Not the pseudo-Jem'hadar BoP design or the red skin, no. But the helmets and greatcoats are pretty cool IMO, and generic enough that they'd mesh in with the prime universe KDF look. My understanding of why we don't get the existing Swordmaster coat is that it's down to clipping issues on a player character, but an Into Darkness style coat would be no more difficult than the existing winter coats.
Anything for content...!
There is also a lot more that could be done with the Orions and Gorn - these seem to be nearly as popular as the Klingons themselves in-game. In TOS the Orions had an insanely fast ship that the NCC-1701 couldn't even track - sounds like the basis for a C-store version of the Risan Corvette to me.
How about an Assimilated Gorn BOff - who wouldn't want a cyborg dinosaur on their crew ? Or a Ferasan Telepath, based on TAS "The Slaver Weapon", as a counterpart to the Fed Aenar?
Not the pseudo-Jem'hadar BoP design or the red skin, no. But the helmets and greatcoats are pretty cool IMO, and generic enough that they'd mesh in with the prime universe KDF look. My understanding of why we don't get the existing Swordmaster coat is that it's down to clipping issues on a player character, but an Into Darkness style coat would be no more difficult than the existing winter coats.
Anything for content...!
There is also a lot more that could be done with the Orions and Gorn - these seem to be nearly as popular as the Klingons themselves in-game. In TOS the Orions had an insanely fast ship that the NCC-1701 couldn't even track - sounds like the basis for a C-store version of the Risan Corvette to me.
How about an Assimilated Gorn BOff - who wouldn't want a cyborg dinosaur on their crew ? Or a Ferasan Telepath, based on TAS "The Slaver Weapon", as a counterpart to the Fed Aenar?
I fully support a Ferasan Telepath and Assimilated Gorn Boff...and captain species as well.
I'm not as fully versed on the different Klingon, and other races, ships; but there are plenty of NPC ships in the game that could be polished and reworked for player use.
I would very much like more costume options with my KDF captains, i'm making due by zealously grinding for event costumes and such, but i'm still horrendously limited in choices, especially being female. I like the big shoulder pads and pants as much as the next warrior, but i like to dress feminine every now and again...and with the only KDF skirt being locked behind the walls of the lobi consortium...it gets expensive. I can tell you as a KDF female that there are a legion of us that would pay, and pay well, for new costume options. Skirts, pants, boots (dear lord let us have something without spikes for once), tops, etc.
That forehead ridge piercing/jewelry the klingon commander had in Into Darkness was interesting i though, if they added that in for Klingons i might just roll a Klingon captain ^^ give me a reason to buy the Bortasqu as well, i didn't feel it was the right ship for either of my Ferasan captains, but a Klingon, yeah i'd buy the pack then ^^
Cryptic is neglecting a goldmine when it comes to not developing the KDF more, costumes alone would go a long way to getting the vocal minority to shut up. Start with costumes, add some ships on par with recent Fed and Rom vessels, maybe eventually add some more missions with a KDF flavor, and you'd easily win the hearts and minds of those who prefer the KDF.
KDF for Life! Romulan at Heart Fed cause they made me ~ :P
Star Trek is a captive, guaranteed audience. It's a license to print money, basically-you can charge what the market will bear with no fear of competitors...because there are none.
That's the only thing I will actually answer to...
Because it is COMPLETE BS...
Where are all the toys? Where are all the new Series? Costumes?
If it really were "a license to print money" you wouldn't be that hard pressed to find ANY toys as I am currently, besides used stuff for a few hundred bucks on ebay and such or the Art Stuff (light-up, detailed models) for about a couple thousands...
Unless I see rows of Jean-Luc Picard Action Figures or Picard/Locutus headswitch figures in a mall you can NOT make infinite money with the Franchise.
Even the New Movies Action Figures were gone in a matter of weeks and most certainly NOT sold out.
