Which is exactly why I'm so hopeless I'll ever get those ships. There's no way they'd ever do another KDF alien species ship before a proper KDF ship, so if they haven't even given us that, what possible hope do I have for an Orion FDC?
I'm really seriously beginning to consider dropping my Orion into a Gorkon or something. Her Fleet T5U Corsair isn't the best ship to start with, and even with a few decent traits, it's just not going to hold up under power creep much longer. Problem being my KDF Lib. Borg Engie is also flying a Gorkon (in the Martok skin, because it's a Super Negh'var and everything about those words together is magnificent), and short of a T6 Kamarag, it's basically perfect for him. The idea of having two characters in the same ship is... distasteful to me, but there's nothing else Eng/Sci to drop her in that isn't wildly expensive or otherwise out of character...
Me, I'll continue to play KDF(ish) and Rom-KDF(ish). Until Cryptic bans me or deletes my characters, or shutters the game, I'll play KDF. Even if everyone else joins the Federation, I'll be that last outlaw. Go ahead and laugh, or sneer at my choice. But it is my choice.
I will be right there with you.
As will I, **** merging the factions, **** any Galactic Alliance, I'd rather go pirate.[/quote]
Piracy, fringe jobs, and freedom are where it'll be at. Along with time travel shenanigans to dump out all over the Galactic Union "peace talks" If I had it my way, I would've taken the option to let all the big-wigs at the gatherings suck-start the Tetryon cannons of my ship. Or let an outside force bust the party, ruin it, then step into the vacuum.
A faction-specific story that runs parallel to, but is not identical to, the main Fed storyline...
... And an enemy. Not just a catboats badguy that the entire galaxy fights against, but a Nemesis. An arch-enemy. Someone to make war with that I can get all the glory and honor from defeating without sharing my stories and spoils with Federation weaklings and Romulan schemers. I want an adversary worthy of fighting against the might of the Klingon Empire!
I also wouldn't mind intra-faction drama. Fighting for control of the Great Houses and leadership of the Klingon High Council. BUT! IT HAS TO BE PLAYER DRIVEN, NOT A PREDEFINED RAILROAD OUTCOME THAT WE HAVE NO CONTROL OVER.
I simply can't respect people who think it's taking something away from them if the neighbor's kids get the same toys. This isn't a game for 5 year olds.
And I might feel sorry for their inability to define themselves without Cryptic holding their hands...if their demands for Cryptic hand-holding didn't directly contradict what I believe are the best interests of this game.
At this point, I think you want a different game than I do. You seem to want some generic sandbox "everything goes" style of game, where I want a more focused story-driven kind of game. That's fine, but I don't think we are going to get very far in our discussion.
What you call "handholding" I call "building lore and setting".
There isn't a large amount of work put into defining why the KDF is the way it is. Gorn were conquered. Letheans and Orions voluntarily became vassals because reasons. Nausicaans were mercenaries in service to the Gorn, now they are KDF... because the High Counsel still pays for their service? Isn't this similar to a tithe? How is the High Counsel ok with this? If they are not payed, then what is the new arrangement?
I like options. I want players to play all the above races, and any more that Cryptic adds. Why is the the lore for the KDF so shallow? This is Cryptic's unique creation! I don't care if Cryptic gives consoles or traits to Starfleet. Let them have cloaking devices. For me, when players talk about "abandonment" it isn't about technology and gimmicks. It's about being something Cryptic started and never finished.
No one wants to play the KDF because it is presented as some sort of poorly rationalized discount version of the Federation. Why play the half-baked, poorly explained faction when you can play the faction that kinda resembles what you see on TV. And fly the ships too.
Oh, and for the record- I'm a FED player who has 4 Fleet Admirals on Fed-side alone... I have one Klingon
5 Fed 1 KDF. All max level.
The same thing over and over again is referring to PvP, which is really a non-starter in this game as far as worth devoting capital to expand.
The restrictions suggestion was serious. That is probably the one thing I dislike the most about my KDF captain which has become just a dilithium farmer.
