test content
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc

HOW TO: Playable Borg Faction

wraithshadow13wraithshadow13 Member Posts: 1,728 Arc User
You Awaken. Your Cycle is complete, so you step out of your alcove. The cube is about to begin assimilation of species 3046. A primitive species which will be assimilated to replenish ranks lost in the war with the Federation, Romulan, and Klingon Alliance. Your tutorial sees you going through the cube, systems checks (ship tutorial), self diagnostics (equipment tutorial), and landing planet side (combat tutorial). These missions would be based around your role (tac, sci, eng) and would affect how you handle objectives, and possibly which attachments and parts you're able to get access too. By the end of the story arc, you are left alone, damaged, and disconnected from the Collective. From here, you are picked up by the Borg Collective, or even better, a Vessel from an existing faction (how you make your decision), bringing you into the main story arc.


Ships would be smaller vessels or Cooperative vessels, to keep canon and not have borg cubes flying around.

Weapon choices would be arm prosthesis, like the omega versions but able to be unlocked in the tailor as a body part.

Character customization would be making your Character PRE-assimilation, then adding Borg parts to them. We would also need to update the Infected complexion to be full body, which Honestly should have been done YEARS ago, given the LTS status.


Speaking of LTS status, those with Playable Borg already will be granted access to the Advanced versions of their traits, as well as a few Unique Customization parts and maybe unique visuals like the personal shield or scan emotes. Something to keep them feeling unique and separate from the base line player. Kind of like the Free 'Hadar vs the Pay 'Hadar we got at release of Victory is life.

Rep wise, it would be great to unlock kits and weapons that the Borg or Borg cooperative might use, or the option for "Liberated" versions of Security team or drones.

As a side possibility, there would be a weakness against the Borg as part of this species and a greater chance of assimilation when facing the Borg. Thought LTS members would be immune to this.


To differentiate the Free to play Borg from the LTS Borg, you could go through the Character creation screen as normal but get a secondary visuals tab in there, where you pick your Borg assimilation look. This could be done like the ship visuals slots, or a screen that lets us choose personal equipment BEFORE naming. Also, as a shortcut, your class could chose what attachments you get, to stream line it, working like current assimilation does now but adding way more visual parts and changes. That way, the free characters are still listed as their normal species but the LTS characters are still liberated Borg.


Personally, for LTS Borg, Borg Boffs, and a possible free to play Borg race, I would absolutely love to see a lot more in terms of customization. Mostly, the Borg captains are already in dire need of a full body skin or two. Secondly, more scarring options, usable by ALL characters would be nice, to show just how difficult it was to liberate that drone. Better Borg based weapons and visuals would be amazing, as the Omega rep weapons were a little lack luster. Given how far the game has come, it would be nice to see the Borg, as a whole, get brought up to a much better standard. Updating them, updating the LTS liberated Borg, and adding Borg options for none LTS members would be a great addition to the game. It would also be a great way to get a look into the daily routine of a Borg drone, for those early missions.


It was said, in the live stream today, that this is the most requested feature, so what all would you guys like to see out of it and how would you want to handle LTS vs sub vs F2P? What ships would you want available?





Full Body Borg skins are a must though, regardless of if this happens or not. If you know the tags for the art team, toss them in here.




@ambassadorkael#6946 @borticuscryptic
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
«1

Comments

  • sennahcheribsennahcherib Member Posts: 2,823 Arc User
    no
  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,501 Arc User
    edited September 2018
    If you want to play as a Borg, unlock Liberated Borg. Then add liberated Borg boffs (C-Store, Delta pack, Humble store pack) and the Borg boff from the Omega rep, and maybe an android or two. Get yourself an Adapted Tal Shiar ship and use Omega assimilated gear.

    My newest character is a Romulan liberated Borg with a mixed crew of liberated Borg and Romulans in a Tal Shiar ship and feels Borg-y enough for me.
  • garaks31garaks31 Member Posts: 2,845 Arc User
    don't worry borg fans. when the reservoir borgs movie comes out or dscvry shows the borg we will also be assimilated...
  • baddmoonrizinbaddmoonrizin Member Posts: 10,238 Community Moderator
    I don't think we should ever have a playable Borg Faction...

