Well, I do think they really need to allow both fed and kdf fleets to merge together in an armada. They really do need to do that, also allowing cross faction teaming I think is a must. One reason, is storywise we all end up doing the same stories later on no matter what faction you are it makes sense the three faction charaters all worked together. Meeting up on nimbius and teaming up later on joining forces to do every single mission.
They can open up the cross faction teaming they may have to change some code but I do know its one hundred percent possible.
As for armada what they need to do is allow cross faction fleet map invites and add a code to prevent the factions from attacking each other on the starbases being able to access each others starbases is something I do thing they need to add it would bring in more rp opportunities as well as allowing players from both sides to work together and contribute to each others starbases no matter what faction you are. Its something I would invest in, it would help at least.
Ambassider/Maruadar the forth rank needs to mean something, not only just a cross faction bridge officer but also the ability to go to earth or Kronos or all the planets that are closed off to another faction. Ambassader/Maurader should have that benefit.
I say do it, absolutely all the way. I'd be okay with even sharing ALL factions ships with each other. In fact it's the most sensible thing they can do to ensure all ships sell greater, then there won't be a reason for NOT producing Klingon and Romulan ships because Feds WILL buy them like hotcakes, it's an untapped gold mine!
In the absence of marketing data, saying that cross-factioning ship sales (esp. in the current climate) would raise sales is purely speculative. The number of tautologies in this thread is really quite amusing, in a semi-depressing way.
The game already works on the basis of a small minority of buy-everything types subsidising much of the playerbase; which is why lockboxes are much more regular than C-store releases. There's also a minority element (like me) who will religiously buy Klingon / Romulan ships but go "meh" at Fed ships, and a large majority who would do the reverse on purely cosmetic grounds.
So by cross-factioning all starships, Cryptic could lose out on the income they make from the KDF/Rom versions of things like command cruisers and pilot escorts, and overall lose out on income. In terms of empirical evidence, rather than speculation, the one fact is that whatever profits Cryptic make from the smaller factions have been sufficient to justify the effort of continuing to develop those ships - at least to the point that between DR and AoY they've had pretty good parity with the Fed releases. I don't believe Cryptic are sufficiently irrational that they'd continue to develop KDF/Rom ships if there was no profit in doing so, let alone the labour of love that is the D4. We've seen what happens when Cryptic don't believe they're making money off the KDF; it's what happened in the two years prior to DR - and that's not what we've been seeing in the two years since. If those factions are actively supported by (say) 15% of the playerbase, but that 15% is regularly willing to spend money to support their faction - because they're more committed, hardcore fans who do daft things outside the game like modelling every possible Klingon ship on 1/1400 scale - they could actually generate more revenue than (say) 60% of the playerbase who are casual Fed players but don't actually spend money. For a business, it's not just about customer numbers, but understanding what those customers will spend.
Plus, the "make all ships cross faction" argument is essentially the same as complaints about lockbox and/or lobi ships. It boils down to players who don't want the "effort" of having to spend time/money to access certain ships, and would like to do so straight away on existing Alts. Saying you want to buy Klingon ships for a Fed alt is, I believe, quite similar to complaining about spending money to acquire a lockbox ship; there's a perfectly good route there but a chunk of the playerbase don't feel motivated to put the effort in (and understandably so, because if this game feels like work you're doing it wrong).
Of course, I could be completely wrong. But we're not seeing Cryptic's sales figures, so all we can go off is observed behaviour. It will be very interesting to see if the 31c Cross-Faction ships from AoY (or for that matter, the KDF/Rom console+trait pack in lieu of a lobi store ship) are repeated. A pro-factional view would be that these were a well-intentioned effort to squeeze KDF/Rom content into an inevitably very Fed-heavy expansion; this is a view which I feel is supported by how much effort appears to have gone into catering for 23c Klingon options in the margins of the expansion.
