Privilege is privilege is privilege, in real life or in a game. If the other factions were afforded equal treatment and equal opportunities, the population of the other factions would not be so small. It might never be entirely on the same level as Fed population, but people will gravitate toward an option for which they see better treatment and more opportunities.
And is aesthetic preference actually "a choice," or is it innate, or some blend of the two?
I don't think it's necessary to invoke some concept of "privilege" and rhetoric that risks making people feel as though their personal IRL character has been attacked. I really think you undermine your position and the support for it when you take that approach, as do others who use that same tactic for their own reasons.
It would be perfectly reasonable to couch this as a financial/business argument, by pointing out that Cryptic has gotten themselves in a vicious cycle by providing few enough options that sales are lower than they should be, which they then use to justify even fewer offerings. You could then go on to say that Cryptic needs to take the risk to make a major development push as a long-term investment, rather than focusing on easy short-term gains. That is something I suspect you and I agree is a problem in Cryptic/PWE's approach to the game: a self-destructively shortsighted financial focus. Making that argument cuts the legs out of their protestations that something "doesn't sell" and therefore isn't justified.
In contrast, I reiterate that resorting to arguments about "privilege" and elevating in-game concerns and Cryptic/PWE financial decisions to something equivalent to a very serious real-life debate is IMO both unjustified (and risks a completely unnecessary personal insult to people you are talking to), and unhelpful to your goals (unnecessary offense causes people to react against what they might otherwise view as a legitimate position had they not been thus offended).
Edit: The last question there is not germane to whether or not Cryptic should change its business decisions and--like the invocation of "privilege"--risks being construed as a character attack against anyone who disagrees with your position (it again suggests that real-life, personal discrimination is being done to you, and the obvious follow-on implication is that anyone who disagrees with you is of low character). That kind of approach does not help you get your game concerns considered.
More Romulan/Reman options are a good thing, particularly for sci's. But tactics like what you're employing risk alienating even people who up until that have been sympathetic to your arguments.
To be honest, this is as much a test case.
If all goes well, Cryptic would continue asking input on other ship designs, across all factions. I've no doubt that a ship for the Klingons and Romulans has been set up for polling votes. If this turns into a flamefest, you can bet we won't get a chance to participate in what is normally a completely in-house decision.
And if something like this can be applied to ships, then I can't see why this 'ask the people' elimination poll thing can't be used for other aspects of future game development.
Such as creating new player species (after all with exploration comes 'discovering new worlds and civilizations'), shuttlecraft designs (Romulans and Klingons factions have a lot of catching up to the variety of Federation shuttlecraft fleet), 'What if we expanded the Romulan faction to expand into it's own, what species would you include?', 'If we added a fourth faction, which species would you like to see included?', etc.
Except, in STO, a person can be both "Christian AND Bhuddist". If the player doesn't have as much "Bhuddist" content to play or buy, there is less incentive for the player invest time/effort in thier "Bhuddism". Add that to the fact that, in game, the content for "Judaism" was never even fully developed before the arrival of "Bhuddism", along with the half-religion design of "Bhuddism" really leaves some with the age of question of why a third religion was ever developed in game before the second religion was finished development.
-Signed, a "Christian"
Buddha says to stick your silly carrier where the sun don't shine.
"You Iconians just hung a vacancy sign on your asses and my foot's looking for a room!"
--Red Annorax
No, that's actually self-fulfilling prophecy (and the fallacy of Circular Reasoning, basically leading to Homunculus fallacy because of "chicken or egg"). If they don't make as much for the other factions, population in the other factions is restricted by design, therefore the other factions don't spend as much money, therefore they don't make as much for the other factions, then population in the other factions is restricted by design, therefore the other factions don't spend as much money, therefore they don't make as much for the other factions ...
agreed on the self fullfiling prophecy nature of the problem.
Less content, less players less desire to make content. More content, more players, more desire to make content, pretty simple.
I would suggest avoiding the privilege argument though.
"He shall be my finest warrior, this generic man who was forced upon me.
Like a badass I shall make him look, and in the furnace of war I shall forge him.
he shall be of iron will and steely sinew.
In great armour I shall clad him and with the mightiest weapons he shall be armed.
He will be untouched by plague or disease; no sickness shall blight him.
He shall have such tactics, strategies and machines that no foe will best him in battle.
He is my answer to cryptic logic, he is the Defender of my Romulan Crew.
He is Tovan Khev... and he shall know no fear."
Except, in STO, a person can be both "Christian AND Bhuddist". If the player doesn't have as much "Bhuddist" content to play or buy, there is less incentive for the player invest time/effort in thier "Bhuddism". Add that to the fact that, in game, the content for "Judaism" was never even fully developed before the arrival of "Bhuddism", along with the half-religion design of "Bhuddism" really leaves some with the age of question of why a third religion was ever developed in game before the second religion was finished development.
-Signed, a "Christian"
But this turns around the argumentation why we "need" more Romulan or KDF ships - no one is disadvantaged if he can be any faction anyway. Or everyone is equally disadvantaged.
But still nothing I've heard so far discredits the arguments that the Star Trek franchise inherently will have more people gravitating to Federation/Starfleet ships and characters. And from there, you will inevitably get business reasons why it's not viable business to create equal amounts of content for each faction.
That doesn't have to mean that there will be no content ever. Delta Rising contained 5 Fed ships and 2 ships for the other two factions each. We then got several cross-faction packs, with the occassional Fed stand-alone.
Cross-Faction: Command + Iconic + Pilot + Escort Carrier + Battlecruiser + Veterar => 10 ships for each faction
Fed Only: Excelsior, Prometheus => 2 ships for each faction.
I think the ratio of newly released ships has been much more favorable for the KDF and the RR then ever before. And I think it has to do a lot with the concept of market saturation. RR and KDF ships have a smaller target audience, and people, on average, don't just buy a limited amount of ships over a given timespan. Not everyone is a collector. To keep the number of sales sufficiently high, Cryptic has to spread out ship releases so that they catch enough people that are ready for a new ship.
This isn't just a faction thing. It's also a thing for ship classes. People prefer a certain class of ships (and I think historically, regardless of game mechanical advantages, Cruisers were always the preferred side).
The cross-faction bundles are probably also a way to get a bit more money than they would normally get by getting people to buy a RR and a KDF ship they'D normally might not buy at all, but since they can get a 3 for 2 deal, it just seems to good to pass up. So even if the sales for the individual RR or KDF ship is still lower than for the individual Fed ship, it's
Anyway, if you want to improve the number of ships for the Romulan Republic or the Klingon Defense Force, you need to find something that makes them more attractive to buy. Perhaps in a way that makes even Fed-Only players buy them. Maybe some transferable benefit that could be used even on a Fed character.
Or you need to get more players to actively want to play RR or KDF and get ships for that. (Contraband-Farming is not a reason to buy a KDF or RR ship, and is probably also only something a minority in players engage in.)
I personally would suggest a Klingon or Romulan Republic Recruitment Event. OR maybe not Recruitment, ideally it should also help existing KDF and RR character. Create rewards that for the KDF or RR character so his levelling and advancement process is easier than it normally is, and add account rewards that are attractive on the Federation characters. Maybe unlock additional costume options or a new ship material, a new account-wide trait or special ability or console. Something that everyone will want on his characters.