But realisticly, the Klingon story just doesn't interest me all that much, and suspect that is the case for a lot of players. They come for the main Trek perspective they know and love.
KDF is very underrated. Not sure on numbers but there are many active and/or finished T5 KDF fleets. Many are strong crossfaction fleets also. Most of us with KDF mains play the faction just to avoid all the root beer guzzler zone chat rants. There is a reason every KDF heavy PVE pug team wins.. we don't cry about carrying the new Feddie. KDF players tend to be best of the best because the majority offer to help those who want to learn and pay it forward. Pretty sure everyone can agree the Fed culture tends to think degrading new players on DPS helps the team? Who wants to be ninja invited to Fed fleet that spams everyone to donate more dill and scolding the new guys for using fleet bank resources. Many KDF fleets give instant fleet store access. My favorite reason for playing KDF: kicking the wanna be pay to win Feds out Ker'rat. God bless those free to play hit and run cloaking cowards.
3. "KDF Population is Tiny" (Geko, this year. Notably, it is. The population's been declining steeply for three years and didn't grow much the previous two, though it was larger and healthier BEFORE we got the 1-20 missions, than it is currently-but then, the KDF content-drought was still relatively new in 2011...)
this is logical, because nothing is done to make the kdf faction attractive.
2. "...we aren't FORCED to work on KDF material anymore" (Geko, 2014, after the RVB'ng of the PvP Queue, notably this was his stance after not working on anything KDF for two and a half years that wasn't in a lockbox...)
Have you also listened to a more recent podcast where Geko also uses the word "force" in regards to KDF? As in "forced to do faction-agnostic stuff for the KDF" as in "we can't do faction-specific stuff for the KDF"?
I maintain the opinion that you're reading too much into these quotes and profilerate your interpretation by consistently selectively quoting the same stuff.
3. "KDF Population is Tiny" (Geko, this year. Notably, it is. The population's been declining steeply for three years and didn't grow much the previous two, though it was larger and healthier BEFORE we got the 1-20 missions, than it is currently-but then, the KDF content-drought was still relatively new in 2011...)
this is logical, because nothing is done to make the kdf faction attractive.
This is logical, because hundreds of episode of Star Trek features about as many fleshed out Klingon characters as it does feature fleshed out Starfleet/Federation crews.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
I simply can't respect people who think it's taking something away from them if the neighbor's kids get the same toys. This isn't a game for 5 year olds.
And I might feel sorry for their inability to define themselves without Cryptic holding their hands...if their demands for Cryptic hand-holding didn't directly contradict what I believe are the best interests of this game.
At this point, I think you want a different game than I do. You seem to want some generic sandbox "everything goes" style of game, where I want a more focused story-driven kind of game. That's fine, but I don't think we are going to get very far in our discussion.
What you call "handholding" I call "building lore and setting".
There isn't a large amount of work put into defining why the KDF is the way it is. Gorn were conquered. Letheans and Orions voluntarily became vassals because reasons. Nausicaans were mercenaries in service to the Gorn, now they are KDF... because the High Counsel still pays for their service? Isn't this similar to a tithe? How is the High Counsel ok with this? If they are not payed, then what is the new arrangement?
I like options. I want players to play all the above races, and any more that Cryptic adds. Why is the the lore for the KDF so shallow? This is Cryptic's unique creation! I don't care if Cryptic gives consoles or traits to Starfleet. Let them have cloaking devices. For me, when players talk about "abandonment" it isn't about technology and gimmicks. It's about being something Cryptic started and never finished.
No one wants to play the KDF because it is presented as some sort of poorly rationalized discount version of the Federation. Why play the half-baked, poorly explained faction when you can play the faction that kinda resembles what you see on TV. And fly the ships too.
What I call "handholding" is Cryptic refusing to sell everyone the same toys, so that some people can feel "special."
I'm not talking about lore or story. I'm talking about gameplay. We already have a sandbox, it just has random rocks buried in it to hinder your creativity. Everything already goes, except when it inexplicably doesn't.