I think the OP is talking about some of the Ar'kif variants. If there was a new ship, I highly doubt that less than a week away from S8 he'd be the only one to realize it, by now we'd all know about it. Maybe there even is a new Romulan ship, everyone knows that the Romulans could use a science vessel for a change, but that's not the one the OP is talking about and only the devs. know this.
As for the KDF - I enjoy playing KDF very much. I'm one of those people that said "Give us a full faction experience and throw us just a couple of KDF specific missions and ships per year and you'll have one extremely happy player". I'm extremely happy with what the faction received in LoR, even more so now having the starting missions voiced by mr.Dorn. I don't know if it was all "Labor of love" which accoriding to some players means staying after work to do content for us, but if it is true - that the people who worked on that afterhours have my upmost respect and gratitude.
Seriously - give me 1 C-Store costume in a blue moon, a couple of KDF specific missions and 2 ships per year, and you'll have one forever happy player. I don't really care that much if other factions have more if the KDF is getting at least somekind of continuous development regardless of the size - just not to feel like being completely forgotten and left out of the game. Honestly, I'm very satisfied with my current KDF ships and the only way I'm getting out of the Bortasqu' is probably if a bus hits me on the street. Which does not mean I won't buy new KDF stuff, plenty of KDF chars over here.
What people seem to not understand is that most of us do love and really enjoy the KDF faction. When we ask for things or complain about issues is not because we hate our experience as KDF, but because it's in the human nature to want better or at least to feel equal with the rest of the players in the game. We just want to see continuous development and retaining of faction uniqueness, nothing more.
The latest huge demand for ships by KDF players is a direct result of powercreep, there has been a lot of that going on this last year and our faction has not gotten anything new to compensate for it. Yes, many of us know how to keep even our current ships competitive, but that's not the issue here - we're all people and want new cool and fresh stuff.
I'm looking forward to those 2 rumored new ships, whenever they might come. Untill then, I'll just keep blowing up Feds. and Borg with what I have at my disposal. :P
PWE will not let any investment go to KDF, because they are well FED... see the joke?
A KDF full Faction would improve PvP, the game population and PWE/Cryptic would have more profit. But hell, with KDF in this situation they are never going to have the same population as the Federation. Then this comes to that circular logic.
Cryptic need to give us a leap of faith with KDF, but PWE would never let this happen.
With all this "DOOM" thread, you know what? CBS will not cancel Cryptic licenses, because with J J Abrams going to Star Wars, STO is the only current live and new content on the midia that is related to Star Trek. They need STO to keep their profit in general.
-- "If we're going to be damned, let's be damned for what we really are." - Jean-Luc Picard
Prove it. This is just another baseless assumption.
Prove it? I played it for over three years. The Devs and Dan have said it in many podcast interviews, the KDF was shafted in the early stages of the game and have been under developed. The updates archived on STOwiki show the progression up till the present.
There is no abscence of evidence, only your blinding squaking that its baseless when anybody who has been in STO for the duration knows its true that if the KDF had been given proper development the faction would have been better received and populated.
Look at the pattern of behaviours. Here's the real deal:
Cryptic doesn't want, or need, money from KDF players. I'm pretty sure, given Geko's attitude in the last two podcast interviews, that if he had his druthers, he'd yard what KDF material IS here, out...entirely, and make it a single-faction Starfleet game with a romulan add-on where everyone is either fed, or fed/rom.
The interesting thing there is the Rom bit, because it is the evidence that suggests STO factions other than the Federation are viable. (Does it not strike you that an STO with Roms but no Klingons would be a little odd..?) To be transparent, I have 3 Rep-maxed KDF toons, one Fed, and no Romulans, because I simply have no great interest in playing a Romulan and the other 4 toons fill my time quite effectively.
The Romulans look like they have been a great success in the past six months - and yet the Roms, in the wider fanbase, seem to be a definite third to the Klingons in terms of recognition and popularity. I mean, there have been no Romulan-only games or novel series. So why is that?
