Where would that be good for?
It's bad for PVP, it's bad story wise (no one would accept a "Borg Faction" aligned with either Feds or Klingons).
Aside, Feds and Klings still are hostile towards one another, why not have a third hostile to all faction?
ANY clue how many folks would love to play a Borg, even if it is "slightly" different in version?
Food for thought.
Cryptic does not do "evil" factions. The Starfleet and KDF factions are only hostile at the beginning of the game. At endgame, hostilities between them have ceased. Having a "evil" faction means that Cryptic would have to create endgame missions exclusive to them. A hostile Borg faction would not be able to do any of the current endgame content so Cryptic would have to create its own Fleet Starbases, Reputations, STFs, queues, endgame missions, etc. that none of the other factions would be able to use. What Cryptic is going to do from now on is create cross-faction missions where every faction will play the same mission with slight differences in dialogue due to faction.
If Cryptic creates any more factions, then it will be exactly the same as the Romulan Republic. So a bunch of missions to get to level 50, a couple of social areas, costumes, and ships and sell future ships and costumes on the C-Store. With all endgame content being exactly the same as every other faction. There is no room for endgame faction diversity in Cryptic's view of Star Trek Online.
Well, I'd say give me a month and I make a complete storyline, few side quests, and a somewhat balance (since I do not know the programmed data beyond attacks, defense, ...).
Thing is, it will consume quite a lot of time, and I do not like to see that go to waste, if you get my point.
What ideas would you like, story wise?
Gameplay wise?
Otherwise?
My conception of the Borg is the the relentless, eternal encroaching machine. They are the dystopian counter argument to the Roddenberry vision of the future. Technology doesn't set people free; it enslaves them. They were a gestalt of 20th century fears about free will, privacy and loyalties in the shell of a hungry ghost returning from the grave to devour it's loved ones.
Key to maintaining my conception of the borg is their mystery and distance. Fear comes from the unknown. The early appearances of the borg did this very well. Later appearances they lost that quality. Defeats are one thing but knowing an enemy truly takes away their power. Hugh worked as an isolated incident. He demonstrated that borg could be "redeemed" but also made every drone a "hostage" good Starfleet types had to kill.
Voyager hobbled the Borg. On one level the borg got punching bagged by the Undine a bit to give the newer alien some street cred. Seven of Nine ruined the borg. Not only did she "humanize" the borg and diminish their fear factor her rosetta stone intuitions deus ex'ed Voyager out of situations the writers got to lazy to find other ways around. She was boring and made them boring and easy.
A few of the non canon writers did some decent borg revivals. Rather than assimilate the Alpha Quadrant they realized the safest, pragmatic response was to erase them. Borrowing conventions from monster movie zombies they had them move faster. In my choices these decisons were good because they twisted our conceptions of what the borg were and they suited them well. As a calculating clinical intelligence I realize it would be far more efficient to slaughter a quadrant worth of souls than fight pitched battle of assimilation. To ensure my continued existence genocide of that magnitude is as easy as 1+1. It was a perfect extrapolation.
To best depict the borg in STO I think they must remain an NPC enemy. "Controlling" a borg drone as one entity is against everything they are meant to represent. On a sad note I just realized that STO made me fear the borg more than Voyager.
What do I like story wise? I like twists in stories that readers or players don't see coming. If the character is opposed by someone who is supposed to be smarter than then it is nice to have the reader discover they were mislead by their own suppositions. Being rewarded and validated is important to me in a story; Admiral Quinn and J'mpok might have danced for me or treated me to a little cutscene when I got promoted to level 60. I wish there were more tiny branches in missions that catered to a captain's expertise or how we perceive them morally. It makes a story feel more personal. When I play a good foundry mission or story mission and I feel like I'm the captain in Trek story. That's how I like to feel.
Gameplay? Variation excepting grinding and mini games.
ANY clue how many folks would love to play a Borg, even if it is "slightly" different in version?
Food for thought.
Not nearly enough to make it a viable investment, plus Liberated Borg are already playable for all 3 factions. Your posts also lead me to believe you have little knowledge into the Borg besides your "cool factor". Wolf 359 was a killzone because the Borg wanted to assimilate the whole population of Earth, not a few lowly ship crews. Rewatch TNG Borg Eps. You're Borg wants to rejoin the Collective arc is terrible, you'd lose control of your own character when it rejoined. Do you just want to watch the game play itself like a demo?
