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So when does the war start?
foolishowl
Member Posts: 102 Arc User
That is, of course, a rhetorical statement. But there really seems to be a distinct mismatch between the scale of the conflict implied by all the WWII-style posters and the short fiction on the official website, and the limited in-game content about the conflict with the Iconians: three PvE queues depicting skirmishes, and a few episodes that seem very short. The conflict with the Vaadwaur, a small group of survivors that was massively outnumbered and outgunned by the Delta Alliance, was much more extensive. (Also, Vaadwaur forces seemed far more effective than the Heralds.)
The writing seems to imply that the war rapidly escalated, and is actually nearing a final resolution. Yet the in-game experience seems to suggest that the conflict has barely started, that they're just starting on the exposition.
In the current weekly episode, we heard an Iconian say that the Herald fleet inside the Dyson sphere had been contained. Given that when introduced, the size of that fleet was supposed to be incomprehensibly vast, the fact that it's been contained would seem to be a matter of huge importance. So what happened?
At the very least, I would have expected new Red Alert missions involving Herald forces.
I just don't understand why the hype continues to escalate, even as we're getting hints the entire thing is ending.
The writing seems to imply that the war rapidly escalated, and is actually nearing a final resolution. Yet the in-game experience seems to suggest that the conflict has barely started, that they're just starting on the exposition.
In the current weekly episode, we heard an Iconian say that the Herald fleet inside the Dyson sphere had been contained. Given that when introduced, the size of that fleet was supposed to be incomprehensibly vast, the fact that it's been contained would seem to be a matter of huge importance. So what happened?
At the very least, I would have expected new Red Alert missions involving Herald forces.
I just don't understand why the hype continues to escalate, even as we're getting hints the entire thing is ending.
Post edited by foolishowl on
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Tomorrow afternoon, 4 o'clock.
I agree with you. At least there should be a Red Alert/Invasion Alert of some kind. Or some sector blocks in which you would encounter Iconian fleets at random.
But then the Klingon-Federation war wasn't any different. In fact when they decided to end the war you really couldn't tell the difference.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
If you'll recall, the Klingon-Gorn conflict of 2400 involved the Undine infiltrating the Gorn command structure. They were being indirectly influenced by the Iconians. Heck for that matter, Hobus exploding and taking out the Romulan homeworld 30 years prior to that was supposed to be caused by Iconian influence.
But yeah, I agree - the DIRECT war against the Iconians could use a shot in the arm. It seems you have to go out of your way to involve yourself in it at this point. Switching the quadrant-wide Red Alert from Borg to Heralds would definitely be a step in the right direction.
Other than that, I think this current Season is merely the Iconian War Part 1. Part 2 will come with the next update.
arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline/#/discussion/1203368/pve-content-a-list-of-gamewide-polishing-pass-suggestions
but it shows just what the design of this "war" is really about when it got to the design boards. id like to actually see a war taking place. not in isolated pocket stories with the FEs where you dont feel as if your apart of the war.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
Nothing. If your alt is behind that's tough. You could just keep anyone under vice admiral from being able to enter the encounters? Otherwise, just play through the episodes as they are now. People at max level shouldn't have to lose immersion so new players and people's alts can feel comfortable. The needs of the many and all that.
The Fed/KDF war at least used to have Deep Space Signal Contacts of enemy ships and stuff like that. Used to only, of course.
The DSEs I mentioned - they were exactly like that - they were still going on even when the war was over, and your character that was fighting side by side with the KDF for a while now could be blowing up KDF vessels by the dozen in there.
If in doubt, they can just lock characters that haven't completed the Vaudwaur arc out of these missions. Just as you have to unlock the Tau Dewa and Delta Quadrant patrols. And I think you can't get into Tholian Red Alerts before you're high enough level either.
Both sides conduct limited forces operations.
The Alliance doesn't have the fire-power to stand against even the Heralds alone - in the series of 4 battles (Starbase whatever-its-number, New Romulus, Preserver Archive, Qonos) they lost 1/4 of the fleet. So any attempt of direct attack with a whole fleet on Iconians/Heralds will have a sad end. (And there are also Elachi, Solanae, Vaudwaar out there).
And the Iconians have other goals than going on a full-blown offensive against the Federation, Romulan Republic, Klingon Empire and their allies as we see from the Iconian council meeting.
So Cryptic writing is a bit contradictory within itself. Some "Tales of War" episodes for instance hint that there is some bigger war going on - but it is not supported by the in-game story and other "Tales of War" episodes.
But instead we get two or three episodes and some blog posts going, yeah, war hard and terrible, blah blah blah.
