if I was only a fed cap.. but was going to play a romulan just for the sake to see the new shiny or like I did with KDF just to say have one I be ok lets all be happy about may but ive only stuck around for a romulan faction not a romulan race that have there own ships some story but in all still FED or KDF lapdogs
really only ppl that are ok with this are ppl who were going to play a rom as a ALT not as a main like I was....
I know, alot of people didn't expect a full third faction at all, heck alot of people didn't expect a full Klingon Faction even.
Personally I like the new Romulans better then the old Romulans. We all ready have an empire about conquest and glory. I find the idea of playing revolutionaries and part time mercanies with a slight Space Roman/Space Elf and Space Orcs flavour exciting.
The TNG outfits were sooo ugly and the hair was all the same too.
The Ships were awesome and the elements that echoed
Space orcs are called da orks. They are the bestest green there is! Who does not love more dakka?
Let us wear Swimsuits on Foundry maps or bridges please! I would pay zen for that.
People wanted the 'green' (no punt intended) but, for now, Cryptic seemed to have chosen a (orange) medium path that is both practical and leaving the door open to still a full independent faction.... Who knows, the RR may rebel and find 'isolation' back behind some sort of a neutral zone once SB is given to them...
That's just the problem though, we all know that wont happen.
How long has it taken them to update the Klingons? How long has it taken them to give us any sense of Romulans? They're not going to throw in all this work only to have to undo half of it to throw the faction back on track at a later date. They've made their decision (as lame as it is) and they're going to be sticking with it.
Their story will focus on the devastation of Romulus and the effects that follow. Said story has seemingly been made to incorporate one of the two existing factions (that's why we can't progress past level 10 without joining one of them). Level 11 - 50 content has already been locked in place, they're hardly going to undo all that work later.
They did say reman and romulan's would be playable, but they didn't say how much it would cost to play them. The cat creatures are like 600C in the store however, Cryptic also said in their latest Q&A that the remans may be unlockable via the rep system - which would be cool, and free.
People wanted the 'green' (no punt intended) but, for now, Cryptic seemed to have chosen a (orange) medium path that is both practical and leaving the door open to still a full independent faction.... Who knows, the RR may rebel and find 'isolation' back behind some sort of a neutral zone once SB is given to them...
I've seen a lot of people stating that Cryptic might introduce an independent Romulan Faction somewhere down the line and that the alliance with either the Federation or KDF may only temporary.
However, and I am not trying to troll, my question is, once they go down the path of these alliances, how can they possibly go back?
For example you create you Romulan character level them to 10, decide to join the Federation, level them to 50, contributing to and helping to build a Starbase that eventually reaches Tier 5.
Then a year down the line Cryptic decides they want a neutral Romulan faction. How will this work? Will they declare amnesty for all Romulans currently members of Federation or KDF fleets? Allowing them to remain with the fleet they just spent a year helping to build up.
Or will they say - The alliances are now over all Romulan characters will be removed from their allied fleets and will have to start again?
Either way it's not gonna be pretty, if they allow people to remain with their allied fleets then the population of an independent Romulan faction will, more then likely, be seriously diminished, probably leaving them with a smaller playerbase then the KDF currently has (and we all know how that's working out for them).
Or if they force everyone to abandon their nicely built Tier 5 allied fleet, could you imagine the outcry that would create? The forums would probably go into meltdown.
I won't lie, I really want an independent Romulan faction. However I fear that now we seem to be locked into this Alliance path there's going to be no turning back.
But ask yourself this, sons and daughters of Romulus and Remii...
...would you prefer to wait another year, maybe longer, to have the RSE of your dreams (with the potential that STO doesn't last that long, because NOONE can predict the future) or can you be satisfied with more than the KDF got at the start and the potential for improvement along the way?
See that's the thing though, we won't ever get a full faction because doing so would be next to impossible after this. We essentially have to choose to be either a fed or a klink, we even get to fly their ships. Great, so in two years when we get starbases and fleets of our own, what? We just lose everything we've been building up for two years? Yeah somehow I don't think so. Ergo, impossible to actually flesh out the faction properly.
In other words, yes I would much, MUCH rather wait a year and get a real faction rather than be permanently stuck with half of one. The fact that the KDF got shafted should be a reason to do it right this time, not TRIBBLE up all over again.
@cryptic: If we don't get our own doffs, do we at least get our own boffs? I would assume so since we'd need a crew to level to 10 and choose a side, but equally a lot of my assumptions were proven wrong.
I can live with what we got i am content with atleast being a rom
what boils my blood is the bold faced lie they told all of us.
I mean go to the LoR teaser sire and this is what you will find
"START AS ANY FACTION
Create your first character as a member of the Federation, Klingon Empire, or Romulan Republic and level your captain from 1 to 50."
So does it say that roms must be KDF or FED?
This was a bold faced lie not just a mislead but an all and out lie thats one thing that just makes me madder then an old wet hen.
If cryptic had been honest from the get go i wouldnt be mad but happy but im mad because they lied to all of us.
I happen to agree with you, while they necessary didn't lie (as you can start as a Romulan) they omitted an important fact (about being forced to align with one of the other factions to continue your character). Not a good business practice but something a lot of us have sadly come to expect from Cryptic.
