This whole arc will get cut down to 4-5 episodes (not counting Breen and 2800), so that's what we have to work with.
All the straight Dominion stuff ("Rapier", etc) will get cut out. It never made much sense anyways.
MU stuff will be a one-off, longer, and probably entirely new, mission. Maybe a chance to introduce Ferenginar and get some SAG VA's.
True Way will be the focus. They are in several other missions throughout the various other arcs, so some resolution will be important. Perhaps Garak will be the questgiver. It would end with the capture of Madred and maybe a fight with Laas. And of course it would all be due to Iconian manipulation: they were the ones giving the True Way so many ships (there's no way that many Cardies would defect, especially to another Dominion).
Also, "Second Wave" would have the Deferi ambassador replaced with a RR fellow, maybe even D'Tan himself.
- Badlands = removed
- Suspect = removed
- War games = removed - Shutdown = revamped (crucial for the whole Undine Story) - Rapier = removed
- Forging Bonds = removed
- The Long Night = removed
- The Tribble with Klingons = removed
- Tear of the Prophets = removed - Crack in the Mirror = revamped (crucial for the whole "Mirror Story" incl. "Mirror Event") - The new Link = removed
- Seeds of Dissent = removed
- The other Side = removed
- Cage of Fire = removed
After playing through the Cardi arc just recently I must admit that Id love that to happen.
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Basically the entire arc as written is one long disjointed poorly focused ramble. We are to believe that a terrorist group with the scale, scope and reach that the True Way has can be brought down by taking out one person.
Then we have the Section 31 side-trip... while fun it needs more context, or it needs to be revisited somehow in another arc. As it stands we are poked and prodded by Section 31 and nothing happens for the rest of the game.
The Firecave stuff -- gone. I can't speak for everyone but this episode blows massive chunks due to pathing issues. It has been broken since Day One. Several attempts were made to fix the pathing but they were unsuccessful.
Here's how I would frame a Cardassian Arc reboot... broad brushstrokes:
1) Show the True Way as being a tool of the Undine or directly manipulated by the Iconians. Deal with this threat directly, take out the leadership and expose the manipulation
2) Deal with the mirror universe and tie them into the Tholian stuff on Nukara
3) Throw in our little Section 31 mind-trip.
4) Feature episode #1 tweek, with more emphasis on the growing Iconian threat.
Its been a long time since I played the Romulan Arc prior to the change. But I dont remember there being such an Iconian emphasis the first time around. And Im not talking about the Intel and Tech easter egg hunt.
1) Show the True Way as being a tool of the Undine or directly manipulated by the Iconians. Deal with this threat directly, take out the leadership and expose the manipulation.
Ain't that just mimicking the Tal Shiar? Surely Cryptic can be a little more original here...
Some missions cannot be removed, only revamped, because they are part of the delta recruits missions / objectives to find Iconian tech or intel. This is the case, if memory serves, for "The Long Night" for example. And since delta recruits created during the event can complete delta objectives at any time, even after the event's end, you simply cannot get rid of some missions, you can only revamp them.
This whole arc will get cut down to 4-5 episodes (not counting Breen and 2800), so that's what we have to work with.
All the straight Dominion stuff ("Rapier", etc) will get cut out. It never made much sense anyways.
I disagree. I think they regard the mission with Laas as a highlight of their mission work and they have Nimoy repeatedly talk about the Dominion rebuilding its forces.
They may condense fighting an Alpha Quadrant splinter group of the Dominion down to 1-2 episodes but I think we'll be keeping that element, which can be rolled into a "Dominion Front" alongside the 2800.
MU stuff will be a one-off, longer, and probably entirely new, mission. Maybe a chance to introduce Ferenginar and get some SAG VA's.
I disagree again. It would break too much other content to make the MU a one off. I think we're looking at 2-3 episodes minimum because there's way too much stuff that either builds on the Mirror story or which hammers you over the head with its importance. Thing is, it's also theoretically easier content to make more of since assets can be reused there and an adventure zone could very economically reuse assets. And if trhey redo the DS9 social map, that is going to cost enough that Cryptic is going to want to amortize that by using the assets A LOT. I really think you'll see it used as the DS9 interior on missions and Empok Nor and Mirror Terok Nor. It will have to get more usage than the Voyager interior gets in Delta Rising, I think.
