Didnt DStahl say in the latests Q&A in game that there wont be romulan ships in lockboxes because of a plan to make them as a faction?
so wouldnt that mean they DO plan on making them, jus that its not a "Right this minute" priority?
Stahl says a lot but has a poor track record of keeping his word. Even as a KDF player I would roll a Rom or Cardi if they came out. Stahl must have his numbers wrong, if he went back and looked at the last successful ST game, the SFC series, there were healthy fleets in all 6 factions, well seven if you include those dirty Pirates .
DStahl has said and promised many things during the last 2 years which never happened for KDF. I will believe it when i see it, before that it is just once again Stahl talk.
The man has lost my trust and all creditability entirely for his statements during the last 2 years.
The truth and development history of STO doesn't suit your tastes? My, oh my.
Going off Cryptic's track record, the Romulans will never come into play as a decent faction. Matter of fact, going off Cryptic's track record with the KDF, the Romulans will be in a worse of position. Cryptic has had 2 YEARS to get the KDF and UFP on equal footing for this game, and they have yet to even really try. You can imagine Cryptic's tears of sorrow when suggestions come up to work on the KDF.
It's for all these reasons and STO's actual development, that the Romulans will never be a viable faction, or if they do get forcefully implemented, they will be in the same predicament the KDF was in at STO's launch.
And for another faction that has played a major role in a very recent, major conflict in Star Trek?... The Dominion? Guaranteed, that they will never, EVER be playable. Again, Cryptic's track history will prove this right.
Edit to add: Add the fact that Cryptic has been whor*ng out ships via the Lockboxes and now the Gamma Quadrant DOFF set. I was shaking my head when I saw Ferengi cruisers being thrown around in factions where they don't belong. I was really, REALLY disappointed to see ships like the Galor and Jem'Hadar Attack Ships being tossed around to factions that have no reason on having them.
What does it mean? Extra factions, most especially the Dominion, will never be implemented. Their ships are being given away already, and again, this drastically affects the Dominion.
The truth and development history of STO doesn't suit your tastes? My, oh my.
Going off Cryptic's track record, the Romulans will never come into play as a decent faction. Matter of fact, going off Cryptic's track record with the KDF, the Romulans will be in a worse of position. Cryptic has had 2 YEARS to get the KDF and UFP on equal footing for this game, and they have yet to even really try. You can imagine Cryptic's tears of sorrow when suggestions come up to work on the KDF.
It's for all these reasons and STO's actual development, that the Romulans will never be a viable faction, or if they do get forcefully implemented, they will be in the same predicament the KDF was in at STO's launch.
And for another faction that has played a major role in a very recent, major conflict in Star Trek?... The Dominion? Guaranteed, that they will never, EVER be playable. Again, Cryptic's track history will prove this right.
Edit to add: Add the fact that Cryptic has been whor*ng out ships via the Lockboxes and now the Gamma Quadrant DOFF set. I was shaking my head when I saw Ferengi cruisers being thrown around in factions where they don't belong. I was really, REALLY disappointed to see ships like the Galor and Jem'Hadar Attack Ships being tossed around to factions that have no reason on having them.
What does it mean? Extra factions, most especially the Dominion, will never be implemented. Their ships are being given away already, and again, this drastically affects the Dominion.
I 100% Agree..
If they cannot handle 2 factions.. with a doubled staff.. how in the hell are they going to handle 3???
The Feds are the Cashcow.. Unless, when ( and if ) a Romulan faction came out.. they also came out with 20+ ships for c-store purchase.. this is the only way they would make money... temporarily.. because, as the KDF.. the Romulans will fall off to the waste side UNLESS they become the #1 faction in terms of players. ( IN which case the Feds would be left in the dust.. but I seriously doubt Roms would outnumber feds )
Cryptic stated time and time again they are only developing their cash cow.. the federation.. 16% on KDF.. what... will it be 14% on Romulans?.. why would they keep developing that 14% after it was released?
While I don't see a Romulan faction that starts off at level 1, I think they could make the Romulans unlock via a max level Federation character. The logic behind this scenario is the player has learned the basics of the game leveling up the Federation character and now has the option to explore other factions like Romulans, Klingons, Cardassians, and Tribbles.
Then Cryptic needs only to generate worthy end game content(PvE and PvP)and have it all faction inclusive.
For me, I love playing both Federation and Klingon, but since I can't play my favorite ship at max level, the K't'inga, I tend to lose interest after T3-no offense to the Vor'cha, its magnificent, but its Not a K't'inga.
While I don't see a Romulan faction that starts off at level 1, I think they could make the Romulans unlock via a max level Federation character. The logic behind this scenario is the player has learned the basics of the game leveling up the Federation character and now has the option to explore other factions like Romulans, Klingons, Cardassians, and Tribbles.
Then Cryptic needs only to generate worthy end game content(PvE and PvP)and have it all faction inclusive.
you are not looking at this from the business perspective.
unless there is a lot of stuff to sell you for the faction in the c store, plus a large population to buy those things, why create a new faction to steal from the Starfleet faction (where all the money is)?
Romulans under Starfleet protection makes far more sense.
A new faction, we won't see soon because it is a huge effort on their part. A new ship is a much smaller effort and if you can sell it for the price of an expansion, why choose the harder work ? I'd say we will see romulan ships in the c-store sooner than a faction. It has nothing to do with preserving federation players and characters.
