Also to everyone speaking of an "Alliance". I urge you to go back and play Surface Tensions. All that J'mpok announced was a Cessation of Hostilities. There is no alliance. This is a "we won't attack each other any more, for the time being." The Task Forces are a Mutual Defense Pact.
I think you're delusional if you think adding rewards to PvP will "fix" KDF. PvP in STO is not important enough for it to have any real effect.
Normally I would agree with you here. But with them making STO available on console. This, is likely to change. PC gamers are a motley crew of pve and pvp players. Console players tend to focus more on PvP, than PvE.
But the PvP isn't just for the KDF. It's an across the board for all improvement. It is needed. Once you hit level 60, get your reps done and have your gear. There is really nothing left for you to do, except maybe start another character. If nothing else, removing the rewards from private PvP and re-instating the rewards for PvP queues, would give everyone something to do.
Enh, I remember those days.... people avoid the PvP queues because of the people who would make teams, then queue... It made for matches where one side hade a setup that included actual teamwork against random dudes who usually don't realize the enemy had a plan before starting the match.
Enh, I remember those days.... people avoid the PvP queues because of the people who would make teams, then queue... It made for matches where one side hade a setup that included actual teamwork against random dudes who usually don't realize the enemy had a plan before starting the match.
Yes, but you generally run in to this with any game that has PvP. Tera, being the exclusion. That one you can build a team. But the best you can do is queue at the same time and hope you get the team that was built. Which could be fixed with the Queue being randomized and getting rewards. Where privates could be more sparring/testing/tournament style.
Also to everyone speaking of an "Alliance". I urge you to go back and play Surface Tensions. All that J'mpok announced was a Cessation of Hostilities. There is no alliance. This is a "we won't attack each other any more, for the time being." The Task Forces are a Mutual Defense Pact.
That was in Season 9. There has been an alliance since Delta Rising.
The player factions have been consistently referred to as "the alliance" or "Alpha Quadrant alliance" after that point.
I have always said that the KDF had massive potential for story telling. Here are my ways for increasing participation on KDF side:
Integrated Missions
Bring the Fed toons into the KDF side by bringing them into missions where they have to go into KDF space, speak and interact with KDF toons on KDF worlds, and work with the KDF to complete the mission objectives. I envision this as a three to five mission story arc that would be integral to an important Fed objective. Let them play with some of the cool ships, drink some bloodwine, and give them a targ of their very own to take with them.
The both factions get new content and the Feds get a good introduction to KDF side and get to see a side of STO that they don't get to interact with much. I think that part of the reason that you fly a Bird of Prey on the Fed side is whet your appetite for more Klingon material, but the exposure is too brief.
Revamp Dialog
One of the things that really bugs me is the warm and fuzzy things that they make my KDF toon say. Part of making the KDF stand out is keeping the faction unique. Klingons, and by extension those that identify with them, don't care about being politically correct and they don't care for your feelings either. They are brusque, brash, and aggressive. Their dialog and actions should reflect this. When faced with choice between Fed and Fed lite, most people go full Fed. By adjusting the dialog and actions of the KDF to reflect who these people really are, you increase their appeal.
Make Female Orions Sexual
Star Trek lore always has Orion females portrayed as sexual beings. They use their sexuality to dominate and control men of nearly every species through pheromones. The longer you are around one, the deeper her control runs. You can make some really hot looking Orion women, but you don't get that raw sexuality from them. I'm not saying make STO rated M for mature, but I wouldn't mind PG-13.
Expand Klingon Culture
Add some blood decals on Klingon worlds, make the back alleys and streets dangerous and the seedy areas seedy. Don't just tell us that we are in a slum, show us. One of the things I loved about the new Mirror universe Bajor was how run down and seedy it became in the hands of the Terran Empire. Klingon worlds should have their seedy side as well.
That's a pretty short list and one that shouldn't break the bank. KDF has been dry for sometime and is due a makeover. These changes would make the faction distinct and fun to play.
Also to everyone speaking of an "Alliance". I urge you to go back and play Surface Tensions. All that J'mpok announced was a Cessation of Hostilities. There is no alliance. This is a "we won't attack each other any more, for the time being." The Task Forces are a Mutual Defense Pact.