The simple answer is that the Romulans were done right first time, and came along at a point when most players had fully explored the Fed experience. While an allied faction, they came along with significantly different mechanics and a strong narrative from the start. Romulan Boffs were clearly head and shoulders above others due to their space abilities, which attracted the powergaming community. It probably didn't hurt, either, that the Romulans were given access to existing Fed fleet starbases, and that the faction was presented as the new, reformed Romulan Republic rather than the morally dubious Star Empire of the TV series.
The Klingons, by contrast, have simply never been in the limelight. The basic concept is IMO actually quite strong - take the most popular and developed non-Fed faction and supplement them with enduringly popular TOS races (the Gorn and Orions - you can;t really go wrong with bug-eyed dinosaurs and green skinned space babes). Ironically, Cryptic's original game balance was pretty good so that the cloaks, agility and carriers of the KDF were balanced against Federation durability and science powers. I say ironic since if the KDF really had been overpowered, they would probably have been a lot more popular. There was never a point when the KDF were "ooh, shiny!" and new like the Romulans. As epic as some of the KDF narrative is, it was introduced late in the day and too piecemeal to make a difference. The narrative also emphasised the less sociable and noble aspects of Klingon society, which I suspect put a lot of RPers off. As a final nail in the coffin, when we did get a proper KDF introductory arc, it was overshadowed by Legacy of Romulus.
So yes, realistically I think that Cryptic will just keep the KDF on life-support via shared faction content. But there's plenty to be done, if the will which drove Legacy of Romulus can be recreated.
That's because the Orions are in charge of the KDF, the Klingons just don't know it.
A prime example of one of the many Storylines they could create for the KDF. What are the Orions up too?
Another would be a Gorn rebellion movement.
Two great ministories that could be a platform the enrich the faction.
Unless I see rows of Jean-Luc Picard Action Figures or Picard/Locutus headswitch figures in a mall you can NOT make infinite money with the Franchise.
Even the New Movies Action Figures were gone in a matter of weeks and most certainly NOT sold out.
It's not that bad, and the phrase was "license to print money" not "infinite money". While Trek can't match Star Wars for popularity (and in the UK, Doctor Who has it massively outgunned in the general merchandise arena as well) it's hardly on life support. We've had two hit movies with a third planned, Pocket Books continue to do enough business to keep churning out Trek novels, there's a steady flow of updated blu-ray series rereleases and enough fan interest to keep a couple of plastic model kit companies happy. Oh and an ongoing comic series. In fact, Trek has everything bar a current TV series and toy range. That should make it a pretty reliable bet for a game.
Trek's problem is that it is generally too cerebral to appeal to the under-12s market for toys that Star Wars does. (Mind you, Doctor Who does that despite being pretty intellectual).
Then you go over to the KDF side, and you sell civilians into slavery and torture helpless captives who can't fight back. The KDF insists that they can save the Federation from the Undine, but need Section 31 to point out the corruption in their own Empire. It's weird, and it turns me off, especially when startrek.com has an article about how the Klingons in STO are noble warriors who follow the ideals of Worf.
This got me thinking that diversity should be another strength of the faction. As a Fed, you're pretty well bound to Starfleet ideology. The Klkingons can be more nuanced, from the slave-trading marauders mentioned to acolytes of Martok who strive for honour. Some careful KDF episode writing could exploit that freedom to give a far more open experience than a Starfleet-centred episode.
18%. That's a hair over 1 in 6 players are KDF. In any other business, if you dipsarage, ignore and neglect 1 in 6 of your customers, you end up auctioning off your remaining assets in bankruptcy liquidation-because most businesses run about 5% profit margin if they're well managed and SUCCESSFUL.
The question is, how many of those 18% actually still buy things from the store? Cryptic's not going to assume that they are customers if they don't assume they're willing to lay down cash.
This is why the failure of the Bort was probably the worst thing that could have happened to the KDF. I'm sure there are devs who would love to make more, but somewhere there's a bean counter who shakes his head every time a suggestion like that crosses his desk.
I'm not sure what anyone can do. Maybe LoR will convince them that factions are the wave of the future, or maybe someday the KDF fans will stop changing their character titles and organize a mass movement to drive up the sales of the Bort. Aside from that . . . no clue how to break this vicious cycle.
