I think KDF is great - but obviously there is room for improvement.
Yes, we do not get the love that FED does. Which sort of makes us the Underdogs and the villains of that Racis federationists who don't give a TRIBBLE about our (or any other than theirs) culture.
Being Underdogs has Advantages as well as disadvantages. Fed Players moan about their ships not being shiny enough and needing morre uniforms - Klingons would even fight naked if we'd have to. That means the vanitly Players do not join KDF.
As much as I am hardcore KDF in this game, I wouldn't mind them stopping the (badly thought out) 2 faction System in some ways. I think FED and KDF have been allied Long enough to Warrant a possibility to Team up cross faction. I still think that fleets should be seperate and storylines as well, but KDF/FEDs should be able to join a teammember to assist in the missions of the other faction - feds and klingons helping each other was also shown in a few Star Trek the next generation and Deep space nine episodes.
Cryptic are saying that KDF doesn'T bring that much Profit - but that is like a car manufacturer not bothering to bring out new models and complaining that no one wants to buy their 1980s models anymore. Best way to boost Klingon side would be to follow up this Expansion and make a KDF temp recruitment Event next - with same Long term Goals on this Federation one. Honestly, I hardly ever Play FED side, but I am going for the account wide rewards.
18 characters
KDF: 2 tacs, 2 engs, 3 scis
KDF Roms: 3 tacs, 1 eng, 1 scis
FED: 2 tacs, 1 eng, 2 scis
TOS: 1 tac
all on T5 rep (up to temporal)
all have mastered Intel tree (and some more specs Points)
highest DPS: 60.982
I think KDF is great - but obviously there is room for improvement.
Yes, we do not get the love that FED does. Which sort of makes us the Underdogs and the villains of that Racis federationists who don't give a **** about our (or any other than theirs) culture.
Being Underdogs has Advantages as well as disadvantages. Fed Players moan about their ships not being shiny enough and needing morre uniforms - Klingons would even fight naked if we'd have to. That means the vanitly Players do not join KDF.
As much as I am hardcore KDF in this game, I wouldn't mind them stopping the (badly thought out) 2 faction System in some ways. I think FED and KDF have been allied Long enough to Warrant a possibility to Team up cross faction. I still think that fleets should be seperate and storylines as well, but KDF/FEDs should be able to join a teammember to assist in the missions of the other faction - feds and klingons helping each other was also shown in a few Star Trek the next generation and Deep space nine episodes.
Cryptic are saying that KDF doesn'T bring that much Profit - but that is like a car manufacturer not bothering to bring out new models and complaining that no one wants to buy their 1980s models anymore. Best way to boost Klingon side would be to follow up this Expansion and make a KDF temp recruitment Event next - with same Long term Goals on this Federation one. Honestly, I hardly ever Play FED side, but I am going for the account wide rewards.
I take it this means you bought the Martok and a Kor?
Is "Fire Geko" a valid response or just way over the top?
He should have been booted out the door within hours of his infamous 'I hate working on KDF stuff' speech. It's blatantly unprofessional to express a bias like that, let alone act on it like he has.
Cryptic are saying that KDF doesn'T bring that much Profit - but that is like a car manufacturer not bothering to bring out new models and complaining that no one wants to buy their 1980s models anymore.
No, it's like making a sedan with a horrible reputation for not working properly, and then saying "No one buys sedans."
I think KDF is great - but obviously there is room for improvement.
Yes, we do not get the love that FED does. Which sort of makes us the Underdogs and the villains of that Racis federationists who don't give a **** about our (or any other than theirs) culture.
Being Underdogs has Advantages as well as disadvantages. Fed Players moan about their ships not being shiny enough and needing morre uniforms - Klingons would even fight naked if we'd have to. That means the vanitly Players do not join KDF.
As much as I am hardcore KDF in this game, I wouldn't mind them stopping the (badly thought out) 2 faction System in some ways. I think FED and KDF have been allied Long enough to Warrant a possibility to Team up cross faction. I still think that fleets should be seperate and storylines as well, but KDF/FEDs should be able to join a teammember to assist in the missions of the other faction - feds and klingons helping each other was also shown in a few Star Trek the next generation and Deep space nine episodes.
Cryptic are saying that KDF doesn'T bring that much Profit - but that is like a car manufacturer not bothering to bring out new models and complaining that no one wants to buy their 1980s models anymore. Best way to boost Klingon side would be to follow up this Expansion and make a KDF temp recruitment Event next - with same Long term Goals on this Federation one. Honestly, I hardly ever Play FED side, but I am going for the account wide rewards.
I take it this means you bought the Martok and a Kor?
I have every T6 Rom and KDF zen ship - and if they came in a pack then also the Fed Counterpart...