Maybe there should also be an ongoing reward system that works on weekly rhythm. After each week, Cryptic calculates the least played faction for that week, and the next week people that play that faction gain bonus XP and Dilithium or something like that, and also can contribute to a server-wide goal. If the goals are met, every player earns bonus rewards the next week.
And of course, in general adding more stuff that makes alts easier to manage can also help cross-factions. Maybe if you earn certain amount of spec points on one character, you gain a special token that you can give to another character on your account to gain bonus XP or bonus specialization token, provided the character is from a different faction.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
As for models, Omega all the way. Its the largest and, hopefully, it will host the fable, or better said non-existent, fed frigate hangar pets. I mean, c'mon, its time for feds to finnaly have one, after all the other factions got at least one.
As for models, Omega all the way. Its the largest and, hopefully, it will host the fable, or better said non-existent, fed frigate hangar pets. I mean, c'mon, its time for feds to finnaly have one, after all the other factions got at least one.
Omega is not the largest, judging by the vague picture we have. Delta seems to have more "volume" or tonnage. But Omega looks like it has taken parts from the Jupiter, which is why it will win the contest. Assuming anything else would be borderline delusional. I still vote Delta all the way.
^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
"No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
"A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
"That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
Except, in STO, a person can be both "Christian AND Bhuddist". If the player doesn't have as much "Bhuddist" content to play or buy, there is less incentive for the player invest time/effort in thier "Bhuddism". Add that to the fact that, in game, the content for "Judaism" was never even fully developed before the arrival of "Bhuddism", along with the half-religion design of "Bhuddism" really leaves some with the age of question of why a third religion was ever developed in game before the second religion was finished development.
-Signed, a "Christian"
But this turns around the argumentation why we "need" more Romulan or KDF ships - no one is disadvantaged if he can be any faction anyway. Or everyone is equally disadvantaged.
Have you tried to fly a science vessel as KDF or NRR?
Boom.
There are two ships that do not exist that we need.
How about a full carrier as NRR?
Bang.
Oh, there is another ship that we could use. KDF does not have a T6 one either. (NRR doesn't have one at all.)
I don't think that the KDF and NRR need to have 1 to 1 ratio with the Fed's, I am no fool, I know that there will always be more Fed players. But it is also a gateway to picking up a Rom or KDF alt, and they get there and wonder why the options are so few. Then maybe they just give up on the alts, or play them way less, because they cannot do what they want to do.
I personally have bought 0 stand alone Fed ships, I have purchased numerous KDF and NRR ones though. I have also got the Delta Pack, and have fed ships I have never used in it, but I have used all of the NRR and KDF ones. I have a couple of the cross div packs, have fed ships that have never been used, or used on one briefly. (I do have 2 Fed characters, the second one I made because I wanted to see what having a science char in a science vessel was like, and it was the only way to do that.)
ruff, meow, moo, whatever.... *shrug* [ Still Waiting for a Shiny New T6 Romulan Science Ship to Command ]
Except, in STO, a person can be both "Christian AND Bhuddist". If the player doesn't have as much "Bhuddist" content to play or buy, there is less incentive for the player invest time/effort in thier "Bhuddism". Add that to the fact that, in game, the content for "Judaism" was never even fully developed before the arrival of "Bhuddism", along with the half-religion design of "Bhuddism" really leaves some with the age of question of why a third religion was ever developed in game before the second religion was finished development.
-Signed, a "Christian"
But this turns around the argumentation why we "need" more Romulan or KDF ships - no one is disadvantaged if he can be any faction anyway. Or everyone is equally disadvantaged.
Have you tried to fly a science vessel as KDF or NRR?
Have you tried to fly a ship with battle cloak on the Federation side?
I did however actually fly a KDF Science Vessel and Romulan Science Vessels. I used the Dyson Destroyer, the Gorn Science Vessels and the Ha'nom Guardian Warbird. Because Science is my favourite profession and my favourite ship class. Obviously we're still missing a Tier 6 option here. But we have never had a battle cloaking ship on the Federation side, and I think that's fine. A good way to bring people into a faction is giving it a unique gameplay option. And for that reason, I think Tier 6 Science Vessels for the KDF are for example a low priority - a TIer 6 Carrier and a Tier 6 Bird of Prey are far more urgent.
The KDF has the most unique gameplay here, even when the Atrox came out - only the KDF had frigate pets (plus lockbox ships, but lockboxes cheat anyway), and the KDF had the only ship with all-universal BO slots. And its primary Carrier also had the most unique BO layout, the only ship in the Tier 5 line-up that had 2 Lt.Cmdr slots!
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
no one is disadvantaged if he can be any faction anyway. Or everyone is equally disadvantaged.
So everyone has to choose a one-size-fits-all model? Give in and go Fed? No, thanks. Resistance is not futile, and we will not be assimilated. Successful MMOs are those which give the player choices, and do not penalize them for making choices.
But still nothing I've heard so far discredits the arguments that the Star Trek franchise inherently will have more people gravitating to Federation/Starfleet ships and characters. And from there, you will inevitably get business reasons why it's not viable business to create equal amounts of content for each faction.
What? Let me just call your attention to something I said in this thread yesterday:
We don't even have the same options as Feds, let alone the same numbers for each option. The RRF has exactly ZERO dedicated carriers, and no Science warbirds worthy of the name at T5-U or T6 (I am, I will admit, deliriously pleased with the Deihu, but it's a Science Command Warbird, not a Science Warbird), the KDF has garbage for Science ships; this is part of why the Krenim Temporal Science Dreadnought Carrier is so outrageously expensive -- it's essentially the only option available to KDF and RRF for things that we don't otherwise have. So tell me again how the Feds are not privileged and the other factions are not discriminated against, and how I'm the one being rude for pointing out the injustice and calling for rectification?
Do you get that? Leaving aside, for the moment, the question of "amounts of content," neither KDF nor RRF has a single science vessel at T5/T5-U, nor T6, "Science" Command ships notwithstanding. The RRF has never had a single dedicated full carrier at any tier.
RRF has to make do with Starbases that are covered in KDF or Starfleet/UFP logos (depending on alliance, which is not the same as "alignment," and it's certainly not the same as "allegiance"), inside and out, we get no aesthetic projects for any faction other than the allied faction, and most of the projects for the starbase special projects, regardless of what else they do, add more and more KDF or Starfleet/UFP visual motifs. Even our Dilithium Mines and Spires and "Embassies" (like we need an "embassy" on our home planet??? which is why my fleets call this holding "Headquarters") -- and probably Research Labs, if the preceding is any clue as to what's coming down the pipeline for special projects in that holding -- get banners and so forth which do not indicate our proper allegiance to the Republic! "Oh, but there are no Romulan fleets." Yeah? No. There are Romulan fleets, some of which will not even recruit anyone other than RRF characters.
Do we have an academy on ch'Mol'Rihan? Anywhere on ch'Mol'Rihan? For that matter, anywhere in the game? No. We have to travel to Terrha (Earth) or Krhonosh (Qo'noS) to make use of allied academies. Do we have a Security Officer anywhere on ch'Mol'Rihan? No, once again, we have to travel to allied factions' homeworlds or our starbases or DS9.