On the long term, they will have to expand the game, but this will not go into a new faction, basicly beacuse a new faction does not bring much gameplay wise, just think of how the main difference between fed and klingon is of art. Same skillsets, similar ships, a little less here, a little more there but basicly, the same. Actually, the game needs enahnced game mechanics and stuff to do, not a new faction, what plays the same as the other two. I don't want to have romulan alts who will do Deferi Dailies. It'd enough to do them on my fed and klink characters.
Alos bear in mind that even in the movies and the series the main faction was the federation. A few perhaps would try to be klingon, romulan, denobulan you name it, but for most, Star Trek is flying Enterprise. The fed playerbase is not bigger because klingon is undeveloped, but mainly because we are human, not klingon IRL.
Whatever we deny or embrace, we belong togheter./ Pat Benatar
First, let me say that I really admire "Archived Post's" ability to argue with himself. MPD can be so entertaining.
I think it's really stretching to say that the Armitage proves there will never be a Romulan faction.
It's also not a given that there will be one just because Cryptic holds back Romulan ships to keep their options open.
What's painfully clear is that Cryptic's roadmap does not include low-level KDF content just now and they aren't willing to commit to that any more than they're willing to commit to rolling out Romulans.
There's a lot of development still needed with this game and nothing's going to happen overnight. Except maybe ripping out the forums and replacing them without warning.
My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
Stahl's track record pre-departure was pretty dismal, to be sure, but since he's been back, his reevaluated style has proven much more reliable.
With that in mind, and his direct quote that he's kept Romulan ships out of lock boxes (despite knowing full well they'd sell like crazy) because he's still holding out for a Romulan faction, means exactly that. He's still holding out for a Romulan faction.
There's absolutely no reason they couldn't, with six to eight months of nonstop work and near-silence (and likely a Second Great Content Drought along with it), crank out enough missions, ships, and costumes for a barebones Romulan 21-50 faction, with no alt ship costumes, and only four races (Romulan, Reman, Hirogen, Alien), and little to no customization for Reman and Hirogen characters.
The only question is, will they? Hard to say. They can't justify content for the half-faction they have now, so there's no obvious reason why they'd spend the money, time, and effort on another half-faction to ignore.
I prefer to remain optimistic. I think, despite their inner fanboys wanting to expand the KDF, their realistic sides are content with it as it stands, and could feasibly okay a Romulan faction released in the same state.
There's also the proposed "mini-faction" idea where the Romulans would get races, ships, and levels 1-10 in their own short story content, leading to a point where they choose an allegiance; Fed or KDF. They'd just play that faction's content from there, but either be limited to Romulan ships, or have Romulan and faction-specific ships available.
This is not a whine post this is an observation from a KDF-centric player.
There has been a lot of talk regarding pricing models, profit, and the player base.
The recent release of an escort with a hanger bay for the Federation basically a carrier without the turn rate limitation is very telling. I think I am providing a new perspective on exactly what this means if not, I apologize.
Obviously, as has been pointed out in other threads, this is a profit-making strategy. The Federation player base is the largest in the game. That is why there will never be a Romulan, or any other faction developed and the release of this vessel is an indicator of that.
Got your attention? Good the writing was on the wall some time ago when they changed game progression to where you had to play Federation for 20-some odd levels first before rolling a Klingon character. If I remember correctly, the perception was that this was a restriction that was only temporary until the Klingon Faction can be fleshed out, and yet, we have not seen any move towards removing this restriction.
First, gamers can be very pragmatic and if you are forced to play Federation for twenty or so levels, just so you can have an opportunity to play a race that has fewer ships with lesser capabilities because nearly every console or ability that makes Klingon ships unique can now be replicated better on the Federation side then why waste your time? By the time you reach level 20 you have invested a lot of effort into your Federation character. That is the first piece of evidence what Cryptic and Perfect World are doing is hooking players into a single faction in order to maximize online sales to that faction. I believe this to be part of their pricing and profit model.
Secondly as a corporate online game company managing an MMO, you want to do everything you can to preserve that profit-generating base. That is at the heart of my theory for this post calls for a third Romulan faction have been in the game since day one. The only real promise that we have heard is that there will be a Romulan faction once the Klingons are finished. That is not a lie it is not even deception, because the Klingons will never be finished and so there will not be a Romulan faction, ever. The reason why is not hard to understand -- put yourself into that pair of corporate shoes who only cares about profit margins, not gameplay .and ask yourself, why on earth would I seek to split or fracture my primary profit base the Federation faction? If there was a Romulan faction, a significant number of Federation players would switch not enough to form any sort of majority, but enough to decrease your main profit-making base by a substantial percentage and then, what you end up having three factions that would require new content (which costs money), rather than one The Federation. Bottom line from a corporate perspective, developing a third faction in this game is equivalent to shooting yourself in the foot, because your profit margins will drop like a rock as your costs for developing new content increase.
Do you see how it works out? Bringing in a Romulan faction could possibly decrease their profit margin somewhere between 40-60 percent. I arrived at that number using the following elements:
1. Content development eats into your profit margin if you are only producing real content for one faction, you are being cost efficient and resource allocation (artwork, content, scripting, etc) is more focused if you create a third faction, you will have to support the second faction more (because you have been ignoring it in any case), develop content for the third, while still cranking out content for the primary player base. This is a major reduction in the allocation of programing, scripting, and artwork resources to the prime profit player base, which will in turn slow down pushing content to your perceived money maker the Federation faction.