Why haven't we? IMO, I think it's the idea that new players want to come into a game with everything intact. It's a Prime-verse game, thus we know that Romulus is no longer there. "But, wait a minute, where's Andoria? Why is Qo'nos a smoldering pile when I go to get my next mission? Wait, what's an Iconian? Where did DS9 go? I have to be Level 60 to find out? TRIBBLE this!"
It's easy for us, who are already at Level 60 and gotten the story so far, to suggest all of this and wonder why it's not bigger, but for the players who are coming in and are flabbergasted at the major changes that doesn't make a lick of sense until they reach endgame, it would be off-putting.
Except Cryptic's already demonstrated that they can actively change the player's perception of the game based on storyline completion. When you get out of "Uneasy Allies" you find that the Iconia System has been replaced by the Herald Sphere, whereas it was just a star system before that.
Couple that with "Surface Tension" detecting whether players had gone through the old Fed tutorial or the new one (R'rak's dialog when you first beam onto ESD is different). They can also do it by level: as somebody observed already, Tholian Red Alerts are just Borg Red Alerts until you hit level 50. "Surface Tension" and "Uneasy Allies" also demonstrated that Cryptic can provide unique options for particular species: In ST a Bajoran PC can tell Rugan Skyl to sit his racist TRIBBLE$ down and shut up, while UA lets telepathic species try to mind-probe Sela.
So, as you see, Cryptic has all the code they need to make this war actually feel like a war for players who have reached that point. They'd just rather be like Berman and Braga and have the war be a minor part of the storyline instead of the universe-changing cataclysm it deserves to be. (For reference, B&B initially greenlit the Dominion War on condition it be five or six episodes, and Ira Steven Behr and Ron Moore decided to just keep going while B&B were distracted f*cking up Voyager.)
At the end of the day I did not expect the Iconian War to be any bigger then the Klingon War or the Borg War.
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They need a ground battle zone, red alerts, and random enemy encounters. However if its Iconian, they need a warning pop up. Saying your not of level or not finished the required missions. This way you won't accidentally get involved.
I would be happy with the battle zone, red alert/enemy encounters. So I can at least say I'm trying to fight them off for RPing. What we have now, I can't RP it saying we are at war.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
For that we need some other Iconians with different storyline and goals from that we see now.
Remember this exchange from "Time in a Bottle" (This basically what you are proposing she's talking about - destruction of key worlds, death of thousands and millions of Alliance citizens etc. By the way, it is interesting that if T'ket is proposing this the Iconians are apparently quite sure that they HAVE the ability to do just that).
But other Iconian council members are apparently not thrilled with this idea: Thus the Iconian council rejects the T'Ket's idea of global "balls-to-the-wall", as you put it, offensive. They prefer to stick to the original plan whatever this plan is.
(And this actually another important moment - apparently everything is still mostly going in accordance with the Iconian master plan despite things we have done previously, including thwarting the attempt to bring in Solanae).
I mean it ! Seriously !!!
See, it's like this :
The Iconian war has two problems : a lack of an actual war (supplemented by a one sided Blogger war) , and a distinct lack of characters & characterization on the Iconians side .
Or to put it more simply, there is no one to hate over there ... .
They are just THAT MUCH of a blank slate .
They stunningly remind me of the Elachi ... -- the lights are on, but nobody's home .
Thus the entire ending of a supposed 5 year story arc gets experienced like a resounding thudd ... , not only because you're left with no emotional impact , but also because of the "one episode a month" type content delivery of the current "administration" .
See, 1 ep. per month would work in a TNG like story telling .
It does not work with a DS9 like story telling .
I think they are addressing the characterization issue slowly.
Take for example, M'Tara's cold-blooded murder of the harmless Preserver (and then the entire Preserver archive population). That got my attention on how evil she could be (as opposed to her killing the Klingon Council members in the previous FE. That could have been interpreted as defending herself since they were acting aggressively). I guess you could say this murder actually made me hate her...and by association the rest of the Iconians (L'Miren seemingly being the only symphathetic one in the bunch so far).
This puts them way ahead of the Mushroom-men. The Elachi truly are faceless, characterless cannon-fodder.
arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline/#/discussion/1203368/pve-content-a-list-of-gamewide-polishing-pass-suggestions
Even though faceless and characterless. After what my Romulan saw what they was doing to the people. That was enough. Even today she wants to punch their faces in.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
Seriously, I wish the Heralds were more invasive. Surprise-attacks on ESD and such.
your key words right there. and since they were removed it became somewhat pointless. i liked watching dse npc ships in sector space finding victims in space, was funny to watch and moments later that person is hightailing it for sol!
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.