Well, perhaps the Borg take a leaf out of their own book...they send a sphere from a 1000, even 10,000-years in the future, to "present day" (STO time) and advance the Collection into a yet-again, deadly threat.
A brand hew and terrifying Borg Arc would be fantastic.
Yea maybe the Borg tried assimilating the Terran's a little later, because we all know in this Universe, well the famous Q speed up their introduction by perhaps decades. Might be nice to see the Borg in a Badlands Terran TFO where borg are threaning the Terrans and do we aid them, or decide to fight both.
Might give an interesting decision if everyone in a TFO had to vote, possibly earning different accolades or titles or something...
That or the Mirror Borg and now facing extinction as the Terran Empire using their knowledge from the future has brought the Mirror Borg to their breaking point. In a desperate move to survive the Mirror Borg flee to the prime universe and team up with whatever remains of the Borg Collective.
Yea maybe the Borg tried assimilating the Terran's a little later, because we all know in this Universe, well the famous Q speed up their introduction by perhaps decades. Might be nice to see the Borg in a Badlands Terran TFO where borg are threaning the Terrans and do we aid them, or decide to fight both.
Might give an interesting decision if everyone in a TFO had to vote, possibly earning different accolades or titles or something...
That or the Mirror Borg and now facing extinction as the Terran Empire using their knowledge from the future has brought the Mirror Borg to their breaking point. In a desperate move to survive the Mirror Borg flee to the prime universe and team up with whatever remains of the Borg Collective.
wouldn't Mirror Borg ally themselves with the Borg Cooperative?
Well, perhaps the Borg take a leaf out of their own book...they send a sphere from a 1000, even 10,000-years in the future, to "present day" (STO time) and advance the Collection into a yet-again, deadly threat.
A brand hew and terrifying Borg Arc would be fantastic.
Problem with that... its kinda implied that the Borg Collective went extinct by the 27th Century thanks to the presence of a member of the Cooperative at the signing of the Temporal Accords. And with the Borg in decline in the 25th Century despite a few advancements... yea. the Borg are not going to be a major threat.
Yea maybe the Borg tried assimilating the Terran's a little later, because we all know in this Universe, well the famous Q speed up their introduction by perhaps decades. Might be nice to see the Borg in a Badlands Terran TFO where borg are threaning the Terrans and do we aid them, or decide to fight both.
Might give an interesting decision if everyone in a TFO had to vote, possibly earning different accolades or titles or something...
That or the Mirror Borg and now facing extinction as the Terran Empire using their knowledge from the future has brought the Mirror Borg to their breaking point. In a desperate move to survive the Mirror Borg flee to the prime universe and team up with whatever remains of the Borg Collective.
wouldn't Mirror Borg ally themselves with the Borg Cooperative?
I haven't got a clue. I guess it'll be whoever they can exploit first.
If the Borg actually got serious the entire gamma quadrant plus half the 32nd century would already be assimilated, the Dominion wouldn't stand a chance against the Borg, plus the Burn wouldn't affect them much, they'll just adapt and switch from matter/anti-matter engines to artificial singularity cores or something else they acquired from one of the other billions of species they assimilated in the past.
TDLR: Borg > Dominion.
Like I said before, would totally assimilate the Dominion, Personally I just wish the Borg wasn't constantly nerfed.
Well, perhaps the Borg take a leaf out of their own book...they send a sphere from a 1000, even 10,000-years in the future, to "present day" (STO time) and advance the Collection into a yet-again, deadly threat.
A brand hew and terrifying Borg Arc would be fantastic.
Problem with that... its kinda implied that the Borg Collective went extinct by the 27th Century thanks to the presence of a member of the Cooperative at the signing of the Temporal Accords. And with the Borg in decline in the 25th Century despite a few advancements... yea. the Borg are not going to be a major threat.
Why would the Cooperative have a bearing on the Borg? Unless the Cooperative forcibly liberate every drone, then their numbers wouldn't increase. And that also implies that Ex-B's automatically join the Cooperative...which isn't followed in the Picard timeline, only STO.
I still personally wish season one of Picard had been about the Borg, not androids, with Soji being the Borg Queen...