That was in Season 9. There has been an alliance since Delta Rising.
The player factions have been consistently referred to as "the alliance" or "Alpha Quadrant alliance" after that point.
Yeah and the forces in WWII were referred to as the Allied Forces. We see how that stands now. War is over. Allied Forces are no more. NATO is about as close as you get to that now, and that's more of a Task Force.
The Alliance or Alpha Quadrant Alliance would be how the enemy understands it.
The last time the three factions experienced any serious friction was over the Jenolan Dyson Sphere. Delta Rising pretty much ended that (mostly). The KDF actually took the lead in directing the Alliance response to the Iconians.
Now, I don't say that there might not be continuing tensions and disagreements. But I don't foresee any scenario in which Cryptic returns to open war between them (at least not permanently... we can't rule out time travel shenanigans).
Yeah and the forces in WWII were referred to as the Allied Forces. We see how that stands now. War is over. Allied Forces are no more. NATO is about as close as you get to that now, and that's more of a Task Force.
And the war isn't over in STO, so, false comparison.
"In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war."
But, seriously, we were called the Alpha Quadrant Alliance before, during and after the Iconian war. It's completely pointless to pretend the alliance doesn't exist.
Personally I'd say the factions were allready allied in all but name even long before Delta Rising actually came out and said it.
Yeah and the forces in WWII were referred to as the Allied Forces. We see how that stands now. War is over. Allied Forces are no more. NATO is about as close as you get to that now, and that's more of a Task Force.
And the war isn't over in STO, so, false comparison.
"In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war."
But, seriously, we were called the Alpha Quadrant Alliance before, during and after the Iconian war. It's completely pointless to pretend the alliance doesn't exist.
Personally I'd say the factions were allready allied in all but name even long before Delta Rising actually came out and said it.
Not to me. I look at the story of STO. I follow the path from start to finish. I take in to account the current time travel arcs. To me, there is no alliance. There is only the Federation's manipulations of the current time line to benefit their own agenda. I had these thought during the Iconian War arc, when time travel was first starting to be introduced, as more than a flavor item. Future Proof set off all the alarms. The Federation is and always will be, the biggest threat to the galaxy.
Enh, I remember those days.... people avoid the PvP queues because of the people who would make teams, then queue... It made for matches where one side hade a setup that included actual teamwork against random dudes who usually don't realize the enemy had a plan before starting the match.
This was initially the only way Klingons could play in STO way back when: PvP. It was frustrating for Klingon players too.
>THE FEDS ARE MANIPULATING THE TIMELINE IN THEIR FAVOR!
>What about all those Klingons, Gorn, and other species we see as part of the Temporal Police?
>THEY DON'T COUNT BECAUSE THAT WOULD RUIN MY OBVIOUS AGENDA!
Until the 31st Century, who are the Self-appointed Guardians of the Time Line? The Federation
Until the 31st Century, who approves what events happen in the time line? The Federation
Until the formal approval of the Temporal Accords.. oh wait, they were never approved, thanks to the Nah'kul interruption. So that leaves the Federation in control of Temporal Affairs.
Other than the Kelvin Time Line Klingons, the only other klingons you see in all of Future Proof. Is the unnamed "Federation Ambassador" in 23/24th century klingon armor and 1 side screen popup message during 1 espisode.
The only time you see Gorn is the same. One gorn when you save the Ambassador's during New Khitomer and a couple side screen popup messages during space battles.
There is not an agenda here. There is looking at what is going on, without confining myself to the blind box of "The Federation are the good guys."
The only other klingon you see in the time travel business is K'valk, during the Iconian War. But then, he spoke the truth about war, "I'm not concerned about whether it's good or bad. I'm looking for how to survive and possibly win." In war, there isn't a good or bad. To you, your enemy is the bad guy. To your enemy, you are the bad guy.
