Many of us have been begging for the Romulan Playable Faction since Beta. Here are some thoughts on a good way to add them to the game while giving added justification for doing so.
Romulan faction is a very desirable addition to your customers. This can also be a way to make money for the developer.
Setup the Romulan faction with the intention that it be smaller than the other factions making it more of an elite faction. After all, Romulans have always been the toughest of the enemies for both the Federation and Klingons since the first series. Borg were late additions to the shows and movies while Romulans have been bad boys from day 1.
To ensure that it is a smaller "elite" faction you can limit it to people who have reached level 50 in both Federation and Klingon in all three character types. So in each existing race the player would have to own a lvl 50 sci, engi and tac for both Federation and Klingon to qualify to start a lvl 1 Romulan.
This would require the player to have 7 character slots available which would require some zen store purchases to qualify. The Romulan playable faction could also be limited to those who are either Lifers or monthly subscribers to the game further adding revenue and further limiting those who are in the faction.
To further limit the size of this faction you could set it up as a Tribble Test Reward.
Combining all of these would ensure that only your most dedicated players have access to this faction. This could increase zen sales as well as the number of folks participating in the TTS events.
Since a Romulan Flagship was not designed when the Oddy was rolled out this could be another good opportunity for a fan contest. Open up the design of this ship to the fans like you did for the new Enterprise. The winner gets the same types prizes that the Odyssey winner received. A Free Romulan Flagship, pile of Zen and/or something else really cool to motivate participation.
This is a silly idea. I know of lots of people who know how to play who don't have 7 character slots. I personally? Have more than that. The truth is you're expecting the Romulan Faction to be inhibited by laws and regulations and red tape.
The romulans certainly didn't add red tape to every action they did. In fact they often bypassed it. So why should the romulan faction be tied down in some silly idea made by someone who never truly made a well thought out idea only to hope Cryptic/PWE has enough money? Ever heard of lockboxes? They've pilched plenty of people already and they continue to do so. I doubt they're having money problems.
Getting a Fed and KDF to 50 might be an idea since lots of people have done that. However, the Romulan and KDF faction should be just like the Federation faction. Start at level 1 and people can play it at the start. Any other method is the lazy way to do things and does not give the respect these factions deserve.
I remain empathetic to the concerns of my community, but do me a favor and lay off the god damn name calling and petty remarks. It will get you nowhere.
I must admit, respect points to Trendy for laying down the law like that.
The problem I see are this: Meeting the level/career gates only means someone has character slots, and has reached the inevitable level 50. Anybody can do it. Its no indicator of how good they are, nor necessarily means they spend that much money aside from slots. Some of your best spenders might not meet these qualifications, especially if they find the Klingon side unappealing.
If it was released as paid expansion, and there is precedent for paid expansions in F2P/Hybrid revenue model games, that would be much better. If you wanted it to be a subscriber/LTS incentive, have it be freely available with an active subscription while being paid for Silver/free players. I would have themed goodies available in the shop for everyone to buy, though.
That said, I feel the best possible expansions should cover as many players/player-types as possible. Rather than have it limited to top-end stuff, or specific tiers, I'd just as soon see them take Sins of a Solar Empire's "mini-expansion" concept, where it introduces specific systems that are broadly applicable to a variety of players.
For Romulans or Cardassians, an in-depth Espionage system would be great.
For Ferengi, a deeper economic game.
For Bajorans, maybe a cultural meta-game.
My blog! Zen|Dilithium tracking on Thursdays http://samonmaui.blogspot.com As a lifetime member of STO, I officially became a financial liability as of April 2012 when compared to a subscriber.
I'm with the majority. We want people to play this game. If a new player looks and sees a playable Romulan -- only to get turned off because of these HUGE gates -- what are we really accomplishing?
Build it and they will come. Build a Romulan faction, and it will grow. I think that a great way of helping to populate factions would be the ability to transfer a doff roster/rankings from one faction to another for a fee and a long cooldown timer (perhaps even a set number of times per account).
If you don't like the idea then offer up better suggestions.
How about you go home and rethink your life? People already pay immense amounts of money for lockboxes, ships, items, doff packs, unlocks and the list goes on. Nevermind Fleet Starbases that require lots of resources for small fleets; which provide yet more revenue.
Yet... you come up with an idea and expect everyone to either like it or discuss your disgusting idea with 'new ideas' of how much more fail you want the game to be? Lol.
Want to really take a hard look at how new content works?
New Content = Older Players More Interested, Slightly Appeased that Game Content Gets Released. = Newer players seeing a community that expands and believes it's something to invest in .... in the first place instead of walking away because STO is not a game; but a chore. = More revenue in the long run = Less "Omg *ragequit*" whenever a new player wants something but then discovers some invisible rule for some invisible reason that he can't obtain until he forks over cash.