Do we get trophies for our warbirds? Yes. Do we get to display them in our warbirds? No, neither in the Ready Room nor in the Club.
Does our Capitol City have a name? Only the one which I proposed, which has been widely accepted by RRF players, but never made official by Cryptic, giving rise to claims from the malcontent RSE supporters and Tal'Shiar sympathizers to post The Big Lie over and over again that the Capitol is nothing more than "D'Tan's Grand Imperial Palace," even when confronted by screenshots showing the outer wall of the city with Foreman Kylor saying "We're building a new city here ..." and concept art showing the CITY as it should look when finished.
Do we have our own club/bar/mess hall at ch'Mol'Rihan? No, but the darling privileged spoiled Feds got a new one -- which almost nobody ever bothers to enter except to sell things to the bartender. Where's the "Return on Investment" from that ?
How many "social" zones do we have? The Flotilla and New Romulus Command. We don't even have a New Romulan Republic starbase or space station like Starbase Sierra/39, DS9, K-7 or Ganalda.
I can go on and on and on (and I have done so in the past), but I want to address your next paragraph first (and will make a further comment about this in that context).
That doesn't have to mean that there will be no content ever. Delta Rising contained 5 Fed ships and 2 ships for the other two factions each. We then got several cross-faction packs, with the occassional Fed stand-alone.
Cross-Faction: Command + Iconic + Pilot + Escort Carrier + Battlecruiser + Veterar => 10 ships for each faction
Fed Only: Excelsior, Prometheus => 2 ships for each faction.
No, the Delta Pack was initially going to contain five ships for Feds and 2 each for KDF and RRF, but before it was released, a SIXTH ship was ADDED to the Pack FOR THE FEDS!!! Feds got one intel ship per career class, as well as 3 other T6 ships. KDF and RRF got a cruiser each, and each got a single intel ship for one career class. And then, to pour salt in the open wound, the Feds got yet another T6 ship after that, not in the Delta Pack, but something extra, with two full interiors.
Mind you, the same season gave us an interior in the Lleiset, a full interior, which was, mostly, a simple recoloring of the standard (and only) RRF interior, with a few other rooms than are in the standard RRF interior. When I asked courteously and thoughtfully about having this interior added retroactively to all Dreadbird purchases, or even added as an additional option for interiors for any RRF warbird, I was initially ignored. So I stuck it in a Dev's face, and he accused me of being "crass." So I gave back what I got, and he replied, saying that the Voyager interiors were added because they were developed for a mission in the storyline, so there was little to no extra work involved in making them available for player interiors. But ... um ... the Lleiset interior was developed for a mission in that same season! So, where is it for players? Evidently, there's something else going on (Geko's bias) than concern over how much work it would require, since, you know, THE WORK HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE! Seriously. Did we get that? NO! Have we EVER gotten it since? NO! WHY NOT??? We don't even get variable bridges, just the one. It's great and all, but even the tiny bit of variation which would be available from adding the Lleiset color scheme would be something. And what about the Constitution interior recolored and relit as it was for the Romulan interior in "The Enterprise Incident"? The interior has already been made, after all. It ain't THAT hard to change the colors and lighting and replace the UFP/Starfleet logos and such with a few of the RSE-KE Alliance logos which were seen in that episode.
In the previous season, rather than turn their attention to the inequity and unfairness which was not new even then, they proceeded to work on a new ESD and a new club for ESD. Meanwhile, Qo'noS has been attacked as well, but nothing was done to improve the urban sprawl of First City, with everything the player needs to use STILL scattered all over the place (the very best layout for a multipurpose area is Drozana Station, but, even apart from a few missing services, that location has its own issues, into which I will not delve here). The Orbital Shipyard in the Qo'noS system was destroyed even more fully than ESD, but did the KDF get a new one? NO! The RRF still doesn't have one at all. New Romulus was attacked. Was anything done about finally opening up the Capitol City, giving it the name it needs, adding access to an academy, a club, or even the Reman section of the city? NO! We got a few scorch marks in the cross-faction adventure zone, and that was it. Does the New Romulus system have any kind of orbital defenses or installations? No defenses. 3 or 4 satellites which are only visible when doing a mission from the "Embassy" and a transwarp gate that doesn't work, but apart from that, not a thing.
I think the ratio of newly released ships has been much more favorable for the KDF and the RR then ever before.
Maybe so, but the glaring inequities still exist in that there are no T5/T5-U or T6 science vessels for KDF or RRF, and no dedicated full carrier of any tier for the RRF. THOSE need to be addressed BEFORE assigning the Devs to work on yet another shiny new Fed boat. And they need to be done right, not the shoddy "Science Ships" that were done before for the KDF and then used as an excuse to never make more for the KDF throughout eternity.
And I think it has to do a lot with the concept of market saturation. RR and KDF ships have a smaller target audience, and people, on average, don't just buy a limited amount of ships over a given timespan. Not everyone is a collector. To keep the number of sales sufficiently high, Cryptic has to spread out ship releases so that they catch enough people that are ready for a new ship.
This isn't just a faction thing. It's also a thing for ship classes. People prefer a certain class of ships (and I think historically, regardless of game mechanical advantages, Cruisers were always the preferred side).
The cross-faction bundles are probably also a way to get a bit more money than they would normally get by getting people to buy a RR and a KDF ship they'D normally might not buy at all, but since they can get a 3 for 2 deal, it just seems to good to pass up. So even if the sales for the individual RR or KDF ship is still lower than for the individual Fed ship, it's
I have bought a few of the cross-faction bundles in the past. I am no longer inclined to do so (not saying I won't, but the chances are now much diminished from what they were in the past), because it's used as further "justification" for the fallacious argument that Fed ships sell better than KDF or RRF ships. How about some RRF/KDF combined ship bundles for those of us who no longer wish to encourage the bias to continue?
Anyway, if you want to improve the number of ships for the Romulan Republic or the Klingon Defense Force, you need to find something that makes them more attractive to buy. Perhaps in a way that makes even Fed-Only players buy them. Maybe some transferable benefit that could be used even on a Fed character.
Or you need to get more players to actively want to play RR or KDF and get ships for that. (Contraband-Farming is not a reason to buy a KDF or RR ship, and is probably also only something a minority in players engage in.)
I personally would suggest a Klingon or Romulan Republic Recruitment Event. OR maybe not Recruitment, ideally it should also help existing KDF and RR character. Create rewards that for the KDF or RR character so his levelling and advancement process is easier than it normally is, and add account rewards that are attractive on the Federation characters. Maybe unlock additional costume options or a new ship material, a new account-wide trait or special ability or console. Something that everyone will want on his characters.
Maybe there should also be an ongoing reward system that works on weekly rhythm. After each week, Cryptic calculates the least played faction for that week, and the next week people that play that faction gain bonus XP and Dilithium or something like that, and also can contribute to a server-wide goal. If the goals are met, every player earns bonus rewards the next week.
And of course, in general adding more stuff that makes alts easier to manage can also help cross-factions. Maybe if you earn certain amount of spec points on one character, you gain a special token that you can give to another character on your account to gain bonus XP or bonus specialization token, provided the character is from a different faction.
