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How about some kind of incentive for playing all 3 factions?

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  • bobbydazlersbobbydazlers Member Posts: 4,534 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    A big one for me is grouping. I’d like to see the option to group my kink side with fed buddies on stuff that the game will put us together in anyway. Like dinosaur land and beat up on the space snowflake.

    Something that I’d really like to see happen on the romulans is that they get access to the costumes from the faction they join and remove the faction haircut lockout. From what I remember that was a planned thing that got removed do to some not liking the idea of allowing allied romulans access to their own factions fashion accessories, frankly it seems silly. Yes you can have access to the best fed and kink weapons but not a pair of leather boots or on the flip side a fed can’t get access to romulan haircuts. As it turns out only romulans have learned the art of cutting hair in that particular way and it’s one of their most guarded secrets not unlike the feds shoe cobbling secrets.

    I would agree with that, once your character plays 'Sphere of Influence' they should be able to team with other faction players who have also played that mission for whatever content that is non faction story based.
    this includes all missions that come after SoI, events and things in adventure zones like new rom or nimbus 3.

    When I think about everything we've been through together,

    maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,

     and if that journey takes a little longer,

    so we can do something we all believe in,

     I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.

  • darkjeffdarkjeff Member Posts: 2,590 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    why not introduce some kind of official incentive/bonus/whatever for playing all 3 factions?

    Because an exclusive bonus for doing X is synonymous with a penalty for not doing X.

    It would need to be something trivial for it not to be construed as a "must do" for maximizing a character.
  • farmallmfarmallm Member Posts: 4,630 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    I Role Play each one. Fed Eng, KDF Eng, and Romulan Tac. Each one started with their own story, and ended up the same story. However each one has their "play" style that I created. Fed is more calm and slower to attack due to thinking on how to do it. KDF more rushes in and reckless. Romulan fights like a mad hornet and being more tactical on how to do it.

    And each one has their own ship style. So they are fun to use as well.

    More ships, more stories, etc. Will not get someone to play them unless they want to. My KDF started under the old Lv your Fed to 20 to unlock. So those new missions didn't help much the KDF, since players just don't want to play them.

    The person themselves is the incentive to play. Its not the game.
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  • thegrandnagus1thegrandnagus1 Member Posts: 5,166 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    darkjeff wrote: »
    Because an exclusive bonus for doing X is synonymous with a penalty for not doing X.

    It would need to be something trivial for it not to be construed as a "must do" for maximizing a character.

    I don't disagree with that some people have that perception. But like I said in my last post, all the complaining on the forums doesn't matter one bit if their numbers show it is successful.
    farmallm wrote: »
    The person themselves is the incentive to play. Its not the game.

    Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and like I told someone earlier, if Cryptic ever adds extra incentives for playing all 3 factions, you have every right not to claim them. No one should force you to accept the extra goodies if you think you don't want them.

    The-Grand-Nagus
    Join Date: Sep 2008

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  • spockout1spockout1 Member Posts: 314 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    You seem opposed to this idea for no real reason. As stated in the OP, this can only make Cryptic more money, and would give players something they might want to use. If you don't want to use it, no one would make you. So what exactly is your opposition based on? It might not make a huge difference in the grand scheme of things? So what? Let Cryptic make their more money on ship sales and let the people who *would* want some incentive have one.

    I wouldn't say opposed. I just fail to see what an incentive would do for people? If you want to play all the factions, you will. If not, you won't. If someone offers you a shiny, you might make a Fed/KDF/Rom to get the shiny and then delete them after you have the shiny. You're still back to where you started.

    You seem to be looking for a handout.
    "After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true. Except for a T5 Connie. That would be f*%#ing awesome." - Mr. Spock
  • amezukiamezuki Member Posts: 364 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    darkjeff wrote: »
    Because an exclusive bonus for doing X is synonymous with a penalty for not doing X.
    This statement exemplifies exactly the kind of wrongheaded attitude that Taco was bemoaning.

    You have agency in this, you know. You have a choice. No one is forcing you to achieve every possible achievable thing in the game. And no, if your craving for completionism won't allow you to rest until you have All The Things, then the only person penalizing you for not compelting optional goal X is you. For the rest of us, "optional" means the same thing that it does in a dictionary.
    It would need to be something trivial for it not to be construed as a "must do" for maximizing a character.
    This argument, taken to the absurdity of its logical conclusion, results in no new content ever.
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  • spockout1spockout1 Member Posts: 314 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    amezuki wrote: »
    This statement exemplifies exactly the kind of wrongheaded attitude that Taco was bemoaning.

