Monthly i whine about a bunch of things. But this month I will let you off easy. My March Whine is only going to be about one subject and that is the romulans.
If you remember, last year there was a poll that asked what faction you wanted added next. I, as well as other already figured that it had already been decided by cryptic to be the romulans so there was no point on polling. And yes, it will be the romulans.
Cryptic has said that they hope to implement it by the end of this year. That most likely will mean next year because no project shows up early.
Now, my question i guess is....WHY?
Why such a longstanding push to get another faction out when you repeatedly say you have limited resources?
With all that this game needs, i am having a real hard time thinking that their resources could be spent elsewhere.
A third faction would be nice. Would a third faction be better than fixing the second? Fixing the game? Improving PVP? Adding more content? Adding more features?
Cryptic will say that they already plan on adding all that as well as adding a new faction?
Really? All that and a new faction?
Is the faction going to be as full as the feds or as full as the klingons?
I am putting my money on the later. And instead of having one faction mad as hell, you will now have two.
So my question is: WHY?
They won't be adding another faction until they feel the klingons are satisfactory.
You know this is the perfect excuse for any delay from now on.:D
Q: "Foundry is still beta, Why that? Big C you said..."
A: "Hash, hash, little one, this will come when the klingons will have satisfactory contend."
Q: "Big C, you promised a new weekly season, where did it go?"
A: "Hash, hash, little one, this will come when the klingons will have satisfactory contend."
You know this is the perfect excuse for any delay from now on.:D
Q: "Foundry is still beta, Why that? Big C you said..."
A: "Hash, hash, little one, this will come when the klingons will have satisfactory contend."
Q: "Big C, you promised a new weekly season, where did it go?"
A: "Hash, hash, little one, this will come when the klingons will have satisfactory contend."
They won't be adding another faction until they feel the klingons are satisfactory.
That is what they have said and that is what, i think, the community wants (as well as me).
But, all I see coming is
-gorn update,
-Qu'nos update
-allowing to level a KDF from start
Since that is all I see in the future, is that all that the KDF is going to require to get to the status of satisfactory?
I see the engineering report, and dev quotes and i see what they plan on for the future.
Gorn, Qu'nos, 6 levels of KDF content, and.....romulans, so I can only assume that those 3 things the KDF gets are what constitutes 'satisfactory".
Is my assumption correct?
I can only go by available information to make an analysis.
you can blame the subscriber base because people have asked for it. that in a nutshell is why.
That is where I am confused though.
I am sure adding a new faction is alot of work. Alot more work than, finishing the Hive, or PVP control, or a lifetime subscriber channels. I know that cryptic works in teams, but that 'team' that is working on the romulans probably could be more productive with adding features to the core of the game, than adding a completely new branch.
By your own logic...a chicken with no head is unfinished.....thus standing on 2 chickie legs must be a bug that has yet to be fixed.......
Relax........the Klings will get much love, and the bugs will get fire bombed with the flammable sweat from Chuck Norris's brow...........
Time tables for Cryptic we aint privy to.......sit back and burn one you'll feel better......
I am only going by what the devs say, and the engineering report.
They will do the romulans when the klingons are satisfatory.
So, they announce the romulans will be out by the end of the year or so.
And they announce what they plan on for the kdf.
I can only surmise that that is what is planned for it to be 'satisfactory'.
Because, if you
-put out a time for the romulan faction to be released, and
-the condition that "They will do the romulans when the klingons are satisfactory", and
-put out what you are doing for the kdf,
one can conclude that what you plan on doing for the kdf = what will make it satisfactory.
i think the question isnt "why is it taking so long" as much as it is "if they have klingons that arent done, and have so little resources, why would they go and spread their content team even thinner by bogging them down with content creation in another faction? they cant even keep up with what they have now, so why would they make it worse by doing this? "
at any rate, my answer would be that i would hope that they expect subs to go on the rise by then, which means more income, translating into a higher payroll budget. hopefully they can hire a few more content designers on several fronts in order to compensate for that obvious discrepancy. i could be wrong tho, and i do have a similar concern
that would mean that season 4 is gonna be a bug squash and KDF booster to free up time and stabilize for the Season 5/6 release of Romulans.
Just my guess, but at the same time keep in mind they are going back and remastering missions that have been around since launch to bring up the quality.......
While they may be running a small modest game dev asault team.......keep in mind that with a lot of this the tools are already in place. Since most of the code writing is in place, thats half the battle in that they don't have to write the same thing all over again. They just go in and tweak as needed.
Taking exsisting content, and running it in a different direction for say....the KDF rather than the Feds...wouldn't take much at all, just minor faction alighnment.