And I KNOW they want to do the DS9 revamp. So they're going to need to make sure you spend enough hours playing content on that map to justify the work into it.
True Way will be the focus. They are in several other missions throughout the various other arcs, so some resolution will be important. Perhaps Garak will be the questgiver. It would end with the capture of Madred and maybe a fight with Laas. And of course it would all be due to Iconian manipulation: they were the ones giving the True Way so many ships (there's no way that many Cardies would defect, especially to another Dominion).
Also, "Second Wave" would have the Deferi ambassador replaced with a RR fellow, maybe even D'Tan himself.
This sounds like what you want more than what you're predicting. Laas has nothing to do with the True Way. I think, if anything, the Jem'Hadar will get removed from True Way because that causes people to confuse them with the Dominion offshoot group -- which, hint, hint, is what they'd use for a playable Dominion faction if they ever did one.
True Way are bad guys and therefore will not be playable but Second Dominion or Detapa Council Cardassians might.
I think True Way has to be in there. I think there are certain assets Cryptic is too proud of to remove and they will wind up in the revamp.
One of those is the Badlands set of assets.
One of those is the wormhole interior map from Rapier. And it's an opportunity to use the replica Defiant interior in a mission. They're going to make sure that map gets included in a mission. Although maybe it would work for "Suspect". They aren't going to gut the single most popular mission from the game's launch but they might remaster it.
I'm just surprised the TOS Connie map hasn't been inserted into a mission yet. I half expected City on the Edge of Never to replace the Klingon ship boarding incident with a plot twist that has us fight B'Vat aboard the Enterprise, which would condense the missions and use a more polished looking map.
If they can revamp the series to be more like the 2800
I am as happy as a clam in pig ****
I finally reached the 2800, and it's good ol times
I had bad feelings about the 2800, then I played it. It was honestly pretty fun, if a bit frustrating in parts. (The exploding BoP put me on the wrong side of the map.)
Fixing the rest of the episode aside the 2800 would make it much better for our Federation friends. There's a lot to go through and it doesn't quite have the narrative punch the 2800 does.
After playing through the Cardi arc just recently I must admit that Id love that to happen.
I'd rather have a Revamp of all Episodes ... of course that's not going to happen ... but I don't understand why people are crying for Content Removal ... it's not like you can't skip Missions etc ... granted it was kind of mandatory during "Delta Recruits", but c'mon playing it one more time doesn't kill you :P ...
PS : The really annoying part is that those Missions also reward crappy XP ... they take twice the time as "DQ-Missions", yet they reward less than half ... it's like they want us to hate them ...
Patch Notes : Resolved an Issue, where people would accidently experience Fun.
I'd rather have a Revamp of all Episodes ... of course that's not going to happen ... but I don't understand why people are crying for Content Removal ... it's not like you can't skip Missions etc ... granted it was kind of mandatory during "Delta Recruits", but c'mon playing it one more time doesn't kill you :P ...
You are right with your statement of course and normally Id agree. Unfortunately one of the main reward aspects of the delta recruiting event was precisely not to skip episodes.
True it does not kill but the fun of the event did not happen in the replay of those 5 year old missions.
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I disagree again. It would break too much other content to make the MU a one off. I think we're looking at 2-3 episodes minimum because there's way too much stuff that either builds on the Mirror story or which hammers you over the head with its importance.
There are currently three missions that deal with the MU at all, one of which is only at the very end, and only one of which is available to non-Feds. The only thing the MU is even involved with outside of these missions is the MI event, which only the one mission is necessary to introduce them. Heck, they could take out the MU mission(s) completely and be fine, especially since they don't have anything to do with muh Iconians, and the MI event can just be a thing that happens.
Laas has nothing to do with the True Way.