And the negative...? Well, I would (subjectively) say there is a "large part of the playerbase" that *likes* Star Trek themes, and is not unhappy with measures that reinforce that sense of immersion in the game universe; arguably there's not enough of that to start with. AoY has been great, IMO, because it's led to a massive jump in the proportion of characters and ships on ESD which actually look like, well, characters from Star Trek rather than Generic SF MMO #3.
In the absence of marketing data, saying that cross-factioning ship sales (esp. in the current climate) would raise sales is purely speculative. The number of tautologies in this thread is really quite amusing, in a semi-depressing way.
You are correct there is no point speculating on the "overall" sales of all faction ships with no data. It's ironic you then spend half your post speculating on exactly that.
But the "minority" KDF/Romulan ship sales would certainly be increased by wider customer base. Because there are players who would buy them on their mains if they could. Restriction proponents always trumpet the part of the playerbase (large or not, I'm not speculating) that want to fly only their own faction's ships. But they're irrelevant for this subject. They can and will still continue to fly their own faction ships no matter what. Adding Fed/Klingon/Romulan ships to the list is no different from the Cardassian/Breen/Krenim/Voth/Iconian/Na'kuhl/etc ships already there. The change only affects people who actually want to fly different kind of ships.
As for the rest of your post, see "irrational fear of a few extra choices of ship."
Question: How would removing one line of red text from the Fed ships you don't want to buy in the C-store affect your gameplay?
You are correct there is no point speculating on the "overall" sales of all faction ships with no data. It's ironic you then spend half your post speculating on exactly that.
A slight misquote - I look at the fact that, whatever the sales are, Cryptic's response has been to continue to pump out ships. So while I am speculating, it's on the basis of observable facts rather than pure feelings or straw polls.
But the "minority" KDF/Romulan ship sales would certainly be increased by wider customer base. Because there are players who would buy them on their mains if they could. Restriction proponents always trumpet the part of the playerbase (large or not, I'm not speculating) that want to fly only their own faction's ships. But they're irrelevant for this subject. They can and will still continue to fly their own faction ships no matter what. Adding Fed/Klingon/Romulan ships to the list is no different from the Cardassian/Breen/Krenim/Voth/Iconian/Na'kuhl/etc ships already there. The change only affects people who actually want to fly different kind of ships.
I agree, it's striking how close the parallels are. For whatever reasons, those ships are heavily locked down behind lockbox paywalls and/or limited time availability for events. Whether this is because of licensing agreements, or marketing policy, that's how it works, even in the teeth of player screaming they'll leave the game because they can't have a T6 Constitution. Many have argued that Cryptic would make more off lockboxes if the ships were more common, or would make more selling them in the C-Store, but that model seems to work and shows no sign of changing. Every time the debate pops up, the to-and-fro is the same; one side arguing for free availability so that everyone can have everything, the other side arguing that constraints reward more committed players (who, remember, are probably the ones bankrolling the game) and maintain at least a fig-leaf of thematic feel in-game; you might have the jarring sight of a Herald Dreadnought circling ESD, but you probably won't see multiples of them.
As for the rest of your post, see "irrational fear of a few extra choices of ship."
Question: How would removing one line of red text from the Fed ships you don't want to buy in the C-store affect your gameplay?
Very simple. An MMO is a group environment, and I believe the reason a lot of people (including myself) play this game is that it has a reasonably good Star Trek-universe theme. The factions, and their distinctions, are a part of this, helping to give STO a flavour apart from competitors. The fun I get from playing as a KDF or Starfleet character in a universe which supports that fiction - the immersion of the game - is what keeps me coming back. Lockbox ships / costumes put a dent in that, but are rare enough to be tolerable; frankly Qo'nos feels a *lot* more coherent than the freakshow which ESD periodically becomes. Teaming up across factions to face cosmic threats is fully in the spirit of Star Trek, but giving the factions their own baseline is also part of the game's fun IMO. And to flip your question on its head, with the range of ships available to all factions, what does it matter that you can't have a Fed captain with a Bird of Prey? Why does your desire to have a free-for-all Star Trek theme park trump my desire to have a themed game?