A Romulan can fly a Galaxy-class or a BoP. But not the T5/T6 versions.
A Romulan can fly a Galaxy-class or a BoP. But the same Romulan can't fly both.
A Romulan can fly a Galaxy-class or a BoP. But Feds and Klingons can't fly a D'deridex.
Except if you slap some Borg tech and spikes of villainy on the D'deridex, then it's suddenly OK for everyone to fly.
A Fed can fly an Undine ship, but a Klingon ship is beyond their capability.
A Klingon can fly a Tholian ship, but a Federation one is beyond their capability.
The temporal ships in particular are an unholy mess of "this ship has different versions for each faction," "that ship is Fed-only," "those ships are cross-faction" and so on with no rhyme or reason.
And clothes are restricted in even more arbitrary manner, right down to individual species. No, you can't wear that skirt, it's DNA-locked! Even some hairstyles are restricted, as if by some magic your hair was incapable of being cut in specific styles based on race.
These restrictions aren't a question of lore. The lore doesn't explain any of that.
In the story, the factions have already been united in all but name for a long time. There may be some token difference of opinion in episodes involving diplomatic talks, but even then we get down to business and get the same job done the same way regardless of faction. Even the name is getting there, we have been referred to as the Alpha Quadrant Alliance since at least 2014.
And while I'm not opposed to having faction-specific storylines, the devs have made it pretty clear that's not in the books. Just look at the TOS faction, it only got the tutorial + 6 missions despite being new. They're using the factions as origin stories.
I like options too. I also want players to play all the races (even if I myself will always prefer custom Alien). And that means I don't want players to lose out in gameplay because they chose the "wrong" faction or race. I want the factions to be as equal partners in gameplay as they are in the story.
However I would play it a lot more if your character had a better storyline and maybe the posibility to opt for peaceful/diplomatic solutions "Kill dozens of people to free some crusty Klingon warriors from a comfortable prison" is not exactly my cuppa tea...
Fleeing Tal Shiar opression, Proconsul D'Tan leads a ragtag flotilla on a lonely quest...a shining planet known as Mol'Rihan.
Sure is amazing how often "storyline" comes up as a "needs improvement" item here...
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.
This is logical, because hundreds of episode of Star Trek features about as many fleshed out Klingon characters as it does feature fleshed out Starfleet/Federation crews.
Your statement would hold more weight if not for the fact that the state of the "red faction" is entirely Cryptic's creation, with only a few references to what is seen on screen.
Nothing stops Cryptic from giving their own creation it's own identity. They did it with the Dyson arc, which makes it all the more frustrating for me. I like most of the Dyson arc. More than most of the content they have produced since.
What does the KDF do? It just seems to follow Starfleet around so Korren has a chance to whine. It has no direction or purpose other than give players the chance "dress up as a motley collection of villians-of-the-week".
This is logical, because hundreds of episode of Star Trek features about as many fleshed out Klingon characters as it does feature fleshed out Starfleet/Federation crews.
Your statement would hold more weight if not for the fact that the state of the "red faction" is entirely Cryptic's creation, with only a few references to what is seen on screen.
Are you sure it's "few references"?
And I am not sure what you mean witht he Dyson Arc? Most of the stuff in the Dyson Sphere is based on stuff from the shows - Elachi, Solanae, Iconians, the original Dyson Sphere found by Scotty, Worf.
The Iconian Arc and the surrounding queues have a strong focus on KDF characters and locations.
The Klingon story-line references Worf, Worf's son (including his alternate timeline name), Worf's wife (and Quark's ex-wife), Martok's family, Rura Penthe, the Bat'leth championship that Worf once participated in, Q'onos (obviously), Khaless, Klingon mythology (Barge of the Dead, Fek'lhri, Molor) and holy places (Klingon Temple), Klingon songs and ritual, Klingon-Romulan shenengians.
The only think they haven't really milked fully yet seems to be the Hur'q.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
And I am not sure what you mean witht he Dyson Arc? Most of the stuff in the Dyson Sphere is based on stuff from the shows - Elachi, Solanae, Iconians, the original Dyson Sphere found by Scotty, Worf.
