Okay. This is a post I made to the COH boards when we got a sliver of good news

Quote:[Admin] Alpha Wolf: Sorry guys but I don't have any new update. I know
Paragon management is having discussion 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.

Quote:

Quote:Originally Posted by jfp2004



Agh, this is just like that week
following the end of Mass Effect 3. It hit me hard enough that it threw
off everything. I kept bouncing between 'did that really just happen'
and 'it can't end like this' to cautious optimism that things would
change. Not entirely the same as what's going on here, but similar
enough.

I'm hoping things end up working out in everyone's favor. The last thing
I want is for the game to go away. I've been playing it for years, and
it's become a part of my life.

As I've said in the game - hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Thank you for reminding me of Mass Effect and what the fans accomplished there!

There are those who say that petitions and letter writing compaigns
never, ever work. That NCSoft has never done anything but shutter MMOs
and kill them without selling them.

Those people who say that... they keep using the word NEVER.

I SAY...

LOOK!

Look at HOLD THE LINE and the other Mass Effect 3 protests and what THEY accomplished!

They forced... FORCED - EA/Bioware into releasing the Extended Cut DLC
when all indications are that the personalities at the top of EA and
Bioware had no intention of giving in - at least at first.

True - Extended Cut does far less than most Mass Effect fans had hoped.
For many, it simply made the ending - acceptable. Not great. Not epic
like it should have been. Just acceptable.

But that's MUCH better than it was!

The fans and organizers of Hold the Line and others SHAMED Electronic
Arts... EA... THE VERY DEMON of the Gaming World... Into actually
BUDGING even that far.

I don't think you realize just how HUGE that is. Take a moment to think about it.

Mass Effect fans were nowhere NEAR as tight knit as our community. They
were scattered. There were fan groups and fanfic writing communities,
but nothing centralized. Until enough of them realized that they were
ALL pissed off. It took about 2-3 weeks - almost a month before they
really started to move.

But move they did. And LOOK at what they accomplished!

Can we do any less? Can we AFFORD to do ANY LESS THAN THEY DID?

We can do MORE.

We are UNITED from the START. It hasn't taken us WEEKS to get moving. It's only taken DAYS. Maybe even HOURS.

We are collectively a JUGGERNAUT.

And we are ALREADY up to steam and moving forward!

Yes - it is wise to keep in mind we could fail. We could devastate
ourselves emotionally if we do not acknowledge the simple fact that the
odds are not in our favor.

But is that any reason not to have hope? NO!

We have every reason to believe that WE CAN DO THIS. IT IS MORE THAN POSSIBLE.

There is no more determined fighter than one who fights for their home.

PARAGON CITY IS OUR HOME.

Dig your feet in. Take a breath. Pop an inspiration or two if you need to...

THEN CHARGE FORWARD.

And the gates of all possibility will FALL BEFORE YOU.

Okay, given certain facts (a, that out of everything we are trying, massive public exposure and letter writing are the most effective, and b I have no media resorces for massive public exposure)  I feel I must, MUST write.  But, since I also feel I must make this last attempt as effective as possible, I'm looking for a beta pre read on it:
September 6, 2012
NC Soft West
Century Square
1501 4th Avenue, Suite 2050
Seattle, WA 98101
Attn:  Cheif Executive, Head of Public Relations

NC Soft
 158-16 NCsoft R&D Center B/D
 Samsung-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
 South Korea (ZIP 135-090)
ATTN:  Chief Exectutive, Head of Public Relations

