Originally the alien gen was part of a subscription model so it was not free.
Access to the Fed and KDF alien gen only went free with everything else when the game went F2P.
You cannot say they are removing a free feature as this is the first time they have added a new faction and alien gen for such a faction.
Plus, we know there is a tonne of dev blogs still planned... like with everything else in-game... who's to say that access to the alien gen won't be unlockable by completing tier 5 on the Romulan reputation system by another character that is yet to be announced?
This could explain why Devs are not saying much about this!
I myself agree with decision to only allow a small selection of aliens to be created to make it feel more "Romulan"... yes, I understand where you are coming from with regards to Romulans and Remans living together; but after what happened in the movie with Shinzon and what I've read so far in book 1 of Titan it looks like progress was already being made between the Romulans and Remans before JJ blew everything up; so both races living together 20+ years on is not too much of a stretch IMHO... but as for living with other aliens compared to accepting help from other alien races still seems a lot more plausible given the 2,000+ plus years of isolation and paranoia that the Romulan Star Empire had been living in before hand after they split from the Valcans.
I think I can say it's a free feature that're putting a paywall in front of because it's been pretty much admitted to me that its the same feature, that they're putting a paywall in front of.
Now you can argue they are allowed to do this because its a new faction, but wasn't going F2P the perfect opportunity to change this THEN? Are they not now just trying to rig this up as an afterthought to TRIBBLE some people out of money and lock off their creativity? It certainly seems that way, whether that was their intent or not that's what they're doing.
And again, the argument of xenophobia falls on its face when you see how well the Romulans of the Romulan Republic treat the Suliban, the Klingons, pretty much everyone they meet.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] I am a Cheestah.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
it is a free to play game now. in most free to play games silver players are treated as second class citizens a company has to do this to entice the silver player to give them money may it be another race they normally can not access with out being a gold or paying for it
This is right, MOST other companies do this. But Cryptic doesn't. In fact I've had developers tell me that treating silver players really well has been a reason for Cryptic's success with the hybrid model.
This should, by their logic, actually HURT them.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] I am a Cheestah.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
I think I can say it's a free feature that're putting a paywall in front of because it's been pretty much admitted to me that its the same feature, that they're putting a paywall in front of.
Now you can argue they are allowed to do this because its a new faction, but wasn't going F2P the perfect opportunity to change this THEN? Are they not now just trying to rig this up as an afterthought to TRIBBLE some people out of money and lock off their creativity? It certainly seems that way, whether that was their intent or not that's what they're doing.
And again, the argument of xenophobia falls on its face when you see how well the Romulans of the Romulan Republic treat the Suliban, the Klingons, pretty much everyone they meet.
How do you know that their original intention when going F2P was to have all alien gen for Gold and LTS as a perk? They might have simply just ran out of time to implement it! Now with the new faction they could be implementing what was originally intended but are keeping the alien gen open for silver's as it was when F2P launched!... You never know!
Plus, as I stated before, we still don't know for sure that paying is the only way to be able to unlock this... we might just have to wait for a future Dev Blog and be patient!... Just saying!
I disagree with the treatment of the sulibans you as a captain may have acted nice but only in the best interests of getting the colonists... See Romulans tend to act in their best interests all the time, with holding hatred or disgust, being very diplomatic and politically correct to serve the needs they may have at the time. SO many episodes of tng show this and they aren't even the tal shir, now there was the episode with the Klingon existing on that planet with the romulans, but that was isolated event, very few Romulan colonies allow alien citizens, even more so probably becuase the whole blowing up of their home-worlds has made many even more paranoid.
If the alien gen was free as you suggest then A. there would be significantly more aliens, of all different sizes and looks. I just don't see how Romulans could except them as citizens regardless of how certain individuals think d'tan, they may follow him but he has to respect their traditions if he is to maintain power, even if their tradition is of fear and paranoia.