This got me thinking that diversity should be another strength of the faction. As a Fed, you're pretty well bound to Starfleet ideology. The Klkingons can be more nuanced, from the slave-trading marauders mentioned to acolytes of Martok who strive for honour. Some careful KDF episode writing could exploit that freedom to give a far more open experience than a Starfleet-centred episode.
Yes, more diversity would be nice. It's be great if they used their new race-specific dialgoue tech to rewrite missions so that my Orion or Gorn crew doesn't bark about honor and Sto-vo-kor, for instance. Perhaps mini-factions are a good option for expanding the KDF?
I have bought practically all there is to buy. Create more stuff and people will buy it.
This is catch22. We can not buy what does not exist or want to buy that which is not asked for as a thing to spend money on.
The other catch22 is there is little to allow a starter toon to buy to develop a KDF toon into a personal state and hardly anything to keep the level capped yoons spending to support the faction.
So,, I was just on Test Server, and it seems there is a new ROMULAN WARBID COMMING OUT SOON!
WHY? AFTER YOU SPECIFICALLY TOLD KDF THEY HAD TO WAIT BECAUSE OF THE VOTH?
First the Avenger...
NOW THE Ac'carial? Did I spell that right?
No matter... I never got a response except "I can't give you an exact date yet" for KDF ships.
KDF Excuse for NO Ship: "Voth"
Fed and ROM? Eliminated the Voth Factor, Get Ships STILL!
Fair? No.
Trustworthy on your part? NO!
Tell me, why! And no "We have it planned, just not yet." again!
Griping and whining is not going to help either your case or the KDF as a whole. As an example, would you make presents for kin that took such pleasure in finding fault with everything you did? Chances are, your answer would be no. So, I would not be so surprised that the KDF has been overlooked, if the comments I've seen here on the forums are a general idea of reactions as a whole (now, granted, not every single KDF member is given to making very vocal complaints--but those who do are very vocal, indeed, and sour the rest of the barrel of apples for those who want to try playing KDF without the whining).
Griping and whining is not going to help either your case or the KDF as a whole. As an example, would you make presents for kin that took such pleasure in finding fault with everything you did? Chances are, your answer would be no. So, I would not be so surprised that the KDF has been overlooked, if the comments I've seen here on the forums are a general idea of reactions as a whole (now, granted, not every single KDF member is given to making very vocal complaints--but those who do are very vocal, indeed, and sour the rest of the barrel of apples for those who want to try playing KDF without the whining).
True, yet even the feds whine and We never see this logic applied to them.
Less than two weeks after the release of the Avenger and a complaint thread popped up is the most recent example.
True, yet even the feds whine and We never see this logic applied to them.
Less than two weeks after the release of the Avenger and a complaint thread popped up is the most recent example.
Wrong again. Same logic DOES apply. I deplore the griping about the Avenger just as much as the general KDF whining.
However, consider this--how many of the ones sounding off about the Avenger have KDF alts?
I was once tempted to try the faction, but now I'm not so sure. Thank you for confirming my decision and saving me a lot of grief.
It's not that bad, and the phrase was "license to print money" not "infinite money". While Trek can't match Star Wars for popularity (and in the UK, Doctor Who has it massively outgunned in the general merchandise arena as well) it's hardly on life support. We've had two hit movies with a third planned, Pocket Books continue to do enough business to keep churning out Trek novels, there's a steady flow of updated blu-ray series rereleases and enough fan interest to keep a couple of plastic model kit companies happy. Oh and an ongoing comic series. In fact, Trek has everything bar a current TV series and toy range. That should make it a pretty reliable bet for a game.
Trek's problem is that it is generally too cerebral to appeal to the under-12s market for toys that Star Wars does. (Mind you, Doctor Who does that despite being pretty intellectual).
Okay... Steady flow of Updated Blu-Ray is a bit of a stretch... we had TOS and now TNG in the making (are they even finished by now? Haven't heard much of it after the initial announcements).
