Please hire the City of Heroes developers?!

agentnx5

Dear Cryptic, Perfect World, and members of the Champions community:



As you all have no doubt heard by now, CoH is going to officially die soon, which was surprising because they are not inactive. I thought first a few people were just BS-ing to troll or create hysteria on Zone chat today. But it has become crystal clear this game is going under while other, worse quality F2P MMOs somehow still survive (i.e.: Knight Online, Battlefield Heroes, Age of Conan, etc.), which I find kind of infuriating tbh. Comic superheroes have a special place in my heart.

But this news is not why I have created this topic.
If you want to discuss this news, please use this thread instead:
http://co-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=167331

What I want to ask here, is if we can all, as entire community, seek to hire some of their developers at least.

This was your creation Cryptic. I'd imagine many of the people on your team might even know some of the people over there as personal friends. People who are about to loose their dream-jobs in making fun superhero game stuff. My heart goes out to those developers who put in the best effort, beyond the call of duty, and still are stand too loose it all in a matter of days (no official "deadline" that I've seen yet); and my heart also goes out to those players who put in untold numbers of hours collecting their stuff, leveling their characters, and creating a name for themselves.

Some might be pessimistic and say this is the end and we're next. Some might say good riddance it's one less competitor. Some might even say it's judgement that's finally come.


I accept none of these.


I instead see this as an opportunity to do both good in the lives of others and to strengthen Champions Online so that it may begin to truly grow again!

I mean for crying out loud you can STILL find Everquest and Conter-Strike servers, and those games are (as time flies in the gaming world) truly ancient! There is NO REASON we can't have a renaissance here, except that people give up (mainly the developers, but the players too if they're just foaming at the mouth with negativity all the time).


Take a closer look at the message from the leader of the City of Heroes dev team:

http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/news/news_archive/thank_you.php wrote:

This morning we announced that Paragon Studios will be taking to the skies of City of Heroes for the last time.

In a realignment of company focus and publishing support, NCsoft has made the decision to close Paragon Studios. Effective immediately, all development on City of Heroes will cease and we will begin preparations to sunset the world's first, and best, Super Hero MMORPG before the end of the year. As part of this, all recurring subscription billing and Paragon Market purchasing will be discontinued effective immediately. We will have more information regarding a detailed timeline for the cessation of services and what you can expect in game in the coming weeks.

The team here at Paragon deserves special praise for all that we have accomplished over the last 5+ years. These developers are some of the most creative and talented people in the gaming industry. By now, we've all been given this news internally, but to anyone who may be reading this message after the fact; know that your hard work and dedication has not gone unappreciated or unnoticed. To any potential studios looking to grow your team; hire these people. You won't regret it.

To our Community,

Thank you. Thank you for your years of support. You've been with us every step of the way, sharing in our challenges, encouraging us to make City of Heroes better, more than everyone else thought it could be. We couldn't have come this far without you. I implore you all, focus on the good things of CoH and Paragon Studios. Don't dwell on the "how" or the "why", but rather join us in celebrating the legacy of an amazing partnership between the players and the development team.

Thank you, and I'll see you in the skies, one last time.

Andy Belford

Community Manager

Paragon Studios.

And to the community who reads my words, enough of the "It's the end of days", BS on the forums and on MC Zone chat! If you keep telling yourself you will fail, then you will eventually fail. Unless your name is Therakiel the Bright then you have no call to be embracing the apocalypse of this world.

Whatever our differences, whatever we argue & fight over, none of that matters when it affects us all. Do you have fun memories of this game? Then it's time to stop cowering and bemoaning the end and stand together. This includes inviting the brightest and best of a team who ironically will be very familiar with the structure of this game's engine, and a score of artists who can take from their imagination and give us strange new worlds to explore, maybe even new zones.

But none of this is going to happen unless every one of you wants it, and wants to grow more than to complain about all the mistakes being made (not that you ignore the mistakes of the past, but that you seek to learn from them so you may improve your future).

Ladies & gents, aliens & humans, mortals & immortals, we need to absorb the best and brightest of that world into the world of Champions Online, so that we may ALL become stronger in a very competitive video game & entertainment industry. Waste not I say!

As the old saying goes, "United we stand, divided we fall." Success or failure is, in some way, connect to each and every one of us, even if we are not developers able to make the executive decisions. Have the courage to change what you can, the serenity to accept what you cannot, and the wisdom to know that this is not the time to just lay down and die. This is an opportunity to grow Champions!