Or maybe, ... gee, I don't know, hmmm, could it be ... GIVE US THE CHOICES THE FEDS HAVE? Nobody is saying we have to have the same numbers of ships, but for Crom's sake! It's not about having 378 carriers to choose from. It's about having even one carrier (okay, 2 would be better, and 3 would be best, since the 3 could be career-class-based, but we don't even have a single one), it's about having science vessels at end game, it's about not having to travel to someone else's homeworld to do what they can do right there at their own homeworld, it's about letting our Romulan fleets be Romulan visually as well as internally. Warbirds cannot even display fleet logos!
But we're "entitled whiny minorities" for bringing any of this up. *snort* And then people try to chastise me for calling that attitude of privilege what it is. I spend money on this game like others, and I have every right to call attention to injustice and petition for a redress of my grievances.
no one is disadvantaged if he can be any faction anyway. Or everyone is equally disadvantaged.
So everyone has to choose a one-size-fits-all model? Give in and go Fed? No, thanks. Resistance is not futile, and we will not be assimilated. Successful MMOs are those which give the player choices, and do not penalize them for making choices.
But still nothing I've heard so far discredits the arguments that the Star Trek franchise inherently will have more people gravitating to Federation/Starfleet ships and characters. And from there, you will inevitably get business reasons why it's not viable business to create equal amounts of content for each faction.
What? Let me just call your attention to something I said in this thread yesterday:
We don't even have the same options as Feds, let alone the same numbers for each option. The RRF has exactly ZERO dedicated carriers, and no Science warbirds worthy of the name at T5-U or T6 (I am, I will admit, deliriously pleased with the Deihu, but it's a Science Command Warbird, not a Science Warbird), the KDF has garbage for Science ships; this is part of why the Krenim Temporal Science Dreadnought Carrier is so outrageously expensive -- it's essentially the only option available to KDF and RRF for things that we don't otherwise have. So tell me again how the Feds are not privileged and the other factions are not discriminated against, and how I'm the one being rude for pointing out the injustice and calling for rectification?
But still nothing I've heard so far discredits the arguments that the Star Trek franchise inherently will have more people gravitating to Federation/Starfleet ships and characters. And from there, you will inevitably get business reasons why it's not viable business to create equal amounts of content for each faction.
Even if every single Romulan-interested player in the game buys a RR Science Vessel, it could still be more lucrative to build and sell another Federation Cruiser.
I have no idea why you think the rest of your post addresses my argument.
But we're "entitled whiny minorities" for bringing any of this up. *snort* And then people try to chastise me for calling that attitude of privilege what it is. I spend money on this game like others, and I have every right to call attention to injustice and petition for a redress of my grievances.
Yes, I think there seems to be a false sense of entitlement. You feel entitled that Cryptic offers you items that might end up being unprofitable for them. Why the frack should Cryptic do this? Why do you think you have any right do ask that of them?
This isn't about a baker not making a wedding cake for a TRIBBLE couple because they are TRIBBLE, but about a baker offering fewer chocolate cakes then cheese cakes because he knows cheese cakes sell better. Maybe that means chocolate cake fans stop visiting , but since he can still all sell all the cheese cakes he can produce, he isn't worried about that. Do chocolate fans get to dictate to this baker to sell more chocolate cakes? I can already imagine the chocolate fans protesting on the bakers facebook site "Why do the cheese cake eaters get 3 sorts of lactose-free variants and a fourth one has been announced, while we don't even have one lactose-free chocolate cake! Cheese Cakers don't even know what privileges they enjoy here!"
You can ask for it, but there is no obligiation for Cryptic to give it to you. Especially not on your personal desired schedule. It would be nice, and I look foward to the possibility of a T6 Guardian Warbird or a T6 Dyson Destroyer (maybe even more on the latter than on he former). But Cryptic will only do it when it seems a solid business decision to do so. No amount of trying to phrase it as a moral or ethical requirement of Cryptic to do so will change that.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Hey Trendy, can we start a write in campaign for what is the only true carrier candidate:
Voyager
The number of shuttles it carried while in the Delta quadrant make it the only choice.
OK, that made me LOL.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
My whole point is why bother building a second and especially a third faction, if they werent going to give it enough content to make people want to stick with them? The very act of shorting the other two factions (especially in the earlier days with the KDF) was telling people not to bother playing them, and thats a good deal of why no one does play them.
My whole point is why bother building a second and especially a third faction, if they werent going to give it enough content to make people want to stick with them? The very act of shorting the other two factions (especially in the earlier days with the KDF) was telling people not to bother playing them, and thats a good deal of why no one does play them.
Cryptic suggested that Legacy of Romulus was financially successful. Maybe they are lying about that, but if they are not, I think there is your reason - it doesn't matter if everyone "sticks" to one faction or not, it matters whether it turned out be profitable. Cryptic saw an opportunity that a long-demanded faction got added to the game in a way that they believed could be good for the game's success. And it worked, apparently.
Cryptic's faction support decisions will always be guided by business concerns. That will probably never lead to "balanced" faction support. But that does not mean that factions are useless for Cryptic. Again - there is always a potential for market saturation. The more ships Cryptic will release in a given timeframe, the lower the sales per ship will be - people have to consider how to spend their time and money and can't just buy things all at once. At some point, Cryptic will consider it more profitable to release a Romulan ship or a Klingon ship. Even if there are more Fed players, if enough players just acquired a ship, the likehood of buying yet another one is lower. That means effectively the Fed demand is (temporarily) lower, but the KDF and RR demand will be high since people have been waiting for ships for a while now. (And even someone that just bought a Fed ship might consider a KDF or RR ship, since that's definitely for another character.)
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
And, when they need to make a largely profitable campaign, they should do another half baked faction for us to be all shiney about that they will never put the effort to be a full faction?
I dont see people putting money into more than one, never to be full faction. I knew they were never going to go full content, so I knew I wasnt going to get as much out of buying a bunch of ships, especially since theres less content for them. If they make a Cardie', Borg, or Dominion faction, do you really think people wont remember the limited Romulan content, and spend less?
Yes, I think there seems to be a false sense of entitlement. You feel entitled that Cryptic offers you items that might end up being unprofitable for them. Why the frack should Cryptic do this? Why do you think you have any right do ask that of them?
Remind me again how a new ESD was profitable. Better yet, tell me how a new Club 47 was profitable. Oh, they weren't. So why were those developed and implemented?
Yes, I think there seems to be a false sense of entitlement. You feel entitled that Cryptic offers you items that might end up being unprofitable for them. Why the frack should Cryptic do this? Why do you think you have any right do ask that of them?
Remind me again how a new ESD was profitable. Better yet, tell me how a new Club 47 was profitable. Oh, they weren't. So why were those developed and implemented?
Yes, I think there seems to be a false sense of entitlement. You feel entitled that Cryptic offers you items that might end up being unprofitable for them. Why the frack should Cryptic do this? Why do you think you have any right do ask that of them?
Remind me again how a new ESD was profitable. Better yet, tell me how a new Club 47 was profitable. Oh, they weren't. So why were those developed and implemented?
I think you are looking for a different thread?
No, it's a fair point. Those were cosmetic changes, designed to impress the Fed playerbase by offering new environment experiences for them and attract interest. The Romulans and KDF get very little of those "hey, check out this new place the faction got" things, so they don't have many of the attention-grabers that the Feds get.
