City of Heroes Fan Server given OFFICIAL license

[Brian9824]

https://kotaku.com/homecoming-city-of-heroes-mmo-fan-server-ncsoft-license-1851141864

Very intresting news, its the first time I can think of that a fan run server of a MMO that kept the game alive after it shut down has actually gotten official permission from the copyright holder to not only keep running, but endorses it.

Not only that, but the entire game, all content, etc is 100% free, so anyone can check out what in my opinion is the best Superhero MMO ever made.

[Brian9824]

Wasn't aware other MMO's had gotten official licenses to run fan hosted servers. That is cool

[MinionJoe]

Originally posted by permanent name:

ultima online had the same sort of endorsement,

Seriously? Electronic Arts owns it and that's not something they do.

Good news about CoH though. One of the only MMOs I actually enjoyed.

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by MinionJoe:

Originally posted by permanent name:

ultima online had the same sort of endorsement,

Seriously? Electronic Arts owns it and that's not something they do.

Good news about CoH though. One of the only MMOs I actually enjoyed.

Well the good news is if you ever want to play it again its free and easy to access :-) I got a few level 50's and pop in from time to time to revisit it

[Xautos]

i had always want to know what city of heroes was like, i played champions online and didn't really like when it went f2p.

of course i would be looking for a different source as i trust kotaku as much as i trust EA with actual quality control.

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by Xautos:

i had always want to know what city of heroes was like, i played champions online and didn't really like when it went f2p.

of course i would be looking for a different source as i trust kotaku as much as i trust EA with actual quality control.

It's legit, I use the server and its been under works for years. Here is the announcement on their forums - https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/47223-ncsoft-homecoming-license-announcement/

It's exciting as its officially supported now

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by brian9824:

Wasn't aware other MMO's had gotten official licenses to run fan hosted servers. That is cool

Like UO's shards, there have been a tiny handful. (I can't recall more atm, but will edit if I can :))

Originally posted by brian9824:

https://kotaku.com/homecoming-city-of-heroes-mmo-fan-server-ncsoft-license-1851141864

Very intresting news, its the first time I can think of that a fan run server of a MMO that kept the game alive after it shut down has actually gotten official permission from the copyright holder to not only keep running, but endorses it.

Not only that, but the entire game, all content, etc is 100% free, so anyone can check out what in my opinion is the best Superhero MMO ever made.

This is... very cool.

I always wanted to try that game out! I was either deep into EQ or WoW at that point, IIRC, and didn't have the time. (Or, maybe Anarchy Online? SWG? Dunno, but was a Day 1 player for those, too.)

CoH, IIRC, was not dumped due to a lack of players/interest, IIRC, but may have been a drain on dev resources due to just not being enough? Another project, maybe? Monetization problems? (Subscription models were the only accepted means at that time)

I think a "super-hero" MMO is a great idea, in general. But, it'd have to be like a reverse "GTA" kind of game to become a bit hit.

Thanks for the headsup!

Edit: A recent review vid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UfyHTXtWks

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by permanent name:

It's an MMO with a focus on roleplay. loot grinding was insane and basically an early version of EA lootboxing.

City of heroes never had loot boxes, they had some stuff towards the end you could buy, premium versions (cosmetics) etc at end, but it wasn't any real advantages in game AFAIK (can't remember all the details fully so I MIGHT be forgetting something). However in this version, everything that could be bought with real money was change to be bought with in game currency, so there is no monetization at all.

[Boblin the Goblin]

Originally posted by permanent name:

Originally posted by MinionJoe:

Seriously? Electronic Arts owns it and that's not something they do.

Good news about CoH though. One of the only MMOs I actually enjoyed.

garriott retained nominal rights to shard hosting, independent of EA. since EA acquired Origin in a hostile takeover. so he signed off on and allowed it, in the process of leaving the company.

then EA took over CoH before it actually died and prohibited him from doing it again.

EA didn't acquire Origin. They literally made it themselves.

[Xautos]

Originally posted by brian9824:

Originally posted by Xautos:

i had always want to know what city of heroes was like, i played champions online and didn't really like when it went f2p.

of course i would be looking for a different source as i trust kotaku as much as i trust EA with actual quality control.

It's legit, I use the server and its been under works for years. Here is the announcement on their forums - https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/47223-ncsoft-homecoming-license-announcement/

It's exciting as its officially supported now

brilliant!

i already read up on other sources in the mean time. active development of a game dead in the ground 12 years in the making, all based off donations from the community. i'd love to see where the game goes and how the developers will modernise it.

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by Xautos:

Originally posted by brian9824:

It's legit, I use the server and its been under works for years. Here is the announcement on their forums - https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/47223-ncsoft-homecoming-license-announcement/

It's exciting as its officially supported now

brilliant!

i already read up on other sources in the mean time. active development of a game dead in the ground 12 years in the making, all based off donations from the community. i'd love to see where the game goes and how the developers will modernise it.

I mean don't expect much, they have added in some new powers, contents, costumes, etc but they aren't going to overhaul the game. Its mostly minor stuff but a ton of content to keep people engaged and free to play

[Xautos]

Originally posted by brian9824:

Originally posted by Xautos:

brilliant!

i already read up on other sources in the mean time. active development of a game dead in the ground 12 years in the making, all based off donations from the community. i'd love to see where the game goes and how the developers will modernise it.

I mean don't expect much, they have added in some new powers, contents, costumes, etc but they aren't going to overhaul the game. Its mostly minor stuff but a ton of content to keep people engaged and free to play

it depends on how far in the limited scope they are allowed to go. it's possible they could be given some substantial room to make adjustment for more modern hardware and resolved any long standing issues that may have been present with the game previous to this. i mean this was 2012 when the game passed away. there was no inkling of windows 11 and back then the idea of going up to 64bit systems was possible, just not likely. they could do all that.

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by Xautos:

Originally posted by brian9824:

I mean don't expect much, they have added in some new powers, contents, costumes, etc but they aren't going to overhaul the game. Its mostly minor stuff but a ton of content to keep people engaged and free to play

it depends on how far in the limited scope they are allowed to go. it's possible they could be given some substantial room to make adjustment for more modern hardware and resolved any long standing issues that may have been present with the game previous to this. i mean this was 2012 when the game passed away. there was no inkling of windows 11 and back then the idea of going up to 64bit systems was possible, just not likely. they could do all that.

No they aren't. The group doing it are not developers, some of them have some experience with small stuff, but by and large they aren't looking to overhaul it. The entire project was dedicated to keeping the game alive and playable.

Its heavily limited by the engine its built on. They've discussed it on the forums before, there are other projects out there where people are looking to build a successor to the game with modern hardware like

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1890100/Ship_of_Heroes/

[Xautos]

Originally posted by brian9824:

Originally posted by Xautos:

it depends on how far in the limited scope they are allowed to go. it's possible they could be given some substantial room to make adjustment for more modern hardware and resolved any long standing issues that may have been present with the game previous to this. i mean this was 2012 when the game passed away. there was no inkling of windows 11 and back then the idea of going up to 64bit systems was possible, just not likely. they could do all that.

No they aren't. The group doing it are not developers, some of them have some experience with small stuff, but by and large they aren't looking to overhaul it. The entire project was dedicated to keeping the game alive and playable.

Its heavily limited by the engine its built on. They've discussed it on the forums before, there are other projects out there where people are looking to build a successor to the game with modern hardware like

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1890100/Ship_of_Heroes/

nice of you to link that and provide more detail regarding the scope. now everyone here can understand what is and isn't possible at least.