They give us little and then flooded the gaming sites with all this highlighted news and then in reality it's all been sugarcoated. Might look good in the press but the press aren't supporting the game, they aren't playing (I have to assume some do but not enough to keep the game going on their own) and instead they peeve off their customers, the ones who pay for this game through subscriptions or just pure zen purchases for the C-store. The supporters are angry and hurt, but Cryptic if they do care have enough time to make some minor changes like not allowing Romulan faction characters to have access to Fed and KDF ships. That at least would be a step in the right direction.
But it could always be worse, and in time they can improve the Romulan faction and turn it into a single unique faction with unique content like I hope the KDF will be getting in this expansion with only end game like New Romulus, Nukara Prime and STF's etc being the cross faction content. Missions need to stay faction unique and so neither the Romulans or the Klingons should have the FE's, with maybe the exception of the Undine missions, those feel Klingon and Romulan enough with the exception of the mission where you save the Romulan Valdore ship from the Borg.
I do think they need to merge fleets and make them cross faction as well, with just the visuals for each faction different and perhaps the names of the bases chosen by the fleet's, this way it will get rid of the problem of Romulans being in a fed fleet for example as it's a cross faction base like the Unity Starbase in Starfleet Command 3. It could even be tied with Omega Force as a way to explain it to storyline fans.
Support the Game by Supporting the KDF, equality and uniqueness for all factions!
I've seen a lot of people stating that Cryptic might introduce an independent Romulan Faction somewhere down the line and that the alliance with either the Federation or KDF may only temporary.
These people would be optimists. Nothing more.
As for everything else you've said, see Post #6. I agree with you.
I don't see what having Romulan Fleets and Romulan Starbases has to do with our allying to a faction and getting extra goodies from them. This is what is frustrating to me. I get some of the practical reasons they did it, for those who have a lot of ships or a high tier Starbase, fine, let Romulan Players who want that join a allies fleet as a fleet ambassador. Let us pick an ally and get access to that sides ships and tech.
Don't force us to use their fleets and their starbases, there is zero reason to do so other then saving them some Romulan base design time. Heck, I'd take a placeholder Starbase with no special projects as long as we can advance the tiers and gain access to the rewards, which are fairly universal anyhow.
They want us to play in mixed groups with Fed and KDF so queues are reasonable, fine by me, I think that makes sense. Denying us fleets and starbases, and the ability to PvP and fleet with Romulans that picked the other faction to ally with makes it feel like WoW's Panderan with a longer story line.
IFor example you create you Romulan character level them to 10, decide to join the Federation, level them to 50, contributing to and helping to build a Starbase that eventually reaches Tier 5.
Then a year down the line Cryptic decides they want a neutral Romulan faction. How will this work? Will they declare amnesty for all Romulans currently members of Federation or KDF fleets? Allowing them to remain with the fleet they just spent a year helping to build up.
Or will they say - The alliances are now over all Romulan characters will be removed from their allied fleets and will have to start again?
These are valid questions of course. I can only speculate if there are romulan starbase, then people can build them as a romulan only fleet (like feds and KDF). Story wise, who knows, I suck at story creation, that's why you won't find a foundry mission in my name
As far as "when would romulan SB be implemented", only Cryptic and its mother company know and will decide. So far, and it is only a personal view and way of playstyle, I am more of a solo player who like to share some time with fleet mates, so the lack of green starbase is not a game killer to me... Others are devastated over this decision, I can understand why...
I get that its better for the game to allow the factions to share resources. I get that its not practical to create 3 way PvP. I get that they want players who have invested time, effort, and money to be able to still have some access to those things, though at the same time I find it strange that they haven't committed to mirroring all Vet rewards and LTS perks yet, I guess only some time money and effort matters.
I don't get why we can't have all that and our own fleets and starbases.
If they want us to have access to our old ships we purchased from the store, that can happen with just picking the ally faction. Why do we need to join their fleets and use their starbases?
If some players don't want to do the starbase grind again, let them join their former fleets as ambassadors.
Not letting the rest of us have any choice in the matter is just a terrible decision and I don't see how it benefits players or the business.
I was looking forward to finding a Romulan fleet and finally getting to really experience the fleet system from the beginning, everyone working together to get it done, now I'm not even sure what the point is, I'd be better off finding a T5 Fed fleet on my Fed who already has over 3 years of work put into him then re-roll a Romlulan skinned Fed that has to start everything from scratch.
Do our starbases produce Romulan ships and equipment?
And if they do will these ships and equipment be availible to FED/KDF officers?
If our bases are producing these ships and equipment it needs to be availible to all players in the fleet!
There is no way a starbase should be producing ships/equipment for Romulans and not for the people building it.
If this is not the case I call for a All Fleet Wide BOYCOTT of producing any Romulan Gear/ships at the starbases unless it is availible to all members in the fleet!
Most people are going to have a go at the Rommies and I dare say get a lot of enjoyment from the hard work Cryptic have put in. Why not have a go? No point in biting your nose off to spite your face
Actually, it's Cryptic who cut my nose off.
Let's do the math:
Omega Reputation to Tier 5.