Point is, these are subjective calls, and the tone of the OP argument is that "merging faction is obviously right anyone who disagrees is mentally ill" - hence my point about tautologies rather than reasoned arguments. As I'm trying to demonstrate, it's not obvious, and if anything runs counter to whatever business and/or licensing factors have taken things thus far.
i think this would be a great idea i all so would like to have the armada's cross faction as well it would help those struggling to level there klingon fleets
if all the factions were united, and all ships were allowed to be used by everyone.
the best way to keep ensuring the other faction ships keep selling, is to offer something you can't get on other ships, this is basically what kept the KDF alive in the early days (their ability to use cloaks on every starship as an example).
the romulan ships have one gimmick which keeps them going, but it's more of a romulan trait (singularity abilities). the KDF lost their uniqueness, even a cloaking ship is near pointless nowadays. and slow moving battlecruisers don't help them as much anymore.
so offer something with these ships, once you do that, you give people a reason to get it other than just having them there. as it stands right now, more people are unwilling to put money into an alt that they won't be using so often. there are diehards yes, but not enough.
I am for a Khitomer Fleet holding and cross faction missions that can work from a cross faction queue in space outside the system. I am also for some ships from the C-Store getting a wider audience (Gorn or Orion ships for example). Also lock box ships from the Mirror universe should be cross faction in this universe, even if they are the wrong faction otherwise. They are after all captured ships.
so offer something with these ships, once you do that, you give people a reason to get it other than just having them there. as it stands right now, more people are unwilling to put money into an alt that they won't be using so often. there are diehards yes, but not enough.
Calling assumptions and tautologies ("it's true because it's obviously true") again. Let's see what the next 12 months of Z-store offerings look like before assuming that the KDF is non-viable, eh?
EDIT: Let me spell this out for the numerically challenged. It's not the size of the factions' playerbase which matters, it's what those players will spend. In the counter-argument, the 'rump' of KDF / Rom players contains a far higher proportion of diehards than the casual fed majority; hence their actual contribution to game revenue (because they want a KDF / Rom gaming experience that many Trek games don't offer) is greater than the infographics would suggest.
In my own example; I've probably spent about £250 on the game since DR dropped. Not a lot in the scheme of things, insignificant compared to what I've spent on posh coffee over the same period, but I would hazard more than many. In that period, I've bought via some means virtually every KDF offering (including the D-4 and D-7) against three Fed ships (the Phantom, Presidio and Ranger). I'd still wager that those Feds outgun the vast majority of the playerbase; during the current CC event, for example, my AoY is regularly placing in the top 3 despite the fact that he's flying a T5 (not even T5U) ship. That's how underdeveloped most "herd" alts are.
So the counter-hypothesis is that the diehard KDF/Rom base, although small, has a far higher of people who will actually spend; and that includes the cross-faction whales who buy the mega-bundles. This, I'd like to think, is why Cryptic have (from DR to AoY) produced a steady flow of KDF / Rom ships.
So; submitting that a faction merge is "needed" because of poor ship sales is, at best, a theory. Not the empirical fact many assume. And for those who really must have anecdotal evidence, I present this:
Now please show me a photo of three Kelvin cruisers together....
so offer something with these ships, once you do that, you give people a reason to get it other than just having them there. as it stands right now, more people are unwilling to put money into an alt that they won't be using so often. there are diehards yes, but not enough.
Calling assumptions and tautologies ("it's true because it's obviously true") again. Let's see what the next 12 months of Z-store offerings look like before assuming that the KDF is non-viable, eh?
EDIT: Let me spell this out for the numerically challenged. It's not the size of the factions' playerbase which matters, it's what those players will spend. In the counter-argument, the 'rump' of KDF / Rom players contains a far higher proportion of diehards than the casual fed majority; hence their actual contribution to game revenue (because they want a KDF / Rom gaming experience that many Trek games don't offer) is greater than the infographics would suggest.
