Texas Justice

This sounds right.

It's been a while but someone came into the Technical section of the forums with the complaint that he hadn't gotten Ramiel as a contact after hitting 50. I think it was just before Issue 20 or right after. He got someone to drop an O-Portal and Ramiel also wouldn't offer any missions. The common consensus amongst the regulars there was that it was due to not having the badge.

It was confirmed by Support that he didn't meet all of the qualifications (Entrusted with the Secret badge wasn't owned). Once they got the badge they got an intro to Ramiel.

EDIT: A small bit of research on ParagonWiki shows this to be correct. The requirements to unlock Mender Ramiel as a contact are as follows:

Trained up to Level 50
Have the Entrusted with the Secret badge
Purchase of Going Rogue


Since Going Rogue is not included as part of the VIP package, that would mean you either haven't trained up to 50 (not just dinged, actually going to a trainer to Level Up) or don't have the badge.

Melissa "War Witch" Bianco has been with the game since February 2002. so yes, she's been there all along. I think from some things that were said at various events over the years that she was there before Matt. Since I can't find anything listing his start date like I did Melissa's, I'll have to rely on inference from other things that were said over the years.

Going from Staff Game Designer to Senior Game Designer to Lead Designer to Producer gives a pretty good idea that she has a pretty good "game vision" as well.

EDIT: Well, I found his LinkedIn page lists from July 2003 at Cryptic, so that would mean Melissa was there a year and 5 months longer.

Oddly enough, I'd been considering contacting Night Hornet to ask about if commissions were available and about pricing if they were.

I've loved his renders that I've seen on DA.

Well, don't delete or edit these two posts because I'm sure someone will be spreading the rumor that they heard Disney tried to buy it but was turned down. We'll need the posts to be able to link to them to prove it was just someone trying to make a joke.

I haven't had anything to do with virtue in many many years.

I avoid the server with that name for similar reasons.

Source?

or

Link to Source?

I've heard enough idiotic rumors not to trust anyone's word without reputable and trustworthy sources to back it up.

I think it's the end of the time they are being paid through due to the WARN act or Cal-WARN. I think the number I've heard is 60 days.

I'm not sure what his policy is on commissions (or anything else of late) but you might want to see if you can contact David Nakayama (aka Noble Savage). His DA page is at http://pixel-saurus.deviantart.com/

As you can tell by my avatar, I'm a big fan of David's work. Of course, I was a fan before I got the avatar, but I use that image almost everywhere.

SOE in San Diego since January 2011 I believe.

Not according to the LinkedIn profile.

Left NCSoft in August 2008 after having been Associate Producer on Dungeon Runners.
Was a Producer at 2K Games from September 2008 to October 2009.
Was Director of Quality Assurance and Producer at Red Fly Studio from February 2010 to September 2011.
Was Production Manager at Vigil Games for Darksiders 2 and Dark Millenium Online from September 2011 to May 2012.
Is currently Director of Community at ZeniMax Online Studios (since May 2012).

Nothing I've seen from Cuppa via Twitter or anywhere else, nor any searches online show any involvement with Aion.

That's what I've been able to find as well. After the stint on Dungeon Runners is when Cuppa left NCSoft.

Castle wasn't fired. His leaving was of his own choosing.

Here is his comment from his goodbye thread.

We've finally discovered GG's secret identity?

Who'd a thunk it?