2. A third faction will take a significant number of players away from your money-making faction, the Federation. Even if only 10% of the Federation player base goes Romulan, a potential 10% loss in profit is significant in corporate circles.
And that, sadly, is why you are not going to see any significant Klingon content and likely will never see a Romulan faction, either. It all boils down to what is cost effective, and what will increase profits. Right now Cryptic and Perfect World are milking the Federation faction for what they can get that is their money maker and as their money maker, that faction needs to be protected and preserved competitive interests, such as a stronger Klingon faction with solid content, and a third faction that they know would likely be wildly popular -- the Romulans -- cannot be allowed in the game because it will destroy their profit-making models.
In closing I really, really want to be wrong on this but it just makes too much sense and after reading Mr. Stahls State of the Game I am about 90% convinced that the theory presented above is spot-on, because unlike last engineering reports, there is absolutely no mention of a Romulan or third faction not even a hint and I think that is on purpose.
The fact that I've leveled 6 Feds, and 3 Klinks, and would gladly level 3 Romulans, blows your "time vested" theory to pieces. I'm sure there are others like me.
The Armitage was created because people like me have been begging for the last two years to have a T-5 Canon Akira. Which means we were asking for the Akira to be able to do everything its designer (not the show) designed it to do. I don't think it is telling of anything.
I've reclamied my old post!
I'm am Archived Post
Sollaf: Join date Sep 2009, Lifer. Disgruntled with the JHSS, my Bug feels less shiny now.
you are not looking at this from the business perspective.
unless there is a lot of stuff to sell you for the faction in the c store, plus a large population to buy those things, why create a new faction to steal from the Starfleet faction (where all the money is)?
Romulans under Starfleet protection makes far more sense.
Playable Romulan captain and vessel that defected to the federation is not a bad idea. It won't really help the PvP element in the shorterm, but with a gradual increase in end game infastructure a top end antagonist Romulan faction could be born.
There are ways to make non federation packages appealing to the Federation playerbase, I can think of many reward incentives that could be offered to Fed players to invest time into playing antagonist roles, like Romulans, Klingons, and Cardassians.
Imagine a playering opting to invest time in the Tal'Shiar instead of playing Federation; that player could maintain a free gold account status because he/she is providing the community a service by playing a villian.
Something along that line. Same with Kligons, make them free Gold status.
I hope not but probably so. What references I've heard made about the subject only mention the Romulans as a mini-faction.
A mini faction could imply unlocking playable Romulans that start off at max or near max level. So many games over the years have ingrained into us gamers that we must level up characters in MMO's. The only comparison I have personal experience with not having to fully level up is the World of ******** Death Knight. This character started at 55 and the story around his/her beginnings were very well crafted. I can see Romulans in the same light. They unlock once you have a Federation at Admiral as one example.
Getting more people to step away from their beloved Federation will, however, require more than a fancy green ship to fly around and terrorize local colonies. Real incentives have to be offered.
The truth and development history of STO doesn't suit your tastes? My, oh my.
Going off Cryptic's track record, the Romulans will never come into play as a decent faction. Matter of fact, going off Cryptic's track record with the KDF, the Romulans will be in a worse of position. Cryptic has had 2 YEARS to get the KDF and UFP on equal footing for this game, and they have yet to even really try. You can imagine Cryptic's tears of sorrow when suggestions come up to work on the KDF.
It's for all these reasons and STO's actual development, that the Romulans will never be a viable faction, or if they do get forcefully implemented, they will be in the same predicament the KDF was in at STO's launch.
And for another faction that has played a major role in a very recent, major conflict in Star Trek?... The Dominion? Guaranteed, that they will never, EVER be playable. Again, Cryptic's track history will prove this right.
Edit to add: Add the fact that Cryptic has been whor*ng out ships via the Lockboxes and now the Gamma Quadrant DOFF set. I was shaking my head when I saw Ferengi cruisers being thrown around in factions where they don't belong. I was really, REALLY disappointed to see ships like the Galor and Jem'Hadar Attack Ships being tossed around to factions that have no reason on having them.
What does it mean? Extra factions, most especially the Dominion, will never be implemented. Their ships are being given away already, and again, this drastically affects the Dominion.
I have read that wiki page several weeks ago, and I read it yesterday as well. Nonetheless, I stand by my arguments.
Edit: In fact, judging by the situation on the forums, I suspect that should there ever be a Romulan faction that doesn't just defect to another faction, the Federation and KDF players will just unite to demand Romulan equipment - and the Romulans will defend it as well as they can - just as it is now between Federation and KDF. So why bother arguing about it, when the oldest, most complete, factions will always unite to demand the 'unique' content of the newest one?
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.
The only way I see the Romlans entering STO is as a CPoint-only faction: Cpoints to buy the faction, Cpoints to buy any species in the faction, Cpoints to buy the ships, gear, boffs, doffs, bridges, and probably content. I can only hope that they do not have a lock-box that has a chance to grant you the only possibility of having a Romulan toon.
I'm sure they can come up with any number of creative ways to "fund" the factional addition.
