"Were looking forward to more Klingon feedback on the Tribble Forums." --Al "CaptainGeko" Rivera
Okie dokie, you asked for it
I rolled up a fresh Gorn Science Officer on Tribble about two weeks ago.
First impression: "Whoa, I'm starting at Commander rank?? Neat!"
Second impression: "Ooh, a stipend of Tribble C-Store points to spend!"
Third impression: "Aw TRIBBLE, I don't have enough energy credits or Dilithium to outfit my ship or buy/train bridge officers."
With that out of the way I slogged through the introductory missions (took me forever to find the gate to the Ketha Lowlands in First City btw). I appreciate the progression on Tribble has been accelerated/augmented to facilitate testing, but the pacing felt "just right" for a new character.
Then I hit my first roadblock. I don't recall exactly what rank I was at the time, but upon completing the "Keep Your Enemies Closer" episode, I opened the Overview dialog to see the option to hail for the Defari series "Skirmish" mission. Except when I clicked on the button, the contact "K'men" esentially told me to go pound sand. Had it not been for the knowledgeable and helpful folks in the TTS chat room I would have immediately assumed this was a bug, not intended. Apparently I was not high enough level to procede.
Fortunately, either via a couple chance Borg encounters or successful doff mission assignments, I quickly ranked up and was able to start the Defari series. Note I'm not sure how much of that should be attributed to faster leveling pace of Tribble (which is cause for concern). However, upon completing the "Night of the Comet" mission (the last in the episode arc) I found myself once again in the same position.
Despite the Overview's taunting to hail Chancellor J'mpok to start the "Blood of the Empire" mission, I was not able to do so until I had attained Captain rank 2. And my experience wasn't limited to just these two arcs, but rather *all* the series in the chain. I'd finish one set, then find myself in a virtual limbo of having to grind out several ranks in order to continue. To add insult to injury, I should also mention that the rewards frequently did not scale to reflect the level necessary to play these missions.
This has to be my first and foremost criticism of the new F2P paradigm. In my not-so-humble opinion there simply isn't enough content for this faction to justify gating what *is* available.
New Ships
Thanks to the stipend of Tribble C-Store points (in addition to the purchase of some C-Store points on my own) I was able to try the Dacoit Flight-Deck Cruiser, the Phalanx Science Vessel, the Draguas Support Vessel, and the (not so new) Varanus Fleet Support Vessel.
First, lemme say these are most welcome additions to the game and fantastic alternatives to the standard options. They're really great and I had a lot of fun leveling up with them. That said, wow, was it really necessary to make these available for testing only via the Tribble C-Store? I mean of course I appreciate the free allotment of points, but obviously it wasn't enough to cover the cost. You've introduced what, no less than eight new ships on Tribble? Yet I wasn't able to test more than two without subsidizing the privilege at my own expense? C'mon guys.
Another, albeit minor, criticism is in regard to the Barrier Field console provided with the tier 3 Gorn Science Vessel. Frankly, the special ability's usefullness is questionable to begin with, not to mention its duration is too short and cooldown too long to justify the occupation of a console slot. But to be fair, I'd say the same of the Federation side's Rhode Island and T3 Nebula Retrofit's consoles (although at least the latter includes a passive buff).
DOFF System
Another great addition to the game, IMO. While I'm probably not as well versed in its intricacies as some other testers, so far I've been really enjoying it. As far as criticism from the KDF perspective, there are only a couple of points I can think of that might merit attention:
- I'd like the opportunity to pick assignments while in orbit of Qo'noS (just like the Feds are able to do in orbit of ESD).
- This might simply be a matter of perception, but it appeared to me that more of the KDF assignments were skewed toward a higher casualty risk than their Federation counterparts.
Events
I only had the opportunity to participate in one scheduled KDF Mirror Event. It was fun and I enjoyed it. I still have suggestions how these might be improved:
- Give concise but more detailed information in the Overview; where to go, who to talk to, and an outline of the objectives.
- Consider expanding the ranks able to partake in instanced events together (like the Borg Invasion sector space encounters).
That's all I could think of immediately off the top of my head. Overall I'm encouraged by most of the changes I've seen, but there's still room for refinement and particularly more content overall.
Comments
Considering there are enough missions to have one each level from here to level 51. It is a shame that they are all being saved for the last three levels of the game.