18 characters
KDF: 2 tacs, 2 engs, 3 scis
KDF Roms: 3 tacs, 1 eng, 1 scis
FED: 2 tacs, 1 eng, 2 scis
TOS: 1 tac
all on T5 rep (up to temporal)
all have mastered Intel tree (and some more specs Points)
highest DPS: 60.982
I love KDF. I played it from the minute I unlocked the ability to do so when the game launched. My gorn engineer is my favorite character. I love the ship designs especially things like the Bortas. Unfortunately I love ship variety and buying new ships which is something the KDF rarely gets. I quit the game over my frustrations with the neglect of the KDF and then deleted it when I saw the Jupiter and no KDF T6 carrier.
Since I've come back I have been leveling a fed because it feels like you have to in order to enjoy this game. I refuse to play the waiting game for KDF support anymore. I really wish they would release a map of what they plan on doing so I could see that no KDF support or ships is coming and I could try to enjoy a FED character without wondering "what if....".
Is "Fire Geko" a valid response or just way over the top?
Do you really hate this game so much that you rather risk it failing?
Geko has been in his current position for the game since the start, and he was majorly involved in inventing the core features that makes this game what it is and what we arguably all like - for example, the space combat system. He has been in the position through every crisis, concent draught, skill revamp or whatever.
Not only every feature you ever hated involved him - also every feature you loved, every improvement ever made, everything happened while he was a major decision maker for the game. And in this time the game moved from a bad start as a subscription based game into one of the most generous F2P titles you can find, and saw numerous seasons and content expansions (all for free). The game seems to be doing very well with him where he is.
I would be careful assuming that removing him will actually lead to improvement. It won't change the business realities of things - like that making KDF ships yields less profits than making Fed ships (and despite this little fact, there have been a lot of KDF ships released), but it removes someone that really knows this game and seems to have a good grasp of what it needs to prevail.
Sure maybe you can hope that someone new in the position fixes all the problems you see. But chances are you are engaging in wishful thinking, and the end result is that you don't actually get more KDF stuff - you get less everything, until there is no sustainable game left, and then we all not only get nothing anymore, but lose everything we had in the game.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
I'd settle for a little more open dialogue. I don't understand why they can't tell us that we won't be seeing any KDF ships for a long time or if KDF will get something like the kelvin timeline intel dread.
No, it's like making a sedan with a horrible reputation for not working properly, and then saying "No one buys sedans."
While also having a line of coupes that are decked out with all the latest tech, high performance engine, state of the art sound system, luxury leather and wood grain interior... the works, and then wondering why your busted TRIBBLE sedans aren't selling as well as your coupes.
Personally, although most of the characters I play are Fed, if there was more content added for the other two factions that exist I'd have more interest in playing them. As it stands, my Klink is sitting at Brig General, and for my Rommie I chose Fed faction because I know damned well there's really not much available to Klinks as it stands now.
It's very obvious there's a disproportionate amount of content available to Fed- and it's also quite obvious that the other two have been neglected at the expense of making Fed more attractive not only to new players but also existing players.
It would behoove Cryptic/PWE to give a serious look and some major development time to actually fleshing the Klingon and Romulan factions out more before even thinking of venturing into newer territories- but I doubt seriously the suits are going to allow it, because after all, this is a business and money is the whole object.
That said- I'm sure they recognize there's money to be made from development time of the Klingon and Romulan factions... but they also know there's a ton more Fed players already and that's the "easy" money.
It's not you- it's me. I just need my space.
Being critical doesn't take skill. Being constructively critical- which is providing alternative solutions or suggestions to a demonstrated problem, however, does.
I'd settle for a little more open dialogue. I don't understand why they can't tell us that we won't be seeing any KDF ships for a long time or if KDF will get something like the kelvin timeline intel dread.
The latest KDF ship is a booby prize gamblebox ship. Shipyard stuff? Nope. C-Store? In the event they release anything of the such, it'll be copy-pasted for Feds to enjoy as well, most likely bug-free for blue-side to boot.
Geko already told us. If he's not being forced to release content for stuff that he doesn't want to, such as KDF and Romulan faction exclusive stuff, it won't be coming. Geko despises what isn't Federation. And with him crapping all over the two lesser factions, including with the storyline, the game is turning into Starfleet Online: Borg Edition. Within a matter of a few centuries(story-wise), the KDF and Romulan Republic will be railroaded/assimilated into the Federation/Galactic Union(aka Federation). RAILROADED...
Long story short, he's let his bias sway direction of this game.
Hell, the ONLY reason we have ships such as the T2 K'Tanco, is because people raised a large enough uproar about there being a lack of lower level KDF ship variety.
I'd settle for a little more open dialogue. I don't understand why they can't tell us that we won't be seeing any KDF ships for a long time or if KDF will get something like the kelvin timeline intel dread.
Well it's pretty obvious why the KDF player base is on a need-to-know basis.
If he flat out said, "There will be no new KDF ships for the next 6 months" people would run to the forums or reddit and whine, moan, cry, accuse and crucify him with every press release.
That's like asking why he wouldn't step into your clenched fist to take a punch in the face.
