I know one thing for sure, I started a new account and reached level 24 to start a KDF toon. This toon started as Commander in a poorly fitted BoP. They gave me a couple of BOffs, but little XP to train them. I had to bring my main over to run misisons with that toon to get it going. They gave me some gear, but it was all TRIBBLE. It was even set up so you can't go straight through mission progression without coming up short on XP and having to rerun a few.
I realized then this is the single biggest uphill challenge I have seen in this game. For every account that decides to start a KDF toon, I understand completely why they stop and the KDF needs people.
As long as this obsticle is in the road, I don't see anything happening any time soon, and I don't see Cryptic doing anything about it. So if nothing changes, there is no point in hoping (read: putting faith in) anything getting better on STO only other faction.
I think this game is great, the devs have done amazing work, and there is a sheer range of THINGS TO DO far surpassing many other MMOs. They actually pay attention to the development of the game, compared to, oh, Champions Online...
All that said? The handling of KDF is jaw-droppingly stupid.
Personally? I'd be happy if one could start with a new account as KDF, at level 1. And don't add much of anything.
Yes, it'd be rough, but I'd rather have people struggle a little bit to get up to speed (doing the city run-around mission, PvP, maybe some early exploration missions and Foundry).
I'd like day-1 access and content. If I can't have the extra content, dear Kahless, give people access to the game without getting hip-deep in Federation.
I mean, seriously, wtf were they thinking? That's almost designed for failure.
Campaign: The Fenwick Cycle NWS-DKR9GB7KH
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
I think this game is great, the devs have done amazing work, and there is a sheer range of THINGS TO DO far surpassing many other MMOs. They actually pay attention to the development of the game, compared to, oh, Champions Online...
All that said? The handling of KDF is jaw-droppingly stupid.
At times I tend to forget how hard it was to level a KDF character when this game launched.
At game launch back in 2010 it only took me one week to max level my 1st Federation Captain with very casual play.
I wanted my 1st Character to be KDF and I did not understand why I had to create a Federation Character 1st but then I figured that I was leveling my Fed Captain so fast that it was not such a big deal.
I created my 1st KDF Character and was blown away by how crappy the Faction was implemented.
There was no Tutorial to help you understand the differences between the Federation and the KDF or help you set the direction that you'll need to develop your Character in
.
You were given a BOP with very little equipment and two under skilled Bridge Officers but at the time I figured it would be find because I'd have plenty of low level missions to run so I could build up my vessel and Crew.
I still remember all the laughs that I got when I was asking in chat where I needed to go to get my starting (PVE) missions.
Once the reality had set in on the vast amounts of nothing that KDF Faction had going for it I was pretty much ready to abandon the worse implemented excuse for a 2nd faction in a 2 faction MMO that I'd ever seen but for some reason I stuck around.
It took me over a month to get my 1st KDF Captain to max level.
It was bad enough that the KDF only had PVP has its only source of leveling but then the EXP that we got from PVP was much less than the amount that players got when leveling Federation Captains and at times we would be waiting in queues for hours to get in one 5 minute match.
I was able to tough out leveling my KDF Captain and it made me a much better PVP player and really made me understand the value of team work; however, I hated PVP!
Over the years the KDF has gotten a bit better but really not by very much.
Over the last few years there have been many bold statements made about how that KDF faction will be pulled off the way, way, way back burner and put on the fore front and given the attention that it deserves, I'?m still waiting on that to happen.
We flash forward to the here and now:
Let's take a look at how the KDF faction compares to KDF faction at launch:
Still no way to start has a KDF Character without leveling a Federation Captain 1st
Still no Tutorial to help set the tone for anyone brave enough to start a KDF toon
Very little low level content to help new characters gear up and gain some experience using KDF vessels
Players today are not going to want to tough out leveling a KDF Character.
If I was a new player to STO and was aware that this MMO had been around for nearly 3 years and saw how poorly developed one faction of this 2 faction game was I doubt that I'd want anything to do with the Faction let alone the MMO in question.
I'm tired of holding out hope when it comes to the continued development and growth of the KDF faction.
One would think that by now the developers has well has most players would see that both Factions are symbiotic and need each other to survive.
A Strong KDF faction can only help with this games longevity but the longer we have to wait for KDF improvements the less likely players are going to care about them.
IMO if season 8 does deliver a true KDF experience with a nice Tutorial and level 1-50 game content the faction will just be getting what it should have launched with nearly 3 years ago and it will be sad to see that it took that long to get it.
I'm hitching my cart to this magical season 8 like I've done with so many past seasons and updates that were supposed to right the ship for the KDF faction; however, forgive me if I show little to no ?Faith? that the season will deliver the results.
I really like STO and season 7 is starting to grow on me; however, whenever I sit back and take a look at how little attention my preferred faction has gotten from Cryptic over the years and all the players that I've known that have walked away from STO because of the empty words of what was to come for the KDF faction, I just can't help be feel years? worth of frustration boil to the surface.
The KDF tutorial is an annoying as back and forth disaster, the whole city has absolutely no fundamental design structure to it and isn't really enjoyable to be at, and the spacedock interactions/explore the station and get you're first ship interaction is clumsy at best.
Sounds like an idea of things to improve. I personally don't mind but if many feel the same way you do then I guess it deserves being looked at.
Nuke the KDF, pick out the pieces that are decent get the KDF players to make some solid foundry missions that could port to episodes and start the whole thing from scratch not the pre and post launch mess it is.
I don't think that's a good idea. <- I missunderstood.
And no matter what the baseline issue still exists, Cryptic has lost money focusing on the KDF. I believe it was the November Ask Cryptic where Dan stated this fact again.
sometimes they best way to save something is to destroy it and start over.
For the little focus that they've got. We haven't had no new ships for how long? The things we do get come in lockboxes and not account unlock. At least with all the money they're making from this can't they at least focus more on KDF so that this game doens't feel like Starfleet Online?
It's just sad.
It would also bolster the numbers of KDF players as Feds would be curious to what the missions were like and thus boost sales for KDF content in the store.
Very much THIS. It just offers a different experience with FE's too.
There are some very good ideas on this thread to improve the KDF faction, kudos to all of you that care :')
You know, it would be cool if folks used Foundry to come up with a bunch of Foundry starting-level content to flesh out 'who the KDF are,' what life is like, political situation, and so on.
I'd do it but I'm kind of lackluster in the 'Star Trek lore' department.
(I'm also new to Foundry, only have one mission so far)
Campaign: The Fenwick Cycle NWS-DKR9GB7KH
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
The problem is, it will take more than one token Season to flesh out the KDF. Having decent content through 1-50 would be a good start, and will hopefully help swell the KDF ranks once players have the option of joining the faction right from the beginning. Adjustable UI would be helpful as well, since a lot of people complain about the awesome red UI.