The only way I see the Romlans entering STO is as a CPoint-only faction: Cpoints to buy the faction, Cpoints to buy any species in the faction, Cpoints to buy the ships, gear, boffs, doffs, bridges, and probably content. I can only hope that they do not have a lock-box that has a chance to grant you the only possibility of having a Romulan toon.
I'm sure they can come up with any number of creative ways to "fund" the factional addition.
I don't think that would generate the revenue from the playerbase to off set the cost of production. You have to have a carrot on the end of that stick to lure a bigger percentage of the playerbase. Cryptic has to offer something more substantial than commanding a Warbird. It's why the Klingons are underpopulated because there isn't really any incentive to draw larger groups of players from the Federation.
Gentlemen: Think about it. One faction in the game that does every single thing with every possible race and ship class?
In Star Trek?
Are you guys freakin' high?
Romulan, Klingon, and whatever race's ships and crews all under the aegis of a Federation faction? SERIOUSLY?!?
LOL!!!!
Talk about some pathetic distortion of the Star Trek universe, all to justify Cryptic's lazy development.
Just trying to picture Capt.Kirk sitting at a campfire with his enemies, holding hands, roasting marshmellows, and singing cumbaya. Holy jeez...
Someone didn't watch Deep Space 9. If all factions are a loose coalition working to fight against common foes (Borg/Iconians/Undine) that threaten the Alpha/Beta quadrants, that would work better toward the game strengths. It would allow 1-50 for all faction by sharing more quests and allow for teaming so players can do team content easier.
Star Trek as an IP is Federation focused. The vast majority of fans are Federation fans. Even if KDF was exactly mirrored to Fed on Launch there will still be a large population imbalance, not as large as now, but large. It they got to 40% under those circumstances I'd be shocked, 30% would be awesome, 20-25% most likely.
Klingons were the second most featured faction on Star Trek after the Federation of course. Romulans came around form time to time, but were even further in the background, heck, with DS9 the Cardassians might actually have more screen time then the Romulans now. If a Romulan faction on equal content footing could pull 10% of the total population share of STO I'd be pleasantly surprised.
People keep insisting that Cryptic try to pound this round peg into the square hole of equal factions.
If the faction can Co-mingle, even maybe have Cross Faction fleets, will do more to encourage players to try the other factions out. Being cut off from your friends makes other factions seem meh, and they don't have the populations to support themselves.
All of this isn't to say Cryptic shouldn't do more, all faction need to be playable from the second a new player logs into the game, but they are always going to have issues trying to justify more mission content for a small minority when they could use the same resources to make mission content for everyone.
I'd love a Romulan faction, not as the mini-faction thing though, I'm not holding my breath but I'd love one.
With Romulans they'd have an avenue to tell some much more unique stories instead of the copy and paste they did with KDF, you've got political/espionage side, in STOverse Romulus was destroyed so there's the fractured empire, fighting for survival side, Reman insurgence, the Hirogen connection, it would also make more sense that the Romulans would go looking for Sela so there's that story too.
In saying all that though, it doesn't look like the people running STO actually care about story.
my info says there WERE some discussions about a romulan faction in the cryptic team,
but nothing is in development now.
NOTHING.
so we will have to vote with our wallets and buy NOTHING from the FED fluff,
voicing our wishes here on the forums instead.
i hope we will get some answers!
btw - in this situation, i'm almost in the state where i wouldn't mind having romulans as a part/associate of KDF or a minifaction plus homeworld, foundry and unique ships.. starting at max lvl ( the lvling is a joke anyway)
i will NEVER play a romulan as a part of the Federation!!
The fact that I've leveled 6 Feds, and 3 Klinks, and would gladly level 3 Romulans, blows your "time vested" theory to pieces. I'm sure there are others like me.
here - 3 feds, 6 KDF, sparing the last slot for a romulan.. will surely buy more slots once maxed.
Part of me wants the Romulans to remain antagonist, but then again I use to feel the same way about the Klingons. Looking back now and not seeing Worf, Klingon/Federation, and all the great story telling the friendship created would feel just wrong.
When STO made Klingons the enemy of the Federation I was none too pleased. A lot of Honorable actions and noble sacrifices went into forging that friendship, but I also understand the need for Klingons to be Klingon.
Star Trek Nemesis showed us there are Romulans out there willing to put their heads on the chopping block to do the right thing. They have lost their homeland. They have fractured leadership. Under this set of circumstance I have an open enough mind to allow Romulans into the Federation.
The thing I don't want to see any more of is Starfleet crews operating Galors, etc. A Warbird without a Romulan Commander and crew is a big No Go for me.
Even though there are c-store items on the fed side that I want to buy, I use all my c-points on Klingon stuff. It's the only thing I can do which the devs will take note of.
I for one play KDF. I don't like how the Federation is given everything they whine for in this game. I grew up with reruns of ToS and TNG as it was aired. I like Federation. Just not the cryptic version of it.
I would welcome a new MMO based on Star Trek. One that had full factions. Just not one and 1/4. You could easily have Fed, KDF, Romulan, Cardassian, Breen, Dominion. I can go on.
Cryptic has a terrible track record when it comes to anything that is not a cash cow. I remember when PW bought Cryptic. A statement that stated PW wanted a FULL KDF faction. I am still waiting to see if that happens.
So here is to hopes CBS yanks the license and sells it to someone that will actually do Star Trek justice.