I don't recall the shows stating that the Dyson spheres were Iconian constructs run by servior races (such as the solanae) and that they produced Omega particles to power mega jump drives that can move an entire star. I don't recall the Voth having mech suits or cloaking devices or dinosaurs with lasers on their heads.
The Iconian Arc and the surrounding queues have a strong focus on KDF characters and locations.
The Klingon story-line references Worf, Worf's son (including his alternate timeline name), Worf's wife (and Quark's ex-wife), Martok's family, Rura Penthe, the Bat'leth championship that Worf once participated in, Q'onos (obviously), Khaless, Klingon mythology (Barge of the Dead, Fek'lhri, Molor) and holy places (Klingon Temple), Klingon songs and ritual, Klingon-Romulan shenengians.
The only think they haven't really milked fully yet seems to be the Hur'q.
A strong focus on KDF characters? Which Nausicaan character was in the Iconian arc? Which Orion? Maybe a Gorn? In fact, which episode prominently features any Orion, Lethean, Nausicaan or Ferasan? You mean the KDF is portrayed as Klingon only, yet clearly gives equal rank to all it's vassals/members/BFFs? Why the bizarre disconnect? Why create your own take on the KDF, yet pass it off as a watered-down version of the TV series?
Add more KDF focused episodes into the story, something that is focused on Klingon culture
Slight problem.... is this story to be expected to make sense from the perspective of an Orion player?
Might I recommend the Honor of Ferasans, Honor of the Orions, Honor of the Empire foundry chain(all 3 listed missions, played in that order)? There are even dialogue choices that Orions, Aliens, Gorn, Klingons, Ferasans can choose in the 3rd chapter.
1: Foundry
2: @Sirboulevard is awesome
3: played them and loved them.
Unique missions. No more Fed copy paste ****. Put some damn effort into it Cryptic.
Also, fix the KDF notifications for crying out loud. They've been stuck in Fed mode since what, Legacy of Romulus? What the hell...
Ironically, now that you mention that, while I was leveling my 23c captain I was occasioanlly getting the Klingon "Congratulations (rank here)" voice message and when I got the promotion to lt.Com Admiral Quinn's window popped up, but J'mpok's voice over played congratulating my andorian for being a model of klingon honor and what not.
I'll just echo some of what others say with my own take on some of them. To be fair, I'd also like this to expand to Romulans and Feds as well, but allow initial testing of these for KDF first (say, 3 months then expand the system to Feds and Romulans):
- Account-unlock C-Store Consoles and Starship Traits FOR FREE: Allow KDF to claim console boxes and Starship Mastery Trait boxes of Fed/Romulan consoles that were made usable for other factions and of Mastery Traits normally only available to Feds or Romulans, if a ship has already been purchased from the C-Store. For example: claiming the Eclipse as a KDF (or Rom) instead gives the Eclipse Mastery Trait Box and the Eclipse Console Box (if the Eclipse's console was cross-faction rather than Eclipse-only), but only if the ship was already purchased by a Fed character high enough level to use it.
- Account Event Store-Unlock of Lockbox Starship Traits w/ Restrictions: Say you have a Fed with a Vengeance and an Elachi Sheshar, and that Fed has mastered both ships and gained both traits. Allow KDF and Romulan alts to claim the trait for a high Dilithium cost from the Event Reputation Store after the ships were mastered (Say 50000 Dil). This frees up Starship slots of ships that players would otherwise never be able to fly or never want to fly across more than one character, but allow Cryptic to still make money off said players willing to pay the Dil cost per character (either from time spent grinding Dil or from Zen:Dil conversion).
- Account Event Store-Unlock Crystalline/Mirror/PvE Event and Featured Mission Rewards: This one is a pretty big one to me, and a major reason I don't play alts much. But allow account unlock of the various PvE Event Rewards in the Event Reputation Store. The AP Crystalline Torpedo, the Iconian Civilian clothing, the Kobali Uniform, the Agony Rifle, the Crystalline Grenade, etc. Cryptic has no valid excuse as to why they cannot make them Account Unlock. Just make the box with the item only, without the Dil or Mark bonuses.
