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Friday, August 31, 2012

City of Heroes is Closing

It's hard to explain how I feel about this.

I'll admit that I haven't played this game in months. I enjoyed the social aspect of the game more than the content itself, and when my friends started getting bored and left, a lot of the fun I had went with them.

Still, this was my first MMO, and I spent many happy years playing in Paragon City. I made friendships that have lasted outside the game, and many have grown quite deep.  Demonic Bunny, my Pellatarrum co-designer, and I first became friends there  (although I have no memory of how we actually met.)

So even though it's been a long time since I played, I think of it fondly, and took a certain comfort in knowing that all my characters were safely stored there, ready to play whenever I wanted to come back.

And now I find out that won't be the case any more. I feel like I've lost a favorite childhood toy. It doesn't matter that I may have outgrown it; I still regret the loss.

Goodbye and farewell, City of Heroes. I may play you one last time before closing, if there more sweet than bitter in our last bittersweet reunion.

10 comments:

  1. Makes me wanna dust off my Champions characters.

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  2. My biggest regret at the moment is never learning how to pull off the dancing warshade build, and never staying subscribed and playing long enough after the Incarnate system was released to actually fill all my slots.

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  3. that...really, really bums me out.  i was just playing last week. :(

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  4. The thing is, well over half of the people I've seen talk about this have said something like, "Although I haven't actually played it in [months/years]…". I don't know that's why the shop is being closed down, but it certainly doesn't bode well for the product.

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  5. the server on which i spend the majority of my play time, Champion, has been dead the past 2 years.  it's definitely well past its prime.

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  6. For me, it was all about hanging out with friends, exchanging witty banter and oohing and ahhing about costumes. Company can make repetitive content fun!  But if you're alone, after a while even the newest content starts to seem old. 

    I think it's more a commentary on human nature than an indictment against MMOs. 

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  7. I do think it's time to do a server merge. Would reduce maintenance while increasing perceived player base. 

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  8.  There were many times I subscribed just to log in and chat with the friends I had made.  Almost every friend I have online I either met in CoX, or was introduced by somebody I met in CoX.  I will miss the game for nostalgic purposes, but I am also looking forward to the great community spreading out and bringing those positive aspects to other gaming communities.

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  9. I was at a City of Heroes meet and greet fan panel at Dragoncon yesterday. As you can imagine, it was a room full of people upset about the news. We bitched some, but we tried to stay positive and shared some of our favorite memories of the game. My fiancé and I were not alone in being a couple that played the game just in the room.

    The maddening thing is that the game was still pulling a profit and still had enough of a player base to be considered a major player in the US. I've been a paying member for 10 years now, and will miss it greatly.

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  10. Well... crap. I just started playing again a couple of weeks ago. That's a bummer. DC Universe Online is good, but not quite the same.

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