So it's not impossible if they are on schedule with what they want to accomplish. Also keep in mind there is much left out of the forum reports due to it still being in development/tweaking.
i think the question isnt "why is it taking so long" as much as it is "if they have klingons that arent done, and have so little resources, why would they go and spread their content team even thinner by bogging them down with content creation in another faction? they cant even keep up with what they have now, so why would they make it worse by doing this? "
at any rate, my answer would be that i would hope that they expect subs to go on the rise by then, which means more income, translating into a higher payroll budget. hopefully they can hire a few more content designers on several fronts in order to compensate for that obvious discrepancy. i could be wrong tho, and i do have a similar concern
they won't make a penny in profit if they try to release another faction when their other faction isn't finished.
Even if cryptic climbs to the rooftops and says "But the romulans won't be an empty faction", who would find it credible? I am sure Cryptic knows this so they are trying to plug in holes in the kdf content.
They hasn't announced what they plan on doing.
A year ago they had mentioned a kdf diplomacy like progression, houses, as well as targ breeding but that isn't on the schedule.
Taking exsisting content, and running it in a different direction for say....the KDF rather than the Feds...wouldn't take much at all, just minor faction alighnment.
.
That is what they said a year ago they where going to do.
It was mentioned a few weeks ago that they had decided to not 'shoehorn' kdf content into feds.
But.....that still leaves the lack of kdf content.
I do understand that the KDF won't get all the missions the feds have. That would require alot of work. All I am thinking about is end game stuff and a way to increase its population.
If they do new factions, I think the Rank that characters in those factions should start out at Captain. I think that was a mistake on the side of the Klingon side. They started the characters out too low. Let's face it, Star Trek is focused on the Federation. So, there is much more material to work with and it makes sense that the content levels for Federation are always going to be higher. That said, the lack of content on the Klingon side would look more if the Klingon Character started out at Captain 1 rank. It would also mean less content needed to make.
So, if they do create Romulans, I think they should again start them out at Captain.
If they do new factions, I think the Rank that characters in those factions should start out at Captain. I think that was a mistake on the side of the Klingon side. They started the characters out too low. Let's face it, Star Trek is focused on the Federation. So, there is much more material to work with and it makes sense that the content levels for Federation are always going to be higher. That said, the lack of content on the Klingon side would look more if the Klingon Character started out at Captain 1 rank. It would also mean less content needed to make.
So, if they do create Romulans, I think they should again start them out at Captain.
personally, i felt that the original game should have ended at Captain1 (because that was really all they had content for), and when they extended the cap (fall?), have it go to whatever it originally ended at.
And THEN this summer extend it to what it is now.
That is what they have said and that is what, i think, the community wants (as well as me).
But, all I see coming is
-gorn update,
-Qu'nos update
-allowing to level a KDF from start
Since that is all I see in the future, is that all that the KDF is going to require to get to the status of satisfactory?
Well, they've mentioned that they plan to take a look through the level progression of Klingons and see if there any more gaps that need missions. I'd say the Klingons could use 5-10 more, but we'll see if the devs can spot that and add that many.
Also, they've mentioned a possibility of dispersing Gorn, Orion, and Nausicaan ships throughout all the Tiers, though they said it could take awhile. They've also mentioned another Tier 5 klingon ship as being on the schedule, a Tier 5 D7/K'Tinga.
For me at least, this is what I think needs to be done before they should start work on the Romulans:
Update Qo'nos to bring it up to ESD level.
Add Gorn, Orion, and Nausicaan ships into all tiers. Add more Tier 5.5 ships to match the influx of incomming Tier 5.5 Federation ships.
Add more Klingon costumes. Things like the currently NPC exclusive costumes options and the outfits seen in The Undiscovered Country (Chang, Azetbur, Gorkon), as well as this outfit of Martok's.
Add more Klingon storyline missions to fill some of the gaps.
Allow Klingons to make characters fro mthe beginning
I would agree.
"4.Add more Klingon storyline missions to fill some of the gaps." is alot. KDF has about 10 missions, I think. Federation has, on the top of my head 40 missions (guess).
There is no way cryptic is going to make 30 missions to fill in the gap especially within the year WHILE making a romulan faction.
So, my question to cryptic is, could you tell us an outline (a more detailed outline) of your plans?
I would agree.
"4.Add more Klingon storyline missions to fill some of the gaps." is alot. KDF has about 10 missions, I think. Federation has, on the top of my head 40 missions (guess).
There is no way cryptic is going to make 30 missions to fill in the gap especially within the year WHILE making a romulan faction.