    But if we did, I think I'd rather see them start off at the assimilation of Vega Colony from the Borg point of view. Perhaps the player character could be one of the colonists that gets assimilated and you go through the whole assimilation process.
    GrWzQke.png
    Star Trek Online Volunteer Community Moderator and Resident She-Wolf
    Community Moderators are Unpaid Volunteers and NOT Employees of Gearbox/Cryptic
    Views and Opinions May Not Reflect the Views and Opinions of Gearbox/Cryptic
    ----> Contact Customer Support <----
    Moderation Problems/Issues? Please contact the Community Manager
    Terms of Service / Community Rules and Policies / FCT
    Want the latest information on Star Trek Online?
    Facebook / Twitter / Twitch
  • echattyechatty Member Posts: 5,913 Arc User
    I'll add my 'No' to the mix. Won't happen.

    Though the above suggestion sounds intriguing
    Now a LTS and loving it.
    Just because you spend money on this game, it does not entitle you to be a jerk if things don't go your way.
    I have come to the conclusion that I have a memory like Etch-A-Sketch. I shake my head and forget everything. :D
  • kyle223catkyle223cat Member Posts: 584 Arc User
    echatty wrote: »
    I'll add my 'No' to the mix. Won't happen.

    Though the above suggestion sounds intriguing

    Agreed
    da84303d8bc4080b9860968f634f98682215bbe5.gifv
  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,501 Arc User
    edited September 2018
    I don't think we should ever have a playable Borg Faction...

    But if we did, I think I'd rather see them start off at the assimilation of Vega Colony from the Borg point of view. Perhaps the player character could be one of the colonists that gets assimilated and you go through the whole assimilation process.
    echatty wrote: »
    I'll add my 'No' to the mix. Won't happen.

    Though the above suggestion sounds intriguing

    It does! The problem is that being an assimilated Borg makes it impossible to play any of the existing shared story content. The Borg can't form an alliance with the Federation or KDF like the Romulans and Dominion can. They assimilate, it's what they do and who they are.

    It would have to be either a Foundry series of stories, or a "side story" where you create the captain, play through the Borg stories, and then are liberated and become a member of one of the other factions not Borg.

    Post edited by davefenestrator on
  • rattler2rattler2 Member Posts: 57,969 Community Moderator
    tumblr_inline_o120ooSUWf1tvu2ox_500.gif
    db80k0m-89201ed8-eadb-45d3-830f-bb2f0d4c0fe7.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2ExOGQ4ZWM2LTUyZjQtNDdiMS05YTI1LTVlYmZkYmJkOGM3N1wvZGI4MGswbS04OTIwMWVkOC1lYWRiLTQ1ZDMtODMwZi1iYjJmMGQ0YzBmZTcucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.8G-Pg35Qi8qxiKLjAofaKRH6fmNH3qAAEI628gW0eXc
    I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
    The nut who actually ground out many packs. The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
  • stormstryke2stormstryke2 Member Posts: 252 Arc User
    What is the Borg ranks? You become the Borg Queen at the end but a guy? Bad idea that wrecks canon plots more than anything.
  • leemwatsonleemwatson Member Posts: 5,331 Arc User
    What is the Borg ranks? You become the Borg Queen at the end but a guy? Bad idea that wrecks canon plots more than anything.

    Precisely.

    Players can barely do as they're told as it is. :wink: You really think they'll follow the instructions of a Borg Queen who likes to keep a tight reign over all her drones.

