I disagree. First, I'm not a huge fan of the original series, I watched maybe 10 episodes in total whenever I stumbled across them on a lazy Sunday afternoon. But setting the new expansion in the TOS era makes perfect sense to me.
- this year is the 50th anniversary of TOS which means they will get a whole lot of free advertisement on TV and in magazines
- the TOS fan crowd had gotten hadly any assets in STO so far
- they are trying to attract new people, an older generation with more money to spare
- TOS provides the right time frame to make a JJuniverse crossover possible
- it paves to way for a possible future expansion based on the new series (which is set between TOS an TNG)
I am really dreading the day Cryptic finally drops even the thin charade of actually caring about Trek and just starts shoe horning JJ Verse ships into the C-Store in their desperate quest to cash in before everything goes TRIBBLE up.,
I mean hell, JJ is working on Star Wars these days, they could probably get in touch and get permission to put Star Destroyers and X-Wings and lightsabers on the C-Store. It would make about as much sense.
Or, even better, they could do the AoY thing and also introduce TOS-era KDF. It's a period where the Federation and Klingon Empire are in a state of open hostility with each other. Perfect for new PvP content, which has been lacking for some time, and doesn't make sense in the post-Iconian War era, where the UFP and KDF are officially allies again. But are they doing that? Doesn't look like it...
Because less than 17% prefer KDF over Federation content and 1%? do PVP. It makes more sense to put that money into Federation story episodes instead.
If the consoles make the overall player base much much larger, the 17% KDF captains will become a large enough market for Cryptic to consider making more KDF-exclusive content. Until then it does not make business sense for them.
Of course, actually putting some time and effort into KDF, or Romulan, content and ships would probably help draw players to them.
I mean even if you don't particularly like the Federation, you know that there at least you're always going to be getting new content and ships.
If you like KDF or Romulan however...well, you better really, really love them, because you're certainly not playing for the expansive content and wide variety of ships.
I occassionally read posts from people that have decided to play Romulans or Klingons and have never done so before, and they have been playing for years. I can't figure out how one could play this game for years and not make a KDF or RR character. Even if you abandon the character immediately when you get to the faction-agnostic content you already know from your Feds, how can you spend that long without tasting all the factions? There is content, and they have avoided doing it for so long?
I don't get it. But it's what is happening. These people don't actually know that there isn't much KDF or RR content, because they have seen none of it. The lack of endgame science vessels or whatever is completely irrelevant to them, because they never have been in a position where they would have needed to bother what ships are available to them or feel limited by their options. (And heck, I've read people saying they have so many options and don't know what to pick).
So I am not convinced that this would help.
I think cryptic needs work in a different area here before spending more resources on content could realistically pay off. They need some in-game advertisement for the KDF and RR. They do that already with missions, like the Iconian Arc where we meet a lot of KDF heroes.
But maybe they need to give outright rewards. a "KDF and RR Recruitment Drive" perhaps. Something that gives account rewards but can only be gotten by playing KDF. Maybe a cycling bonus XP/bonus Dilithium / bonus Marks event that goes always to the faction that was least played the last week.
Basically Cryptic needs to bribe more players into playing KDF or RR.
But... If they spend time developing such stuff, that time can't be used to develop faction-agnostic or FED-specific stuff. But will it pay off the same?
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
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rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,582Community Moderator
I am really dreading the day Cryptic finally drops even the thin charade of actually caring about Trek and just starts shoe horning JJ Verse ships into the C-Store in their desperate quest to cash in before everything goes TRIBBLE up.,
I mean hell, JJ is working on Star Wars these days, they could probably get in touch and get permission to put Star Destroyers and X-Wings and lightsabers on the C-Store. It would make about as much sense.
What does JJ Abrams have to do with anything?
Star Wars stuff will not come into STO. The closest we will ever have to lightsabers are the Nanopulse Lirpas and Bat'leths from the Winter Event and maybe the Tholian Crystaline Sword after it absorbs energy.
As for AR content... It won't come via C-Store. If there is a movie tie in thing, it will be promo or lockbox. Besides... I think you forgot about the Narada inspired Tal Shiar Adapted ships from the Tal Shiar lockbox.
I also think it is a fail expansion, just due to the fact that it kills the faction balance. Now FED will be super overpowered and KDF will continue to drown. Thing is, in this game your faction does not matter in pvp. Its not WOW where one side is always better at pvp the other at pve. The problem with this game is that KDF and FED are to unbalanced, FEDs have WAY to many ships only available to them. Fix it by releasing an equal number of KDF ships to counter balance this huge FED swing.