Who in their right mind would subjugate themselves to that kind of daily abuse ?
And you would do the same in his position, when most of the KDF news, is Bad News.
He already gets roasted on a regular basis, there is no need to give the whiners more cannon fodder to hurl insults his way.
I'm not surprised he doesn't want to comment on much of anything tbh. Unless a change is imminent, and already worked into the release schedule.
Considering the responses his statements usually receive, I can't say I blame the guy. He just can't win, even if it's a good news item, people will still tear him a new one for past grievances.
Do you really hate this game so much that you rather risk it failing?
How could it fail with the removal of one person?
So what if he has been Head Dev for most of the game's life time, that just means it is way beyond time for some fresh ideas and views.
Geko has been in his current position for the game since the start, and he was majorly involved in inventing the core features that makes this game what it is and what we arguably all like
He's also responsible for the removal of content (exploration for one, dumbing down or outright deleting episodes, removal of queues) and outright ignoring of far more issues (pvp, all the KDF ship graphic issues, the constant theft of faction-unique elements from KDF / Roms, massive power-creep, Ui issues, prevalence of BfaW spam, etc) then he can be considered as adding.
a lot of the most persistent problems in the game, can be laid at Geko's leadership, and on the doorstep of his demonstrated views.
And as Head Dev he gets to set and distribute workloads, so anyone working on non-Fed stuff in any of their free time gets a ton of Fed stuff dumped on them so that they can't work on anything else.
Take a good long look for any fixes that would do nothing for Feds, yeah, we've had ONE, surprising, load of fixes for KDF uniforms and clothing when the AoY patch came out and at least three or more patches since then with nothing at all.
Anyone want to take bets that Geko didn't know anything about the KDF uniform stuff until the patch notes came out?
How about a bet that whoever did all those KDF fixes is now buried under a pile of work for Feds?
And then there's Romulan Duty Officer issues aren't even being mentioned anymore.
Well it's pretty obvious why the KDF player base is on a need-to-know basis.
If he flat out said, "There will be no new KDF ships for the next 6 months" people would run to the forums or reddit and whine, moan, cry, accuse and crucify him with every press release.
That's like asking why he wouldn't step into your clenched fist to take a punch in the face.
Who in their right mind would subjugate themselves to that kind of daily abuse ?
And you would do the same in his position, when most of the KDF news, is Bad News.
He already gets roasted on a regular basis, there is no need to give the whiners more cannon fodder to hurl insults his way.
I'm not surprised he doesn't want to comment on much of anything tbh. Unless a change is imminent, and already worked into the release schedule.
Considering the responses his statements usually receive, I can't say I blame the guy. He just can't win, even if it's a good news item, people will still tear him a new one for past grievances.
I could believe that if he said that to the Fed players, look at all the whining for cloaks, battlecruisers, carriers, plasmonic leech, the whiniest side of the playerbase is the Feds, not the KDF.
The Fed players are forever going 'give us MORE!'.
Meanwhile the KDF players have put up with whatever scraps get thrown our way and we do tend to get annoyed when promised 'decent' ships turn out to not be worth the pixels.
As for Geko saying we'd get any ships in six months, the only thing he'd be buried under by KDF players is questions regarding which ship types they are working on and what specializations they'd get.
Along with thanks for finally bothering to do something for KDF for a change.
I just thought the same thing. Or that moment in the first game while you're stuck in a brig and someone comes around, screaming << Red Factioooon! >> and dies in an explosion so you can escape
I'm not going to argue that Geko should be fired-that's not my place...but.
a lot of the most persistent problems in the game, can be laid at Geko's leadership, and on the doorstep of his demonstrated views.
While the game was 'younger' Geko set the tone for the total abandonment of development (and consideration) of pvp, basically his call is why work on Matchmaking systems that might've left it balanced-enough-to-be-viable, was abandoned wholesale.
He's the guy directly responsible not only for the decision to abandon KDF development after the Bortasque failed to sell, but also the Bortasque-at-release that he used to excuse it.
He's also the guy responsible for porting all of the Faction-unique unit types to Fed, and for placing faction-specific abilities from KDF C-store ships still in inventory, into the lockbox for Federation players at significant (though short term) discounts.
He's also the guy who sets the priorities wrt maintenance tasks. The Kar'Fi skin problem? that's his, he's the guy who assigns the work, he's the lead, he's responsible.
He's the guy who makes the call that has seen a constant stream of poorly controlled powercreep, when a popular 'must have' gets nerfed? yeah, he approved it to be released (in the case of Ionic Turbulence, he didn't even know what he approved wasn't working as designed for more than six months AFTER it was released!)
The reason people blame him, is twofold, Mustrum.
1. His position makes him 'the guy', esp. considering how many 'bosses' he's already outlasted. (5 EP's and Geko IS still the Lead Dev.)
2. His public statements, often directly answering questions, include some nice revelations about his thinky-bits, including such chestnuts as...