However, what if more is needed? This is why a dedicated team is needed, so that ongoing improvements are made through the patches, S9 and beyond. Otherwise, it's just going to be a season's worth of improvements to the faction every 2-3 seasons, with the rest of the resources going to the Federation.
Right now, the game is defaulting as Federation when it comes to content. Stuff is released to feddies and poorly copy-pasted onto KDF, or there's 'cross-faction' ships and the like. The best way to change that would be a dedicated team of developers that honestly LIKE the KDF concept.
I'm not opposed to a dedicated KDF team, if and when Cryptic has enough basic gameplay for the faction and there's a measurable cash flow coming from KDF players. They simply are not going to do it without financial justification, and they won't get that until they do more to level the playing field and make playing as KDF more attractive to more players.
So unfortunately, we go back to something of a "build it and they will come" scenario. Cryptic needs to take a step of faith, and then the players need to take one. Hopefully we'll meet somewhere in the middle.
My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
Blue, I understand you as a "Community Moderator" that you try to keep the peace and help calm angry posts from players here on the STO forums but correct me if I am wrong by saying that Dan Stahl is the "Executive Producer" on Star Trek Online and although he doesn't decide himself which direction the game travels and which turns the devs make, he does decide which resources get placed where they need to be to ensure that once decisions are made by his superiors at PWE, that they are carried out. And as far as I've read and can remember, other people on the STO team have made statements to the effect of wanting to make the KDF an equal faction on par with Starfleet/Federation though these other devs may not have the authority and influence on STO with PWE that Dan Stahl does.
And in my opinion if you make a statement on what will be added into a/the game and don't/can't deliver, it is advisable to not keep making the same claim repeatedly multiple times because it is possible that after making the statement on multiple occasions without making good on them, such statements maybe seen/taken as "empty commitments" that have gone unfulfilled and likely may never be. But again, correct me if I am wrong because as a once paying customer to STO (when I had the funds to do so), I like it when the head of a game's development team says something new is coming though I completely understand that STO is "subject to change and not all additions to the game will come to fruition" BUT and again, say that an addition to the game is coming "multiple times" whether the statement is a promise or not by oh I don't know, the "Executive Producer" and said addition doesn't occur will generate negative emotions in the player base who might just express their displeasure on the game's forums and after close to 3 years of "Dev Statements" saying that the KDF will be an equal faction on par with the Starfleet/Federation, well Blue, that is exactly what I'm doing now.
I don't disagree with anything you said. And they absolutely need to keep hearing the feedback that players are not happy with where the KDF are and want changes.
The fact that there are people at Cryptic, including Dan Stahl, who are saying they want a better KDF experience leads me to believe that it's practically inevitable that they will take steps in that direction.
When they do that, how far they go, and how well they execute is anybody's guess. It's also important to remember that either CBS or PWE have the power to veto anything Cryptic might want to do with the KDF. And that if there is resistance to the plan, we will never find out because Cryptic won't be able to say anything about it one way or the other even if they wanted to. We learned that lesson with Atari.
All I ask, as a moderator, is that we keep our posts "clean" of anything that amounts to a personal attack, unproveable accusations, or deliberate provocations. I don't nuke constructive feedback even if it's negative and I let "venting" alone if it doesn't cross the lines set by the forum rules.
My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
I think this game is great, the devs have done amazing work, and there is a sheer range of THINGS TO DO far surpassing many other MMOs. They actually pay attention to the development of the game, compared to, oh, Champions Online...
All that said? The handling of KDF is jaw-droppingly stupid.
Personally? I'd be happy if one could start with a new account as KDF, at level 1. And don't add much of anything.
Yes, it'd be rough, but I'd rather have people struggle a little bit to get up to speed (doing the city run-around mission, PvP, maybe some early exploration missions and Foundry).
I'd like day-1 access and content. If I can't have the extra content, dear Kahless, give people access to the game without getting hip-deep in Federation.
I mean, seriously, wtf were they thinking? That's almost designed for failure.
We used to start at level 5. . .with roughly the same exclusive content we have now. It was even more dispersed. It was a rather dull, repetitive grind to hit level 40-50, even after the introduction of the Mirror Universe invasions and the XP they generate for you. There was a lot of complaining about it. So, they reduced the amount of XP it took to advance, and then later modified the KDF faction so it started at lvl 24-25. The reasoning was that they would keep it there until they had KDF content to fill the earlier/mid levels with.
Assuming they're actually working on a LOT of KDF content for Season 8, we'll most likely see a reduction in the starting level for KDF.
My PvP toon is Krov, of The House of Snoo. Beware of my Hegh'ta of doom.
wej Heghchugh vay', SuvtaH SuvwI'.
A warrior fights to the death.
Simply wishing us away won't work, Cryptic.
Jack Emmert: "Starfleet and Klingon. ... So two factions, full PvE content." Al Rivera hates Klingons Star Trek Online: Agents of Jack Emmert All cloaks should be canon.
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them." -Thomas Marrone
Just as an experiment I created a new KDF and a New Fed character a week or three back just to see how long it would take to get to the level cap. The KDF character look about 22 hours, the fed character took about 30 hours.
That really is not a very great long abount of time to play thought the content.. a brand new player who didn't know the game as well would likely take twice that long but the saem thing..is noted... not very long at all.
Most MMO's you spend the first 10 levels or so learning the game, and from there to the level cap learning details of the games mechanics while soaking up game story/lore. then you hit end game content, and other goodies. WOW is the acception to this at this point but then OMG what an increadable about of content availible there, with several races, each with a unique starting experience, and the two factions haveing unique faction based content availible both as solo or co-operative play with many places to linger along the way along with the option of freezing ones XP to linger at differing levels of PvP play and garner some loot and gear along the way befor progressing further. Still and none the less, STO has a long way to go before it offers that level and depth of game play. I really doubt STO will ever get to that point but I could be wrong.
The main issue is and has been the KDF as a faction not really having its OWN content as a faction to play through. This hurts faction numbers like no ones biz, and makes the faction much less attractive as a game play option for players. It hurts STO as an MMO.
Startrek Online is not like any of the other Perfect World titles. While doubtless even in the games current state it's fairly obvious its making its owners a great deal of money at this point. Egad, the game has got to be raking the cash it in on the lock boxes.. master keys require ZEN to purchase, and no matter how the ZEN is aquired someone HAS to BUY the zen in the first place. The money to put back into further game development is there, and quite frankly STO can continue to make great ooddles and scoddles of money for years to come if there is content for the players. Missions are content, and PvP play "CAN" be content if its done right. As it stands at the moment pvP is not a big draw for competitive players because other then bragging rights and some shinies it doesn't effect the greater game in any way what so ever. The story line isn't advanced in any way in PvP play and for PvP to truely attract a certain wargame element really needs to be there to move and advance the story of the Startrek prime universe.