Are you kidding? The True Way is inseparably connected with the Alpha Jem'Hadar, who are led by the New Link, which is dominated by Laas; together Laas and Madred were trying to found a new Dominion. Did you just press 'F' through the story line?
With Gul Madred in custody, we need to make a decisive strike to end the threat of this "new Dominion" once and for all.
Starfleet is preparing for an assault on Orias III, which we believe is a stronghold for the Alpha Jem'Hadar. You have some experience fighting both the True Way and the Jem'Hadar, so we want your ship in the battle group.
Make no mistake, <rank>, this is the real thing. Depending on what happens, we could either be ending a war ... or starting one.
Good luck.
Are you kidding? The True Way is inseparably connected with the Alpha Jem'Hadar, who are led by the New Link, which is dominated by Laas; together Laas and Madred were trying to found a new Dominion. Did you just press 'F' through the story line?
To be fair, the Cardassian arc storyline is really badly done. I've only ever completed it once and I barely remember it.
I think everybody can agree that the arc is just too dang long, with multiple things happening that really should be different arcs.
I mean, you conclude humping out the fire caves and it's pretty much done with the Cardassians, but the arc is still going with the 2800. Like... why? Why is this all one big arc?!
I mean, you conclude humping out the fire caves and it's pretty much done with the Cardassians, but the arc is still going with the 2800. Like... why? Why is this all one big arc?!
You mean besides the fact that DS9 is in the Cardassian area of the game?
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
I never actually finished 'Operation Gamma'. Every time I convinced myself to endure that excuse of a mission I wound up quitting and doing something that I might actually enjoy instead.
I've completed it multiple times just for the Jem Hadar pieces.
It's nice little set for the levels you get it at.
I think everybody can agree that the arc is just too dang long, with multiple things happening that really should be different arcs.
Not really ... wtf does it matter how long an Arc is (except for 8 weeks of DR, maybe) ... just because Cryptics new norm seems to be "not more than 10 Missions" ? -> imho that's a bad thing ... there are even Foundries with ~30 Episodes ...
It's pretty sad actually ... late 2011 / early 2010 we had 3 FE Series in 6 months ... 15 Episodes (without fancy Expansions) ... one almost every week ... and now people are complaining because Story Episodes are too long ... wtf happened ...
Patch Notes : Resolved an Issue, where people would accidently experience Fun.
I'd love it if they revamped the MU story and expanded it. Give us some the MU equivalents of some of the new characters in STO like Captain Shon. Also, it would be great if they introduced a mirror Odyssey outfit that could be opened up for players as well. Maybe a reward.
Also, if they revamp the Cardassian missions I think it would be great if they could get the actor who played Laas (and most notably Martok) to do the voice work. Providing they expand Lass' role.
Wrong. If you talk to the Changeling again at the end, he'll explain that Laas decided that forming a New Dominion using the Alpha Jem'Hadar and True Way was the best way to protect the new link. When the player fights through the defenses and reach the link, the Changelings expel him for his failure.
I'd love it if they revamped the MU story and expanded it. Give us some the MU equivalents of some of the new characters in STO like Captain Shon. Also, it would be great if they introduced a mirror Odyssey outfit that could be opened up for players as well. Maybe a reward.
The Odyssey does already have a mirror skin; we see it on Nukara and on the NPC version of the Odyssey dreadnought. Really, at this point I think making the mirror skin unlockable through the C-store or as a mission reward would be the best thing to do now that the lockbox mirror ships are no longer competitive.
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Ain't that just mimicking the Tal Shiar? Surely Cryptic can be a little more original here...
I agree. The Cardassian Government is in no position to fight against the Iconians in the first place. Theyre far worse off than the Romulan Republic when it comes to defensive capabilities.
Im sure Cardassia, as its still mass producing phaser weapons and other tech used for starship design, is more then capable of at the very least kickstarting its Defense force into some sort of standing army/navy. But the Iconians/Undine manipulating the True Way would be counter-productive to their goals.
The True Way actually would outright instigate the Cardassian Government to up their defensive capabilities. They might not end up with enough to withstand the Iconians or the Undine. But if their goal is to further weaken the Cardassians. Backing the True Way is not the way to go.