- Cross-Faction Play/Fleets/Armadas: It would be nice to allow players who've completed the Sphere Alliance mission to be able to cross-team with others of a different faction outside of queues and even cross-Fleet/Armada to help out with Fleet building, as well as access to at least opposite-Faction Fleet weapons for those interested in such.
- Cross-Faction Uniforms: This is more for the Romulans and ties to the previous suggestion. Basically, allow for full access to various C-Store and Fleet Store costumes from all factions for characters after the Alliance is formed.
- More Ships Across the Tiers: Specifically for KDF and Rom. A little more variety would be nice, even if they're just copy/paste stats of Fed versions with a different hull (and Mastery Trait for T6), such as the T2 Fed Daedalus Sci ship or the T6 Pathfinder.
- Rebuild/Upgrade First City and New Romulus: Both were already devastated from the Iconian attack; so giving them a refreshed zone and look so that they would be more convenient like ESD would be great, as well as be more friendly for new players unfamiliar with them.
Do note I'm not asking for better story or the like, since that's an entirely different can of worms. But just bringing some parity via Account Unlocks, Additions, High Level Changes/Advantages, and Quality of Life changes would be great.
I don't think it's a mystery that the vast majority of players prefer to play Federation. And they are making improvements for Klingons. Is the OP asking what would it take to get you as a player to play predominately Klingon? This isn't going to happen for most folks. It's just not. And Cryptic has to act accordingly. They'll release some good things for Klingons and Romulans, but most of the new stuff will be aimed at Federation players...the majority of their player base by a very large percentage. And I play Klingon 99.9% of the time. It's just understood. It's not as bad as some folks make it out to be.
I have characters in all of the factions. But this game has never drawn me to being an alt-aholic here. The backstory is to linear and regardless of what faction you choose youll generally get the same story. This game is more of a Theme Park for me. I jump in and want to fly a ship around in circles for a little while. Blow something up. But its just not going to get me to invest my time in it like I have with other games.
any are strong crossfaction fleets also. Most of us with KDF mains play the faction just to avoid all the root beer guzzler zone chat rants.
I've got chat filters and tab set ups for that, without having to play a faction that doens't interest me.
The elephant in the room is the vast majority of Treker's aren't here for KDF. They are here for the Trek the shows and movies primarily are a part of. There isn't anything that is ever going to change that.
A Fed can fly an Undine ship, but a Klingon ship is beyond their capability.
A Klingon can fly a Tholian ship, but a Federation one is beyond their capability.
The temporal ships in particular are an unholy mess of "this ship has different versions for each faction," "that ship is Fed-only," "those ships are cross-faction" and so on with no rhyme or reason.
And clothes are restricted in even more arbitrary manner, right down to individual species. No, you can't wear that skirt, it's DNA-locked! Even some hairstyles are restricted, as if by some magic your hair was incapable of being cut in specific styles based on race.
More like government locked. KDF not selling their ships to the Fed, the Fed not selling their ships to the KDF. Which made sense when the factions were separate and antagonistic, but not anymore.
The rest agree, the separation doesn't make sense.
A strong focus on KDF characters? Which Nausicaan character was in the Iconian arc? Which Orion? Maybe a Gorn? In fact, which episode prominently features any Orion, Lethean, Nausicaan or Ferasan? You mean the KDF is portrayed as Klingon only,
That could be a big part of the problem with the faction also. I agree, the the Gorn, Orions, Letheans, Nausicans might as well not be part of the faction give how the story treats their cultures as non-existant.
The Federation side does the same thing, but not to the extent of the KDF. You have Vulcan, you have Andoria, And a host of other planets with some developement of the species cultures.
That is actually an improvement in general I'd like to see in the game. More developement of playable species specific costumes, planets, culture in the story line, besides the big 4 (Human, Klingon, Romulan, Vulcan).