Someone didn't watch Deep Space 9. If all factions are a loose coalition working to fight against common foes (Borg/Iconians/Undine) that threaten the Alpha/Beta quadrants, that would work better toward the game strengths. It would allow 1-50 for all faction by sharing more quests and allow for teaming so players can do team content easier.
Star Trek as an IP is Federation focused. The vast majority of fans are Federation fans. Even if KDF was exactly mirrored to Fed on Launch there will still be a large population imbalance, not as large as now, but large. It they got to 40% under those circumstances I'd be shocked, 30% would be awesome, 20-25% most likely.
Klingons were the second most featured faction on Star Trek after the Federation of course. Romulans came around form time to time, but were even further in the background, heck, with DS9 the Cardassians might actually have more screen time then the Romulans now. If a Romulan faction on equal content footing could pull 10% of the total population share of STO I'd be pleasantly surprised.
People keep insisting that Cryptic try to pound this round peg into the square hole of equal factions.
If the faction can Co-mingle, even maybe have Cross Faction fleets, will do more to encourage players to try the other factions out. Being cut off from your friends makes other factions seem meh, and they don't have the populations to support themselves.
All of this isn't to say Cryptic shouldn't do more, all faction need to be playable from the second a new player logs into the game, but they are always going to have issues trying to justify more mission content for a small minority when they could use the same resources to make mission content for everyone.
I'm sorry, there's no alliance going on in STO. The alliance such as in DS9 died with the end of the Dominion War and the separate states looking to their own interests again (exception being Fed/Klingon alliance, which ended for STO purposes).
And it is ridiculous to throw the different ships out of the different fleets into one hodgepodge mix, under the umbrella in one faction. Because as I stated, it looks ridiculous.
Romulan D'Deridex's, Valdores, Jem'Hadar warships, or whatever, under the umbrella of one faction? That's ridiculous and looks awful. And any reasoning to justify it as just as bad as it will look terrible in game. It already looks stupid with Ferengi, Cardassian, and Jem'Hadar craft randomly thrown in between anybody in the game. It will even look more terrible if it's standard for different faction ships operating randomly in whatever faction.
Starfleet no longer looks like Starfleet. The Klingon Defense Force no longer looks like the Klingon Defense Force. And it will aptly apply to any subsequent factions if they somehow get implemented.
And then the difference between the different fleets will be... NOTHING. Nothing unique between them. Nothing uniform in their appearance as a fleet operating under the government / military forces they belong to.
It will be ridiculous, more so than it already looks now with ships operating in factions that have no business with that fleet.
A new faction, we won't see soon because it is a huge effort on their part. A new ship is a much smaller effort and if you can sell it for the price of an expansion, why choose the harder work ?
So your entire argument is that because a ship is arguably easier to make than a content update, that for some reason that means that it makes sense for the developers of the game to ignore what a large portion of the population of their customers are telling them that they want (the Romulan Faction), simply so that they can save themselves and CBS the headache of creating a new faction in the game? Instead you are proposing that the solution to this is for them to disregard the wishes of their customers and produce Cross-Faction Ships that normally would belong to the Romulans, and place them in the C-Store on either the Klingon Side or the Federation side (or both) and in this way TRIBBLE off a large portion of their fanbase?
You know what most businesses call pissing off their customers? Corporate Suicide!
Also to those of you who are thinking that the Romulan Faction would not bring a whole lot gameplay wise... I beg to differ. For one thing, the entire Romulan Front which is present in the Federation Mission Logs and to a smaller extent the Klingon Mission Logs would have to be entirely removed from the Romulan Faction since the Romulan Faction is the key enemy in the Romulan Front Missions! This includes the Reman Featured Event Missions, not to mention the Vault Shuttle Event that is currently available to get the Reman Prototype Space Set. These features would be completely incompatible with a Romulan Faction, thus it would be up to the Developers to come up with a replacement for them when developing the Romulan Faction. This is something I don't think anyone mentioned as of yet.
All that said, I personally have 4 Feds, 3 Klinks. Of which only 3 of the combined number are actually at max level atm. One of my Klinks is actually an Alien whom I have made to look as close to a Romulan as is possible at the current time. And I would be more than happy to reincarnate said character within the Romulan Faction if the Romulan Faction were ever to be made a reality, despite the fact that said character is currently highly invested in the role as my B'rel retrofit torpedo boat captain.
There's a lot of development still needed with this game and nothing's going to happen overnight. Except maybe ripping out the forums and replacing them without warning.
Actually I could have told you the moment Perfect World Entertainment bought out Cryptic, that these new forums were an inevitability.
It will be ridiculous, more so than it already looks now with ships operating in factions that have no business with that fleet.
I won't comment on the Cardassian, or Jem'hadar ships... but I feel it needs to be said regarding the Ferengi D'kora Marauder:
The Ferengi are allegedly actually part of the Federation now as is evidenced by the fact that you can play a Ferengi Starfleet Officer as one of the pre-generated races that comes with the game. Thus it would be reasonable to assume that the Ferengi D'kora Marauder is available to Starfleet Captains for the very same reason that the Caitian Atrox is available to Starfleet Captains (because a member race decided to share technology with Starfleet and the greater Federation, unlikely as this sounds for the Ferengi).