D'tan knows he can't rebuild the romulan empire with out all the romulan support he can get, even if does preach logic and learning vulcan ways, he may accept limited outside help but its on a need basis not every alien race come help us becuase we can't even wipe ourselves.
It's a rare day when eisenwolf and I tend to agree on anything - but I found myself nodding a lot when I read eisenwolf's responses.
Hav - you wanted me to weigh in, so I am.
I don't see this as some 99% vs. 1% thing like you do. I see this as a move being made by a company to actually attempt to differentiate the sub model from the F2P. You know as well as I do that pretty much every other f2P game has races that it charges extra for or makes available only to its subscribing members. Heck, other games charge for their expansion content.
We're all getting the content for free - even the F2P players, which is pretty extraordinary. While you make a technical argument that F2P player get aliengen free now (for Fed and KDF) and they're "taking it away" from F2Pers - I have to say - uhmmmm I don't think so.
F2P players will still be able to play all of the content - for free, they would just have to pay (sub) for a new race. And yes I think of the new aliengen for the RR faction to be a new race. Why? Because so far as I can tell the only way to make a Romulan or Reman or a RR alien hybrid will be for the RR faction. So, technically the aliengen for the RR is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from the aliengen for the KDF/FED factions. It's not the same thing at all.
If the KDF/FED alien generators were suddenly had an influx with the new assets of the Romulan/Reman looks - then it's all moot then, isn't it?
But that's not happening from what I can tell.
I see this as a new race possibility that one can only access by being a sub holder, and that's, plain and simply, a normal MMO business model.
It's a rare day when eisenwolf and I tend to agree on anything - but I found myself nodding a lot when I read eisenwolf's responses.
Hav - you wanted me to weigh in, so I am.
I don't see this as some 99% vs. 1% thing like you do. I see this as a move being made by a company to actually attempt to differentiate the sub model from the F2P. You know as well as I do that pretty much every other f2P game has races that it charges extra for or makes available only to its subscribing members. Heck, other games charge for their expansion content.
We're all getting the content for free - even the F2P players, which is pretty extraordinary. While you make a technical argument that F2P player get aliengen free now (for Fed and KDF) and they're "taking it away" from F2Pers - I have to say - uhmmmm I don't think so.
F2P players will still be able to play all of the content - for free, they would just have to pay (sub) for a new race. And yes I think of the new aliengen for the RR faction to be a new race. Why? Because so far as I can tell the only way to make a Romulan or Reman or a RR alien hybrid will be for the RR faction. So, technically the aliengen for the RR is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from the aliengen for the KDF/FED factions. It's not the same thing at all.
If the KDF/FED alien generators were suddenly had an influx with the new assets of the Romulan/Reman looks - then it's all moot then, isn't it?
But that's not happening from what I can tell.
I see this as a new race possibility that one can only access by being a sub holder, and that's, plain and simply, a normal MMO business model.
I can sum up Cryptic's reasoning with three letters: GIG
Get
In
Game
No alien gen means fewer options to fool around before you get into the game mechanics. A quicker entry into the game means a faster completion of the tutorial/introduction. Faster completion of the intro means the player gets into the social zones and sector maps sooner.
Where they are exposed to all the shinies they can buy at the c-store.
If a new player pays up front, Cryptic has their money already. But more importantly, they have the player's *investment.* Thus, it does no harm to give him or her more things to fool around with prior to getting into the main game. He or she has already decided that the game is worth money and will play *at least* until they've gotten that much value out of the game.
Cryptic is NOT making this expansion for us. They are making it for the thousands (millions?) of people who might like STO, but haven't tried it yet. This is for new customers. Customers who don't know and probably don't care about the free alien gen on the Klingon and Fed factions. If they do know or care, they can roll one of those when they join.
There will be a big marketing push to get first timers to roll a Romulan because that's where the new shinies are. The best tutorial, the best cutscenes, the best story, etc... And Cryptic understandably wants new players to get to that stuff fast, before the next rerun of Big Bang Theory starts.