Leaving the Cardassians alone and maybe even eliminating possible flashpoints for the Cardassians would further the Iconian/Undine (not saying their knowningly working together but their goals would be similar) goals.
Wrong. If you talk to the Changeling again at the end, he'll explain that Laas decided that forming a New Dominion using the Alpha Jem'Hadar and True Way was the best way to protect the new link. When the player fights through the defenses and reach the link, the Changelings expel him for his failure.
The Odyssey does already have a mirror skin; we see it on Nukara and on the NPC version of the Odyssey dreadnought. Really, at this point I think making the mirror skin unlockable through the C-store or as a mission reward would be the best thing to do now that the lockbox mirror ships are no longer competitive.
They may have changed that but traditionally, you had two largely unrelated groups:
New Dominion. Run by Laas. Includes some recruited Cardassians.
True Way. Cardassian separatist movement run by Gul Madred. Includes some disavowed Jem'Hadar who were abandoned by the Dominion.
Are you kidding? The True Way is inseparably connected with the Alpha Jem'Hadar, who are led by the New Link, which is dominated by Laas; together Laas and Madred were trying to found a new Dominion. Did you just press 'F' through the story line?
I did read it at launch. I didn't think they typically changed or updated these things. As I said, as I recall, Laas and Madred ran two separate groups which happened to use Alpha Jem'Hadar and disgruntled Cardassians but they weren't actually coordinating with one another.
There are currently three missions that deal with the MU at all, one of which is only at the very end, and only one of which is available to non-Feds. The only thing the MU is even involved with outside of these missions is the MI event, which only the one mission is necessary to introduce them. Heck, they could take out the MU mission(s) completely and be fine, especially since they don't have anything to do with muh Iconians, and the MI event can just be a thing that happens.
Nukara and the Nimoy voiceovers.
If they revamp DS9 (and they want to) they will make sure that we put in more time there. They can't devote that kind of effort to a ground-up new map and then not use it extensively. Otherwise, how do you amortize it?
That might mean more of this arc gets preserved than got preserved of the Romulan arc.
Not really ... wtf does it matter how long an Arc is (except for 8 weeks of DR, maybe) ... just because Cryptics new norm seems to be "not more than 10 Missions" ? -> imho that's a bad thing ... there are even Foundries with ~30 Episodes ...
It's pretty sad actually ... late 2011 / early 2010 we had 3 FE Series in 6 months ... 15 Episodes (without fancy Expansions) ... one almost every week ... and now people are complaining because Story Episodes are too long ... wtf happened ...
These are the main problems I see with the Cardassian Arc. As a spoiler, I don't think the length or number of missions is a problem.
1) The story is often questionable.
2) Several missions seem to be almost repeats of a previous one. In one mission, we have Drake having us run through a computer simulation of shooting up mad Starfleet Officers. THen we have a mission of fighting Undine in Starfleet Officer clothing aboard a Starfleet ship. THen we have a mission of Undine in Starfleet and Cardassian Clothing on DEep Space Nine.
In a later mission we fight ourselves through waves of Cardassians on Empor Nor - the sister station of Deep Space Nine/Terok Nor.
3) Filler Content in missions, like "kill these 10 enemy group while nothing in the story happens." Even the new Patrol mission have a bit more variety per enemy group. Argala may still boil down to Kill 5/5, but there at least NPC shouts in between. And that's just a Patrol. A mission like Surface Tension has a bit of advancement in story almost every NPC group.
4) The True Way / New Link/Dominion alliance seems poorly thought out. NO idea if they will manage to change that.
5) The Mirror Arc is... meh. I think it stretches credibility beyond anything the old Mirror stuff in TOS and DS9 did. But maybe that can't be changed anymore, with events like the Mirror Invasion or facts like marauding Mirror Ship Groups flying through the Cardassian Sector Blocks.