Omega Ground Sets to requisition (3xFullSets).
Borg Deflector.
Liberated Borg DOFFs Store Unlock.
Borg Prosthetics Store Unlock (Mk12).
Romulan Reputation to Tier 5.
Full Reman Space Set (Mk12).
Experimental Romulan Plasma Beam Array.
Romulan Plasma Beam Array Store Unlock.
Romulan Pistols Store Unlock.
Diplomacy to Tier4.
That's too much work for a character I never wanted to play in the first place!
I'm not going to do all that for a character just to experience the gameplay and then do it all again if my actual Hirogen character gets created later.
I'm not one of those people who enjoys playing alts.
Heck, I'm going to get to try the gameplay on Tribble anyway when they do the test.
So I'll have already experienced it and will have no need to do it on the live server.
Your argument is invalid.
I'm beginning to think im the only person outraged by Cryptic's lie
You're not the only one.
That's another reason I'm rejecting the faction.
I was expecting a fully independent setup, Intrigue (their version of Diplomacy), a Unique STF Ground Set (the Romulan version of MACO set), their own different BOFFs and DOFFs, Romulan and Hirogen ships to fly around in.
Basically, a completely unique faction independent of Starfleet or KDF.
That's what I thought I was getting, that if you made that choice, you didn't have to ally yourself with either side, but be a pure Romulan Star Empire player.
And yes, if/when a Cardassian faction comes out, they'll probably be equally as stuffed up as this one.
But the ally mechanic would actually work for them, since the game states they are working with the Federation now.
That is, unless Cryptic learn their lesson from this faction and make the Cardy faction properly!
Still, I would expect more independence, not just being linked to Starfleet gameplay.
Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad
Wow, can't believe people crying about being mislead. So we won't get a fully independent Romulan faction. The reasons why makes sense both from a story and from a gameplay perspective, if you don't like it, don't play, it's not like you paid anything for it.
why do people always come back at a gripe with `if you dont like it dont play` i hope thats not the sort of responce you would get from cryptic.
this forum is for feedback good and bad, and without feedback i am sure the game would suffer.
we may not all agree on other peoples opinions but i will defend to the death their right to have them and voice them in this forum.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
why do people always come back at a gripe with `if you dont like it dont play` i hope thats not the sort of responce you would get from cryptic.
this forum is for feedback good and bad, and without feedback i am sure the game would suffer.
we may not all agree on other peoples opinions but i will defend to the death their right to have them and voice them in this forum.
LOL - Missed The executive producers post did you?
Looking forward to a new faction, but quite disappointed it's nit actually a faction, just a big copy-n-paste job. I want to fly Romulan ships and use romulan tech, not suff that's been in the game for years already.
While i appreciate the ability to join existing fleets, i like that. I don't want to have to end up flying a defiant full of fed boffs using fed weapons because they're better then romulan tech. Otherwise just make romulans & remans new character options for existing factions.
The fact you're thinking of making a lockbox to let the existing factions fly romulan ships just makes things worse. Just for once guys, keep things separate, we're already breaking canon over the existing ships, stop making it worse.
Final judgement to be reserved apon testing of course, but the idea of "Hey! Lets just give all factions everything!" Sounds a bit cheap to me, give romulans a proper faction, not a rushed copy-n-paste job. Don't keep giving factions non-faction ships to use, it looks terrible. If you're going to break down and put the Romulan ships in boxes anyway, why bother playing the new faction to get them? Keep things separate or you just cheapen them.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] @Aquitaine985 Lag Industries STO PvP Fleet - Executive
A Sad Panda of Industrial calibre. 2010: This is Cryptic PvP. Please hold the line, your call is very important to us...
If you play Fed, you have full access to all Fed ships.
If you play KDF, you have full access to all KDF ships.
If you play Rom, you have full access to all Romulan -and- Fed, or all Romulan -and- KDF ships?
And, a possibility later on for the Romulan faction to be more fully developed into it's own independent faction in a year or so, if it is workable?
So why would a new player -not- want to play Romulan? Sounds like you get a better deal than if you play Fed or KDF, as you get everything from those two factions -on top of- Romulan content, but not if you play Fed or KDF.
For goodness sakes, please remember that this forums has guidelines. Please tone down the rhetoric or this thread will get locked. Going out of bounds is going to lead to infractions.
Keep in mind that there are a lot of assumptions being made in this thread that are way out of whack for how it is actually implemented. Many posts are stating opinions about something that no one in the public has played yet.
Give the hard working team some credit for everything they've been working on by reserving your opinions until you actually play it. It will be free to play and free to download the expansion. If you want to judge something you haven't played just based on a description, then sorry, you're missing some of the best content we've ever made.
If you don't like it, don't play a Romulan. It isn't required that you play a Romulan. Yes we've been talking about how we would implement other factions in the game for a while, and as I said then, plans can change. Even since that Reddit chat, we actually did the work to make Romulans their own faction.
Many people are hearing "choose an ally" and thinking that you become FED or KDF and that is not true. You remain a Romulan. You don't lose your identity. You don't lose your faction's goal. Your ally is there to help you - to give you tech - to give you ships and help you stand up against the Tal Shiar. Even in game right now, New Romulans are looking to both Klingons and the Federation to help, and this is just an extension of that. So it is not about you dropping what your goals are and reporting into Admiral Quinn now. You report to the Romulan Republic.