It is time, to show, as a community, ourselves as Champions of the superhero fiction genre! We are the Champions, my friends, and we must go fighting to the end!



sincerely,

agentx5




(If this image doesn't display, you can click on it. PS: Grond likes flowers)



If you have any proactive steps to suggest or words of comradery, now would be a pretty damned good time to act! Please leave the whining at the door, outside of this thread, thank you. :cool:

lordxenite

I couldn't agree more! Please Cryptic, make this happen. This is a great opportunity for CO to implement the cool power-sets that CoH had and were oddly missing from CO like Plant Control, Time Manipulation and other concepts we've yet to see again! :cool:

ziploc332

It's not Cryptic you need to spin this to, it's PWE. I'm sure Cryptic already knows hiring the CoH team would be a massive boost. Heck we MIGHT even get to see housing reach fruition sometime then, instead of the "soon but probably never" we have now.

PWE, however, only sees numbers, so start explaining it to them.

theapygoos

i would agree entirely

/signed

sigmaseven0

Obviously, im in support of this idea and i wouldn't be surprised if it had crossed Cryptics mind.

Realistically though, i would be surprised if CO had the budget to bring on any new devs.

On the optimistic side, COH runs on a version of the cryptic engine so it would be about as smooth a transition as you could ask for.
Maybe after they get done with NW, we can pick up a Paragon dev or two.

agentnx5

ziploc332 wrote: »

It's not Cryptic you need to spin this to, it's PWE. I'm sure Cryptic already knows hiring the CoH team would be a massive boost. Heck we MIGHT even get to see housing reach fruition sometime then, instead of the "soon but probably never" we have now.

PWE, however, only sees numbers, so start explaining it to them.

I am but one person and while I am an artist and a fire scientist, I admit my limitations on this. I'm willing to help as I can, but I don't know what #'s I can present, nor do I have access to most of the numbers (which is very frustrating for a scientifically-minded individual such as myself, one of the reasons I feel open-source is stronger in the end than strictly proprietary).

This is exactly one of the purposes I'm hoping to accomplish with this topic: I need help in making the case. This is something that will require help from the community, united together, to protect and preserve our common interest, the game itself.



Let's put a theoretical spin on this for a moment. Pretend that you're in charge of this decision, just for point of view's sake. This could result in losing your job if you get it wrong, and that of potentially many of your colleagues and friends at work losing their jobs too.

So...

• What numbers are you wanting to see exactly?
• What are you looking to compare?
• What measures are you taking to prepare for unforeseen consequences?
• Doing nothing is a bad decision, but what degree of risk are you willing to take?
• Who would you want to hire from the City of Heroes team?
• If you could only choose a few, who would you have to refuse to hire, even though you might want to?
• Who gets priority? Programmers? 2D artists? 3D artists? Animators? QA testers? Environmental artists? Sound developers?
• Would you be willing to fire an existing developer who is under-performing & lazy to hire a new developer who is more enthusiastic and motivated to work hard?
• Do you understand the hardships you can put on somebody if you cut out their work benefits (i.e.: Health insurance like all Perfect World employees get) and they're not gaining income while the monthly bills keep ticking away?

None of these are easy decisions...

siralleyne

Whole heartedly and passionately signed!

Hire as many of them as you can! PWE may hold the cards but, please, Cryptic lobby for some of these talented people that many of you probably know, and the newer faces on Paragon's team too!

oyo32

I would be willing to bet my lunch money that some of the CoH devs will be hired...

...and that they would be immediately placed in STO or NW and not allowed anywhere near CO. because heaven forbid CO gets new devs.

man515drake

If PWE is truly wanting to use Cryptic to develop to notch MMO's for the western market place then hiring proven developers into the Cryptic fold would be a must. It could allow an equal spread of developers over all Cryptic's games.

The unfortunate thing is in the present financial market companies are more likely to be down sizing than taking on a large number of new employees. Gaming companies are struggling in this climate because luxury items like gaming are getting less money spent on them as people have to budget just to make ends meet.

agentnx5

sigmaseven0 wrote: »

Obviously, im in support of this idea and i wouldn't be surprised if it had crossed Cryptics mind.

Realistically though, i would be surprised if CO had the budget to bring on any new devs.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/quote/nasdaq/perfect-world/pwrd

Those are big numbers my friend. Double check this is the correct company? I could be mistaken.

sigmaseven0 wrote: »

On the optimistic side, COH runs on a version of the cryptic engine so it would be about as smooth a transition as you could ask for.
Maybe after they get done with NW, we can pick up a Paragon dev or two.