1. "PvP'ers are fourteen year old min/maxers living in their mother's basement" (On release, PvP was supposed to be THE killer app for KDF, the following two and a half years of no 1-20 missions was allged by our lead dev, to be due to this purpose...which was sabotaged with the advent of FvF play long before it was cross-factioned.)
2. "...I hate working on the birds of prey..." (Stated in interview when asked why KDF only got Raptor and Cruiser support in the lockboxed Mirror universe stuff. The Mirror Ki'tang was released unfinished with bugged art that remains unfinished just before Delta Rising and Tier 6 ships made it completely obselete.)
3. "...KDF is unprofitable" (after the Bortasque failed to sell and was panned in epic fashion here on the forums)
4. "...we sell ships, that's our business model..." (March, 2015, Priority One podcast)
5. "...it's not supposed to work like that!" (regarding Ionic Turbulence, after the bug-report thread got a ruling saying it WAS. the 'nerf' happened after this interview.)
6. "...Best Expansion Ever and the Players Love It!" (after the release of Delta Rising, late 2014, right before the Tau Dewa scansdal. This one got memed so hard devs were coming on the forums to complain about how mean it was to mention it...over and over again.)
7. "We have to...delay the new KDF ship...to free up artists to work on the Voth..." (this one wouldn't have been a problem, excet that the Federation got the Avenger as a "surprise!!" two weeks later, giving them, for the next three months, the best Battlecruiser in the game-bar none, as their very first. Had Cryptic waited, and held release until the Mogh was ready, it wouldn't have pissed so many people off, but as it was, the impression left was an intentional '**** you' to KDF players who'd accepted the reason for the delay. Secondary impacts included matching the pattern of providing the worst Fed stuff to KDF via the same tech-exchanges, while taking the best from KDF and giving it to Fedside with improvements. other examples include the Varanus, which is a downgrade of the 'free' Federation science vessel at the same tier, and the latest examples, which include the Jupiter Carrier (only the KDF now lacks a T6 carrier, and the Vo'quv is showing it's age, and the Ouroboros, the best Bird of Prey in the C-store is a Federation ship with a cosmetic 'cross faction' so FedRoms can load up SRO boffs with flanking AND Battlecloak combined.)
8. "...is a full faction...expansion is on par with Legacy of Romulus." (while he may have intended to say it involved as much work, Agents of Yesterday, per Geko's first interview, took 18 months. Legacy of Romulus took slightly over 8 months, included four times as many Romulan missions as AoY includes for TOS Federation, Legacy also included 20 KDF missions-all new, all worked on during the same time period, both expansions incorporated new mechanics. hmmm...and Legacy of Romulus was done by a smaller team, in less time... AoY included nothing but a couple of new queues, a couple cross-faction missions, and a couple of cross-faction ships-that were really designed for Federation players.hmmmm)
9. "...made the PvP queues cross-faction so we would not be FORCED to work on faction material..." (interview, after the RvB'ing of the PvP queues, Geko pretty much states his intent not to work on KDF material unless he's forced to...which was demonstrated with the Delta Rising Operations pack's famous division of 6 Fed ships that can seat Intel Bridge officers, including 5 full-spec, vs. 1 Full spec KDF cruiser and a half-spec raptor, and 2 Romulan ships...notably the provisions for KDF and Romulan were HIGHER in Delta Rising than they are in Agents.)
Finally, under Geko's watch, KDF has entered a phase of negative-population growth...
10. "...KDF population is TINY..."
well, Geko, of course it is, you've done a fine job of not only holding it below 20%, but of communicating, by word and deed, that you don't WANT it to grow.
11. "...KDF is just Monsterplay..." (2013 interview.)
He's done a fine job of making KDF unpopular, unprofitable, and nonviable. to put it in perspective, Mustrum, if this game had been released as "Generic science-fiction not linked to an IP that's a cultural institution" it would've died in that first eighteen months based solely on faction-balance issues ALONE.
Trekkies spend like drunks, and Klingon fans will go to ridiculous (even compared to other fans of the franchise) lengths and expense...and a LOT of them are gamers, and have been gamers since before MMO's were even a 'thing'. Geko couldn't make a profit on us. hmmm wonder why. SOG knives can still sell you a "Klingon Dagger" and there are custom sword-makers who still make Battleths and Mek'leths for sale at conventions, knife stores in the mall, etc. etc. but Geko can't sell a bundle of pixels that don't have actual inventory costs profitably?? We're talking about selling images in a free-to-play game to people that stage Klingon-language 'Hamlet', record rap videos in Klingon, show up at anime and comics conventions in Klingon costume (which is significantly more expensive than the red-pyjama Starfleet uniforms), and sell 'props' at gun-and-knife shows at higher prices than actual dive-knives or real-world-replica swords.
