Van Hemlock tweets: “Good grief. “#AvengeCoH” hashtags… seriously? What is wrong with you people?” And of course it is a touch on the histrionic side, but then this is a comic book universe, so arch-enemies and pledges of vengeance aren’t entirely out of character. According to narrative imperative, a group of orphan players should now travel the world, ceaselessly training in MMOG-programming techniques in mountain-top monasteries (that nevertheless have excellent broadband internet infrastructure) before returning to civilisation in the guise of The Group Of People Seeking To Exact Satisfation For A Previous Event (note to editor: there must be a catchier name), unleashing a new superhero MMOG of hitherto unimagined quality, and attracting all existing NCSoft subscribers away from their previous games. There’ll be a climactic confrontation with the board of NCSoft, probably on the window ledge of a skyscraper in the middle of a thunderstorm (it’ll need to be quite a big window ledge, perhaps with a conference table and lots of chairs), who will ultimately be vanquished, and good will have triumphed.
Until one of The Group Of People Seeking To Exact Satisfaction For A Previous Event turns out to be a robot from the future, and they all meet evil clones of themselves from a parallel universe, and their powers are drained and absorbed by an entity of pure energy from Dimension Z, and they get framed for crimes they didn’t commit and the public turn on them, and then they’re all killed, for a couple of weeks, until the deaths are retconned and then they get cancelled. Or something.
As someone who spent a decade and a lot of personal debt keeping an older game alive, I’ll say this to the CoH fans: sometimes you do just have to let go. Be glad you enjoyed the game, encourage developers to include features you loved, but eventually you need to move on.
Yes, it hurts, like all unrequited love. But, it will need to happen sooner or later.
Honestly, this is the reason I don’t buy into NCSoft games. Persistence is part of the “deal.” NCSoft has shown itself far too willing to shut down games. It’s hard to blame them for Auto Assault and Tabula Rasa, but if Turbine is still managing to stay profitable running Asheron’s Call, I find it very difficult to believe NCSoft wasn’t making money on City of Heroes/Villains.
Hey, it’s their prerogative to organize their business however they like; it’s my prerogative not to invest my time and money on their games when they have a history of shutting down MMO’s….