6) Story elements are set up poorly. Aside from the canon violations inherent in having remaining Dominion forces still in the Quadrantr (other than 4800, which is a much cleverer take on this) or the return of the Pagh Wraiths. The figure of our "betrayer" in the Fire Cave story is set up as a benevolent figure that betrays us surprisingly. Except there was no set up for her. She was introduced for that one mission and then is thrown out again. It's a story that could be fine if told well, but as it is, it just falls flat.
7) Deep Space Nine Interiors are not sufficiently canon-like.
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While the Cardassian arc badly needs a revamp its hard to see how profitable it will be.
Delta Recruits has encourage people to play through the story arcs again, with most people claiming to have avoided this arc like the plague. So in a couple of months to say look what we have done, new Cardassian story good! It really wont have much effect on all the people exploring the delta quadrant.
So I can see the revamp coming with the uniform for sale in the C Store, more lock boxes and possibly the Cardassian species for sale as well. Otherwise it will likely be nice to be done but not likely to be worth the hours to do for the revenue it will bring in.
While the Cardassian arc badly needs a revamp its hard to see how profitable it will be.
Delta Recruits has encourage people to play through the story arcs again, with most people claiming to have avoided this arc like the plague. So in a couple of months to say look what we have done, new Cardassian story good! It really wont have much effect on all the people exploring the delta quadrant.
So I can see the revamp coming with the uniform for sale in the C Store, more lock boxes and possibly the Cardassian species for sale as well. Otherwise it will likely be nice to be done but not likely to be worth the hours to do for the revenue it will bring in.
The old Romulan arc was the exact same quality and length, and they still redid it, even though it was Fed only. This will affect all players, so it would be more worth it.
The old Romulan arc was the exact same quality and length, and they still redid it, even though it was Fed only. This will affect all players, so it would be more worth it.
One option I can see is possibly to shift the Mirror arc to levels 55-60. Maybe it doesn't even have to center on DS9. The MU needs establishing for the events/zones and 55-60 needs some more content. Maybe the revamped Mirror stuff could hinge on a Nukara remastering.
Have there be an Iconian gate on Nukara that the Tholians have modified to access the Mirror Universe. The gate could lead to a variety of Mirror locations.
The important thing IMHO is more that players need an introduction to the Terrans (and possibly a better one than what we have), less that it needs to be in the Cardassian front. Instead of lumping the Mirror in with the Cardassian front, maybe the next round of remastering should be centered on Deferra and Nukara and maybe New Romulus. These three are less accessible and rewarding than the Solanae sphere.
While the Cardassian arc badly needs a revamp its hard to see how profitable it will be.
Delta Recruits has encourage people to play through the story arcs again, with most people claiming to have avoided this arc like the plague. So in a couple of months to say look what we have done, new Cardassian story good! It really wont have much effect on all the people exploring the delta quadrant.
So I can see the revamp coming with the uniform for sale in the C Store, more lock boxes and possibly the Cardassian species for sale as well. Otherwise it will likely be nice to be done but not likely to be worth the hours to do for the revenue it will bring in.
The profit is being able to turn around and point at their content and say. 'Look. Its no longer the troublesome and underwhelming story that we launched with after only 2 years of development'. The game is still drawing in new players all the time. Even if we dont see them or notice them in the clusters of Lockbox ships. These players are more likely to stick around and drop money on lockboxes and Cstore if theyre seeing quality content from level 1 through 60. Up until F2P the only quality content was found in the FEs. But theyve been slowly remastering everything from the Tutorials to the Undine content.
Most of it went unnoticed since most of us went through it once and never cared to go back and see if they changed anything. Once was enough for us. But regardless the only thing really left to be overhauled is the Cardassian Arc.
Atleast in this I can say good job Cryptic. Because on this subject they arent being lazy and leaving it to fester. Theyre doing something about it.
Comments
All the straight Dominion stuff ("Rapier", etc) will get cut out. It never made much sense anyways.
MU stuff will be a one-off, longer, and probably entirely new, mission. Maybe a chance to introduce Ferenginar and get some SAG VA's.