How do you get Star Trek Fans-fans that are among the most extreme fans, willing to part with ridiculous amounts of money, to not buy Star Trek Products?? See, I don't know the answer to that one, but Geko's achieved it...somehow. Maybe because his fandom begins and ends with Star FLEET? just sayin'.
I'd settle for a little more open dialogue. I don't understand why they can't tell us that we won't be seeing any KDF ships for a long time or if KDF will get something like the kelvin timeline intel dread.
Well it's pretty obvious why the KDF player base is on a need-to-know basis.
If he flat out said, "There will be no new KDF ships for the next 6 months" people would run to the forums or reddit and whine, moan, cry, accuse and crucify him with every press release.
It wouldn't matter that Feds weren't getting any new stuff either. People would complain about how the social injustices of the past have not yet been remedied. As if getting copy-pastad fed ships would appease them....
@patrickngo You're quick to whine about the Kar'fi being broke.. but who added it to the game in the first place?
I have 3 KDF alts and 3 Romulan alts, none of them for farming.
Sure, I'd like to see more Rom and KDF ships, especially a T6 faction-specific science ship. But I understand that Cryptic/PWE runs a business not a charity for the promotion of Klingon values. They do what makes them a good profit, which mostly means Federation ships and lock boxes. Profit lets the game continue to operate.
Perhaps the consoles will expand the player base enough that the 20-30% of Romulan and KDF character will be a much bigger number. Big enough that Cryptic will decide to risk making new faction ships.
Do you really hate this game so much that you rather risk it failing?
First of all I was being sarcastic. But since you took my comment seriously, I'll gladly indulge you on the subject. Do I hate the game? Well no I don't, because of a few reasons, first off it's Star trek. Secondly I've made some good friends since playing this game, some of which have as a result extended into real life. Thirdly you may notice the title "Bug Hunter" adjacent to my forum name. And the other active bug hunters will attest to how active on the OST forums I am, as well as players such as @welcome2earf for whom I've managed to confirm issue's for. Now if I hated the game so much would I go to all the trouble of trying to help fix it? I think the answer to that question should be obvious to almost anyone.
On the other hand I've grown somewhat disillusioned with the direction the game has taken and seems to continuing at an almost break neck speed. Power creep is no longer a slow crawl, since DR it's practically entered Warp speed, I remember when if you managed 10k DPS you could class yourself in the upper percentile of the game, now we're seeing numbers approaching 400k or 382,243 to be precise. Then there's the statement by one of the Dev's not sure which one because I have better ways to spend my time than digging through past interviews and transcripts, that the game was never intended to revolve around the trinity system of DPS, tank & healing. And an old quote from Sarcasm detector sums up the mentality of the game being "DPS can solve anything"
Then there's the constant release it then nerf if philosophy that's seems to be the order of things since as far back as I can remember, all down to the lack of proper testing. Which rolls on to the infamous "Japori Gate" scandal that took place, despite the Dev's being informed of this exploit even before the material got transferred to Holodeck, which then lead to portions of the player base being labeled exploiters even though some of them never set foot in the Japori system. And I know this can be laid at the feet of the former EP before anyone says anything.
Oh and lets not forget the reduction is XP gains across the board "because we were leveling to fast" and the resulting back lash from sections of the player base. Which if it was considered and thought out properly, they could have simply altered the XP requirements for progression to the next rank, and then made each successive spec point cost more to obtain that the previous one, and maybe, just maybe avoided all the drama and back lash form the player base.
We also have a part finished R&D system, a laughable ground combat system and yes I understand that and I quote "STO was primarily designed as a space sim" and that ground was done as an after thought. A group of players requested more challenging content and how did Cryptic respond? by giving us over inflated punch bags to shoot at, when combined with the required "optional" objectives and players that refused to adapt to the changes cried until something was altered. And as @patrickngo stated above, the PvP side of the game is pretty pointless because there is virtually no balance in game any more. It's a case of who ever gets seen first is toast and yes I've complained in the past when they've called for something to be nerf'd, but since DR I have a clearer understanding if why they were asking for stuff to be nerf'd.
Then we have issue's where bug fixes are placed on hold because of new up coming content is due to be released, and I'll use JCB as an example here, recently they introduced a new machine, one which has taken off beyond the companies expectations, to the point where they're forecasting that it'll eventually surpass their iconic Backhoe loader. But whilst the primary focus of the R&D, engineering, weld, assembly and QA teams was to get this new machine into production and get it right first time, nothing else was pushed aside make room and/or time for it. Everything was carefully planned,catalogued and implemented sometimes in stages. But in every expansion that Cryptic has released, it's another case of release it, emergency patch, general updates (containing a few fixes) another emergency patch, then back to normal scheduled maintenance. @tarastheslayer hypothesized that a whole season would be needed to fix the issue currently plaguing the player base and this was before AoY went live. Honestly I think he was being somewhat optimistic and maybe a little naive (sorry mate).
I'll leave it there for now, because my duty officer assignments need some attention.