Likewise it could be argued that those D'kora Marauders that are in the employ of the Klingon Defense Force were sold to the KDF by certain Ferengi Entrepreneurs under the guidelines of Rule #34 of the Rules of Acquisition (War is Good for Business). That is my best guess of the fluff explanation here (this latter explanation could also be used to justify why Starfleet has the D'kora now as well).
Comments
Stahl says a lot but has a poor track record of keeping his word. Even as a KDF player I would roll a Rom or Cardi if they came out. Stahl must have his numbers wrong, if he went back and looked at the last successful ST game, the SFC series, there were healthy fleets in all 6 factions, well seven if you include those dirty Pirates
Yeah, whatever.
The truth and development history of STO doesn't suit your tastes? My, oh my.
Going off Cryptic's track record, the Romulans will never come into play as a decent faction. Matter of fact, going off Cryptic's track record with the KDF, the Romulans will be in a worse of position. Cryptic has had 2 YEARS to get the KDF and UFP on equal footing for this game, and they have yet to even really try. You can imagine Cryptic's tears of sorrow when suggestions come up to work on the KDF.
It's for all these reasons and STO's actual development, that the Romulans will never be a viable faction, or if they do get forcefully implemented, they will be in the same predicament the KDF was in at STO's launch.
And for another faction that has played a major role in a very recent, major conflict in Star Trek?... The Dominion? Guaranteed, that they will never, EVER be playable. Again, Cryptic's track history will prove this right.
Edit to add: Add the fact that Cryptic has been whor*ng out ships via the Lockboxes and now the Gamma Quadrant DOFF set. I was shaking my head when I saw Ferengi cruisers being thrown around in factions where they don't belong. I was really, REALLY disappointed to see ships like the Galor and Jem'Hadar Attack Ships being tossed around to factions that have no reason on having them.
What does it mean? Extra factions, most especially the Dominion, will never be implemented. Their ships are being given away already, and again, this drastically affects the Dominion.
I 100% Agree..
If they cannot handle 2 factions.. with a doubled staff.. how in the hell are they going to handle 3???
The Feds are the Cashcow.. Unless, when ( and if ) a Romulan faction came out.. they also came out with 20+ ships for c-store purchase.. this is the only way they would make money... temporarily.. because, as the KDF.. the Romulans will fall off to the waste side UNLESS they become the #1 faction in terms of players. ( IN which case the Feds would be left in the dust.. but I seriously doubt Roms would outnumber feds )
Cryptic stated time and time again they are only developing their cash cow.. the federation.. 16% on KDF.. what... will it be 14% on Romulans?.. why would they keep developing that 14% after it was released?
Lets THINK about this for a change.
Then Cryptic needs only to generate worthy end game content(PvE and PvP)and have it all faction inclusive.
For me, I love playing both Federation and Klingon, but since I can't play my favorite ship at max level, the K't'inga, I tend to lose interest after T3-no offense to the Vor'cha, its magnificent, but its Not a K't'inga.
you are not looking at this from the business perspective.
unless there is a lot of stuff to sell you for the faction in the c store, plus a large population to buy those things, why create a new faction to steal from the Starfleet faction (where all the money is)?
Romulans under Starfleet protection makes far more sense.
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A new faction, we won't see soon because it is a huge effort on their part. A new ship is a much smaller effort and if you can sell it for the price of an expansion, why choose the harder work ? I'd say we will see romulan ships in the c-store sooner than a faction. It has nothing to do with preserving federation players and characters.
On the long term, they will have to expand the game, but this will not go into a new faction, basicly beacuse a new faction does not bring much gameplay wise, just think of how the main difference between fed and klingon is of art. Same skillsets, similar ships, a little less here, a little more there but basicly, the same. Actually, the game needs enahnced game mechanics and stuff to do, not a new faction, what plays the same as the other two. I don't want to have romulan alts who will do Deferi Dailies. It'd enough to do them on my fed and klink characters.
Alos bear in mind that even in the movies and the series the main faction was the federation. A few perhaps would try to be klingon, romulan, denobulan you name it, but for most, Star Trek is flying Enterprise. The fed playerbase is not bigger because klingon is undeveloped, but mainly because we are human, not klingon IRL.
I think it's really stretching to say that the Armitage proves there will never be a Romulan faction.
It's also not a given that there will be one just because Cryptic holds back Romulan ships to keep their options open.
What's painfully clear is that Cryptic's roadmap does not include low-level KDF content just now and they aren't willing to commit to that any more than they're willing to commit to rolling out Romulans.
There's a lot of development still needed with this game and nothing's going to happen overnight. Except maybe ripping out the forums and replacing them without warning.
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With that in mind, and his direct quote that he's kept Romulan ships out of lock boxes (despite knowing full well they'd sell like crazy) because he's still holding out for a Romulan faction, means exactly that. He's still holding out for a Romulan faction.
There's absolutely no reason they couldn't, with six to eight months of nonstop work and near-silence (and likely a Second Great Content Drought along with it), crank out enough missions, ships, and costumes for a barebones Romulan 21-50 faction, with no alt ship costumes, and only four races (Romulan, Reman, Hirogen, Alien), and little to no customization for Reman and Hirogen characters.
The only question is, will they? Hard to say. They can't justify content for the half-faction they have now, so there's no obvious reason why they'd spend the money, time, and effort on another half-faction to ignore.