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rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,582Community Moderator
I also think it is a fail expansion, just due to the fact that it kills the faction balance. Now FED will be super overpowered and KDF will continue to drown. Thing is, in this game your faction does not matter in pvp. Its not WOW where one side is always better at pvp the other at pve. The problem with this game is that KDF and FED are to unbalanced, FEDs have WAY to many ships only available to them. Fix it by releasing an equal number of KDF ships to counter balance this huge FED swing.
Star Trek has always been rather Fed Centric as a franchise.
I am really dreading the day Cryptic finally drops even the thin charade of actually caring about Trek and just starts shoe horning JJ Verse ships into the C-Store in their desperate quest to cash in before everything goes TRIBBLE up.,
I mean hell, JJ is working on Star Wars these days, they could probably get in touch and get permission to put Star Destroyers and X-Wings and lightsabers on the C-Store. It would make about as much sense.
What does JJ Abrams have to do with anything?
Star Wars stuff will not come into STO. The closest we will ever have to lightsabers are the Nanopulse Lirpas and Bat'leths from the Winter Event and maybe the Tholian Crystaline Sword after it absorbs energy.
As for AR content... It won't come via C-Store. If there is a movie tie in thing, it will be promo or lockbox. Besides... I think you forgot about the Narada inspired Tal Shiar Adapted ships from the Tal Shiar lockbox.
I also think it is a fail expansion, just due to the fact that it kills the faction balance. Now FED will be super overpowered and KDF will continue to drown. Thing is, in this game your faction does not matter in pvp. Its not WOW where one side is always better at pvp the other at pve. The problem with this game is that KDF and FED are to unbalanced, FEDs have WAY to many ships only available to them. Fix it by releasing an equal number of KDF ships to counter balance this huge FED swing.
Star Trek has always been rather Fed Centric as a franchise.
Yes, but Cryptic made the decision to make the Klingons and Romulan playable. If you're going to offer the option to players, it's kind of garbage to turn around and constantly neglect them and then just go, "Oh well, you should have known this series was always more about the Federation."
I also think it is a fail expansion, just due to the fact that it kills the faction balance. Now FED will be super overpowered and KDF will continue to drown. Thing is, in this game your faction does not matter in pvp. Its not WOW where one side is always better at pvp the other at pve. The problem with this game is that KDF and FED are to unbalanced, FEDs have WAY to many ships only available to them. Fix it by releasing an equal number of KDF ships to counter balance this huge FED swing.
Star Trek has always been rather Fed Centric as a franchise.
Yes, but Cryptic made the decision to make the Klingons and Romulan playable. If you're going to offer the option to players, it's kind of garbage to turn around and constantly neglect them and then just go, "Oh well, you should have known this series was always more about the Federation."
Except that they tried it and then found out the demand for them was too weak.
A restaurant adds a menu item, only a few people order it, they drop it and try some other menu item. If only one person a week was ordering the beef wellington it doesn't make sense to do the prep work for it every day.
Apple has dropped tons of products including my beloved iPod Classic. Microsoft sunk $10 billion into mobile phones and that has been a total loss. The networks have canceled dozens of TV shows that I liked. Businesses stop doing things all the time when not enough people will pay money for them.
I also think it is a fail expansion, just due to the fact that it kills the faction balance. Now FED will be super overpowered and KDF will continue to drown. Thing is, in this game your faction does not matter in pvp. Its not WOW where one side is always better at pvp the other at pve. The problem with this game is that KDF and FED are to unbalanced, FEDs have WAY to many ships only available to them. Fix it by releasing an equal number of KDF ships to counter balance this huge FED swing.
Star Trek has always been rather Fed Centric as a franchise.
Yes, but Cryptic made the decision to make the Klingons and Romulan playable. If you're going to offer the option to players, it's kind of garbage to turn around and constantly neglect them and then just go, "Oh well, you should have known this series was always more about the Federation."
Cryptic also stated many many times during the past 6 years that they are going to try their best to give more content to the KDF and the Romulan Republic but that it would be:
1- Less
2- Faction Agnostic
And they also clearly detailed why and how that had to happen.
While the age-old KDF complaint in this area has a little bit of merit because there had been quite a few instances where everyone from Zinc to Stahl said things that seemed like they wanted to do a more balanced approach ...
NONE of this applies to the Romulan faction.
Everyone KNEW going in from the very beginning that this was going to be an underdeveloped faction. You knew. We knew. They said so. And there was the entire history of the KDF up to that point to prove that Cryptic was being up front and that the Romulans would not get the same level of time and resources that the Federation got.
And surprise, surprise, surprise ... that turned out to be true.
The KDF complaint is quaint, and well trod ground for a lot of us who have been for ages.
The Romulan complaint has never had ANY legs to stand on. That the faction even exists in the first place is testament to the developers not neglecting the player requests for playable Romulans. But everything was crystal clear and Cryptic was very up front going into this faction ... it was never intended to be as developed as the Federation.
