We have Issues

A nicely crafted history of CoH, issue by issue — what went right, and what didn’t.
Part of what seems clear is that the intro of PvP had significantly negative consequences — that were inevitable, because PvP (be it the Arena duds or the power nerfs) was critical to City of Villains being launched. Indeed, if you see Issues 4 and 5 (and ED) as laying the groundwork for supporting CoV PvP (EIEIO), it all begins to make sense.
The question then becomes — how do Cryptic/NCSoft manage to move forward? The answer, from what we’ve heard tell for I8, is more content and some added power sets (and EPPs), even if some of that is pay-for-it rather than free. That’s the right answer, I supsect. The question will be how soon they can bring it on. I7 will keep people in CoV, and provide some bones for the CoH players, but it may be a long wait until it all pays off. And, in the meantime, there are plenty of other games out there …
(Though not for me, he said confidently.)
(via Doyce)