So basically if Cryptic is not perfect, Gecko must go?
Marvel Heroes has had server rollbacks the last 2 days where people lost a couple of hours of progress. SWTOR is making players create and level *8 new alts* for full rewards from their copycat event. WoW charges a monthly fee for their new content and I bet if you visit their forums you'll find plenty of complaints about issues. A flawless MMO just does not exist.
Single player is not immune either. Batman Arkham City on PC, Alien Colonial Marines, the most recent SimCity, Star Citizen, ....
So basically if Cryptic is not perfect, Gecko must go?
Marvel Heroes has had server rollbacks the last 2 days where people lost a couple of hours of progress. SWTOR is making players create and level *8 new alts* for full rewards from their copycat event. WoW charges a monthly fee for their new content and I bet if you visit their forums you'll find plenty of complaints about issues. A flawless MMO just does not exist.
Single player is not immune either. Batman Arkham City on PC, Alien Colonial Marines, the most recent SimCity, Star Citizen, ....
Don't straw man things, or muddy things up with nonsensical false dilemmas. No one is expecting or demanding perfection.
sqwished is piling on 5 years of history to support the claim. Look at 5 years of any MMO and you'll find a similar number of bugs, flaws and missteps. The questions to me are a) do they learn anything from them? b) do they fix any of them? c) do they get other things right and most important of all, by far: b) is the game fun to play?
I think management and the devs do learn and do fix things.
The new R&D is better than the old R&D and it has been improved a bit since launch.
They fixed the Delta scaling issues, and added a couple of different new ways to add spec points (featured episodes, Admiralty).
The boff skills revamp was a great quality of life improvement, from being able to train any boff to being able to switch skills on the fly with no need to re-train.
Its hard to believe AoY was a FED recruiting expansion when KDF needs it more. Last time I played KDF was on life support and now I come back to find its dead and gone. I don't see any KDF chat in game anymore. First city is a ghost town, theres not even people by the tailor, and maybe 1-2 people by the bank at max. Space around Qo'nos is empty as well.
They have done nothing to try and save the KDF side. They even made it worse by looting the Vo'quv and giving a t6 version to the feds and nothing for klingons. The KDF forum is even dead. If that is really all Geckos doing then the guy should have gone when the subscription model got the boot.
Sure, if this was Klingon Academy Online. But it's not. And it's making enough of a profit to justify moving to X1 and PS4 so from a business standpoint Gecko is apparently good for the game.
Sure, if this was Klingon Academy Online. But it's not. And it's making enough of a profit to justify moving to X1 and PS4 so from a business standpoint Gecko is apparently good for the game.
Going to consoles isn't a measure of success otherwise world of warcraft would be on them. WoW managed to keep both factions semi healthy and kept its subscription model.
I think that lorewise wouldn't be that hard to introduce an alliance between KDF and FED factions which would get assembled because of some huge threat to both in the future and the galaxy would show up, look there is already Worf in KDF and he was previously part of the the Starfleet. As someone who has chars on both sides I support that idea because if it gets introduced KDF players would have easier time finding fleets and forming groups and KDF side would be played more because of it .
Answers
Yes, we do not get the love that FED does. Which sort of makes us the Underdogs and the villains of that Racis federationists who don't give a TRIBBLE about our (or any other than theirs) culture.
Being Underdogs has Advantages as well as disadvantages. Fed Players moan about their ships not being shiny enough and needing morre uniforms - Klingons would even fight naked if we'd have to. That means the vanitly Players do not join KDF.
As much as I am hardcore KDF in this game, I wouldn't mind them stopping the (badly thought out) 2 faction System in some ways. I think FED and KDF have been allied Long enough to Warrant a possibility to Team up cross faction. I still think that fleets should be seperate and storylines as well, but KDF/FEDs should be able to join a teammember to assist in the missions of the other faction - feds and klingons helping each other was also shown in a few Star Trek the next generation and Deep space nine episodes.
Cryptic are saying that KDF doesn'T bring that much Profit - but that is like a car manufacturer not bothering to bring out new models and complaining that no one wants to buy their 1980s models anymore. Best way to boost Klingon side would be to follow up this Expansion and make a KDF temp recruitment Event next - with same Long term Goals on this Federation one. Honestly, I hardly ever Play FED side, but I am going for the account wide rewards.
KDF: 2 tacs, 2 engs, 3 scis
KDF Roms: 3 tacs, 1 eng, 1 scis
FED: 2 tacs, 1 eng, 2 scis
TOS: 1 tac
all on T5 rep (up to temporal)
all have mastered Intel tree (and some more specs Points)
highest DPS: 60.982
My character Tsin'xing
He should have been booted out the door within hours of his infamous 'I hate working on KDF stuff' speech. It's blatantly unprofessional to express a bias like that, let alone act on it like he has.
No, it's like making a sedan with a horrible reputation for not working properly, and then saying "No one buys sedans."