I disagree with the treatment of the sulibans you as a captain may have acted nice but only in the best interests of getting the colonists... See Romulans tend to act in their best interests all the time, with holding hatred or disgust, being very diplomatic and politically correct to serve the needs they may have at the time. SO many episodes of tng show this and they aren't even the tal shir, now there was the episode with the Klingon existing on that planet with the romulans, but that was isolated event, very few Romulan colonies allow alien citizens, even more so probably becuase the whole blowing up of their home-worlds has made many even more paranoid.
If the alien gen was free as you suggest then A. there would be significantly more aliens, of all different sizes and looks. I just don't see how Romulans could except them as citizens regardless of how certain individuals think d'tan, they may follow him but he has to respect their traditions if he is to maintain power, even if their tradition is of fear and paranoia.
D'tan knows he can't rebuild the romulan empire with out all the romulan support he can get, even if does preach logic and learning vulcan ways, he may accept limited outside help but its on a need basis not every alien race come help us becuase we can't even wipe ourselves.
I was personally hoping for a Suliban Boff. They were my favorite race from ENT.
I LOVED being able to fly around and inspect the outside of the helix! It needs to be a social zone just because it's that awesome.
It's a rare day when eisenwolf and I tend to agree on anything - but I found myself nodding a lot when I read eisenwolf's responses.
Hav - you wanted me to weigh in, so I am.
I don't see this as some 99% vs. 1% thing like you do. I see this as a move being made by a company to actually attempt to differentiate the sub model from the F2P. You know as well as I do that pretty much every other f2P game has races that it charges extra for or makes available only to its subscribing members. Heck, other games charge for their expansion content.
Sorry I can't agree with you Hav.
We've argued about this on the podcast, Terry, and you've admitted that you "agreed" with me when your argument ultimately couldn't hold up to mine, and now you're repeating the same old stale arguments that don't hold up.
If you want to differentiate between F2P and subbers with perks, as seems to be the point of your post, you do it by creating NEW content and features that are perks, not by taking the old stuff you gave away for free, limiting it, putting a price tag on it, and congratulating subbers for subbing.
Even SUBBERS are screwed by it because they're not being allowed the full creativity of their imaginations.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] I am a Cheestah.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
I disagree with the treatment of the sulibans you as a captain may have acted nice but only in the best interests of getting the colonists... See Romulans tend to act in their best interests all the time, with holding hatred or disgust, being very diplomatic and politically correct to serve the needs they may have at the time. SO many episodes of tng show this and they aren't even the tal shir, now there was the episode with the Klingon existing on that planet with the romulans, but that was isolated event, very few Romulan colonies allow alien citizens, even more so probably becuase the whole blowing up of their home-worlds has made many even more paranoid.
If the alien gen was free as you suggest then A. there would be significantly more aliens, of all different sizes and looks. I just don't see how Romulans could except them as citizens regardless of how certain individuals think d'tan, they may follow him but he has to respect their traditions if he is to maintain power, even if their tradition is of fear and paranoia.
D'tan knows he can't rebuild the romulan empire with out all the romulan support he can get, even if does preach logic and learning vulcan ways, he may accept limited outside help but its on a need basis not every alien race come help us becuase we can't even wipe ourselves.
So you're argument is "the Romulans are racist, they just don't look like they are?" Wow. That's ... not exactly a compelling argument.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] I am a Cheestah.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
We've argued about this on the podcast, Terry, and you've admitted that you "agreed" with me when your argument ultimately couldn't hold up to mine, and now you're repeating the same old stale arguments that don't hold up.
Another fine example of that Confrontation Avoidance strategy I mentioned. In the end, you can only agree with the unagreeable.
I can sum up Cryptic's reasoning with three letters: GIG
Get
In
Game
No alien gen means fewer options to fool around before you get into the game mechanics. A quicker entry into the game means a faster completion of the tutorial/introduction. Faster completion of the intro means the player gets into the social zones and sector maps sooner.
