dev team said... without us, they are nothing.
We need to keep being their heroes (and villains!!!) We need to keep logging in and letting NCSoft know we support Paragon city 'til the bitter end!!!
I don't care how sad it is, how mad this makes you. These things don't matter. If we have any hope of saving our City, it's through actions AS MUCH AS WORDS.
Keep logging in. Keep saving the day (or taking it over) keep the 'little guy' safe (or keep robbing the bank). Whatever it is to keep our City vital. KEEP DOING IT.
IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO TOTALLY GET OUR MESSAGE ACROSS WHEN WE'RE NOT DOING COMMUNITY/SERVER EVENTS TO SHOW SOLIDARITY.
LET NCSOFT WE WILL NOT GO QUIETLY INTO THE NIGHT, AND WE WILL KEEP PLAYING 'TIL THE LIGHTS GO OUT.
I don't ask you do this for me. At the end of the day, I'm a nobody lurker who only wished they could contribute more than they did, and you probably don't even know who I am.
Do this for yourselves, who claim to love Paragon and the Rogue Isles so much. Do this for the Game Developers who are not just losing a game, they're losing a job!
But again, just as importantly, do this for yourself...
If you love this game, spend as much time in it as you can, because if everything else fails, you will at least knew you did everything could could to suck the marrow out of it and learned and felt all you could for this City until the bittersweet end.
Thank you.
A player and citizen of Paragon City.
EDIT:upon investigation of the original thread I was referring to it was Kellan Pine that Hyperstrike referenced. It really doesn't matter. Please, pass this on to everyone you know. Especially those not logging in from depression or anger. We need their optimism and hope more than ever!! No guaratees it will succeed, but there were no guarantees to our heroes either... they just did what they knew was right...

Fly Tipping - 12/Sep/2012
It was a popular spot.  For fly tipping, anyway.  Near the road.  Out of direct sight.  Quite a few people had found it really convenient.
He'd been in a hurry.  Yes, he'd promised to store the stuff.  But, his brother always dumped tat on him.  And, never collected.  A load of papers, some old paint tins, weirdly marked with bio-hazard signs.  It all had to go.  He was moving house, and he had quite enough of his own junk.
When he dumped the stuff, he wasn't careful.  If he'd have cared, he'd have sorted it all, into the right recycling bins.  Or, taken it to the 'amenity site', and been watched to ensure he put the right stuff in the right skip.  So, one of the paint cans was holed, when he dumped the old tiles, and the bedstead. Who cared?
The heap brewed over several weeks.  The liquid oozed out of the crushed can, first dissolving the papers, then into a water-filled dip in the ground.  After a few days the other cans fell into the now thick pool of liquid, and themselves dissolved, then the tiles, and, finally the bedstead.
The liquid slowly changed colour, from a murky grey, briefly to a gleaming white, with red accents, then it shifted to blend into the background.  A fox came and sniffed at it, then yelped, and bolted, as the liquid roiled.  There wasn't enough, barely a hundred kilos, so tendrils reached out to other piles of rubbish, moving as if sniffing at them, and selected choice pieces.
The last arrival was a 'waste disposal specialist'.  Supposed they cleaned-up for one of the cheaper local veterinary surgeries, and took things off for 'hygienic disposal'.  Money was tight, and incineration was getting pretty expensive.  The driver was a part-trained 'hygienic operative', and didn't even know enough to pick a good dumping spot.
Even so, you'd think a non-reflective grey pool would attract some attention. But, Dave just walked straight across it, and it conveniently went solid under each of his steps.  Nearly a hundred kilos of dead pets, neatly bagged, with some convenient hedge clippings kicked over them, and he was finished, and could go home early.
Good quality organics was the main thing that'd been missing.  This was a lane, just off a country road, but the pool had somehow felt it wrong to use living plants, or harvest too much from the soil.  The bodies were ideal, and there was enough spare to build some organic reserves.  Afterwards, the pool went back to sucking as much energy as it could from out of the sunshine.
Mako staggered, slowing climbing to all four feet.  System Status: Power Reserves at 10%, not critical, but close to it.  She tried to boot the Krem cell, it stuttered, then started to feed a reassuring steady stream of power.  She took a deep breath.
Looking around, she'd just climbed out of a dip in the ground.  Her organic system were functioning, but her cybernetics felt... wrong.  Absent mindedly she grazed a bit on the local vegetation.  Systems were slowly coming on-line, but parts of her modular weapons were just missing, all the lethal stuff an analysis suggested.  The Forge was still there, and with that she should be able to replace anything missing, given the right resources.
But... her memory was fuzzy, both the organics and cybernetic archives.  She didn't remember how she got here.  Battle damage?  No signs of that.  Ah!  Her sensor systems were coming on-line.  GPS, one of the older formats, put her in middle England.  FM radio broadcasts, television signals, cellular phone masts.  Early 21st century.
She didn't remember coming to this Earth, and normally she was briefed...  She'd been warned the Krem cell wouldn't work on most of them.  Panic nearly froze her in place.  What was her rider's name?  D...  Dan?  Anger?  No, that wasn't right, but was as much as she could remember.
Power reserves hitting 80% so she could afford to try the 'unconventional' systems.  And, there seemed to be at least one she didn't recognise as part of her standard configuration.  Holo cloak seemed good, as she cycled through different coat and mane colours for a horse, and the simulated rider worked, though the clothes looked wrong, but, quite why?
Now for the acid test.  No sign of combat, so she'd risk social mode.  Her insides folded, shifted, and she fell back onto two legs, wobbled, then stood. Shaking out her blonde hair she looked down, from her slightly less than two metre height.  Summer dress, white of course, sensible shoes, her saddle morphed into a shoulder bag.  Matched the TV broadcasts, so she should be OK.
'Enemy territory infiltration' package loaded.
Time to find out where she really was.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

Call to Action: Positron's Ally Event: 
Hey all, it's time for our next event! The coordinators at the Titan Network have been discussing what we can do to keep fans engaged and having fun, and I think we've come up with a pretty good follow-up to the Unity Rally this past weekend. I'm going to let Maressa, purveyor of our last project, announce and give the details of this one as well. I know I'll be there, and I hope you will be able to come, too!

-----
Ever since our Rally last weekend Tony and I have been working on what our next in game event should be. Rallies are great but we wanted to something a bit more active and something that non VIPs could get involved in. We also wanted something that would be a nod to the developers without whom we would have no game to play. With all of that in mind I would like to announce:
Positron's Ally
Two days of Task Force fun. 
On Thursday September 20th at 9PM Eastern/ 2AM GMT
And
Saturday September 22nd at 12 Noon Eastern/5PM GMT
Join TonyV, myself and the entire Titan Network team in running the Positron Task Forces, part one and two. In the world’s biggest synchronized Positron Task Force group across all the City of Heroes Servers. 
Come with a team already formed or make yourself a PUG while you’re there!
Take screenshots, chat with old friends, make new friends and listen to your favorite server based radio stations.

The movement to save COH has been gathering steam and gathering attention in the media. Here are a few links.
http://www.threatormenace.com/2012/09/0 ... ont-leave/
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-840174
http://bleedingcool.com/2012/09/10/five ... es-kind-of
A re-tweet from Felicia Day:
Felicia Day ‏@feliciaday
Wow this made me tear up a little. Gamers trying to save their game RT: @FirstOfThFallen: http://bleedingcool.com/2012/09/10/five ... es-kind-of ...