-Keppoch
supposedly, they had fixed the boff for characters created after the fix a few weeks ago. My character dates back to when KDF was unlocked on Tribble and thus I have earned 0 boffs.
1. spawn fighters,
2. toggle attack.
3. target destroyed with a few fighters being destoyed.
4. toggle recall
5. go to full impulse of the 8 remaining fighters, three do not use full impulse
6. reach next target and toggle attack.
7. during battle, the left behind fighters catch up.
8. Battle ends with only the three fighters that were left behind and caught up surviving.
9. Isssue the recall order
10. go to full impulse, this time the three fighters that had previously not gone to full impulse, now go to full impulse and follow properly.
As far as full impulse is concerned, it is almost as if, if I have too many fighters out, say more that six, then some of the fighters will not go to full impulse. When I have six or less left, they all seem to go full impulse. Again, this is not every time, but what seem to be happening when this behavior occurs.
As far as fighters remaining on recall and not attacking when attack is toggled, I have not seen any rhyme or reason for it. I will continue to keep my eye on it.
-Keppoch
My main and major complaint with KDF as a whole on tribble or holodeck, is the severe lack of any real true KDF story line missions. I loved the whole first series missions that end with my sword of Kahless. But I would love to see A LOT more. I am Craving some true KDF style conquer story lines. Maybe some missions centered around corruption in the High council, or instead of just a implied "some one challenged some ones honor" doff missions, A real mission line to avenge my honor.
General Impression:
1) Get rid of the linear story progression and make it strictly level based. This includes the Fed side.
And yet, some of the level requirements are just crazy: Need to be VA/LG to get to the Defari missions?
2) Where is the 'new' content? These are the same old KDF missions, just placed in a fancy new Log.
Why is there NO interaction between the KDF and the Cardassians? How about the Hirogens? Even a simple re-writing of the Fed missions would add some 'body' to the KDF side. What about some 'Low Level' introduction missions to the Borg? What about just fleshing out some of the rival House missions or more of the Fek'lhr missions?
3) The joke in my fleet on the KDF side is "You TRIBBLE and you make level". I'm hoping that both the Fed and KDF leveling will be slowed WAY down when this goes live. Of course that would mean that there would need to be more content for the KDF side. How about more time on missions and content then new ships in the C-Store? Oh, that's right, we're going F2P, so C-Store is King. 'TRIBBLE content we'll just get them to buy more ships'.
4) Biggest improvement in the KDF side, by far, is allowing the KDF to 'team up' with the Feds on STF's. This one thing has added more 'life' to the KDF end game than anything else, in my opinion.
5) Please un-nerf the DoF system. Please. Assigning DoF's using traits is what a commander NEEDS to do to alter the outcome of a DoF mission. After this last patch I can send a refugee to go fix my warp core. PLEASE, don't 'dumb' this game down. That's why I left that un-named Blizzard game.
Specific Gripes with the KDF side:
(Note: Not only did I create a new toon for the KDF, I also x-fered two existing toons over when this opened up)
1) What in the heck did you do to my Orion Marauder Cruiser? Where are my Orion interceptors? What are these useless 'Marauder Boarding Parties'? I want the Orion interceptors back. Who in there right mind is going to send boarding parties to the Borg to get assimilated? Quit nerfing content to make us buy C-Store ships.
2) I can't say this enough; Content, Content and more Content! PLEASE Cryptic, put some more effort into KDF content and less into stupid C-Store ships that we level too fast to use.
3) Some distinction needs to be made with the Duty Officers to indicate what faction they belong too. This is a problem in the exchange mostly, As a Fed, I do have Klingons on my crew. As a Klingon, I shot my last Fed and had him fed to the targs last week ... No really, It is very hard to distinguish between faction alliances in the exchange. Either place a symbol on the Dof or change the background color, something to indicate what faction they will work for; Fed, KDF or both. How about the same way Bof's are shown in the exchange?
4) Content is not more specific KDF DoF missions. Nice try, but no.
5) Leveling my KDF officer "Fifth of Jack" was fun, but why do I have to wait until I'm a LG to do the Defari missions? The ship gear that dropped was nearly as good as the Borg gear from the old STF's. Everyone loved the fact that you could go back at each level and 're-acquire' the gear at level. This added some 'content' to the KDF side and allowed me to team with my mates and do missions and dalies together. Please rethink the Linear Story Line implementation. Good Idea WITHIN a story line, but not the best idea overall.