    Needless to say, yet another 'monthly' suggestion on a playable Borg faction where the main jist of the suggestion would devalue and defeat the point of LTS Liberated Borg. The only way it would be 'fair' is to make the Co-Operative an LTS faction and give some updated value to LTS all around.
    "You don't want to patrol!? You don't want to escort!? You don't want to defend the Federation's Starbases!? Then why are you flying my Starships!? If you were a Klingon you'd be killed on the spot, but lucky for you.....you WERE in Starfleet. Let's see how New Zealand Penal Colony suits you." Adm A. Necheyev.
  • sunfranckssunfrancks Member Posts: 3,925 Arc User
    Nah, not a fan of logging in and watching my character do stuff without being able to control it..
    Fed: Eng Lib Borg (Five) Tac Andorian (Shen) Sci Alien/Klingon (Maelrock) KDF:Tac Romulan KDF (Sasha) Tac Klingon (K'dopis)
    Founder, member and former leader to Pride Of The Federation Fleet.
    What I feel after I hear about every decision made since Andre "Mobile Games Generalisimo" Emerson arrived...
    3oz8xC9gn8Fh4DK9Q4.gif





  • damainxdamainx Member Posts: 90 Arc User
    The day they add Borg as a fully functional faction, you KNOW the end is very near.
  • starkaosstarkaos Member Posts: 11,556 Arc User
    It wouldn't be difficult to add a Liberated Borg faction to the game. Just do it exactly like the Jem'Hadar micro-faction. Just add a tutorial mission, a few cross-faction missions centered around Liberated Borg content, a new Recruitment Event, and a Borg Pack with a few Liberated Borg C-Store ships, a few C-Store costume options, and the other miscellaneous goodies that are included with STO's expensive packs. After the devs add the Liberated Borg microfaction to the game, then they can forget they ever added one just like the TOS Starfleet microfaction and the Jem'Hadar microfactin in a couple of months.
  • spiritbornspiritborn Member Posts: 4,248 Arc User
    Well for playble Borg I think something like what Blizzard did with death knights in WoW would be best. You'd start as newly assimilated drone and intro story/mission was hyperlinear with no sidepaths (to simulate the hivemind without making it unplayble) and at end you end up liberated at end of the intro and goes more or less like with other characters from there (probably with last mission being a "choose your side" mission).

    This is really only way I could see a "borg faction" being added a third full faction seems unlikely and the way content in STO is designed a faction that was hostile to the other 2 is very unlikely(as in practically impossible) since it would mean both splitting the playerbase and having to design everything from 1-65 from scratch.
  • casualstocasualsto Member Posts: 672 Arc User
    I don't like the idea from many perspectives. And it shouldn't happen out of multiple purposes.
  • salazarrazesalazarraze Member Posts: 3,794 Arc User
    We can now play as FED, KDF, Romulan, TOS-FED and Jem'Hadar.

    FED is vanilla
    TOS-FED is vanilla bean

    Of the non-vanilla factions/fractions/lolfactions, KDF is the most true to it's representation on screen. Romulans and Jem'hadar are neutered "good guy" versions of what we seen on screen in the shows. I don't know why the borg would be any different. The only borg I would be interested in playing as would be "locutus" status or even borg queen status. Anything else is just borg flavored FED playthough.
    When you see "TRIBBLE" in my posts, it's because I manually typed "TRIBBLE" and censored myself.
  • disqord#9557 disqord Member Posts: 567 Arc User
    The only thing even close to this that I want would be costume pieces so we can put them on any species of our choosing. None of that human only stuff. Lifetime players can keep the species, I only want to use the parts visually, especially on characters that aren't the basic Human/Klingon/Romulan.
  • talonxvtalonxv Member Posts: 4,257 Arc User
    No.