Arena play PvP is not pure PvP.. Its practice for PvP . STO does not have true blue PvP yet. If you want to see tru PvP in a trek setting go back a couple years and look at Starfleet Command-II's dynaverse which was full on territotoriall PvP. Player actions effected what was going on strongly. Faction players could find them selves with no place to resupply thier ships, or repair them, much less aquire new starships if the faction held no planets or bases. Thats real PvP that counted. SFC-II on the other hand lacked to RP elements, ground missions, and story of STO. STO needs that kind of PvP, but it needs a healthy populated KDF gfaction to do it, and without the KDF mission content to draw players that has little if any chance of happening.
The talk about adding more factions (which by the way I would love to see at some point) at this point strikes me as foolishly and hopelessly premature. Considering the state of the KDF, how can anyone assume the addition of a third faction when the game other second faction isn't complete is going to add to the game? There is no logic, or sense in such an addition at this time. I quite understand the champions of a Romulan factions desires to see the RSE represnted by players, but if it is, what are RSE players going to do? PvP? Where..Arena play simply isn't that big of a draw as any MMO other then strait up shooters has ever shown. Factional PvP needs a framework and a story to exist in or its just another fancy shooter.
I've stated, and pounded apon this for three years now. the Studio absolutly needs to flesh out the KDF. Not only will it strengthen the over all game experience, but it will make the game a much stronger pull for non trek gamers and fans, and fans of scifi based PvP play and open up play for the addition down the road of other factions.. Certainly let players start with Fed play, and stay with that faction forever if thats what they wish.
This is a game and at a certain level we need to paraphrase to motto of Star Trek..you know the one I speak of. "To boldly go where no one has gone before" but we need to make a small change that reflects that this is a virtual experience..
To boldly experience what no one has done before.
Flesh out the KDF, make sure STF, and FE's are also written with a second story from the KDF view point (and yes, that DOES mean that pretty much all of the FE's need a KDF player rewrite. Of all of them only the Reman and Defari arcs make any sense..the 2800 has some real issues with making sense from a KDF players POV...as a KDF player I would have challanged the Gorn KDF ambassadore to a dual and killed that idiot for standing in the way of the empires interests.. and while I'm at it..why is a Gorn acting as the empires embassadore there... do you see any Gorn on the high council?)
Once the KDF is a lot more playable then it currently is, then lets see that Romulan faction get developed, after that we should look at the Gamma quadrant, the delta quadrant, or the Borg.
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them." -Thomas Marrone
They ran a survey a few months ago. Playable Romulans beat KDF, albeit not by much.
Remember the wording when everyone receives the "Playable Romulans" in a future content patch rather than a Romulan Faction. Cryptic will deliver exactly as much as they did to KDF at release rather than what Jack Emmert stated at GenCon in 2008: "Starfleet and Klingon. Yeah. So two factions, full PvE content." If they are still unwilling to finish Klingons, it is unlikely there will ever be a Romulan Faction just baited hook for the cash grab. More smoke. More mirrors. More lies.
Jack Emmert: "Starfleet and Klingon. ... So two factions, full PvE content." Al Rivera hates Klingons Star Trek Online: Agents of Jack Emmert All cloaks should be canon.
Just as an experiment I created a new KDF and a New Fed character a week or three back just to see how long it would take to get to the level cap. The KDF character look about 22 hours, the fed character took about 30 hours.
That really is not a very great long abount of time to play thought the content.. a brand new player who didn't know the game as well would likely take twice that long but the saem thing..is noted... not very long at all.
Most MMO's you spend the first 10 levels or so learning the game, and from there to the level cap learning details of the games mechanics while soaking up game story/lore. then you hit end game content, and other goodies. WOW is the acception to this at this point but then OMG what an increadable about of content availible there, with several races, each with a unique starting experience, and the two factions haveing unique faction based content availible both as solo or co-operative play with many places to linger along the way along with the option of freezing ones XP to linger at differing levels of PvP play and garner some loot and gear along the way befor progressing further. Still and none the less, STO has a long way to go before it offers that level and depth of game play. I really doubt STO will ever get to that point but I could be wrong.
The main issue is and has been the KDF as a faction not really having its OWN content as a faction to play through. This hurts faction numbers like no ones biz, and makes the faction much less attractive as a game play option for players. It hurts STO as an MMO.
Startrek Online is not like any of the other Perfect World titles. While doubtless even in the games current state it's fairly obvious its making its owners a great deal of money at this point. Egad, the game has got to be raking the cash it in on the lock boxes.. master keys require ZEN to purchase, and no matter how the ZEN is aquired someone HAS to BUY the zen in the first place. The money to put back into further game development is there, and quite frankly STO can continue to make great ooddles and scoddles of money for years to come if there is content for the players. Missions are content, and PvP play "CAN" be content if its done right. As it stands at the moment pvP is not a big draw for competitive players because other then bragging rights and some shinies it doesn't effect the greater game in any way what so ever. The story line isn't advanced in any way in PvP play and for PvP to truely attract a certain wargame element really needs to be there to move and advance the story of the Startrek prime universe.
Arena play PvP is not pure PvP.. Its practice for PvP . STO does not have true blue PvP yet. If you want to see tru PvP in a trek setting go back a couple years and look at Starfleet Command-II's dynaverse which was full on territotoriall PvP. Player actions effected what was going on strongly. Faction players could find them selves with no place to resupply thier ships, or repair them, much less aquire new starships if the faction held no planets or bases. Thats real PvP that counted. SFC-II on the other hand lacked to RP elements, ground missions, and story of STO. STO needs that kind of PvP, but it needs a healthy populated KDF gfaction to do it, and without the KDF mission content to draw players that has little if any chance of happening.
The talk about adding more factions (which by the way I would love to see at some point) at this point strikes me as foolishly and hopelessly premature. Considering the state of the KDF, how can anyone assume the addition of a third faction when the game other second faction isn't complete is going to add to the game? There is no logic, or sense in such an addition at this time. I quite understand the champions of a Romulan factions desires to see the RSE represnted by players, but if it is, what are RSE players going to do? PvP? Where..Arena play simply isn't that big of a draw as any MMO other then strait up shooters has ever shown. Factional PvP needs a framework and a story to exist in or its just another fancy shooter.
I've stated, and pounded apon this for three years now. the Studio absolutly needs to flesh out the KDF. Not only will it strengthen the over all game experience, but it will make the game a much stronger pull for non trek gamers and fans, and fans of scifi based PvP play and open up play for the addition down the road of other factions.. Certainly let players start with Fed play, and stay with that faction forever if thats what they wish.