6) Why do I have too spec into "Stealth" as a KDF to keep my cloaking effective? This has been a basic principle to KDF warfare from the beginning. Other then the Romulans, the KDF are 'masters' at the Cloak. Why should I take a spec hit to keep up with the feds? They should have to spec to find me. KDF are the 'bad' guys, Fed are the 'Good' guys. Fed's don't use cloaking as a fundamental principle to warfare, the KDF does. How many times do we see the Fed ship get surprised by a Klingon ship de-cloaking next to it? Other then the Dreadnought the Defiant & Defiant retrofit, Fed officers have no experience using cloak and should have to expend skills to use cloaking and find a cloaked ship. As a KDF, I take a double hit having to speck into something most Feds don't use, but I rely on, then have to spec into something my own military uses if I want to be effective in PvP. Please rethink this.
7) Why does my KDF officer touch his chest when asking to beam out the rescued Fed officer in "Infected Ground"? Doesn't the KDF use a wrist mounted communicator?
8) Why does my KDF officer whip out a Fed Tricorder in the Breen missions and the STF's? KDF doesn't have Tricorder like devices? They seem to have them else where. These are the little "Pay Attention to Detail" stuff that drive us crazy and make us think that you really don't care about the KDF side of the game.
Thanks for listening.
Not really, with the new episode setup on fed side, KDF gets the Orellius missions the same time they do, before the borg and undine missions. Trouble is, KDF has nothing between the demons and the Breen, so you have a gaping hole with nothing to do but grind, and the game doesn't tell you this.
Yeah, that's one thing I still don't understand.
Why does the Federation apparently have a monopoly on Romulan, Cardassian, Dominion, and Borg content?
And what about the Hirogen? Man, can you think of a better antagonist for Klingons to clash Bat'leths with??
Would it really take that much effort to edit some of the mission text so it was applicable to KDF?
I mean for goodness sakes, the Feds even get an entire story arc where they not only appear as Klingons, but also get to fly a Bird of Prey. Plus they get a sweet torpedo launcher reward to boot!
At least on tribble, I remember doing the romulan storyline, not just the reman for some reason. But yes, no Cardassians, no Borg and certainly no real brush up with the Federation. The Hahr'peng is probably to offset the KDF abitlity to craft it, though it is silly. Especially, because our crafted ones also can damage the Doomsday device xD So much for special weapon against it.
The Fahl'ki (or whatever you spell them, I suck at that) storyline is one of the best I ever played on both sides. I love the Path of the Warrior missions. I love the fact that you can go and rob the Feds blind, looting their freighters, and destroying their outposts. We should have Path of the Warrior missions in every sector, that would be awesome.
Also some of the current missions feel a bit out of place. Why would a Klingon pamper Slameck? I'd shoot the ******* in the back on sight. Why would you help Bones and Scotty? You'd beat them until they give you what you want... And most of all, when I choose to keep the Borg tech I nab from that Romulan vessel, why doesn't anything change?
The KDF has so much potential, I love playing a Klingon after I tried it on Tribble (am currently building one up on Holo, and am having a blast), it all seems wasted at times.
100% agree with this. I am now beating my head on the wall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad:
Ahhhh......... So this is why I am not able to do the BREEN missions............. I have to be level 48??? Like the poster, I just finished the Romulan storyline and sitting at level 43. So now I have to GRIND....
They merely condensed our mission string and level locked some of our missions into a smaller package.
The grindiness of KDF play was never changed.
We must suffer the grind still until they finally bring out the F2P KDF revival of the faction that is suppossed to complete us.
soon(tm)
I agree, though it easy for a lifer to say "wait and see" over a subscriber at this time.
Even after F2P releases we KDF will have to wait to see the Revival.
if it sucks, then many will leave.
if it takes too long, many will leave.
Easy is for the feds.:p
Unfortunately I doubt we will see anything in the way of content ingame for the KDF that can't be bought in the Cstore until after the Revival comes.
You are right though in that the KDF needs way more mission and varieties there-of to satisfy the definition of good gameplay.