Of course, being a KDF player, my prefered selection for the time travel to Iconia Past wasn't there. "Let us depart from here and leave them to their fate. If the survive, good. If they don't, just as good." But, since the game is meant to be played from the Federation point of view. This wasn't an option. As the hero, or Starfleet Officer here, would interfere and save the Iconians. Even while knowing that in 200,000 years, their choice will sacrifice millions, if not billions, of lives. If this is what it means to be the "good guy". I'll continue to be the bad guy.
Yeah and the forces in WWII were referred to as the Allied Forces. We see how that stands now. War is over. Allied Forces are no more. NATO is about as close as you get to that now, and that's more of a Task Force.
And the war isn't over in STO, so, false comparison.
"In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war."
But, seriously, we were called the Alpha Quadrant Alliance before, during and after the Iconian war. It's completely pointless to pretend the alliance doesn't exist.
Personally I'd say the factions were allready allied in all but name even long before Delta Rising actually came out and said it.
Not to me. I look at the story of STO. I follow the path from start to finish. I take in to account the current time travel arcs. To me, there is no alliance. There is only the Federation's manipulations of the current time line to benefit their own agenda. I had these thought during the Iconian War arc, when time travel was first starting to be introduced, as more than a flavor item. Future Proof set off all the alarms. The Federation is and always will be, the biggest threat to the galaxy.
I'd say we're not reading the same story if that were possible.
The forums were generally in favor of a full alliance even before Cryptic went ahead and did it. It was even being argued for before there was ever a Romulan Republic. When all of the content past a certain point is virtually identical it really doesn't make sense to differentiate it too much. Which open warfare would kind of necessitate.
I say that and I was one of the holdouts who didn't want an alliance. But it wasn't my decision and I've since come around to the belief that it's generally a good thing (PvP not withstanding).
Since Cryptic is committed to shared content, and since canon supports the idea of an alliance, there's really no reason for there not to be one.
And now we are straying beyond the original subject of this thread, which is incentivizing KDF play. Back on topic...
The main way to incentivize KDF play, in my view, is to provide a clear contrast between the Empire and the Federation. Where the Federation is theoretically one big happy melting pot of cultures and races, the Empire is decidedly not like that. The only thing holding it together is a shared code of honor that is subtly different from the Federation concept of honor. A civil war that throws the empire into unrest due to the manipulations of another master enemy or even just the normal internal divisions getting out of hand could be the basis for an event that would promote KDF play. A destabilized Empire would also affect the Alliance, so the other two factions wouldn't be frozen out. The only problem with this idea is that it doesn't necessarily make somebody want to roll a Klingon unless it's part of the early story arcs. I think a revamp could easily address that, especially if it highlights the different perspectives of the major Imperial races (Klingon, Gorn, Orion, etc).
What is going on in the far side of the Empire? Fodder for Klingon expansion, perhaps.
I wouldn't mind settling things with whoever cloned those Feklr'i who attacked first city.
And then there is still T'ket, whom I last saw swearing to kill me and my little targ too. A Klingon-centric story arc that allows us to settle her hash with some help from our Federation allies could be fun. (Kagran would have to die horribly.) With this idea only the identity of the support NPC need change so that a Fed player gets a Klink escort, and a Klink player gets to be the escort for a potential Fed spy in Klingon space.
On this topic, we have also never dealt with the Elachi. Are we supposed to assume that once Hakeev gave his last speech the Elachi became peaceful farmers and merchants?
Who are the Hurq, and where are they now? This is an opportunity to introduce new ship designs and NPC's (who do not have to have galaxy-conquering ambitions like the last few big bad enemies bent on galactic conquest.) Perhaps a Fed starship needs help defending a colony near Klingon space?
STO is far from running out of potential for creating a more inclusive Klingon faction. With Klingon-centric stories and events coupled with new Klingon faction ships and gear, players will jump on the bandwagon. The question of "Is it worth Cryptic's time," can only be answered by doing it. My bet is the effort will be rewarded based on the degree of committment put into it. Haphazard or limited committment will yield the results we have now, while a dedicated effort can yield much more.
What is going on in the far side of the Empire? Fodder for Klingon expansion, perhaps.
I wouldn't mind settling things with whoever cloned those Feklr'i who attacked first city.