I prefer to remain optimistic. I think, despite their inner fanboys wanting to expand the KDF, their realistic sides are content with it as it stands, and could feasibly okay a Romulan faction released in the same state.
There's also the proposed "mini-faction" idea where the Romulans would get races, ships, and levels 1-10 in their own short story content, leading to a point where they choose an allegiance; Fed or KDF. They'd just play that faction's content from there, but either be limited to Romulan ships, or have Romulan and faction-specific ships available.
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The fact that I've leveled 6 Feds, and 3 Klinks, and would gladly level 3 Romulans, blows your "time vested" theory to pieces. I'm sure there are others like me.
I've reclamied my old post!
I'm am Archived Post
Playable Romulan captain and vessel that defected to the federation is not a bad idea. It won't really help the PvP element in the shorterm, but with a gradual increase in end game infastructure a top end antagonist Romulan faction could be born.
There are ways to make non federation packages appealing to the Federation playerbase, I can think of many reward incentives that could be offered to Fed players to invest time into playing antagonist roles, like Romulans, Klingons, and Cardassians.
Imagine a playering opting to invest time in the Tal'Shiar instead of playing Federation; that player could maintain a free gold account status because he/she is providing the community a service by playing a villian.
Something along that line. Same with Kligons, make them free Gold status.
Isn't the idea for Rolumans to level up, then choose to join either the KDF or starfleet? That would render a lot of the OP's points moot.
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A mini faction could imply unlocking playable Romulans that start off at max or near max level. So many games over the years have ingrained into us gamers that we must level up characters in MMO's. The only comparison I have personal experience with not having to fully level up is the World of ******** Death Knight. This character started at 55 and the story around his/her beginnings were very well crafted. I can see Romulans in the same light. They unlock once you have a Federation at Admiral as one example.
Getting more people to step away from their beloved Federation will, however, require more than a fancy green ship to fly around and terrorize local colonies. Real incentives have to be offered.
I have read that wiki page several weeks ago, and I read it yesterday as well. Nonetheless, I stand by my arguments.
Edit: In fact, judging by the situation on the forums, I suspect that should there ever be a Romulan faction that doesn't just defect to another faction, the Federation and KDF players will just unite to demand Romulan equipment - and the Romulans will defend it as well as they can - just as it is now between Federation and KDF. So why bother arguing about it, when the oldest, most complete, factions will always unite to demand the 'unique' content of the newest one?
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.
In Star Trek?
Are you guys freakin' high?
Romulan, Klingon, and whatever race's ships and crews all under the aegis of a Federation faction? SERIOUSLY?!?
LOL!!!!
Talk about some pathetic distortion of the Star Trek universe, all to justify Cryptic's lazy development.
Just trying to picture Capt.Kirk sitting at a campfire with his enemies, holding hands, roasting marshmellows, and singing cumbaya. Holy jeez...
I'm sure they can come up with any number of creative ways to "fund" the factional addition.
Join our cause now!
I don't think that would generate the revenue from the playerbase to off set the cost of production. You have to have a carrot on the end of that stick to lure a bigger percentage of the playerbase. Cryptic has to offer something more substantial than commanding a Warbird. It's why the Klingons are underpopulated because there isn't really any incentive to draw larger groups of players from the Federation.
Someone didn't watch Deep Space 9. If all factions are a loose coalition working to fight against common foes (Borg/Iconians/Undine) that threaten the Alpha/Beta quadrants, that would work better toward the game strengths. It would allow 1-50 for all faction by sharing more quests and allow for teaming so players can do team content easier.
Star Trek as an IP is Federation focused. The vast majority of fans are Federation fans. Even if KDF was exactly mirrored to Fed on Launch there will still be a large population imbalance, not as large as now, but large. It they got to 40% under those circumstances I'd be shocked, 30% would be awesome, 20-25% most likely.
Klingons were the second most featured faction on Star Trek after the Federation of course. Romulans came around form time to time, but were even further in the background, heck, with DS9 the Cardassians might actually have more screen time then the Romulans now. If a Romulan faction on equal content footing could pull 10% of the total population share of STO I'd be pleasantly surprised.
People keep insisting that Cryptic try to pound this round peg into the square hole of equal factions.
If the faction can Co-mingle, even maybe have Cross Faction fleets, will do more to encourage players to try the other factions out. Being cut off from your friends makes other factions seem meh, and they don't have the populations to support themselves.
All of this isn't to say Cryptic shouldn't do more, all faction need to be playable from the second a new player logs into the game, but they are always going to have issues trying to justify more mission content for a small minority when they could use the same resources to make mission content for everyone.
With Romulans they'd have an avenue to tell some much more unique stories instead of the copy and paste they did with KDF, you've got political/espionage side, in STOverse Romulus was destroyed so there's the fractured empire, fighting for survival side, Reman insurgence, the Hirogen connection, it would also make more sense that the Romulans would go looking for Sela so there's that story too.
In saying all that though, it doesn't look like the people running STO actually care about story.
There are more then one story lines in game which in nowhere.
but nothing is in development now.