This is a game and at a certain level we need to paraphrase to motto of Star Trek..you know the one I speak of. "To boldly go where no one has gone before" but we need to make a small change that reflects that this is a virtual experience..
To boldly experience what no one has done before.
Flesh out the KDF, make sure STF, and FE's are also written with a second story from the KDF view point (and yes, that DOES mean that pretty much all of the FE's need a KDF player rewrite. Of all of them only the Reman and Defari arcs make any sense..the 2800 has some real issues with making sense from a KDF players POV...as a KDF player I would have challanged the Gorn KDF ambassadore to a dual and killed that idiot for standing in the way of the empires interests.. and while I'm at it..why is a Gorn acting as the empires embassadore there... do you see any Gorn on the high council?)
Once the KDF is a lot more playable then it currently is, then lets see that Romulan faction get developed, after that we should look at the Gamma quadrant, the delta quadrant, or the Borg.
Khemaraa sends.
You are now my new best friend lol.. I agree with basically everything you said
The Emperor isn't please with Cryptic apparent lack of progress for the Empire. Lord Vader is on his way
(Snip)
This is a game and at a certain level we need to paraphrase to motto of Star Trek..you know the one I speak of. "To boldly go where no one has gone before" but we need to make a small change that reflects that this is a virtual experience..
To boldly experience what no one has done before.
Flesh out the KDF, make sure STF, and FE's are also written with a second story from the KDF view point (and yes, that DOES mean that pretty much all of the FE's need a KDF player rewrite. Of all of them only the Reman and Defari arcs make any sense..the 2800 has some real issues with making sense from a KDF players POV...as a KDF player I would have challanged the Gorn KDF ambassadore to a dual and killed that idiot for standing in the way of the empires interests.. and while I'm at it..why is a Gorn acting as the empires embassadore there... do you see any Gorn on the high council?)
Once the KDF is a lot more playable then it currently is, then lets see that Romulan faction get developed, after that we should look at the Gamma quadrant, the delta quadrant, or the Borg.
Khemaraa sends.
I pretty much support every point you made.
Sad no one at Cryptic or PWE will read or care what is says.
Well, with the new Foundry rewards, there is plenty of stuff worth playing for Klingon characters, and it even gives you respectable amounts of fleet marks and Dilithium for it, and it is quite useful for levelling and gaining Expertise.
That is more stuff than you could play in a lifetime.
I suppose Cryptic could then cut overhead and increase profits by trimming away most of the Fed missions, bumping the start up to Commander, and stop creating content since:
Well, with the new Foundry rewards, there is plenty of stuff worth playing for FEDERATION characters, and it even gives you respectable amounts of fleet marks and Dilithium for it, and it is quite useful for levelling and gaining Expertise.
That is more stuff than you could play in a lifetime.
Jack Emmert: "Starfleet and Klingon. ... So two factions, full PvE content." Al Rivera hates Klingons Star Trek Online: Agents of Jack Emmert All cloaks should be canon.
I don't think anyone can seriously argue that the KDF shouldn't get any additional content, ever. If someone did directly say that, I didn't catch it. That would be trolling.
(((Strong hint)))
It is true that the Foundry can be a tool to provide extra content, and I hope KDF players are willing to take advantage of whatever they can get.
It's not too much to expect to ask Cryptic to keep making content for both factions. It's unrealistic at this point to expect to get it all at once, continually, and to maintain true parity.
What we should expect is that Cryptic will make the attempt to balance things out going forward and to close the gap by as much as they can whenever they have time in their schedule. It's not wrong to ask Cryptic to make time in their schedule, and to keep asking.
My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
we have some posters come into the KDF portion of the game forums fairly constantly with the whole "Klingons should just shut up and go away" attitude and flags flying from all masts.
We've gotten pretty good at landing on them with spurs, pain sticks, and a few Gorn thrown in for good measure. Though there are still a few that come in the rake the coals and get the flames going. A few have ended up getting burned from thier playing with fire..
Grumpy, discontented, and informed KDF players have developed a real low tolerance for it I'm afraid.. Even the concept of a faction merge tends to really get us up in arms. We don't see all that much of it any more, and the worst of them have gotten infraction points and complaints lodged against them. No sense of humor for that sort of hijinx with we KDF types.
We want desperatly to see a revival of the KDF, and all that could go with it. And for the most part all of us KDF players pretty much know what is needed, especially those of us that have been here since day one. It's not easy for many of us to keep it civil either. Lot of outright anger I'm afraid. We've felt seriously slighted.
I hope the tweet leaks we've seen, and some of the hints are indeed pointing toward season 8 having a great deal of KDF content.. and yes, our memories go back months and months and months, and years back around here..
We have a great deal of occasional wishfull thinking, and we do tend to jump all over any sort of hint toward what we want. It has been and is frustrating. Those of us still posting have toned it back a very great deal, but theres a whole lot of KDF players who just stay as far away from the forums as possible. They don't want to discuss, poke, prod or cajole. They feel ignored and seriously slighted. Theres just not much you as a CM on the forums can do. The ball is squarely in the DEV's court on this. There's three years of feed back in the KDF Gameplay and ships forums about it.
So mostly it just the hurry up and wait, and wait, and yet wait some more. Not happy making for us.
My self and some of the other old guard hang in there, but none of us will ever get used to being dissapointed time after time.. but if the studio will move onto getting the content we just might get a whole lot nicer about the whole thing *grin*
We want Trek, and we want KDF content, but eaqually important we want a good solid MMO that draws player in and involves them... As a fed player, they've got that.. not dso much if you don't play fed.
I as much as anyone wish Cryptic hada couple more years of in house develop ment time availible to it. We know why it didn't happen. "nuff said on that.
I'm not sure what I want to say to you, and I'm not sure waht I can say to the Dev's, but if they are indeed going to focus on KDF for season 8, the sooner they lay some real info on it the better. Just knowing that we're going to get KDF stuff all by it's self would be a tremendous shot in the arm to we KDF players and give us a great deal to look forward to.. The studio would still have plenty of room and wiggle for other goodies and surprises for season 8 even if they did out and out say the focus will be on KDF content.
As a CM, please Urge the Dev's to spill some beans early (as in ASAP) if they are indeed doing KDF stuff. We're just barely hanging in there..
The KDF fleet I'm in hase 8 active players.. and we may be one of the larger ones.. this is down from a peak of 24 players at the end of the games first year. A bunch of them just simply let thier subs lapse and moved on to other things because there wasn't any KDF content. My fleet keeps contact with our old players as the fleet existed years before STO came along.