To whom it may concern:
I am writing to express my displeasure with the announcement of the decision to shut down the "City of Heroes" MMO game owned by your company.  I, in fact, beg you to
reconsider this decision.  Failing that, please consider selling the IP rights or giving them back to the community. This would allow both parties to continue to focus, as it
says in your press release "on our core businesses".
I also do not understand why this decision was made, nor why it was decided to announce it to the City of Heroes player base in the way it was.  To we players, on Thursday
everyone was happy and looking foreword to new content being released, then mid day Friday we are told that everyone is being laid off, no more work is to be done on the game;
nor even when you would be turning the servers off.  The suddenness of it has left us badly hurt and very confused; and I for one was wondering if you would please explain the
rationalizations behind this decision.
I do understand that you, as both a publicly held company and as an executive of the same, have certain responsibilities to the shareholders.  I just do not understand how
shutting our game down fulfills that responsibility; would you please explain it to me?
Out of all the types of Massively Multi player games out there, only the superhero genre has had any real appeal to me.  I enjoyed the game so much I had no problem with a
monthly subscription, and in fact had just purchased in game currency (and had used more than a bit of it) mere hours before the announcement was made.  I understand if you,
as a company think that a super heroic MMO is no longer a part of your core business model.  Sadly, I have no interest in the other MMO style games that apparently are part of
your core business.
In summation, I would urge you to reconsider this decision.  You, as an executive and a corporation have the right to decide where you spend your monies.  I hope that you
would continue to spend them on City of Heroes, though if you do not I understand as well.  Do understand that City of Heroes is the only product of yours that I like well
enough to spend money on.
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

It's time for all of us to start CRACKING and do what we can to do as much content as possible on what characters we have time for between now and November 30th. If I'm going to be forced to stop playing this game, I'm going to leave it with as few regrets as possible!
To that end, I want us all to tell each other - in as much detail as needed, whether it's a general statement or a point by point list, what you need the most for each character.
What content have you NOT DONE yet on your main level 50s yet?
If you don't have a level 50, do you need us to help you power them up to that point? Or do you have a character who is a recent favorite that you think is important to level up? Do you only need to level up to a certain point to do concept important content? Like say - running the Cimerora arc at lvl 35? Or help in running the Faultline arc? Or do you want to finally get Portal Jockey, Statesmans Pal, or Task Force Commander badges?
IMPORTANT NOTE:  I know I'm not the only one in this situation - and maybe it will change. I was in Premium mode when the announcement hit. And I CAN'T RESUB because they've locked the accounts and the ability to even accept new money! So I'm in a real bind! I don't have access to VIP status or my incarnate abilities. I truly hope this will change and the devs will simply activate VIP status across the board for all accounts until November 30th. But if not, we'll have to plan accordingly.
That means finishing up content on the Beta server. I have moved copies of all my characters there. I can access the Signature story arcs there myself. I still don't have incarnate abilities. But fortunately Cyberman 8 and Kara Skye (my main two 50s) never depended on incarnate abilities heavily anyway. They were a very welcome edge. But I can work without them with assistance in the higher arcs. (Aside from Endurance boosts. But I'll cope)
Format isn't important. Just jot down what you need. We'll figure out a schedule or something once we've got everybody's most important stuff listed.

Should we take it as a given that "I Know You're Out There Somewhere" by the Moody Blues has been tried as a Gatesong?  If the refrain, especially "And somehow I'll return again to you," didn't come up in Doug's search for useful lyrics, he needs to replace his search engine.
I know you're out there somewhere
Somewhere, somewhere
I know I'll find you somehow
Somehow, somehow
And somehow I'll return again to you
The mist is lifting slowly
I can see the way ahead
And I've left behind the empty streets
That once inspired my life
And the strength of the emotion
Is like thunder in the air
'Cos the promise that we made each other
Haunts me to the end
I know you're out there somewhere
Somewhere, somewhere
I know you're out there somewhere
Somewhere you can hear my voice
I know I'll find you somehow
Somehow, somehow
I know I'll find you somehow
And somehow I'll return again to you
The secret of your beauty
And the mystery of your soul
I've been searching for in everyone I meet
And the times I've been mistaken
It's impossible to say
And the grass is growing
Underneath our feet
I know you're out there somewhere
Somewhere, somewhere
I know you're out there somewhere
Somewhere you can hear my voice
I know I'll find you somehow
Somehow, somehow
I know I'll find you somehow
And somehow I'll return again to you
[Interlude:]
You see I know you're out there somewhere
O yes I know you're out there somewhere
You see I know I'll find you somehow
O yes I know I'll find you somehow
The words that I remember
From my childhood still are true
That there's none so blind
As those who will not see
And to those who lack the courage
And say it's dangerous to try
Well they just don't know
That love eternal will not be denied
I know you're out there somewhere
Somewhere, somewhere
I know you're out there somewhere
Somewhere you can hear my voice
I know I'll find you somehow
Somehow, somehow
I know I'll find you somehow
And somehow I'll return again to you
Yes I know it's going to happen
I can feel you getting near
And soon we'll be returning
To the fountain of our youth
And if you wake up wondering
In the darkness I'll be there
My arms will close around you
And protect you with the truth
I know you're out there somewhere
Somewhere, somewhere
I know you're out there somewhere
Somewhere you can hear my voice
I know I'll find you somehow
Somehow, somehow
I know I'll find you somehow
And somehow I'll return again to you.
-----
Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.

