Devs: Can we get rid of Tovan already?

pweistheworst · June 2013

Let's be honest, there is nothing wrong with giving us an "optional" BOff with extra story elements and voice overs, but MANY players aren't happy about the fact that Tovan couldn't be discharged from the crew if the player didn't want him.

The devs have even publicly acknowledged that you're working on a way to let the people who want to get rid of Tovan discharge him, so please hurry up.

The people who like Tovan are tired of all of us who hate him constantly complaining, and those of us who hate Tovan are tired of having to constantly complain that this unwanted BOff is taking up space our our Bridge and our BOff list.

alopen · June 2013

Just give Tovan Superior Operative and Subterfuge. Problem solved. It's Cryptic we're talking about, the easy way out is best.

msk5 · June 2013

Yeah it'd be nice if they gave Tovan traits that made him worth keeping around, or if they could give him some benefit over standard BOFFs that would make it a non-issue.

hereticknight085 · June 2013

I dunno, Tovan is pretty darn useful on ground missions. His traits make him ideal for fighting on ground. He's just not as useful in space. Still useful, but not max possible usefulness.

misslithany · June 2013

My problem with him is hes so tied to the story, always popping up giving background, advice, random worthless thoughts, etc. it feels more like I'm playing; The Adventures of Tovan Khev and the quest for the missing sister. As told by his mute sidekick [Insert Players Name].

They should of done the same thing they did with Alexander for the Klingon episodes, he was "on your ship" when his imput was needed in space. And when needed on the ground he took up a boff slot as a npc controlled by the computer.

elemberq333 · June 2013

The only thing I thought was really wrong with Tovan was when I would beam to a location without him in my party and he would continue to spout his dialogue as though he were still there with my away team. I thought I left him on the ship! Damn I hate when my crew does not follow orders! lol

tenkari · June 2013

elemberq333 wrote: »

The only thing I thought was really wrong with Tovan was when I would beam to a location without him in my party and he would continue to spout his dialogue as though he were still there with my away team. I thought I left him on the ship! Damn I hate when my crew does not follow orders! lol

he could be listening in through comms and chatting to you from the ship.

fmgtorres1979 · June 2013

He's your buddy!! You have gone through so much together!

Nah, I don't care...kill him...

aexrael · July 2013

If the BOFF system weren't so drab and rigid there would have been potential for a more personal character development ala SWTOR companions, but as it is Tovan is just wasting valuable space on the BOFF roster.
At this point I'm inclined to believe Cryptic intentionally designed him this way to force us to purchase more BOFF slots.

pweistheworst · July 2013

aexrael wrote: »

At this point I'm inclined to believe Cryptic intentionally designed him this way to force us to purchase more BOFF slots.

Heck, I'll buy 20 BOff slots if it magically unlocks the ability to discharge Tovan so I never have to see him again.

I'm also annoyed that in one of the recent patches the Romulan bridge was updated so that Tovan ALWAYS appears on your bridge even if he is not selected as one of your active BOffs or as a department head.

It's like one of the devs at Cryptic is saying, "What? You guys don't like Tovan? Well, %#$& YOU! I'll make it so Tovan is always in your face every time you go to your bridge."
:rolleyes:

persephoneltc · July 2013

I see two arguments with Tovan Khev.

1) We have no control over him as Commander's of our own warbirds! Seriously, as a KDF affiliated Romulan (and I hate that only slightly less than being a squimish, sniveling snot nosed Federation affiliated Romulan) I get missions all the time to execute mutineers. Well, why am I getting all those missions? Could it be because I cannot control MY OWN FREAKING BRIDGE CREW?!?!?! Seriously, Tovan SHUT UP AND GET DOWN TO THE CARGO BAY TO COUNT MY STEM BOLTS! Why the FRAK does he get to kick my highly trained, extremely loyal, Executive Officer out of her seat and take over without getting shived by my personal Tal'Shiar security forces? (ie, my ground crew?)

2) He's all but useless most of the time. Fine, if he has to send me a missive, he can call me on the communicator.

Also on the note of boffs and lack thereof, why does it seem I only get a boff recruitment mission, for a romulan boff, once a month? Am I just unlucky here, or are they trying to force Toven Khev down my throat?

chris919uk · July 2013

Actually I can understand the reason for implementing a story based character like Tovan into the game for immersion reasons.

My issue is that all Romulan players are permanently stuck with this guy who has the incredible ability to advise me at all times whether hes actually part of my team or not. So seriously, please Cryptic give me the ability to tell Tovan to warp off.