And then there is still T'ket, whom I last saw swearing to kill me and my little targ too. A Klingon-centric story arc that allows us to settle her hash with some help from our Federation allies could be fun. (Kagran would have to die horribly.) With this idea only the identity of the support NPC need change so that a Fed player gets a Klink escort, and a Klink player gets to be the escort for a potential Fed spy in Klingon space.
On this topic, we have also never dealt with the Elachi. Are we supposed to assume that once Hakeev gave his last speech the Elachi became peaceful farmers and merchants?
Who are the Hurq, and where are they now? This is an opportunity to introduce new ship designs and NPC's (who do not have to have galaxy-conquering ambitions like the last few big bad enemies bent on galactic conquest.) Perhaps a Fed starship needs help defending a colony near Klingon space?
STO is far from running out of potential for creating a more inclusive Klingon faction. With Klingon-centric stories and events coupled with new Klingon faction ships and gear, players will jump on the bandwagon. The question of "Is it worth Cryptic's time," can only be answered by doing it. My bet is the effort will be rewarded based on the degree of committment put into it. Haphazard or limited committment will yield the results we have now, while a dedicated effort can yield much more.
The Fek'lhri, well we can leave them as they are. It's good to have a re-occuring enemy.
The Elachi, were "supposedly" dealt with when their space station was destroyed.
The Hur'q. Well it's been argued that if Cryptic were to do a Gamma Quadrant expansion. They could use this as a possibility. Though with this I'd still hedge my bets on the more commonly known Dominion.
As to what going on around the fringes of the Empire or the rest of the quadrants. For now, that's on the Foundry author's. As to what, if anything, Cryptic has planned for it. That's a wait and see issue.
What is going on in the far side of the Empire? Fodder for Klingon expansion, perhaps.
I wouldn't mind settling things with whoever cloned those Feklr'i who attacked first city.
And then there is still T'ket, whom I last saw swearing to kill me and my little targ too. A Klingon-centric story arc that allows us to settle her hash with some help from our Federation allies could be fun. (Kagran would have to die horribly.) With this idea only the identity of the support NPC need change so that a Fed player gets a Klink escort, and a Klink player gets to be the escort for a potential Fed spy in Klingon space.
On this topic, we have also never dealt with the Elachi. Are we supposed to assume that once Hakeev gave his last speech the Elachi became peaceful farmers and merchants?
Who are the Hurq, and where are they now? This is an opportunity to introduce new ship designs and NPC's (who do not have to have galaxy-conquering ambitions like the last few big bad enemies bent on galactic conquest.) Perhaps a Fed starship needs help defending a colony near Klingon space?
STO is far from running out of potential for creating a more inclusive Klingon faction. With Klingon-centric stories and events coupled with new Klingon faction ships and gear, players will jump on the bandwagon. The question of "Is it worth Cryptic's time," can only be answered by doing it. My bet is the effort will be rewarded based on the degree of committment put into it. Haphazard or limited committment will yield the results we have now, while a dedicated effort can yield much more.
The Fek'lhri, well we can leave them as they are. It's good to have a re-occuring enemy.
The Elachi, were "supposedly" dealt with when their space station was destroyed.
The Hur'q. Well it's been argued that if Cryptic were to do a Gamma Quadrant expansion. They could use this as a possibility. Though with this I'd still hedge my bets on the more commonly known Dominion.
As to what going on around the fringes of the Empire or the rest of the quadrants. For now, that's on the Foundry author's. As to what, if anything, Cryptic has planned for it. That's a wait and see issue.
Well keep in mind that the Fek'Ihri by mission details in the arc were were cloned via Hur'q technology, so it would make sense if they did much expansion of the empire we would see the loose ends of the Fek'Ihri and Hur'q dealt with. Also as much as we can tell from the entries on the star trek wiki online the Hur'q were a conquering type race of Ant-like/insectoid race, and that they held control of the Klingon homeworld before being run-off/leaving an are from where the Klingon get their warp tech.