In my own example; I've probably spent about £250 on the game since DR dropped. Not a lot in the scheme of things, insignificant compared to what I've spent on posh coffee over the same period, but I would hazard more than many. In that period, I've bought via some means virtually every KDF offering (including the D-4 and D-7) against three Fed ships (the Phantom, Presidio and Ranger). I'd still wager that those Feds outgun the vast majority of the playerbase; during the current CC event, for example, my AoY is regularly placing in the top 3 despite the fact that he's flying a T5 (not even T5U) ship. That's how underdeveloped most "herd" alts are.
So the counter-hypothesis is that the diehard KDF/Rom base, although small, has a far higher of people who will actually spend; and that includes the cross-faction whales who buy the mega-bundles. This, I'd like to think, is why Cryptic have (from DR to AoY) produced a steady flow of KDF / Rom ships.
So; submitting that a faction merge is "needed" because of poor ship sales is, at best, a theory. Not the empirical fact many assume. And for those who really must have anecdotal evidence, I present this:
Now please show me a photo of three Kelvin cruisers together....
seriously? a staged screen?
what guarentees do you have that I wouldn't just ask three (or likely more) people to pose with their Kelvin Command cruisers, and their kelvin dreadnoughts?
I mean FFS I'm not talking about merging the factions for the ship sales, not alone anyway. I'm talking about it because it's inevitable, and pointless to have separate factions right now.
and go do thirty STF's screenshot the beginnings of each one, then show me (outside of your own) how many D4's there are, compared to the Kelvin Dreadnoughts, and Command Cruisers. just think about that, one of the most hated ships (kelvin connie) in star trek design history, is still used by more people than you'd think.
the D4 looks epic, it's one of the main reasons it sold well. but the Connies and Vengance's sold beyond more than most could count. I remember a week after the kelvin box dropped, ESD, NR, and DS9 were crammed full of a minimum of 10 Vengances. and it's still present today. there's shitloads of Kelvin dreadnoughts out right now still being used. for a full three weeks, the Kelvin connie survived price gouging, and stayed in the upper 280-390mil on the exchange, where the dreadnought took some significant dips yes, but it still rebounded.
Story-wise it makes sense, and I know that I would definitely invest more into my Romulan and Ferasan alts if I didn't have to buy each ship (and associated traits) separately, buy special KDF-doffs etc.
Having less ships for these factions because I'm not going to spend 3000 Zen on my only Ferasan if I could just spend the same amount and use the ship on at least 7 Fed characters means it's more difficult to get points through the Admiraly system (wouldn't mind collecting them through playing the game, but after all the nerfs to DOFFing and actual game content in this regard it's just not viable anymore) and which thus means that you're waiting weeks or possibly months before you can use the things that you have on your Fed main characters.
Everything should eventually be account-wide available, which we are, fortunately, already seeing with Reputation and Recruitment stuff and the latest ship pack. That means we also need to have things available for each faction, by default. I think they're slowly trying to make us accustomed to the idea of having everything cross-faction.
Now please show me a photo of three Kelvin cruisers together....
Lol come on one of our fleet runs then, often 2 or 3 Vengeance, once we had 5 without any prearranged plan. Vengeance is an awesome ship, one of the best cruisers in the game if not the best, but the JJprize is also mighty able, see plenty of those in the fleet too. D4X is a wonderful ship, got one myself but very expensive, not so many about unfortunately.
Give me a bit. I have three players who have the Cruisers, but one is to low level to use it yet.
Qapla!
I agree that the factions working together sounds nice but I refuse to agree to allow cross faction ships it makes no sense at all for a fed to use a kdf or romulan ship. Yes serve on one maybe but each side distrust the other. An as far as money spending goes if you enjoy the game why would it matter. Since it all goes to supporting the game
I would describe myself as KDF player, but I have 3 captains from each faction, 9 in total. I usually buy the x-faction bundle if I like the ships or the trait.
If all ships would be x-faction, I wouldn't have bought the battlecruiser bundle. I would have been happy to use the Morrigu with all my captains for the trait.
Same with the escort bundle, the Kor is the only ship from the bundle still in regular use.
I would describe myself as KDF player, but I have 3 captains from each faction, 9 in total. I usually buy the x-faction bundle if I like the ships or the trait.