    You have agency in this, you know. You have a choice. No one is forcing you to achieve every possible achievable thing in the game. And no, if your craving for completionism won't allow you to rest until you have All The Things, then the only person penalizing you for not compelting optional goal X is you. For the rest of us, "optional" means the same thing that it does in a dictionary.

    This argument, taken to the absurdity of its logical conclusion, results in no new content ever.

    Unless you're in an Advanced Queue.

    Boom.
    "After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true. Except for a T5 Connie. That would be f*%#ing awesome." - Mr. Spock
  • thegrandnagus1thegrandnagus1 Member Posts: 5,166 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    spockout1 wrote: »
    If someone offers you a shiny, you might make a Fed/KDF/Rom to get the shiny and then delete them after you have the shiny. You're still back to where you started.

    Some might(although I'm not sure they would delete a character simply for no reason). But others might think "you know, I should have made a KDF/ROM a long time ago; this is fun!" and wind up buying KDF/ROM ships that they otherwise wouldn't have, making Cryptic money that they otherwise wouldn't have made.

    Even if the "shiny" is what motivates them to take the first step, after taking that step some people(not all) will start enjoying those characters they created and start spending money on them. So again I have to ask, why exactly are you seemingly against this? You seem to be saying that unless it "works" for 100% of the people it's not worth doing at all. That makes absolutely no sense.

    Nothing works for everyone. Everyone did not create a Romulan with Legacy of Romulus, but it was still a successful expansion. Everyone did not create a Delta Recruit, but we saw from the queues that more people were playing the game. Just because something does not work for everyone does not mean it is not successful or not worth doing.

    The-Grand-Nagus
    Join Date: Sep 2008

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  • nyniknynik Member Posts: 1,628 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    What about a temporary bonus depending on how many people are currently playing the faction? Sort of like how faction bonus is conferred in the tri-faction combat game Planetside 2 (albeit a shooter)? The bonuses are dynamically adjusted as people switch factions (and rack up play time in different ways). It seems the tech is there, as demonstrated by the recording of the Delta Events.

    I think the question would be what would be bonus enough to encourage people to temporarily switch their play character (and therefore perhaps playstyle that evening), instead of just hold out? I certainly haven't been overly motivated by the delta global rewards.

    p.s. I'm by no means citing planetside 2 as a flawless example of population balance mechanics
  • thegrandnagus1thegrandnagus1 Member Posts: 5,166 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    nynik wrote: »
    What about a temporary bonus depending on how many people are currently playing the faction? Sort of like how faction bonus is conferred in the tri-faction combat game Planetside 2 (albeit a shooter)? The bonuses are dynamically adjusted as people switch factions (and rack up play time in different ways). It seems the tech is there, as demonstrated by the recording of the Delta Events.

    p.s. I'm by no means citing planetside 2 as a flawless example of population balance mechanics

    That sounds like it would give the Feds an unfair advantage, since there are always significantly more people playing Fed than anything else. Or maybe I just misunderstand what you are talking about.

    The-Grand-Nagus
    Join Date: Sep 2008

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  • weaver936weaver936 Member Posts: 83 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    There are already benefits to playing all three factions. Feds get more variety of ships, KDF gets alot more opportunity to get Dilithium, and Romulan Republic have Superior Romulan Operatives that even if you don't use them, you can sell them. Also, their Doffs work for Fed Rommies and KDF Rommies.. and you can send them back and forth in mail. And of course, don't forget the Scimitar.
  • nyniknynik Member Posts: 1,628 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    That sounds like it would give the Feds an unfair advantage, since there are always significantly more people playing Fed than anything else. Or maybe I just misunderstand what you are talking about.

    Just the opposite in fact. It would confer bonuses on the lowest faction until such time as it gained higher numbers. Once (if) that happens, then the bonuses would gradually trickle to the new lowest faction.

    Maybe the worst case is either we have no bonuses in effect - because people switch fluidly and the faction numbers stabilize (doubtful), or the bonuses are not incentive enough, and the system is a failure - except for those on the lower pop factions who enjoy the advantages (like the KDF did with the contraband turn ins a while ago).
  • valianttomevalianttome Member Posts: 157 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    I think the problem here is that neither the Klingons or the Romulans really have anything of substantial uniqueness to their factions.

    Just about everything you can get on the Klingon side of things ends up on the Fed side. And theres just in general less effort on part of the Devs to offer content central to Klingon and Rom players.