Where the Elachi are concerned I could see them being part of a arc where the Servitor races of the Iconians might start trying to expand after gaining their freedom (or maybe being used by T'ket for revenge). Even if the Elachi were dealt with in the base that does not mean they are gone/dead, just not a direct threat right now so still could be brought back slowly.
I agree if they do a gamma quad expansion I would think we either would see the dominion being the prime-enemy of it. Kinda would not mind seeing maybe a civil divide of opinion maybe come up between the Changelings of the great link that might bring the dominion into a kind of civil war between two factions, maybe even it being more of the Gamma quad changelings wanting the Alpha/beta changelings to return an they refused.
True enough, but I was trying to come up with a Klingon-based storyline that Feddybears could join in, sort of like how Klingon faction PCs now fight Fed battles for them. Gamma Quadrant, due to DS9s proximity to one access to the Gamma Quadrant, will of necessity be a Federation operation.
I love all these rampant attempts to try to re-frame the game's narrative from what it actually is, into some bizarre conspiracy, in order to pull the victim card.
Yes. And especially by the Klingons. Playing the victim card is such an...un-Klingon thing to do. A Klingon does not beg for sympathy.
Lots of great ideas being thrown around folks. Keep it up!
Btw, the recent Tribbles In Ecstasy podcast had interviews with both Taco and Joe Jing. They both expressed interest in expanding and fixing the Klingon faction, especially Joe Jing, who professed to being a big Klingon fan. They're just "lowly" artists though, but they say that it's something that is discussed around the office between the developers, but no consensus on how to go about it has been reached and nothing has been scheduled. But for what it's worth, Joe did say that if enough players show interest in things on the forums, the Developers do pay attention. (note: I'm wildly paraphrasing all of that, but it was encouraging to hear some Developers talk about the KDF in a positive manner)
I love all these rampant attempts to try to re-frame the game's narrative from what it actually is, into some bizarre conspiracy, in order to pull the victim card.
Yes. And especially by the Klingons. Playing the victim card is such an...un-Klingon thing to do. A Klingon does not beg for sympathy.
Someone that just pretends to be a Klingon on the internet however can do so.
There are no real Klingons, which is sometimes forgotten by all sides on the debate.
The Klingons are not an oppressed minority, since they don't exist. And if they join the Federation at some point in the fictional universe, that doesn't mean they are an oppressed minority either, it means that the Federation members and the Klingon people have found common ground and "evolved" their relationship so they can work together in one common group.
I think there is no going back to faction-specific content ever again. You notice that AoY contains only a very smal number of episodes that is actually restricted to AOY content, other content released with AOY was faction-agnostic, as most new content is.
But I think there is plenty of room - and room that Cryptic will "explore" - to tell stories that will focus on one or the other faction. The Iconian arc had the House of Pegh story, it had Kagran as key figure in the entire arc. The Queues focused on Klingon locations.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
I love all these rampant attempts to try to re-frame the game's narrative from what it actually is, into some bizarre conspiracy, in order to pull the victim card.
Yes. And especially by the Klingons. Playing the victim card is such an...un-Klingon thing to do. A Klingon does not beg for sympathy.
Someone that just pretends to be a Klingon on the internet however can do so.
There are no real Klingons, which is sometimes forgotten by all sides on the debate.
The Klingons are not an oppressed minority, since they don't exist. And if they join the Federation at some point in the fictional universe, that doesn't mean they are an oppressed minority either, it means that the Federation members and the Klingon people have found common ground and "evolved" their relationship so they can work together in one common group.
I think there is no going back to faction-specific content ever again. You notice that AoY contains only a very smal number of episodes that is actually restricted to AOY content, other content released with AOY was faction-agnostic, as most new content is.
But I think there is plenty of room - and room that Cryptic will "explore" - to tell stories that will focus on one or the other faction. The Iconian arc had the House of Pegh story, it had Kagran as key figure in the entire arc. The Queues focused on Klingon locations.
I'm fine with cross-faction content, and I think that we'll see that as the majority of content going forward. However, I don't think that that means we won't see some faction specific content as well. There's absolutely nothing that prevents them from developing one set of assets and using them in drastically different stories for each side. Then the only barrier is the time allotted to create the stories and build two missions (or three if they do Romulans as well) instead of one.
