Borg, liberated or not... but BORG!

voivodje

I will refer here to another post in General Chat, I cannot simply copy and post other peoples posts, so...
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1421941

IMHO a bloody interesting topic.

jodarkrider

I'll simply re-post my post when someone requested more Liberated Borg... it is matter of cosmetic appearance only, after all, therefore relevant to this topic.

westx211 wrote: »

I would like the ability to be more liberated borg races. There is an npc liberated borg andorian.

This. I'd settle with Alien-gen, if the Borg implants were part of alien species, even if they were only unlocked if you were a lifetime Sub.

Imho, the simpliest thing for Cryptic would be, to open the customization on our Liberated Borg characters, in a way, the alien-species are, in terms of customization, and renaming the character to 'Liberated Borg Male/Female (based on gender you pick), without any species included in the name. Saves time and need to do each Liberated species separately, and we'd get what we want, creating visualy any species we'd want our Borgies to be - since the Liberated Borg, both Fed/KDF & Rom have the same basic traits anyways - so the appearance of Borg implants is purely cosmetic.

EDIT: Also, yes, it would be awesome if the Borg implants were a costume unlock, for us Lifers, rather than linked to "species" Liberated Borg Human/Klingon/Romulan, so we could add them to at least our humanoid boffs... one can dream, eh? <.<

markhawkman

Hmm... from an "under the hood" perspective, this would basically be a costume/trait unlock.

Well, sort of.... extant Lib Borg have a set of options of their own that don't match the base species. Lib Borg Humans don't get leadership etc.... or at least that was true last I checked.

jodarkrider

markhawkman wrote: »

Hmm... from an "under the hood" perspective, this would basically be a costume/trait unlock.

Well, sort of.... extant Lib Borg have a set of options of their own that don't match the base species. Lib Borg Humans don't get leadership etc.... or at least that was true last I checked.

Yep, currently, the Liberated Borg "species", as it is, have their own set of traits - so the Klingon/Romulan/Human Liberated Borg are identical. They don't even have sub-traits of their original species. I believe it'd be simply much better to be able to "borgify" whatever species we want, by simply unlocking these Borg-visuals for Lifers.. that way, you'd even get a Liberated Borg with traits of your own original species. Imho much more... fluid, free-hand design, compared to what it currently is.

sentinelblue

To a very small extent you can. If you have purchased the 7 of 9 costume, you can add her borg facial and hand costume parts to females. I have a catian and joined trill with the parts. Also added the eye piece to my Vulcan when in tactical costume.

jodarkrider

sentinelblue wrote: »

To a very small extent you can. If you have purchased the 7 of 9 costume, you can add her borg facial and hand costume parts to females. I have a catian and joined trill with the parts. Also added the eye piece to my Vulcan when in tactical costume.

Exactly.. it's females only & very limited, and no offense to anyone, but not everyone is interested in running all-female squad, in case they want to theme their crew in certain way.

westx211

jodarkrider wrote: »

Exactly.. it's females only & very limited, and no offense to anyone, but not everyone is interested in running all-female squad, in case they want to theme their crew in certain way.

They should've made the Seven of Nine implants available for both genders.

markhawkman

And factions... you can't use them on KDF or Romulans.

warpangel

jodarkrider wrote: »

This. I'd settle with Alien-gen, if the Borg implants were part of alien species, even if they were only unlocked if you were a lifetime Sub.

All the playable species' parts should be in Aliengen. C-Store or otherwise unlockable species should have their parts unlocked for Aliens when you buy/unlock the species.

I'd probably buy a species or two if that would unlock their features for my Alien toons.

I'd probably buy the 7 of 9 costume too, if it wasn't Fed-only. Restrictions are so .

wraithshadow13

http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1048701&highlight=liberated+borg


That's a thread I posted a while back, but it still stands relevant today.

Frankly, I think the liberated borg (as an LTS perk) should be made into an unlocked series of traits and part for character creation with every species, not just human.

They should add more parts (for more than just head or hand) to allow people to customize just how "liberated" they are, since not everyone was as lucky as Seven. They should add a few more traits and abilities, just to round out the value, but they should make it so that the pieces work with any race you choose. There is a lot of potential to add to the liberated borg as a lifer perk (to persuade people to drop a big sum) to just let it sit as is and unloved since lauch (talaxian? really?).



Enhancing Liberated borg for LTS, would allow the current liberated borg to become availible to the gold members, giving more value to actually paying for a sub (instead of paying $15 once up front for almost all the same perks). Lifers get more for nothing, while enticing others to buy LTS. Gold get more for their money, while subbing becomes more attractive.


So much potential, and Cryptic STILL hasn't been able to give the borg a full body skin, after 5 years and the price of an LTS. Lame...

jodarkrider

And yet, there are NPCs, who flaunt the implants and even these we can't have. (Ie. the laser-pieces having different than red color, or the attachment to the hands, or various cables, see the Cooperative NPCs).