    In any other game. Players would be tripping over themselves to play the Faction that is the opposite of the good guys. Or atleast what is considered the 'Monster' Faction. But the only thing the Klingons deliver on is their Monster image. Beyond that the story and the faction doesnt have anything to offer.


    So while some Ship Traits added for those playing all three factions would drive up the metrics for a time being. Whats to keep them playing those characters?
  • thegrandnagus1thegrandnagus1 Member Posts: 5,166 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    nynik wrote: »
    Just the opposite in fact.

    I see, thanks for the explanation. That system does sound interesting.
    Whats to keep them playing those characters?

    This post pretty much explains my position.

    The-Grand-Nagus
    Join Date: Sep 2008

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  • alcyoneserenealcyoneserene Member Posts: 2,414 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    No.

    Existing rewards more than suffice. Failing to see these means nothing will ever be enough.

    I'd rather be among Roms & KDFs who play it cause they like it for a purely aesthetic/role-immersion perspective.

    What exactly is the point of bribing Feds to play something else? The end result will only be more disgruntled misplaced players who make poor team mates, who don't care for Trek and faction pride or decorum (is there even such a thing?), and who one way or another dilute the Trek, KDF and ROM experience more so than already is the case.
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  • thegrandnagus1thegrandnagus1 Member Posts: 5,166 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    No.

    Existing rewards more than suffice. Failing to see these means nothing will ever be enough.

    I'd rather be among Roms & KDFs who play it cause they like it for a purely aesthetic/role-immersion perspective.

    What exactly is the point of bribing Feds to play something else? The end result will only be more disgruntled misplaced players who make poor team mates, who don't care for Trek and faction pride or decorum (is there even such a thing?), and who one way or another dilute the Trek, KDF and ROM experience more so than already is the case.

    I have already addressed both of your concerns:

    1) It doesn't have to "work" for everyone to work for some.

    2) If you don't want the rewards, you don't have to use them.

    The-Grand-Nagus
    Join Date: Sep 2008

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  • roadghostroadghost Member Posts: 394 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    Personally I though the Delta Recruitment this was an excellent way to get me excited about playing different factions. Shoot in 5 years I never made it through the entire storyline on my main (Fed). But I've completed the storyline missoins for both my DR-Fed and DR-Romulan. Actually my Romluan is almost finished with the Delta Rising storyline... even if it is a death march.

    Gotta say I'm having loads of fun playing a Romulan scientist, that thermal thing in the kit along with the plasma feedback, haha. Most mobs I don't even have to shoot.. just run into the middle of them with my plasma active, hit the fireball and watch the bad guys die in mass.
  • thegrandnagus1thegrandnagus1 Member Posts: 5,166 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    roadghost wrote: »
    Personally I though the Delta Recruitment this was an excellent way to get me excited about playing different factions. Shoot in 5 years I never made it through the entire storyline on my main (Fed). But I've completed the storyline missoins for both my DR-Fed and DR-Romulan. Actually my Romluan is almost finished with the Delta Rising storyline... even if it is a death march.

    Gotta say I'm having loads of fun playing a Romulan scientist, that thermal thing in the kit along with the plasma feedback, haha. Most mobs I don't even have to shoot.. just run into the middle of them with my plasma active, hit the fireball and watch the bad guys die in mass.

    Thank you for proving what I have been saying several times in this thread. Every single person who creates a KDF/ROM alt won't stick to playing it, but some will. And when you are talking about a large number of people, even a small percent wind up meaning a lot of money for Cryptic.

    The-Grand-Nagus
    Join Date: Sep 2008

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  • virusdancervirusdancer Member Posts: 18,687 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    tacofangs wrote: »
    Because every time we create an incentive to do something, it is taken as law, and seen as Cryptic 'forcing' players to do something?

    /CynicalTaco

    I don't mean to laugh, it's not a laughing at you...it's not a humorous laugh...it's kind of a reactionary laugh; but yeah - every time you guys drop out something as an incentive or as something extra, it turns into the ermagherd more grind complaints...lol. Sorry, but heh - can only /facepalm so many things and just need to laugh at others. :D
  • farmallmfarmallm Member Posts: 4,630 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and like I told someone earlier, if Cryptic ever adds extra incentives for playing all 3 factions, you have every right not to claim them. No one should force you to accept the extra goodies if you think you don't want them.

    That is true, I have my own thoughts/opinion as well. As we all have. Just others has to respect their view as well to an extent.