Let's not lose ourselves in what could have been, or how much it hurts. Well, we can do that in other threads. This is for the other side of the debate. The moments that still stand out whenever you play City of Heroes.

I first rolled Priss as a SS/Will brute, nearly 4 years ago. While Tanks never worked out for me, I had some magnificent moments on the original Street Sabre. Right from the very beginning in fact, when I skipped the Outbreak tutorial, selected Galaxy City... and loaded up right as Rikti started appearing. I didn't even have time to claim vet rewards or rearrange my power tray as Priss picked a Rikti and just started punching, stumbling into a team and thus creating her origin story in Paragon. A little while later, Ops and I met up with Atl and co in the D, promptly breaking him with Priss, Sylia and Nene, resulting in him working out Linnas costume for me.

Then there was the Positron of Hell. I remember it lasting an entire week, all us coming in every day, despite incredibly different time zones, and just fighting our way through the endless armies that only an 8-man Posi could spawn. Even now, I shudder as I remember spending two hours desperately trying to get that damn FEMA worker to stop just running in and out of the elevator, trying to survive endless waves of ghosts and Ruin Mages. At the end of the week, Street Sabre, Kara Skye, Digitalis purpurea and Sell-sword (I'm sure there were more left on the team by the end, but they're the only ones in the screenshot) went up to Positron and proceeded to beat the crap out of him with baseball bats.



(Points to Sell-Sword for excellent aim.)

The first Cavern of Transcendence trial, when Alice went from just one of my characters to my main, joining the Legendary and generally getting a lot of development, both originally as Just Another Archer, and then as Purrfect Archer. It was Alice that finally got things moving for me again writing-wise, after years of not getting anything put together fictionwise. Everything that came about because of her... the RPing and story writing with Ops and Spud after they came up with Inyme and Sammy respectively, was fantastic fun. I still remember logging in to find about three more Purrfects waiting for me, and nearly died laughing. Anything with Sammy was just fantastic run. And Inyme... One of the best memories I have of this game was putting Alices Vanguard story run through on hold until the RPing between her and Inyme was in position, then putting together a team of the Legendary and RPing the story arc up to the Positron fight. At that point, my connection hiccuped, right as Ops had Inyme completely lose her shit and tear the Automation apart. RPing the scene afterwards might be my favorite RP moment in this entire game.

While speaking of players, I have to talk about Spud, Ops and Uni. Ops I've known since 2001, when we completely stole control of a forum RPG from a useless GM, and convinced the other one working on it that really, the guy had to go. (Long story involving Autobots, Decepticons, a citybot and an army of clones.). I knew Uni from the same game and forum, and more then a few interesting moments, although none quite as spectacular as the Transistor Line. I introduced them to this game, figuring they'd enjoy it, and by God was I right. It turned out I'd actually known Spud years before, as the owner of a website where I posted a few fics, but for the first few months neither of us made the connection to the names. I brought it up one time, and we had a laugh about how it was a small world. From there, Spud grew into one of the best friends I've ever had. More then that, his friendship with Ops is one of the best things in my life, as it led to OM moving across the country, within a few hours of Uni, who he'd been long-distance dating for years. Last April, I finally got to meet all of them in person as Ops and Uni were married, which I have to rank as one of the greatest moments in my life.