Where they are exposed to all the shinies they can buy at the c-store.
If a new player pays up front, Cryptic has their money already. But more importantly, they have the player's *investment.* Thus, it does no harm to give him or her more things to fool around with prior to getting into the main game. He or she has already decided that the game is worth money and will play *at least* until they've gotten that much value out of the game.
Cryptic is NOT making this expansion for us. They are making it for the thousands (millions?) of people who might like STO, but haven't tried it yet. This is for new customers. Customers who don't know and probably don't care about the free alien gen on the Klingon and Fed factions. If they do know or care, they can roll one of those when they join.
There will be a big marketing push to get first timers to roll a Romulan because that's where the new shinies are. The best tutorial, the best cutscenes, the best story, etc... And Cryptic understandably wants new players to get to that stuff fast, before the next rerun of Big Bang Theory starts.
Not a bad idea, but as I have argued there are many noobies who like creativity and they want it. Some of them have even played STO before, liked the alien gen, but left. By limiting and locking them off, it HURTS Cryptic's chances at attracting these players back.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] I am a Cheestah.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
Another fine example of that Confrontation Avoidance strategy I mentioned. In the end, you can only agree with the unagreeable.
I don't know what that means. Perhaps you should elaborate?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] I am a Cheestah.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
The problem, Hav, is you refuse to see past your own opinions. Your arguments don't hold water, but it's useless for us to go on and argue against you when you believe that you're always right, and we're always wrong. So, we have no choice but to agree with you.
TBH, it's your Cryptic against us mentality that caused me to stop listening to PodcastUGC. You need to take the tin foil off your head and realize that neither Cryptic nor PWE is out to TRIBBLE us, they are out to make money, plain and simple. 10 posters have presented valid arguments against your opinion, and one poster sort of agreed with you, yet you are still blinded by your own paranoia.
We've argued about this on the podcast, Terry, and you've admitted that you "agreed" with me when your argument ultimately couldn't hold up to mine, and now you're repeating the same old stale arguments that don't hold up.
If you want to differentiate between F2P and subbers with perks, as seems to be the point of your post, you do it by creating NEW content and features that are perks, not by taking the old stuff you gave away for free, limiting it, putting a price tag on it, and congratulating subbers for subbing.
Even SUBBERS are screwed by it because they're not being allowed the full creativity of their imaginations.
It is NEW content... Alien generator is not an option for Rommies like it is for FED or KDF. What IS available is a new option to make an Alien Hybrid not really the same thing... The reasons they have for doing this aren't really relevant since it is what they decided to do. We as players aren't privy to all the decisions they or any other business makes. I can't believe you are still beating this tired old drum after Stahl himself told you how this is the way it is on numerous occasions. Most of us on here are fine with this as evidenced by the responses to your post. Do I think it's a real perk for subbers? meh... Don't really care either way... If I want to be more creative I can play FED or KDF. I realized along time ago anything I really want in this game is going to cost me $$$ above my LTS.
Gold Sub since March 2010
Lifetime Sub since June 2010
The problem, Hav, is you refuse to see past your own opinions. Your arguments don't hold water, but it's useless for us to go on and argue against you when you believe that you're always right, and we're always wrong. So, we have no choice but to agree with you.
Um no, you haven't, because I have shot down these arguments resoundingly. And you haven't addressed any of mine.
They DO hold water. They hold a lot of water. So much water in fact that no one can get past them, they just say "I don't care" or "I think its new despite your evidence to the contrary" which is not a valid counter argument.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] I am a Cheestah.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
TBH, it's your Cryptic against us mentality that caused me to stop listening to PodcastUGC. You need to take the tin foil off your head and realize that neither Cryptic nor PWE is out to TRIBBLE us, they are out to make money, plain and simple. 10 posters have presented valid arguments against your opinion, and one poster sort of agreed with you, yet you are still blinded by your own paranoia.
Ad Hominem attack, another logical fallacy of attacking the arguer, usually resulting from when his argument itself can't be out-witted.