If all ships would be x-faction, I wouldn't have bought the battlecruiser bundle. I would have been happy to use the Morrigu with all my captains for the trait.
Same with the escort bundle, the Kor is the only ship from the bundle still in regular use.
If all ships were faction agnostic, there obviously wouldn't be any point making copypaste packs like that. Each ship should come with it's own unique stats, trait and console. Like the Kelvin lockbox ships.
Guys, it's probably going to happen. I mean look at the future episodes of the signing of the Temporal accords then the fight at Procyon 5. The factions have ALREADY come together by that point and we're already well underway to do so.
Not a matter of if IMHO it's just a matter of when. Now having 4 separate factions and stories as starting points then melting into one faction(though faction specific ships should remain separate) like Iconians has said is not a bad thing.
Makes it simpler on ship design and turn out, sure we'll lose some iconic ships along the way, but that's simply the march of time for ya.
Guys, it's going to happen at some point, the story has already pointed this out.
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!
^ Well, technically in one of the early Fed story missions (the one with the Doomsday Machine) you do get to fly a BoP as a Fed, albeit only for that one mission.
Saying that, I don't think the factions should be merged; I say just make cross-faction teaming work and I'd be happy with that.
It's been done in DS9, both Worf and Ducat commanded bird of preys, Enabran Tain commanded a Tal shiar romulan warbird and both Sisko and Major Kira commanded Jem'hadar fighters.
Draal - FED, Saurian, LV60 - TAC
Mirak - FED 23c, Vulkan, LV60 - TAC
Ascaran Bloodclaw - KDF, Gorn, Lv18 - TAC
Melchiah - KDF, Gorn, LV60 - TAC
Ne'roon - KDF,Lethian, L60, TAC
Turel - ROM-KDF, Reman, 30, TAC
Elric - ROM-Fed, Romulan, L60, TAC
Richtor Belmont - FED 23c, Human,LV20, SCI
G'Kar - KDF, Gorn, L10
USS Sharlin NCC79713 B (part of sheridans access code) - T6, Hestia Class Advanced Escort
USS Babylon IV - T6 Krenim Science Vessel
USS Brakiri - T6 Elachi Escort
"I am Grey. I stand between the candle and the star."
"We are Grey. We stand between the darkness and the light."
Well, we all know the United Federation of Planets, the Romulan Republic and the Klingon Empire all join the Galactic Union at some point in the future, so putting the factions under one roof, Post-Midnight or Post-Surface Tension, would be one thing that eventually leads to the formation of the Galactic Union.
Well, I do think they really need to allow both fed and kdf fleets to merge together in an armada. They really do need to do that, also allowing cross faction teaming I think is a must. One reason, is storywise we all end up doing the same stories later on no matter what faction you are it makes sense the three faction charaters all worked together. Meeting up on nimbius and teaming up later on joining forces to do every single mission.
They can open up the cross faction teaming they may have to change some code but I do know its one hundred percent possible.
As for armada what they need to do is allow cross faction fleet map invites and add a code to prevent the factions from attacking each other on the starbases being able to access each others starbases is something I do thing they need to add it would bring in more rp opportunities as well as allowing players from both sides to work together and contribute to each others starbases no matter what faction you are. Its something I would invest in, it would help at least.
Ambassider/Maruadar the forth rank needs to mean something, not only just a cross faction bridge officer but also the ability to go to earth or Kronos or all the planets that are closed off to another faction. Ambassader/Maurader should have that benefit.
Khitomer is a canon diplomatic site. I still think it is the next smart choice for a Fleet holding. Allow cross faction stuff to get developed there.
Well, we all know the United Federation of Planets, the Romulan Republic and the Klingon Empire all join the Galactic Union at some point in the future, so putting the factions under one roof, Post-Midnight or Post-Surface Tension, would be one thing that eventually leads to the formation of the Galactic Union.
it would be an awesome place, maybe something to do with the dominion down the line.
null. The Klingons and the RR joined the Federation well before the Galactic Union was formed. The Romulan Ambassador tells you so and the Federation Rep is a Klingon in traditional dress.