It's like in a restaurant.... asking everyone to pay up first. They'll buy their dinner or lunch, but they certainly won't bring out their wallets for desert. Why? Because they've paid; because it was insisted upon they live inside of a box and don't feel obliged to go further.
That is essentially your idea.
This is essentially your behavior.
"Hi, I created a silly idea, will not acknowledge it's silly but want people to come up with MY solutions so my thread looks cool"
Here's my 'better suggestion' Romulans , Klingons, Feds each new player is given a choice for their starting toon. Heck even Microsoft the almighty was forced to give the world a choice between browsers; so why not factions too in STO?
Then.... players who like the game with the race they wanted in the first place.... can perhaps consider investing. There's my two cents; KISS (keep it simple stupid). That's not only good for the players it's also good business IMHO. And if that's not good enough; then perhaps you should instead of buying zen.... simple max out your credit card on a cash withdrawal and then send PWE/Cryptic a cheque.... sign your rights away and let them have all your assets. Because they MUST be doing THAT badly. LMFAO nuff said from me LOL.
How about you go home and rethink your life? People already pay immense amounts of money for lockboxes, ships, items, doff packs, unlocks and the list goes on. Nevermind Fleet Starbases that require lots of resources for small fleets; which provide yet more revenue.
Yet... you come up with an idea and expect everyone to either like it or discuss your disgusting idea with 'new ideas' of how much more fail you want the game to be? Lol.
Want to really take a hard look at how new content works?
New Content = Older Players More Interested, Slightly Appeased that Game Content Gets Released. = Newer players seeing a community that expands and believes it's something to invest in .... in the first place instead of walking away because STO is not a game; but a chore. = More revenue in the long run = Less "Omg *ragequit*" whenever a new player wants something but then discovers some invisible rule for some invisible reason that he can't obtain until he forks over cash.
It's like in a restaurant.... asking everyone to pay up first. They'll buy their dinner or lunch, but they certainly won't bring out their wallets for desert. Why? Because they've paid; because it was insisted upon they live inside of a box and don't feel obliged to go further.
That is essentially your idea.
This is essentially your behavior.
"Hi, I created a silly idea, will not acknowledge it's silly but want people to come up with MY solutions so my thread looks cool"
Here's my 'better suggestion' Romulans , Klingons, Feds each new player is given a choice for their starting toon. Heck even Microsoft the almighty was forced to give the world a choice between browsers; so why not factions too in STO?
Then.... players who like the game with the race they wanted in the first place.... can perhaps consider investing. There's my two cents; KISS (keep it simple stupid). That's not only good for the players it's also good business IMHO. And if that's not good enough; then perhaps you should instead of buying zen.... simple max out your credit card on a cash withdrawal and then send PWE/Cryptic a cheque.... sign your rights away and let them have all your assets. Because they MUST be doing THAT badly. LMFAO nuff said from me LOL.
Why would Cryptic want to limit a faction they spent a lot of time and money developing to a tiny number of players?
I have no problem with Cryptic wanting to sell access to the faction to F2P players, but my intuition is that they are going to give silver players a free Romulan only slot that unlocks at whatever level the Romulans start at (probably the current Klingon level, hopefully with the Klingons starting at < level 10).
The Klingons have already suffered enough because so many players are not even interested in leveling a character. The last thing we need is a Romulan faction that sits mostly unused because of artificial constraints.
If you love trolls so much may I suggest you try out one of those other MMOs - LotRO or that World one. I heard that they have monster play over there and you can roll a troll.
But back on topic, Cryptic makes nice easy-to-play casual games for casual gamers. Your suggestion of gating other playable factions behind such a steep investment is not a very sound financial idea.
Please rethink your idea and how it might be better instituted in order to draw in the most players interested in other factions.
Romulan faction is a very desirable addition to your customers. This can also be a way to make money for the developer.
How many people want to play a Romulan? 12%? 16%? 20%? 25%?
I'm not sure the development team has the time or resources to devote to that much of a minority when they need to consistently make more cash through lockboxes and the lottery and stuff.
Funny. Many of us have been looking forward to a KDF faction since the game was first anounced onstage in 2008. Many of us continued to push for it in closed beta, open beta and still wait for its completion.
Im all for a RSE faction but they need to finish the KDF as well or we end up with 1 true faction and 2 never quite finished factions.
As to the gate idea. No. I personally do not like it.
EDIT: Closed for necroing an old thread. Remember, if a thread has been inactive for 30 days, you should not post to it. Feel free to create a new thread on the subject if you would like to discuss further ~BranFlakes
Comments
The romulans certainly didn't add red tape to every action they did. In fact they often bypassed it. So why should the romulan faction be tied down in some silly idea made by someone who never truly made a well thought out idea only to hope Cryptic/PWE has enough money? Ever heard of lockboxes? They've pilched plenty of people already and they continue to do so. I doubt they're having money problems.