Why would the Cooperative have a bearing on the Borg? Unless the Cooperative forcibly liberate every drone, then their numbers wouldn't increase. And that also implies that Ex-B's automatically join the Cooperative...which isn't followed in the Picard timeline, only STO.
IMO the Cooperative is probably going to become the major faction in the Delta Quadrant. Any outside Delta will probably either be independant like Seven and make their own way in the universe, form their own communities, or seek out the Cooperative. The Collective is on its way to extinction.
Although I guess we've seen evidence that they were, at one point, pretty close to the sphere - the Borg ship debris field in the Syllerran Sector indicates that they had a fleet not too far away from it, but were intercepted and destroyed the Vaadwaur.
Still - you'd think that they'd be a little more persistent considering their near-reverence of Omega.
They were - they got inside the Solanae sphere before being destroyed, presumably by the Voth - there are Borg ship debris fields near that huge gash in the sphere near the south of the contested zone.
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
Okay let's step back and observe the obvious. The Borg are drones conscripted from other races driven by a Artificial Intelligence. They are a interstellar plague bent on assimilation of all technology. They don't have any feelings unless they get disconnected.
My original post was asking what lifeforms OTHER than humanoids would be able to strengthen the collective? I offered the suggestion of the Tholian Assembly. Not every alien race is humanoid.
The point is that the Borg are a interstellar force of nature. Yet in this game they have been nerfed to the point nobody respects them or fears them.
When this game launched going against the Borg was going to require 5 "Good" players at least an hour to complete a TFO. Now everyone gets a prize for participating.
It used to be that elite missions gave elite prizes. Hey if the players want TOUGH ELITE TFO's give them a reward worth their time like a ultimate tech token.
The Borg should be something to be absolutely feared. Playing on Elite should be the most challenging thing you can do in this game. Even if it has to be a private team function.
I'm speaking directly to the ferocity of the challenge of this game and this game only. It's been reduced to where it takes literally 8-10 seconds for 5 competent players to complete. That's just awful...
There is a window of opportunity to give the players a real challenge for their Uber Overpowered Ships. I hope that this explains the post. It isn't about space opinions or politics. The Borg are a threat to everyone even the Q.
The Borg should assimilate the aliens from ST IV, you know... the ones who only speak to whales. Apparently their probes can completely neutralize any starships and planetary defenses they come in contact with. The Borg would be unstoppable!
As of right now the only way the Borg would be a major threat again is if they zerg rushed cubes into the Alpha Quadrant. The problem is as stated earlier in thread, the rest of the galaxy has "adapted" to the Borg, with the Federation leading the way. The Borg do not innovate. They assimilate. That means that the only way for them to get stronger is to take from others. Sure they could try to overwhelm with superior numbers, but they don't use tactics. Their strategy is literally just snowplow.
The rest of the galaxy has caught up to them, and the Borg have taken massive hits since Voyager. More battles with the Undine, the Vaadwaur hammering them, the Cooperative liberating entire ships...
The Collective is not the galaxy ending threat it once was. They are still a threat, but they aren't a major one anymore.
This pretty much....the Borg just aren't going to be a threat, especially since they angered the Undine and even the Voth got involved. Major powers in multiple quadrants are gunning for the Borg...and that was before we had help from the Dominion on our side.
4 of the biggest powers in the (known) galaxy are teamed up and various other powers also against them, unless the Borg suddenly got mass amounts of Iconian technology (or some yet undiscovered super tech) that they could assimilate and use I don't see how the Borg are gonna beat those odds.
As of right now the only way the Borg would be a major threat again is if they zerg rushed cubes into the Alpha Quadrant. The problem is as stated earlier in thread, the rest of the galaxy has "adapted" to the Borg, with the Federation leading the way. The Borg do not innovate. They assimilate. That means that the only way for them to get stronger is to take from others. Sure they could try to overwhelm with superior numbers, but they don't use tactics. Their strategy is literally just snowplow.
The rest of the galaxy has caught up to them, and the Borg have taken massive hits since Voyager. More battles with the Undine, the Vaadwaur hammering them, the Cooperative liberating entire ships...
The Collective is not the galaxy ending threat it once was. They are still a threat, but they aren't a major one anymore.