Build it and they WILL come is what we've been saying.. as in Coming Back to STO..and these are all players that would renew as Gold level players, not silvers.. Theres hundreds if not thousands out there. And they'r enot kids either.. moslt age 30 and up and serious trek fans with jobs, families, income.
*shakes the Cryptic tree* You guys listening yet! *shakes the tree some more* we're talk'n to ya!!!
Got no objecting to 'em mak'n money off us..just need the content.
Yep, they could. They don't. What does that tell you?
To me, that clearly sais they want new Cryptic-created content, and that will include content for the KDF.
But: We don't strictly need that to enjoy our KDF toons. Because of the many awesome Klingon Foundry missions. What was the last Foundry mission you played?
Is there a list of this "awesome Klingons Foundry Missions"?. The missions I played were rather boring or took hours to complete.
Yep, they could. They don't. What does that tell you?
To me, that clearly sais they want new Cryptic-created content, and that will include content for the KDF.
But: We don't strictly need that to enjoy our KDF toons. Because of the many awesome Klingon Foundry missions. What was the last Foundry mission you played?
What's good for the goose is good for the gander. If these Foundry missions you acclaim in lieu of Cryptic created content are good enough for KDF then they are good enough for Federation, am I not correct? No one needs Cryptic created content then as the Foundry would suffice for both factions. But as you said, they have not decided cut more content but continue to develop. Therefore, the sauce you recommend is not good for either the goose or the gander.
Jack Emmert: "Starfleet and Klingon. ... So two factions, full PvE content." Al Rivera hates Klingons Star Trek Online: Agents of Jack Emmert All cloaks should be canon.
Or more specifically, if the Foundry is so great, PW can sack about 90% of Cryptic's staff because we wont need anyone for new content. Right? :P
This is not Team Fortress where the best ideas are made "game canon" and there is a huge temptation from the money counters to ask "if people are making content for free, why are we paying YOU?" (Yes TF has its own ways around this).
Really STO is just a Fed game with Token Klinks anyway, everything from the HUD to icons and publicity and so forth, the Klingon faction needs a heavy rebuild and certainly a dedicated season to run through things on a massive checklist.
I will suggest that early game content could be spent examining not only the Fed war, but also the relationships between houses and the alied species. Section 31 would probably try to break the Gorn away from the Klinks as they're the "brains" of the faction with their tech heavy vessels and the king on the council, as well as looking at the Ferasians (anything to make them interesting!) and perhaps looking into Orion and Nausicaan activity in smuggling out some shady secrets the Feds didn't want to share etc.
Drink one shot for ever time someone complains about realism in Star Trek.
Drink two shots if they don't know what "fiction" is.
I don't think anyone can seriously argue that the KDF shouldn't get any additional content, ever. If someone did directly say that, I didn't catch it. That would be trolling.
(((Strong hint)))
It is true that the Foundry can be a tool to provide extra content, and I hope KDF players are willing to take advantage of whatever they can get.
It's not too much to expect to ask Cryptic to keep making content for both factions. It's unrealistic at this point to expect to get it all at once, continually, and to maintain true parity.
What we should expect is that Cryptic will make the attempt to balance things out going forward and to close the gap by as much as they can whenever they have time in their schedule. It's not wrong to ask Cryptic to make time in their schedule, and to keep asking.
The gap cannot be closed if the devs release 'counterpart' content to accompany whatever the KDF gets. . .which is what I fully expect to happen.
And the Feddies will still stamp their feet and demand new toys and the like, while the KDF is kept on the back burner.
My PvP toon is Krov, of The House of Snoo. Beware of my Hegh'ta of doom.
That alone would make a huge difference, even if starting level KDF don't have any new content.
They had that a long time ago. KDF used to start at level 5, with roughly the same exclusive content it has now. It was a rather long, dull grind. They compressed everything into the state it is now to make leveling more bearable, with the thinking that they'll eventually get around to creating more content for the KDF faction.
My PvP toon is Krov, of The House of Snoo. Beware of my Hegh'ta of doom.
They had that a long time ago. KDF used to start at level 5, with roughly the same exclusive content it has now. It was a rather long, dull grind. They compressed everything into the state it is now to make leveling more bearable, with the thinking that they'll eventually get around to creating more content for the KDF faction.
Actually, no. When KDF began at the low level following release, you still had to create a Federation character first and play to unlock the Klingon faction. Since the release of this game, never has a player been able to create a KDF faction character as their first avatar.
Now that the starting level and level required to unlock KDF has been raised to Commander, new players are further discouraged from playing KDF as players tend to get attached to and identify with their first character or the one they have put the most time and effort into. At release, when the required Federation playtime was much less, players who desired to play KDF could quickly speed the first Federation levels to abandon that character for what they really wanted to play. From an in-game standpoint, the incentive no longer exists to essentially start over after an extended period with basic equipment and no credits or duty officers.
This is also partially why WoW remains the juggernaut it is today while so many other MMO's, rushed and flawed or not, fail. Players have so much time invested in their WoW characters that they grow discontent with starting over in a new game, whether they enjoyed it or not, and return to WoW even if it just means sitting faux AFK in town so others can gawk at their purple-text pixels.
Jack Emmert: "Starfleet and Klingon. ... So two factions, full PvE content." Al Rivera hates Klingons Star Trek Online: Agents of Jack Emmert All cloaks should be canon.
Actually, no. When KDF began at the low level following release, you still had to create a Federation character first and play to unlock the Klingon faction. Since the release of this game, never has a player been able to create a KDF faction character as their first avatar.
Now that the starting level and level required to unlock KDF has been raised to Commander, new players are further discouraged from playing KDF as players tend to get attached to and identify with their first character or the one they have put the most time and effort into. At release, when the required Federation playtime was much less, players who desired to play KDF could quickly speed the first Federation levels to abandon that character for what they really wanted to play. From an in-game standpoint, the incentive no longer exists to essentially start over after an extended period with basic equipment and no credits or duty officers.
This is also partially why WoW remains the juggernaut it is today while so many other MMO's, rushed and flawed or not, fail. Players have so much time invested in their WoW characters that they grow discontent with starting over in a new game, whether they enjoyed it or not, and return to WoW even if it just means sitting faux AFK in town so others can gawk at their purple-text pixels.
That's what I kinda meant. . .for all intents and purposes, players could start as a KDF. The first 5 levels are more or less inconsequential. The KDF merely lacked a real tutorial. Of course, the first levels were still pretty thin, due to lack of content, but at least we had the option of starting that early. Now the population problem is further exacerbated by the higher starting level, as you indicated.
My PvP toon is Krov, of The House of Snoo. Beware of my Hegh'ta of doom.