I also think it is a fail expansion, just due to the fact that it kills the faction balance. Now FED will be super overpowered and KDF will continue to drown. Thing is, in this game your faction does not matter in pvp. Its not WOW where one side is always better at pvp the other at pve. The problem with this game is that KDF and FED are to unbalanced, FEDs have WAY to many ships only available to them. Fix it by releasing an equal number of KDF ships to counter balance this huge FED swing.
Star Trek has always been rather Fed Centric as a franchise.
Yes, but Cryptic made the decision to make the Klingons and Romulan playable. If you're going to offer the option to players, it's kind of garbage to turn around and constantly neglect them and then just go, "Oh well, you should have known this series was always more about the Federation."
Except that they tried it and then found out the demand for them was too weak.
I remember things a little differently. To fully understand what I am about to say, it is necessary to know the difference between what STO was ANNOUNCED to be, and what it actually TURNED OUT to be. Some of you may be seeing this for the first time. Here is the original announcement presentation for Star Trek Online in which Jack Emmert stood there and told us what STO was going to be. It's a bit long, but if you really want to understand where the issues this game has, it helps to understand the disparity between what was promised and what was delivered.
Now that that is out of the way, I feel the need to say that I think that Cryptic was the wrong developer for this game. Don't get me wrong, what they have accomplished is amazing. It really is. But the team back then was way to small for such an ambitious project in the limited timeframe they had to produce a working product. But they were presented with an historic opportunity when Perpetual Entertainment lost the rights to develop the game due to them failing to produce anything more than some really nice concept art they tried to pass off as actual in-game rendering. They had four years to develop a working produce, but squandered two years. Cryptic was tapped to pick up the ball where Perpetual dropped it. they had a working MMO engine they were confident could be adapted to serve STO. The problem was time. Most MMOs are in development for anywhere from four to six years. The catch with STO was that Cryptic had to deliver in two years.
This is why most of what Jack Emmert told us the game would be didn't make it at launch. Star Trek has always been Starfleet-centric. They had to launch with that as complete as possible. But it does not mean that there was not a significant interest in the Klingon side of things. There was. But when STO launched, there was very little PvE content for the KDF, as it got relegated to being the PvP-centric faction. we all know that PvP has had issues from the beginning, but the KDF was promised to be a full PvE faction as well, and out of the gate, those looking forward to an immersive PvE experience as a citizen of the Klingon Empire lost interest because there was no such experience to be had. So their UFP toon became their primary focus. I could go into all the other things Jack promised that were not delivered upon, but I am going to keep this focused on factions.
So with very little PvE to speak of, and with PvP as problematic as it was, we ended up with a KDF faction few people wanted to play. It took Cryptic three years to finally getting around to adding the PvE content to the KDF we have now. For a lot of people who had long sense given up on the KDF (or STO itself), it was too late. And Cryptic has released very little KDF-specific content since.
Now let's talk about the Romulans, and how I don't buy the official line that they couldn't be a faction unto themselves like the UFP and KDF. Well... they start out as a faction unto themselves. And had Cryptic intended to create on-going content for them, they could have gone on being a faction unto themselves. If we didn't have the option to join the UFP or KDF, then we would be stuck in Romulan Only mode with only the hope of factional elements being added. But that would have been too much work for Cryptic. I'm not being rude or sarcastic with that statement. They would have had to make content specific to the NRR on par with years of development between the UFP and KDF. So it made since form a logistical standpoint to take it just so far and then branch it to either UFP or KDF alignment. It's been said that few people bother with the Romulan fraction because they just aren't interested. The truth is that the majority of those who wanted to play as a romulan wanted a full faction like the KDF and UFP, and were unwilling to settle for what they considered to be a half-baked bastardization of what playable romulans could have been. And really... What exactly has Cryptic added to the Romulan aspect of the game since its introduction to give people an incentive to gravitate to it?
It is not because Cryptic COULDN'T develop a full romulan faction. It is because they CHOSE NOT TO. And if they hadn't we'd probably just now be getting it, if at all.
It isn't because people aren't interested in playing the KDF/NRR. It's just that there isn't enough effort on Cryptic's part to keep those aspects fresh. The content they create now is essentially shared by everyone, regardless of faction. The end of the Iconian war resulted in the treaty between the UFP and KDF being re-established, so we all go forward on the same path, even though we all started out at different points. The problem is that STO was created as, and still remains, a two-faction MMO, but Cryptic isn't wrapping their development process around that. Setting up the AoY content using the faction system but ultimately not having it play into real factional mechanics is an illustration of the abandonment of any real consideration for a two-faction MMO.
Three things...
1) NOBODY ELSE BUT CRYPTIC was even interested, in attempting a Star Trek MMO back in 2006 after Perpetual dropped the ball. Especially since CBS placed an 18 Month finish time on the project.
