Well, I've got 4 KDF alts who I consider my "mains" - the Feds are definitely the poor cousins.
For starters, I'd strongly suspect that anyone who feels the portrayal of Klingons in STO is one-dimensional probably hasn't played the opening elements of the Klingon storyline. It certainly doesn't glorify or gloss over Klingon brutality, but it shows the price of that way and that there are more positive forces in play. Then there's Kagran, who manages to be the voice of compassion (!) in ending the Iconian War. So I don't think the portrayal is that bad, certainly no worse than the TV series.
As to how to make the Klingons more attractive? For starters, some more distinct ships. There are a few T6 ships (the Kor, Mat'ha and Kolasi) with no direct Fed counterpart - we could use more and with greater distinctiveness. KDF specials used to be fast cruisers and raiders, I'm sure that could be made to work again. The new D4 shows that it is possible to make an awesome T6 raider. Or how about the first cruiser with a 6/2 weapon split?
Also, at the 5 year infographic, something like 16% of characters were KDF. That suggests that there are a *LOT* of people who have never even tried playing KDF, probably because there's no incentive to do so. Agents of Yesterday shows what a great difference good incentives make - ESD is crawling with 23rd century captains - and something like that, applied to the Klingons and Romulans, could tempt a lot of players to have a go where they otherwise wouldn't bother. If focused on KDF, PVP could even be used; lower tier ships and new characters are probably the best place to try that, and players who know they'll get rewards for trying might stick around. Heck, throw in a T6 ship as the final reward to get them "bought into" the factions, and you never know - they might be tempted to buy others. It worked on me, despite my promise to never buy another Fed ship I've been enjoying the TOS theme so much I broke down and bought the Ranger class.
Not a lot of coding required - but could recover some of the sunk costs on the (generally excellent) KDF T6 ships. Surely that makes business sense?
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.
I am not convinced that Story is the answer. I mean, it's the answer I would like to hear and I like to see done, but realistically, you play the story once and then you're grinding reputations and specializations or whatever. Even if you had KDF exclusive grind missions, it won't really do much - since it's still repeating the same thing over and over. Unless the KDF has a mision that's better for grinding and DPS metrics then ISA...
I think they key to making a faction succesful might be to capture the players's imagination. And unfortunately, I think for Star Trek, the Fed side has just more material to do that. You have 5 TV shows with 5 different ships, 2 (or 3) additional movie ships full with a crew that was too a large part Starfleet. There is so much material to be inspired by.
The only other thing one could try is briging players. Give us account-wide rewards that we unlock by playing KDF (or RR). Give special bonus weeks or recruitment drives that only apply to KDF (or RR).
They kinda tried that already with the Romulans .- their ships have clear advantages with in-built battle cloak and singularity powers, and basically all ships a bit more powerful than their Fed counter-part. Was it enough?
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
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.
I am not convinced that Story is the answer. I mean, it's the answer I would like to hear and I like to see done, but realistically, you play the story once and then you're grinding reputations and specializations or whatever. Even if you had KDF exclusive grind missions, it won't really do much - since it's still repeating the same thing over and over. Unless the KDF has a mision that's better for grinding and DPS metrics then ISA...
I think they key to making a faction succesful might be to capture the players's imagination. And unfortunately, I think for Star Trek, the Fed side has just more material to do that. You have 5 TV shows with 5 different ships, 2 (or 3) additional movie ships full with a crew that was too a large part Starfleet. There is so much material to be inspired by.
The only other thing one could try is briging players. Give us account-wide rewards that we unlock by playing KDF (or RR). Give special bonus weeks or recruitment drives that only apply to KDF (or RR).
They kinda tried that already with the Romulans .- their ships have clear advantages with in-built battle cloak and singularity powers, and basically all ships a bit more powerful than their Fed counter-part. Was it enough?
Yeah, the Devs added 20 levels of story missions to KDF in LoR and most players didn't even notice....
Yeah, the Devs added 20 levels of story missions to KDF in LoR and most players didn't even notice....
Likely because historically, with everything they add to KDF they add 5x more content to Fed.
It's not you- it's me. I just need my space.
Being critical doesn't take skill. Being constructively critical- which is providing alternative solutions or suggestions to a demonstrated problem, however, does.
A completely different mind-set.
I have a klink-toon I fiddle with occasionally, but it just doesn't seem as fun to me as playing a Fed.
<shrug>
STO Member since February 2009. I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born! Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
It's interesting to see this topic while a large booster to KDF play is most likely going to be downgraded.
On tribble the cooldown for turning in contraband is changed from 4 hours to 20 hours with the patch from the 15th.
It sounds a bit confusing with the "cooldown" bit, but essentially turning in contraband will be once a day.
How many play KDF for the KDF and how many just use it to farm contraband, we will find out rather quickly if that change goes live on the holodeck.
This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
Yeah, the Devs added 20 levels of story missions to KDF in LoR and most players didn't even notice....
