Just wondering if anyone thinks a paid expansion would now be possible again with the acquistion by NCSoft and would any of you buy it?

I would if they are going to offer as much content as they hinted at in their first attempt.

Last I heard they are not planning a paid exspansion. They did consider it at one time, but scrapped the idea in favor of sticking with the free issues.

To try and get people to buy an expansion now, after the game being out for so many years with all expansions ( issues ) being free, would just not work. You may get some who would buy, but the majority, I believe, would not.

Well, techincally, wasn't CoV an expansion?

Originally posted by Wikkedbowtie

Last I heard they are not planning a paid exspansion. They did consider it at one time, but scrapped the idea in favor of sticking with the free issues.

Correct, but that was under old management and I'm responding to a paragraph from the press release.  Are you saying you don't think now that NCSoft owns CoX 100% that they will not change anything?

NCsoft will soon be announcing formal plans for the City of Heroes IP, which will include expansions and sequels to the popular comic-book inspired massively multiplayer online (MMO) game.

Does expansions in this press release just refer to the free Issues?  What about the word 'sequels'?   Why word it that way if you were going to just continue business as usual or do you think this is just marketing-speak so the subscriber base didn't panic and leave en masse?

And yes, I would buy an expansion.

Originally posted by vikinggyllll

Well, techincally, wasn't CoV an expansion?

No, because you don't need CoH to play CoV. It's a standalone game.

I believe that they may put out an expansion in the near future. And I would buy it as welll.

A new expansion would be the best way to say "Hey, we're not dead!".  That being said, if the expansion is, say... just Issue 13 with a price tag, they are going to piss people off.

City of Villains was a standalone expansion. Meaning it expanded the City of heroes game, but you wouldn't need the original game, to play the expansion.

And would i buy another CoX expansion? well, read my sig :P i'd be preordering the CE as soon as it was announced!

I'd expect issues 13-15 to be free still (or so I hope) but I think a true expansion to the game is feasible.  CoV could use some serious love and a graphical engine overhaul wouldn't be surprising.

Plus, there's movie and tv rights which have been licensed (to the producer of  the Transformers movie):  http://www.slashfilm.com/2007/06/07/transformers-producer-plans-city-of-heroes-movie/.  If done well, that could give the franchise significant reboot.

Oooh i dont belief anyone would risk paying for an expansion not after having to pay for city of villians and then finding out its now free, bit of a slap in the face there for most vet players that went and bought it  

What would it be anyway, city of vigilantes....city of not so super human?

An expansion?  Nope.  A sequel which play with CoH, yes.  Kinda like CoV as a distinct game.  Peoples who choose not to go there, should see no flaws in their choice, not be subpar in anyway.

Think more of a different game/genre which could group with peoples in CoV/H in a zone or two.

Example:  City of Medieval-fantasy*.  You have new classes/ATs with primary and secondary set, gear instead of enhancements, specilisations slot when you level up and get no new powers.  I would favor an unlimited levels system which add no new powers after 50 (or merely improvements, such as fireball II, Fireball III and so on, every X levels) and has no impact on 90% of the game.  It could be aliens, Jacky-Chan, Western or whatever other style, and with Orobouros, I am sure there is a way to have a comon zone, no matter what...kinda like Rikti Warzone...mostly PvE, but maybe even 1 PvP zone...now would it be FFA or would the heroes be allied with the villains or would it be all against the villains (and the next city of would allies with the villains)

*Actually, gets a better name, that is for example only.

PS: The player base enjoy improvements that doesn't rock their world, for CoH and CoV...the new city of medieval-fantasy could work differently, and have paid expansions.  See, sharing a few comon zones is an incredible edge, and even if the systems are differents on many topics (gear for example), you can share enough comon ground to make it possible.  I know that if I would play EQ2, meeting and grouping peoples from EQ would be a bonus on every level, even if it is rought and far from perfect, we are talking of a few zones only, and maybe the moon need an alignment (monday and tuesday only for example).  For EQ, it wouldn't be possible.  For CoH, I can see many challenges, but maybe you actually export your character to the other game when you enter the "comon" zone, which in fact is only on the other server.  You don't need the peoples on City of Medieval-fantasy to be on the same server, they are exported on the CoH server when they enter the Orobouros zone or whatever name you wanna use for the comon zone, and the players join that server only upon entering that zone...

PPS: Heck, grouping peoples from EQ with my CoV toons in 1 zone is something I would like...but now that is never going to happen, too many technical issues and the fact it is NCsoft and SOE and soo many other points, wouldn't be worth all the work...but in this example, I think it would be worth the work; as the work involved is minimal...and you can already think of when they group each other, which system to use and on which side to play, how to adapt the other....