Yep, this is the same point about the engine I've pointed out, agreed.

The problem is... What are you going to do if you're unemployed and waiting on a prayer & promise for work, with no guaranteed time table for getting hired? Living expenses don't give a damn if you're waiting to get employed or not, that's the cruel reality of the world.

I myself spend about $40 to $50 for food for myself every 5-6 days or so, it's shocking one of my biggest expenses (along with insurance costs, rent, and tuition). I wonder how many of you even know what the poverty rate is in the US? Or how incredibly EXPENSIVE California is... (honestly if I was creating a US game company I'd base it in somewhere inexpensive like Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia, etc. Does it really matter if you're in California if your business is all online?)

I'm getting off-topic a bit, but I think you see my point, yes? Time waits for no one. They'll probably have to seek other employment unless Cryptic/PerfectWorld reacts QUICKLY!

canadascott

I would love to get some of CoH devs on staff, some of COH's population into the game, and for Cryptic to target them by adding UGC and an emote list comparable to COH's.

However it's poor form to grave dance and we have nothing to be proud of. This could be us, and might be us in a few months -- nothing's certain in this industry. Again, my sympathies to COH's player base and to the staff at Paragon Studios.

agentnx5

man515drake wrote: »

If PWE is truly wanting to use Cryptic to develop to notch MMO's for the western market place then hiring proven developers into the Cryptic fold would be a must. It could allow an equal spread of developers over all Cryptic's games.

The unfortunate thing is in the present financial market companies are more likely to be down sizing than taking on a large number of new employees. Gaming companies are struggling in this climate because luxury items like gaming are getting less money spent on them as people have to budget just to make ends meet.

Subscription games are getting hit hardest, because recurrent bills are the first things people look to cutting out of their list of expenses when creating a budget. I know I do.

People in the US are also starting to shift to a more local mentality, similar to what you already see in Europe. The average person in the US, for the first time in decades is saving money more (in the past it was a trend of negative savings, spending beyond your means). People in the US, and I see this daily where I work, are indeed starting to see more "regional manufacturing". This is especially true for companies like Caterpillar, which makes large construction vehicles. Assembly and primary part suppliers are starting to be based regionally, around the world, where they will be sold.

Again I digress a bit, but with regards to gaming this is a clear, well-researched model by people who study this way more than I do (I'm not the expert here on this point, I'm just repeating what I've listened to from multiple reliable sources):

• Subscription games are decreasing, rapidly (i.e.: World of W4rcraft)
• F2P games are remaining steady overall, micro-transactions are remaining strong or even increasing with more total numbers of purchases at smaller amounts (lots of tiny transactions rather than a few big ones).
• Annual games (i.e.: EA Sports) are getting hit harder than they expected
• Competition in the gaming market is getting intense. We NEED that talent to stay competitive. We need bug fixes and reliable QA to stop pissing off loyal customers who would otherwise spend more money. And we need new content that we can run around and explore or go pew-pew with, keeps people interested & happy (note: users themselves can create content for your game for nothing more than pure fame, no payment necessary; IF you set it up so they can that is!)

So I must say, you're perception that all companies are downsizing isn't quite true (I know what you meant though, I understand). Some are downsizing, some are growing. The important thing is the world is starting into a new transition. Not globalization now, economists are calling it... "glocalisation".

Read more about that here: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2121661,00.html


My advice for all that, for this game, is that we're in a good setup for stability because we have options and we are NOT pay-to-win:

• Lifetime subscription for $300
• Gold Subscription for $15/month or take advantage of the 3-month rate commitment
• Microtransactions: buy what you need on-demand though the Z-Store
• Farm Questionite like hell and exchange it from wealthier players who have cash to spend but not the time (or desire) to put into Questionite farming.

(do any or all of the above!)

This is SMART thinking. I'll avoid talking about the stupid part because I want to keep the overall focus on hiring the brightest & best from paragon studios and focusing on getting the core priorities done here.

sigmaseven0

agentnx5 wrote: »

[*]Who gets priority? Programmers? 2D artists? 3D artists? Animators? QA testers? Environmental artists? Sound developers?
[*]Would you be willing to fire an existing developer who is under-performing & lazy to hire a new developer who is more enthusiastic and motivated to work hard?

The highlighted part is probably the main part that we the players could begin to speculate on.
Probably the most realistic way to evaluate this is to compair the list you made to the Until Field reports.