Likely because historically, with everything they add to KDF they add 5x more content to Fed.
LoR did not add a single new mission that was Fed-only.... it was mostly Romulan stuff.
That wasn't the point- and you know it.
The point is people are so used to seeing more content added to Fed that they're now used to it.
How do you change this? Simple. Start making the content releases even across the board.
Perhaps then people will begin to see things differently. Or, they can continue to do what they have done, and expect different results. (definition of insanity, anyone?)
It's not you- it's me. I just need my space.
Being critical doesn't take skill. Being constructively critical- which is providing alternative solutions or suggestions to a demonstrated problem, however, does.
Yeah, the Devs added 20 levels of story missions to KDF in LoR and most players didn't even notice....
Likely because historically, with everything they add to KDF they add 5x more content to Fed.
LoR did not add a single new mission that was Fed-only.... it was mostly Romulan stuff.
That wasn't the point- and you know it.
The point is people are so used to seeing more content added to Fed that they're now used to it.
How do you change this? Simple. Start making the content releases even across the board.
Perhaps then people will begin to see things differently. Or, they can continue to do what they have done, and expect different results. (definition of insanity, anyone?)
"start"? You mean like the cross faction ship bundles? The flagships 9 pack perhaps?
Yeah, the Devs added 20 levels of story missions to KDF in LoR and most players didn't even notice....
Likely because historically, with everything they add to KDF they add 5x more content to Fed.
LoR did not add a single new mission that was Fed-only.... it was mostly Romulan stuff.
That wasn't the point- and you know it.
The point is people are so used to seeing more content added to Fed that they're now used to it.
How do you change this? Simple. Start making the content releases even across the board.
Perhaps then people will begin to see things differently. Or, they can continue to do what they have done, and expect different results. (definition of insanity, anyone?)
"start"? You mean like the cross faction ship bundles? The flagships 9 pack perhaps?
Oh, I'll grant they've started making "purchasable" item releases available. Let's talk about baseline ships and storyline content, let's start making a list of everything that's available to Fed, and then how they've bled "exclusive" technology over to the Fed-side, too.
Seriously- you're not making this your sticking point, are you? You know there's a disproportionate amount of content in total, and no amount of "perspective shifting" is going to change that. The reality here is that people have generated the idea they have for good reason. Quippy little comebacks aren't going to change what's historically happened, only gestures of goodwill.
Let's get something straight here- I love this game, and if I didn't, I wouldn't play it. I wouldn't spend money on it, and I certainly wouldn't bother participating in the forums trying to advocate fairness. I'd simply just stop playing and leave. I have also mainly played Fed characters, because from the very beginning when I started playing I saw there was a serious gap in content available. I'm here to try and figure out viable solutions, not give smart-TRIBBLE little comebacks to try and dismiss other people's perspectives as being invalid. (although it seems there's an entrenched base of people who feel that's the answer here)
So let's start talking solutions instead of bantering back and forth over what we already know to be true, shall we?
It's not you- it's me. I just need my space.
Being critical doesn't take skill. Being constructively critical- which is providing alternative solutions or suggestions to a demonstrated problem, however, does.
Being able to team with all factions, less horrible ship interiors, more ships form other races, more clothing options. All the Orion clothing seen in shows to be added to Orions. And the ability to make ToS Klingons.
they add cross-faction ships and bundle ships, but they can be used only to play fed contents. During, delta rising, i was really fed up to play under the lead of Tuvok, this was almost insulting for my kdf captains klingons are warriors, and most of the time they do all the fed TRIBBLE. the worse moment was to help Neelix and his people.
Yeah, the Devs added 20 levels of story missions to KDF in LoR and most players didn't even notice....
Likely because historically, with everything they add to KDF they add 5x more content to Fed.
LoR did not add a single new mission that was Fed-only.... it was mostly Romulan stuff.
That wasn't the point- and you know it.
The point is people are so used to seeing more content added to Fed that they're now used to it.
How do you change this? Simple. Start making the content releases even across the board.
Perhaps then people will begin to see things differently. Or, they can continue to do what they have done, and expect different results. (definition of insanity, anyone?)
"start"? You mean like the cross faction ship bundles? The flagships 9 pack perhaps?
Oh, I'll grant they've started making "purchasable" item releases available. Let's talk about baseline ships and storyline content, let's start making a list of everything that's available to Fed, and then how they've bled "exclusive" technology over to the Fed-side, too.
That tech exchange swings both ways though. And the KDF has just as many freebie leveling ships to choose from as the Feds. Most aren't Science ships, but it's arguable that Science ships are the Fed's specialty.
Seriously- you're not making this your sticking point, are you? You know there's a disproportionate amount of content in total, and no amount of "perspective shifting" is going to change that. The reality here is that people have generated the idea they have for good reason. Quippy little comebacks aren't going to change what's historically happened, only gestures of goodwill.