So it's not just about making sellable content. It's also about making attractive, attention-grabing content that generates interest in, and support for, the other factions. That investment either creates or retains players, which will likely spend money later on.
To that, the point is that the Romulans and KDF don't get a lot of 'support' investment. So these two factions are given the least 'new and shiny' reasons for players to either start or continue playing those factions.
The Beta configuration best represents a dedicated Carrier class. All the others look like they could be reconfigured to be a less efficient Carrier, but that never would have been their starting mission.
As for the Faction War, Cryptic shot themselves in the foot allowing players to play "monster" races in STO and now has to live with it.
That said, I do enjoy the extra perks on my Romulan and Klingon Alts. They get way better DOff missions and the Battle cloaks don't even need describing. The Singularity powers are also way fun.
So as I see it, Feds may get the majority of ships, the others get perks in everything else.
As for sales: Having to buy the ship in the C-Store and then having to buy it again from a Fleet store to get all the perks is the one reason I rarely buy any more ships.
SOLUTON: Make Fleet upgrades available in the C-Store. That way everyone has access to all the goodies and Fleets have their Fleet discounts and camaraderie.
Yes, I think there seems to be a false sense of entitlement. You feel entitled that Cryptic offers you items that might end up being unprofitable for them. Why the frack should Cryptic do this? Why do you think you have any right do ask that of them?
Remind me again how a new ESD was profitable. Better yet, tell me how a new Club 47 was profitable. Oh, they weren't. So why were those developed and implemented?
Why do you think it wasn't profitable. It was a bit change in the game that improved the quality of the experience for any new or old players visiting ESD, which is still the majority of the player population. Lapsed players might be drawn back just to see the new stuff. Club 47 is something new players interested in the social aspects of the game will consider as a place with great potential. So it's both a change for player retention and player (re)acquisition. And it's likely to draw and affect more players than tweaks to any other location in the game other than Sector Space. (Which we got a while later).
Changing ESD had pretty much the same reason all those mission revamps have - raise the fidelity of the game, which in turn makes it more attractive.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Yes, I think there seems to be a false sense of entitlement. You feel entitled that Cryptic offers you items that might end up being unprofitable for them. Why the frack should Cryptic do this? Why do you think you have any right do ask that of them?
Remind me again how a new ESD was profitable. Better yet, tell me how a new Club 47 was profitable. Oh, they weren't. So why were those developed and implemented?
Why do you think it wasn't profitable. It was a bit change in the game that improved the quality of the experience for any new or old players visiting ESD, which is still the majority of the player population. Lapsed players might be drawn back just to see the new stuff. Club 47 is something new players interested in the social aspects of the game will consider as a place with great potential. So it's both a change for player retention and player (re)acquisition. And it's likely to draw and affect more players than tweaks to any other location in the game other than Sector Space. (Which we got a while later).
Changing ESD had pretty much the same reason all those mission revamps have - raise the fidelity of the game, which in turn makes it more attractive.
That is all fine and good, I mean throw money at the place that already makes the most money. However, since the Fed's were already the bread and butter, and the lack of Rom/KDF as a reason to never ever ever ever before our sun goes super nova do anything for them, not throw some of that money at them to maybe attract a better player base there and make it more profitable. (I am sure it is profitable, less profitable than a lock box, yes, less profitable than another fedscort, probably, but I doubt by that much. I mean is the entire fedbase really buying every ship that comes out? (That is what, 25 ships a year?) No, no they are not. This is the problem, they use the lack of people playing and spending on the KDF and Romulan side to do absolutely nothing for them, so ti just gets worse and the gap gets larger and larger. Why would anyone want to play them if they look and see a steaming pile of trash compared to the shiny and chrome of Starfleet?
Of course, if say, maybe someone(s) in development just did not like to do it, maybe that is part of the reason why,.,, not just financial.
ruff, meow, moo, whatever.... *shrug* [ Still Waiting for a Shiny New T6 Romulan Science Ship to Command ]
Do you get that? Leaving aside, for the moment, the question of "amounts of content," neither KDF nor RRF has a single science vessel at T5/T5-U, nor T6, "Science" Command ships notwithstanding.
No, the Delta Pack was initially going to contain five ships for Feds and 2 each for KDF and RRF, but before it was released, a SIXTH ship was ADDED to the Pack FOR THE FEDS!!! Feds got one intel ship per career class, as well as 3 other T6 ships.
I'm just picking these two things out as they are demonstrably false. Varanus, Fleet Varanus and Dyson ships for Klingons, and Ha'nom, Fleet Ha'nom and Dyson ships for Romulans do, in fact exist, and they are Tier 5 and able to be upgraded to Tier5-U. You may not be fond of them, or consider them "worthy," but they are there. For the second bit, Eclipse, Phantom, Scryer, Guardian, and Dauntless is 5 ships. Please inform of the sixth, so I know which one to complain about not receiving.
As for the rest, enjoy your whale hunt, Ahab. It's going to end just about as well as his did. I've seen this in a number of MMOs, players who want the whole game, or a substantial portion of it, redone to suit them. It ends with burnout for the player involved, and increasing marginalization of said player from the community as a whole.
This is an MMO, not a Star Trek episode simulator. That would make for a terrible game.
Do you get that? Leaving aside, for the moment, the question of "amounts of content," neither KDF nor RRF has a single science vessel at T5/T5-U, nor T6, "Science" Command ships notwithstanding.
No, the Delta Pack was initially going to contain five ships for Feds and 2 each for KDF and RRF, but before it was released, a SIXTH ship was ADDED to the Pack FOR THE FEDS!!! Feds got one intel ship per career class, as well as 3 other T6 ships.
I'm just picking these two things out as they are demonstrably false. Varanus, Fleet Varanus and Dyson ships for Klingons, and Ha'nom, Fleet Ha'nom and Dyson ships for Romulans do, in fact exist, and they are Tier 5 and able to be upgraded to Tier5-U. You may not be fond of them, or consider them "worthy," but they are there. For the second bit, Eclipse, Phantom, Scryer, Guardian, and Dauntless is 5 ships. Please inform of the sixth, so I know which one to complain about not receiving.
As for the rest, enjoy your whale hunt, Ahab. It's going to end just about as well as his did. I've seen this in a number of MMOs, players who want the whole game, or a substantial portion of it, redone to suit them. It ends with burnout for the player involved, and increasing marginalization of said player from the community as a whole.
The Ha'nam is a free level 40 ship, that lacks sensor analysis (and probably a secondary deflector), the DSD's are hybrid ships, leaving the Fleet Ha'nom as the only level 50 science ship, that lacks sensor analisys (and probably the secondary deflector). They have 0 T6 science ships.
Fed's have 3 T6 ships, six if you count the fact they all have fleet versions.
The Varanus makes the free at level 40 ship in the Fed's look like a T6 ship in comparison. The Varanus is a sub-par ship, as is the Ha'nom. Also, all thee have the DSD set, so outside of that, the KDF/Rom's have 1 science ship with a fleet version each. neither of which are very good.