Comments
I realized then this is the single biggest uphill challenge I have seen in this game. For every account that decides to start a KDF toon, I understand completely why they stop and the KDF needs people.
As long as this obsticle is in the road, I don't see anything happening any time soon, and I don't see Cryptic doing anything about it. So if nothing changes, there is no point in hoping (read: putting faith in) anything getting better on STO only other faction.
... but hey, what do I know....
All that said? The handling of KDF is jaw-droppingly stupid.
Personally? I'd be happy if one could start with a new account as KDF, at level 1. And don't add much of anything.
Yes, it'd be rough, but I'd rather have people struggle a little bit to get up to speed (doing the city run-around mission, PvP, maybe some early exploration missions and Foundry).
I'd like day-1 access and content. If I can't have the extra content, dear Kahless, give people access to the game without getting hip-deep in Federation.
I mean, seriously, wtf were they thinking? That's almost designed for failure.
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
R.I.P
At game launch back in 2010 it only took me one week to max level my 1st Federation Captain with very casual play.
I wanted my 1st Character to be KDF and I did not understand why I had to create a Federation Character 1st but then I figured that I was leveling my Fed Captain so fast that it was not such a big deal.
I created my 1st KDF Character and was blown away by how crappy the Faction was implemented.
There was no Tutorial to help you understand the differences between the Federation and the KDF or help you set the direction that you'll need to develop your Character in
.
You were given a BOP with very little equipment and two under skilled Bridge Officers but at the time I figured it would be find because I'd have plenty of low level missions to run so I could build up my vessel and Crew.
I still remember all the laughs that I got when I was asking in chat where I needed to go to get my starting (PVE) missions.
Once the reality had set in on the vast amounts of nothing that KDF Faction had going for it I was pretty much ready to abandon the worse implemented excuse for a 2nd faction in a 2 faction MMO that I'd ever seen but for some reason I stuck around.
It took me over a month to get my 1st KDF Captain to max level.
It was bad enough that the KDF only had PVP has its only source of leveling but then the EXP that we got from PVP was much less than the amount that players got when leveling Federation Captains and at times we would be waiting in queues for hours to get in one 5 minute match.
I was able to tough out leveling my KDF Captain and it made me a much better PVP player and really made me understand the value of team work; however, I hated PVP!
Over the years the KDF has gotten a bit better but really not by very much.
Over the last few years there have been many bold statements made about how that KDF faction will be pulled off the way, way, way back burner and put on the fore front and given the attention that it deserves, I'?m still waiting on that to happen.
We flash forward to the here and now:
Let's take a look at how the KDF faction compares to KDF faction at launch:
Still no way to start has a KDF Character without leveling a Federation Captain 1st
Still no Tutorial to help set the tone for anyone brave enough to start a KDF toon
Very little low level content to help new characters gear up and gain some experience using KDF vessels
Players today are not going to want to tough out leveling a KDF Character.
If I was a new player to STO and was aware that this MMO had been around for nearly 3 years and saw how poorly developed one faction of this 2 faction game was I doubt that I'd want anything to do with the Faction let alone the MMO in question.
I'm tired of holding out hope when it comes to the continued development and growth of the KDF faction.
One would think that by now the developers has well has most players would see that both Factions are symbiotic and need each other to survive.
A Strong KDF faction can only help with this games longevity but the longer we have to wait for KDF improvements the less likely players are going to care about them.
IMO if season 8 does deliver a true KDF experience with a nice Tutorial and level 1-50 game content the faction will just be getting what it should have launched with nearly 3 years ago and it will be sad to see that it took that long to get it.
I'm hitching my cart to this magical season 8 like I've done with so many past seasons and updates that were supposed to right the ship for the KDF faction; however, forgive me if I show little to no ?Faith? that the season will deliver the results.
I really like STO and season 7 is starting to grow on me; however, whenever I sit back and take a look at how little attention my preferred faction has gotten from Cryptic over the years and all the players that I've known that have walked away from STO because of the empty words of what was to come for the KDF faction, I just can't help be feel years? worth of frustration boil to the surface.
Hope..... Hope is dead..... I expect results!
That is my actual stance since a long time.
I will never ever trust any words from the Devs on KDF development.
And how does not building anything help exactly?
Sounds like an idea of things to improve. I personally don't mind but if many feel the same way you do then I guess it deserves being looked at.
I don't think that's a good idea. <- I missunderstood.
For the little focus that they've got. We haven't had no new ships for how long? The things we do get come in lockboxes and not account unlock. At least with all the money they're making from this can't they at least focus more on KDF so that this game doens't feel like Starfleet Online?
It's just sad.
*EDIT*
Very much THIS. It just offers a different experience with FE's too.
There are some very good ideas on this thread to improve the KDF faction, kudos to all of you that care :')
I'd do it but I'm kind of lackluster in the 'Star Trek lore' department.
(I'm also new to Foundry, only have one mission so far)
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
I'm not opposed to a dedicated KDF team, if and when Cryptic has enough basic gameplay for the faction and there's a measurable cash flow coming from KDF players. They simply are not going to do it without financial justification, and they won't get that until they do more to level the playing field and make playing as KDF more attractive to more players.
So unfortunately, we go back to something of a "build it and they will come" scenario. Cryptic needs to take a step of faith, and then the players need to take one. Hopefully we'll meet somewhere in the middle.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
I don't disagree with anything you said. And they absolutely need to keep hearing the feedback that players are not happy with where the KDF are and want changes.
The fact that there are people at Cryptic, including Dan Stahl, who are saying they want a better KDF experience leads me to believe that it's practically inevitable that they will take steps in that direction.
When they do that, how far they go, and how well they execute is anybody's guess. It's also important to remember that either CBS or PWE have the power to veto anything Cryptic might want to do with the KDF. And that if there is resistance to the plan, we will never find out because Cryptic won't be able to say anything about it one way or the other even if they wanted to. We learned that lesson with Atari.
All I ask, as a moderator, is that we keep our posts "clean" of anything that amounts to a personal attack, unproveable accusations, or deliberate provocations. I don't nuke constructive feedback even if it's negative and I let "venting" alone if it doesn't cross the lines set by the forum rules.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
We used to start at level 5. . .with roughly the same exclusive content we have now. It was even more dispersed. It was a rather dull, repetitive grind to hit level 40-50, even after the introduction of the Mirror Universe invasions and the XP they generate for you. There was a lot of complaining about it. So, they reduced the amount of XP it took to advance, and then later modified the KDF faction so it started at lvl 24-25. The reasoning was that they would keep it there until they had KDF content to fill the earlier/mid levels with.
Assuming they're actually working on a LOT of KDF content for Season 8, we'll most likely see a reduction in the starting level for KDF.
A warrior fights to the death.