True Way will be the focus. They are in several other missions throughout the various other arcs, so some resolution will be important. Perhaps Garak will be the questgiver. It would end with the capture of Madred and maybe a fight with Laas. And of course it would all be due to Iconian manipulation: they were the ones giving the True Way so many ships (there's no way that many Cardies would defect, especially to another Dominion).
Also, "Second Wave" would have the Deferi ambassador replaced with a RR fellow, maybe even D'Tan himself.
After playing through the Cardi arc just recently I must admit that Id love that to happen.
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Basically the entire arc as written is one long disjointed poorly focused ramble. We are to believe that a terrorist group with the scale, scope and reach that the True Way has can be brought down by taking out one person.
Then we have the Section 31 side-trip... while fun it needs more context, or it needs to be revisited somehow in another arc. As it stands we are poked and prodded by Section 31 and nothing happens for the rest of the game.
The Firecave stuff -- gone. I can't speak for everyone but this episode blows massive chunks due to pathing issues. It has been broken since Day One. Several attempts were made to fix the pathing but they were unsuccessful.
Here's how I would frame a Cardassian Arc reboot... broad brushstrokes:
1) Show the True Way as being a tool of the Undine or directly manipulated by the Iconians. Deal with this threat directly, take out the leadership and expose the manipulation
2) Deal with the mirror universe and tie them into the Tholian stuff on Nukara
3) Throw in our little Section 31 mind-trip.
4) Feature episode #1 tweek, with more emphasis on the growing Iconian threat.
5) Finish out the FEs as written.
Its been a long time since I played the Romulan Arc prior to the change. But I dont remember there being such an Iconian emphasis the first time around. And Im not talking about the Intel and Tech easter egg hunt.
I disagree. I think they regard the mission with Laas as a highlight of their mission work and they have Nimoy repeatedly talk about the Dominion rebuilding its forces.
They may condense fighting an Alpha Quadrant splinter group of the Dominion down to 1-2 episodes but I think we'll be keeping that element, which can be rolled into a "Dominion Front" alongside the 2800.
I disagree again. It would break too much other content to make the MU a one off. I think we're looking at 2-3 episodes minimum because there's way too much stuff that either builds on the Mirror story or which hammers you over the head with its importance. Thing is, it's also theoretically easier content to make more of since assets can be reused there and an adventure zone could very economically reuse assets. And if trhey redo the DS9 social map, that is going to cost enough that Cryptic is going to want to amortize that by using the assets A LOT. I really think you'll see it used as the DS9 interior on missions and Empok Nor and Mirror Terok Nor. It will have to get more usage than the Voyager interior gets in Delta Rising, I think.
And I KNOW they want to do the DS9 revamp. So they're going to need to make sure you spend enough hours playing content on that map to justify the work into it.
This sounds like what you want more than what you're predicting. Laas has nothing to do with the True Way. I think, if anything, the Jem'Hadar will get removed from True Way because that causes people to confuse them with the Dominion offshoot group -- which, hint, hint, is what they'd use for a playable Dominion faction if they ever did one.
True Way are bad guys and therefore will not be playable but Second Dominion or Detapa Council Cardassians might.
I think True Way has to be in there. I think there are certain assets Cryptic is too proud of to remove and they will wind up in the revamp.
One of those is the Badlands set of assets.
One of those is the wormhole interior map from Rapier. And it's an opportunity to use the replica Defiant interior in a mission. They're going to make sure that map gets included in a mission. Although maybe it would work for "Suspect". They aren't going to gut the single most popular mission from the game's launch but they might remaster it.
I'm just surprised the TOS Connie map hasn't been inserted into a mission yet. I half expected City on the Edge of Never to replace the Klingon ship boarding incident with a plot twist that has us fight B'Vat aboard the Enterprise, which would condense the missions and use a more polished looking map.
Its the Riker genes, man.
I had bad feelings about the 2800, then I played it. It was honestly pretty fun, if a bit frustrating in parts. (The exploding BoP put me on the wrong side of the map.)
Fixing the rest of the episode aside the 2800 would make it much better for our Federation friends. There's a lot to go through and it doesn't quite have the narrative punch the 2800 does.