Not entirely true, @jrdobbsjr, the Klingons joined the Federation, but the Romulan Republic joined sometime later; It's only AFTER their merging, does the Galactic Union form.
Comments
They can open up the cross faction teaming they may have to change some code but I do know its one hundred percent possible.
As for armada what they need to do is allow cross faction fleet map invites and add a code to prevent the factions from attacking each other on the starbases being able to access each others starbases is something I do thing they need to add it would bring in more rp opportunities as well as allowing players from both sides to work together and contribute to each others starbases no matter what faction you are. Its something I would invest in, it would help at least.
Ambassider/Maruadar the forth rank needs to mean something, not only just a cross faction bridge officer but also the ability to go to earth or Kronos or all the planets that are closed off to another faction. Ambassader/Maurader should have that benefit.
The game already works on the basis of a small minority of buy-everything types subsidising much of the playerbase; which is why lockboxes are much more regular than C-store releases. There's also a minority element (like me) who will religiously buy Klingon / Romulan ships but go "meh" at Fed ships, and a large majority who would do the reverse on purely cosmetic grounds.
So by cross-factioning all starships, Cryptic could lose out on the income they make from the KDF/Rom versions of things like command cruisers and pilot escorts, and overall lose out on income. In terms of empirical evidence, rather than speculation, the one fact is that whatever profits Cryptic make from the smaller factions have been sufficient to justify the effort of continuing to develop those ships - at least to the point that between DR and AoY they've had pretty good parity with the Fed releases. I don't believe Cryptic are sufficiently irrational that they'd continue to develop KDF/Rom ships if there was no profit in doing so, let alone the labour of love that is the D4. We've seen what happens when Cryptic don't believe they're making money off the KDF; it's what happened in the two years prior to DR - and that's not what we've been seeing in the two years since. If those factions are actively supported by (say) 15% of the playerbase, but that 15% is regularly willing to spend money to support their faction - because they're more committed, hardcore fans who do daft things outside the game like modelling every possible Klingon ship on 1/1400 scale - they could actually generate more revenue than (say) 60% of the playerbase who are casual Fed players but don't actually spend money. For a business, it's not just about customer numbers, but understanding what those customers will spend.
Plus, the "make all ships cross faction" argument is essentially the same as complaints about lockbox and/or lobi ships. It boils down to players who don't want the "effort" of having to spend time/money to access certain ships, and would like to do so straight away on existing Alts. Saying you want to buy Klingon ships for a Fed alt is, I believe, quite similar to complaining about spending money to acquire a lockbox ship; there's a perfectly good route there but a chunk of the playerbase don't feel motivated to put the effort in (and understandably so, because if this game feels like work you're doing it wrong).
Of course, I could be completely wrong. But we're not seeing Cryptic's sales figures, so all we can go off is observed behaviour. It will be very interesting to see if the 31c Cross-Faction ships from AoY (or for that matter, the KDF/Rom console+trait pack in lieu of a lobi store ship) are repeated. A pro-factional view would be that these were a well-intentioned effort to squeeze KDF/Rom content into an inevitably very Fed-heavy expansion; this is a view which I feel is supported by how much effort appears to have gone into catering for 23c Klingon options in the margins of the expansion.
And the negative...? Well, I would (subjectively) say there is a "large part of the playerbase" that *likes* Star Trek themes, and is not unhappy with measures that reinforce that sense of immersion in the game universe; arguably there's not enough of that to start with. AoY has been great, IMO, because it's led to a massive jump in the proportion of characters and ships on ESD which actually look like, well, characters from Star Trek rather than Generic SF MMO #3.
But the "minority" KDF/Romulan ship sales would certainly be increased by wider customer base. Because there are players who would buy them on their mains if they could. Restriction proponents always trumpet the part of the playerbase (large or not, I'm not speculating) that want to fly only their own faction's ships. But they're irrelevant for this subject. They can and will still continue to fly their own faction ships no matter what. Adding Fed/Klingon/Romulan ships to the list is no different from the Cardassian/Breen/Krenim/Voth/Iconian/Na'kuhl/etc ships already there. The change only affects people who actually want to fly different kind of ships.