Simply wishing us away won't work, Cryptic.
Al Rivera hates Klingons
Star Trek Online: Agents of Jack Emmert
All cloaks should be canon.
They ran a survey a few months ago. Playable Romulans beat KDF, albeit not by much.
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them."
-Thomas Marrone
then why not do both?
That really is not a very great long abount of time to play thought the content.. a brand new player who didn't know the game as well would likely take twice that long but the saem thing..is noted... not very long at all.
Most MMO's you spend the first 10 levels or so learning the game, and from there to the level cap learning details of the games mechanics while soaking up game story/lore. then you hit end game content, and other goodies. WOW is the acception to this at this point but then OMG what an increadable about of content availible there, with several races, each with a unique starting experience, and the two factions haveing unique faction based content availible both as solo or co-operative play with many places to linger along the way along with the option of freezing ones XP to linger at differing levels of PvP play and garner some loot and gear along the way befor progressing further. Still and none the less, STO has a long way to go before it offers that level and depth of game play. I really doubt STO will ever get to that point but I could be wrong.
The main issue is and has been the KDF as a faction not really having its OWN content as a faction to play through. This hurts faction numbers like no ones biz, and makes the faction much less attractive as a game play option for players. It hurts STO as an MMO.
Startrek Online is not like any of the other Perfect World titles. While doubtless even in the games current state it's fairly obvious its making its owners a great deal of money at this point. Egad, the game has got to be raking the cash it in on the lock boxes.. master keys require ZEN to purchase, and no matter how the ZEN is aquired someone HAS to BUY the zen in the first place. The money to put back into further game development is there, and quite frankly STO can continue to make great ooddles and scoddles of money for years to come if there is content for the players. Missions are content, and PvP play "CAN" be content if its done right. As it stands at the moment pvP is not a big draw for competitive players because other then bragging rights and some shinies it doesn't effect the greater game in any way what so ever. The story line isn't advanced in any way in PvP play and for PvP to truely attract a certain wargame element really needs to be there to move and advance the story of the Startrek prime universe.
Arena play PvP is not pure PvP.. Its practice for PvP . STO does not have true blue PvP yet. If you want to see tru PvP in a trek setting go back a couple years and look at Starfleet Command-II's dynaverse which was full on territotoriall PvP. Player actions effected what was going on strongly. Faction players could find them selves with no place to resupply thier ships, or repair them, much less aquire new starships if the faction held no planets or bases. Thats real PvP that counted. SFC-II on the other hand lacked to RP elements, ground missions, and story of STO. STO needs that kind of PvP, but it needs a healthy populated KDF gfaction to do it, and without the KDF mission content to draw players that has little if any chance of happening.
The talk about adding more factions (which by the way I would love to see at some point) at this point strikes me as foolishly and hopelessly premature. Considering the state of the KDF, how can anyone assume the addition of a third faction when the game other second faction isn't complete is going to add to the game? There is no logic, or sense in such an addition at this time. I quite understand the champions of a Romulan factions desires to see the RSE represnted by players, but if it is, what are RSE players going to do? PvP? Where..Arena play simply isn't that big of a draw as any MMO other then strait up shooters has ever shown. Factional PvP needs a framework and a story to exist in or its just another fancy shooter.
I've stated, and pounded apon this for three years now. the Studio absolutly needs to flesh out the KDF. Not only will it strengthen the over all game experience, but it will make the game a much stronger pull for non trek gamers and fans, and fans of scifi based PvP play and open up play for the addition down the road of other factions.. Certainly let players start with Fed play, and stay with that faction forever if thats what they wish.
This is a game and at a certain level we need to paraphrase to motto of Star Trek..you know the one I speak of. "To boldly go where no one has gone before" but we need to make a small change that reflects that this is a virtual experience..
To boldly experience what no one has done before.
Flesh out the KDF, make sure STF, and FE's are also written with a second story from the KDF view point (and yes, that DOES mean that pretty much all of the FE's need a KDF player rewrite. Of all of them only the Reman and Defari arcs make any sense..the 2800 has some real issues with making sense from a KDF players POV...as a KDF player I would have challanged the Gorn KDF ambassadore to a dual and killed that idiot for standing in the way of the empires interests.. and while I'm at it..why is a Gorn acting as the empires embassadore there... do you see any Gorn on the high council?)
Once the KDF is a lot more playable then it currently is, then lets see that Romulan faction get developed, after that we should look at the Gamma quadrant, the delta quadrant, or the Borg.
Khemaraa sends.
Who says they won't?
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them."
-Thomas Marrone
Remember the wording when everyone receives the "Playable Romulans" in a future content patch rather than a Romulan Faction. Cryptic will deliver exactly as much as they did to KDF at release rather than what Jack Emmert stated at GenCon in 2008: "Starfleet and Klingon. Yeah. So two factions, full PvE content." If they are still unwilling to finish Klingons, it is unlikely there will ever be a Romulan Faction just baited hook for the cash grab. More smoke. More mirrors. More lies.
Al Rivera hates Klingons
Star Trek Online: Agents of Jack Emmert
All cloaks should be canon.
You are now my new best friend lol.. I agree with basically everything you said
I pretty much support every point you made.
Sad no one at Cryptic or PWE will read or care what is says.
I suppose Cryptic could then cut overhead and increase profits by trimming away most of the Fed missions, bumping the start up to Commander, and stop creating content since:
Well, with the new Foundry rewards, there is plenty of stuff worth playing for FEDERATION characters, and it even gives you respectable amounts of fleet marks and Dilithium for it, and it is quite useful for levelling and gaining Expertise.
That is more stuff than you could play in a lifetime.
Al Rivera hates Klingons
Star Trek Online: Agents of Jack Emmert
All cloaks should be canon.
(((Strong hint)))
It is true that the Foundry can be a tool to provide extra content, and I hope KDF players are willing to take advantage of whatever they can get.
It's not too much to expect to ask Cryptic to keep making content for both factions. It's unrealistic at this point to expect to get it all at once, continually, and to maintain true parity.
What we should expect is that Cryptic will make the attempt to balance things out going forward and to close the gap by as much as they can whenever they have time in their schedule. It's not wrong to ask Cryptic to make time in their schedule, and to keep asking.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
we have some posters come into the KDF portion of the game forums fairly constantly with the whole "Klingons should just shut up and go away" attitude and flags flying from all masts.
We've gotten pretty good at landing on them with spurs, pain sticks, and a few Gorn thrown in for good measure. Though there are still a few that come in the rake the coals and get the flames going. A few have ended up getting burned from thier playing with fire..