Within 6 months we've had r&d and the upgrade system, the equivilent of 3 spec trees, t5u and t6 ships, intel and command ships, 2 lockboxs and 2 t6 promos, a story arc mostly filled by patrols and I'm probably missing other negative aspects too like a reputation to grind.
Right, so Cryptic's been developing tons of mechanics and new content into the game, all for long-term player activity. None of these things are supposed to be available to the player at day 1 - that was the point of DR. It was to give existing players new medium- to long-term goals. It's only a grind if you're impatient and want to min-max immediately.
I can see some of Cryptics reasoning: new players ARE at a disadvantage compared to players that have been here longer, mostly owing to the insane powercreep that Cryptic executed in the past. At the same time, Cryptic can't negate the advantages the older playerbase has earned without a full scale riot in response, and probably take a massive hit on people wanting to play at all, which hurts their bottom line.
5yrs in and a full-out level cap increase are going to do that, no matter what. I'm just happy they didn't offer a 'pay to immediately level' token like some other MMOs... now that would be a cash grab. So it's the ongoing balance between free-to-play and pay-to-win, where they're staying more on the F2P side with this one, But at least with the Delta Recruitment boost for new toons, they're saying that this will also benefit the old ones in some way and giving an easy in for existing players to make a new alt for this reason.
Don't suppose it occurs to anyone this is targeting new players and not veterans?
That's what I figured, yeah. And it's simply a nice bonus that the benefits of Delta Recruitment are being given to existing players. This is aimed directly at new players, to get them up to speed with the 5yrs of STO as quickly as possible.
... Wolf 359 was a killzone because the Borg wanted to assimilate the whole population of Earth, not a few lowly ship crews.
A simple thing here: to assimilate a species is by not destroying their fleet, but to add that fleet to your own.
The makers of ST made a crucial "mistake" there, compared to the Borg's urge for assimilation.
a NEEDED "mistake", yes the borg ARE capable of assimilating the entire fleet in "moments time", as I said before.
But THAT would have been the end of the galaxy as we know it, right?
A "few lowly ships" added to the Cube, would've been far more destructive than 3 cubes at that moment in time.
I can't help but see the newly announced Delta Recruitment Drive as, what my granddad used to say, "spitting in the wind."
For reasons unknown to us (the players) the company (Cryptic) wants us to create new characters. They want us to create new characters very badly, even going so far as to dangle perks and dilithium generation in front of us.
But, what is missing, at least to me, is true incentive to create another character. As I've stated elsewhere, I actually deleted alt characters with Delta Rising, because there was no reason to keep them around. Additionally, while I've had a desire to create other characters, there have not been the things I wanted as "accoutrements" to entice me to go about doing so.
For 5 years, players have been asking for a variety of things. But rather than speaking to the other player's I will only speak to my own.
For a long time, I've wanted to create a Wrath of Khan era character, played as that era from start to finish, with all the goodies that go with it. But, there are some things missing (which I consider vital to the experience) that hold me back from doing as much. The things that are missing are:
- TWOK era bridge/interior (similar to the TOS era one, with appropriately dressed crew)
- TWOK era scaling vanity weapons (similar to the ones that came with the TOS pack)
- Tier 4 TWOK era vessel (Tiers 1, 2, 3 and 5 are covered. But not 4)
- TWOK era scaling ship weapons (similar to what comes with the TOS Constitution ship)
- Additional TWOK uniform options (Away Jacket, Bomber Jacket, Enlisted Uniform, etc)
Usually, when a game company decides to do a recruitment drive, they bring out some long requested items to help entice people to try their product. There would be alot of opportunity in this drive to not only bring in new people, but to help reignite interest from older players as well.
But, given that I haven't heard of any major influx of new "stuff" which players have been asking for, I can't help but feel this recruitment drive is nothing but a waste.
Darn silly thing to do delete a perfect farmer toon.
Well, then that would be a major fail, especially to Cryptic.
I know that if a playable Borg "race" was available, many would come to STO.
As I stated afore, no game ever had Borg as playable race, this would be a hole in the market, filled up by Cryptic, if they went for it.
Hell, I believe half the Fed and Klingon would drop dead and go Borg, if implemented in a good way.
I can see a massive income there for them.
And a ton of fun for us Borg fans.