With the main thing coming this year being vehicles and the rash of bugs, i would put programers first.

1st.Programers that have experience with a hero game running on the cryptic engine as i said before could help keep the game bug free and develop the code for customizable vehicles.


2nd. 3D artists: "The all important Z-store". A new 3D artist, could add more costume sets/weapons skins/ vehicle skins for the Z-store.
3rd. 3D Environmental artists: Lately, the trend is to have custom alerts with unique interiors, Another 3d artist could help keep up this trend. We have to consider the loss of Tumer Boy to STO and consider that a MC expansion, a Doc Destroyer mini zone and a end game Moon Zone are on the drawing board and sorely needed.
COX had some nice looking zones and the artist over there was able to churn them out quickly as well. COXs wealth of zones was one of its greatest strengths.

xgco

I whole-heartedly agree with this thread and hope that Cryptic reunites with its former brothers and sisters. Superpower's unite.

agentnx5

canadascott wrote: »

I would love to get some of CoH devs on staff, some of COH's population into the game, and for Cryptic to target them by adding UGC and an emote list comparable to COH's.

However it's poor form to grave dance and we have nothing to be proud of. This could be us, and might be us in a few months -- nothing's certain in this industry. Again, my sympathies to COH's player base and to the staff at Paragon Studios.

What is grave dancing? o_O If you mean gloating, I'm not seeing that here at all. Afterall some dances by a grave serve other purposes depending on the culture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PWC6vUext0 :cool:

You're right this could be us, if we don't put our differences aside and act as a whole community.

From newbie who just started playing, to the RPers in Caprice, to the PvPers in Bash, to the heroes fighting monsters and bad-guys in lairs, to those who gather in the PowerHouse Theater for a costume constest, to the traders buying & selling, to the community reps like TrailTurtle and StormShade, to the hidden developers who work behind the scenes who names are often unknown to the public.

This affects us all, and thus I feel this is something we can all gain, and hopefully we can welcome refugees from City of Heroes as they walk way feeling the pain of loosing everything they worked for. A great gesture to that community would be hiring their best & brightest, a merge of sorts.

Remember, people need heroes. They need Champions. Be that champion yourself, and you don't need to act ridiculous like Phoenix Jones to do it. Small acts of honor can matter as much as flashy ones.

sigmaseven0

canadascott wrote: »

However it's poor form to grave dance and we have nothing to be proud of. .

Nobody is grave dancing here.

Grave robbing.......maybe.

amosov78

If Joe "Hero 1" Morrissey is/was still working over there, I'd love to see him come over.

championshewolf

I don't know about gloating, I've been saying for the last few years how bad a company NCsoft was. I knew it was only a matter of time before their true face showed itself. But, getting the CoH devs, some of them at least, and trying to extend a hand to the CoH players might be good. Though many of them burned their bridges anyways, it's going to be hard, especially since some helped propagate false rumors in the past. Not to mention the just recent personal attacks against Jack Emmert over there in their story lines, not sure what to think of that.

Karma's a ***** but I do think there is talent over there we could use and I think the CoH players could help make Champions a great place.

canadascott

sigmaseven0 wrote: »

Nobody is grave dancing here.

Grave robbing.......maybe.

Sorry folks. I was mentally crossthreaading this thread with far less charitable comments I've seen elsewhere. I wouldn't even call it grave robbing -- I know the people who were laid off would love to be hired as quickly as possible and this is as good a place as any.

ragnasal

Greetings from Paragon City, from @Artificial Intel!

We're all pretty dismayed over here about the recent closure of City of Heroes. Many of us are distraught, and trying to submit petitions in order to cease its closure.

But if worse comes to worse, we can only hope CO will get the talent that was behind much of the innovation that made City of Heroes amazing in our eyes.

But alas, prepare your servers. You have a mass exodus on its way, Millennium City!

battybattybats

/signed.

There's a cornocopia of reasons to do this.

Even temp-hiring to help work out the recent slew of bugs and then let those who prove themselves the best to remain long-term would be sensible.

Just the press release of doing so alone could help bring CoH players find a new home.

Sore PW probably can't hire the whole lot but failing to headhunt the best of the bunch of people who are used to the same game engine and genre suddenly available to them would be foolish.

championshewolf

ragnasal wrote: »

Greetings from Paragon City, from @Artificial Intel!

We're all pretty dismayed over here about the recent closure of City of Heroes. Many of us are distraught, and trying to submit petitions in order to cease its closure.

