Capn_Canadian

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NCSoft posts their numbers as part of their securities filings with the Korean stock exchange. NCSoft is a publicly-traded company. I'm not sure why other games made by publicly-traded companies in the US and Europe don't have to follow suit.

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Perhaps it has to do with NCSoft being both the publisher and the parent company?

Many of the other publishers appear to be subsidiaries of larger parent companies. Perhaps the parent companies do not have to report the specifics of their subsidiaries. Thus, for examples, Sony and Vivendi might only have to report the very basic revenue, expenses, and assets of SOE and Blizzard on their balance sheets and earnings reports.

Just speculation of course. But either way, I'd say that NCSofts reporting is definitely more than the bare minimum required.

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Since then the game seems to have been bleeding subscribers; and the low point (in the U.S.) seems to have been 120,000. Since then it's fluctuated, and now stands at 150,000 in the U.S. and Europe.

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You are still analyzing things in a bubble.

For the past year, the entire entertainment industry has been on a downward trend (including video games, dvd sales, movie box office sales). In September alone, console video game sales was 20% lower than the same time last year. The fact that CoH had only decreased their subscriber base by 8% from Q2 to Q3 is probably a good thing.

Also consider that CoH sales (including subscriptions and box sales) actually increased 10% from Q2 to Q3. That suggests a surge in box sales that will likely lead to a corresponding surge in subscriptions. (This trend is also shown, only in the opposite direction, in that sales were down in Q2, which led to a drop in subscriptions in Q3).

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So, again, if the 4Q 2005 numbers show a big reversal of the'bleeding subcriber' trend; and show a groundswell of retained subscribers, I will as I've said before, hapily eat crow.

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When you do get the Q4 numbers, will you then say the same thing about the following Q1 numbers?

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I did not know that the hamidons were in the game at release.

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It wasn't.

Oh, wait. You knew that already didn't you. You trickster you.

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Yes, it is clear that some* people will leave CoH after readin this discussion

*
Some in this case being defined as being a non-negative integer value


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Isn't zero also an integer (and also non-negative)?

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yep, hence the precision in the definition.

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I knew what you were getting at.

I just wanted to make sure everyone else caught on too.


Muhahahaha!

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Yes, it is clear that some* people will leave CoH after readin this discussion

*
Some in this case being defined as being a non-negative integer value


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Isn't zero also an integer (and also non-negative)?

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Unless Jack want's to actually come out and post the current subscription numbers, show that it's grown since April 2004; and REALLY put me in my place.

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Taking a close look at the data on mmorpgchart.com, they do appear to be using the same numbers from NCSoft's quarterly reports. Their last reported number was 140,481 which matches the Q1 numbers from NCSoft (March 2005, way out of date). Looking at the Q2 2005 report, we can see that the Q2 numbers were 162,922, a significant jump from the quarter before.

With the help of the Euro servers, it appears CoH had almost rebounded from it's lowest point, when WoW came out.

The Q3 numbers were just posted on the NCSoft corporate site. Apparently they did lose some subscribers. The Q3 monthly subscription number is 150,068.

DOOOOOOOOM(TM)!!!!!11!

You can find the real numbers for yourself here.

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As long as I'm still under lvl 10, I'll AS anything!

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even your ma'?

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Sigh. How'd I not see that one coming?

As long as I'm still under lvl 10, I'll AS anything!

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City of Naps (where everyone just goes to get some sleep)

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I could use that game right now.

*yawns*

I usually hate to use this acronym, but...

LoL.

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That's how I'd suspect it

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I as well, but you just know there will be some people who will refuse to believe it if it doesn't support their argument that ED killed CoH, eh?

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States,
have you any insight (that you can share) on How NCsoft will be reporting Coh/CoV numbers. Logic as it is single billing would suggests a single combined number, but it would be nice to have my curiosity confirmed.

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Yeah, that would be nice to know (although, I'm not sure States is the guy to ask).