If I believed in conspiracies I would argue when the time comes for Emperor Stahl to initiate Order 66 all these Tovan clones are going to magically steal everyones energy credits and dilithium.

trygvar13 · July 2013

I kinda like Tovan Khev exactly for the reason that some people don't like him... for the storyline. When (or should I say if) we get to promote our BOFF's to Captain I would clearly see him as the first to be promoted. And the storyline could continue from there.

obsidiusrex · July 2013

If I can't get rid of him by the end of Nimbus, I'll just pave him over - change his name, his face, use spare BOffs to train him in new skills, etc. Maybe I'll make him Sparks McGee. Is there a cowboy hat option in the tailor yet?

rtk142 · July 2013

obsidiusrex wrote: »

If I can't get rid of him by the end of Nimbus, I'll just pave him over - change his name, his face, use spare BOffs to train him in new skills, etc. Maybe I'll make him Sparks McGee. Is there a cowboy hat option in the tailor yet?

I had forgotten all about Sparks McGee till now! Good call!

jonsills · July 2013

He's the one officer you can't rename, though. You can make him look like Sparks (well, except the cowboy hat - doesn't seem to be one of those in the costume options here), but he's going to be named Tovan Khev. It irked me slightly to learn this, as I was renaming all my other BOffs in accordance with Duane's Rihannsu naming conventions and I couldn't even rename him to "tr'Khev", but he's good with my beam weapons, so...

hip63 · July 2013

Ok, I get it when some here say they want more control over there ship crew.

I get it when they ay they don't like the fact you can't rename him.

What I don't get is people calling him "worthless"

His default skills are decent (if not good) and can be tailored just like you can any other BOFF if you don't like 'em. If you're a TAC then you can make'em a real fire breather.

You might want fire him, fair enough, but he's not "useless"

hip63

ssb64 · July 2013

alopen wrote: »

Just give Tovan Superior Operative and Subterfuge. Problem solved. It's Cryptic we're talking about, the easy way out is best.

even if it had sup. operative and subterfuge i would discard it and buy another one at the exchange... with sup operative and subterfuge too....

i hate this guy, he never obeys me - and he always take the seat of my other officers, he always want to be the first officer -_-

stofsk · July 2013

I like the idea of Torvan Kev more than I like the character of Torvan Kev i.e. it's a great idea but not-so-great execution. While I don't hate the character per se, I do understand why people don't like him.

baudl · July 2013

operative and superior operative are just 0,5% crit chance appart...what is the price for an romulan operative on the exchange nowadays?

i think his and satras traits are a nice present to all romulan players, since that's 3% crit chance for free. Could have been 4%, but i think the casual gamer will never have the luck or 20 million EC to buy superior romulan operatives, not even the fleet rom. doff.

diabrand · July 2013

I actually don't mind Tovan. My issue is what I like to call the "Tovan Effect" by where this BOFF usurps the position of First Officer, Security Officer and Tactical Officer on my vessel even though I've given them to fellow Remans in my crew. Doesn't matter how often I change it he keeps coming back and taking those roles. He's either a sophisticated computer virus or a Reman-hater ... not sure which :P

thelastlegate · July 2013

There are only a couple of problems with this guy.
One he is whiney
Two he keeps shoving his opinion in my face
Three I do not what to hear about his blasted love life.

so can we have a "shut up Toven" option?

asardetemplari · July 2013

Hey Tovan... buddy... we're going to take a happy stroll over to the Borg Cube, walk around and leave okay?

*three hours later, the Captain's D'deridex warbird leaves the Borg Cube.... missing one Tovan Khev*

gardat · July 2013

To all the Tovan haters out there... he would like to have a word.

http://i.imgur.com/ab3ZQa7.png

He's staying, dissenters get airlocked

pweistheworst · July 2013

gardat wrote: »

To all the Tovan haters out there... he would like to have a word.

http://i.imgur.com/ab3ZQa7.png

He's staying, dissenters get airlocked

We're not asking the devs to force you to get rid of Tovan ... but your comment in effect is like asking the devs to continue forcing us to keep Tovan.

You shoould have the option to keep Tovan and we should have the option to discharge him from our ships. His character should be OPTIONAL and not mandatory.

steamwright · July 2013

I kinda like Tovan. That said, I can understand that the way some of his dialog was written could be annoying. I know I find it mildly annoying that any member of the crew would tell the captain what is to happen next, even if it was meant to guide the player. I'd prefer the crew member used a "respectfully suggest, sir..." But its not a deal breaker with me.

Is it the dialog that is ticking people off? Or is it his attributes? If the dialog or attributes were improved, would it be enough?

I'm of the opinion that what should have happened (what could happen?) is that at the moment of a best friend BOFF joining, the game pause and the player be given a limited creation option: male/female, 2 voice choices per gender, visual appearance settings, and limited selection of BOFF abilities. If he/she will stay with you all the way, it makes it more comfortable. When the BFF BOFF is planetside with you, one of the other voices, along with a game-generated appearance, broadcasts from the ship as a different character.

peetapipmac · July 2013

My issue with Tovan has NOTHING to do with character, dialogue, quality or abilities.