"Being out to make money" can also, result, in "TRIBBLE us" as happens in businesses around the world every day. As I have noted in previous posts, they may not even LIKE the idea of "TRIBBLE us", but they can end up doing it inadvertently, which is the point of this feedback thread.
And paranoia is an unfounded and irrational fear. I know PRECISELY what is going on because I've spoken with developers who have not only stated that it IS INDEED the alien generator limited and paygated, but that it's a "business decision" and "not to be taken personally", as spoken by so many who would rather you just fess up and pay them money where you didn't before.
So please, try again, and this time with more concept and idea, and less accusation of insanity.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] I am a Cheestah.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
It is NEW content... Alien generator is not an option for Rommies like it is for FED or KDF. What IS available is a new option to make an Alien Hybrid not really the same thing... The reasons they have for doing this aren't really relevant since it is what they decided to do. We as players aren't privy to all the decisions they or any other business makes. I can't believe you are still beating this tired old drum after Stahl himself told you how this is the way it is on numerous occasions. Most of us on here are fine with this as evidenced by the responses to your post. Do I think it's a real perk for subbers? meh... Don't really care either way... If I want to be more creative I can play FED or KDF. I realized along time ago anything I really want in this game is going to cost me $$$ above my LTS.
So your argument boils down to apathy towards the players who actually care, and an insistence that the two things are different.
The apathy doesn't impress me. The insistence that the alien gen is different doesn't hold water because it's been admitted to me by developers that it is indeed the same thing as the alien gen on the other factions, just limited and pay-gated. I would copy and paste from the discussion with that developer but that would be in bad form.
Another element of your argument is "the reasons aren't relevant because that's what they've decided to do". The reason is always important. People who generally say it isn't, are people who don't WANT to know the reason, for whatever case.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] I am a Cheestah.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
If you want to play an Alien, there are already two factions more than capable of doing so.
Adding too much access to FED/KDF features/gear/ships makes romulans the default superset for all factions.
With the trait changes, and if they hadn't decided to removed T5 ship access, that would have made playing a "Romulan" the only right choice. All of the benefits, none of the downsides.
I honestly dont have an opinion on this one way or the other, but it does seem wrong that they are locking out a character option for players on one faction, but anyone who plays fed or klink can make aliens all they want.
I get the OPs point, there no real "WHY" here, just more cash hungry devs trying to squeeze every single penny out of players.
Yes, its a F2P game, im a lifer and before i purchased my lifetime I bought many ships (and will probably buy more in the future). So being free isnt a good enough excuse, they already make a lot of money on monthly subs, lockbox keys and ships, they dont need to keep squeezing like this.
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"You Best Make Peace With Your Dear & Fluffy Lord" - Malcolm Reynolds
If you want to play an Alien, there are already two factions more than capable of doing so.
Adding too much access to FED/KDF features/gear/ships makes romulans the default superset for all factions.
With the trait changes, and if they hadn't decided to removed T5 ship access, that would have made playing a "Romulan" the only right choice. All of the benefits, none of the downsides.
I don't necessarily see it that way, as I play for story, but ... alright, I will concede these points and utilize this concession to benefit my argument.
T5 ships HAVE been limited. Even in my discussion with Captain Geko, the argument was made that "yes Romulans don't have full blown aliens but they can fly every ship so it balances out." Does it balance out quite anymore with less ships available and with the Romulans losing a racial trait advantage if they chose to fly those other ships? No.
Besides, aliens are about a player's creativity and imagination, not trait benefits -- not anymore after the traits have been revamped. There is literally no "benefit" to be acquired by playing an alien. In fact, you will not have the subterfuge trait to benefit from Romulan ships, so why limit them?
There's no longer a valid reason to do so.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] I am a Cheestah.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
In fact I could point out why the OP is not complaining about the entire game being for free, after all the complain bogs down to "I want this for free" because its pretty much it, the entire argument comes to "I want this in this way and here is why".
