My reasons for not playing with my klinks are the same as most peoples, as evidenced by all the people who have already posted this, but I will add my support.
1) Keeping a single character competative in STO already takes all the free time and money that I am prepared to give to this game. If investment of my time and money could be shared between my characters, then I might stop refering to my alts as my loosers and play one from time to time.
2) Faction barriers. There is no reason for cross faction teeming to not be a thing. There is no reason for cross faction armadas to not be a thing.
Honestly locking people on a klink out of playing with feds is one of the reasons the klink faction is so small. I know plenty of people who prefer their klink characters, but never play them, because they cant play with their friends, so they switch factions.
Off topic
And while we are on the subject of restrictions. Cryptic remove the restrictions on private que team numbers. You know what stops small fleets from growing? Having more then 5 but fewer then 10 people online at the same time. Thats what stops small fleets from growing. Let us run STFs with groups of two three and four so that people stop loging off when they see the team is already full.
Not having the klinks being mindless bullies with guns with absolutely no ability to use foresight, planning, or anything that could even be confused for intelligence would be a start.
"So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again."
-Dedication plaque of the Federation Starship U.S.S. Merkava
Honest answer, more KDF c-store ships, possibly at a discount to Fed ones
Kind of a self feeding issue, I don't want to spend money on KDF because there's only a few things to spend money on
I'm not a fan of the seven different battlecruisers KDF gets at T6 and I already have my Kor
Its more what would it take to go fed for me (my original fed still gets some use, mainly due to the ease of testing sci things that transfer to my kdfs (I fly two sci type kors, one drain, one exotic))
the feds have gone from explorers to a militaristic faction, flying in the face of starfleets vaunted claims of being explorers (looking at you, escort classes)...heck, the only diplomacy I see in sto is cold case, Acamar and doffing tasks, totally ruining muh immershun (take that mister purge all races but the klingons)
Joking aside, cross faction would be nice, as would reversing the catfood, err contraband nerf thats incoming (and reverting the damn elite slavers contraband collection proc chance to its original setting) - I expect multifaction ships to now be the kdfs bread and butter in which case...how about some material options/parts to make the multifactions look more relevant to their factions? Sanitised fed white on the temporal ships does not feel right on my kdfs
As to content, why not a cultural exchange arc? If the unification is a given, why not let the feds experience life in the kdf via the holodeck, following the story of a kdf officer on a mission (for kdf, its a normal mission set as in its their story the feds are following), totally immersing them in the kdf life
Also... release a slightly nerfed varient of the kelvin bop in the c-store or lobi, its a severely unfair move to toss the only defacto rom and kdf ships in a lockbox yet you gift the feds with an easily accesible lobi ship
As to the last thing... fire Gecko. He should have been reprimanded or worse the moment he displayed his fed bias that is no way to run a multi faction game (heck, as everyone knew his opinion, that likely harmed the kdf as they anticipated the kdf would get the short end of the stick so opted to go fed)...can you imagine the head dev of Warcraft coming out and saying they only like the Horde? Heads would roll, literally and figuratively
Let's face it--Klingons are a rare breed in STO anymore. We all know the story writing is little more than "UGH UGH, HIS/HER HONOR WAS BESMIRCHED!" We all know the core issue here which is a writing one.
But what would it take to have you play a KDF character?
Be reasonable and creative in responses to the question. For instance, you're not going to get a T6 with epic inventory for every slot of the ship. No way would they do this. However, I could see this:
A really nice-looking cross-faction T5, so your main could use it also.
Rewards similar to Delta Recruits or Temporal Agents
One (and only one) epic item usable by all alts
Additional character slots (i.e. one for hitting level 30 and one for level 60)
What would it take to get you playing a Klingon?
Nothing really. I play Gorn. I eat people. Once in a bite....
The major problem is the "divided" investment situation.
I havy many traits on my fed toons. i have only the ones from free offer ships on the KDF toons. Because i am not buying the same ship twice just because there are faction locked variants.
In fact the only other kdf is my reman, becaus he does not need traits to roll over things in his inherently op warbird.
But yeah, as long asi they want to triple dip in ship sales..... nope...
although, starship traits made an account wide unlock sounds reasonable, also because I see no reason to fly a ship many times over, even among the same faction.