In my opinion, an MMO works best when there's more than one choice on how to play, and where there's opposing sides - even if they aren't engaged in combat or PVP related content. Healthy competition is sometimes important to maintaining a healthy community.
Take exploration for example. There's no reason that there couldn't be a race to discover an artifact, or claim a new world in the name of your faction, or convince a newly discovered species to join your faction. All of those things could be accomplished without actual PVP combat.
Sometimes I think that MMO's suffer from a lack of creativity when it comes to the writing side of things, and the focus is far too often put on the programming and mechanic side of development. The story should always be the most important thing, and while I enjoy the DOFF, Admiralty, Reputation and Specialization systems and think they're really innovative, they're mostly UI/text based elements, and don't really serve to further develop the interactive storyline of the game - which is by far the most important aspect of any game. The more time a player spends within those systems, the more they're insulated from the environment and the more they are sub-consciously drawn into the single-player aspects of the game.
But I get it, those UI/text based systems are easier to develop and implement. They're not going away. But continuing to introduce those sorts of gameplay elements is ultimately detrimental to the community of an MMORPG.
Comments
I forgot to add this to my post. Thanks for adding it.
My character Tsin'xing
Normally I would agree with you here. But with them making STO available on console. This, is likely to change. PC gamers are a motley crew of pve and pvp players. Console players tend to focus more on PvP, than PvE.
But the PvP isn't just for the KDF. It's an across the board for all improvement. It is needed. Once you hit level 60, get your reps done and have your gear. There is really nothing left for you to do, except maybe start another character. If nothing else, removing the rewards from private PvP and re-instating the rewards for PvP queues, would give everyone something to do.
My character Tsin'xing
Yes, but you generally run in to this with any game that has PvP. Tera, being the exclusion. That one you can build a team. But the best you can do is queue at the same time and hope you get the team that was built. Which could be fixed with the Queue being randomized and getting rewards. Where privates could be more sparring/testing/tournament style.
That was in Season 9. There has been an alliance since Delta Rising.
The player factions have been consistently referred to as "the alliance" or "Alpha Quadrant alliance" after that point.
Some good ideas here
Yeah and the forces in WWII were referred to as the Allied Forces. We see how that stands now. War is over. Allied Forces are no more. NATO is about as close as you get to that now, and that's more of a Task Force.
The Alliance or Alpha Quadrant Alliance would be how the enemy understands it.
Now, I don't say that there might not be continuing tensions and disagreements. But I don't foresee any scenario in which Cryptic returns to open war between them (at least not permanently... we can't rule out time travel shenanigans).
"In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war."
But, seriously, we were called the Alpha Quadrant Alliance before, during and after the Iconian war. It's completely pointless to pretend the alliance doesn't exist.
Personally I'd say the factions were allready allied in all but name even long before Delta Rising actually came out and said it.
Not to me. I look at the story of STO. I follow the path from start to finish. I take in to account the current time travel arcs. To me, there is no alliance. There is only the Federation's manipulations of the current time line to benefit their own agenda. I had these thought during the Iconian War arc, when time travel was first starting to be introduced, as more than a flavor item. Future Proof set off all the alarms. The Federation is and always will be, the biggest threat to the galaxy.
Until the 31st Century, who are the Self-appointed Guardians of the Time Line? The Federation
Until the 31st Century, who approves what events happen in the time line? The Federation
Until the formal approval of the Temporal Accords.. oh wait, they were never approved, thanks to the Nah'kul interruption. So that leaves the Federation in control of Temporal Affairs.
Other than the Kelvin Time Line Klingons, the only other klingons you see in all of Future Proof. Is the unnamed "Federation Ambassador" in 23/24th century klingon armor and 1 side screen popup message during 1 espisode.
The only time you see Gorn is the same. One gorn when you save the Ambassador's during New Khitomer and a couple side screen popup messages during space battles.
There is not an agenda here. There is looking at what is going on, without confining myself to the blind box of "The Federation are the good guys."