My issue is that I have no say in him being there. What if I want to theme my bridge crew? what if I want them all to be Reman, or if like my FED toon what if I wanted an all female crew? I'd be stuck with this gooseberry messing it all up for me.

I get that he has a major part in the story. (I've even been enjoying it) but just let me ditch him when that story has been told.

zandraia · July 2013

steamwright wrote: »

I kinda like Tovan. That said, I can understand that the way some of his dialog was written could be annoying. I know I find it mildly annoying that any member of the crew would tell the captain what is to happen next, even if it was meant to guide the player. I'd prefer the crew member used a "respectfully suggest, sir..." But its not a deal breaker with me.

Is it the dialog that is ticking people off? Or is it his attributes? If the dialog or attributes were improved, would it be enough?

I'm of the opinion that what should have happened (what could happen?) is that at the moment of a best friend BOFF joining, the game pause and the player be given a limited creation option: male/female, 2 voice choices per gender, visual appearance settings, and limited selection of BOFF abilities. If he/she will stay with you all the way, it makes it more comfortable. When the BFF BOFF is planetside with you, one of the other voices, along with a game-generated appearance, broadcasts from the ship as a different character.

^ ^ ^ ^
This times infinity, its a nice way of preserving the idea of a friend and fellow refugee, while allowing us at least SOME input in their appearance/species (even if its just romulan or reman). Besides, theres gotta be some female staffer at cryptic who'd rerecord the Tovan lines for a few bucks or a paid long weekend. Problem is...how do those of us who are stuck with 'Classic' Tovan get rid of the idiot, and receive the new, improved Tovan?

aexrael · July 2013

steamwright wrote: »

I kinda like Tovan. That said, I can understand that the way some of his dialog was written could be annoying. I know I find it mildly annoying that any member of the crew would tell the captain what is to happen next, even if it was meant to guide the player. I'd prefer the crew member used a "respectfully suggest, sir..." But its not a deal breaker with me.

Is it the dialog that is ticking people off? Or is it his attributes? If the dialog or attributes were improved, would it be enough?

I'm of the opinion that what should have happened (what could happen?) is that at the moment of a best friend BOFF joining, the game pause and the player be given a limited creation option: male/female, 2 voice choices per gender, visual appearance settings, and limited selection of BOFF abilities. If he/she will stay with you all the way, it makes it more comfortable. When the BFF BOFF is planetside with you, one of the other voices, along with a game-generated appearance, broadcasts from the ship as a different character.

He becomes irrelevant once you have completed the story missions, making adjustments to dialog pointless. His traits aren't desirable so he is wasting a space on the roster.

It would be a different story if we had SWTOR like companions, but in STO he's just a waste of space due to the lack of customization.

philhodgson · July 2013

I don't get why Cryptic made him so essential. Even in the story, it's not made clear why, when he seems to know so much, he doesn't assume command, or is offered a command in the Republic (other than the fairly obvious point that he's a plot device and our characters are needed for the game, but you get what I mean.)

Why couldn't Tovan Khev have been an old man who was unable to fight, but could advise from the sidelines, or be involved in the relevant missions.

I really don't get why the Romulan campaign features him the way it does, because the Klingon campaign, released on the VERY SAME DAY, has dealt with this problem perfectly.

With regards to the plot - Tovan and K'mtar fulfill the same role (right down to oversharing about their personal lives), but K'mtar is never a member of your crew. He just quietly dies when he's no longer needed.

If the arguement to keep Tovan on the ship is because he is essential in certain quests, that's ignored for Klingons, if you replay the mission at Sirella's house after K'mtar dies, he's miraculously resurrected and at your side again.

I am quite happy to be given a purple BOFF to start with, but I don't get why he can't be customised, when everything else can.

Also - and I am really letting my inner trekker out of the box here to finish this rant - Tovan Khev - is that a Romulan name? Bajoran or Cardassian maybe, but I just can't imagine Commander Khev facing down Captain Picard.

bhthephoenix · July 2013

I assume Tovan is a civilian and nothing more. Perhaps smarter than your average civilian. So in a perfect world Tovan would never face Picard, he would have been relaxing on Romulas. Fate however steps in and Tovan is out for revenge following you. I'm assuming that your character has actual training where Tovan doesnt. Tovan is also loyal to you and perhaps doesn't have any desire for his own command.

Personally I love Tovan and thought it was an awesome idea to have him in the game. I didnt like the way the KDF story went. Maybe giving Tovan some better abilities would be great. I also think by the time you reach level 50 you have enough bridge officer slots that it isn't game ruining for Tovan to still be around.

Devs: Can we get rid of Tovan already?

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