This also allows for cross faction teaming. Something that encourages group gameplay and can be fun. Want to go play some Romulan missions, but don't want to be a Romulan? Go team up with one and help them with their missions. Want to help fight the silent enemy? Queue up together and go fight together. We've made a commitment that when we make fun new events, they are for everyone to play. Yes the "Star Trek Rules" bend sometimes when we have Feds and KDF grouping up to fight the Borg, but it can also be a lot of fun and leads to a more lively MMO.
Anyone who wants a 3rd queue faction hasn't played a Klingon. As I said before, that isn't good for the game. We allow cross faction teaming because it allows more people to play together.
Play Legacy of Romulus and either enjoy it or not. The proof will be whether or not the game continues to grow and if people enjoy it as much as we think they will. Fortunately, our continued future success is not based on what people think of something they haven't even played yet.
We look forward to showing you everything we've been working on very soon. This is why we're working the extra time to get things setup and ready on TRIBBLE. We're almost there.
Live Long and Prosper.
I am no cheerleader or usually here to wave pompoms in the air for the devs, but this post is awesome... I hate quoting whole blocks but I could not just cut some and quote a portion.
Thanks Dan and many silent players are sure supporting you and the team. I sure can appreciate the work of a dev team when they worked long hours and come here to read these threads... cannot be easy.
Waiting for more details and to play the new content...
I aprecciate you trying to explain all of this Mr.Stahl, while I can imagine it feeling like you're talking to a brick wall. At this moment, I think that you could pull out a magic wand and start granting wishes and there will still be people claiming that your magic sucks.
The sense of entitlement that some people on these forums have is unbelivable.
Do I like that J.J. blowed up Romulus & Remus? Ofcourse not. Do I like how the Cardassians have turned into Fed. pets that can't build their own military? Again, nope. However, I'm not so arrogant to think that the whole universe should unfold and shape up according to my own desires and points of view. How about the Federation then? I don't see people raging and complaining about so much for the Fed. being what they are in STO. In the game, they shoot everything at signt, blow up anything in front of their ships. And now, promoting their latest edition - Bio-Neural Warheads!! :eek: Is this the exact same Federation we've seen in the shows? No, because it's a game!
When I'll go to work on Monday there is a pretty good chance the day will not unfold and the events will not shape up exactly as I planned. Should this be a reason for me to rage over?
One basic thing that I picked up from Star Trek ever since I was a child watching TNG with my father is to keep an open mind about things. I found this trait to be present in many Trek fans I have met throughout the years. I am kinda' dissapointed to see that it's not quite as present in these STO forums. Many people are missing out on the humongous base for storytelling that can emerge out of this and choose to klinge to stereotypes.
I like the colour green and I like the Romulan ship designs, but personally, I had no intentions of actively playing a Romulan under the banner of a psychotic self-proclaimed "empress". However, I can dig the way D'Tan & Obisek roll. This Romulan faction, the Romulan Republic I can work with. I'm actually quite looking forward to it now.
Since aproximately 80% of my STO time is devoted to the KDF, I guess I'll roll out a Romulan sci, buy her a warbird and ally with the Feds., so I can play the game from the other side a bit.
Oh and yes, it's an alliance not subjugation! You may think whatever you want, but noone conquered me, I pick who to join forces with. I'll still be under the Romulan banner, I'll still recieve my orders on NR just as Mr.Stahl said, I still will have a Romulan rank, uniforms, my warbird will have the R.R.W. prefix before her name. It's merely picking who I want to have next to my side when fighting the Borg, Undine, Tholians or whoever.
As a Cardie fan, I'd love it if the Cardassians could be wellcomed into STO in the exact same way. Being your own Cardassian, taking orders from Garak and being allied with the Fed.
Troubled by Romulans blowing up Romlans in PvP? Really?!? Funny, I can't remember such an outcry about Feds. blowing up Feds. in PvP. Or Feds. joining Klinks to blow up other Feds. in PvP for the record. How is this different again?
I must say, I'm intrigued by the way this expansion is unfolding. I want to thank Mr.Stahl and his team for the hard work they put in this expansion. I love the opportunity to start a whole race from scratch. We'll be able to witness the birth and evolution of the Romulan Republic shaping right before our eyes and participate in it. Probably even have some influence togehter with the dev. team of how this faction will shape up to be. This is very exciting to me. I really look forward to immersing myself in this content, much more than when Season 7 was released.
And last but not least, I do enjoy playing STO. That's why I'm here. In fact, my the level of enjoyment with STO has doubled or even trippled during the past year. Did every decision or direction the game took since I joined fulfill my every desire and expectation? Ofcourse not, that's impossible. But I do enjoy seeing how the Trek universe in STO unfolds and trying to cope with the new challenges or strage developments in the galaxy.
I'm looking forward to "Legacy of Romulus", the stories of how New Romulus came to be and taking the storyline evolution forward that it will bring.
I am also one of the people that (so far) is not overly bothered by this. I will roll a rommie for both factions and will have fun with both.