2) How is an announcement that is OVER TEN YEARS OLD pertinent to what is happening today? (HINT: it's not)
3) It IS because not enough people are interested in created Non-Federation Characters, as has been proven out over the last Six Years. Even when They added Non-Fed items to the game, there wasn't a significant increase in the numbers for it to be profitable.
Your misinformation about the Romulans has already been pointed out, so reiterating about that is non-productive.
STO Member since February 2009. I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born! Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
AOY is there to bring in new players, sell stuff to existing players and not much else, delighting existing players with many hours of new levels has no value for cryptic.
For me the daunting task of re-doing specialisations means I'll never take another toon to end game. I'll simply respec an existing character to fit a new role.
If they are not going to develop this as a two-faction game, then just merge the factions and get it over with.
They are doing that. They call it faction agnostic. They've been doing that for a few years now. Have posted about it and why they do it. Have been very up front and clear about it.
And it's even a part of the new expansion with the two temporal ships being faction agnostic. But everytime someone says "there's nothing in that pack for me and my non-fed" and someone points out "there's these two ships" ... people flip out Robert Hamburger style and say "that's not faction specific!"
Round and round it goes.
They have been merging the factions. For quite some time. And if we're moving toward a galactic union in the 28th century where the Romulans and Klingons are part of the same grouping, then they are inching us toward getting it over with.
Won't change the complaints from happening.
I will reiterate however that Romulans KNEW right from jump that they were getting a lesser deal. Every step of the way they were told this. They still wanted what they got. Cryptic was not shy about the mini-faction and the choice and the merger. Everyone knew this was what was coming. So there's just no leg to stand on with that complaint. You may have wanted, and may yet still want, to be Romulan Star Empire. But you and everyone else always knew that wasn't what you were getting with Legacy of Romulus. Back then a lot of people overlooked that because there were shiny new Warbirds and costumes and weapons and consoles and cloaks and singularities!
But I'm certainly not going to let anyone forget that this wasn't secret. That the KDF complaints had been going on for YEARS. That the history of the development imbalance was already established. That Cryptic verified how this faction was going to work. And that players said it didn't matter that they'd take Romulans any way they could get them.
Complaining now is just silly. Everyone KNEW the Romulan Republic wouldn't be the Romulan Star Empire and was never going to get the dev time or resources that the Federation was getting.
EDIT: Some personal context is needed. I am one of those people that wanted Romulans any way possible. Romulans are my favorite "villain" in Trek. I'd wanted to fly a warbird and play as a Romulan since day 1 of STO. I was right in line with everyone else clamoring for Romulans. I'd love to play as the RSE. So I understand the core of the complaint. I just also remember that I was told up front I wasn't getting that. So I took what I could get. And I have a Romulan Admiral and I fly a Warbird and I pew pew pew. It's better than nothing.
It serves to do exactly what I said I was posting it for. To show where player expectations were established for what this MMO was originally supposed to be, so the disappointment and discouragement on the part of those who were looking forward to the KDF experience they never got coupled with three years of Cryptic not bothering to take half of its product seriously, drove them away from the KDF, and in some cases, from STO itself.
Games changed direction all the time for various reasons. The game even states how "gameplay may change" etc. This should not surprise anyone.
Things change.
Fair enough... or at least it would have been had Cryptic come clean when the decision to cut all that gameplay, you know, the stuff that sold so many pre-orders and lifetime subscriptions for them? Heck, when I listen to Jack ramble on and on about all STO was going to be, even today, it makes me go, "That's a game I want to play!"
Some of us, myself included guessed correctly that the KDF wasn't going to be what it was promised to be. After all, right up to the very end of development, they only showed us the UFP side of things. "What about the KDF?" was a recurring question after each new little pre-launch reveal.
Now here's where it gets funny. The Cryptic Defense Force were like this:
It's in development. The full game will be in there.
It's in beta. The full game will be turned on when it goes live
It's in early start. The full game will be turned on when it goes live for everyone
It just launched. They'll get the full game turned on when they work the bugs out.
After several months, not even the CDF could excuse what some referred to as Cryptic's bait and switch tactics.
All they would have had to do was TELL us what they were forced to change. How many pre-orders would have been canceled, though. That's why they didn't tell us. They wanted to make sure as many people bought into the launch product as possible.
But they don't tell us anything. They do whatever they are going to do, whether or not it's something their customers want. Look at Delta Rising. Remember the whole "Best expansion ever and the players love it" line? Nevermind that the forums were on fire with people who had seldom if not never posted before coming out of the virtual woodwork, screaming about how horrible the experience was? It was one massive level-gated grindfest. I would rather they have released Delta Rising's mission content as a C-store expansion pack and just play the content.
Oh that's right. Cryptic won't charge for actual gameplay content. Just fluff.