So, my question to cryptic is, could you tell us an outline (a more detailed outline) of your plans?
I don't think the KDF needs as many storyline missions as the Federation. The Klingon faction was intended to primarily be a PvP faction afterall, so there leveling should remain a mix of PvE and PvP. I'd say 5-10 more storyline missions would be enough. I can think of a few gaps that were particular annoying that could use 1 or 2 missions. Don't forget that going forward, Klingons have access to Featured Series as well. Each new series adds 5 episodes. By the time the Romulans are likely to come out (early next year), there should be 15-20 more Featured Episodes. They will also have foundry missions by then.
I don't think the KDF needs as many storyline missions as the Federation. The Klingon faction was intended to primarily be a PvP faction afterall, so there leveling should remain a mix of PvE and PvP. I'd say 5-10 more storyline missions would be enough. I can think of a few gaps that were particular annoying that could use 1 or 2 missions. Don't forget that going forward, Klingons have access to Featured Series as well. Each new series adds 5 episodes. By the time the Romulans are likely to come out (early next year), there should be 15-20 more Featured Episodes. They will also have foundry missions by then.
The klingons were intended as a full faction before launch, but Cryptic made them a "pvp" faction after they realised they couldn´t pull off too full factions by that time. And a mixture of pve and pvp does no good for players who don´t want to do pvp (like me).
And correct me if i´m wrong, but foundry missions have no rewards, so you can´t use them to level up.
The klingons were intended as a full faction before launch, but Cryptic made them a "pvp" faction after they realised they couldn´t pull off too full factions by that time. And a mixture of pve and pvp does no good for players who don´t want to do pvp (like me).
And correct me if i´m wrong, but foundry missions have no rewards, so you can´t use them to level up.
Still even then, with the 10 or so Klingon storyline missions we have now, the 15 featured eps we have now, the 15-20 featured eps that will be added by the time the Romulans come out, the 5-10 additional storyline missions I'm calling for, and the repeatable missions (star clusters, supply raids), it would be a far easier task for players to run all PvE.
Also, I was under the impression that the devs were going to add rewards to featured foundry episodes in the future. I might be wrong about that though. I know ThomastheCrypticCat, who does work for Cryptic, but isn't privy to design discussions, suggested that players would be able to level a character from start to finish from foundry missions alone in the future, but he could be mistaken as well since he isn't privy to the same information as the rest of the devs.
I don't think the KDF needs as many storyline missions as the Federation. The Klingon faction was intended to primarily be a PvP faction afterall, so there leveling should remain a mix of PvE and PvP.
Im surprised you've been here as long as you have and your still spreading false information. The Klingons were ORIGINALLY intended to be a full fledged faction like the Feds. When the Devs realized they didnt have enough time, they decided to release them as "PvP focused", however they did so with the promise that more PvE content was incoming and would continue to be added in the future. So at no point were Klingons ever intended to REMAIN a PvP faction.
And correct me if i´m wrong, but foundry missions have no rewards, so you can´t use them to level up.
Foundry missions do give like 50 skill points. It wouldnt be an efficient way to level up any character not when there is mission replay, etc... That said this brings up an interesting point. People continually ask for more content but content doesnt equate to a good path for advancing in rank.
Would the Klingons be fine with a lot of mission content from the Foundry but only getting 50 skillpoints per mission? I have a feeling that they wouldnt be satisfied with that. So, the reality is that they are not asking for content. They are asking for a better means to level their characters. They just assume that content equates to easier leveling and less of a grind. But that isnt necessarily true!
Im surprised you've been here as long as you have and your still spreading false information. The Klingons were ORIGINALLY intended to be a full fledged faction like the Feds. When the Devs realized they didnt have enough time, they decided to release them as "PvP focused", however they did so with the promise that more PvE content was incoming and would continue to be added in the future. So at no point were Klingons ever intended to REMAIN a PvP faction.
Yes, I realize that the Klingons were intended to be a full-fledged faction from the start. However, I was under the impression that they were intended to be full-fledged faction that was PvP centric. I could be wrong about this, my memory isn't the best, so I may be unintentionally misconstruing the devs original plans for the KDF.
Now I'm not saying that the Klingons don't need more storyline content, they do. There are gaps and PvP can be a hassle due to the long queues. I just don't think they need to write 20-30 more KDF exclusive missions, when they could write 30 more featured episodes that would benefit all factions. 5-10 more Klingon missions to help fill gaps, yes, full Klingon storyline, no. That's where I stand.