As for the rest of your post, see "irrational fear of a few extra choices of ship."
Question: How would removing one line of red text from the Fed ships you don't want to buy in the C-store affect your gameplay?
A slight misquote
I agree, it's striking how close the parallels are. For whatever reasons, those ships are heavily locked down behind lockbox paywalls and/or limited time availability for events. Whether this is because of licensing agreements, or marketing policy, that's how it works, even in the teeth of player screaming they'll leave the game because they can't have a T6 Constitution. Many have argued that Cryptic would make more off lockboxes if the ships were more common, or would make more selling them in the C-Store, but that model seems to work and shows no sign of changing. Every time the debate pops up, the to-and-fro is the same; one side arguing for free availability so that everyone can have everything, the other side arguing that constraints reward more committed players (who, remember, are probably the ones bankrolling the game) and maintain at least a fig-leaf of thematic feel in-game; you might have the jarring sight of a Herald Dreadnought circling ESD, but you probably won't see multiples of them.
Very simple. An MMO is a group environment, and I believe the reason a lot of people (including myself) play this game is that it has a reasonably good Star Trek-universe theme. The factions, and their distinctions, are a part of this, helping to give STO a flavour apart from competitors. The fun I get from playing as a KDF or Starfleet character in a universe which supports that fiction - the immersion of the game - is what keeps me coming back. Lockbox ships / costumes put a dent in that, but are rare enough to be tolerable; frankly Qo'nos feels a *lot* more coherent than the freakshow which ESD periodically becomes. Teaming up across factions to face cosmic threats is fully in the spirit of Star Trek, but giving the factions their own baseline is also part of the game's fun IMO. And to flip your question on its head, with the range of ships available to all factions, what does it matter that you can't have a Fed captain with a Bird of Prey? Why does your desire to have a free-for-all Star Trek theme park trump my desire to have a themed game?
Point is, these are subjective calls, and the tone of the OP argument is that "merging faction is obviously right anyone who disagrees is mentally ill" - hence my point about tautologies rather than reasoned arguments. As I'm trying to demonstrate, it's not obvious, and if anything runs counter to whatever business and/or licensing factors have taken things thus far.
the best way to keep ensuring the other faction ships keep selling, is to offer something you can't get on other ships, this is basically what kept the KDF alive in the early days (their ability to use cloaks on every starship as an example).
the romulan ships have one gimmick which keeps them going, but it's more of a romulan trait (singularity abilities). the KDF lost their uniqueness, even a cloaking ship is near pointless nowadays. and slow moving battlecruisers don't help them as much anymore.
so offer something with these ships, once you do that, you give people a reason to get it other than just having them there. as it stands right now, more people are unwilling to put money into an alt that they won't be using so often. there are diehards yes, but not enough.
Just some thoughts ...
Qapla!
Calling assumptions and tautologies ("it's true because it's obviously true") again. Let's see what the next 12 months of Z-store offerings look like before assuming that the KDF is non-viable, eh?
EDIT: Let me spell this out for the numerically challenged. It's not the size of the factions' playerbase which matters, it's what those players will spend. In the counter-argument, the 'rump' of KDF / Rom players contains a far higher proportion of diehards than the casual fed majority; hence their actual contribution to game revenue (because they want a KDF / Rom gaming experience that many Trek games don't offer) is greater than the infographics would suggest.
In my own example; I've probably spent about £250 on the game since DR dropped. Not a lot in the scheme of things, insignificant compared to what I've spent on posh coffee over the same period, but I would hazard more than many. In that period, I've bought via some means virtually every KDF offering (including the D-4 and D-7) against three Fed ships (the Phantom, Presidio and Ranger). I'd still wager that those Feds outgun the vast majority of the playerbase; during the current CC event, for example, my AoY is regularly placing in the top 3 despite the fact that he's flying a T5 (not even T5U) ship. That's how underdeveloped most "herd" alts are.