NOTHING.
so we will have to vote with our wallets and buy NOTHING from the FED fluff,
voicing our wishes here on the forums instead.
i hope we will get some answers!
btw - in this situation, i'm almost in the state where i wouldn't mind having romulans as a part/associate of KDF or a minifaction plus homeworld, foundry and unique ships.. starting at max lvl ( the lvling is a joke anyway)
i will NEVER play a romulan as a part of the Federation!!
here - 3 feds, 6 KDF, sparing the last slot for a romulan.. will surely buy more slots once maxed.
When STO made Klingons the enemy of the Federation I was none too pleased. A lot of Honorable actions and noble sacrifices went into forging that friendship, but I also understand the need for Klingons to be Klingon.
Star Trek Nemesis showed us there are Romulans out there willing to put their heads on the chopping block to do the right thing. They have lost their homeland. They have fractured leadership. Under this set of circumstance I have an open enough mind to allow Romulans into the Federation.
The thing I don't want to see any more of is Starfleet crews operating Galors, etc. A Warbird without a Romulan Commander and crew is a big No Go for me.
I would welcome a new MMO based on Star Trek. One that had full factions. Just not one and 1/4. You could easily have Fed, KDF, Romulan, Cardassian, Breen, Dominion. I can go on.
Cryptic has a terrible track record when it comes to anything that is not a cash cow. I remember when PW bought Cryptic. A statement that stated PW wanted a FULL KDF faction. I am still waiting to see if that happens.
So here is to hopes CBS yanks the license and sells it to someone that will actually do Star Trek justice.
I'm sorry, there's no alliance going on in STO. The alliance such as in DS9 died with the end of the Dominion War and the separate states looking to their own interests again (exception being Fed/Klingon alliance, which ended for STO purposes).
And it is ridiculous to throw the different ships out of the different fleets into one hodgepodge mix, under the umbrella in one faction. Because as I stated, it looks ridiculous.
Romulan D'Deridex's, Valdores, Jem'Hadar warships, or whatever, under the umbrella of one faction? That's ridiculous and looks awful. And any reasoning to justify it as just as bad as it will look terrible in game. It already looks stupid with Ferengi, Cardassian, and Jem'Hadar craft randomly thrown in between anybody in the game. It will even look more terrible if it's standard for different faction ships operating randomly in whatever faction.
Starfleet no longer looks like Starfleet. The Klingon Defense Force no longer looks like the Klingon Defense Force. And it will aptly apply to any subsequent factions if they somehow get implemented.
And then the difference between the different fleets will be... NOTHING. Nothing unique between them. Nothing uniform in their appearance as a fleet operating under the government / military forces they belong to.
It will be ridiculous, more so than it already looks now with ships operating in factions that have no business with that fleet.
It looks terrible seeing everybody flying all these different factions' ships.
So your entire argument is that because a ship is arguably easier to make than a content update, that for some reason that means that it makes sense for the developers of the game to ignore what a large portion of the population of their customers are telling them that they want (the Romulan Faction), simply so that they can save themselves and CBS the headache of creating a new faction in the game? Instead you are proposing that the solution to this is for them to disregard the wishes of their customers and produce Cross-Faction Ships that normally would belong to the Romulans, and place them in the C-Store on either the Klingon Side or the Federation side (or both) and in this way TRIBBLE off a large portion of their fanbase?
You know what most businesses call pissing off their customers? Corporate Suicide!
Also to those of you who are thinking that the Romulan Faction would not bring a whole lot gameplay wise... I beg to differ. For one thing, the entire Romulan Front which is present in the Federation Mission Logs and to a smaller extent the Klingon Mission Logs would have to be entirely removed from the Romulan Faction since the Romulan Faction is the key enemy in the Romulan Front Missions! This includes the Reman Featured Event Missions, not to mention the Vault Shuttle Event that is currently available to get the Reman Prototype Space Set. These features would be completely incompatible with a Romulan Faction, thus it would be up to the Developers to come up with a replacement for them when developing the Romulan Faction. This is something I don't think anyone mentioned as of yet.
All that said, I personally have 4 Feds, 3 Klinks. Of which only 3 of the combined number are actually at max level atm. One of my Klinks is actually an Alien whom I have made to look as close to a Romulan as is possible at the current time. And I would be more than happy to reincarnate said character within the Romulan Faction if the Romulan Faction were ever to be made a reality, despite the fact that said character is currently highly invested in the role as my B'rel retrofit torpedo boat captain.
Actually I could have told you the moment Perfect World Entertainment bought out Cryptic, that these new forums were an inevitability.
[sarcasm]didn't he do that at the end of the Search for Spock?[/sarcasm]
I won't comment on the Cardassian, or Jem'hadar ships... but I feel it needs to be said regarding the Ferengi D'kora Marauder:
The Ferengi are allegedly actually part of the Federation now as is evidenced by the fact that you can play a Ferengi Starfleet Officer as one of the pre-generated races that comes with the game. Thus it would be reasonable to assume that the Ferengi D'kora Marauder is available to Starfleet Captains for the very same reason that the Caitian Atrox is available to Starfleet Captains (because a member race decided to share technology with Starfleet and the greater Federation, unlikely as this sounds for the Ferengi).
Likewise it could be argued that those D'kora Marauders that are in the employ of the Klingon Defense Force were sold to the KDF by certain Ferengi Entrepreneurs under the guidelines of Rule #34 of the Rules of Acquisition (War is Good for Business). That is my best guess of the fluff explanation here (this latter explanation could also be used to justify why Starfleet has the D'kora now as well).