This pretty much....the Borg just aren't going to be a threat, especially since they angered the Undine and even the Voth got involved. Major powers in multiple quadrants are gunning for the Borg...and that was before we had help from the Dominion on our side.
4 of the biggest powers in the (known) galaxy are teamed up and various other powers also against them, unless the Borg suddenly got mass amounts of Iconian technology (or some yet undiscovered super tech) that they could assimilate and use I don't see how the Borg are gonna beat those odds.
Well, we know that the Borg can also develop and improve technology, not just run with what they assimilate. They assimilated the Sikarians and made it possible to use their trajectors without the quartz mantle of their planet. It became more like an Iconian gateway, which you're not telling me that along the way, they didn't discover and assimilate too.
And as long as any species creates new and advanced technology, if the Borg get their hands on it, then they evolve too.
It never made sense to me why the Borg would want to assimilate absolutely everyone though, because leaving some alive to rebuild and have something else to assimilate would make more sense...unless the reasoning is that the Collective continues advancing what that race would have.
I have no doubt that Star Trek Online is not over yet and Cryptic has plans for it for two more years. That could mean about 10 more episodes. One more big villain can appear. But the Borg probably won't, they're pretty exhausted.
Perhaps only if the Cryptic's screenwriter dared to invent the origin of the Borg. But that seems unlikely to me, and we're more likely to get something out of Discovery.
I remember reading something in a sequel novel to ST4 where the Enterprise-A found the Whale Probe again. There was mention of what the Probe called "Cube shaped bubbles", with bubbles being the term the Probe used for ships. So at least in the novels the Whale Probe apparently did encounter the Borg at one point.
Perhaps only if the Cryptic's screenwriter dared to invent the origin of the Borg. But that seems unlikely to me, and we're more likely to get something out of Discovery.
Eh... we got a game that already delves into the origins of the Borg. Star Trek Legacy. We learn in some of the extras for the game that Turrel does a mind meld and discovers that... V'Ger created the Borg. Because the Voyager Probe's programming was simple, it created agents to carry out its directive: Learn all that is Learnable and Return to the Creator. And I think the Shatner novels also touched on that as well because the Borg wouldn't assimilate Spock because the Collective was already a presence in his mind due to a mind meld with... V'Ger.
And then we got the crazyness from the Destiny novels where the Borg were created some other way...
And then some theorize that the Machine Planet that V'Ger was fixed on was the Borg Homeworld...
Honestly while an origin story might be interesting and bring the Borg back into the spotlight like some people want... I'm kinda inclined to say lets leave one mystery about the Borg intact. I don't want to get saddled with something like the Destiny novels, even if I never read them.
Okay let's step back and observe the obvious. The Borg are drones conscripted from other races driven by a Artificial Intelligence. They are a interstellar plague bent on assimilation of all technology. They don't have any feelings unless they get disconnected.
My original post was asking what lifeforms OTHER than humanoids would be able to strengthen the collective? I offered the suggestion of the Tholian Assembly. Not every alien race is humanoid.
The point is that the Borg are a interstellar force of nature. Yet in this game they have been nerfed to the point nobody respects them or fears them.
When this game launched going against the Borg was going to require 5 "Good" players at least an hour to complete a TFO. Now everyone gets a prize for participating.
It used to be that elite missions gave elite prizes. Hey if the players want TOUGH ELITE TFO's give them a reward worth their time like a ultimate tech token.
The Borg should be something to be absolutely feared. Playing on Elite should be the most challenging thing you can do in this game. Even if it has to be a private team function.
I'm speaking directly to the ferocity of the challenge of this game and this game only. It's been reduced to where it takes literally 8-10 seconds for 5 competent players to complete. That's just awful...
There is a window of opportunity to give the players a real challenge for their Uber Overpowered Ships. I hope that this explains the post. It isn't about space opinions or politics. The Borg are a threat to everyone even the Q.
The game didn't nerf the borg, it was the show runners who Nerfed them, first they were a huge and unknowable threat like in "Q Who?" then they were given a voice of the legion and assimilated Picard which uped their threat factor in "Best of Both Worlds." however curing Locutus meant that borg could be freed from the collective, then the Borg peaked in "First Contact" where they used time travel to assimilate Earth which introduced a Queen that was the last time the Borg was considered a threat, now they weren't as unknowable or scary now that they have a name and a face to them almost human like, then Voyager over used them to death where they can easily be defeated like any other alien of the week.