Main issue is the story telling. There isn't much story to separate it from the Fed's view. This is a huge fail on STO. With their own story view, you may get more to play. From players who love the story will enjoy it. You can have 2 separate views and still get to the main points. WoW does it all the time.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
I already play KDF, so... I dunno. Do more of what you're already doing?
Conveniences like account-wide mastery traits sound neat, but it wouldn't really change much. Heck, it might mean lss reason to play alts in the first place, because you don't need to level them or their ships up.
The klingons are conquerors. They annex and vassalize alien species under their Empire. The Gorn were conquered. The Orions swore fealty to the Empire. The Nausicaans were hired by the klingon war chest, the Letheans similarly so and were used to flush out undine infiltrators.
I understand if people prefer the KDF to just consist of Klingons, not something I agree with, and I admit seeing a Gorn wearing the Honor Guard armor (rather than a Klingon) takes some getting used to, but from a historical perspective, that's what all the mighty empires do. Conquer and integrate.
It's canon that the KDF has vassal states. It's even canon that they let some of the vassal states have their own space fleets. Integration in the KDF military is the only change.
For the record my KDF chars are an Orion and a Gorn.
Is it canon? I mean sure, the KLingons are allegedly conquerors, but we rarely see anything of their conquered species. And I don't remember any canon references to vassal states with their own fleet.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Had to go back and reread the OP's post a few times. And even after rereading it...I can't understand what the OP is suggesting in regards to the Klingon faction or playing a Klingon. Are you saying that the storylines in the Klingon arc are flat or that the Klingons themselves are flat as believable characters in a Sci-Fi universe? I play Klingon every time I sit down to play STO. Because of the game structure...my goals are the same as any player playing any faction. If you think the missions are simple-minded or boring then the solution is to create Foundry missions. Other than that...to play a Klingon...all you have to do is want to play a Klingon. If you just can't get into the Klingons because you think their character makeup is dull or stupid, then you'll never want to play a Klingon.
3 of my characters are KDF currently, 2 Klingon Tacs and a Gorn Sci. Although they are now deleted because I'm cutting down on character count, I've had an Alien Tac and 2 Orions, a Eng and a Sci (although both weren't played that much) and 2 Rom KDFs, with a Level 9 Rom who I'll eventually make a Rom-KDF.
Fedside however, one Reman-Fed Sci, an Andorian Tac and a TOS-Vulcan Tac currently, with a Vulcan Sci, Alien Tac, Rom-Fed Sci having been deleted.
Left to my own devices, I'd play KDF - tlhIngan maH is a far easier mindset to suit to the state of STO. (unless you go for the "real" Federation underneath the propaganda, in which case STO is perfect) the problem is the KDF are totally neglected to the point where it is utterly pointless making petitions to Cryptic for KDF content, it is simply a thing we players must do ourselves now.
I already play KDF, so... I dunno. Do more of what you're already doing?
Conveniences like account-wide mastery traits sound neat, but it wouldn't really change much. Heck, it might mean lss reason to play alts in the first place, because you don't need to level them or their ships up.
The klingons are conquerors. They annex and vassalize alien species under their Empire. The Gorn were conquered. The Orions swore fealty to the Empire. The Nausicaans were hired by the klingon war chest, the Letheans similarly so and were used to flush out undine infiltrators.
I understand if people prefer the KDF to just consist of Klingons, not something I agree with, and I admit seeing a Gorn wearing the Honor Guard armor (rather than a Klingon) takes some getting used to, but from a historical perspective, that's what all the mighty empires do. Conquer and integrate.
It's canon that the KDF has vassal states. It's even canon that they let some of the vassal states have their own space fleets. Integration in the KDF military is the only change.
For the record my KDF chars are an Orion and a Gorn.
Is it canon? I mean sure, the KLingons are allegedly conquerors, but we rarely see anything of their conquered species. And I don't remember any canon references to vassal states with their own fleet.
The Arin'sen and the Kriosians. Both were under Klingon rule and had limited autonomy.
Also... pondering Rura Penthe makes me wonder what worlds all those guys came from....