    That is all.
    afMSv4g.jpg
    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
  • rimmarierimmarie Member Posts: 418 Arc User
    Seriously.
    leave the Borg alone.

    if they EVER figure out a way to make 'Monster Play' queues then sure,
    but outside of that..let the Borg Queen be the only player allowed to play as the Borg
    sunfrancks wrote: »
    Nah, not a fan of logging in and watching my character do stuff without being able to control it..
    this^

  • ichaerus1ichaerus1 Member Posts: 986 Arc User
    No. If you want to play as Borg, go LTS. Cryptic can't handle multiple factions for STO very well as it is. Only thing I'd like to see changed, is they update LTS players to be able to use some of the borg cybernetics for additional races such as for the Alien race. Maybe add Alien Liberated Borg to the LTS package as an update.
  • starkaosstarkaos Member Posts: 11,556 Arc User
    ichaerus1 wrote: »
    No. If you want to play as Borg, go LTS. Cryptic can't handle multiple factions for STO very well as it is. Only thing I'd like to see changed, is they update LTS players to be able to use some of the borg cybernetics for additional races such as for the Alien race. Maybe add Alien Liberated Borg to the LTS package as an update.

    Cryptic doesn't need to handle more than three factions since TOS Starfleet and Jem'Hadar are already build and forget 'factions' that join up with one of the existing factions. Any future 'factions' will be just like TOS Starfleet or Jem'Hadar.

    I wouldn't mind if more people are able to get Liberated Borg Humans/Klingons/Romulans as long as they turn my Liberated Borg Human into a Liberated Borg Alien with a modified alien customization screen.
  • captainkccaptainkc Member Posts: 110 Arc User
    Hm probably not as its own faction. Like spiritborn said in the second paragraph, it's too much work for the Devs to redo the entire game to make room for the Borg faction. Right now all characters are either Fed-aligned or KDF-aligned.

    Perhaps a totally separate sequel game called STO: Deassimilation would be a better idea. I'd like to see the red hand insignia (that we saw in ST: Next Generation episode Descent part 2) on some kind of ship. Incidentally, would Borg player captains be divided into dark (Descent part 2) and light (Unimatrix Zero from VOY) factions?
    People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect. But actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey ... stuff. --the Doctor, "Blink"
  • salazarrazesalazarraze Member Posts: 3,794 Arc User
    edited September 2018
    I still like my old idea to take a max level character that I've already created and have that character "assimilated" and turn into a Locutus type of Borg. This new character would overpower the queen and become the new ruler of the collective. There's a lot of problems with this idea though and obviously it would never happen.

    First, it's basically a race change which is not available anywhere else in this game. You basically "lose" a character to gain another which would require too much programming from them. You'd be playing a "bad guy" which cryptic doesn't like. See botched/neutered Romulans, Cardassians and Dominion for reference. Another big problem is that ANY TYPE of badguy borg character wouldn't join up with the unified story line at "endgame" that all other factions do.
    When you see "TRIBBLE" in my posts, it's because I manually typed "TRIBBLE" and censored myself.
  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,501 Arc User
    I still like my old idea to take a max level character that I've already created and have that character "assimilated" and turn into a Locutus type of Borg. This new character would overpower the queen and become the new ruler of the collective. There's a lot of problems with this idea though and obviously it would never happen.

    First, it's basically a race change which is not available anywhere else in this game. You basically "lose" a character to gain another which would require too much programming from them. You'd be playing a "bad guy" which cryptic doesn't like. See botched/neutered Romulans, Cardassians and Dominion for reference. Another big problem is that ANY TYPE of badguy borg character wouldn't join up with the unified story line at "endgame" that all other factions do.

    This would make more sense in a 4X space strategy game where you're playing the Borg faction and attempting to assimilate the rest of the galaxy.

    True un-liberated Borg can't share in any of the alliance shared content, and shared content is what Cryptic can afford to create.

    People should be thankful that we're getting new story content, unlike SWTOR which has been left to rot for almost two years now.

  • wraithshadow13wraithshadow13 Member Posts: 1,728 Arc User
    What is the Borg ranks? You become the Borg Queen at the end but a guy? Bad idea that wrecks canon plots more than anything.

    Drone: Rank 1, 2, 3, etc, but instead of ensign, lieutenant, commander, and so on, it would be levels of necessity.