PPPS: A sequel as CoV involves little risks, at worst new players don't come and it is deserted, you still hold on CoH and lose nothing.  At best, you have many players who enjoy it and group each other player base, which may draw them from 1 game to the other and back and forth and so on.  CoH is not risked, as a game, as you don't change it much...you add 1 zone or two, and if the player base don't like it...they avoid it.  If they like it, they group the new players and the new game...and experience the awe.

I agree with red_cruiser.

An expansion would be the best way to say "We are still here, even better now with this expansion.  Come check us out".  It seems NCSoft never did much to advertise this game outside of the genre of comic-books and a new box at a retail store would be a good start.  I only remember some advertisements on some MMO sites and the back of comic books.

I just can't see expansion meaning the free Issues because that would just be continuing business as usual.  No risk, no gain(in subscribers).  The last numbers I saw was 140K subscribers and they need to do something a little more drastic than maintaining status quo if they want to increase their playerbase.

I hope you are right about the movie, therain93.  It would be a great boost to the game.

I don't really see why they need to expand their playerbase. They obviously are making plenty of money or NCSoft wouldn't have sunk the money into it. Complete ownership, hiring the developers away from Cryptic, adding more staff, and a whole new studio cost a lot of money. Why spend all that on a dying game?

And, CoV is not actually free now. If you buy an old CoH box (which are still out there) you don't get CoV and vice versa. They did give one side to everyone who was a subscriber and only had one side free on November 7th (not exactly sure of the date, but I know I am close). That was a one time thing and does not apply to new accounts.

Originally posted by Zorvan

Originally posted by vikinggyllll

Well, techincally, wasn't CoV an expansion?

No, because you don't need CoH to play CoV. It's a standalone game.

What I want to see is something to do with character advancement.  Don't care if that means more levels or some kind of AA system.  The game will be four years old this year and I think it needs something in this regard.

I used to play CoH madly, and I have to say even though this gameplay type doesn't interest me as much as it used to, an expansion would certainly spark my interest a little..

But I think the best type of expansions they could make could be little packs based on each archetype. These little expansion packs could be sold for 10 dollars each and have things like new power sets and costume peices as well as UNIQUE enhancements for each archetype that add different effects when used.. They could even go as far as to introduce new missions that have a unique set of enemies for each archetype and a storyline to follow if one chooses...

They could call it like "Tales of Heroes and/or Villains" and a sub title for each archetype.. For 10 bucks and a few peices of worthy content, it could definitely work..

Originally posted by Wikkedbowtie

I don't really see why they need to expand their playerbase. <snip>

You lost me and everyone else after that sentence. 

I want to invest in a product but do not want to see my price per share grow...../em boggle

Re-read Brian Clayton's comments about building the new studio.  IMO, this game does not get enough attention and should be breaking 500K subscribers easily.  Guess it is more niche than I thought but very nice to see it warrants "reinvestment".

What I meant was..........

wait for it........

this is gonna boggle your mind.......

The game is making money!!!

There are enough subscribers to pay the bills and have a nice profit left over. Should they try to get more people. Heck yeah! Well they try to get more? Heck yeah! Did I mean they should never try to get anymore people. Hell no!

What I meant was, the game is not going to die in the next year if it doesn't hit 500k subs, like most people seem to think.

I don't know where you got the game is going to die.  They always stated up front that the game is profitable as long as it remains over 100K.  Probably even more so since they have consolidated their resources under one house.  Again, read Brian Clayton's comment.  They are not re-investing to maintain the status quo which you seem to be so fond of at the moment.

I'm not boggled by them making money now at all. 

It's just your statement they don't need to expand the playerbase which to me equates to making more money than they are currently.  If I were a shareholder, I would not want you in charge.  /em boggle

Whether they are making profit or not, there current subscriber base warrants some change.  They did pretty good this last year keeping it around 170K but no matter how you slice it, I"m sure NCSoft does not like losing 30K subscribers.  We won't know for a bit if Issue 11 boosted it back up from 140K.

I'm sure NCSoft feels there is still room to grow.  EVE Online has set a good example that an 'old' game can see continual growth even if it's not WoW-like numbers.   No reason they can't give the free Issues AND do a paid expansion to start grabbing more attention.  Their announcement mentions as much.

NCsoft Europe's MD, Geoff Heath:

"We'll be bringing out more City of products, some more chapters in the current series, and we're obviously looking at how we can expand the City of franchise generally," he said.

And responding to the question as to whether or not that would specifically mean a new game, he said: "I think you'll get a bit of both, yes."