An d again WHY do you want it? Alien was created for players to create their own races ... well that was the plan but they given too much and so Alien became the Min-Maxer and everyone created one because as every race had some downsides the Alien had nearly none, until now.
The current changes make so Alien is relegated to where it should be, a choice and not the choice and OP is complaining because of that, what he wants is Spiderman flying a Mogai and we had enough of that.
Your argument defeats itself. You said aliens need to be controlled because they were OP. With the trait revamp, as you admit, they are no longer OP. So playing an alien is a personal, CREATIVE choice that doesn't effect you or anyone else around you.
So reducing my argument to "OP wants to fly a Warbird as Spiderman" is a simplification to make my argument seem ridiculous, but is not wholly without merit. I want to fly a Warbird as an original alien species IF I SO CHOSE TO, and I want everyone to be able to do so, so they can enjoy Star Trek Online to the fullest and thed game can be more successful.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] I am a Cheestah.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
I honestly dont have an opinion on this one way or the other, but it does seem wrong that they are locking out a character option for players on one faction, but anyone who plays fed or klink can make aliens all they want.
I get the OPs point, there no real "WHY" here, just more cash hungry devs trying to squeeze every single penny out of players.
Yes, its a F2P game, im a lifer and before i purchased my lifetime I bought many ships (and will probably buy more in the future). So being free isnt a good enough excuse, they already make a lot of money on monthly subs, lockbox keys and ships, they dont need to keep squeezing like this.
Thank you for agreeing with me, it's nice to see someone not afraid to speak up for a change.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] I am a Cheestah.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
Comments
I think I can say it's a free feature that're putting a paywall in front of because it's been pretty much admitted to me that its the same feature, that they're putting a paywall in front of.
Now you can argue they are allowed to do this because its a new faction, but wasn't going F2P the perfect opportunity to change this THEN? Are they not now just trying to rig this up as an afterthought to TRIBBLE some people out of money and lock off their creativity? It certainly seems that way, whether that was their intent or not that's what they're doing.
And again, the argument of xenophobia falls on its face when you see how well the Romulans of the Romulan Republic treat the Suliban, the Klingons, pretty much everyone they meet.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
This is right, MOST other companies do this. But Cryptic doesn't. In fact I've had developers tell me that treating silver players really well has been a reason for Cryptic's success with the hybrid model.
This should, by their logic, actually HURT them.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
How do you know that their original intention when going F2P was to have all alien gen for Gold and LTS as a perk? They might have simply just ran out of time to implement it! Now with the new faction they could be implementing what was originally intended but are keeping the alien gen open for silver's as it was when F2P launched!... You never know!
Plus, as I stated before, we still don't know for sure that paying is the only way to be able to unlock this... we might just have to wait for a future Dev Blog and be patient!... Just saying!
If the alien gen was free as you suggest then A. there would be significantly more aliens, of all different sizes and looks. I just don't see how Romulans could except them as citizens regardless of how certain individuals think d'tan, they may follow him but he has to respect their traditions if he is to maintain power, even if their tradition is of fear and paranoia.
D'tan knows he can't rebuild the romulan empire with out all the romulan support he can get, even if does preach logic and learning vulcan ways, he may accept limited outside help but its on a need basis not every alien race come help us becuase we can't even wipe ourselves.
Hav - you wanted me to weigh in, so I am.
I don't see this as some 99% vs. 1% thing like you do. I see this as a move being made by a company to actually attempt to differentiate the sub model from the F2P. You know as well as I do that pretty much every other f2P game has races that it charges extra for or makes available only to its subscribing members. Heck, other games charge for their expansion content.
We're all getting the content for free - even the F2P players, which is pretty extraordinary. While you make a technical argument that F2P player get aliengen free now (for Fed and KDF) and they're "taking it away" from F2Pers - I have to say - uhmmmm I don't think so.