Tiny Terr, before Adjustable height.

Rain of Arrows. Just... Rain of Arrows. Bonus points when teamed up with old Bill.

Warriorgeddon!

GET NAKED! FIGHT CRIME!


Clearly, advanced Rikti technology. 


Oh, like you've never tried it?

Faathim the Kind Task Force. The one time we've seriously tried Shadow Shard content, at least in my experience, and god was it hell. There's a part of me wondering about Quarterfield before it ends... my sanity shoots it down. HARD

The first time I used the self-destruct power. SO GLORIOUS.

Saving Statesman from Tyrant and getting to sit on Emperor Coles throne.

Ice-skating in Frostfires lair.

My first Paragon Haloween and Christmas.

The increasingly crazy ragdoll animations, that have only gotten even more hilarious every time the physics were tweaked.

Perhaps a rather sad one, given what's coming, but the end of Galaxy City. Dozens, maybe hundreds of players, all gathering in Galaxy City, holding a torchlight vigil and waiting for the meteors to fall. And then Street Justice was released a few weeks later, and Priss was rerolled properly at last. "SON OF A BITCH! AGAIN?!"

FTL Is Magic - 04/Sep/2012
April 2010, USA/L5
Dora looked at her pony, Bella.  She knew she might never see her again.  Mummy and Daddy had explained - they were "going up".  And Bella couldn't come.
Daddy had tried to explain.  He was an engineer, a really good one, but there weren't any jobs for him.  Mummy was a teacher, and she was working as hard as she could, just to keep them going.
"I know you love that pony, sweetie.  But, she's not really yours, she's shared with a lot of other kids.  You only get to ride her because Auntie Gwen is a family friend.  We can't afford to pay her, these days."
They were taking the family camper van, and Daddy's old SUV, loaded up with engineering stuff.  Daddy had "waved" them up.  Their first stop was somewhere called "Stellvia", that Dora had never heard of.  She couldn't find it in Mummy's old atlas, either, so it couldn't be very important.
She'd heard Daddy and Mummy talking, about what to take, what to leave behind. About something called a "second mortgage".  About a "magic green gunk", that was for use if they had a really emergency.
Leaving Bella behind was a real emergency.  So, Dora had soaked some slices of apple, in the magic stuff.  Bella ate them up.  Now everything would be alright.
Dora didn't know what happened.  Just before they left, she kept looking out. Nothing.  There was a phone call from the stables.  Bella had fallen ill and they were calling a vet.  Mummy and Daddy wouldn't let her go and see.  They had to leave.
...
"Noah?"
"Would you mind coming down here?"
"I think this is is one of those 'executive decisions'."
"There's a pony knocking on the outside of the airlock.  I think she wants to come in."

Postscript
Bella is going to try and find Dora and family.  Dora and family are probably going to have to find somewhere to live where no one is going to get upset about Bella being around.  And, figure out a way to pay Gwen for Uplifting one of her most popular ponies.
And, there is going to be concern as to whether Dora has accidentally biomodded herself (she didn't - she read and followed the handling instructions her father put on the 'childproof' container).
Bella isn't really one of the existing types, and when she escaped from the stables she was just an intelligent, talking, pony, with no obvious other abilities.  She tracked back to Dora's (abandoned) home, then used Dora's fathers workshop to
make a 'pony harness'.  This included some abandoned electronics, MLP media, and
the handwavium produced a harness giving flight, a credible space-proof force
field, and a touch-range tractor-presser manipulative capability. Bella then
followed Dora 'up'.
Bella is going to choose a new name, probably something like "Uplift Friend" ("Bella" is a human name).  She acquired a cutie mark of a golden cog wheel with a stylised pink heart superimposed.  Otherwise her appearance is pearl-coloured with a brown mane and tail, much like her original colouring, though she didn't originally have a short silver-coloured unicorn horn.  She doesn't have a trace of magical talent - instead handwavium likes her.  I guess you could call her a 'Tinkerfairy'.
What Noah saw when he looked at what was outside his airlock was a pony (wearing a harness) within a globe of coloured light (that happens to hold in an atmosphere),
and which forms fluttering brighter bands that look from a distance like
a hummingbird's blurring wings.