But if worse comes to worse, we can only hope CO will get the talent that was behind much of the innovation that made City of Heroes amazing in our eyes.

But alas, prepare your servers. You have a mass exodus on its way, Millennium City!

Sorry to hear what happened, but also going to be blunt and tell you the truth, no amount of petitions will stop what has already begun. The one time it worked, what came back wasn't even good enough to be called a shadow. That was APB. Best to let it go gracefully. City of had a good run but I've never seen, once, in my 15 years when this has happened, any amount of petitions, whining or ******** actually stop the closure of a game.

jennymachx

As cynical as I am with regards to whether our opinions are worth a bleeding drop to Cryptic/PWE, yes I think devs from Paragon Studios joining Cryptic would be nothing less than a benefit for us, so signed here for all that it's worth.

championshewolf

jennymachx wrote: »

As cynical as I am with regards to whether our opinions are worth a bleeding drop to Cryptic/PWE, yes I think devs from Paragon Studios joining Cryptic would be nothing less than a benefit for us, so signed here for all that it's worth.

Yes, most of the Paragon devs would have experience with the Cryptic engine, even if it was the older variant from City of, so the training time would probably be less.

ragnasal

championshewolf wrote: »

Sorry to hear what happened, but also going to be blunt and tell you the truth, no amount of petitions will stop what has already begun. The one time it worked, what came back wasn't even good enough to be called a shadow. That was APB. Best to let it go gracefully. City of had a good run but I've never seen, once, in my 15 years when this has happened, any amount of petitions, whining or ******** actually stop the closure of a game.

Honestly, many of us are hoping for the same as the people in this thread. We always saw CO as 'that game with potential', but most of us were thrown off by the graphics or variations in gameplay. And worse: The lack of a community of roleplayers.

But with this... There may be a chance that last part could be remedied if we're not met with a toxic playerbase (aka WoW).

I'm aware of how nice Champions Online can be, but please, PLEASE garner support for those who are -not- aware and greet them with open arms.

The two playerbases combining will be a benefit for everyone.

jonsills

I played WoW for about two years.

Even when this group is at what passes for its worst, they have never even begun to sink as low as the chat in Stormwind or Ogrimmar. You can ask a basic question about gameplay in Chat - and expect to get an accurate answer, not seven people who think it's hilarious to steer you astray and another fifty or so who can only answer, "L2P, n00b!" (In fact, that phrase has never been seen since I first came in, shortly after F2P.)

I think we can safely assure your friends that they are welcome here. The primary locations for RP right now are Caprice (the club in RenCen), a place called "Sherrera's" that I've passed in Westside (I think - wasn't paying that much attention), and the Minefield in Vibora Bay. There's also a big park just west of RenCen that used to be part of the opening post-tutorial mission, but all the action has moved down to Westside, so you can RP in the park, too.

tharkan

I see this idea as having some serious potential

/signed

canadascott

Stop by CORP. http://championsonlineroleplayers.shivtr.com/forum_threads/1225537 Our community may be small by CoH standards, but we're mostly friendly and many of us are CoX vets. If CORP doesn't work for you, there are other RP groups who would love to have you onboard.

zahinder

I'd love to see it, but I am extremely pessimistic of PWE's treatment and attitude toward CO.

I think we're more likely to have PWE go 'hey, NCSoft had the right idea,' and I'm very nervous about what will happen should the launch of Neverwinter go well.

lokikin

ragnasal wrote: »

Greetings from Paragon City, from @Artificial Intel!

We're all pretty dismayed over here about the recent closure of City of Heroes. Many of us are distraught, and trying to submit petitions in order to cease its closure.

But if worse comes to worse, we can only hope CO will get the talent that was behind much of the innovation that made City of Heroes amazing in our eyes.

But alas, prepare your servers. You have a mass exodus on its way, Millennium City!

As brothers in arms, a lot of us here on the dark side are pretty dismayed as well. I, like many others here, cut our Superhero MMO teeth on CoX. We left for our personal various reasons, but the fond memories remain...

Competition be damned, your devs and writers are top notch and Zwell is a helluva CM. I feel any member of the CoX team would be a welcome and talented addition to CO...

As for the CoX community, they're top notch as well, as dedicated and loyal as they come, and would be a welcome addition to our community, if they so choose. They are losing the game they've loved for many years and I feel horrible for them. Neither they, nor the game, nor the good folks at Paragon Studios deserved this and I'm furious at NCsoft for this decision...