F2P players will still be able to play all of the content - for free, they would just have to pay (sub) for a new race. And yes I think of the new aliengen for the RR faction to be a new race. Why? Because so far as I can tell the only way to make a Romulan or Reman or a RR alien hybrid will be for the RR faction. So, technically the aliengen for the RR is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from the aliengen for the KDF/FED factions. It's not the same thing at all.
If the KDF/FED alien generators were suddenly had an influx with the new assets of the Romulan/Reman looks - then it's all moot then, isn't it?
But that's not happening from what I can tell.
I see this as a new race possibility that one can only access by being a sub holder, and that's, plain and simply, a normal MMO business model.
Sorry I can't agree with you Hav.
So say we all. Long live the queen.
Centurion maximus92
12th Legion, Romulan Republic
12th Fleet
=\/= ================================ =\/=
Get
In
Game
No alien gen means fewer options to fool around before you get into the game mechanics. A quicker entry into the game means a faster completion of the tutorial/introduction. Faster completion of the intro means the player gets into the social zones and sector maps sooner.
Where they are exposed to all the shinies they can buy at the c-store.
If a new player pays up front, Cryptic has their money already. But more importantly, they have the player's *investment.* Thus, it does no harm to give him or her more things to fool around with prior to getting into the main game. He or she has already decided that the game is worth money and will play *at least* until they've gotten that much value out of the game.
Cryptic is NOT making this expansion for us. They are making it for the thousands (millions?) of people who might like STO, but haven't tried it yet. This is for new customers. Customers who don't know and probably don't care about the free alien gen on the Klingon and Fed factions. If they do know or care, they can roll one of those when they join.
There will be a big marketing push to get first timers to roll a Romulan because that's where the new shinies are. The best tutorial, the best cutscenes, the best story, etc... And Cryptic understandably wants new players to get to that stuff fast, before the next rerun of Big Bang Theory starts.
I LOVED being able to fly around and inspect the outside of the helix! It needs to be a social zone just because it's that awesome.
My character Tsin'xing
We've argued about this on the podcast, Terry, and you've admitted that you "agreed" with me when your argument ultimately couldn't hold up to mine, and now you're repeating the same old stale arguments that don't hold up.
If you want to differentiate between F2P and subbers with perks, as seems to be the point of your post, you do it by creating NEW content and features that are perks, not by taking the old stuff you gave away for free, limiting it, putting a price tag on it, and congratulating subbers for subbing.
Even SUBBERS are screwed by it because they're not being allowed the full creativity of their imaginations.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
So you're argument is "the Romulans are racist, they just don't look like they are?" Wow. That's ... not exactly a compelling argument.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
Another fine example of that Confrontation Avoidance strategy I mentioned. In the end, you can only agree with the unagreeable.
Centurion maximus92
12th Legion, Romulan Republic
12th Fleet
=\/= ================================ =\/=
Not a bad idea, but as I have argued there are many noobies who like creativity and they want it. Some of them have even played STO before, liked the alien gen, but left. By limiting and locking them off, it HURTS Cryptic's chances at attracting these players back.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
I don't know what that means. Perhaps you should elaborate?
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
Centurion maximus92
12th Legion, Romulan Republic
12th Fleet
=\/= ================================ =\/=
Centurion maximus92
12th Legion, Romulan Republic
12th Fleet
=\/= ================================ =\/=
It is NEW content... Alien generator is not an option for Rommies like it is for FED or KDF. What IS available is a new option to make an Alien Hybrid not really the same thing... The reasons they have for doing this aren't really relevant since it is what they decided to do. We as players aren't privy to all the decisions they or any other business makes. I can't believe you are still beating this tired old drum after Stahl himself told you how this is the way it is on numerous occasions. Most of us on here are fine with this as evidenced by the responses to your post. Do I think it's a real perk for subbers? meh... Don't really care either way... If I want to be more creative I can play FED or KDF. I realized along time ago anything I really want in this game is going to cost me $$$ above my LTS.