Like what? I'm kinda curious what sort of thing you have in mind. I can tell you what I'd like for them to do.... More non-Klingon ships. Seriously, Klingon tech is ugly. Kolasi though? LOVE it!
Klingon and Romulan version of the Jupiter contest would be awesome!
you can't say that ok, some of them are ugly but, a lot of them are really nice, when cryptic gets inspiration. the flagships cruisers are nice, the low tiers raptors too (suqob etc). a lot of fed ships are really ugly too, in fact most of them
Klingon and Romulan version of the Jupiter contest would be awesome!
I've posted previously in this thread with my ideas- especially a KDF-centered Xpac release (seeing as how we've already done Fed and Rom) which could (and probably should, seeing as how the others did) include new ships, etc.
I think cross-faction teaming and other things could be an OK thing, but that's only if Cryptic/PWE makes a decision on how they want the future of this game to unravel. Are they going to make it Starfleet Online, or are they actually going to make the faction system mean something and give it some definition? Are they going to fix PvP or just leave it broken or dismiss it entirely? Only they can answer these questions, and we can only speculate.
Ultimately- I think the KDF centered xpac is the best solution to bring things full circle again, regain the trust of customers who've previously been relegated to second-class citizen status, and perhaps even attract new players who don't want to play Starfleet or Romulans. (I've known Trek fans of ALL kinds, and some really do wish to play only Klingon, etc.)
Now, I'm not going to say anyone should be "fired", etc. like I've seen suggested previously- but I think it would be a surefire token for said person and team to actually put some development time and effort into making things right again. Perhaps then people would have some renewed hope in the direction this game is taking, etc.
I'm only a player (and customer) who cares- I don't have any influence either way. I want to see this game continue to succeed and grow so we can all continue to experience and enjoy it for many years to come. I also sure as hell wouldn't be spending my cash on it if I didn't believe it had a future.
It can be a "good" game, or a "great" game.
It's not you- it's me. I just need my space.
Being critical doesn't take skill. Being constructively critical- which is providing alternative solutions or suggestions to a demonstrated problem, however, does.
End of the alliance aint happening, its more likely we'll get a playable borg faction complete with playable C store borg cubes.
Your fake posts are always worth a laugh.
"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."
0
rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,579Community Moderator
While I main Fed, I still show some love to my KDF, and even my Fed allied Romulan.
Hell... I'm planning on picking up that Flight Deck Raptor at some point after either a T6 Sovy or the big Temporal Pack when the DL Exchange stops being stupid high.
Also... I can use my Mirror Qin skin on that Qa'tel since she's related to the Qin. ^^
they add cross-faction ships and bundle ships, but they can be used only to play fed contents. During, delta rising, i was really fed up to play under the lead of Tuvok, this was almost insulting for my kdf captains klingons are warriors, and most of the time they do all the fed ****. the worse moment was to help Neelix and his people.
The Neelix task were dumb regardless of faction. I am an Admiral, I don't manage your TRIBBLE work shift organization, and I don't help you cook.
And the rest - the reason why you work under Tuvok is quite understandeable - he is one of the few experts on the Delta Quadrant and of sufficient rank to manage such high level dealings between Klingon Empire and the Federation.
General Martok did also coordinate with Sisko (and his Admiral) during the Dominion War.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
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.
I am not convinced that Story is the answer. I mean, it's the answer I would like to hear and I like to see done, but realistically, you play the story once and then you're grinding reputations and specializations or whatever. Even if you had KDF exclusive grind missions, it won't really do much - since it's still repeating the same thing over and over. Unless the KDF has a mision that's better for grinding and DPS metrics then ISA...
I think they key to making a faction succesful might be to capture the players's imagination. And unfortunately, I think for Star Trek, the Fed side has just more material to do that. You have 5 TV shows with 5 different ships, 2 (or 3) additional movie ships full with a crew that was too a large part Starfleet. There is so much material to be inspired by.
The only other thing one could try is briging players. Give us account-wide rewards that we unlock by playing KDF (or RR). Give special bonus weeks or recruitment drives that only apply to KDF (or RR).
They kinda tried that already with the Romulans .- their ships have clear advantages with in-built battle cloak and singularity powers, and basically all ships a bit more powerful than their Fed counter-part. Was it enough?
Yeah, the Devs added 20 levels of story missions to KDF in LoR and most players didn't even notice....
Truth even your ideas won't work. Bottom line, most people think of Star Trek. They think of Federation. They don't care to play the KDF or Romulans. This is why their numbers are always lower and less $ made from them company wise. Plus they messed up PVP to where they don't even bother making changes. To the point they should just remove it. Lastly the last large number of ships for the KDF that came out from the Zen store. Looked like horrible Lego ships. Compared to the more appealing Feds. I don't have issues buying Zen ships, but when they give us TRIBBLE. I'm not wasting $ on them.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
It's interesting to see this topic while a large booster to KDF play is most likely going to be downgraded.