You are acting as if they hadn't told repeatedly that they will not do much in way of faction specific content and faction agnostic content is the way to go forward. What do you need for more? A big login in screen banner that states this? All those pre-launch, launch or post-launch promises are pretty much exactly as nailed down as their reports on what they change or why. Which is mostly basically just random stuff people collect from interviews or forum posts over the years. There is no need to expect different standards.
But maybe the most important thing: dstahl said eventually that people should judge them by their actions, not their words. (And he had a lot of words that never lead to action... Cryptic became a lot more careful about that.)
You see what they are doing, judge them by that. If that comes out negative to you, that's what it is.
Don't wait for some words that they will have to put out as diplomatically and non-business-damaging as possible as everything else would be irresponsible for them. Why risk losing a few players because they said: "No KDF specific content ever again" when they can just not say it. If you keep playing despite the lack of such content, you obviously don't really need it to be motivated to play it. It's your decision whether you want to keep playing or not.
If enough people are unhappy with Cryptic's actions, it will show to them, they'll lose players and revenue, and they will need to think how to fix that or the game perishes. But if enough people are playing and they get the revenue they need, then you might just need to accept that maybe this game isn't for you anymore.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
If they did that, the forums would explode with even more rabble rabble over Cryptic ignoring the 50th anniversary of TOS.
They can't satisfy everyone, so they pick what they think will bring in the most new players while keeping the most existing players happy. They believe (and I agree) that more people want TOS than stuff to do on Andoria.
But like other minority requests, we can hope that the consoles bring in enough new players that the budget for content goes up. Since content is shared across all 3 platforms, more money for content could mean more money to do niche requests like that now and then.
I am really dreading the day Cryptic finally drops even the thin charade of actually caring about Trek and just starts shoe horning JJ Verse ships into the C-Store in their desperate quest to cash in before everything goes TRIBBLE up.,
I mean hell, JJ is working on Star Wars these days, they could probably get in touch and get permission to put Star Destroyers and X-Wings and lightsabers on the C-Store. It would make about as much sense.
What does JJ Abrams have to do with anything?
Star Wars stuff will not come into STO. The closest we will ever have to lightsabers are the Nanopulse Lirpas and Bat'leths from the Winter Event and maybe the Tholian Crystaline Sword after it absorbs energy.
As for AR content... It won't come via C-Store. If there is a movie tie in thing, it will be promo or lockbox. Besides... I think you forgot about the Narada inspired Tal Shiar Adapted ships from the Tal Shiar lockbox.
Well there is the crystal sabers ya know. May as well be light sabers.
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from what ive gathered from people that played it in tribble it really isnt a big deal,do some missions until level 10 then you get thrown out in the world doing the same content as anyone else.
i sure hope they are holding something back because if thats it well im not going to bother to level another character...
I will most certainly not roll a new character (who can afford all the Upgrade cost?). If there be new ships, I'll fly 'em, but that's it. And I hope there are missions for my existing toons as well.
That's possibly the worst rundown I've received on a forum that loves it's rundowns...
The Dominion WAS a well oiled machine. We have no clue where it stands minus a few tid-bits from a handful of missions. Any creative writer could easily explain why the player was a Dominion Character, just as easily as they could for the Collective. Hey, the New link finds the Beta Jem'Hadar factories. Boom, there's your character. Hey, Old Link decides that it's time to assimilate the new link. Boom, conflict. There are a million ways to add playable races and factions, the issue is that they don't want to add factions, hence why romulans aren't a faction as much as they are just an expanded player race having to join a said faction. Adding a Collective faction, could just as easily tie into the rest of the game as the romulan half faction, or the Klingons or the Feds. Just because they're based out of the Delta quadrant doesn't mean they're only limited to.
If everyone's main is a Delta recruit, as you say, wouldn't they love being able to use them for the new content as I tossed out? It was merely a suggestion to expand on the Delta characters so many people already made, adding value to them, rather than bypassing them completely despite the obvious time travelling tie in. No, instead of adding to delta recruits, they're just tossing out the same gimmick in a TOS skin. Part of my issue (personal opinion) is that they constantly add minor things and some major things in unfinished or just poor condition and then just forget it. Once they get passed a few initial patches, things never get touched on as much as they should, so while yes, things end, they shouldn't end before they're even done. Something Cryptic is notorious for. I was only saying that I would have rather had them add to the existing parts of the game than add another stand alone section that does nothing for the whole. Expanding on the story is one thing, but why not expand the character creator? Why not add to the Boffs, making them better? Why not finish adding full body skins to existing races? Hell, I'd love it if they just added full ship interiors and let us use the foundry to customize the layouts. There are a multitude of ways a lot of people would have preferred to see this game expanded upon, that didn't boil down to making a new character just to run through some story and then never touch them again. Not everyone, mind you, but how many people would honestly have loved to have their main character or other existing characters benefit from an expansion rather than just getting something that only a new captain can do, and possible nothing after that. They wouldn't have had to do a whole lot more to make the romulans a full faction. Yes, the game was designed to be Fed vs KDF, but if you're going to add a group and call it a faction, you might as well add the rest.