I have logged 3000+ hours on this game - ouch crazy I know - but you could not play that much if you did not love this game.
However, I think Cryptic was playing the Romulan fans along - letting them believe that they were getting a completely independent faction of their own. That was not right.
Looking forward to a new faction, but quite disappointed it's nit actually a faction, just a big copy-n-paste job. I want to fly Romulan ships and use romulan tech, not suff that's been in the game for years already.
While i appreciate the ability to join existing fleets, i like that. I don't want to have to end up flying a defiant full of fed boffs using fed weapons because they're better then romulan tech. Otherwise just make romulans & remans new character options for existing factions.
The fact you're thinking of making a lockbox to let the existing factions fly romulan ships just makes things worse. Just for once guys, keep things separate, we're already breaking canon over the existing ships, stop making it worse.
Final judgement to be reserved apon testing of course, but the idea of "Hey! Lets just give all factions everything!" Sounds a bit cheap to me, give romulans a proper faction, not a rushed copy-n-paste job. Don't keep giving factions non-faction ships to use, it looks terrible. If you're going to break down and put the Romulan ships in boxes anyway, why bother playing the new faction to get them? Keep things separate or you just cheapen them.
If I could find my skeptical post from a year ago, I would repost it. How any of you guys thought a 3rd faction was in the realm of possibility was beyond my belief. If this game is around in 5 years, the KDF will still not be a fleshed out faction.
Come down to earth, folks. Stop being outraged at what was painfully obvious. Don't believe an ounce of hype. You will always be disappointed.
If you play Fed, you have full access to all Fed ships.
If you play KDF, you have full access to all KDF ships.
If you play Rom, you have full access to all Romulan -and- Fed, or all Romulan -and- KDF ships?
And, a possibility later on for the Romulan faction to be more fully developed into it's own independent faction in a year or so, if it is workable?
So why would a new player -not- want to play Romulan? Sounds like you get a better deal than if you play Fed or KDF, as you get everything from those two factions -on top of- Romulan content, but not if you play Fed or KDF.
Sound about right?
Almost right, from what I can tell - the only CLEAR distinction is in the faction-specific missions. Romulans don't get Fed or KDF missions unless they're cross-faction missions in the first place.
However, there is an unknown factor here - can ALL ships belonging to the allied faction be purchased by Romulans, regardless of method of acquisition? That'll be a decisive factor in figuring out just how correct your assumption is.
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.
Here is a quote from Dan from the latest Ask Cryptic:
Q: (midniteshadow7) Will the Romulan Faction have their own Fleet System, Starbase, and Holdings? Will there be any new Fleet Holdings?
Dstahl: This is an important question that needs a detailed answer...
A: Now that many established Fleets are finishing their Tier 5 Starbases, we expect to see established guilds enticing all the New Romulans to join their cause in exchange for access to the best ships and gear the ally can offer. In the future, we will consider unique Romulan Starbases. For now, the New Romulans are just getting their feet on the ground and must look to the planet New Romulus as their new home and rely on the Starbases of their ally for support.
Folks,
This goes right back to Sherman's Planet and the Organians. Let me quote you a passage from Memory Alpha:
Following the Federation-Klingon War in 2267, and per terms of the Organian Peace Treaty, ownership of Sherman's Planet could be assumed by the side that could most effectively develop it. The Federation's intentions for Sherman's Planet were to use it to cultivate quadrotriticale, a grain well adapted to the planet's climate. After the quadrotriticale was poisoned on Deep Space Station K-7, Starfleet diverted a freighter laded down with this grain to Sherman's Planet. The grain would be delivered a few weeks later than anticipated. (TOS: "The Trouble with Tribbles")
And so you can see, Cryptic is really digging deep into the lore of Star Trek for us here. I hope everyone can appreciate the subtlety of the depths this plunges us all into. And thanks to midniteshadow7 for posing this question to Ask Cryptic.
I would have rather they had taken that time and effort their employee's put in, and use it to better develop the KDF and additional endgame content, instead of another pseudo faction. I couldn't possibly be more disappointed, but I will reserve final judgement until I test it on Tribble.
A lot of this news has been a bit disappointing to hear, but I think I'll wait until I get a chance to play this Romulan "Faction" for myself before I start screaming my head off at Cryptic for messing this up.
In the meantime, I'll continue to scream my head off at Cryptic for the latest slew of bugs to hit holodeck. :P
Comments
really only ppl that are ok with this are ppl who were going to play a rom as a ALT not as a main like I was....
system Lord Baal is dead
Space orcs are called da orks. They are the bestest green there is!
How long has it taken them to update the Klingons? How long has it taken them to give us any sense of Romulans? They're not going to throw in all this work only to have to undo half of it to throw the faction back on track at a later date. They've made their decision (as lame as it is) and they're going to be sticking with it.
Their story will focus on the devastation of Romulus and the effects that follow. Said story has seemingly been made to incorporate one of the two existing factions (that's why we can't progress past level 10 without joining one of them). Level 11 - 50 content has already been locked in place, they're hardly going to undo all that work later.
And hopefully some new items too. (outside the reputation).