I personally prefer KDF over Fed although I prefer Rom over both of them. I have 5 toons that are level 60 with another 3 that are 55+. Of those, 2 are Fed, 1 is Rom/Fed, my main is Rom/KDF and the rest are KDF.
Comments
They've said it in no uncertain terms that they don't plan on doing separate storylines for factions, so expecting them to do them for species...
Which is exactly why I'm so hopeless I'll ever get those ships. There's no way they'd ever do another KDF alien species ship before a proper KDF ship, so if they haven't even given us that, what possible hope do I have for an Orion FDC?
I'm really seriously beginning to consider dropping my Orion into a Gorkon or something. Her Fleet T5U Corsair isn't the best ship to start with, and even with a few decent traits, it's just not going to hold up under power creep much longer. Problem being my KDF Lib. Borg Engie is also flying a Gorkon (in the Martok skin, because it's a Super Negh'var and everything about those words together is magnificent), and short of a T6 Kamarag, it's basically perfect for him. The idea of having two characters in the same ship is... distasteful to me, but there's nothing else Eng/Sci to drop her in that isn't wildly expensive or otherwise out of character...
I Support Disco | Disco is Love | Disco is Life
As will I, **** merging the factions, **** any Galactic Alliance, I'd rather go pirate.[/quote]
Piracy, fringe jobs, and freedom are where it'll be at. Along with time travel shenanigans to dump out all over the Galactic Union "peace talks" If I had it my way, I would've taken the option to let all the big-wigs at the gatherings suck-start the Tetryon cannons of my ship. Or let an outside force bust the party, ruin it, then step into the vacuum.
... And an enemy. Not just a catboats badguy that the entire galaxy fights against, but a Nemesis. An arch-enemy. Someone to make war with that I can get all the glory and honor from defeating without sharing my stories and spoils with Federation weaklings and Romulan schemers. I want an adversary worthy of fighting against the might of the Klingon Empire!
I also wouldn't mind intra-faction drama. Fighting for control of the Great Houses and leadership of the Klingon High Council. BUT! IT HAS TO BE PLAYER DRIVEN, NOT A PREDEFINED RAILROAD OUTCOME THAT WE HAVE NO CONTROL OVER.
What you call "handholding" I call "building lore and setting".
There isn't a large amount of work put into defining why the KDF is the way it is. Gorn were conquered. Letheans and Orions voluntarily became vassals because reasons. Nausicaans were mercenaries in service to the Gorn, now they are KDF... because the High Counsel still pays for their service? Isn't this similar to a tithe? How is the High Counsel ok with this? If they are not payed, then what is the new arrangement?
I like options. I want players to play all the above races, and any more that Cryptic adds. Why is the the lore for the KDF so shallow? This is Cryptic's unique creation! I don't care if Cryptic gives consoles or traits to Starfleet. Let them have cloaking devices. For me, when players talk about "abandonment" it isn't about technology and gimmicks. It's about being something Cryptic started and never finished.
No one wants to play the KDF because it is presented as some sort of poorly rationalized discount version of the Federation. Why play the half-baked, poorly explained faction when you can play the faction that kinda resembles what you see on TV. And fly the ships too.
5 Fed 1 KDF. All max level.
The same thing over and over again is referring to PvP, which is really a non-starter in this game as far as worth devoting capital to expand.
The restrictions suggestion was serious. That is probably the one thing I dislike the most about my KDF captain which has become just a dilithium farmer.
But realisticly, the Klingon story just doesn't interest me all that much, and suspect that is the case for a lot of players. They come for the main Trek perspective they know and love.
this is logical, because nothing is done to make the kdf faction attractive.
I maintain the opinion that you're reading too much into these quotes and profilerate your interpretation by consistently selectively quoting the same stuff.
This is logical, because hundreds of episode of Star Trek features about as many fleshed out Klingon characters as it does feature fleshed out Starfleet/Federation crews.
I'm not talking about lore or story. I'm talking about gameplay. We already have a sandbox, it just has random rocks buried in it to hinder your creativity. Everything already goes, except when it inexplicably doesn't.