You just know that if someone says the game is dying, then someone posts subscription numbers that are actually higher than the Q before, that the first retort will be, "No those numbers are double-counting CoH/CoV subscriptions." It will be the same thing as when someone says the 'monthly' numbers were higher in June because the of the free 5-day and 2-week trials.

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With Combat Jumping Hurdle is redundant. Swift means getting to mobs quicker without have to turn on Sprint and having it draining your endurance.

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Combat Jumping + Hurdle can be faster than Swift + Sprint (also faster than CJ + Swift).

Even in tunnels and hallways, if you get the knack for it, you can do some 'quick-hopping' and get around fairly quickly.

I wonder, does Touch of Fear build Fury?

It's a quick activating/fast recharging melee attack. I wonder if it would be useful to have it in a Fury-building attack chain.

I still don't understand why they will be losing customers over this.

It is not uncommon for an MMORPG to be on the shelves a couple of days before the servers are brought on-line.

If someone tries to enter the retail code, they will get a message, "Try again on the 31st." I don't see the problem here. If someone buys the retail game and has no clue about the head-start, they won't know what they are missing.

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Just curious.... how did you pre-order it "over a year ago" when the official pre-order wasn't available until August of this year?

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The copy was 'reserved' before the pre-orders were ever announced. My guess is that the retail box was reservered, but not 'pre-ordered'.

Either way, I don't think Cryptic or NCSoft are at fault.

Pre-orders are pre-orders.

If you didn't pre-order you don't get the bonus pre-order goodies (including the 2-day headstart that is going on now).

Sorry things didn't go your way, but it has nothing to do with 'casual gamers', other than the fact that 'avid gamers' typically pre-order on a regular basis and already have experience in such matters. Some stores put their pre-order bonus boxes on the shelves, some didn't. Some stores were up front about the bonus goodies if you pre-order, some were not. The publisher makes pre-orders available, it's up to the stores to market and promote pre-orders.

I don't think it has anything to do with Cryptic or NCSoft. It has everything to do with the retail outlets.

Keep in mind that this is not the 'launch weekend'. The official launch is Monday. If you pre-ordered you could be part of the 2-day head-start as a bonus, otherwise you are only missing out on 2 days of play.

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I can say with 100% certainty that the only badge from Breakout is Jail Bird.

The other badge bar that shows up is for damage taken.

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yep.. I'm fairly certain positron confirmed this in the beta boards

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Link please!


(Jus' kiddin'! )

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RETARDICULOUS!

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I love that word!

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So all I have to do is aggro 17 Rikti Monkeys on me and that boss will never attack me?

Scorus

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It appears highly exploitable doesn't it?

I wonder if I can aggro 17 robots and attack Anti-Matter with impunity, eh?

Welcome to the boards.

Muhahaha.

Infiltrator.

I leveled him from 1 - 47 completely in RvR (when they implemented the complete set of battlegrounds and XP in RvR). That was definitely a fun experience.

Even though I left DAoC for this 'non-PvP' game, I'm definitely going to play a Stalker, for at least a little while. Y'know, fer ol' times' sake.

I'm not sure if any powerset has claims of being better, but there are tons of cries fer nerfs on Assasin's Strike. (The 'backstab'-type attack, if you are not aware.)

And Fortitude stays 'working as intended'?

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They could all be switched to positional DEF with little balancing needed. The only problem, really, is how to differentiate Ice Armor and Stone Armor from Super Reflexes.

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Simple, add some more resistances.

'Far as I'm concerned, all tankers should be resistance-based. But that's just me. *grins*

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In America we've already let the democrats and reublicans set the populace at each other's throats, when THEY are the true enemies of the nation.

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I'm not sure it's any worse than the state of affairs we gots up here! *grins*

Ahem, back on topic:

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Someone stated earlier that if we were to make all defense positional

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Somehow, this makes all the best sense to me.

For example, why would anyone need to defend against fire if they can resist it?

If you could get out of the way of a cone flamethrower, wouldn't it stand to reason that you could get out of the way of a cone of ice pellets?

I dunno, it just makes more sense to me defense should only be melee, ranged, and AoE. Let resistance take care of the damage types.