On tribble the cooldown for turning in contraband is changed from 4 hours to 20 hours with the patch from the 15th.
It sounds a bit confusing with the "cooldown" bit, but essentially turning in contraband will be once a day.
How many play KDF for the KDF and how many just use it to farm contraband, we will find out rather quickly if that change goes live on the holodeck.
The farmers can all leave the KDF for all I care. It's not like they meant anything for the faction to begin with.
Yeah, the Devs added 20 levels of story missions to KDF in LoR and most players didn't even notice....
Likely because historically, with everything they add to KDF they add 5x more content to Fed.
LoR did not add a single new mission that was Fed-only.... it was mostly Romulan stuff.
That wasn't the point- and you know it.
The point is people are so used to seeing more content added to Fed that they're now used to it.
How do you change this? Simple. Start making the content releases even across the board.
Perhaps then people will begin to see things differently. Or, they can continue to do what they have done, and expect different results. (definition of insanity, anyone?)
"start"? You mean like the cross faction ship bundles? The flagships 9 pack perhaps?
Oh, I'll grant they've started making "purchasable" item releases available. Let's talk about baseline ships and storyline content, let's start making a list of everything that's available to Fed, and then how they've bled "exclusive" technology over to the Fed-side, too.
Storyline content, lol. The TOS tutorial and 6 missions are the only new faction-exclusive story content released in three years.
All there is to the factions is C-Store ships, clothing, and social zones. Restrictions.
And supposed KDF "supporters" crying there aren't enough restrictions. Apparently in their mind the best way to encourage the company to add content they want is to prevent 70% of the playerbase from ever buying it.
It's interesting to see this topic while a large booster to KDF play is most likely going to be downgraded.
On tribble the cooldown for turning in contraband is changed from 4 hours to 20 hours with the patch from the 15th.
It sounds a bit confusing with the "cooldown" bit, but essentially turning in contraband will be once a day.
How many play KDF for the KDF and how many just use it to farm contraband, we will find out rather quickly if that change goes live on the holodeck.
The farmers can all leave the KDF for all I care. It's not like they meant anything for the faction to begin with.
Farmers can become active players though. Just look at the entire romulan faction, all farmers at first.
This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
Farmers can become active players though. Just look at the entire romulan faction, all farmers at first.
I see what you did there
It's not you- it's me. I just need my space.
Being critical doesn't take skill. Being constructively critical- which is providing alternative solutions or suggestions to a demonstrated problem, however, does.
Already have a KDF Orion Tac as a main, and a second Orion Sci who's got the XP, fleet and rep marks to become a main too if they ever released a T6 KDF Science ship, but they haven't and probably won't in another long time and so I've stopped caring when I decided on the Tac as main, a redundant 3rd main next to the Rom Tac as I refuse to play engineer given their unappealing space abilities and the DPS-or-nothing nature of the game.
What made me make my first KDF and Rom? DR pack ships so I could fly them. Then I discovered more about the unique things of those factions, their styling, the differences in player maturity, and how much more I liked being something different than Fed despite having a Sci main there because, well, they get all the goods constantly.
Cryptic claims the market is too small for non-Feds; well, finish the 3rd faction and make it independent, and give each 3 equal treatment plus completely unique incentives and play styles from the very start, and perhaps there wouldn't be Fed domination of the market. Instead, they give Feds just about everything that was unique to Roms & KDFs combined, and now there's a massive hole in population and market. I wish PWE would take notice of Cryptic's bias to see how their decisions affected the bottom line, income, and second next to that, popularity and player count.
The farmers can all leave the KDF for all I care. It's not like they meant anything for the faction to begin with.
I agree with this, and also wish those Romulans who play the faction only for the OP ships left as well, if the republican nonsense and forced alliances weren't already bad enough further watering down any form of faction identity. In a small way, I am kind of happy Feds now get their battle cloaking raider in C-store, and battle cloaks in lobi and lockboxes, so they can get a sample of what was supposed to be KDF and Rom specialties and stick to their Feds.
I play primarily Federation characters. It suits my playstyle. But, I have 2 KDF toons, one that I leveled up half through story and half through Rep, and one that I made because I was bored and had bought a Ferasan and wanted to mess around with the character creation, got discouraged with that and then left the toon to rot at level 5 or something.
What would make me play KDF more? There are two things that I look for in a game, customization and immersive storytelling, and the KDF lack both.
1) CUSTOMIZATION:More (FREE) customization option for Klingon, Gorn, Nausicaan and Lethean characters so that new players can feel that their characters are more unique
True Klingon toons have very limited customization options and their all based on an ugly scowling face with a pouty lower lip. The first time you log into a Klingon toon after playing a Federation toon you're already discouraged by the options before you even get out of the character creator. Things look even bleaker when you start to play around with the options for Gorn, Letheans and Nausicaans, you can't even change the heads on those guys.