I have already kdf toons; this is what I would like for them:
- more badass ships, like the low tier raptors, I mean ships with savage shapes (not like the matha raptor yuck! , why I bought this awful thing). the kelvin BOP is really awesome.
- more conquests, fights , and new uniforms less ridiculous and more warriors/soldiers like the kelvin uniforms.
- Gorn rebellion
- a sub-faction of marauders
- the end of the alliance. feds and klingons are incompatible. I'm sick when I do a mission with 1 of my kdf toon under the lead of a fed officer.
- the redefinition of "honor". their supposed honor is a joke.
End of the alliance aint happening, its more likely we'll get a playable borg faction complete with playable C store borg cubes.
"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."
In answer to the OP: Finishing my TempRecruit will see me going back KDFside again.
I now have... what, 3 Fed/2 FedRom/2 TOSFed, I think... let's see... one Fed is a mostly abandoned farmer, one TOSFed is going to spend an eternity standing on 23c. ESD in the faint hope that they fix the Binding issues and I can pass Training Manuals to my real TOSFed... the others are mostly proper characters, though I'm not great about bothering to Upgrade (and thus pretty much stuck at 30K levels) on any character. KDFside is where I prefer playing, so I have more characters over there and more stuff purchased from the C-Store, etc.
For others... most of the suggestions here are good ones. A Recruitment Event that actually tries to recruit where needed instead of where most folks already are, some bugfixes, improved cross-faction teaming, account-unlock Starship Traits, equivalent access to Profession/Specialization ships... all would help. As a cross faction player, the Cross Faction bundles have been great, but I was already a cross faction player... that addressed a disincentive rather than creating a new incentive. Something that adds specific benefits/options to all you characters for stepping outside of your favored faction is needed for most people go try something different; so far, the best suggestions are a Recruitment Event and account-unlock Starship Traits.
With each passing day I wonder if I stepped into an alternate reality. The Cubs win the world series. Donald Trump is President. Britain leaves the EU. STO gets a dedicated PvP season. Engineers are "out of control" in STO.
A gold plated BoP, with 99 turn rate. 6 fore weapons and none in the rear.
A trait that increases my crit rate every time I use a weapon.
Undetectable cloaking device.
Distributed only to those with "unwavering loyalty"* to the KDF.
Eh, i'm already playing many KDF and Rom-KDF toons...
The thing is - their DOFF assignments are better fo Dilithium farming that the Fed ones...
Now that the admirality system is (for some time already) online it's not that important anymore, but i'm still keeping
my old toons
I made a Klingon Delta recruit. They are level 3, I think (just out of the tutorial, the minimum needed to make them an actual Delta recruit).
I will play them one day. Maybe next time we get an XP week, maybe some XP week further down the line, but probably an XP week.
After playing my AoY through a few missions and getting them over level 50 I decided that I was probably just going to delete them again and recreate them when I can level at a more sane pace. In the meanwhile I decided to use the rest of this week to play my Romulan Delta Recruit (who was also just out of the tutorial before I quit playing them).
But that would be it. That one character, and ultimately no further than needed to get the Delta recruit unlocks.
Yeah, it's the writing, but that's what the Klingons are to me.
Even the ones I encounter during Fed gameplay make me want to choke my monitor. I mean, the one that commits suicide during the planet killer mission? Didn't we already know that flying a starship down it's throat wouldn't work? And why am I forced to listen to that horrible "singing"? That's not a noble sacrifice, it's stupidity and the Klinks are dumb enough to think it noble.
In the AoY story Kor is getting his but kicked all over the place and then pulls out some super-punch which crushes my shield, shatters my armor, and knocks me out in a single blow, then laughs as he stands amongst his fallen crew, his ship is exploding, and his enemies beam away? There could be some serious mental health issues there.
I wouldn't have made a Klingon at all except that there were ultimately benefits for doing so that my main(s) (Federation character(s) ) could claim.
And I won't make a Klingon again unless they offer more of the same; Give the character(s) that I want to play some bonus as a result of my playing a character that I do not want to play.
And then I will do the same; Get the character to a point I need to to "qualify them", and then wait until I feel up to playing them again to claim the bonuses, attempting to do so in a way that will make it as quick and painless as possible.