I have every T6 Rom and KDF zen ship - and if they came in a pack then also the Fed Counterpart...
KDF: 2 tacs, 2 engs, 3 scis
KDF Roms: 3 tacs, 1 eng, 1 scis
FED: 2 tacs, 1 eng, 2 scis
TOS: 1 tac
all on T5 rep (up to temporal)
all have mastered Intel tree (and some more specs Points)
highest DPS: 60.982
Since I've come back I have been leveling a fed because it feels like you have to in order to enjoy this game. I refuse to play the waiting game for KDF support anymore. I really wish they would release a map of what they plan on doing so I could see that no KDF support or ships is coming and I could try to enjoy a FED character without wondering "what if....".
Geko has been in his current position for the game since the start, and he was majorly involved in inventing the core features that makes this game what it is and what we arguably all like - for example, the space combat system. He has been in the position through every crisis, concent draught, skill revamp or whatever.
Not only every feature you ever hated involved him - also every feature you loved, every improvement ever made, everything happened while he was a major decision maker for the game. And in this time the game moved from a bad start as a subscription based game into one of the most generous F2P titles you can find, and saw numerous seasons and content expansions (all for free). The game seems to be doing very well with him where he is.
I would be careful assuming that removing him will actually lead to improvement. It won't change the business realities of things - like that making KDF ships yields less profits than making Fed ships (and despite this little fact, there have been a lot of KDF ships released), but it removes someone that really knows this game and seems to have a good grasp of what it needs to prevail.
Sure maybe you can hope that someone new in the position fixes all the problems you see. But chances are you are engaging in wishful thinking, and the end result is that you don't actually get more KDF stuff - you get less everything, until there is no sustainable game left, and then we all not only get nothing anymore, but lose everything we had in the game.
While also having a line of coupes that are decked out with all the latest tech, high performance engine, state of the art sound system, luxury leather and wood grain interior... the works, and then wondering why your busted TRIBBLE sedans aren't selling as well as your coupes.
It's very obvious there's a disproportionate amount of content available to Fed- and it's also quite obvious that the other two have been neglected at the expense of making Fed more attractive not only to new players but also existing players.
It would behoove Cryptic/PWE to give a serious look and some major development time to actually fleshing the Klingon and Romulan factions out more before even thinking of venturing into newer territories- but I doubt seriously the suits are going to allow it, because after all, this is a business and money is the whole object.
That said- I'm sure they recognize there's money to be made from development time of the Klingon and Romulan factions... but they also know there's a ton more Fed players already and that's the "easy" money.
Being critical doesn't take skill. Being constructively critical- which is providing alternative solutions or suggestions to a demonstrated problem, however, does.
The latest KDF ship is a booby prize gamblebox ship. Shipyard stuff? Nope. C-Store? In the event they release anything of the such, it'll be copy-pasted for Feds to enjoy as well, most likely bug-free for blue-side to boot.
Geko already told us. If he's not being forced to release content for stuff that he doesn't want to, such as KDF and Romulan faction exclusive stuff, it won't be coming. Geko despises what isn't Federation. And with him crapping all over the two lesser factions, including with the storyline, the game is turning into Starfleet Online: Borg Edition. Within a matter of a few centuries(story-wise), the KDF and Romulan Republic will be railroaded/assimilated into the Federation/Galactic Union(aka Federation). RAILROADED...
Long story short, he's let his bias sway direction of this game.
Hell, the ONLY reason we have ships such as the T2 K'Tanco, is because people raised a large enough uproar about there being a lack of lower level KDF ship variety.
Well it's pretty obvious why the KDF player base is on a need-to-know basis.
If he flat out said, "There will be no new KDF ships for the next 6 months" people would run to the forums or reddit and whine, moan, cry, accuse and crucify him with every press release.
That's like asking why he wouldn't step into your clenched fist to take a punch in the face.
Who in their right mind would subjugate themselves to that kind of daily abuse ?
And you would do the same in his position, when most of the KDF news, is Bad News.
He already gets roasted on a regular basis, there is no need to give the whiners more cannon fodder to hurl insults his way.
I'm not surprised he doesn't want to comment on much of anything tbh. Unless a change is imminent, and already worked into the release schedule.
Considering the responses his statements usually receive, I can't say I blame the guy. He just can't win, even if it's a good news item, people will still tear him a new one for past grievances.
I just thought the same thing. Or that moment in the first game while you're stuck in a brig and someone comes around, screaming << Red Factioooon! >> and dies in an explosion so you can escape
/thread
@patrickngo You're quick to whine about the Kar'fi being broke.. but who added it to the game in the first place?
My character Tsin'xing
Sure, I'd like to see more Rom and KDF ships, especially a T6 faction-specific science ship. But I understand that Cryptic/PWE runs a business not a charity for the promotion of Klingon values. They do what makes them a good profit, which mostly means Federation ships and lock boxes. Profit lets the game continue to operate.