I'm sorry, it's kinda hard to be welcoming and sad at the same time...

biffsmackwell

I'm pretty sure the guys at Cryptic have already thought of and are maybe considering this... I mean, everyone and their mom had this idea.

Everyone and their mom is crossing their fingers, too.

malvou

I'd like to see some CoH Writers join us.

I loved CoX for their writing. Their story arcs, even if it is just text, drew me in and honestly had me thinking things over.

championshewolf

Here's things I hope;

I hope that in some way, the IP reverts back to Cryptic now, and they can use the assets from CoH and port them into CO. I especially would love for some of City of's music to be ported over to Champions (St. Martial's Jackpot soundtrack, I am looking at you).

Emotes and such I want to see.

Tights costumes many other things.

And love em or hate them, the IP characters of CoH had a presence to them, it would be awesome if they could be here. But that all hinges on the thought that the IP might revert back to Cryptic now.

ruiiji

agentnx5 wrote: »

Let's put a theoretical spin on this for a moment. Pretend that you're in charge of this decision, just for point of view's sake. This could result in losing your job if you get it wrong, and that of potentially many of your colleagues and friends at work losing their jobs too.

So...

• What numbers are you wanting to see exactly?
• Who gets priority? Programmers? 2D artists? 3D artists? Animators? QA testers? Environmental artists? Sound developers?

(1) Rough numbers... easy enough. Whatever the full cost of the hire (usually salary + 15-20% more for benefits and admin) should be offset by the profit gained or cost reduced. So, say an experienced dev costs $100k salary+benefits, then we as a community should be enticed to spend more than $100k each year. Or, $100k / total # of subscribers if you want it in per subscriber terms. Or, maybe $100k/ year less in overtime pay. Or a mix of both.

(2) You hire the best person you can find regardless of their role. They'll bring the most benefit and you'll somehow find a way to make use of their talents... if you're a good company anyways.

agentnx5

sigmaseven0 wrote: »

Grave robbing.......maybe.

Grave robbing is a fundamental of petty much every RPG with PvE content in existence. Looting the defeated is logical. In fact, you all loot stuff every time you play these games! :biggrin:

(I'm teasing here a bit)

canadascott wrote: »

Sorry folks. I was mentally crossthreaading this thread with far less charitable comments I've seen elsewhere. I wouldn't even call it grave robbing -- I know the people who were laid off would love to be hired as quickly as possible and this is as good a place as any.

No worries.

ragnasal wrote: »

We're all pretty dismayed over here about the recent closure of City of Heroes. Many of us are distraught, and trying to submit petitions in order to cease its closure.

Money and powerful authority are the only things which can force their hand. Gamers as a whole don't have any fundamental rights as the game industry doesn't have legal power of a regulating agency, unlike many other industries. (i.e.: your regional or state Health Department, the Food & Drug Administration, 4H, and BBB chapters in the realm of the food industry).

Perhaps one day all gamers will unite and demand some sort of regulating agencies, but until that day there's sadly little a petition will accomplish. Not that you shouldn't do it, but the likelihood of them caring is limited to how it will affect their money, and even then those in charge might be to cautious and just take the shortcut that requires less effort rather than trying to fix or improve things for future payoff.

In my experience most game company executives these days (particularly the largest in the industry, Electronic Arts) care more about their Quarterly report rather than what's moral or in the interest of fun. Why do you think there's an increasing trend in gambling with micro-transactions? It's more profitable.

The best business leaders in history, IMHO, are the ones who both do the right thing AND are profitable. History has show than you can do both at the same time and it creates a positive feedback loop the longer you keep it going on.

Companies that forget to honor their customers & employees or that forget to stay profitable WILL go out of business. California in particular has an unflattering reputation famous for tech companies that start up with investor money and go bankrupt in a year or two

ragnasal wrote: »

But if worse comes to worse, we can only hope CO will get the talent that was behind much of the innovation that made City of Heroes amazing in our eyes.

But alas, prepare your servers. You have a mass exodus on its way, Millennium City!

Indeed.

I for one welcome the refugees into our community. You might just find you really like it here! (and we're definitely not like the WoW community)

There are three main "modes of play" here, ragnasal, although PvE is the majority and the core: PvE, PvP, and RP. RP has been getting stronger as of lately too, although Costume Contests have been getting hammered by griefers abusing a broken chat mute/ban system. There are issues here too, but the more people we have, the stronger we'll all be overall. And with a stronger, larger community more things potentially become possible (not to mention the game gets more revenue to get things done).