I don't want to come off as rude, and i'm not sure you responded in the way you might have meant to, but there are plenty of ways they could have expanded the game without limiting it to a one off character, who is sat on the shelf to gather dust after their content is done. My ideas were only suggestions and alternatives which have been voiced by others on the forums as things some people may want. While TOS seems like it might be fun, it also seems to be relatively limited unless they time travel said TOS character to the "Present" to add to their playability.
Is there any playability after you finish the TOS story line? Will you be able to play in PVP with the two non-TOS factions? After you finish the story content, how useful will these characters be over all? How much TOS content are we going to be getting after the anniversary? Will we see the JJ trek "TOS" styles showing up as a means of getting them in? If the new series is TOS time, will that be added to the new character.
I know I'm not the only one wondering how the TOS character will benefit the game beyond the TOS story. I'm not the only one who doesn't want to see future expansions or events being a one and done character or just another mouth to feed.
They can't satisfy everyone, so they pick what they think will bring in the most new players while keeping the most existing players happy.
I just felt that, while TOS does sound interesting, they could have done something that ties into and benefits the game as a whole rather than just adding semi-standalone addition, which is how it looks so far.
We'll get that next time, it 2017 or 2018, but how often does a 50th anniversary come around? (Trick question )
I agree that endgame story content is best content, but I'm also looking forward to creating my TOS captain.
I get that new characters are missing things like crystal / mirror event shinies, full spec points, lobi & lock box items including traits (I paid 20? million EC each for Reciprocity for a KDF & Romulan characters), etc. BUT: I also find it fun to level up new characters and play through low-level content without using 3 full rows of powers + other clickies in a T6 with Mark XIV. Limits can be fun as a change from endgame content. It's also a chance to build a different character and possibly give them a different approach, like a phaser-happy Kirk instead of a peace-loving Picard. (Though in STO, you kill millions of people either way )
Comments
I am really dreading the day Cryptic finally drops even the thin charade of actually caring about Trek and just starts shoe horning JJ Verse ships into the C-Store in their desperate quest to cash in before everything goes TRIBBLE up.,
I mean hell, JJ is working on Star Wars these days, they could probably get in touch and get permission to put Star Destroyers and X-Wings and lightsabers on the C-Store. It would make about as much sense.
It really can't be argued. It's not.
I don't get it. But it's what is happening. These people don't actually know that there isn't much KDF or RR content, because they have seen none of it. The lack of endgame science vessels or whatever is completely irrelevant to them, because they never have been in a position where they would have needed to bother what ships are available to them or feel limited by their options. (And heck, I've read people saying they have so many options and don't know what to pick).
So I am not convinced that this would help.
I think cryptic needs work in a different area here before spending more resources on content could realistically pay off. They need some in-game advertisement for the KDF and RR. They do that already with missions, like the Iconian Arc where we meet a lot of KDF heroes.
But maybe they need to give outright rewards. a "KDF and RR Recruitment Drive" perhaps. Something that gives account rewards but can only be gotten by playing KDF. Maybe a cycling bonus XP/bonus Dilithium / bonus Marks event that goes always to the faction that was least played the last week.
Basically Cryptic needs to bribe more players into playing KDF or RR.
But... If they spend time developing such stuff, that time can't be used to develop faction-agnostic or FED-specific stuff. But will it pay off the same?
What does JJ Abrams have to do with anything?
Star Wars stuff will not come into STO. The closest we will ever have to lightsabers are the Nanopulse Lirpas and Bat'leths from the Winter Event and maybe the Tholian Crystaline Sword after it absorbs energy.
As for AR content... It won't come via C-Store. If there is a movie tie in thing, it will be promo or lockbox. Besides... I think you forgot about the Narada inspired Tal Shiar Adapted ships from the Tal Shiar lockbox.
Star Trek has always been rather Fed Centric as a franchise.
My character Tsin'xing
Yes, but Cryptic made the decision to make the Klingons and Romulan playable. If you're going to offer the option to players, it's kind of garbage to turn around and constantly neglect them and then just go, "Oh well, you should have known this series was always more about the Federation."
Except that they tried it and then found out the demand for them was too weak.
A restaurant adds a menu item, only a few people order it, they drop it and try some other menu item. If only one person a week was ordering the beef wellington it doesn't make sense to do the prep work for it every day.