I'd rather have a Revamp of all Episodes ... of course that's not going to happen ... but I don't understand why people are crying for Content Removal ... it's not like you can't skip Missions etc ... granted it was kind of mandatory during "Delta Recruits", but c'mon playing it one more time doesn't kill you :P ...
PS : The really annoying part is that those Missions also reward crappy XP ... they take twice the time as "DQ-Missions", yet they reward less than half ... it's like they want us to hate them ...
You are right with your statement of course and normally Id agree. Unfortunately one of the main reward aspects of the delta recruiting event was precisely not to skip episodes.
True it does not kill but the fun of the event did not happen in the replay of those 5 year old missions.
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There are currently three missions that deal with the MU at all, one of which is only at the very end, and only one of which is available to non-Feds. The only thing the MU is even involved with outside of these missions is the MI event, which only the one mission is necessary to introduce them. Heck, they could take out the MU mission(s) completely and be fine, especially since they don't have anything to do with muh Iconians, and the MI event can just be a thing that happens.
Are you kidding? The True Way is inseparably connected with the Alpha Jem'Hadar, who are led by the New Link, which is dominated by Laas; together Laas and Madred were trying to found a new Dominion. Did you just press 'F' through the story line?
I mean, you conclude humping out the fire caves and it's pretty much done with the Cardassians, but the arc is still going with the 2800. Like... why? Why is this all one big arc?!
I've completed it multiple times just for the Jem Hadar pieces.
It's nice little set for the levels you get it at.
The mission is bad, but not THAT bad.
Not really ... wtf does it matter how long an Arc is (except for 8 weeks of DR, maybe) ... just because Cryptics new norm seems to be "not more than 10 Missions" ? -> imho that's a bad thing ... there are even Foundries with ~30 Episodes ...
It's pretty sad actually ... late 2011 / early 2010 we had 3 FE Series in 6 months ... 15 Episodes (without fancy Expansions) ... one almost every week ... and now people are complaining because Story Episodes are too long ... wtf happened ...
Also, if they revamp the Cardassian missions I think it would be great if they could get the actor who played Laas (and most notably Martok) to do the voice work. Providing they expand Lass' role.
Wrong. If you talk to the Changeling again at the end, he'll explain that Laas decided that forming a New Dominion using the Alpha Jem'Hadar and True Way was the best way to protect the new link. When the player fights through the defenses and reach the link, the Changelings expel him for his failure.
The Odyssey does already have a mirror skin; we see it on Nukara and on the NPC version of the Odyssey dreadnought. Really, at this point I think making the mirror skin unlockable through the C-store or as a mission reward would be the best thing to do now that the lockbox mirror ships are no longer competitive.
"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
I agree. The Cardassian Government is in no position to fight against the Iconians in the first place. Theyre far worse off than the Romulan Republic when it comes to defensive capabilities.
Im sure Cardassia, as its still mass producing phaser weapons and other tech used for starship design, is more then capable of at the very least kickstarting its Defense force into some sort of standing army/navy. But the Iconians/Undine manipulating the True Way would be counter-productive to their goals.
The True Way actually would outright instigate the Cardassian Government to up their defensive capabilities. They might not end up with enough to withstand the Iconians or the Undine. But if their goal is to further weaken the Cardassians. Backing the True Way is not the way to go.
Leaving the Cardassians alone and maybe even eliminating possible flashpoints for the Cardassians would further the Iconian/Undine (not saying their knowningly working together but their goals would be similar) goals.
They may have changed that but traditionally, you had two largely unrelated groups:
New Dominion. Run by Laas. Includes some recruited Cardassians.
True Way. Cardassian separatist movement run by Gul Madred. Includes some disavowed Jem'Hadar who were abandoned by the Dominion.
I did read it at launch. I didn't think they typically changed or updated these things. As I said, as I recall, Laas and Madred ran two separate groups which happened to use Alpha Jem'Hadar and disgruntled Cardassians but they weren't actually coordinating with one another.
Nukara and the Nimoy voiceovers.