So it's possible, it even exists, but it was not given to the players. I personally find that.. a bit offensive. And bear with me - it's not me trying to take a jab at the devs - but - this is an online game. It's not the NPCs' which create what the game become, in terms of the atmosphere - it's us, our characters, which are the "main pieces", or at least they should be.

Currently, the mentality of what is allowed and what is not, is exactly the opposite. We see many and many NPC's, across the game, which have something we cannot. So, what is supposed to be merely a 'set-piece' (NPC's in this case), is set in front of us, players & characters, even though we are supposed to be the 'main pieces'. You usually don't go making the background pieces to stand out more than the main heroes, anywhere else. Books, movies. Clearly, this is an interactive environment, so the circumstances are different. However - there's no harm in allowing people the same leverage in what costume pieces they use - especially after they've purchased them.

I can somewhat understand the need to keep the Faction uniforms distinctive. But.. hairstyles, regular clothes, Borg implants & bits & pieces of other species (in case of alien-gen), I believe, should be available for us to use. After all; art is huge part of this game, and it's also important for many of us, to get creative. Not only that; but if we are given the same leverage and freedom using the costume pieces, it also poses a nice (at least I think of challenges as interesting and nice) challenge to the developpers - "Can we create an interesting, distinctive character, now that we allowed the players to have a free hand with the tailor?"

Now - a good example of such character, who is very distinctive - is Admiral Quinn. He is very distinctive, easily recognizable character. And yet, he has no fancy costume piece, that we can't get by regular usage of the tailor - granted, the Odyssey Long jacket is a reward for Veteran-level, but, it is obtainable by regular means, and you get to use it, once you either get the required Veteran-level or get a LTS. That's what makes him much more special, than these NPC's, which feel a bit like rubbed into our face, that they can use what we can't.

I'm sorry for a long-winded post, but I wanted to be somewhat constructive on the matter, without being purely negative or even purely taking any jabs on the dev-team; and I sincerely hope that all these restrictions are lifted, and we're given the free-hand to create, create & create, until all our hearts' content, without being rubed off in a wrong direction with promotional pictures of characters & NPC's with pieces we have no way of creating or obtaining.

voivodje

They HAVE the skins.
Look at the Borg story arc, the parts ARE there.

They just need to be made available.

markhawkman

jodarkrider wrote: »

And yet, there are NPCs, who flaunt the implants and even these we can't have. (Ie. the laser-pieces having different than red color, or the attachment to the hands, or various cables, see the Cooperative NPCs).

So it's possible, it even exists, but it was not given to the players. I personally find that.. a bit offensive. And bear with me - it's not me trying to take a jab at the devs - but - this is an online game. It's not the NPCs' which create what the game become, in terms of the atmosphere - it's us, our characters, which are the "main pieces", or at least they should be.

Currently, the mentality of what is allowed and what is not, is exactly the opposite. We see many and many NPC's, across the game, which have something we cannot. So, what is supposed to be merely a 'set-piece' (NPC's in this case), is set in front of us, players & characters, even though we are supposed to be the 'main pieces'. You usually don't go making the background pieces to stand out more than the main heroes, anywhere else. Books, movies. Clearly, this is an interactive environment, so the circumstances are different. However - there's no harm in allowing people the same leverage in what costume pieces they use - especially after they've purchased them.

I can somewhat understand the need to keep the Faction uniforms distinctive. But.. hairstyles, regular clothes, Borg implants & bits & pieces of other species (in case of alien-gen), I believe, should be available for us to use. After all; art is huge part of this game, and it's also important for many of us, to get creative. Not only that; but if we are given the same leverage and freedom using the costume pieces, it also poses a nice (at least I think of challenges as interesting and nice) challenge to the developpers - "Can we create an interesting, distinctive character, now that we allowed the players to have a free hand with the tailor?"

Now - a good example of such character, who is very distinctive - is Admiral Quinn. He is very distinctive, easily recognizable character. And yet, he has no fancy costume piece, that we can't get by regular usage of the tailor - granted, the Odyssey Long jacket is a reward for Veteran-level, but, it is obtainable by regular means, and you get to use it, once you either get the required Veteran-level or get a LTS. That's what makes him much more special, than these NPC's, which feel a bit like rubbed into our face, that they can use what we can't.

I'm sorry for a long-winded post, but I wanted to be somewhat constructive on the matter, without being purely negative or even purely taking any jabs on the dev-team; and I sincerely hope that all these restrictions are lifted, and we're given the free-hand to create, create & create, until all our hearts' content, without being rubed off in a wrong direction with promotional pictures of characters & NPC's with pieces we have no way of creating or obtaining.