I have no doubt that Star Trek Online is not over yet and Cryptic has plans for it for two more years. That could mean about 10 more episodes. One more big villain can appear. But the Borg probably won't, they're pretty exhausted.
Perhaps only if the Cryptic's screenwriter dared to invent the origin of the Borg. But that seems unlikely to me, and we're more likely to get something out of Discovery.
No Thanks, giving them an Origin would ruin their appeal even more, the Borg are supposed to be scary since we don't know anything about them, They're supposed to be this huge and mysterious threat, what's the point in having the Borg if we know everything about them.
Okay let's step back and observe the obvious. The Borg are drones conscripted from other races driven by a Artificial Intelligence. They are a interstellar plague bent on assimilation of all technology. They don't have any feelings unless they get disconnected.
My original post was asking what lifeforms OTHER than humanoids would be able to strengthen the collective? I offered the suggestion of the Tholian Assembly. Not every alien race is humanoid.
The point is that the Borg are a interstellar force of nature. Yet in this game they have been nerfed to the point nobody respects them or fears them.
When this game launched going against the Borg was going to require 5 "Good" players at least an hour to complete a TFO. Now everyone gets a prize for participating.
It used to be that elite missions gave elite prizes. Hey if the players want TOUGH ELITE TFO's give them a reward worth their time like a ultimate tech token.
The Borg should be something to be absolutely feared. Playing on Elite should be the most challenging thing you can do in this game. Even if it has to be a private team function.
I'm speaking directly to the ferocity of the challenge of this game and this game only. It's been reduced to where it takes literally 8-10 seconds for 5 competent players to complete. That's just awful...
There is a window of opportunity to give the players a real challenge for their Uber Overpowered Ships. I hope that this explains the post. It isn't about space opinions or politics. The Borg are a threat to everyone even the Q.
The game didn't nerf the borg, it was the show runners who Nerfed them, first they were a huge and unknowable threat like in "Q Who?" then they were given a voice of the legion and assimilated Picard which uped their threat factor in "Best of Both Worlds." however curing Locutus meant that borg could be freed from the collective, then the Borg peaked in "First Contact" where they used time travel to assimilate Earth which introduced a Queen that was the last time the Borg was considered a threat, now they weren't as unknowable or scary now that they have a name and a face to them almost human like, then Voyager over used them to death where they can easily be defeated like any other alien of the week.
I have no doubt that Star Trek Online is not over yet and Cryptic has plans for it for two more years. That could mean about 10 more episodes. One more big villain can appear. But the Borg probably won't, they're pretty exhausted.
Perhaps only if the Cryptic's screenwriter dared to invent the origin of the Borg. But that seems unlikely to me, and we're more likely to get something out of Discovery.
No Thanks, giving them an Origin would ruin their appeal even more, the Borg are supposed to be scary since we don't know anything about them, They're supposed to be this huge and mysterious threat, what's the point in having the Borg if we know everything about them.
Well, maybe we could find out that the Borg have a far more massive backstory...a bit like the Ancient's in SG-1, having come from an entirely different galaxy.
the borg will never be serious or a threat just like all the other species in STO, as this game is a pew pew fiesta.
At the end, we MUST win, it is the cost that the foes must pay, this is why there is no hope for the borg and the others to be one day interesting. (at least in STO)
The iconians are the perfect example; the huge threat disqualified by the use of ludicrous temporal tricks, even if their portal is already a spacetime travel.
I will say, each to their own, but I found the Shatnerverse novels to be barely readable. I couldn't stomach the "Kirk is TEH AWESOME" tone of them, which I guess was to be somewhat expected considering Shatner wrote it (or more likely had it ghost-written) and certainly let his ego leak all over them.
Never tried those, but I can testify that "his" first novel, TekWar, was ghost-written by Ron Goulart. Goulart did manage to sneak in his own turns of phrase, as well as using a couple of character names - when the heroes of the book have to go undercover, their cover names are the names of the heroes of the graphic-novel series StarHawks by Goulart.