I don't think Protogoth, or I want the game retailored for us, we, like many others, want to get closer to 3 Rom ships to every 5 Fed ships, instead of 2 Rom ships for every 5 Fed ships, and the same for KDF ships. We want captains to have a choice for a science vessel that is worth flying. At this point the Federation has as many, or more T6 ships than the combined KDF/Rom ships.
ruff, meow, moo, whatever.... *shrug* [ Still Waiting for a Shiny New T6 Romulan Science Ship to Command ]
I choose Beata because of the of the Afta the saucer on the Beata look like a rice bowl from central aisa just remove the half trangale an you have a rice bowl. The half trangles make Beata look bulkly an slow the Apha look the ship we are using in the game now with a little change. Beata we have more shuttes space then Ahpa. Over all I like the Omaga better it just need like more refinment.
Comments
I wish the launch areas were highlighted for the other ships.
To be honest, this is as much a test case.
If all goes well, Cryptic would continue asking input on other ship designs, across all factions. I've no doubt that a ship for the Klingons and Romulans has been set up for polling votes. If this turns into a flamefest, you can bet we won't get a chance to participate in what is normally a completely in-house decision.
And if something like this can be applied to ships, then I can't see why this 'ask the people' elimination poll thing can't be used for other aspects of future game development.
Such as creating new player species (after all with exploration comes 'discovering new worlds and civilizations'), shuttlecraft designs (Romulans and Klingons factions have a lot of catching up to the variety of Federation shuttlecraft fleet), 'What if we expanded the Romulan faction to expand into it's own, what species would you include?', 'If we added a fourth faction, which species would you like to see included?', etc.
Most unexpectedly, this turned into a flame-fest! Closed it goes!. /sigh What flamefestery is this? pwlaughingtrendy
Buddha says to stick your silly carrier where the sun don't shine.
--Red Annorax
agreed on the self fullfiling prophecy nature of the problem.
Less content, less players less desire to make content. More content, more players, more desire to make content, pretty simple.
I would suggest avoiding the privilege argument though.
"He shall be my finest warrior, this generic man who was forced upon me.
Like a badass I shall make him look, and in the furnace of war I shall forge him.
he shall be of iron will and steely sinew.
In great armour I shall clad him and with the mightiest weapons he shall be armed.
He will be untouched by plague or disease; no sickness shall blight him.
He shall have such tactics, strategies and machines that no foe will best him in battle.
He is my answer to cryptic logic, he is the Defender of my Romulan Crew.
He is Tovan Khev... and he shall know no fear."
But still nothing I've heard so far discredits the arguments that the Star Trek franchise inherently will have more people gravitating to Federation/Starfleet ships and characters. And from there, you will inevitably get business reasons why it's not viable business to create equal amounts of content for each faction.
That doesn't have to mean that there will be no content ever. Delta Rising contained 5 Fed ships and 2 ships for the other two factions each. We then got several cross-faction packs, with the occassional Fed stand-alone.
Cross-Faction: Command + Iconic + Pilot + Escort Carrier + Battlecruiser + Veterar => 10 ships for each faction
Fed Only: Excelsior, Prometheus => 2 ships for each faction.
I think the ratio of newly released ships has been much more favorable for the KDF and the RR then ever before. And I think it has to do a lot with the concept of market saturation. RR and KDF ships have a smaller target audience, and people, on average, don't just buy a limited amount of ships over a given timespan. Not everyone is a collector. To keep the number of sales sufficiently high, Cryptic has to spread out ship releases so that they catch enough people that are ready for a new ship.
This isn't just a faction thing. It's also a thing for ship classes. People prefer a certain class of ships (and I think historically, regardless of game mechanical advantages, Cruisers were always the preferred side).
The cross-faction bundles are probably also a way to get a bit more money than they would normally get by getting people to buy a RR and a KDF ship they'D normally might not buy at all, but since they can get a 3 for 2 deal, it just seems to good to pass up. So even if the sales for the individual RR or KDF ship is still lower than for the individual Fed ship, it's
Anyway, if you want to improve the number of ships for the Romulan Republic or the Klingon Defense Force, you need to find something that makes them more attractive to buy. Perhaps in a way that makes even Fed-Only players buy them. Maybe some transferable benefit that could be used even on a Fed character.
Or you need to get more players to actively want to play RR or KDF and get ships for that. (Contraband-Farming is not a reason to buy a KDF or RR ship, and is probably also only something a minority in players engage in.)
I personally would suggest a Klingon or Romulan Republic Recruitment Event. OR maybe not Recruitment, ideally it should also help existing KDF and RR character. Create rewards that for the KDF or RR character so his levelling and advancement process is easier than it normally is, and add account rewards that are attractive on the Federation characters. Maybe unlock additional costume options or a new ship material, a new account-wide trait or special ability or console. Something that everyone will want on his characters.
Maybe there should also be an ongoing reward system that works on weekly rhythm. After each week, Cryptic calculates the least played faction for that week, and the next week people that play that faction gain bonus XP and Dilithium or something like that, and also can contribute to a server-wide goal. If the goals are met, every player earns bonus rewards the next week.
And of course, in general adding more stuff that makes alts easier to manage can also help cross-factions. Maybe if you earn certain amount of spec points on one character, you gain a special token that you can give to another character on your account to gain bonus XP or bonus specialization token, provided the character is from a different faction.
As for models, Omega all the way. Its the largest and, hopefully, it will host the fable, or better said non-existent, fed frigate hangar pets. I mean, c'mon, its time for feds to finnaly have one, after all the other factions got at least one.
Omega is not the largest, judging by the vague picture we have. Delta seems to have more "volume" or tonnage. But Omega looks like it has taken parts from the Jupiter, which is why it will win the contest. Assuming anything else would be borderline delusional. I still vote Delta all the way.
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Have you tried to fly a science vessel as KDF or NRR?
Boom.
There are two ships that do not exist that we need.
How about a full carrier as NRR?
Bang.
Oh, there is another ship that we could use. KDF does not have a T6 one either. (NRR doesn't have one at all.)
I don't think that the KDF and NRR need to have 1 to 1 ratio with the Fed's, I am no fool, I know that there will always be more Fed players. But it is also a gateway to picking up a Rom or KDF alt, and they get there and wonder why the options are so few. Then maybe they just give up on the alts, or play them way less, because they cannot do what they want to do.
I personally have bought 0 stand alone Fed ships, I have purchased numerous KDF and NRR ones though. I have also got the Delta Pack, and have fed ships I have never used in it, but I have used all of the NRR and KDF ones. I have a couple of the cross div packs, have fed ships that have never been used, or used on one briefly. (I do have 2 Fed characters, the second one I made because I wanted to see what having a science char in a science vessel was like, and it was the only way to do that.)
[ Still Waiting for a Shiny New T6 Romulan Science Ship to Command ]
Sorry, I don't play feds so I got nothing for them.
Awoken Dead
Now shaddup about the queues, it's a BUG
Voyager
The number of shuttles it carried while in the Delta quadrant make it the only choice.
I did however actually fly a KDF Science Vessel and Romulan Science Vessels. I used the Dyson Destroyer, the Gorn Science Vessels and the Ha'nom Guardian Warbird. Because Science is my favourite profession and my favourite ship class. Obviously we're still missing a Tier 6 option here. But we have never had a battle cloaking ship on the Federation side, and I think that's fine. A good way to bring people into a faction is giving it a unique gameplay option. And for that reason, I think Tier 6 Science Vessels for the KDF are for example a low priority - a TIer 6 Carrier and a Tier 6 Bird of Prey are far more urgent.