Comments
1) Keeping a single character competative in STO already takes all the free time and money that I am prepared to give to this game. If investment of my time and money could be shared between my characters, then I might stop refering to my alts as my loosers and play one from time to time.
2) Faction barriers. There is no reason for cross faction teeming to not be a thing. There is no reason for cross faction armadas to not be a thing.
Honestly locking people on a klink out of playing with feds is one of the reasons the klink faction is so small. I know plenty of people who prefer their klink characters, but never play them, because they cant play with their friends, so they switch factions.
Off topic
And while we are on the subject of restrictions. Cryptic remove the restrictions on private que team numbers. You know what stops small fleets from growing? Having more then 5 but fewer then 10 people online at the same time. Thats what stops small fleets from growing. Let us run STFs with groups of two three and four so that people stop loging off when they see the team is already full.
-Dedication plaque of the Federation Starship U.S.S. Merkava
Just ask K'nera.
My character Tsin'xing
Cross-faction team-ups.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
Honest answer, more KDF c-store ships, possibly at a discount to Fed ones
Kind of a self feeding issue, I don't want to spend money on KDF because there's only a few things to spend money on
I'm not a fan of the seven different battlecruisers KDF gets at T6 and I already have my Kor
T6 Vo'Quv
the feds have gone from explorers to a militaristic faction, flying in the face of starfleets vaunted claims of being explorers (looking at you, escort classes)...heck, the only diplomacy I see in sto is cold case, Acamar and doffing tasks, totally ruining muh immershun (take that mister purge all races but the klingons)
Joking aside, cross faction would be nice, as would reversing the catfood, err contraband nerf thats incoming (and reverting the damn elite slavers contraband collection proc chance to its original setting) - I expect multifaction ships to now be the kdfs bread and butter in which case...how about some material options/parts to make the multifactions look more relevant to their factions? Sanitised fed white on the temporal ships does not feel right on my kdfs
As to content, why not a cultural exchange arc? If the unification is a given, why not let the feds experience life in the kdf via the holodeck, following the story of a kdf officer on a mission (for kdf, its a normal mission set as in its their story the feds are following), totally immersing them in the kdf life
Also... release a slightly nerfed varient of the kelvin bop in the c-store or lobi, its a severely unfair move to toss the only defacto rom and kdf ships in a lockbox yet you gift the feds with an easily accesible lobi ship
As to the last thing... fire Gecko. He should have been reprimanded or worse the moment he displayed his fed bias that is no way to run a multi faction game (heck, as everyone knew his opinion, that likely harmed the kdf as they anticipated the kdf would get the short end of the stick so opted to go fed)...can you imagine the head dev of Warcraft coming out and saying they only like the Horde? Heads would roll, literally and figuratively
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So.... 2 Gorn, 1 Cup?
More like 2 Gorn, 1 gallon of eye and brain bleach
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Nothing really. I play Gorn. I eat people. Once in a bite....
The major problem is the "divided" investment situation.
I havy many traits on my fed toons. i have only the ones from free offer ships on the KDF toons. Because i am not buying the same ship twice just because there are faction locked variants.
In fact the only other kdf is my reman, becaus he does not need traits to roll over things in his inherently op warbird.
But yeah, as long asi they want to triple dip in ship sales..... nope...
I say we need less restrictions!
Spock to Kirk, as Kirk is about to hug him.
Star Trek V: "The Final Frontier"
dito
although, starship traits made an account wide unlock sounds reasonable, also because I see no reason to fly a ship many times over, even among the same faction.
Main issue is the story telling. There isn't much story to separate it from the Fed's view. This is a huge fail on STO. With their own story view, you may get more to play. From players who love the story will enjoy it. You can have 2 separate views and still get to the main points. WoW does it all the time.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
Conveniences like account-wide mastery traits sound neat, but it wouldn't really change much. Heck, it might mean lss reason to play alts in the first place, because you don't need to level them or their ships up.
Is it canon? I mean sure, the KLingons are allegedly conquerors, but we rarely see anything of their conquered species. And I don't remember any canon references to vassal states with their own fleet.
Fedside however, one Reman-Fed Sci, an Andorian Tac and a TOS-Vulcan Tac currently, with a Vulcan Sci, Alien Tac, Rom-Fed Sci having been deleted.