So right off the bat, you realize you can't really make a unique looking character in the KDF, unless you go with one of the human type toons or Alien gen, and the main reason to start a Klingon character is usually to make a Klingon. It's discouraging.
2) INCENTIVES: Unlocks that are usable on Federation characters
The other way to get players to play Klingon is by giving them perks for doing so. Fed players who aren't interested in the Klingon way of life or storyline need an incentive to start a KDF character. For them, KDF will always be an alternative to their Fed characters. But, you want everyone to play as much of the game that you've developed as possible, to justify the expense of the creation.
By building in account wide unlocks for the completion of story arcs and events within the KDF faction that can be used on Federation characters, players that usually only play Fed characters will have a reason to experience the KDF storyline from beginning to end, rather than just getting a toon to 14 and then using them to Rep.
These unlocks can be anything really, from certain KDF clothing options (not the full kit of course), KDF only boffs (Nausicaan, Lethean and Gorn Boffs would be nice to have) for example. And once you have complete the FULL KDF storyline (note that I didn't say "hit max level". You have to play each storyline through) with a KDF character, you unlock a single character slot that gives you a playable KDF only race for the Fed faction. Playable Federation Gorn captain would be a pretty big incentive right? But to keep them rare, if you want more KDF playable races, you have to unlock additional slots by replaying the KDF story arc again.
This maximizes the exposure of the KDF - while also justifying KDF development time by giving players a reason to play through all of the developed content.
Further incentives could be developed by unlocking short species specific storylines once you have completed the KDF storyline with that species. So for example, if you go through the entire KDF story with a Gorn character, you unlock a 2 or 3 mission series of episodes that tells a uniquely Gorn story. (These would be account unlocks, so that you can do them with any toon if you want to, but you have to unlock them with a Gorn toon first).
3) CONTESTED SPACE: Add in new and uncharted areas that can be explored and conquered by the Federation and Klingon Empire
This is a much more involved idea, but it would be worth it in my opinion, and would benefit both factions.
Even with the fragile peace between the two superpowers, there will always be a struggle for balance. By introducing a newly discovered star system with a number of worlds that neither faction has a claim too would bring that struggle to the forefront again. Utilizing the "Global event" system - with it's tiered unlocks - would allow for the struggle to continue as the two factions vie for constant control over this new area of space.
I'm not just talking repeatable missions either. Those get stale within the first week of play. Instead, this system would have a number of dynamic game mechanics. For example, it would be an uncharted system that must be mapped and explored and scanned to unlock rich resource deposits within asteroid belts, and planets where the internal struggle of the inhabitants could shift their allegiances from the more diplomatic Federation to the more warlike Klingon Empire depending on what sort of aid the government(s) of those planets require that week.
Something as simple as a natural disaster or a governmental overthrow could shift the needs of a world and a species from a massive number of industrial replicators and other relief efforts to weapons and manpower to support their internal war effort.
The struggle to stay within the confines of the Federations dogma, and adhere to the Prime Directive could be made very real in this area, while the Klingon Empire can gain the upper hand by doing what Klingon's do best...conquer.
Even if the KDF is a smaller faction player-wise, it has many unique advantages that the Federation doesn't and with the right mechanics built into this idea, balance could be maintained even if the KDF have less "manpower" to commit.
Obviously, this idea would take considerably more work than the other suggestions I've put forth. But if developed correctly, this idea could open up new avenues for new factions and beyond. It could even be applied to a Romulan Republic vs. Romulan Star Empire sort of struggle, where the Federation and the Klingons would choose sides in a conflict to rebuild/reclaim a system that had once been a part of the Romulan Empire when it was at the height of its power.
CONCLUSION:
Those two things would have players flocking to the KDF faction in droves. That influx of new players to the faction would most likely lead to more focus on the KDF faction by the developers, which would draw in players even more.
I'm sure that there are inherent flaws with the KDF storyline itself, but I honestly haven't played it all the way through myself, so I can't really comment on those specifically. But I WOULD play though that content if they included the things above in some form or another.
I love the Kingon atmo but I don't feel much of it in game. The Klingon focused areas are few and not that beautiful. Clothing choices limited and stories in need if revamp in some places. I'd want some amazing zones and characters to really feel Klingon. I'd also love to see more of the other species. A Gornar zone for instance so you feel it as more of multi species empire rather than just extra character options for KDF. It's a lot to ask so if it does happen it will probably be open to Feds too.
Personally, I need no incentive to create a KDF captain because I already have 4 such captains. I created my 1st KDF captain back in February 2014; probably about 2 weeks after creating my Fed captain. I think I created my 1st Romulan captain in either April or May of 2014 for a total of 3 captains on my account at that point in time.
I have also tossed in my support for the KDF in the C-Store. Excluding the Delta Rising Ops Pack and the T6 Battlecruiser cross faction 3 ship bundle, all of my ship purchases have been KDF ships.