The only other klingon you see in the time travel business is K'valk, during the Iconian War. But then, he spoke the truth about war, "I'm not concerned about whether it's good or bad. I'm looking for how to survive and possibly win." In war, there isn't a good or bad. To you, your enemy is the bad guy. To your enemy, you are the bad guy.
Of course, being a KDF player, my prefered selection for the time travel to Iconia Past wasn't there. "Let us depart from here and leave them to their fate. If the survive, good. If they don't, just as good." But, since the game is meant to be played from the Federation point of view. This wasn't an option. As the hero, or Starfleet Officer here, would interfere and save the Iconians. Even while knowing that in 200,000 years, their choice will sacrifice millions, if not billions, of lives. If this is what it means to be the "good guy". I'll continue to be the bad guy.
I'd say we're not reading the same story if that were possible.
The forums were generally in favor of a full alliance even before Cryptic went ahead and did it. It was even being argued for before there was ever a Romulan Republic. When all of the content past a certain point is virtually identical it really doesn't make sense to differentiate it too much. Which open warfare would kind of necessitate.
I say that and I was one of the holdouts who didn't want an alliance. But it wasn't my decision and I've since come around to the belief that it's generally a good thing (PvP not withstanding).
Since Cryptic is committed to shared content, and since canon supports the idea of an alliance, there's really no reason for there not to be one.
And now we are straying beyond the original subject of this thread, which is incentivizing KDF play. Back on topic...
The main way to incentivize KDF play, in my view, is to provide a clear contrast between the Empire and the Federation. Where the Federation is theoretically one big happy melting pot of cultures and races, the Empire is decidedly not like that. The only thing holding it together is a shared code of honor that is subtly different from the Federation concept of honor. A civil war that throws the empire into unrest due to the manipulations of another master enemy or even just the normal internal divisions getting out of hand could be the basis for an event that would promote KDF play. A destabilized Empire would also affect the Alliance, so the other two factions wouldn't be frozen out. The only problem with this idea is that it doesn't necessarily make somebody want to roll a Klingon unless it's part of the early story arcs. I think a revamp could easily address that, especially if it highlights the different perspectives of the major Imperial races (Klingon, Gorn, Orion, etc).
I wouldn't mind settling things with whoever cloned those Feklr'i who attacked first city.
And then there is still T'ket, whom I last saw swearing to kill me and my little targ too. A Klingon-centric story arc that allows us to settle her hash with some help from our Federation allies could be fun. (Kagran would have to die horribly.) With this idea only the identity of the support NPC need change so that a Fed player gets a Klink escort, and a Klink player gets to be the escort for a potential Fed spy in Klingon space.
On this topic, we have also never dealt with the Elachi. Are we supposed to assume that once Hakeev gave his last speech the Elachi became peaceful farmers and merchants?
Who are the Hurq, and where are they now? This is an opportunity to introduce new ship designs and NPC's (who do not have to have galaxy-conquering ambitions like the last few big bad enemies bent on galactic conquest.) Perhaps a Fed starship needs help defending a colony near Klingon space?
STO is far from running out of potential for creating a more inclusive Klingon faction. With Klingon-centric stories and events coupled with new Klingon faction ships and gear, players will jump on the bandwagon. The question of "Is it worth Cryptic's time," can only be answered by doing it. My bet is the effort will be rewarded based on the degree of committment put into it. Haphazard or limited committment will yield the results we have now, while a dedicated effort can yield much more.
The Fek'lhri, well we can leave them as they are. It's good to have a re-occuring enemy.
The Elachi, were "supposedly" dealt with when their space station was destroyed.
The Hur'q. Well it's been argued that if Cryptic were to do a Gamma Quadrant expansion. They could use this as a possibility. Though with this I'd still hedge my bets on the more commonly known Dominion.
As to what going on around the fringes of the Empire or the rest of the quadrants. For now, that's on the Foundry author's. As to what, if anything, Cryptic has planned for it. That's a wait and see issue.