If they revamp DS9 (and they want to) they will make sure that we put in more time there. They can't devote that kind of effort to a ground-up new map and then not use it extensively. Otherwise, how do you amortize it?
That might mean more of this arc gets preserved than got preserved of the Romulan arc.
These are the main problems I see with the Cardassian Arc. As a spoiler, I don't think the length or number of missions is a problem.
1) The story is often questionable.
2) Several missions seem to be almost repeats of a previous one. In one mission, we have Drake having us run through a computer simulation of shooting up mad Starfleet Officers. THen we have a mission of fighting Undine in Starfleet Officer clothing aboard a Starfleet ship. THen we have a mission of Undine in Starfleet and Cardassian Clothing on DEep Space Nine.
In a later mission we fight ourselves through waves of Cardassians on Empor Nor - the sister station of Deep Space Nine/Terok Nor.
3) Filler Content in missions, like "kill these 10 enemy group while nothing in the story happens." Even the new Patrol mission have a bit more variety per enemy group. Argala may still boil down to Kill 5/5, but there at least NPC shouts in between. And that's just a Patrol. A mission like Surface Tension has a bit of advancement in story almost every NPC group.
4) The True Way / New Link/Dominion alliance seems poorly thought out. NO idea if they will manage to change that.
5) The Mirror Arc is... meh. I think it stretches credibility beyond anything the old Mirror stuff in TOS and DS9 did. But maybe that can't be changed anymore, with events like the Mirror Invasion or facts like marauding Mirror Ship Groups flying through the Cardassian Sector Blocks.
6) Story elements are set up poorly. Aside from the canon violations inherent in having remaining Dominion forces still in the Quadrantr (other than 4800, which is a much cleverer take on this) or the return of the Pagh Wraiths. The figure of our "betrayer" in the Fire Cave story is set up as a benevolent figure that betrays us surprisingly. Except there was no set up for her. She was introduced for that one mission and then is thrown out again. It's a story that could be fine if told well, but as it is, it just falls flat.
7) Deep Space Nine Interiors are not sufficiently canon-like.
Delta Recruits has encourage people to play through the story arcs again, with most people claiming to have avoided this arc like the plague. So in a couple of months to say look what we have done, new Cardassian story good! It really wont have much effect on all the people exploring the delta quadrant.
So I can see the revamp coming with the uniform for sale in the C Store, more lock boxes and possibly the Cardassian species for sale as well. Otherwise it will likely be nice to be done but not likely to be worth the hours to do for the revenue it will bring in.
The old Romulan arc was the exact same quality and length, and they still redid it, even though it was Fed only. This will affect all players, so it would be more worth it.
One option I can see is possibly to shift the Mirror arc to levels 55-60. Maybe it doesn't even have to center on DS9. The MU needs establishing for the events/zones and 55-60 needs some more content. Maybe the revamped Mirror stuff could hinge on a Nukara remastering.
Have there be an Iconian gate on Nukara that the Tholians have modified to access the Mirror Universe. The gate could lead to a variety of Mirror locations.
The important thing IMHO is more that players need an introduction to the Terrans (and possibly a better one than what we have), less that it needs to be in the Cardassian front. Instead of lumping the Mirror in with the Cardassian front, maybe the next round of remastering should be centered on Deferra and Nukara and maybe New Romulus. These three are less accessible and rewarding than the Solanae sphere.
The profit is being able to turn around and point at their content and say. 'Look. Its no longer the troublesome and underwhelming story that we launched with after only 2 years of development'. The game is still drawing in new players all the time. Even if we dont see them or notice them in the clusters of Lockbox ships. These players are more likely to stick around and drop money on lockboxes and Cstore if theyre seeing quality content from level 1 through 60. Up until F2P the only quality content was found in the FEs. But theyve been slowly remastering everything from the Tutorials to the Undine content.
Most of it went unnoticed since most of us went through it once and never cared to go back and see if they changed anything. Once was enough for us. But regardless the only thing really left to be overhauled is the Cardassian Arc.
Atleast in this I can say good job Cryptic. Because on this subject they arent being lazy and leaving it to fester. Theyre doing something about it.