Apple has dropped tons of products including my beloved iPod Classic. Microsoft sunk $10 billion into mobile phones and that has been a total loss. The networks have canceled dozens of TV shows that I liked. Businesses stop doing things all the time when not enough people will pay money for them.
Cryptic also stated many many times during the past 6 years that they are going to try their best to give more content to the KDF and the Romulan Republic but that it would be:
1- Less
2- Faction Agnostic
And they also clearly detailed why and how that had to happen.
While the age-old KDF complaint in this area has a little bit of merit because there had been quite a few instances where everyone from Zinc to Stahl said things that seemed like they wanted to do a more balanced approach ...
NONE of this applies to the Romulan faction.
Everyone KNEW going in from the very beginning that this was going to be an underdeveloped faction. You knew. We knew. They said so. And there was the entire history of the KDF up to that point to prove that Cryptic was being up front and that the Romulans would not get the same level of time and resources that the Federation got.
And surprise, surprise, surprise ... that turned out to be true.
The KDF complaint is quaint, and well trod ground for a lot of us who have been for ages.
The Romulan complaint has never had ANY legs to stand on. That the faction even exists in the first place is testament to the developers not neglecting the player requests for playable Romulans. But everything was crystal clear and Cryptic was very up front going into this faction ... it was never intended to be as developed as the Federation.
I expected a Tier 6 Connie as a special event ship (like the flagships and the Dyson Destroyers). And nothing else.
Three things...
1) NOBODY ELSE BUT CRYPTIC was even interested, in attempting a Star Trek MMO back in 2006 after Perpetual dropped the ball. Especially since CBS placed an 18 Month finish time on the project.
2) How is an announcement that is OVER TEN YEARS OLD pertinent to what is happening today? (HINT: it's not)
3) It IS because not enough people are interested in created Non-Federation Characters, as has been proven out over the last Six Years. Even when They added Non-Fed items to the game, there wasn't a significant increase in the numbers for it to be profitable.
Your misinformation about the Romulans has already been pointed out, so reiterating about that is non-productive.
I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
For me the daunting task of re-doing specialisations means I'll never take another toon to end game. I'll simply respec an existing character to fit a new role.
They are doing that. They call it faction agnostic. They've been doing that for a few years now. Have posted about it and why they do it. Have been very up front and clear about it.
And it's even a part of the new expansion with the two temporal ships being faction agnostic. But everytime someone says "there's nothing in that pack for me and my non-fed" and someone points out "there's these two ships" ... people flip out Robert Hamburger style and say "that's not faction specific!"
Round and round it goes.
They have been merging the factions. For quite some time. And if we're moving toward a galactic union in the 28th century where the Romulans and Klingons are part of the same grouping, then they are inching us toward getting it over with.
Won't change the complaints from happening.
I will reiterate however that Romulans KNEW right from jump that they were getting a lesser deal. Every step of the way they were told this. They still wanted what they got. Cryptic was not shy about the mini-faction and the choice and the merger. Everyone knew this was what was coming. So there's just no leg to stand on with that complaint. You may have wanted, and may yet still want, to be Romulan Star Empire. But you and everyone else always knew that wasn't what you were getting with Legacy of Romulus. Back then a lot of people overlooked that because there were shiny new Warbirds and costumes and weapons and consoles and cloaks and singularities!
But I'm certainly not going to let anyone forget that this wasn't secret. That the KDF complaints had been going on for YEARS. That the history of the development imbalance was already established. That Cryptic verified how this faction was going to work. And that players said it didn't matter that they'd take Romulans any way they could get them.
Complaining now is just silly. Everyone KNEW the Romulan Republic wouldn't be the Romulan Star Empire and was never going to get the dev time or resources that the Federation was getting.
EDIT: Some personal context is needed. I am one of those people that wanted Romulans any way possible. Romulans are my favorite "villain" in Trek. I'd wanted to fly a warbird and play as a Romulan since day 1 of STO. I was right in line with everyone else clamoring for Romulans. I'd love to play as the RSE. So I understand the core of the complaint. I just also remember that I was told up front I wasn't getting that. So I took what I could get. And I have a Romulan Admiral and I fly a Warbird and I pew pew pew. It's better than nothing.
But first: Can I Haz Ur Stuffs?
But maybe the most important thing: dstahl said eventually that people should judge them by their actions, not their words. (And he had a lot of words that never lead to action... Cryptic became a lot more careful about that.)
You see what they are doing, judge them by that. If that comes out negative to you, that's what it is.
Don't wait for some words that they will have to put out as diplomatically and non-business-damaging as possible as everything else would be irresponsible for them. Why risk losing a few players because they said: "No KDF specific content ever again" when they can just not say it. If you keep playing despite the lack of such content, you obviously don't really need it to be motivated to play it. It's your decision whether you want to keep playing or not.