Dora, her family and Bella (whatever she ends up calling herself) are Open Characters.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

With my computer still down for the count, what do I do? Get my P&P on! These are scans of preliminary pencil sketches (hence the poor quality) for mm latest brainstorm, the Motodyne Type 26. However, I'm still lacking a common name for it - current ideas are on the larger image, with tpo contenders starred. Splinter wpould be an engrish pun on its speed, Kaross on deliberate adherence to NeoverseOmega's ode to the VF-4 and its "I have defeated a plane in personal combat and skinned it, now I wear it as a pelt" design aesthetic, and Kestrel just because it's a carnivorous bird that sounds cool. I'm open to other suggestions, but since the Skate I've tried to use S, K, SK, and/or or SH names in honor of The Master (Skate, Skorpion, Kite, Kyrie, some less successful designs.)

Transformation is not really anything like the canon variable devices, though there's a bit of VF-4 and VF-11 in the torso, and the secondary engines/wings fold over like the SW-XA II or VF-2SS. Exact arrangement of the upper arms/legs and hence underside is waiting on making a 3d model, but of the visible panels on the back, starting from the tail, the two on either side of the main engines/lower legs (and yes, all engines have a stealth trench - I've got a way to turn those into robot feet that should be awesome) are lower arm shield parts (and may be narrowed in the final version) while the jagged little panels forward of them are what the secondary engines hinge to and end up mostly vertical inside the back. The wide panel across the front is the main shoulder area and will be tipped forward at a low angle, with the cockpit mostly horizontal under it. The center part is the flat form of a transforming head. The two sort of triangular side pieces connecting to the nose are the VF-11 influenced part, and the nosecone folds down like the VF-4 to keep from being a huge uniboob ala VF-19. As with the Skate (the white/blue/gold 3d model I posted a link to in the gallery not long ago) the entire "snake head" cockpit/nose can detatch as an escape pod with limited thruster ability for orbital transfer or powered flight/independent atmospheric reentry as a lifting body, though it's dependent on attitude thrusters rather than canards for steering because I couldn't fit them into this transformation.

Those butterfly-vectored thrust verniers would probably be the death of any pretence to stealth in reality, but I reject that reality, this is MECHA! Rule of Cool prevails over mere pedestrian physics!

Anyway, pretties.

The three quarter view is nicer, but has some innacuracies in angle and proportion compared to the top-down version, thoguh that also some some bits already planned for change - like I said these are just preliminary sketches. The whole thing, while sleek, will be quite bulky through the body; it's a cross between an lifting body and blended wing design. I'm actually more concerned about what I'm going to do with all the volume than how to fit all the parts inside it for once

I should be able to fit the trademark Barrier Sword at least in for integrated carriage, maybe a gunpod or two as well, and a VF-27 style mega-gun can mount to one or both of the visible forearm panels, swinging around like the VF-171EX's when it transforms. Full Variable Armor is also in the works, of course.