So the counter-hypothesis is that the diehard KDF/Rom base, although small, has a far higher of people who will actually spend; and that includes the cross-faction whales who buy the mega-bundles. This, I'd like to think, is why Cryptic have (from DR to AoY) produced a steady flow of KDF / Rom ships.
So; submitting that a faction merge is "needed" because of poor ship sales is, at best, a theory. Not the empirical fact many assume. And for those who really must have anecdotal evidence, I present this:
Now please show me a photo of three Kelvin cruisers together....
seriously? a staged screen?
what guarentees do you have that I wouldn't just ask three (or likely more) people to pose with their Kelvin Command cruisers, and their kelvin dreadnoughts?
I mean FFS I'm not talking about merging the factions for the ship sales, not alone anyway. I'm talking about it because it's inevitable, and pointless to have separate factions right now.
and go do thirty STF's screenshot the beginnings of each one, then show me (outside of your own) how many D4's there are, compared to the Kelvin Dreadnoughts, and Command Cruisers. just think about that, one of the most hated ships (kelvin connie) in star trek design history, is still used by more people than you'd think.
the D4 looks epic, it's one of the main reasons it sold well. but the Connies and Vengance's sold beyond more than most could count. I remember a week after the kelvin box dropped, ESD, NR, and DS9 were crammed full of a minimum of 10 Vengances. and it's still present today. there's shitloads of Kelvin dreadnoughts out right now still being used. for a full three weeks, the Kelvin connie survived price gouging, and stayed in the upper 280-390mil on the exchange, where the dreadnought took some significant dips yes, but it still rebounded.
Story-wise it makes sense, and I know that I would definitely invest more into my Romulan and Ferasan alts if I didn't have to buy each ship (and associated traits) separately, buy special KDF-doffs etc.
Having less ships for these factions because I'm not going to spend 3000 Zen on my only Ferasan if I could just spend the same amount and use the ship on at least 7 Fed characters means it's more difficult to get points through the Admiraly system (wouldn't mind collecting them through playing the game, but after all the nerfs to DOFFing and actual game content in this regard it's just not viable anymore) and which thus means that you're waiting weeks or possibly months before you can use the things that you have on your Fed main characters.
Everything should eventually be account-wide available, which we are, fortunately, already seeing with Reputation and Recruitment stuff and the latest ship pack. That means we also need to have things available for each faction, by default. I think they're slowly trying to make us accustomed to the idea of having everything cross-faction.
Give me a bit. I have three players who have the Cruisers, but one is to low level to use it yet.
Qapla!
If all ships would be x-faction, I wouldn't have bought the battlecruiser bundle. I would have been happy to use the Morrigu with all my captains for the trait.
Same with the escort bundle, the Kor is the only ship from the bundle still in regular use.
If all ships were faction agnostic, there obviously wouldn't be any point making copypaste packs like that. Each ship should come with it's own unique stats, trait and console. Like the Kelvin lockbox ships.
Not a matter of if IMHO it's just a matter of when. Now having 4 separate factions and stories as starting points then melting into one faction(though faction specific ships should remain separate) like Iconians has said is not a bad thing.
Makes it simpler on ship design and turn out, sure we'll lose some iconic ships along the way, but that's simply the march of time for ya.
Guys, it's going to happen at some point, the story has already pointed this out.
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
Saying that, I don't think the factions should be merged; I say just make cross-faction teaming work and I'd be happy with that.
USS Sharlin NCC79713 B (part of sheridans access code) - T6, Hestia Class Advanced Escort
USS Babylon IV - T6 Krenim Science Vessel
USS Brakiri - T6 Elachi Escort
"We are Grey. We stand between the darkness and the light."
– Grey Council greeting
Khitomer is a canon diplomatic site. I still think it is the next smart choice for a Fleet holding. Allow cross faction stuff to get developed there.
Qapla!
it would be an awesome place, maybe something to do with the dominion down the line.