Left to my own devices, I'd play KDF - tlhIngan maH is a far easier mindset to suit to the state of STO. (unless you go for the "real" Federation underneath the propaganda, in which case STO is perfect) the problem is the KDF are totally neglected to the point where it is utterly pointless making petitions to Cryptic for KDF content, it is simply a thing we players must do ourselves now.
Also... pondering Rura Penthe makes me wonder what worlds all those guys came from....
My character Tsin'xing
- more badass ships, like the low tier raptors, I mean ships with savage shapes (not like the matha raptor yuck! , why I bought this awful thing). the kelvin BOP is really awesome.
- more conquests, fights , and new uniforms less ridiculous and more warriors/soldiers like the kelvin uniforms.
- Gorn rebellion
- a sub-faction of marauders
- the end of the alliance. feds and klingons are incompatible. I'm sick when I do a mission with 1 of my kdf toon under the lead of a fed officer.
- the redefinition of "honor". their supposed honor is a joke.
"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."
Really? Feds gonna align with Borg, too?
Who's gonna assimilate who?
Even better: Undine! Those are shape shifters...they can keep changing factions all together when ever they choose!!!!
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
I now have... what, 3 Fed/2 FedRom/2 TOSFed, I think... let's see... one Fed is a mostly abandoned farmer, one TOSFed is going to spend an eternity standing on 23c. ESD in the faint hope that they fix the Binding issues and I can pass Training Manuals to my real TOSFed... the others are mostly proper characters, though I'm not great about bothering to Upgrade (and thus pretty much stuck at 30K levels) on any character. KDFside is where I prefer playing, so I have more characters over there and more stuff purchased from the C-Store, etc.
For others... most of the suggestions here are good ones. A Recruitment Event that actually tries to recruit where needed instead of where most folks already are, some bugfixes, improved cross-faction teaming, account-unlock Starship Traits, equivalent access to Profession/Specialization ships... all would help. As a cross faction player, the Cross Faction bundles have been great, but I was already a cross faction player... that addressed a disincentive rather than creating a new incentive. Something that adds specific benefits/options to all you characters for stepping outside of your favored faction is needed for most people go try something different; so far, the best suggestions are a Recruitment Event and account-unlock Starship Traits.
A trait that increases my crit rate every time I use a weapon.
Undetectable cloaking device.
Distributed only to those with "unwavering loyalty"* to the KDF.
*Whatever that means..
The thing is - their DOFF assignments are better fo Dilithium farming that the Fed ones...
Now that the admirality system is (for some time already) online it's not that important anymore, but i'm still keeping
my old toons
I will play them one day. Maybe next time we get an XP week, maybe some XP week further down the line, but probably an XP week.
After playing my AoY through a few missions and getting them over level 50 I decided that I was probably just going to delete them again and recreate them when I can level at a more sane pace. In the meanwhile I decided to use the rest of this week to play my Romulan Delta Recruit (who was also just out of the tutorial before I quit playing them).
But that would be it. That one character, and ultimately no further than needed to get the Delta recruit unlocks.
Yeah, it's the writing, but that's what the Klingons are to me.
Even the ones I encounter during Fed gameplay make me want to choke my monitor. I mean, the one that commits suicide during the planet killer mission? Didn't we already know that flying a starship down it's throat wouldn't work? And why am I forced to listen to that horrible "singing"? That's not a noble sacrifice, it's stupidity and the Klinks are dumb enough to think it noble.
In the AoY story Kor is getting his but kicked all over the place and then pulls out some super-punch which crushes my shield, shatters my armor, and knocks me out in a single blow, then laughs as he stands amongst his fallen crew, his ship is exploding, and his enemies beam away? There could be some serious mental health issues there.
I wouldn't have made a Klingon at all except that there were ultimately benefits for doing so that my main(s) (Federation character(s) ) could claim.
And I won't make a Klingon again unless they offer more of the same; Give the character(s) that I want to play some bonus as a result of my playing a character that I do not want to play.
And then I will do the same; Get the character to a point I need to to "qualify them", and then wait until I feel up to playing them again to claim the bonuses, attempting to do so in a way that will make it as quick and painless as possible.