    Mine is I didn't need the game to create an incentive to play. I enjoy it, so I play. My last game I had like 6 high level characters, some was fully geared, some was almost. I enjoyed the game to run 6 alts through it. The game didn't give me an incentive to play those many characters. I did caused I like playing. Even though they all did the same story, group missions, etc.
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  • farmallmfarmallm Member Posts: 4,630 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    Thank you for proving what I have been saying several times in this thread. Every single person who creates a KDF/ROM alt won't stick to playing it, but some will. And when you are talking about a large number of people, even a small percent wind up meaning a lot of money for Cryptic.

    I'm one of those. My main is Fed. While my KDF and Romulan is the alts. Fed is Lv58, KDF is Lv56, and Romulan Lv55. Fed been through the Romulan Rep, Dyson Rep, and Delta. KDF is the same. Romulan is working on Dyson, but did the Romulan. And has full Romulan gear and weapons from that Rep. She would be lot farther into the story. But I wanted her ship full on Romulan.

    I rotate them around as I play. It depends on where they are doing the moment, and I go from there.
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  • trillbuffettrillbuffet Member Posts: 861 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    tacofangs wrote: »
    Because every time we create an incentive to do something, it is taken as law, and seen as Cryptic 'forcing' players to do something?

    /CynicalTaco

    I'll be honest here and tell you what the problem is. When something is taken as law its like this if your boss says tuesday is going to be taco tuesday forever after this week ends. Then tuesday rolls around its fried chicken then all these people had anticipated eating you err eating taco's. The middle ground where communication gets scrambled is if something is said and you don't know how remotely possible it can be versus something like say something you've already done that is set in stone that *will* be happening then that is what people would like to hear or see.

    The funny part about all this is being I've split my time between this game and another I've come fond of its funny how both games have a lockbox system but some of the best content is PvP or PvEvP. The funny part about its PvP though and I know it would seem like taken as law but the way the PvP is handled and this is incredibly genius design imo. You basically pick what gear you want and the stat setup which is like 2 different options and then in STO's case you would pick what weapon mods you want on top of that. All gear/stats are the same across the board for everyone so your gear thru lockboxes, crafting, reps, etc is all for your pve pleasure but you can use them for looks and such in pvp but that is the extent of it. Then there are multiple maps and the great part about it is the scoring is so precise on what each person has done in the match that if you get ppl who think they are going to afk it out they are dead wrong. It basically gives you nothing if you did nothing to contribute to the team.

    For all three factions though I would offer up some incentives like people who do it like that in most cases have one of every class for each faction(some of us more than that) so it would be a big help if our reps and specializations were account wide if we did do that. In my view that isn't viewed as forcing. It could easily be implemented though just make it where for example with reps do one of every faction and get faction tokens with 3 tokens turned in combined it makes it account wide. As well you can easily do like the delta recruitment too with these when each one of these accounts bangs around some reputation stuff that it adds to players with less weight to get on par with the rest of the game.

    I will say this and its kind of sad its come to this. A lot of players have lots of ideas and these are just some simplistic ones that can be done with tech already acquired and in use in the game already. The problem though is some Cryptic people have taken it personally and I can tell by some tests I've done personally that if someone appears to be a new player and they say something they are not reprimanded. Although a player that can clearly be seen as a long time veteran if they don't like something they get banned if they say anything besides loving it lol. Which IMHO that isn't really a good business practice to TRIBBLE off your loyal long time customers. Anyways though most of STO's problems can be dealt with and solved with simplistic means without law or forcing being felt. It is just up to the company to start listening for a change.
  • darkjeffdarkjeff Member Posts: 2,590 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    I think incentives are unnecessary anyway, because they already exist in various forms.

    I have Feds, a Rom-Fed, a KDF, and Rom-KDFs.

    I rolled Delta Recruits in all three (Fed, KDF, Rom-KDF) factions, and having freshly played the all three factions again, no incentives are really necessary because they already have mechanical incentives.

    For the Feds, it's just because it's Starfleet. That's what people play when they play a Star Trek game, since for the vast majority of the world, Star Trek = Starfleet (TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, all the movies).

    For the KDF, I have so many toys. It's so much better than leveling my Fed recruit. Leech and Cloak for everybody! Leveling is so much faster too, comparing current normal (?) XP vs my Fed recruit during the bonus XP period.