This would not turn out to be as profitable as you seem to think it would.
Sorry, but...
Gate-ception
maybe there needs to be a pay wall to start the faction? sure that i get.
but max levels, multiple career paths, different factions just to start a romulan? no way.
If it was released as paid expansion, and there is precedent for paid expansions in F2P/Hybrid revenue model games, that would be much better. If you wanted it to be a subscriber/LTS incentive, have it be freely available with an active subscription while being paid for Silver/free players. I would have themed goodies available in the shop for everyone to buy, though.
That said, I feel the best possible expansions should cover as many players/player-types as possible. Rather than have it limited to top-end stuff, or specific tiers, I'd just as soon see them take Sins of a Solar Empire's "mini-expansion" concept, where it introduces specific systems that are broadly applicable to a variety of players.
For Romulans or Cardassians, an in-depth Espionage system would be great.
For Ferengi, a deeper economic game.
For Bajorans, maybe a cultural meta-game.
My blog! Zen|Dilithium tracking on Thursdays
http://samonmaui.blogspot.com
As a lifetime member of STO, I officially became a financial liability as of April 2012 when compared to a subscriber.
Build it and they will come. Build a Romulan faction, and it will grow. I think that a great way of helping to populate factions would be the ability to transfer a doff roster/rankings from one faction to another for a fee and a long cooldown timer (perhaps even a set number of times per account).
How about you go home and rethink your life? People already pay immense amounts of money for lockboxes, ships, items, doff packs, unlocks and the list goes on. Nevermind Fleet Starbases that require lots of resources for small fleets; which provide yet more revenue.
Yet... you come up with an idea and expect everyone to either like it or discuss your disgusting idea with 'new ideas' of how much more fail you want the game to be? Lol.
Want to really take a hard look at how new content works?
New Content = Older Players More Interested, Slightly Appeased that Game Content Gets Released. = Newer players seeing a community that expands and believes it's something to invest in .... in the first place instead of walking away because STO is not a game; but a chore. = More revenue in the long run = Less "Omg *ragequit*" whenever a new player wants something but then discovers some invisible rule for some invisible reason that he can't obtain until he forks over cash.
It's like in a restaurant.... asking everyone to pay up first. They'll buy their dinner or lunch, but they certainly won't bring out their wallets for desert. Why? Because they've paid; because it was insisted upon they live inside of a box and don't feel obliged to go further.
That is essentially your idea.
This is essentially your behavior.
"Hi, I created a silly idea, will not acknowledge it's silly but want people to come up with MY solutions so my thread looks cool"
Here's my 'better suggestion' Romulans , Klingons, Feds each new player is given a choice for their starting toon. Heck even Microsoft the almighty was forced to give the world a choice between browsers; so why not factions too in STO?
Then.... players who like the game with the race they wanted in the first place.... can perhaps consider investing. There's my two cents; KISS (keep it simple stupid). That's not only good for the players it's also good business IMHO. And if that's not good enough; then perhaps you should instead of buying zen.... simple max out your credit card on a cash withdrawal and then send PWE/Cryptic a cheque.... sign your rights away and let them have all your assets. Because they MUST be doing THAT badly. LMFAO nuff said from me LOL.
You have to love trolls.
I have no problem with Cryptic wanting to sell access to the faction to F2P players, but my intuition is that they are going to give silver players a free Romulan only slot that unlocks at whatever level the Romulans start at (probably the current Klingon level, hopefully with the Klingons starting at < level 10).
The Klingons have already suffered enough because so many players are not even interested in leveling a character. The last thing we need is a Romulan faction that sits mostly unused because of artificial constraints.
If you love trolls so much may I suggest you try out one of those other MMOs - LotRO or that World one. I heard that they have monster play over there and you can roll a troll.
But back on topic, Cryptic makes nice easy-to-play casual games for casual gamers. Your suggestion of gating other playable factions behind such a steep investment is not a very sound financial idea.
Please rethink your idea and how it might be better instituted in order to draw in the most players interested in other factions.
How many people want to play a Romulan? 12%? 16%? 20%? 25%?
I'm not sure the development team has the time or resources to devote to that much of a minority when they need to consistently make more cash through lockboxes and the lottery and stuff.
Im all for a RSE faction but they need to finish the KDF as well or we end up with 1 true faction and 2 never quite finished factions.
As to the gate idea. No. I personally do not like it.
EDIT: Closed for necroing an old thread. Remember, if a thread has been inactive for 30 days, you should not post to it. Feel free to create a new thread on the subject if you would like to discuss further ~BranFlakes
R.I.P