Lifetime Sub since June 2010
Um no, you haven't, because I have shot down these arguments resoundingly. And you haven't addressed any of mine.
They DO hold water. They hold a lot of water. So much water in fact that no one can get past them, they just say "I don't care" or "I think its new despite your evidence to the contrary" which is not a valid counter argument.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
Ad Hominem attack, another logical fallacy of attacking the arguer, usually resulting from when his argument itself can't be out-witted.
"Being out to make money" can also, result, in "TRIBBLE us" as happens in businesses around the world every day. As I have noted in previous posts, they may not even LIKE the idea of "TRIBBLE us", but they can end up doing it inadvertently, which is the point of this feedback thread.
And paranoia is an unfounded and irrational fear. I know PRECISELY what is going on because I've spoken with developers who have not only stated that it IS INDEED the alien generator limited and paygated, but that it's a "business decision" and "not to be taken personally", as spoken by so many who would rather you just fess up and pay them money where you didn't before.
So please, try again, and this time with more concept and idea, and less accusation of insanity.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
So your argument boils down to apathy towards the players who actually care, and an insistence that the two things are different.
The apathy doesn't impress me. The insistence that the alien gen is different doesn't hold water because it's been admitted to me by developers that it is indeed the same thing as the alien gen on the other factions, just limited and pay-gated. I would copy and paste from the discussion with that developer but that would be in bad form.
Another element of your argument is "the reasons aren't relevant because that's what they've decided to do". The reason is always important. People who generally say it isn't, are people who don't WANT to know the reason, for whatever case.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
Centurion maximus92
12th Legion, Romulan Republic
12th Fleet
=\/= ================================ =\/=
Adding too much access to FED/KDF features/gear/ships makes romulans the default superset for all factions.
With the trait changes, and if they hadn't decided to removed T5 ship access, that would have made playing a "Romulan" the only right choice. All of the benefits, none of the downsides.
I get the OPs point, there no real "WHY" here, just more cash hungry devs trying to squeeze every single penny out of players.
Yes, its a F2P game, im a lifer and before i purchased my lifetime I bought many ships (and will probably buy more in the future). So being free isnt a good enough excuse, they already make a lot of money on monthly subs, lockbox keys and ships, they dont need to keep squeezing like this.
Joined - 9/2011
"You Best Make Peace With Your Dear & Fluffy Lord" - Malcolm Reynolds
I don't necessarily see it that way, as I play for story, but ... alright, I will concede these points and utilize this concession to benefit my argument.
T5 ships HAVE been limited. Even in my discussion with Captain Geko, the argument was made that "yes Romulans don't have full blown aliens but they can fly every ship so it balances out." Does it balance out quite anymore with less ships available and with the Romulans losing a racial trait advantage if they chose to fly those other ships? No.
Besides, aliens are about a player's creativity and imagination, not trait benefits -- not anymore after the traits have been revamped. There is literally no "benefit" to be acquired by playing an alien. In fact, you will not have the subterfuge trait to benefit from Romulan ships, so why limit them?
There's no longer a valid reason to do so.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
Your argument defeats itself. You said aliens need to be controlled because they were OP. With the trait revamp, as you admit, they are no longer OP. So playing an alien is a personal, CREATIVE choice that doesn't effect you or anyone else around you.
So reducing my argument to "OP wants to fly a Warbird as Spiderman" is a simplification to make my argument seem ridiculous, but is not wholly without merit. I want to fly a Warbird as an original alien species IF I SO CHOSE TO, and I want everyone to be able to do so, so they can enjoy Star Trek Online to the fullest and thed game can be more successful.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"
Thank you for agreeing with me, it's nice to see someone not afraid to speak up for a change.
Check out my Foundry missions
Fed: "To Helna and Back", "Rema Donna", "Animations with Helna", "Mudd's Weapons", "Waiting for Wednesday", "Monolith"
KDF: "Time the Enemy", "Time the Ally", "Time the Traitor"