As I mentioned in a previous thread, perhaps a KDF recruitment event would help. Klingon Intelligence could recruit captains to gather information / assets from destroyed Federation starships, plant eavesdropping devices in Federation facilities, drop cloaked sensors in Federation space, etc.
Comments
For starters, I'd strongly suspect that anyone who feels the portrayal of Klingons in STO is one-dimensional probably hasn't played the opening elements of the Klingon storyline. It certainly doesn't glorify or gloss over Klingon brutality, but it shows the price of that way and that there are more positive forces in play. Then there's Kagran, who manages to be the voice of compassion (!) in ending the Iconian War. So I don't think the portrayal is that bad, certainly no worse than the TV series.
As to how to make the Klingons more attractive? For starters, some more distinct ships. There are a few T6 ships (the Kor, Mat'ha and Kolasi) with no direct Fed counterpart - we could use more and with greater distinctiveness. KDF specials used to be fast cruisers and raiders, I'm sure that could be made to work again. The new D4 shows that it is possible to make an awesome T6 raider. Or how about the first cruiser with a 6/2 weapon split?
Also, at the 5 year infographic, something like 16% of characters were KDF. That suggests that there are a *LOT* of people who have never even tried playing KDF, probably because there's no incentive to do so. Agents of Yesterday shows what a great difference good incentives make - ESD is crawling with 23rd century captains - and something like that, applied to the Klingons and Romulans, could tempt a lot of players to have a go where they otherwise wouldn't bother. If focused on KDF, PVP could even be used; lower tier ships and new characters are probably the best place to try that, and players who know they'll get rewards for trying might stick around. Heck, throw in a T6 ship as the final reward to get them "bought into" the factions, and you never know - they might be tempted to buy others. It worked on me, despite my promise to never buy another Fed ship I've been enjoying the TOS theme so much I broke down and bought the Ranger class.
Not a lot of coding required - but could recover some of the sunk costs on the (generally excellent) KDF T6 ships. Surely that makes business sense?
I am not convinced that Story is the answer. I mean, it's the answer I would like to hear and I like to see done, but realistically, you play the story once and then you're grinding reputations and specializations or whatever. Even if you had KDF exclusive grind missions, it won't really do much - since it's still repeating the same thing over and over. Unless the KDF has a mision that's better for grinding and DPS metrics then ISA...
I think they key to making a faction succesful might be to capture the players's imagination. And unfortunately, I think for Star Trek, the Fed side has just more material to do that. You have 5 TV shows with 5 different ships, 2 (or 3) additional movie ships full with a crew that was too a large part Starfleet. There is so much material to be inspired by.
The only other thing one could try is briging players. Give us account-wide rewards that we unlock by playing KDF (or RR). Give special bonus weeks or recruitment drives that only apply to KDF (or RR).
They kinda tried that already with the Romulans .- their ships have clear advantages with in-built battle cloak and singularity powers, and basically all ships a bit more powerful than their Fed counter-part. Was it enough?
My character Tsin'xing
Likely because historically, with everything they add to KDF they add 5x more content to Fed.
Being critical doesn't take skill. Being constructively critical- which is providing alternative solutions or suggestions to a demonstrated problem, however, does.
I have a klink-toon I fiddle with occasionally, but it just doesn't seem as fun to me as playing a Fed.
<shrug>
I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
My character Tsin'xing
On tribble the cooldown for turning in contraband is changed from 4 hours to 20 hours with the patch from the 15th.
It sounds a bit confusing with the "cooldown" bit, but essentially turning in contraband will be once a day.
How many play KDF for the KDF and how many just use it to farm contraband, we will find out rather quickly if that change goes live on the holodeck.
That wasn't the point- and you know it.
The point is people are so used to seeing more content added to Fed that they're now used to it.
How do you change this? Simple. Start making the content releases even across the board.
Perhaps then people will begin to see things differently. Or, they can continue to do what they have done, and expect different results. (definition of insanity, anyone?)
Being critical doesn't take skill. Being constructively critical- which is providing alternative solutions or suggestions to a demonstrated problem, however, does.
My character Tsin'xing
Oh, I'll grant they've started making "purchasable" item releases available. Let's talk about baseline ships and storyline content, let's start making a list of everything that's available to Fed, and then how they've bled "exclusive" technology over to the Fed-side, too.
Seriously- you're not making this your sticking point, are you? You know there's a disproportionate amount of content in total, and no amount of "perspective shifting" is going to change that. The reality here is that people have generated the idea they have for good reason. Quippy little comebacks aren't going to change what's historically happened, only gestures of goodwill.