I already look at factions as we are all just grinding stf anyway and so will the romulan faction.
I've seen a lot of people stating that Cryptic might introduce an independent Romulan Faction somewhere down the line and that the alliance with either the Federation or KDF may only temporary.
However, and I am not trying to troll, my question is, once they go down the path of these alliances, how can they possibly go back?
For example you create you Romulan character level them to 10, decide to join the Federation, level them to 50, contributing to and helping to build a Starbase that eventually reaches Tier 5.
Then a year down the line Cryptic decides they want a neutral Romulan faction. How will this work? Will they declare amnesty for all Romulans currently members of Federation or KDF fleets? Allowing them to remain with the fleet they just spent a year helping to build up.
Or will they say - The alliances are now over all Romulan characters will be removed from their allied fleets and will have to start again?
Either way it's not gonna be pretty, if they allow people to remain with their allied fleets then the population of an independent Romulan faction will, more then likely, be seriously diminished, probably leaving them with a smaller playerbase then the KDF currently has (and we all know how that's working out for them).
Or if they force everyone to abandon their nicely built Tier 5 allied fleet, could you imagine the outcry that would create? The forums would probably go into meltdown.
I won't lie, I really want an independent Romulan faction. However I fear that now we seem to be locked into this Alliance path there's going to be no turning back.
See that's the thing though, we won't ever get a full faction because doing so would be next to impossible after this. We essentially have to choose to be either a fed or a klink, we even get to fly their ships. Great, so in two years when we get starbases and fleets of our own, what? We just lose everything we've been building up for two years? Yeah somehow I don't think so. Ergo, impossible to actually flesh out the faction properly.
In other words, yes I would much, MUCH rather wait a year and get a real faction rather than be permanently stuck with half of one. The fact that the KDF got shafted should be a reason to do it right this time, not TRIBBLE up all over again.
@cryptic: If we don't get our own doffs, do we at least get our own boffs? I would assume so since we'd need a crew to level to 10 and choose a side, but equally a lot of my assumptions were proven wrong.
I happen to agree with you, while they necessary didn't lie (as you can start as a Romulan) they omitted an important fact (about being forced to align with one of the other factions to continue your character). Not a good business practice but something a lot of us have sadly come to expect from Cryptic.
They give us little and then flooded the gaming sites with all this highlighted news and then in reality it's all been sugarcoated. Might look good in the press but the press aren't supporting the game, they aren't playing (I have to assume some do but not enough to keep the game going on their own) and instead they peeve off their customers, the ones who pay for this game through subscriptions or just pure zen purchases for the C-store. The supporters are angry and hurt, but Cryptic if they do care have enough time to make some minor changes like not allowing Romulan faction characters to have access to Fed and KDF ships. That at least would be a step in the right direction.
But it could always be worse, and in time they can improve the Romulan faction and turn it into a single unique faction with unique content like I hope the KDF will be getting in this expansion with only end game like New Romulus, Nukara Prime and STF's etc being the cross faction content. Missions need to stay faction unique and so neither the Romulans or the Klingons should have the FE's, with maybe the exception of the Undine missions, those feel Klingon and Romulan enough with the exception of the mission where you save the Romulan Valdore ship from the Borg.
I do think they need to merge fleets and make them cross faction as well, with just the visuals for each faction different and perhaps the names of the bases chosen by the fleet's, this way it will get rid of the problem of Romulans being in a fed fleet for example as it's a cross faction base like the Unity Starbase in Starfleet Command 3. It could even be tied with Omega Force as a way to explain it to storyline fans.
As for everything else you've said, see Post #6. I agree with you.
Don't force us to use their fleets and their starbases, there is zero reason to do so other then saving them some Romulan base design time. Heck, I'd take a placeholder Starbase with no special projects as long as we can advance the tiers and gain access to the rewards, which are fairly universal anyhow.
They want us to play in mixed groups with Fed and KDF so queues are reasonable, fine by me, I think that makes sense. Denying us fleets and starbases, and the ability to PvP and fleet with Romulans that picked the other faction to ally with makes it feel like WoW's Panderan with a longer story line.
These are valid questions of course. I can only speculate if there are romulan starbase, then people can build them as a romulan only fleet (like feds and KDF). Story wise, who knows, I suck at story creation, that's why you won't find a foundry mission in my name
As far as "when would romulan SB be implemented", only Cryptic and its mother company know and will decide. So far, and it is only a personal view and way of playstyle, I am more of a solo player who like to share some time with fleet mates, so the lack of green starbase is not a game killer to me... Others are devastated over this decision, I can understand why...
I don't get why we can't have all that and our own fleets and starbases.
If they want us to have access to our old ships we purchased from the store, that can happen with just picking the ally faction. Why do we need to join their fleets and use their starbases?
If some players don't want to do the starbase grind again, let them join their former fleets as ambassadors.
Not letting the rest of us have any choice in the matter is just a terrible decision and I don't see how it benefits players or the business.
I was looking forward to finding a Romulan fleet and finally getting to really experience the fleet system from the beginning, everyone working together to get it done, now I'm not even sure what the point is, I'd be better off finding a T5 Fed fleet on my Fed who already has over 3 years of work put into him then re-roll a Romlulan skinned Fed that has to start everything from scratch.