A Romulan can fly a Galaxy-class or a BoP. But not the T5/T6 versions.
A Romulan can fly a Galaxy-class or a BoP. But the same Romulan can't fly both.
A Romulan can fly a Galaxy-class or a BoP. But Feds and Klingons can't fly a D'deridex.
Except if you slap some Borg tech and spikes of villainy on the D'deridex, then it's suddenly OK for everyone to fly.
A Fed can fly an Undine ship, but a Klingon ship is beyond their capability.
A Klingon can fly a Tholian ship, but a Federation one is beyond their capability.
The temporal ships in particular are an unholy mess of "this ship has different versions for each faction," "that ship is Fed-only," "those ships are cross-faction" and so on with no rhyme or reason.
And clothes are restricted in even more arbitrary manner, right down to individual species. No, you can't wear that skirt, it's DNA-locked! Even some hairstyles are restricted, as if by some magic your hair was incapable of being cut in specific styles based on race.
These restrictions aren't a question of lore. The lore doesn't explain any of that.
In the story, the factions have already been united in all but name for a long time. There may be some token difference of opinion in episodes involving diplomatic talks, but even then we get down to business and get the same job done the same way regardless of faction. Even the name is getting there, we have been referred to as the Alpha Quadrant Alliance since at least 2014.
And while I'm not opposed to having faction-specific storylines, the devs have made it pretty clear that's not in the books. Just look at the TOS faction, it only got the tutorial + 6 missions despite being new. They're using the factions as origin stories.
I like options too. I also want players to play all the races (even if I myself will always prefer custom Alien). And that means I don't want players to lose out in gameplay because they chose the "wrong" faction or race. I want the factions to be as equal partners in gameplay as they are in the story.
However I would play it a lot more if your character had a better storyline and maybe the posibility to opt for peaceful/diplomatic solutions "Kill dozens of people to free some crusty Klingon warriors from a comfortable prison" is not exactly my cuppa tea...
Being critical doesn't take skill. Being constructively critical- which is providing alternative solutions or suggestions to a demonstrated problem, however, does.
Nothing stops Cryptic from giving their own creation it's own identity. They did it with the Dyson arc, which makes it all the more frustrating for me. I like most of the Dyson arc. More than most of the content they have produced since.
What does the KDF do? It just seems to follow Starfleet around so Korren has a chance to whine. It has no direction or purpose other than give players the chance "dress up as a motley collection of villians-of-the-week".
And I am not sure what you mean witht he Dyson Arc? Most of the stuff in the Dyson Sphere is based on stuff from the shows - Elachi, Solanae, Iconians, the original Dyson Sphere found by Scotty, Worf.
The Iconian Arc and the surrounding queues have a strong focus on KDF characters and locations.
The Klingon story-line references Worf, Worf's son (including his alternate timeline name), Worf's wife (and Quark's ex-wife), Martok's family, Rura Penthe, the Bat'leth championship that Worf once participated in, Q'onos (obviously), Khaless, Klingon mythology (Barge of the Dead, Fek'lhri, Molor) and holy places (Klingon Temple), Klingon songs and ritual, Klingon-Romulan shenengians.
The only think they haven't really milked fully yet seems to be the Hur'q.
Perhaps I just missed those episodes. A strong focus on KDF characters? Which Nausicaan character was in the Iconian arc? Which Orion? Maybe a Gorn? In fact, which episode prominently features any Orion, Lethean, Nausicaan or Ferasan? You mean the KDF is portrayed as Klingon only, yet clearly gives equal rank to all it's vassals/members/BFFs? Why the bizarre disconnect? Why create your own take on the KDF, yet pass it off as a watered-down version of the TV series?
2: @Sirboulevard is awesome
3: played them and loved them.