Grumpy, discontented, and informed KDF players have developed a real low tolerance for it I'm afraid.. Even the concept of a faction merge tends to really get us up in arms. We don't see all that much of it any more, and the worst of them have gotten infraction points and complaints lodged against them. No sense of humor for that sort of hijinx with we KDF types.
We want desperatly to see a revival of the KDF, and all that could go with it. And for the most part all of us KDF players pretty much know what is needed, especially those of us that have been here since day one. It's not easy for many of us to keep it civil either. Lot of outright anger I'm afraid. We've felt seriously slighted.
I hope the tweet leaks we've seen, and some of the hints are indeed pointing toward season 8 having a great deal of KDF content.. and yes, our memories go back months and months and months, and years back around here..
We have a great deal of occasional wishfull thinking, and we do tend to jump all over any sort of hint toward what we want. It has been and is frustrating. Those of us still posting have toned it back a very great deal, but theres a whole lot of KDF players who just stay as far away from the forums as possible. They don't want to discuss, poke, prod or cajole. They feel ignored and seriously slighted. Theres just not much you as a CM on the forums can do. The ball is squarely in the DEV's court on this. There's three years of feed back in the KDF Gameplay and ships forums about it.
So mostly it just the hurry up and wait, and wait, and yet wait some more. Not happy making for us.
My self and some of the other old guard hang in there, but none of us will ever get used to being dissapointed time after time.. but if the studio will move onto getting the content we just might get a whole lot nicer about the whole thing *grin*
We want Trek, and we want KDF content, but eaqually important we want a good solid MMO that draws player in and involves them... As a fed player, they've got that.. not dso much if you don't play fed.
I as much as anyone wish Cryptic hada couple more years of in house develop ment time availible to it. We know why it didn't happen. "nuff said on that.
I'm not sure what I want to say to you, and I'm not sure waht I can say to the Dev's, but if they are indeed going to focus on KDF for season 8, the sooner they lay some real info on it the better. Just knowing that we're going to get KDF stuff all by it's self would be a tremendous shot in the arm to we KDF players and give us a great deal to look forward to.. The studio would still have plenty of room and wiggle for other goodies and surprises for season 8 even if they did out and out say the focus will be on KDF content.
As a CM, please Urge the Dev's to spill some beans early (as in ASAP) if they are indeed doing KDF stuff. We're just barely hanging in there..
The KDF fleet I'm in hase 8 active players.. and we may be one of the larger ones.. this is down from a peak of 24 players at the end of the games first year. A bunch of them just simply let thier subs lapse and moved on to other things because there wasn't any KDF content. My fleet keeps contact with our old players as the fleet existed years before STO came along.
Build it and they WILL come is what we've been saying.. as in Coming Back to STO..and these are all players that would renew as Gold level players, not silvers.. Theres hundreds if not thousands out there. And they'r enot kids either.. moslt age 30 and up and serious trek fans with jobs, families, income.
*shakes the Cryptic tree* You guys listening yet! *shakes the tree some more* we're talk'n to ya!!!
Got no objecting to 'em mak'n money off us..just need the content.
Khemaraa sends.
Let starting players start as KDF.
That alone would make a huge difference, even if starting level KDF don't have any new content.
Wicks and Things: NW-DI4FMZRR4 : The Fenwick merchant family has lost a caravan! Can you help?
Beggar's Hollow: NW-DR6YG4J2L : Someone, or something, has stolen away many of the Fenwicks' children! Can you find out what happened to them?
Into the Fen Wood: NW-DL89DRG7B : Enter the heart of the forest. Can you discover the secret of the Fen Wood?
Is there a list of this "awesome Klingons Foundry Missions"?. The missions I played were rather boring or took hours to complete.
What's good for the goose is good for the gander. If these Foundry missions you acclaim in lieu of Cryptic created content are good enough for KDF then they are good enough for Federation, am I not correct? No one needs Cryptic created content then as the Foundry would suffice for both factions. But as you said, they have not decided cut more content but continue to develop. Therefore, the sauce you recommend is not good for either the goose or the gander.
Al Rivera hates Klingons
Star Trek Online: Agents of Jack Emmert
All cloaks should be canon.
This is not Team Fortress where the best ideas are made "game canon" and there is a huge temptation from the money counters to ask "if people are making content for free, why are we paying YOU?" (Yes TF has its own ways around this).
Really STO is just a Fed game with Token Klinks anyway, everything from the HUD to icons and publicity and so forth, the Klingon faction needs a heavy rebuild and certainly a dedicated season to run through things on a massive checklist.
I will suggest that early game content could be spent examining not only the Fed war, but also the relationships between houses and the alied species. Section 31 would probably try to break the Gorn away from the Klinks as they're the "brains" of the faction with their tech heavy vessels and the king on the council, as well as looking at the Ferasians (anything to make them interesting!) and perhaps looking into Orion and Nausicaan activity in smuggling out some shady secrets the Feds didn't want to share etc.
Drink one shot for ever time someone complains about realism in Star Trek.
Drink two shots if they don't know what "fiction" is.
The gap cannot be closed if the devs release 'counterpart' content to accompany whatever the KDF gets. . .which is what I fully expect to happen.
And the Feddies will still stamp their feet and demand new toys and the like, while the KDF is kept on the back burner.
They had that a long time ago. KDF used to start at level 5, with roughly the same exclusive content it has now. It was a rather long, dull grind. They compressed everything into the state it is now to make leveling more bearable, with the thinking that they'll eventually get around to creating more content for the KDF faction.
Actually, no. When KDF began at the low level following release, you still had to create a Federation character first and play to unlock the Klingon faction. Since the release of this game, never has a player been able to create a KDF faction character as their first avatar.
Now that the starting level and level required to unlock KDF has been raised to Commander, new players are further discouraged from playing KDF as players tend to get attached to and identify with their first character or the one they have put the most time and effort into. At release, when the required Federation playtime was much less, players who desired to play KDF could quickly speed the first Federation levels to abandon that character for what they really wanted to play. From an in-game standpoint, the incentive no longer exists to essentially start over after an extended period with basic equipment and no credits or duty officers.
This is also partially why WoW remains the juggernaut it is today while so many other MMO's, rushed and flawed or not, fail. Players have so much time invested in their WoW characters that they grow discontent with starting over in a new game, whether they enjoyed it or not, and return to WoW even if it just means sitting faux AFK in town so others can gawk at their purple-text pixels.
Al Rivera hates Klingons
Star Trek Online: Agents of Jack Emmert
All cloaks should be canon.
That's what I kinda meant. . .for all intents and purposes, players could start as a KDF. The first 5 levels are more or less inconsequential. The KDF merely lacked a real tutorial. Of course, the first levels were still pretty thin, due to lack of content, but at least we had the option of starting that early. Now the population problem is further exacerbated by the higher starting level, as you indicated.