Let's get something straight here- I love this game, and if I didn't, I wouldn't play it. I wouldn't spend money on it, and I certainly wouldn't bother participating in the forums trying to advocate fairness. I'd simply just stop playing and leave. I have also mainly played Fed characters, because from the very beginning when I started playing I saw there was a serious gap in content available. I'm here to try and figure out viable solutions, not give smart-TRIBBLE little comebacks to try and dismiss other people's perspectives as being invalid. (although it seems there's an entrenched base of people who feel that's the answer here)
So let's start talking solutions instead of bantering back and forth over what we already know to be true, shall we?
Being critical doesn't take skill. Being constructively critical- which is providing alternative solutions or suggestions to a demonstrated problem, however, does.
Klingon and Romulan version of the Jupiter contest would be awesome!
My character Tsin'xing
you can't say that
and the result would be an ugly huge whale.
I think cross-faction teaming and other things could be an OK thing, but that's only if Cryptic/PWE makes a decision on how they want the future of this game to unravel. Are they going to make it Starfleet Online, or are they actually going to make the faction system mean something and give it some definition? Are they going to fix PvP or just leave it broken or dismiss it entirely? Only they can answer these questions, and we can only speculate.
Ultimately- I think the KDF centered xpac is the best solution to bring things full circle again, regain the trust of customers who've previously been relegated to second-class citizen status, and perhaps even attract new players who don't want to play Starfleet or Romulans. (I've known Trek fans of ALL kinds, and some really do wish to play only Klingon, etc.)
Now, I'm not going to say anyone should be "fired", etc. like I've seen suggested previously- but I think it would be a surefire token for said person and team to actually put some development time and effort into making things right again. Perhaps then people would have some renewed hope in the direction this game is taking, etc.
I'm only a player (and customer) who cares- I don't have any influence either way. I want to see this game continue to succeed and grow so we can all continue to experience and enjoy it for many years to come. I also sure as hell wouldn't be spending my cash on it if I didn't believe it had a future.
It can be a "good" game, or a "great" game.
Being critical doesn't take skill. Being constructively critical- which is providing alternative solutions or suggestions to a demonstrated problem, however, does.
Your fake posts are always worth a laugh.
"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."
Hell... I'm planning on picking up that Flight Deck Raptor at some point after either a T6 Sovy or the big Temporal Pack when the DL Exchange stops being stupid high.
Also... I can use my Mirror Qin skin on that Qa'tel since she's related to the Qin. ^^
And the rest - the reason why you work under Tuvok is quite understandeable - he is one of the few experts on the Delta Quadrant and of sufficient rank to manage such high level dealings between Klingon Empire and the Federation.
General Martok did also coordinate with Sisko (and his Admiral) during the Dominion War.
Truth even your ideas won't work. Bottom line, most people think of Star Trek. They think of Federation. They don't care to play the KDF or Romulans. This is why their numbers are always lower and less $ made from them company wise. Plus they messed up PVP to where they don't even bother making changes. To the point they should just remove it. Lastly the last large number of ships for the KDF that came out from the Zen store. Looked like horrible Lego ships. Compared to the more appealing Feds. I don't have issues buying Zen ships, but when they give us TRIBBLE. I'm not wasting $ on them.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
The farmers can all leave the KDF for all I care. It's not like they meant anything for the faction to begin with.
All there is to the factions is C-Store ships, clothing, and social zones. Restrictions.
And supposed KDF "supporters" crying there aren't enough restrictions. Apparently in their mind the best way to encourage the company to add content they want is to prevent 70% of the playerbase from ever buying it.
Unite the factions.
Farmers can become active players though. Just look at the entire romulan faction, all farmers at first.
I see what you did there
Being critical doesn't take skill. Being constructively critical- which is providing alternative solutions or suggestions to a demonstrated problem, however, does.
What made me make my first KDF and Rom? DR pack ships so I could fly them. Then I discovered more about the unique things of those factions, their styling, the differences in player maturity, and how much more I liked being something different than Fed despite having a Sci main there because, well, they get all the goods constantly.
Cryptic claims the market is too small for non-Feds; well, finish the 3rd faction and make it independent, and give each 3 equal treatment plus completely unique incentives and play styles from the very start, and perhaps there wouldn't be Fed domination of the market. Instead, they give Feds just about everything that was unique to Roms & KDFs combined, and now there's a massive hole in population and market. I wish PWE would take notice of Cryptic's bias to see how their decisions affected the bottom line, income, and second next to that, popularity and player count.
I agree with this, and also wish those Romulans who play the faction only for the OP ships left as well, if the republican nonsense and forced alliances weren't already bad enough further watering down any form of faction identity. In a small way, I am kind of happy Feds now get their battle cloaking raider in C-store, and battle cloaks in lobi and lockboxes, so they can get a sample of what was supposed to be KDF and Rom specialties and stick to their Feds.
What would make me play KDF more? There are two things that I look for in a game, customization and immersive storytelling, and the KDF lack both.