Can't find the Current Line-Up for Pocket Books but to say at least not much is coming over here concerning advertisements but what New Continuing series is there?
Yeah the Comics work I give you that but Comics aren't a very... profitable market, at least not here.
There are not many new Modells... it's mostly all the old ones they likely still had in stocks for horrendous prices and of course the few "new" things for either a couple hundred or thousand bucks from Art Asylum and Quantum Mechanix.
Yeah the Movies were successful but even that wasn't enough to hold the Toys in Store much beyond the initial Theatre Run. They didn't even do much for the second one for that exact reason apart from this K'reo deal and that they had to pick this company and not something like Lego speaks more than I could explain...
And look at the Video Game, it wasn't the most innovative gameplay wise sure but still it fell absolutely short in sales or for that matter ANY Star Trek Videogame fell short in sales compared to their respective competitors.
Toys can't be "too cerebral"... I don't know exactly why but something is very askew with all this...
You see, there is something inherently wrong when I as a customer have to actively and thoroughly search each and every avaiable website and store to be lucky to find something that still in most cases has to be shipped half way around the globe to get to me and I am not inclined to buy something that is by itself very expensive and still take an additional 30 Euro JUST for Shipping.
It was per accident that I stumbled upon the Vanguard Series and it was a late night caffeine induced nightmare-ish streak of luck that I found the Star Trek Catan Boardgame and had still enough luck left to have it be in stock.
And yet I absolutely miss a new TNG Tricorder, even a complete TNG Roleplay Set...
Or at least A Nemesis Set, give me Communicator, Type-2 Phaser and Tricorder and I am happy!
Edit: And for F*cks sake, they don't even get on the whole "App" Train!
They cut off the non-official Tricorder App and all they did was to release this stupid Into Darkness App.
They can't even manage to make a new and improved Tricorder App, not even a Phony One were you just have some buttons that make sound and display just some moving graphics and not real Data collected by your phone.
Before LoR I was stocking zen's for a future kdf ship (I was hoping to something similar to Kumari)
LoR came and I rolled a kdf reman ,bought a couple of romulan ships (each better than anything I had or can buy as klingon btw).
Now i stopped buying zen because I don't have any reason to do that,not having anything to buy.
I am not angry or upset it is just logical for me not to buy zen anymore.
"There already is a Borg faction, its called the Federation. They assimilate everyone else's technology and remove any biological or technical distinctiveness and add it to their own."
I refuse to be content https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwI0u9L4R8U
You're looking at a ship that's already available in-game and on Holodeck, and has been for a couple months/ before the Avenger. KDF ship is in Dev now but I can't share the release date just yet.
EDIT: And as others have pointed out, this thread is quickly devolving, and as it starts out with incorrect info: /thread
Comments
Not the pseudo-Jem'hadar BoP design or the red skin, no. But the helmets and greatcoats are pretty cool IMO, and generic enough that they'd mesh in with the prime universe KDF look. My understanding of why we don't get the existing Swordmaster coat is that it's down to clipping issues on a player character, but an Into Darkness style coat would be no more difficult than the existing winter coats.
Anything for content...!
There is also a lot more that could be done with the Orions and Gorn - these seem to be nearly as popular as the Klingons themselves in-game. In TOS the Orions had an insanely fast ship that the NCC-1701 couldn't even track - sounds like the basis for a C-store version of the Risan Corvette to me.
How about an Assimilated Gorn BOff - who wouldn't want a cyborg dinosaur on their crew
I fully support a Ferasan Telepath and Assimilated Gorn Boff...and captain species as well.
I'm not as fully versed on the different Klingon, and other races, ships; but there are plenty of NPC ships in the game that could be polished and reworked for player use.