So maybe it's not all bad. And to those who keep saying more emotes. Yes, that is profitable & good! Cryptic needs to start selling emote packages in the Z-Store. But that is a different topic

matixzon

Champions would really use some more devs, more content, bug fixes, etc.

/Signed

thecosmic1

matixzon wrote: »

Champions would really use some more devs, more content, bug fixes, etc.

/Signed

You have basically just described every one of the 7 MMOs I have a Subscription too.

agentnx5

thecosmic1 wrote: »

You have basically just described every one of the 7 MMOs I have a Subscription too.

SEVEN?! Dang... That's a lot of financial investment in your MMO gaming :eek:

thecosmic1

agentnx5 wrote: »

SEVEN?! Dang... That's a lot of financial investment in your MMO gaming :eek:

It's something to do when you're retired. My wife still works, and she'd gone 10ish hours a day, so that gives me ample time to sample - games, that is.

rugrothrumbor

You'll have to start buying stuff off the Zen store if you want this to happen. The staff still needs more monetary support after all.

lordxenite

Honestly, I just wanna see Kheldians in CO...

championshewolf

lordxenite wrote: »

Honestly, I just wanna see Kheldians in CO...

You can technically recreate a kheldians abilities with several of the powers in game. Celestial might be an obvious choise for personal buffs.

agentnx5

thecosmic1 wrote: »

It's something to do when you're retired. My wife still works, and she'd gone 10ish hours a day, so that gives me ample time to sample - games, that is.

Oh, well, it's nice to have you here spending money then :biggrin: Having fun?

rugrothrumbor wrote: »

You'll have to start buying stuff off the Zen store if you want this to happen. The staff still needs more monetary support after all.

I do, when it's warranted.

It's mostly things like hideouts, costume stuff, and more recently Questionite (from the exchange market). In fact, posted another 900 Z yesterday at the ratio of 1 Z:165 Q. My rule of thumb is that any Zen I get from surveys gives me the Questionite I need or the vigilante secondaries, or extra costume stuff. And that IS money Cryptic/PerfectWorld gets that they can see in their system is being spend in Champions Online.

I also ended up buying $10 from the recent 15% bonus sale, and frankly I would have bought the $50 option if it hadn't been for the massive screw-up with bugs/glitches that occurred with the patch that weekend. That really shook my confidence in investing in this game.

I find the rank-up catalysts to be ridiculously overpriced. And frankly they'd sell more RetCon tokens and other devices if they decreased the prices by 80% to 75% and have a net gain. But meh, maybe we'll have a sale sometime soon.

So in short, don't talk to me about investments please, I help out there too.


It's kind of a catch-22 as you need money to make stuff, but if you don't make stuff that people truly need (bug fixes & QA testing, and new content more than just bells & whistles) you won't get much money. In all business there's a certain element of taking risk. Hiring new people is a risk, but these "new hires" are not actually new.


Here's another good idea, a management theory technique that works:

• Disincentive method: Remind currently employees that they could be replaced by a developer who is more consistent at work, works harder, and focuses more on customer satisfaction. This is best handled NOT by creating an oppressive atmosphere of fear, but instead by doing interviews to find who's doing what and working with the weakest link. If the weakest link doesn't improve after repeated counseling, it's time to consider firing them. One slacker getting fired will definitely create a psychological impression on the rest that there is a unacceptable minimum they have to avoid. That said, incentives are more effective than disincentives and creating an atmosphere of fear is actually WORSE to overall productivity. The most productive work atmospheres are optimistic ones that reward hard-work, attention to detail, and competition.
• Incentive method: Give bonuses for the little things done right the first time, including recongition awards once a quarter. These rewards should be for things like: consistent reliability, most creative design, best lost-prevention act, beyond the call of duty, customer's choice award, and most unrecognized act of effort (i.e.: debugging a nuanced error that was around for a long time). The bonus is extra money that goes to your payroll, like a check. The purpose is to give employees a goal they can reach for, instead of just doing the minimum. They achieve more because they choose to, not because they are forced to.

(ideally you want to apply both the incentive and disincentive methods at the same time, and be very careful about it to create a productive work atmosphere and not one based on "doing the minimum" or "oh **** I might be the next one fired")

mlmii

Although it's sad to see CoH go as I have many fond memories of the game, I have to be honest and admit that I'd be wary of seeing CO bring their talent over considering that I left the community once they decided that travel powers were too useful in combat and needed supressed.