The KDF has the most unique gameplay here, even when the Atrox came out - only the KDF had frigate pets (plus lockbox ships, but lockboxes cheat anyway), and the KDF had the only ship with all-universal BO slots. And its primary Carrier also had the most unique BO layout, the only ship in the Tier 5 line-up that had 2 Lt.Cmdr slots!
So everyone has to choose a one-size-fits-all model? Give in and go Fed? No, thanks. Resistance is not futile, and we will not be assimilated. Successful MMOs are those which give the player choices, and do not penalize them for making choices.
What? Let me just call your attention to something I said in this thread yesterday:
Do you get that? Leaving aside, for the moment, the question of "amounts of content," neither KDF nor RRF has a single science vessel at T5/T5-U, nor T6, "Science" Command ships notwithstanding. The RRF has never had a single dedicated full carrier at any tier.
RRF has to make do with Starbases that are covered in KDF or Starfleet/UFP logos (depending on alliance, which is not the same as "alignment," and it's certainly not the same as "allegiance"), inside and out, we get no aesthetic projects for any faction other than the allied faction, and most of the projects for the starbase special projects, regardless of what else they do, add more and more KDF or Starfleet/UFP visual motifs. Even our Dilithium Mines and Spires and "Embassies" (like we need an "embassy" on our home planet??? which is why my fleets call this holding "Headquarters") -- and probably Research Labs, if the preceding is any clue as to what's coming down the pipeline for special projects in that holding -- get banners and so forth which do not indicate our proper allegiance to the Republic! "Oh, but there are no Romulan fleets." Yeah? No. There are Romulan fleets, some of which will not even recruit anyone other than RRF characters.
Do we have an academy on ch'Mol'Rihan? Anywhere on ch'Mol'Rihan? For that matter, anywhere in the game? No. We have to travel to Terrha (Earth) or Krhonosh (Qo'noS) to make use of allied academies. Do we have a Security Officer anywhere on ch'Mol'Rihan? No, once again, we have to travel to allied factions' homeworlds or our starbases or DS9.
Do we get trophies for our warbirds? Yes. Do we get to display them in our warbirds? No, neither in the Ready Room nor in the Club.
Does our Capitol City have a name? Only the one which I proposed, which has been widely accepted by RRF players, but never made official by Cryptic, giving rise to claims from the malcontent RSE supporters and Tal'Shiar sympathizers to post The Big Lie over and over again that the Capitol is nothing more than "D'Tan's Grand Imperial Palace," even when confronted by screenshots showing the outer wall of the city with Foreman Kylor saying "We're building a new city here ..." and concept art showing the CITY as it should look when finished.
Do we have our own club/bar/mess hall at ch'Mol'Rihan? No, but the darling privileged spoiled Feds got a new one -- which almost nobody ever bothers to enter except to sell things to the bartender. Where's the "Return on Investment" from that ?
How many "social" zones do we have? The Flotilla and New Romulus Command. We don't even have a New Romulan Republic starbase or space station like Starbase Sierra/39, DS9, K-7 or Ganalda.
I can go on and on and on (and I have done so in the past), but I want to address your next paragraph first (and will make a further comment about this in that context).
No, the Delta Pack was initially going to contain five ships for Feds and 2 each for KDF and RRF, but before it was released, a SIXTH ship was ADDED to the Pack FOR THE FEDS!!! Feds got one intel ship per career class, as well as 3 other T6 ships. KDF and RRF got a cruiser each, and each got a single intel ship for one career class. And then, to pour salt in the open wound, the Feds got yet another T6 ship after that, not in the Delta Pack, but something extra, with two full interiors.
Mind you, the same season gave us an interior in the Lleiset, a full interior, which was, mostly, a simple recoloring of the standard (and only) RRF interior, with a few other rooms than are in the standard RRF interior. When I asked courteously and thoughtfully about having this interior added retroactively to all Dreadbird purchases, or even added as an additional option for interiors for any RRF warbird, I was initially ignored. So I stuck it in a Dev's face, and he accused me of being "crass." So I gave back what I got, and he replied, saying that the Voyager interiors were added because they were developed for a mission in the storyline, so there was little to no extra work involved in making them available for player interiors. But ... um ... the Lleiset interior was developed for a mission in that same season! So, where is it for players? Evidently, there's something else going on (Geko's bias) than concern over how much work it would require, since, you know, THE WORK HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE! Seriously. Did we get that? NO! Have we EVER gotten it since? NO! WHY NOT??? We don't even get variable bridges, just the one. It's great and all, but even the tiny bit of variation which would be available from adding the Lleiset color scheme would be something. And what about the Constitution interior recolored and relit as it was for the Romulan interior in "The Enterprise Incident"? The interior has already been made, after all. It ain't THAT hard to change the colors and lighting and replace the UFP/Starfleet logos and such with a few of the RSE-KE Alliance logos which were seen in that episode.
In the previous season, rather than turn their attention to the inequity and unfairness which was not new even then, they proceeded to work on a new ESD and a new club for ESD. Meanwhile, Qo'noS has been attacked as well, but nothing was done to improve the urban sprawl of First City, with everything the player needs to use STILL scattered all over the place (the very best layout for a multipurpose area is Drozana Station, but, even apart from a few missing services, that location has its own issues, into which I will not delve here). The Orbital Shipyard in the Qo'noS system was destroyed even more fully than ESD, but did the KDF get a new one? NO! The RRF still doesn't have one at all. New Romulus was attacked. Was anything done about finally opening up the Capitol City, giving it the name it needs, adding access to an academy, a club, or even the Reman section of the city? NO! We got a few scorch marks in the cross-faction adventure zone, and that was it. Does the New Romulus system have any kind of orbital defenses or installations? No defenses. 3 or 4 satellites which are only visible when doing a mission from the "Embassy" and a transwarp gate that doesn't work, but apart from that, not a thing.
Maybe so, but the glaring inequities still exist in that there are no T5/T5-U or T6 science vessels for KDF or RRF, and no dedicated full carrier of any tier for the RRF. THOSE need to be addressed BEFORE assigning the Devs to work on yet another shiny new Fed boat. And they need to be done right, not the shoddy "Science Ships" that were done before for the KDF and then used as an excuse to never make more for the KDF throughout eternity.
I have bought a few of the cross-faction bundles in the past. I am no longer inclined to do so (not saying I won't, but the chances are now much diminished from what they were in the past), because it's used as further "justification" for the fallacious argument that Fed ships sell better than KDF or RRF ships. How about some RRF/KDF combined ship bundles for those of us who no longer wish to encourage the bias to continue?
Or maybe, ... gee, I don't know, hmmm, could it be ... GIVE US THE CHOICES THE FEDS HAVE? Nobody is saying we have to have the same numbers of ships, but for Crom's sake! It's not about having 378 carriers to choose from. It's about having even one carrier (okay, 2 would be better, and 3 would be best, since the 3 could be career-class-based, but we don't even have a single one), it's about having science vessels at end game, it's about not having to travel to someone else's homeworld to do what they can do right there at their own homeworld, it's about letting our Romulan fleets be Romulan visually as well as internally. Warbirds cannot even display fleet logos!