Hundreds of thousands Borg fans.
That is not quite true. Star Trek: Armada 2 has you play a Borg Campaign. Personally, I see playing as part of the Borg Collective as a strategy game or as a single player game similar to Bioshock where your character regains their individuality can either continue your life as a Borg drone, destroy the Borg, or become the Borg Queen.
That is not quite true. Star Trek: Armada 2 has you play a Borg Campaign.
Wait a sec, do you imply here that a RTS campaign is the same as a Borg FPS/MMO??? O_O
Are you telling me that a Borg RTS campaign is satisfying to Borg fans?
We'd love to play a borg, fleshing it out as we go.
Much like someone makes a Fed, or a Kling or a Dom character...
Oh, another missing species series: Jem and the lot. :P
It really seems everyone is not getting why Cryptic is doing this, not sure why, its very obvious, however I guess we are all a bit too self absorbed?
This isn't about us, its about new players. Clearly DR has burned its bridges, the old money isn't there, they need new money. Player retention is likely way down on new characters because the mountain that makes Everest look small to start to grind in this game is insane; this is a cheat mechanic to get new players to grind less, stay and then pay them without actually putting in the work to fix the game.
Short term stuff to make more money, pretty status quo for the game.
A simple thing here: to assimilate a species is by not destroying their fleet, but to add that fleet to your own.
The makers of ST made a crucial "mistake" there, compared to the Borg's urge for assimilation.
a NEEDED "mistake", yes the borg ARE capable of assimilating the entire fleet in "moments time", as I said before.
But THAT would have been the end of the galaxy as we know it, right?
A "few lowly ships" added to the Cube, would've been far more destructive than 3 cubes at that moment in time.
The Borg seemed to be in a hurry and thus not being as methodical as usual. Why? Well, the Borg seemed to be using a variant of a Thanatos gambit. Hit Earth at all costs to cripple the Federation permanently. It's possible they planned to return to Wolf and salvage the remains of the fleet after they had infected Earth. Many of the ships at Wolf were largely intact, and could have had survivors on board.
I'd admittedly be more impressed if they added a better way to move dilithium between characters, or at least make more things account bound. Or did something to make reputation easier on alts like reduced item cost if you made it once already on another character.
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
Comments
Cryptic does not do "evil" factions. The Starfleet and KDF factions are only hostile at the beginning of the game. At endgame, hostilities between them have ceased. Having a "evil" faction means that Cryptic would have to create endgame missions exclusive to them. A hostile Borg faction would not be able to do any of the current endgame content so Cryptic would have to create its own Fleet Starbases, Reputations, STFs, queues, endgame missions, etc. that none of the other factions would be able to use. What Cryptic is going to do from now on is create cross-faction missions where every faction will play the same mission with slight differences in dialogue due to faction.
If Cryptic creates any more factions, then it will be exactly the same as the Romulan Republic. So a bunch of missions to get to level 50, a couple of social areas, costumes, and ships and sell future ships and costumes on the C-Store. With all endgame content being exactly the same as every other faction. There is no room for endgame faction diversity in Cryptic's view of Star Trek Online.
My conception of the Borg is the the relentless, eternal encroaching machine. They are the dystopian counter argument to the Roddenberry vision of the future. Technology doesn't set people free; it enslaves them. They were a gestalt of 20th century fears about free will, privacy and loyalties in the shell of a hungry ghost returning from the grave to devour it's loved ones.
Key to maintaining my conception of the borg is their mystery and distance. Fear comes from the unknown. The early appearances of the borg did this very well. Later appearances they lost that quality. Defeats are one thing but knowing an enemy truly takes away their power. Hugh worked as an isolated incident. He demonstrated that borg could be "redeemed" but also made every drone a "hostage" good Starfleet types had to kill.
Voyager hobbled the Borg. On one level the borg got punching bagged by the Undine a bit to give the newer alien some street cred. Seven of Nine ruined the borg. Not only did she "humanize" the borg and diminish their fear factor her rosetta stone intuitions deus ex'ed Voyager out of situations the writers got to lazy to find other ways around. She was boring and made them boring and easy.