The biggest issue is not that the Borg (and other ‘villains’) have been reduced to basically “villain of the week” status, is the fact that I think they’ve pretty much run into the wall of “who’s next?”. I don’t see them being able to take any of the current roster of in game villain forces and making them matter past a storytelling arc, especially if they’re running content that’s more in step with the tv shows. They really need to reintroduce the concept of a “universal terror” that won’t go away or be swept under the rug and forgotten about with the next new shiny. Whether it be a re-emergence of a old foe (or a conglomerate of them), the “there’s no threat we can’t overcome with teamwork” trope is boring now. Personally, I know others hate it, but there’s going to have to be some temporal shenanigans that come into play regardless of who it is without a Borg assimilation marathon.
I think there was talk that they may shift away from the long arcs to a more episodic setup after the upcoming Mirror arc.
Honestly I don't blame them for the decision if they do go that way. We have burned through quite a few big bads. Switching to self contained episodes would give them a bit more creative freedom because of doing one off stories rather than extended arcs.
Considering that Romulans are the only species that has the knowledge of reverse engineering Borg tech, surprised the Borg haven't been R&Ding and upgrading themselves with that information they got rom drones, it could help them improve their assimilation compacity and weapon efficacy well above 120%.
The biggest problem is the writing. And the villain decay from making the Borg to be jobbers for squash matches, to use a few pro wrestling terms here. The writing is trash on the same tier as that of WWE's writing.
When it comes to villains here, they're either reduced to jokes that slip on banana peels and made to be clowns(T'ket from that Quark's Lucky Seven episode is the villain sacrificed on this altar), kicked down to farm status that someone can yawn their way through because of powercreep, garbage mechanics, and handholding(The Borg), or wiped away with Steven Universe hug sessions. Or giving a 180 face turn in an attempt to blueball the player from having a satisfying payoff(J'Ula).
The biggest problem is the writing. And the villain decay from making the Borg to be jobbers for squash matches, to use a few pro wrestling terms here. The writing is trash on the same tier as that of WWE's writing.
When it comes to villains here, they're either reduced to jokes that slip on banana peels and made to be clowns(T'ket from that Quark's Lucky Seven episode is the villain sacrificed on this altar), kicked down to farm status that someone can yawn their way through because of powercreep, garbage mechanics, and handholding(The Borg), or wiped away with Steven Universe hug sessions. Or giving a 180 face turn in an attempt to blueball the player from having a satisfying payoff(J'Ula).
I have to say that I'm glad that Hakeev and Sela were better written villains since they both had satisfying payoffs.
Comments
A brand hew and terrifying Borg Arc would be fantastic.
That or the Mirror Borg and now facing extinction as the Terran Empire using their knowledge from the future has brought the Mirror Borg to their breaking point. In a desperate move to survive the Mirror Borg flee to the prime universe and team up with whatever remains of the Borg Collective.
wouldn't Mirror Borg ally themselves with the Borg Cooperative?
Problem with that... its kinda implied that the Borg Collective went extinct by the 27th Century thanks to the presence of a member of the Cooperative at the signing of the Temporal Accords. And with the Borg in decline in the 25th Century despite a few advancements... yea. the Borg are not going to be a major threat.
I haven't got a clue. I guess it'll be whoever they can exploit first.
Like I said before, would totally assimilate the Dominion, Personally I just wish the Borg wasn't constantly nerfed.
Why would the Cooperative have a bearing on the Borg? Unless the Cooperative forcibly liberate every drone, then their numbers wouldn't increase. And that also implies that Ex-B's automatically join the Cooperative...which isn't followed in the Picard timeline, only STO.
I still personally wish season one of Picard had been about the Borg, not androids, with Soji being the Borg Queen...
IMO the Cooperative is probably going to become the major faction in the Delta Quadrant. Any outside Delta will probably either be independant like Seven and make their own way in the universe, form their own communities, or seek out the Cooperative. The Collective is on its way to extinction.
They were - they got inside the Solanae sphere before being destroyed, presumably by the Voth - there are Borg ship debris fields near that huge gash in the sphere near the south of the contested zone.
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
My original post was asking what lifeforms OTHER than humanoids would be able to strengthen the collective? I offered the suggestion of the Tholian Assembly. Not every alien race is humanoid.
The point is that the Borg are a interstellar force of nature. Yet in this game they have been nerfed to the point nobody respects them or fears them.