Now I'm not saying that the Klingons don't need more storyline content, they do. There are gaps and PvP can be a hassle due to the long queues. I just don't think they need to write 20-30 more KDF exclusive missions, when they could write 30 more featured episodes that would benefit all factions. 5-10 more Klingon missions to help fill gaps, yes, full Klingon storyline, no. That's where I stand.
I agree with this. After 3 more FE series the Klingons will have 30 FE episodes as well as 8 faction specific episodes. If they can add, say, 10 more faction specific episodes I would personally think the Klingons would be good to go when you factor in dailies and the Foundry. Of course, its going to be quite a while before we get 3 more FE series seeing as how they seem to be several months apart now.
Comments
Thats easy: the Klingons arent done. Next question?
My next question would be "Who brought cheese to go with this whine?", I mean if I'm going to have to read this, I should at least be fed.
You know this is the perfect excuse for any delay from now on.:D
Q: "Foundry is still beta, Why that? Big C you said..."
A: "Hash, hash, little one, this will come when the klingons will have satisfactory contend."
Q: "Big C, you promised a new weekly season, where did it go?"
A: "Hash, hash, little one, this will come when the klingons will have satisfactory contend."
etc.
not really, but ok.
Why does this question have to be answered again and again?
you can blame the subscriber base because people have asked for it. that in a nutshell is why.
So the answer to "why are they doing the romulans" is "Klingons arent done"?
That is what they have said and that is what, i think, the community wants (as well as me).
But, all I see coming is
-gorn update,
-Qu'nos update
-allowing to level a KDF from start
Since that is all I see in the future, is that all that the KDF is going to require to get to the status of satisfactory?
I see the engineering report, and dev quotes and i see what they plan on for the future.
Gorn, Qu'nos, 6 levels of KDF content, and.....romulans, so I can only assume that those 3 things the KDF gets are what constitutes 'satisfactory".
Is my assumption correct?
I can only go by available information to make an analysis.
That is where I am confused though.
I am sure adding a new faction is alot of work. Alot more work than, finishing the Hive, or PVP control, or a lifetime subscriber channels. I know that cryptic works in teams, but that 'team' that is working on the romulans probably could be more productive with adding features to the core of the game, than adding a completely new branch.
Did you know your chicken has no head?
By your own logic...a chicken with no head is unfinished.....thus standing on 2 chickie legs must be a bug that has yet to be fixed.......
Relax........the Klings will get much love, and the bugs will get fire bombed with the flammable sweat from Chuck Norris's brow...........
Time tables for Cryptic we aint privy to.......sit back and burn one you'll feel better......
I am only going by what the devs say, and the engineering report.
They will do the romulans when the klingons are satisfatory.
So, they announce the romulans will be out by the end of the year or so.
And they announce what they plan on for the kdf.
I can only surmise that that is what is planned for it to be 'satisfactory'.
Because, if you
-put out a time for the romulan faction to be released, and
-the condition that "They will do the romulans when the klingons are satisfactory", and
-put out what you are doing for the kdf,
one can conclude that what you plan on doing for the kdf = what will make it satisfactory.
at any rate, my answer would be that i would hope that they expect subs to go on the rise by then, which means more income, translating into a higher payroll budget. hopefully they can hire a few more content designers on several fronts in order to compensate for that obvious discrepancy. i could be wrong tho, and i do have a similar concern
that would mean that season 4 is gonna be a bug squash and KDF booster to free up time and stabilize for the Season 5/6 release of Romulans.
Just my guess, but at the same time keep in mind they are going back and remastering missions that have been around since launch to bring up the quality.......
While they may be running a small modest game dev asault team.......keep in mind that with a lot of this the tools are already in place. Since most of the code writing is in place, thats half the battle in that they don't have to write the same thing all over again. They just go in and tweak as needed.
Taking exsisting content, and running it in a different direction for say....the KDF rather than the Feds...wouldn't take much at all, just minor faction alighnment.
So it's not impossible if they are on schedule with what they want to accomplish. Also keep in mind there is much left out of the forum reports due to it still being in development/tweaking.
they won't make a penny in profit if they try to release another faction when their other faction isn't finished.
Even if cryptic climbs to the rooftops and says "But the romulans won't be an empty faction", who would find it credible? I am sure Cryptic knows this so they are trying to plug in holes in the kdf content.
They hasn't announced what they plan on doing.
A year ago they had mentioned a kdf diplomacy like progression, houses, as well as targ breeding but that isn't on the schedule.
That is what they said a year ago they where going to do.
It was mentioned a few weeks ago that they had decided to not 'shoehorn' kdf content into feds.
But.....that still leaves the lack of kdf content.