I would very much like more costume options with my KDF captains, i'm making due by zealously grinding for event costumes and such, but i'm still horrendously limited in choices, especially being female. I like the big shoulder pads and pants as much as the next warrior, but i like to dress feminine every now and again...and with the only KDF skirt being locked behind the walls of the lobi consortium...it gets expensive. I can tell you as a KDF female that there are a legion of us that would pay, and pay well, for new costume options. Skirts, pants, boots (dear lord let us have something without spikes for once), tops, etc.
That forehead ridge piercing/jewelry the klingon commander had in Into Darkness was interesting i though, if they added that in for Klingons i might just roll a Klingon captain ^^ give me a reason to buy the Bortasqu as well, i didn't feel it was the right ship for either of my Ferasan captains, but a Klingon, yeah i'd buy the pack then ^^
Cryptic is neglecting a goldmine when it comes to not developing the KDF more, costumes alone would go a long way to getting the vocal minority to shut up. Start with costumes, add some ships on par with recent Fed and Rom vessels, maybe eventually add some more missions with a KDF flavor, and you'd easily win the hearts and minds of those who prefer the KDF.
That's the only thing I will actually answer to...
Because it is COMPLETE BS...
Where are all the toys? Where are all the new Series? Costumes?
If it really were "a license to print money" you wouldn't be that hard pressed to find ANY toys as I am currently, besides used stuff for a few hundred bucks on ebay and such or the Art Stuff (light-up, detailed models) for about a couple thousands...
Unless I see rows of Jean-Luc Picard Action Figures or Picard/Locutus headswitch figures in a mall you can NOT make infinite money with the Franchise.
Even the New Movies Action Figures were gone in a matter of weeks and most certainly NOT sold out.
As for the KDF - I enjoy playing KDF very much. I'm one of those people that said "Give us a full faction experience and throw us just a couple of KDF specific missions and ships per year and you'll have one extremely happy player". I'm extremely happy with what the faction received in LoR, even more so now having the starting missions voiced by mr.Dorn. I don't know if it was all "Labor of love" which accoriding to some players means staying after work to do content for us, but if it is true - that the people who worked on that afterhours have my upmost respect and gratitude.
Seriously - give me 1 C-Store costume in a blue moon, a couple of KDF specific missions and 2 ships per year, and you'll have one forever happy player. I don't really care that much if other factions have more if the KDF is getting at least somekind of continuous development regardless of the size - just not to feel like being completely forgotten and left out of the game. Honestly, I'm very satisfied with my current KDF ships and the only way I'm getting out of the Bortasqu' is probably if a bus hits me on the street.
What people seem to not understand is that most of us do love and really enjoy the KDF faction. When we ask for things or complain about issues is not because we hate our experience as KDF, but because it's in the human nature to want better or at least to feel equal with the rest of the players in the game. We just want to see continuous development and retaining of faction uniqueness, nothing more.
The latest huge demand for ships by KDF players is a direct result of powercreep, there has been a lot of that going on this last year and our faction has not gotten anything new to compensate for it. Yes, many of us know how to keep even our current ships competitive, but that's not the issue here - we're all people and want new cool and fresh stuff.
I'm looking forward to those 2 rumored new ships, whenever they might come.
PWE will not let any investment go to KDF, because they are well FED... see the joke?
A KDF full Faction would improve PvP, the game population and PWE/Cryptic would have more profit. But hell, with KDF in this situation they are never going to have the same population as the Federation. Then this comes to that circular logic.
Cryptic need to give us a leap of faith with KDF, but PWE would never let this happen.
With all this "DOOM" thread, you know what? CBS will not cancel Cryptic licenses, because with J J Abrams going to Star Wars, STO is the only current live and new content on the midia that is related to Star Trek. They need STO to keep their profit in general.
"If we're going to be damned, let's be damned for what we really are." - Jean-Luc Picard
Prove it? I played it for over three years. The Devs and Dan have said it in many podcast interviews, the KDF was shafted in the early stages of the game and have been under developed. The updates archived on STOwiki show the progression up till the present.
There is no abscence of evidence, only your blinding squaking that its baseless when anybody who has been in STO for the duration knows its true that if the KDF had been given proper development the faction would have been better received and populated.