    For the Rom, it's performance. A better cloak, Superior Romulan Operatives, Plasma Specialists, Infiltrator, Subterfuge. Valdore console! Rom-KDF, Valdore and Leeches for everybody! Double the number of free DOffs!

    The other factions already have a performance bonus compared to a Fed character if you're making alts. If having more, different missions, new hubs, and better performance isn't going to make a player make an alt, then no non-ridiculous incentive is going to do so, and it's going to be nothing more than a bonus mechanical advantage for those of us already with characters in the other factions.
  • thegrandnagus1thegrandnagus1 Member Posts: 5,166 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    darkjeff wrote: »
    I think incentives are unnecessary anyway, because they already exist in various forms.

    Cryptic apparently disagrees, or they wouldn't have given us account unlocks as part of the Delta Recruit event. They knew that without those *incentives*, some people would think it wasn't worth their time to make a new character, even though all of the things you mention in your post are true.

    The-Grand-Nagus
    Join Date: Sep 2008

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  • gavinrunebladegavinruneblade Member Posts: 3,894 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    farmallm wrote: »
    That is true, I have my own thoughts/opinion as well. As we all have. Just others has to respect their view as well to an extent.

    Mine is I didn't need the game to create an incentive to play. I enjoy it, so I play. My last game I had like 6 high level characters, some was fully geared, some was almost. I enjoyed the game to run 6 alts through it. The game didn't give me an incentive to play those many characters. I did caused I like playing. Even though they all did the same story, group missions, etc.

    I don't have my own thoughts and opinions, I have to steal them from other people. If you forget something important... That was probably me, I try to only take the really good ideas..
  • mackbolan01mackbolan01 Member Posts: 580 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    i'd pay 500 zen to get rid of tovan AFTER the story missions.......
  • voivodjevoivodje Member Posts: 436 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    jaguarskx wrote: »
    Yeah, KDF and Rom needs more ships to fill in some gaps to make those factions more playable; namely science vessels. The Federation should not have a monopoly on faction specific science vessels.
    Quite frankly: KDF and science? The Klingon race does not really feature scientists.
    They are more a straightforward "Kill all before it might kill you" type of mentality wielding bunch of species.
    They could use more love for sure, but I believe that science ships won't be quite what they need...
    A smart Klingon comes as frequently as a non-flatulent elderly.
    Basically non-existing, with other words. XD
  • mustrumridcully0mustrumridcully0 Member Posts: 12,963 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    I always thought it would be cool rather than a PURE incentive to have something tradeable between the factions that can be posted on the exchange.

    If you don't want to play all three, you don't have to. If your faction is underplayed, you get a natural market advantage on the three piece item.
    This doesn't really seem needed, at least not anymore. The KDF already has its contraband. One could argue that the Romulans with their double access to Duty Officer Recruitment assignments also would have their special.
    nynik wrote: »
    What about a temporary bonus depending on how many people are currently playing the faction? Sort of like how faction bonus is conferred in the tri-faction combat game Planetside 2 (albeit a shooter)? The bonuses are dynamically adjusted as people switch factions (and rack up play time in different ways). It seems the tech is there, as demonstrated by the recording of the Delta Events.

    I think the question would be what would be bonus enough to encourage people to temporarily switch their play character (and therefore perhaps playstyle that evening), instead of just hold out? I certainly haven't been overly motivated by the delta global rewards.

    p.s. I'm by no means citing planetside 2 as a flawless example of population balance mechanics

    The faction with the lowest number of players earns +50 % skill points and +25 % Dilithium Ore, the second-lowest earns +25 % skill points and +10 % Dilithium Ore?

    Maybe scheduled to be updated each week?




    But taco is of course right, some would take this as: "Oh no, this week I must play my KDF alts or I get punished!" Of course the question is not whether some would take it as that, but how many...
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  • peterconnorfirstpeterconnorfirst Member Posts: 6,225 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    I think in a way one is rewarded already.

    You play 3 different stories (more or less) and get 3 different surroundings (more or less).

    If it’s worthwhile everybody has to decide for himself but I can tell you further incentive for me to level another Kling or Romulan should rather be high.

    Or not…. getting rid of teamup boundaries may be a good start.
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  • shadowwraith77shadowwraith77 Member Posts: 6,395 Arc User
    edited April 2015
    spockout1 wrote: »
    Unless you're in an Advanced Queue.

    Boom.

    Technically, failing an optional in an advanced queue, does not cause a failure.

    It is failing a mandatory [aka what was an optional in normal], that causes the failure.

    Something player's, constantly cannot grasp the concept of.
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