If enough people are unhappy with Cryptic's actions, it will show to them, they'll lose players and revenue, and they will need to think how to fix that or the game perishes. But if enough people are playing and they get the revenue they need, then you might just need to accept that maybe this game isn't for you anymore.
This. There's really no better way to celebrate and market the 50th anniversary in-game than something TOS related.
They can't satisfy everyone, so they pick what they think will bring in the most new players while keeping the most existing players happy. They believe (and I agree) that more people want TOS than stuff to do on Andoria.
But like other minority requests, we can hope that the consoles bring in enough new players that the budget for content goes up. Since content is shared across all 3 platforms, more money for content could mean more money to do niche requests like that now and then.
Well there is the crystal sabers ya know. May as well be light sabers.
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
http://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1145998/star-trek-battles-channel-got-canon/p1
I will most certainly not roll a new character (who can afford all the Upgrade cost?). If there be new ships, I'll fly 'em, but that's it. And I hope there are missions for my existing toons as well.
That's possibly the worst rundown I've received on a forum that loves it's rundowns...
The Dominion WAS a well oiled machine. We have no clue where it stands minus a few tid-bits from a handful of missions. Any creative writer could easily explain why the player was a Dominion Character, just as easily as they could for the Collective. Hey, the New link finds the Beta Jem'Hadar factories. Boom, there's your character. Hey, Old Link decides that it's time to assimilate the new link. Boom, conflict. There are a million ways to add playable races and factions, the issue is that they don't want to add factions, hence why romulans aren't a faction as much as they are just an expanded player race having to join a said faction. Adding a Collective faction, could just as easily tie into the rest of the game as the romulan half faction, or the Klingons or the Feds. Just because they're based out of the Delta quadrant doesn't mean they're only limited to.
If everyone's main is a Delta recruit, as you say, wouldn't they love being able to use them for the new content as I tossed out? It was merely a suggestion to expand on the Delta characters so many people already made, adding value to them, rather than bypassing them completely despite the obvious time travelling tie in. No, instead of adding to delta recruits, they're just tossing out the same gimmick in a TOS skin. Part of my issue (personal opinion) is that they constantly add minor things and some major things in unfinished or just poor condition and then just forget it. Once they get passed a few initial patches, things never get touched on as much as they should, so while yes, things end, they shouldn't end before they're even done. Something Cryptic is notorious for. I was only saying that I would have rather had them add to the existing parts of the game than add another stand alone section that does nothing for the whole. Expanding on the story is one thing, but why not expand the character creator? Why not add to the Boffs, making them better? Why not finish adding full body skins to existing races? Hell, I'd love it if they just added full ship interiors and let us use the foundry to customize the layouts. There are a multitude of ways a lot of people would have preferred to see this game expanded upon, that didn't boil down to making a new character just to run through some story and then never touch them again. Not everyone, mind you, but how many people would honestly have loved to have their main character or other existing characters benefit from an expansion rather than just getting something that only a new captain can do, and possible nothing after that. They wouldn't have had to do a whole lot more to make the romulans a full faction. Yes, the game was designed to be Fed vs KDF, but if you're going to add a group and call it a faction, you might as well add the rest.
I don't want to come off as rude, and i'm not sure you responded in the way you might have meant to, but there are plenty of ways they could have expanded the game without limiting it to a one off character, who is sat on the shelf to gather dust after their content is done. My ideas were only suggestions and alternatives which have been voiced by others on the forums as things some people may want. While TOS seems like it might be fun, it also seems to be relatively limited unless they time travel said TOS character to the "Present" to add to their playability.
Is there any playability after you finish the TOS story line? Will you be able to play in PVP with the two non-TOS factions? After you finish the story content, how useful will these characters be over all? How much TOS content are we going to be getting after the anniversary? Will we see the JJ trek "TOS" styles showing up as a means of getting them in? If the new series is TOS time, will that be added to the new character.
I know I'm not the only one wondering how the TOS character will benefit the game beyond the TOS story. I'm not the only one who doesn't want to see future expansions or events being a one and done character or just another mouth to feed.
As dave said:
I just felt that, while TOS does sound interesting, they could have done something that ties into and benefits the game as a whole rather than just adding semi-standalone addition, which is how it looks so far.
I agree that endgame story content is best content, but I'm also looking forward to creating my TOS captain.
I get that new characters are missing things like crystal / mirror event shinies, full spec points, lobi & lock box items including traits (I paid 20? million EC each for Reciprocity for a KDF & Romulan characters), etc. BUT: I also find it fun to level up new characters and play through low-level content without using 3 full rows of powers + other clickies in a T6 with Mark XIV. Limits can be fun as a change from endgame content. It's also a chance to build a different character and possibly give them a different approach, like a phaser-happy Kirk instead of a peace-loving Picard. (Though in STO, you kill millions of people either way