R.I.P
The interesting thing there is the Rom bit, because it is the evidence that suggests STO factions other than the Federation are viable. (Does it not strike you that an STO with Roms but no Klingons would be a little odd..?) To be transparent, I have 3 Rep-maxed KDF toons, one Fed, and no Romulans, because I simply have no great interest in playing a Romulan and the other 4 toons fill my time quite effectively.
The Romulans look like they have been a great success in the past six months - and yet the Roms, in the wider fanbase, seem to be a definite third to the Klingons in terms of recognition and popularity. I mean, there have been no Romulan-only games or novel series. So why is that?
The simple answer is that the Romulans were done right first time, and came along at a point when most players had fully explored the Fed experience. While an allied faction, they came along with significantly different mechanics and a strong narrative from the start. Romulan Boffs were clearly head and shoulders above others due to their space abilities, which attracted the powergaming community. It probably didn't hurt, either, that the Romulans were given access to existing Fed fleet starbases, and that the faction was presented as the new, reformed Romulan Republic rather than the morally dubious Star Empire of the TV series.
The Klingons, by contrast, have simply never been in the limelight. The basic concept is IMO actually quite strong - take the most popular and developed non-Fed faction and supplement them with enduringly popular TOS races (the Gorn and Orions - you can;t really go wrong with bug-eyed dinosaurs and green skinned space babes). Ironically, Cryptic's original game balance was pretty good so that the cloaks, agility and carriers of the KDF were balanced against Federation durability and science powers. I say ironic since if the KDF really had been overpowered, they would probably have been a lot more popular. There was never a point when the KDF were "ooh, shiny!" and new like the Romulans. As epic as some of the KDF narrative is, it was introduced late in the day and too piecemeal to make a difference. The narrative also emphasised the less sociable and noble aspects of Klingon society, which I suspect put a lot of RPers off. As a final nail in the coffin, when we did get a proper KDF introductory arc, it was overshadowed by Legacy of Romulus.
So yes, realistically I think that Cryptic will just keep the KDF on life-support via shared faction content. But there's plenty to be done, if the will which drove Legacy of Romulus can be recreated.
A prime example of one of the many Storylines they could create for the KDF. What are the Orions up too?
Another would be a Gorn rebellion movement.
Two great ministories that could be a platform the enrich the faction.
R.I.P
It's not that bad, and the phrase was "license to print money" not "infinite money". While Trek can't match Star Wars for popularity (and in the UK, Doctor Who has it massively outgunned in the general merchandise arena as well) it's hardly on life support. We've had two hit movies with a third planned, Pocket Books continue to do enough business to keep churning out Trek novels, there's a steady flow of updated blu-ray series rereleases and enough fan interest to keep a couple of plastic model kit companies happy. Oh and an ongoing comic series. In fact, Trek has everything bar a current TV series and toy range. That should make it a pretty reliable bet for a game.
Trek's problem is that it is generally too cerebral to appeal to the under-12s market for toys that Star Wars does. (Mind you, Doctor Who does that despite being pretty intellectual).
This got me thinking that diversity should be another strength of the faction. As a Fed, you're pretty well bound to Starfleet ideology. The Klkingons can be more nuanced, from the slave-trading marauders mentioned to acolytes of Martok who strive for honour. Some careful KDF episode writing could exploit that freedom to give a far more open experience than a Starfleet-centred episode.
The question is, how many of those 18% actually still buy things from the store? Cryptic's not going to assume that they are customers if they don't assume they're willing to lay down cash.
This is why the failure of the Bort was probably the worst thing that could have happened to the KDF. I'm sure there are devs who would love to make more, but somewhere there's a bean counter who shakes his head every time a suggestion like that crosses his desk.
I'm not sure what anyone can do. Maybe LoR will convince them that factions are the wave of the future, or maybe someday the KDF fans will stop changing their character titles and organize a mass movement to drive up the sales of the Bort. Aside from that . . . no clue how to break this vicious cycle.