When this game launched going against the Borg was going to require 5 "Good" players at least an hour to complete a TFO. Now everyone gets a prize for participating.
It used to be that elite missions gave elite prizes. Hey if the players want TOUGH ELITE TFO's give them a reward worth their time like a ultimate tech token.
The Borg should be something to be absolutely feared. Playing on Elite should be the most challenging thing you can do in this game. Even if it has to be a private team function.
I'm speaking directly to the ferocity of the challenge of this game and this game only. It's been reduced to where it takes literally 8-10 seconds for 5 competent players to complete. That's just awful...
There is a window of opportunity to give the players a real challenge for their Uber Overpowered Ships. I hope that this explains the post. It isn't about space opinions or politics. The Borg are a threat to everyone even the Q.
This pretty much....the Borg just aren't going to be a threat, especially since they angered the Undine and even the Voth got involved. Major powers in multiple quadrants are gunning for the Borg...and that was before we had help from the Dominion on our side.
4 of the biggest powers in the (known) galaxy are teamed up and various other powers also against them, unless the Borg suddenly got mass amounts of Iconian technology (or some yet undiscovered super tech) that they could assimilate and use I don't see how the Borg are gonna beat those odds.
Well, we know that the Borg can also develop and improve technology, not just run with what they assimilate. They assimilated the Sikarians and made it possible to use their trajectors without the quartz mantle of their planet. It became more like an Iconian gateway, which you're not telling me that along the way, they didn't discover and assimilate too.
And as long as any species creates new and advanced technology, if the Borg get their hands on it, then they evolve too.
It never made sense to me why the Borg would want to assimilate absolutely everyone though, because leaving some alive to rebuild and have something else to assimilate would make more sense...unless the reasoning is that the Collective continues advancing what that race would have.
Perhaps only if the Cryptic's screenwriter dared to invent the origin of the Borg. But that seems unlikely to me, and we're more likely to get something out of Discovery.
Eh... we got a game that already delves into the origins of the Borg. Star Trek Legacy. We learn in some of the extras for the game that Turrel does a mind meld and discovers that... V'Ger created the Borg. Because the Voyager Probe's programming was simple, it created agents to carry out its directive: Learn all that is Learnable and Return to the Creator. And I think the Shatner novels also touched on that as well because the Borg wouldn't assimilate Spock because the Collective was already a presence in his mind due to a mind meld with... V'Ger.
And then we got the crazyness from the Destiny novels where the Borg were created some other way...
And then some theorize that the Machine Planet that V'Ger was fixed on was the Borg Homeworld...
Honestly while an origin story might be interesting and bring the Borg back into the spotlight like some people want... I'm kinda inclined to say lets leave one mystery about the Borg intact. I don't want to get saddled with something like the Destiny novels, even if I never read them.
No Thanks, giving them an Origin would ruin their appeal even more, the Borg are supposed to be scary since we don't know anything about them, They're supposed to be this huge and mysterious threat, what's the point in having the Borg if we know everything about them.
Well, maybe we could find out that the Borg have a far more massive backstory...a bit like the Ancient's in SG-1, having come from an entirely different galaxy.
At the end, we MUST win, it is the cost that the foes must pay, this is why there is no hope for the borg and the others to be one day interesting. (at least in STO)
The iconians are the perfect example; the huge threat disqualified by the use of ludicrous temporal tricks, even if their portal is already a spacetime travel.
Right now I think the only way to get past the Barrier is through the Iconian Gate.
Honestly I don't blame them for the decision if they do go that way. We have burned through quite a few big bads. Switching to self contained episodes would give them a bit more creative freedom because of doing one off stories rather than extended arcs.
When it comes to villains here, they're either reduced to jokes that slip on banana peels and made to be clowns(T'ket from that Quark's Lucky Seven episode is the villain sacrificed on this altar), kicked down to farm status that someone can yawn their way through because of powercreep, garbage mechanics, and handholding(The Borg), or wiped away with Steven Universe hug sessions. Or giving a 180 face turn in an attempt to blueball the player from having a satisfying payoff(J'Ula).
I have to say that I'm glad that Hakeev and Sela were better written villains since they both had satisfying payoffs.