I do understand that the KDF won't get all the missions the feds have. That would require alot of work. All I am thinking about is end game stuff and a way to increase its population.
So, if they do create Romulans, I think they should again start them out at Captain.
personally, i felt that the original game should have ended at Captain1 (because that was really all they had content for), and when they extended the cap (fall?), have it go to whatever it originally ended at.
And THEN this summer extend it to what it is now.
Well, they've mentioned that they plan to take a look through the level progression of Klingons and see if there any more gaps that need missions. I'd say the Klingons could use 5-10 more, but we'll see if the devs can spot that and add that many.
Also, they've mentioned a possibility of dispersing Gorn, Orion, and Nausicaan ships throughout all the Tiers, though they said it could take awhile. They've also mentioned another Tier 5 klingon ship as being on the schedule, a Tier 5 D7/K'Tinga.
For me at least, this is what I think needs to be done before they should start work on the Romulans:
"4.Add more Klingon storyline missions to fill some of the gaps." is alot. KDF has about 10 missions, I think. Federation has, on the top of my head 40 missions (guess).
There is no way cryptic is going to make 30 missions to fill in the gap especially within the year WHILE making a romulan faction.
So, my question to cryptic is, could you tell us an outline (a more detailed outline) of your plans?
I don't think the KDF needs as many storyline missions as the Federation. The Klingon faction was intended to primarily be a PvP faction afterall, so there leveling should remain a mix of PvE and PvP. I'd say 5-10 more storyline missions would be enough. I can think of a few gaps that were particular annoying that could use 1 or 2 missions. Don't forget that going forward, Klingons have access to Featured Series as well. Each new series adds 5 episodes. By the time the Romulans are likely to come out (early next year), there should be 15-20 more Featured Episodes. They will also have foundry missions by then.
The klingons were intended as a full faction before launch, but Cryptic made them a "pvp" faction after they realised they couldn´t pull off too full factions by that time. And a mixture of pve and pvp does no good for players who don´t want to do pvp (like me).
And correct me if i´m wrong, but foundry missions have no rewards, so you can´t use them to level up.
If thats what you meant(see my edit), then yes.
Still even then, with the 10 or so Klingon storyline missions we have now, the 15 featured eps we have now, the 15-20 featured eps that will be added by the time the Romulans come out, the 5-10 additional storyline missions I'm calling for, and the repeatable missions (star clusters, supply raids), it would be a far easier task for players to run all PvE.
Also, I was under the impression that the devs were going to add rewards to featured foundry episodes in the future. I might be wrong about that though. I know ThomastheCrypticCat, who does work for Cryptic, but isn't privy to design discussions, suggested that players would be able to level a character from start to finish from foundry missions alone in the future, but he could be mistaken as well since he isn't privy to the same information as the rest of the devs.
Im surprised you've been here as long as you have and your still spreading false information. The Klingons were ORIGINALLY intended to be a full fledged faction like the Feds. When the Devs realized they didnt have enough time, they decided to release them as "PvP focused", however they did so with the promise that more PvE content was incoming and would continue to be added in the future. So at no point were Klingons ever intended to REMAIN a PvP faction.
Foundry missions do give like 50 skill points. It wouldnt be an efficient way to level up any character not when there is mission replay, etc... That said this brings up an interesting point. People continually ask for more content but content doesnt equate to a good path for advancing in rank.
Would the Klingons be fine with a lot of mission content from the Foundry but only getting 50 skillpoints per mission? I have a feeling that they wouldnt be satisfied with that. So, the reality is that they are not asking for content. They are asking for a better means to level their characters. They just assume that content equates to easier leveling and less of a grind. But that isnt necessarily true!
Yes, I realize that the Klingons were intended to be a full-fledged faction from the start. However, I was under the impression that they were intended to be full-fledged faction that was PvP centric. I could be wrong about this, my memory isn't the best, so I may be unintentionally misconstruing the devs original plans for the KDF.
Now I'm not saying that the Klingons don't need more storyline content, they do. There are gaps and PvP can be a hassle due to the long queues. I just don't think they need to write 20-30 more KDF exclusive missions, when they could write 30 more featured episodes that would benefit all factions. 5-10 more Klingon missions to help fill gaps, yes, full Klingon storyline, no. That's where I stand.
I agree with this. After 3 more FE series the Klingons will have 30 FE episodes as well as 8 faction specific episodes. If they can add, say, 10 more faction specific episodes I would personally think the Klingons would be good to go when you factor in dailies and the Foundry. Of course, its going to be quite a while before we get 3 more FE series seeing as how they seem to be several months apart now.