A few of the non canon writers did some decent borg revivals. Rather than assimilate the Alpha Quadrant they realized the safest, pragmatic response was to erase them. Borrowing conventions from monster movie zombies they had them move faster. In my choices these decisons were good because they twisted our conceptions of what the borg were and they suited them well. As a calculating clinical intelligence I realize it would be far more efficient to slaughter a quadrant worth of souls than fight pitched battle of assimilation. To ensure my continued existence genocide of that magnitude is as easy as 1+1. It was a perfect extrapolation.
To best depict the borg in STO I think they must remain an NPC enemy. "Controlling" a borg drone as one entity is against everything they are meant to represent. On a sad note I just realized that STO made me fear the borg more than Voyager.
What do I like story wise? I like twists in stories that readers or players don't see coming. If the character is opposed by someone who is supposed to be smarter than then it is nice to have the reader discover they were mislead by their own suppositions. Being rewarded and validated is important to me in a story; Admiral Quinn and J'mpok might have danced for me or treated me to a little cutscene when I got promoted to level 60. I wish there were more tiny branches in missions that catered to a captain's expertise or how we perceive them morally. It makes a story feel more personal. When I play a good foundry mission or story mission and I feel like I'm the captain in Trek story. That's how I like to feel.
Gameplay? Variation excepting grinding and mini games.
Not nearly enough to make it a viable investment, plus Liberated Borg are already playable for all 3 factions. Your posts also lead me to believe you have little knowledge into the Borg besides your "cool factor". Wolf 359 was a killzone because the Borg wanted to assimilate the whole population of Earth, not a few lowly ship crews. Rewatch TNG Borg Eps. You're Borg wants to rejoin the Collective arc is terrible, you'd lose control of your own character when it rejoined. Do you just want to watch the game play itself like a demo?
I know that if a playable Borg "race" was available, many would come to STO.
As I stated afore, no game ever had Borg as playable race, this would be a hole in the market, filled up by Cryptic, if they went for it.
Hell, I believe half the Fed and Klingon would drop dead and go Borg, if implemented in a good way.
I can see a massive income there for them.
And a ton of fun for us Borg fans.
Hundreds of thousands Borg fans.
Right, so Cryptic's been developing tons of mechanics and new content into the game, all for long-term player activity. None of these things are supposed to be available to the player at day 1 - that was the point of DR. It was to give existing players new medium- to long-term goals. It's only a grind if you're impatient and want to min-max immediately.
5yrs in and a full-out level cap increase are going to do that, no matter what. I'm just happy they didn't offer a 'pay to immediately level' token like some other MMOs... now that would be a cash grab. So it's the ongoing balance between free-to-play and pay-to-win, where they're staying more on the F2P side with this one, But at least with the Delta Recruitment boost for new toons, they're saying that this will also benefit the old ones in some way and giving an easy in for existing players to make a new alt for this reason.
That's what I figured, yeah. And it's simply a nice bonus that the benefits of Delta Recruitment are being given to existing players. This is aimed directly at new players, to get them up to speed with the 5yrs of STO as quickly as possible.
The makers of ST made a crucial "mistake" there, compared to the Borg's urge for assimilation.
a NEEDED "mistake", yes the borg ARE capable of assimilating the entire fleet in "moments time", as I said before.
But THAT would have been the end of the galaxy as we know it, right?
A "few lowly ships" added to the Cube, would've been far more destructive than 3 cubes at that moment in time.
Darn silly thing to do delete a perfect farmer toon.
That is not quite true. Star Trek: Armada 2 has you play a Borg Campaign. Personally, I see playing as part of the Borg Collective as a strategy game or as a single player game similar to Bioshock where your character regains their individuality can either continue your life as a Borg drone, destroy the Borg, or become the Borg Queen.
Are you telling me that a Borg RTS campaign is satisfying to Borg fans?
We'd love to play a borg, fleshing it out as we go.
Much like someone makes a Fed, or a Kling or a Dom character...
Oh, another missing species series: Jem and the lot. :P
It really seems everyone is not getting why Cryptic is doing this, not sure why, its very obvious, however I guess we are all a bit too self absorbed?
This isn't about us, its about new players. Clearly DR has burned its bridges, the old money isn't there, they need new money. Player retention is likely way down on new characters because the mountain that makes Everest look small to start to grind in this game is insane; this is a cheat mechanic to get new players to grind less, stay and then pay them without actually putting in the work to fix the game.
Short term stuff to make more money, pretty status quo for the game.
Completed Starbase, Embassy, Mine, Spire and No Win Scenario
Nothing to do anymore.
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