Perhaps the consoles will expand the player base enough that the 20-30% of Romulan and KDF character will be a much bigger number. Big enough that Cryptic will decide to risk making new faction ships.
First of all I was being sarcastic. But since you took my comment seriously, I'll gladly indulge you on the subject. Do I hate the game? Well no I don't, because of a few reasons, first off it's Star trek. Secondly I've made some good friends since playing this game, some of which have as a result extended into real life. Thirdly you may notice the title "Bug Hunter" adjacent to my forum name. And the other active bug hunters will attest to how active on the OST forums I am, as well as players such as @welcome2earf for whom I've managed to confirm issue's for. Now if I hated the game so much would I go to all the trouble of trying to help fix it? I think the answer to that question should be obvious to almost anyone.
On the other hand I've grown somewhat disillusioned with the direction the game has taken and seems to continuing at an almost break neck speed. Power creep is no longer a slow crawl, since DR it's practically entered Warp speed, I remember when if you managed 10k DPS you could class yourself in the upper percentile of the game, now we're seeing numbers approaching 400k or 382,243 to be precise. Then there's the statement by one of the Dev's not sure which one because I have better ways to spend my time than digging through past interviews and transcripts, that the game was never intended to revolve around the trinity system of DPS, tank & healing. And an old quote from Sarcasm detector sums up the mentality of the game being "DPS can solve anything"
Then there's the constant release it then nerf if philosophy that's seems to be the order of things since as far back as I can remember, all down to the lack of proper testing. Which rolls on to the infamous "Japori Gate" scandal that took place, despite the Dev's being informed of this exploit even before the material got transferred to Holodeck, which then lead to portions of the player base being labeled exploiters even though some of them never set foot in the Japori system. And I know this can be laid at the feet of the former EP before anyone says anything.
Oh and lets not forget the reduction is XP gains across the board "because we were leveling to fast" and the resulting back lash from sections of the player base. Which if it was considered and thought out properly, they could have simply altered the XP requirements for progression to the next rank, and then made each successive spec point cost more to obtain that the previous one, and maybe, just maybe avoided all the drama and back lash form the player base.
We also have a part finished R&D system, a laughable ground combat system and yes I understand that and I quote "STO was primarily designed as a space sim" and that ground was done as an after thought. A group of players requested more challenging content and how did Cryptic respond? by giving us over inflated punch bags to shoot at, when combined with the required "optional" objectives and players that refused to adapt to the changes cried until something was altered. And as @patrickngo stated above, the PvP side of the game is pretty pointless because there is virtually no balance in game any more. It's a case of who ever gets seen first is toast and yes I've complained in the past when they've called for something to be nerf'd, but since DR I have a clearer understanding if why they were asking for stuff to be nerf'd.
Then we have issue's where bug fixes are placed on hold because of new up coming content is due to be released, and I'll use JCB as an example here, recently they introduced a new machine, one which has taken off beyond the companies expectations, to the point where they're forecasting that it'll eventually surpass their iconic Backhoe loader. But whilst the primary focus of the R&D, engineering, weld, assembly and QA teams was to get this new machine into production and get it right first time, nothing else was pushed aside make room and/or time for it. Everything was carefully planned,catalogued and implemented sometimes in stages. But in every expansion that Cryptic has released, it's another case of release it, emergency patch, general updates (containing a few fixes) another emergency patch, then back to normal scheduled maintenance. @tarastheslayer hypothesized that a whole season would be needed to fix the issue currently plaguing the player base and this was before AoY went live. Honestly I think he was being somewhat optimistic and maybe a little naive (sorry mate).
I'll leave it there for now, because my duty officer assignments need some attention.
Marvel Heroes has had server rollbacks the last 2 days where people lost a couple of hours of progress. SWTOR is making players create and level *8 new alts* for full rewards from their copycat event. WoW charges a monthly fee for their new content and I bet if you visit their forums you'll find plenty of complaints about issues. A flawless MMO just does not exist.
Single player is not immune either. Batman Arkham City on PC, Alien Colonial Marines, the most recent SimCity, Star Citizen, ....
Don't straw man things, or muddy things up with nonsensical false dilemmas. No one is expecting or demanding perfection.
I think management and the devs do learn and do fix things.
The new R&D is better than the old R&D and it has been improved a bit since launch.
They fixed the Delta scaling issues, and added a couple of different new ways to add spec points (featured episodes, Admiralty).
The boff skills revamp was a great quality of life improvement, from being able to train any boff to being able to switch skills on the fly with no need to re-train.
and more.
They have done nothing to try and save the KDF side. They even made it worse by looting the Vo'quv and giving a t6 version to the feds and nothing for klingons. The KDF forum is even dead. If that is really all Geckos doing then the guy should have gone when the subscription model got the boot.
Going to consoles isn't a measure of success otherwise world of warcraft would be on them. WoW managed to keep both factions semi healthy and kept its subscription model.