My character Tsin'xing
Ironically, now that you mention that, while I was leveling my 23c captain I was occasioanlly getting the Klingon "Congratulations (rank here)" voice message and when I got the promotion to lt.Com Admiral Quinn's window popped up, but J'mpok's voice over played congratulating my andorian for being a model of klingon honor and what not.
just thought it was funny
- Account-unlock C-Store Consoles and Starship Traits FOR FREE: Allow KDF to claim console boxes and Starship Mastery Trait boxes of Fed/Romulan consoles that were made usable for other factions and of Mastery Traits normally only available to Feds or Romulans, if a ship has already been purchased from the C-Store. For example: claiming the Eclipse as a KDF (or Rom) instead gives the Eclipse Mastery Trait Box and the Eclipse Console Box (if the Eclipse's console was cross-faction rather than Eclipse-only), but only if the ship was already purchased by a Fed character high enough level to use it.
- Account Event Store-Unlock of Lockbox Starship Traits w/ Restrictions: Say you have a Fed with a Vengeance and an Elachi Sheshar, and that Fed has mastered both ships and gained both traits. Allow KDF and Romulan alts to claim the trait for a high Dilithium cost from the Event Reputation Store after the ships were mastered (Say 50000 Dil). This frees up Starship slots of ships that players would otherwise never be able to fly or never want to fly across more than one character, but allow Cryptic to still make money off said players willing to pay the Dil cost per character (either from time spent grinding Dil or from Zen:Dil conversion).
- Account Event Store-Unlock Crystalline/Mirror/PvE Event and Featured Mission Rewards: This one is a pretty big one to me, and a major reason I don't play alts much. But allow account unlock of the various PvE Event Rewards in the Event Reputation Store. The AP Crystalline Torpedo, the Iconian Civilian clothing, the Kobali Uniform, the Agony Rifle, the Crystalline Grenade, etc. Cryptic has no valid excuse as to why they cannot make them Account Unlock. Just make the box with the item only, without the Dil or Mark bonuses.
- Cross-Faction Play/Fleets/Armadas: It would be nice to allow players who've completed the Sphere Alliance mission to be able to cross-team with others of a different faction outside of queues and even cross-Fleet/Armada to help out with Fleet building, as well as access to at least opposite-Faction Fleet weapons for those interested in such.
- Cross-Faction Uniforms: This is more for the Romulans and ties to the previous suggestion. Basically, allow for full access to various C-Store and Fleet Store costumes from all factions for characters after the Alliance is formed.
- More Ships Across the Tiers: Specifically for KDF and Rom. A little more variety would be nice, even if they're just copy/paste stats of Fed versions with a different hull (and Mastery Trait for T6), such as the T2 Fed Daedalus Sci ship or the T6 Pathfinder.
- Rebuild/Upgrade First City and New Romulus: Both were already devastated from the Iconian attack; so giving them a refreshed zone and look so that they would be more convenient like ESD would be great, as well as be more friendly for new players unfamiliar with them.
Do note I'm not asking for better story or the like, since that's an entirely different can of worms. But just bringing some parity via Account Unlocks, Additions, High Level Changes/Advantages, and Quality of Life changes would be great.
A 1,000 Zen monthly stipend.
Aww... who am I kidding? I already have several KDF captains.
"It appears we have lost our sex appeal, captain."- Tuvok
I've got chat filters and tab set ups for that, without having to play a faction that doens't interest me.
The elephant in the room is the vast majority of Treker's aren't here for KDF. They are here for the Trek the shows and movies primarily are a part of. There isn't anything that is ever going to change that.
More like government locked. KDF not selling their ships to the Fed, the Fed not selling their ships to the KDF. Which made sense when the factions were separate and antagonistic, but not anymore.
The rest agree, the separation doesn't make sense.
That could be a big part of the problem with the faction also. I agree, the the Gorn, Orions, Letheans, Nausicans might as well not be part of the faction give how the story treats their cultures as non-existant.
The Federation side does the same thing, but not to the extent of the KDF. You have Vulcan, you have Andoria, And a host of other planets with some developement of the species cultures.
That is actually an improvement in general I'd like to see in the game. More developement of playable species specific costumes, planets, culture in the story line, besides the big 4 (Human, Klingon, Romulan, Vulcan).