Well keep in mind that the Fek'Ihri by mission details in the arc were were cloned via Hur'q technology, so it would make sense if they did much expansion of the empire we would see the loose ends of the Fek'Ihri and Hur'q dealt with. Also as much as we can tell from the entries on the star trek wiki online the Hur'q were a conquering type race of Ant-like/insectoid race, and that they held control of the Klingon homeworld before being run-off/leaving an are from where the Klingon get their warp tech.
Where the Elachi are concerned I could see them being part of a arc where the Servitor races of the Iconians might start trying to expand after gaining their freedom (or maybe being used by T'ket for revenge). Even if the Elachi were dealt with in the base that does not mean they are gone/dead, just not a direct threat right now so still could be brought back slowly.
I agree if they do a gamma quad expansion I would think we either would see the dominion being the prime-enemy of it. Kinda would not mind seeing maybe a civil divide of opinion maybe come up between the Changelings of the great link that might bring the dominion into a kind of civil war between two factions, maybe even it being more of the Gamma quad changelings wanting the Alpha/beta changelings to return an they refused.
Yes. And especially by the Klingons. Playing the victim card is such an...un-Klingon thing to do. A Klingon does not beg for sympathy.
Btw, the recent Tribbles In Ecstasy podcast had interviews with both Taco and Joe Jing. They both expressed interest in expanding and fixing the Klingon faction, especially Joe Jing, who professed to being a big Klingon fan. They're just "lowly" artists though, but they say that it's something that is discussed around the office between the developers, but no consensus on how to go about it has been reached and nothing has been scheduled. But for what it's worth, Joe did say that if enough players show interest in things on the forums, the Developers do pay attention. (note: I'm wildly paraphrasing all of that, but it was encouraging to hear some Developers talk about the KDF in a positive manner)
Check out the podcast here:
arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline#/discussion/1222909/podcast-interview-tribbles-in-ecstasy-take-237-an-artists-perspective
There are no real Klingons, which is sometimes forgotten by all sides on the debate.
The Klingons are not an oppressed minority, since they don't exist. And if they join the Federation at some point in the fictional universe, that doesn't mean they are an oppressed minority either, it means that the Federation members and the Klingon people have found common ground and "evolved" their relationship so they can work together in one common group.
I think there is no going back to faction-specific content ever again. You notice that AoY contains only a very smal number of episodes that is actually restricted to AOY content, other content released with AOY was faction-agnostic, as most new content is.
But I think there is plenty of room - and room that Cryptic will "explore" - to tell stories that will focus on one or the other faction. The Iconian arc had the House of Pegh story, it had Kagran as key figure in the entire arc. The Queues focused on Klingon locations.
KLINGONS AREN'T REAL?!?!!! TRIBBLE this...I'm out.
I'm fine with cross-faction content, and I think that we'll see that as the majority of content going forward. However, I don't think that that means we won't see some faction specific content as well. There's absolutely nothing that prevents them from developing one set of assets and using them in drastically different stories for each side. Then the only barrier is the time allotted to create the stories and build two missions (or three if they do Romulans as well) instead of one.
In my opinion, an MMO works best when there's more than one choice on how to play, and where there's opposing sides - even if they aren't engaged in combat or PVP related content. Healthy competition is sometimes important to maintaining a healthy community.
Take exploration for example. There's no reason that there couldn't be a race to discover an artifact, or claim a new world in the name of your faction, or convince a newly discovered species to join your faction. All of those things could be accomplished without actual PVP combat.
Sometimes I think that MMO's suffer from a lack of creativity when it comes to the writing side of things, and the focus is far too often put on the programming and mechanic side of development. The story should always be the most important thing, and while I enjoy the DOFF, Admiralty, Reputation and Specialization systems and think they're really innovative, they're mostly UI/text based elements, and don't really serve to further develop the interactive storyline of the game - which is by far the most important aspect of any game. The more time a player spends within those systems, the more they're insulated from the environment and the more they are sub-consciously drawn into the single-player aspects of the game.
But I get it, those UI/text based systems are easier to develop and implement. They're not going away. But continuing to introduce those sorts of gameplay elements is ultimately detrimental to the community of an MMORPG.
That's my point of view anyhow.