Edit: Fixed halfassed 'shop to be at least 3/4 assed.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

The plans for the "Julian Friez Machine" (JFM) are in the public domain - the Professor publishes the plans for everything he makes, for the good of SCIENCE!
Now, if someone, lets call them the "Student", decides to build a JFM from the plans, what do they need to do?
Do the plans include something like "Find Julian Friez, and do this", which might involve replicating the indignities the Professor carried out on JF when he made the original machine?
The reason I ask this is because the JFM (or more precisely the derived Catgirling Machine) is really quite important to the Fenspace setting.  It seems likely more than one person has read those plans with an eye to building the JFM, so as to better understand the problem.  In the existing material there isn't a suggestion that JF is bothered by more than the Professor, so it seemed sensible to ask.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

Folks who were on last night might have heard me mention a spontaneous sit-in under the statue in Virtue's Atlas Park.  Here's a screenshot of it:

(click image to go to full-size shot)
It was, however, a very dynamic thing, with people coming in and out for quite a while.
Oh, and word was that video maker Samuraiko was going to the sit-ins and taking shots for an upcoming protest video.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

 
Here is a short write up of Arthur Nkomo as White Knigth of the Hellfire Club, pending Brian's approval or any needed changes if he needs a different background for MFoOS.

In line with the efforts to make fenspace less of a western/japanese playground, Arthur is African. The lucky (because he left Earth and is not here anymore) nation is Kenya, due to the beautiful landscapes, long and fascinating history, and because it was the African nation under my finger after I closed my eyes and touched the map.

He is also on the upper class side of the social scale, because, unfortunately, very few of the average african youth can afford to be internet lurkers or sci-fi nerds. Let's all hope this changes soon and everyone can afford some small frivolities in their lives.

Arthur Nkomo

Arthur was born in Mombasa. His father was an assistant in Kenya's diplomatic service, so he spent most of his youth being raised by his grandparents or moving from embassy to embassy, while his father climbed the ranks to full Ambassador.

He studied in the Institute Of Diplomacy And International Studies in the University of Nairobi, but his passion had always been cop shows, so he added courses in forensics and computers sciences. He was expected to follow his family steps in politics, but the Wave changed everything.

The launch of The Island carried waved across the world, but few places were stronger than in Africa. While most of this acquaintances were surprised or angry, he was fascinated. He spent the next months plotting and cajoling, and he finally convinced his parents to let him try. His father’s government contacts got him a chunk of handwavium as a graduation present, and he wasted no time to wave a mobile home and take a few sabbatical months in the Solar System.

He still is there.

It did not take him long ot know he would live in space. He moved to the still under construction Kandor, and he was one of the seven original (and for a long time, only) cops in the Kandor City Police Department.

He left the KCPD to enlist in Operation Great Justice when the war started, but his superiors soon found his investigative skills -and all that diplomatic training he so dearly tried to forget- too useful for the battlefield: He war assigned a rank of Troubleshooter as soon as this group was created.

Unfortunately for Arthur's dreams of being a hotshot field agent, but possibly fortunately for the Troubleshooters, sorely in need of skilled administrators, he managed a roaring success in his fist solo mission as a OF-6 troubleshooter.

This would also be the mission where he met Oscar Vykos, though since he was his main suspect their first few meetings weren't all that warm. Their relationship did warm at the end of the investigation, when both of them were trying to escape an abandoned Soviet base in Kazajstan while engaging a firefight against rebels, weapon dealers and Boskonian fugitives. Not as memorable as Paris, but it nevertheless was the start of a friendship

The reward of a job well done, of course, was an ascension to OF-7 and a job as trying to herd too many fractious agents. His education in international relations and his calm under even the most trying of agents has meant that he usually is the agent stuck with every 'Dane liaison investigation; though he grumbles and grouches, he has discovered he actually likes to helt tightening the links between fen and dane (the occasional chance of, very politely, rubbing biomods, females or homosexual agents in the face of bigots is also one perk he cherishes). He is slowly gathering an impressive list of contacts in the 'dane law agencies.

He is the second person to be asked (by Oscar) to join the Hellfire Club after the original creation, both for his skill and to open a friendly channel to the Convention law agencies.

Skills: He is a decent investigator, and a crack shot, but his real strength is keeping order in the ranks as an administrator. Through he keeps it quiet, he is also an excellent hacker.

Quirks: He has dealt with family, the construction of Kandor, a war, the dubious sanity of his friends in the Hellfire Club, herding the even more dubiously sane troubleshooters in his command, and countless 'dane politicians. Nothing fazes him.