1) CUSTOMIZATION:More (FREE) customization option for Klingon, Gorn, Nausicaan and Lethean characters so that new players can feel that their characters are more unique
True Klingon toons have very limited customization options and their all based on an ugly scowling face with a pouty lower lip. The first time you log into a Klingon toon after playing a Federation toon you're already discouraged by the options before you even get out of the character creator. Things look even bleaker when you start to play around with the options for Gorn, Letheans and Nausicaans, you can't even change the heads on those guys.
So right off the bat, you realize you can't really make a unique looking character in the KDF, unless you go with one of the human type toons or Alien gen, and the main reason to start a Klingon character is usually to make a Klingon. It's discouraging.
2) INCENTIVES: Unlocks that are usable on Federation characters
The other way to get players to play Klingon is by giving them perks for doing so. Fed players who aren't interested in the Klingon way of life or storyline need an incentive to start a KDF character. For them, KDF will always be an alternative to their Fed characters. But, you want everyone to play as much of the game that you've developed as possible, to justify the expense of the creation.
By building in account wide unlocks for the completion of story arcs and events within the KDF faction that can be used on Federation characters, players that usually only play Fed characters will have a reason to experience the KDF storyline from beginning to end, rather than just getting a toon to 14 and then using them to Rep.
These unlocks can be anything really, from certain KDF clothing options (not the full kit of course), KDF only boffs (Nausicaan, Lethean and Gorn Boffs would be nice to have) for example. And once you have complete the FULL KDF storyline (note that I didn't say "hit max level". You have to play each storyline through) with a KDF character, you unlock a single character slot that gives you a playable KDF only race for the Fed faction. Playable Federation Gorn captain would be a pretty big incentive right? But to keep them rare, if you want more KDF playable races, you have to unlock additional slots by replaying the KDF story arc again.
This maximizes the exposure of the KDF - while also justifying KDF development time by giving players a reason to play through all of the developed content.
Further incentives could be developed by unlocking short species specific storylines once you have completed the KDF storyline with that species. So for example, if you go through the entire KDF story with a Gorn character, you unlock a 2 or 3 mission series of episodes that tells a uniquely Gorn story. (These would be account unlocks, so that you can do them with any toon if you want to, but you have to unlock them with a Gorn toon first).
3) CONTESTED SPACE: Add in new and uncharted areas that can be explored and conquered by the Federation and Klingon Empire
This is a much more involved idea, but it would be worth it in my opinion, and would benefit both factions.
Even with the fragile peace between the two superpowers, there will always be a struggle for balance. By introducing a newly discovered star system with a number of worlds that neither faction has a claim too would bring that struggle to the forefront again. Utilizing the "Global event" system - with it's tiered unlocks - would allow for the struggle to continue as the two factions vie for constant control over this new area of space.
I'm not just talking repeatable missions either. Those get stale within the first week of play. Instead, this system would have a number of dynamic game mechanics. For example, it would be an uncharted system that must be mapped and explored and scanned to unlock rich resource deposits within asteroid belts, and planets where the internal struggle of the inhabitants could shift their allegiances from the more diplomatic Federation to the more warlike Klingon Empire depending on what sort of aid the government(s) of those planets require that week.
Something as simple as a natural disaster or a governmental overthrow could shift the needs of a world and a species from a massive number of industrial replicators and other relief efforts to weapons and manpower to support their internal war effort.
The struggle to stay within the confines of the Federations dogma, and adhere to the Prime Directive could be made very real in this area, while the Klingon Empire can gain the upper hand by doing what Klingon's do best...conquer.
Even if the KDF is a smaller faction player-wise, it has many unique advantages that the Federation doesn't and with the right mechanics built into this idea, balance could be maintained even if the KDF have less "manpower" to commit.
Obviously, this idea would take considerably more work than the other suggestions I've put forth. But if developed correctly, this idea could open up new avenues for new factions and beyond. It could even be applied to a Romulan Republic vs. Romulan Star Empire sort of struggle, where the Federation and the Klingons would choose sides in a conflict to rebuild/reclaim a system that had once been a part of the Romulan Empire when it was at the height of its power.
CONCLUSION:
Those two things would have players flocking to the KDF faction in droves. That influx of new players to the faction would most likely lead to more focus on the KDF faction by the developers, which would draw in players even more.
I'm sure that there are inherent flaws with the KDF storyline itself, but I honestly haven't played it all the way through myself, so I can't really comment on those specifically. But I WOULD play though that content if they included the things above in some form or another.
Thank you for reading.
I have also tossed in my support for the KDF in the C-Store. Excluding the Delta Rising Ops Pack and the T6 Battlecruiser cross faction 3 ship bundle, all of my ship purchases have been KDF ships.
As I mentioned in a previous thread, perhaps a KDF recruitment event would help. Klingon Intelligence could recruit captains to gather information / assets from destroyed Federation starships, plant eavesdropping devices in Federation facilities, drop cloaked sensors in Federation space, etc.