    Drone: Rank 1- expendable
    Drone: Rank 2 - useful
    Drone: Rank 3 - necessary
    Drone: Rank 4 - vital

    We wouldn't need many ranks, as it wouldn't be starting from level 1 ensign. More than likely, it would be just a few story missions before being Liberated and choosing Fed/KDF



    The only thing even close to this that I want would be costume pieces so we can put them on any species of our choosing. None of that human only stuff. Lifetime players can keep the species, I only want to use the parts visually, especially on characters that aren't the basic Human/Klingon/Romulan.


    I would fully support this. Currently, the infected complexion is just a head only skin still, which kills me. As part of the LTS package, Liberated Borg are WAAAAAY too outdated and unfinished to be THAT expensive of a purchase. I've bugged @ambassadorkael#6946 during numerous live streams for it but he can only poke the art team, and it sounds like the art team is currently busy on Discovery and such. Personally, i would absolutely love it if they were to revisit the the LTS races, adding way more skins and parts for customizations. More so, even the traits need a good updating.


    spiritborn wrote: »
    Well for playble Borg I think something like what Blizzard did with death knights in WoW would be best. You'd start as newly assimilated drone and intro story/mission was hyperlinear with no sidepaths (to simulate the hivemind without making it unplayble) and at end you end up liberated at end of the intro and goes more or less like with other characters from there (probably with last mission being a "choose your side" mission).

    This is really only way I could see a "borg faction" being added a third full faction seems unlikely and the way content in STO is designed a faction that was hostile to the other 2 is very unlikely(as in practically impossible) since it would mean both splitting the player base and having to design everything from 1-65 from scratch.


    Admittedly, i saw this as being like they did the Jem'hadar or AoY, where it's a small addition of missions and improvements, not a fully fledged faction. I thought i had put that into the original post but it looks like i did not. Considering how this is the most requested thing in the game, as stated by Kael in the last live stream, it seems like we should probably discuss what we want NOW, rather than after the fact, like Jem'Hadar, TOS characters, or Romulans.



    ichaerus1 wrote: »
    No. If you want to play as Borg, go LTS. Cryptic can't handle multiple factions for STO very well as it is. Only thing I'd like to see changed, is they update LTS players to be able to use some of the borg cybernetics for additional races such as for the Alien race. Maybe add Alien Liberated Borg to the LTS package as an update.


    I already do. And Daddy needs more. Mostly, i would absolutely love for them to update and improve what they've already got. The Borg captains have been in since beta, and frankly after this many years, it shows. It seriously needs a good once over to update it all to the same lever as newer species, more so, it seems like more effort was put into Talaxians... which is sad. It would also be nice to get more parts and pieces of or inspired by borg tech, not just to fight against them, like the current Omega rep.





    Again, this is the most requested feature currently, and we all know that PWE wants money, so it's going to happen whether people like it or not. Might as well start tossing out ideas of what we want out of it.
  • rezkingrezking Member Posts: 1,109 Arc User
    It needs to be it's own faction.
    Collective, not Cooperative.
    There has to be an OpFor in the game especially for PvP.
    The Devs know it.
    I know I'm not alone when I say I am looking forward to a Borg future.
    NO to ARC
    RIP KDF and PvP 2014-07-17 Season 9.5 - Death by Dev
  • lighte007lighte007 Member Posts: 390 Arc User
    The only way this will happen is an april fools joke. But other than that it'll never be properly actually implemented ala no, way horsey. This should be deader than the horse that rode on the mountain to get to its grave...
    The Rising of the Delta is the best expansion ever, and people love it to death because it is a good day to die in the endless struggle for supremacy of your own conviction. (A spin off of the Delta Rising is the best expansion ever and all the players love it.)
  • wraithshadow13wraithshadow13 Member Posts: 1,728 Arc User
    It's easily just as doable as any other race is. Now, more than ever, given how the Jem'hadar have been introduced. They're basically the same thing but biologically, rather than technologically. They have the Founders instead of a queen. They force species into the dominion, rather than assimilating them into the collective, they have the Hadar instead of Drones.


    I keep seeing people posting that it won't happen but no one really seems keen to explain why not.
This discussion has been closed.