Do our starbases produce Romulan ships and equipment?
And if they do will these ships and equipment be availible to FED/KDF officers?
If our bases are producing these ships and equipment it needs to be availible to all players in the fleet!
There is no way a starbase should be producing ships/equipment for Romulans and not for the people building it.
If this is not the case I call for a All Fleet Wide BOYCOTT of producing any Romulan Gear/ships at the starbases unless it is availible to all members in the fleet!
Actually, it's Cryptic who cut my nose off.
Let's do the math:
Omega Reputation to Tier 5.
Omega Ground Sets to requisition (3xFullSets).
Borg Deflector.
Liberated Borg DOFFs Store Unlock.
Borg Prosthetics Store Unlock (Mk12).
Romulan Reputation to Tier 5.
Full Reman Space Set (Mk12).
Experimental Romulan Plasma Beam Array.
Romulan Plasma Beam Array Store Unlock.
Romulan Pistols Store Unlock.
Diplomacy to Tier4.
That's too much work for a character I never wanted to play in the first place!
I'm not going to do all that for a character just to experience the gameplay and then do it all again if my actual Hirogen character gets created later.
I'm not one of those people who enjoys playing alts.
Heck, I'm going to get to try the gameplay on Tribble anyway when they do the test.
So I'll have already experienced it and will have no need to do it on the live server.
Your argument is invalid.
You're not the only one.
That's another reason I'm rejecting the faction.
I was expecting a fully independent setup, Intrigue (their version of Diplomacy), a Unique STF Ground Set (the Romulan version of MACO set), their own different BOFFs and DOFFs, Romulan and Hirogen ships to fly around in.
Basically, a completely unique faction independent of Starfleet or KDF.
That's what I thought I was getting, that if you made that choice, you didn't have to ally yourself with either side, but be a pure Romulan Star Empire player.
And yes, if/when a Cardassian faction comes out, they'll probably be equally as stuffed up as this one.
But the ally mechanic would actually work for them, since the game states they are working with the Federation now.
That is, unless Cryptic learn their lesson from this faction and make the Cardy faction properly!
Still, I would expect more independence, not just being linked to Starfleet gameplay.
Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad
this forum is for feedback good and bad, and without feedback i am sure the game would suffer.
we may not all agree on other peoples opinions but i will defend to the death their right to have them and voice them in this forum.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
LOL - Missed The executive producers post did you?
While i appreciate the ability to join existing fleets, i like that. I don't want to have to end up flying a defiant full of fed boffs using fed weapons because they're better then romulan tech. Otherwise just make romulans & remans new character options for existing factions.
The fact you're thinking of making a lockbox to let the existing factions fly romulan ships just makes things worse. Just for once guys, keep things separate, we're already breaking canon over the existing ships, stop making it worse.
Final judgement to be reserved apon testing of course, but the idea of "Hey! Lets just give all factions everything!" Sounds a bit cheap to me, give romulans a proper faction, not a rushed copy-n-paste job. Don't keep giving factions non-faction ships to use, it looks terrible. If you're going to break down and put the Romulan ships in boxes anyway, why bother playing the new faction to get them? Keep things separate or you just cheapen them.
@Aquitaine985
Lag Industries STO PvP Fleet - Executive
A Sad Panda of Industrial calibre.
2010: This is Cryptic PvP. Please hold the line, your call is very important to us...
If you play Fed, you have full access to all Fed ships.
If you play KDF, you have full access to all KDF ships.
If you play Rom, you have full access to all Romulan -and- Fed, or all Romulan -and- KDF ships?
And, a possibility later on for the Romulan faction to be more fully developed into it's own independent faction in a year or so, if it is workable?
So why would a new player -not- want to play Romulan? Sounds like you get a better deal than if you play Fed or KDF, as you get everything from those two factions -on top of- Romulan content, but not if you play Fed or KDF.
Sound about right?
I am no cheerleader or usually here to wave pompoms in the air for the devs, but this post is awesome... I hate quoting whole blocks but I could not just cut some and quote a portion.
Thanks Dan and many silent players are sure supporting you and the team. I sure can appreciate the work of a dev team when they worked long hours and come here to read these threads... cannot be easy.
Waiting for more details and to play the new content...
Jolan-tru
I aprecciate you trying to explain all of this Mr.Stahl, while I can imagine it feeling like you're talking to a brick wall. At this moment, I think that you could pull out a magic wand and start granting wishes and there will still be people claiming that your magic sucks.
The sense of entitlement that some people on these forums have is unbelivable.
Do I like that J.J. blowed up Romulus & Remus? Ofcourse not. Do I like how the Cardassians have turned into Fed. pets that can't build their own military? Again, nope. However, I'm not so arrogant to think that the whole universe should unfold and shape up according to my own desires and points of view. How about the Federation then? I don't see people raging and complaining about so much for the Fed. being what they are in STO. In the game, they shoot everything at signt, blow up anything in front of their ships. And now, promoting their latest edition - Bio-Neural Warheads!! :eek: Is this the exact same Federation we've seen in the shows? No, because it's a game!