Hehehe..... you should take a close look at the Cooperative NPCs in Foundry.

They have almost every Borg implant in the game. They even have several alien parts we don't. Such as two fingered hands.

jodarkrider

markhawkman wrote: »

Hehehe..... you should take a close look at the Cooperative NPCs in Foundry.

They have almost every Borg implant in the game. They even have several alien parts we don't. Such as two fingered hands.

Trust me, I know & I did check before, while working on my character's ship interior in the Foundry... it makes me sad, angry and baffled at the same time. The devleoppers imho need to understand, that for a RPG game, art is simply an important part, and should not be heavily restricted in the way it currently is.. especially not when we are constantly having it rubbed into our faces, that the pieces exist, but we cannot have them - for the reasons stated above.

Club 47 has tons of such NPCs as well. But, let me put it this way. I dont go to Club 47 to see the NPCs. In fact.. I go there to see *people*. The players. If there's nobody to hang around with, I just leave. That is what I mean by "set-piece", because that is what the NPCs are, and they should not take precedent or more importance than actual, living players.

markhawkman

jodarkrider wrote: »

Trust me, I know & I did check before, while working on my character's ship interior in the Foundry... it makes me sad, angry and baffled at the same time. The devleoppers imho need to understand, that for a RPG game, art is simply an important part, and should not be heavily restricted in the way it currently is.. especially not when we are constantly having it rubbed into our faces, that the pieces exist, but we cannot have them - for the reasons stated above.

Club 47 has tons of such NPCs as well. But, let me put it this way. I dont go to Club 47 to see the NPCs. In fact.. I go there to see *people*. The players. If there's nobody to hang around with, I just leave. That is what I mean by "set-piece", because that is what the NPCs are, and they should not take precedent or more importance than actual, living players.

I suspect that part of it might have to do with a style mandate. IE, Liberated Borg don't have extensive cybernetics. Some of the NPC only parts are HUGE. The female Vaadwaur Borg has a giant metal head piece. some are very subtle though. Like the tiny shoulder spikes. those I imagine might not be in because the devs didn't program them to be scalable like player accessories.

jodarkrider

markhawkman wrote: »

I suspect that part of it might have to do with a style mandate. IE, Liberated Borg don't have extensive cybernetics. Some of the NPC only parts are HUGE. The female Vaadwaur Borg has a giant metal head piece. some are very subtle though. Like the tiny shoulder spikes. those I imagine might not be in because the devs didn't program them to be scalable like player accessories.

I don't know... the Cooperative Borg are *still* Liberated Borg. There's no reason to restrict that & if someone wants to make a huge-ugly headpiece sticking out of head of their Liberated Borg, they imho should be able to.

And really, this is not just the restriction of the Borg-parts, which I'm talking about here, but overall, how this is approached on the greater scale. Many assets exist & they're not available to the players; even though it should be the players' characters, getting priority, not a bunch of NPCs, which ultimately serve as the background pieces, for setting the scene...

I still believe that cosmetic unlocks, like implants or even specific species bits (Cats' tails for example as well) should be available. In case of the species bits, they should be available as a unlock for the alien-gen, once a person purchases the species from C-store. In case of the Borg-implants, they should be just available to *any* character/BOFF, after a LTS purchase has been made; as the Borg aren't too picky who they assimilate, after all... and purely from economic perspective - that would only be fair, as the pricetag for getting access to the Liberated Borg is quite steep, and the existing assets can easily be added to any character, as proven both by devs & tailor glitches.

markhawkman

Well there's two levels of costume assets. customizable and non-customizable. Player costume parts are at least partially customizable, even the winter jackets resize to match the dimensions of your character. An asset seen only on NPCs may not have that functionality yet.

jodarkrider

markhawkman wrote: »

Well there's two levels of costume assets. customizable and non-customizable. Player costume parts are at least partially customizable, even the winter jackets resize to match the dimensions of your character. An asset seen only on NPCs may not have that functionality yet.

Well, there's no need to get ahead of ourselves. Frankly, I'd be just happy with having the *current character* Liberated Borg assets accessible on any species & our BOFFs, at our full desire, after a LTS purchase has been made.

markhawkman

agreed, that would be nice.

mustrumridcully0

westx211 wrote: »

They should've made the Seven of Nine implants available for both genders.

Maybe that is an essentially workable idea that one could break out? More would be great and preferable and all, but this should not be so difficult. It's not like they are cybernetic breast implants that only make "sense" for females.

jodarkrider

mustrumridcully0 wrote: »

Maybe that is an essentially workable idea that one could break out? More would be great and preferable and all, but this should not be so difficult. It's not like they are cybernetic breast implants that only make "sense" for females.

A plenty of these restrictions we have make no sense... but let's not be negative & hope for the best, that our plea is heard and listened to. :-)