But we're "entitled whiny minorities" for bringing any of this up. *snort* And then people try to chastise me for calling that attitude of privilege what it is. I spend money on this game like others, and I have every right to call attention to injustice and petition for a redress of my grievances.
Even if every single Romulan-interested player in the game buys a RR Science Vessel, it could still be more lucrative to build and sell another Federation Cruiser.
I have no idea why you think the rest of your post addresses my argument. Yes, I think there seems to be a false sense of entitlement. You feel entitled that Cryptic offers you items that might end up being unprofitable for them. Why the frack should Cryptic do this? Why do you think you have any right do ask that of them?
This isn't about a baker not making a wedding cake for a TRIBBLE couple because they are TRIBBLE, but about a baker offering fewer chocolate cakes then cheese cakes because he knows cheese cakes sell better. Maybe that means chocolate cake fans stop visiting , but since he can still all sell all the cheese cakes he can produce, he isn't worried about that. Do chocolate fans get to dictate to this baker to sell more chocolate cakes? I can already imagine the chocolate fans protesting on the bakers facebook site "Why do the cheese cake eaters get 3 sorts of lactose-free variants and a fourth one has been announced, while we don't even have one lactose-free chocolate cake! Cheese Cakers don't even know what privileges they enjoy here!"
You can ask for it, but there is no obligiation for Cryptic to give it to you. Especially not on your personal desired schedule. It would be nice, and I look foward to the possibility of a T6 Guardian Warbird or a T6 Dyson Destroyer (maybe even more on the latter than on he former). But Cryptic will only do it when it seems a solid business decision to do so. No amount of trying to phrase it as a moral or ethical requirement of Cryptic to do so will change that.
OK, that made me LOL.
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Cryptic's faction support decisions will always be guided by business concerns. That will probably never lead to "balanced" faction support. But that does not mean that factions are useless for Cryptic. Again - there is always a potential for market saturation. The more ships Cryptic will release in a given timeframe, the lower the sales per ship will be - people have to consider how to spend their time and money and can't just buy things all at once. At some point, Cryptic will consider it more profitable to release a Romulan ship or a Klingon ship. Even if there are more Fed players, if enough players just acquired a ship, the likehood of buying yet another one is lower. That means effectively the Fed demand is (temporarily) lower, but the KDF and RR demand will be high since people have been waiting for ships for a while now. (And even someone that just bought a Fed ship might consider a KDF or RR ship, since that's definitely for another character.)
I dont see people putting money into more than one, never to be full faction. I knew they were never going to go full content, so I knew I wasnt going to get as much out of buying a bunch of ships, especially since theres less content for them. If they make a Cardie', Borg, or Dominion faction, do you really think people wont remember the limited Romulan content, and spend less?
Remind me again how a new ESD was profitable. Better yet, tell me how a new Club 47 was profitable. Oh, they weren't. So why were those developed and implemented?
I think you are looking for a different thread?
No, it's a fair point. Those were cosmetic changes, designed to impress the Fed playerbase by offering new environment experiences for them and attract interest. The Romulans and KDF get very little of those "hey, check out this new place the faction got" things, so they don't have many of the attention-grabers that the Feds get.
So it's not just about making sellable content. It's also about making attractive, attention-grabing content that generates interest in, and support for, the other factions. That investment either creates or retains players, which will likely spend money later on.
To that, the point is that the Romulans and KDF don't get a lot of 'support' investment. So these two factions are given the least 'new and shiny' reasons for players to either start or continue playing those factions.
As for the Faction War, Cryptic shot themselves in the foot allowing players to play "monster" races in STO and now has to live with it.
That said, I do enjoy the extra perks on my Romulan and Klingon Alts. They get way better DOff missions and the Battle cloaks don't even need describing. The Singularity powers are also way fun.
So as I see it, Feds may get the majority of ships, the others get perks in everything else.
As for sales: Having to buy the ship in the C-Store and then having to buy it again from a Fleet store to get all the perks is the one reason I rarely buy any more ships.
SOLUTON: Make Fleet upgrades available in the C-Store. That way everyone has access to all the goodies and Fleets have their Fleet discounts and camaraderie.
Changing ESD had pretty much the same reason all those mission revamps have - raise the fidelity of the game, which in turn makes it more attractive.
That is all fine and good, I mean throw money at the place that already makes the most money. However, since the Fed's were already the bread and butter, and the lack of Rom/KDF as a reason to never ever ever ever before our sun goes super nova do anything for them, not throw some of that money at them to maybe attract a better player base there and make it more profitable. (I am sure it is profitable, less profitable than a lock box, yes, less profitable than another fedscort, probably, but I doubt by that much. I mean is the entire fedbase really buying every ship that comes out? (That is what, 25 ships a year?) No, no they are not. This is the problem, they use the lack of people playing and spending on the KDF and Romulan side to do absolutely nothing for them, so ti just gets worse and the gap gets larger and larger. Why would anyone want to play them if they look and see a steaming pile of trash compared to the shiny and chrome of Starfleet?
Of course, if say, maybe someone(s) in development just did not like to do it, maybe that is part of the reason why,.,, not just financial.
[ Still Waiting for a Shiny New T6 Romulan Science Ship to Command ]
I think that after awhile they will try the other races out of curiosity.
That said I would love to see cross faction treated ships like a Fed BoP in material 6 beefed up with all that safety shielding.
Absolutely astounding.
Yet not surprising at all. "Give me one of the few things unique to another faction, make it better than it ever was for them!"
[ Still Waiting for a Shiny New T6 Romulan Science Ship to Command ]
I'm just picking these two things out as they are demonstrably false. Varanus, Fleet Varanus and Dyson ships for Klingons, and Ha'nom, Fleet Ha'nom and Dyson ships for Romulans do, in fact exist, and they are Tier 5 and able to be upgraded to Tier5-U. You may not be fond of them, or consider them "worthy," but they are there. For the second bit, Eclipse, Phantom, Scryer, Guardian, and Dauntless is 5 ships. Please inform of the sixth, so I know which one to complain about not receiving.
As for the rest, enjoy your whale hunt, Ahab. It's going to end just about as well as his did. I've seen this in a number of MMOs, players who want the whole game, or a substantial portion of it, redone to suit them. It ends with burnout for the player involved, and increasing marginalization of said player from the community as a whole.
The Ha'nam is a free level 40 ship, that lacks sensor analysis (and probably a secondary deflector), the DSD's are hybrid ships, leaving the Fleet Ha'nom as the only level 50 science ship, that lacks sensor analisys (and probably the secondary deflector). They have 0 T6 science ships.
Fed's have 3 T6 ships, six if you count the fact they all have fleet versions.
The Varanus makes the free at level 40 ship in the Fed's look like a T6 ship in comparison. The Varanus is a sub-par ship, as is the Ha'nom. Also, all thee have the DSD set, so outside of that, the KDF/Rom's have 1 science ship with a fleet version each. neither of which are very good.
I don't think Protogoth, or I want the game retailored for us, we, like many others, want to get closer to 3 Rom ships to every 5 Fed ships, instead of 2 Rom ships for every 5 Fed ships, and the same for KDF ships. We want captains to have a choice for a science vessel that is worth flying. At this point the Federation has as many, or more T6 ships than the combined KDF/Rom ships.
[ Still Waiting for a Shiny New T6 Romulan Science Ship to Command ]