Also never liked the fact that your contacts simply stopped talking to you once you hit "X" level regardless of whether or not their story arcs were complete. (I ran all of my characters in constant exp debt on purpose to see as much of the storyline as possible and still would get locked out.)

agentnx5

mlmii wrote: »

Although it's sad to see CoH go as I have many fond memories of the game, I have to be honest and admit that I'd be wary of seeing CO bring their talent over considering that I left the community once they decided that travel powers were too useful in combat and needed supressed.


Also never liked the fact that your contacts simply stopped talking to you once you hit "X" level regardless of whether or not their story arcs were complete. (I ran all of my characters in constant exp debt on purpose to see as much of the storyline as possible and still would get locked out.)

Alright, I hear you wanting to critique, so how about answering the questions I presented in the bullet points here for the readers: http://co-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=2355661&postcount=6

mlmii

Honestly, if I were in charge of head hunting talent, the very first thing I'd be doing is making sure that the numbers warrented more people working on CO at all.

Assuming for a moment that they did then my first thought would be to poach the writers, perhaps it's just the fondness of old memories on my part, but the CoH baddies just seemed "more interesting" then many of CO's.

A close second would be programmers, with artists as a very distant third. As for devs, meh, unless I personally knew of their work I don't think that I would stir the existing pot.


As for your question abour firing someone that wasn't doing their job properly, that one's an easy answer, I would do so without a second thought because although firing someone isn't easy, it is always better than allowing them to drag the entire company down to ruin.

r9xchaos

They've made enough money now they are closing the game ..wow.. do players get their money back?

tharkan

Crazy, possibly stupid idea.

If the CoH devs are hired, create a special event ingame that is a crossover between CO and CoH (like the Dc vs. Marvel comics).

Just think of the possibilities (shame they killed off Statesman, otherwise we could have a four way Dr. Destroyer/Defender/Statesman/Lord Recluse brawl as the final boss fight)

agentnx5

tharkan wrote: »

Crazy, possibly stupid idea.

If the CoH devs are hired, create a special event ingame that is a crossover between CO and CoH (like the Dc vs. Marvel comics).

Just think of the possibilities (shame they killed off Statesman, otherwise we could have a four way Dr. Destroyer/Defender/Statesman/Lord Recluse brawl as the final boss fight)

That actually sounds... kind of interesting. I insist on epic rock metal battle music if you want to go this way.
:-3

mlmii wrote: »

Honestly, if I were in charge of head hunting talent, the very first thing I'd be doing is making sure that the numbers warrented more people working on CO at all.

Ah... I bet I could beat you in poker now.

mlmii wrote: »

Assuming for a moment that they did then my first thought would be to poach the writers, perhaps it's just the fondness of old memories on my part, but the CoH baddies just seemed "more interesting" then many of CO's.

A close second would be programmers, with artists as a very distant third. As for devs, meh, unless I personally knew of their work I don't think that I would stir the existing pot.

The writers first eh? Hmm, that's interesting... typically game companies go in reverse of the three you wrote (artists, programmers, then writers).

mlmii wrote: »

As for your question abour firing someone that wasn't doing their job properly, that one's an easy answer, I would do so without a second thought because although firing someone isn't easy, it is always better than allowing them to drag the entire company down to ruin.

It's almost always easier said than done, exception being something blatant that unquestionably is grounds for getting fired. Also, as I pointed out in my incentive/disincentive theory stuff above, a work atmosphere based around fear of losing the job is a rather ineffective motivator compared to passion.

That said, no fear at all can lead to laziness. A good example of that is this story: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/08/10/158565443/how-a-pasta-factory-got-people-to-show-up-for-work Take a look at it, it's good read.

championshewolf

tharkan wrote: »

Crazy, possibly stupid idea.

If the CoH devs are hired, create a special event ingame that is a crossover between CO and CoH (like the Dc vs. Marvel comics).

Just think of the possibilities (shame they killed off Statesman, otherwise we could have a four way Dr. Destroyer/Defender/Statesman/Lord Recluse brawl as the final boss fight)

That type of event would be interesting. I would love to see Statesman and Lord Recluse again. A lot of the signatures were very memorable over there. I like that none of the heroes don't over shadow the players here, but sometimes would be nice to have a few bigger than life heroes.

pion01

I fully support hiring Paragon Devs and acquiring CoX players into our fold.