When I'll go to work on Monday there is a pretty good chance the day will not unfold and the events will not shape up exactly as I planned. Should this be a reason for me to rage over?
One basic thing that I picked up from Star Trek ever since I was a child watching TNG with my father is to keep an open mind about things. I found this trait to be present in many Trek fans I have met throughout the years. I am kinda' dissapointed to see that it's not quite as present in these STO forums. Many people are missing out on the humongous base for storytelling that can emerge out of this and choose to klinge to stereotypes.
I like the colour green and I like the Romulan ship designs, but personally, I had no intentions of actively playing a Romulan under the banner of a psychotic self-proclaimed "empress". However, I can dig the way D'Tan & Obisek roll. This Romulan faction, the Romulan Republic I can work with. I'm actually quite looking forward to it now.
Since aproximately 80% of my STO time is devoted to the KDF, I guess I'll roll out a Romulan sci, buy her a warbird and ally with the Feds., so I can play the game from the other side a bit.
Oh and yes, it's an alliance not subjugation! You may think whatever you want, but noone conquered me, I pick who to join forces with. I'll still be under the Romulan banner, I'll still recieve my orders on NR just as Mr.Stahl said, I still will have a Romulan rank, uniforms, my warbird will have the R.R.W. prefix before her name. It's merely picking who I want to have next to my side when fighting the Borg, Undine, Tholians or whoever.
As a Cardie fan, I'd love it if the Cardassians could be wellcomed into STO in the exact same way. Being your own Cardassian, taking orders from Garak and being allied with the Fed.
Troubled by Romulans blowing up Romlans in PvP? Really?!? Funny, I can't remember such an outcry about Feds. blowing up Feds. in PvP. Or Feds. joining Klinks to blow up other Feds. in PvP for the record. How is this different again?
I must say, I'm intrigued by the way this expansion is unfolding. I want to thank Mr.Stahl and his team for the hard work they put in this expansion. I love the opportunity to start a whole race from scratch. We'll be able to witness the birth and evolution of the Romulan Republic shaping right before our eyes and participate in it. Probably even have some influence togehter with the dev. team of how this faction will shape up to be. This is very exciting to me. I really look forward to immersing myself in this content, much more than when Season 7 was released.
And last but not least, I do enjoy playing STO. That's why I'm here. In fact, my the level of enjoyment with STO has doubled or even trippled during the past year. Did every decision or direction the game took since I joined fulfill my every desire and expectation? Ofcourse not, that's impossible. But I do enjoy seeing how the Trek universe in STO unfolds and trying to cope with the new challenges or strage developments in the galaxy.
I'm looking forward to "Legacy of Romulus", the stories of how New Romulus came to be and taking the storyline evolution forward that it will bring.
Kinda in-line with Cryptics history of fixing system problems. "If it's too hard, just yank the feature. Working as intended!"
I am also one of the people that (so far) is not overly bothered by this. I will roll a rommie for both factions and will have fun with both.
I have logged 3000+ hours on this game - ouch crazy I know - but you could not play that much if you did not love this game.
However, I think Cryptic was playing the Romulan fans along - letting them believe that they were getting a completely independent faction of their own. That was not right.
In the end - Cryptic's Romulan Faction:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qKcJF4fOPs
You said it like a Boss!
Come down to earth, folks. Stop being outraged at what was painfully obvious. Don't believe an ounce of hype. You will always be disappointed.
Cryptic has a track record. Don't ignore that.
Almost right, from what I can tell - the only CLEAR distinction is in the faction-specific missions. Romulans don't get Fed or KDF missions unless they're cross-faction missions in the first place.
However, there is an unknown factor here - can ALL ships belonging to the allied faction be purchased by Romulans, regardless of method of acquisition? That'll be a decisive factor in figuring out just how correct your assumption is.
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.
Folks,
This goes right back to Sherman's Planet and the Organians. Let me quote you a passage from Memory Alpha:
Following the Federation-Klingon War in 2267, and per terms of the Organian Peace Treaty, ownership of Sherman's Planet could be assumed by the side that could most effectively develop it. The Federation's intentions for Sherman's Planet were to use it to cultivate quadrotriticale, a grain well adapted to the planet's climate. After the quadrotriticale was poisoned on Deep Space Station K-7, Starfleet diverted a freighter laded down with this grain to Sherman's Planet. The grain would be delivered a few weeks later than anticipated. (TOS: "The Trouble with Tribbles")
Quoted from: http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Sherman%27s_Planet
And so you can see, Cryptic is really digging deep into the lore of Star Trek for us here. I hope everyone can appreciate the subtlety of the depths this plunges us all into. And thanks to midniteshadow7 for posing this question to Ask Cryptic.
I would have rather they had taken that time and effort their employee's put in, and use it to better develop the KDF and additional endgame content, instead of another pseudo faction. I couldn't possibly be more disappointed, but I will reserve final judgement until I test it on Tribble.
A lot of this news has been a bit disappointing to hear, but I think I'll wait until I get a chance to play this Romulan "Faction" for myself before I start screaming my head off at Cryptic for messing this up.
In the meantime, I'll continue to scream my head off at Cryptic for the latest slew of bugs to hit holodeck. :P