Yes, more diversity would be nice. It's be great if they used their new race-specific dialgoue tech to rewrite missions so that my Orion or Gorn crew doesn't bark about honor and Sto-vo-kor, for instance. Perhaps mini-factions are a good option for expanding the KDF?
This is catch22. We can not buy what does not exist or want to buy that which is not asked for as a thing to spend money on.
The other catch22 is there is little to allow a starter toon to buy to develop a KDF toon into a personal state and hardly anything to keep the level capped yoons spending to support the faction.
R.I.P
Griping and whining is not going to help either your case or the KDF as a whole. As an example, would you make presents for kin that took such pleasure in finding fault with everything you did? Chances are, your answer would be no. So, I would not be so surprised that the KDF has been overlooked, if the comments I've seen here on the forums are a general idea of reactions as a whole (now, granted, not every single KDF member is given to making very vocal complaints--but those who do are very vocal, indeed, and sour the rest of the barrel of apples for those who want to try playing KDF without the whining).
True, yet even the feds whine and We never see this logic applied to them.
Less than two weeks after the release of the Avenger and a complaint thread popped up is the most recent example.
R.I.P
In that case... fail. :rolleyes:
Wrong again. Same logic DOES apply. I deplore the griping about the Avenger just as much as the general KDF whining.
However, consider this--how many of the ones sounding off about the Avenger have KDF alts?
I was once tempted to try the faction, but now I'm not so sure. Thank you for confirming my decision and saving me a lot of grief.
Okay... Steady flow of Updated Blu-Ray is a bit of a stretch... we had TOS and now TNG in the making (are they even finished by now? Haven't heard much of it after the initial announcements).
Can't find the Current Line-Up for Pocket Books but to say at least not much is coming over here concerning advertisements but what New Continuing series is there?
Yeah the Comics work I give you that but Comics aren't a very... profitable market, at least not here.
There are not many new Modells... it's mostly all the old ones they likely still had in stocks for horrendous prices and of course the few "new" things for either a couple hundred or thousand bucks from Art Asylum and Quantum Mechanix.
Yeah the Movies were successful but even that wasn't enough to hold the Toys in Store much beyond the initial Theatre Run. They didn't even do much for the second one for that exact reason apart from this K'reo deal and that they had to pick this company and not something like Lego speaks more than I could explain...
And look at the Video Game, it wasn't the most innovative gameplay wise sure but still it fell absolutely short in sales or for that matter ANY Star Trek Videogame fell short in sales compared to their respective competitors.
Toys can't be "too cerebral"... I don't know exactly why but something is very askew with all this...
You see, there is something inherently wrong when I as a customer have to actively and thoroughly search each and every avaiable website and store to be lucky to find something that still in most cases has to be shipped half way around the globe to get to me and I am not inclined to buy something that is by itself very expensive and still take an additional 30 Euro JUST for Shipping.
It was per accident that I stumbled upon the Vanguard Series and it was a late night caffeine induced nightmare-ish streak of luck that I found the Star Trek Catan Boardgame and had still enough luck left to have it be in stock.
And yet I absolutely miss a new TNG Tricorder, even a complete TNG Roleplay Set...
Or at least A Nemesis Set, give me Communicator, Type-2 Phaser and Tricorder and I am happy!
Edit: And for F*cks sake, they don't even get on the whole "App" Train!
They cut off the non-official Tricorder App and all they did was to release this stupid Into Darkness App.
They can't even manage to make a new and improved Tricorder App, not even a Phony One were you just have some buttons that make sound and display just some moving graphics and not real Data collected by your phone.
My character Tsin'xing
LoR came and I rolled a kdf reman ,bought a couple of romulan ships (each better than anything I had or can buy as klingon btw).
Now i stopped buying zen because I don't have any reason to do that,not having anything to buy.
I am not angry or upset it is just logical for me not to buy zen anymore.
I refuse to be content https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwI0u9L4R8U
EDIT: And as others have pointed out, this thread is quickly devolving, and as it starts out with incorrect info: /thread
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=