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Romlan Faction Preview
Captain's Blog Stardate 90909.98
This past week I was given access to the closed beta for Legacy of Romulus on Tribble. This let me create a Romulan character and play it. I recorded an hour of play time (mostly the tutorial) and put a short video together for all of you to see (it's at the bottom).
I figured I would also use this blog to discuss some of the things that may not have been in the video. My goal is to give you information without spoiling too much.
The best place to start is from the beginning. As stated in a dev blog on the STO site, you start off as a citizen of a Romulan colony and quickly become part of the Romulan Republic to fight the Tal'Shiar. The colony looks amazing! To be honest, it reminds me of Zelda games and I'm almost tempted to make a character named Link just for fun.
There is already a lot of customization available for your character. Some of the civilian clothing options are very nice and I wish they were available on the Fed side. I had a lot of fun in the tailor playing around with the various options. Unfortunately your tier 1 ship doesn't have much customization available, but you can still change the Material and give it a nice Pattern so that it doesn't look the same as everyone else.
Something I really like so far about the Romulan faction is that the first two bridge officers you get are somehow related to the story (and I believe the 3rd one is as well but haven't completed that mission yet). It's as if you are putting a crew together of people you meet along the way in order to fight the Tal'Shiar. I've always been a fan of such stories so it does make me happy that the Romulan story has started like this.
Perhaps I'll give you one tiny spoiler. As you know, Federation and KDF players can call in a civilian ship to sell and buy items (for example the S.S. Azura). Well the Romulan version of this isn't exactly a freighter... it's a Suliban cell ship. That's all I'll say on the matter, you'll just have to find out the rest for yourself! :)
If you have questions feel free to ask in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them. Anyone who has access to the closed beta, feel free to leave your thoughts and additional information in the comments as well!
Written by Attilio on April 21, 2013 at 10:01 pm
Comments
April 21, 2013 at 10:21 pm
I'm enjoying the Roluman faction a good bit in the closed Beta, and I am liking the 'Roleplaying' manner of your responses.
For example, when the Tal Shiar arrive, you can choose to surrender, or tell them to stuff it. (I told them to stuff it, but I assume that even if you tell them you want to surrender, for example, you get the same linear story; but it's cool that the response options are available. I'll choose other options when the game goes live!)
Detailed video- Thank you for taking the time to put it together-
April 22, 2013 at 06:30 am
I sum up my experience of testing the Romulan faction in just one word: AWESOME!
Legacy of Romulus is gonna be legen.... wait for it.... dary!
April 22, 2013 at 03:50 pm
The graphics make it look like a whole new game! Here's hoping they incorporate more stuff from the novels into the storyline. I wonder if Cryptic will add Romulan TOS uniforms to the store. BTW Attilio I was on Tribble a couple of days ago to check out the new UI. I saw new episodes with the Orions and Nimbus III. Has Cryptic given any more info on them yet?
Reply to PhantBatApril 22, 2013 at 04:46 pm
I actually just saw those missions today. I haven't seen any information on them but I really haven't looked either. I'd suggest checking the Tribble section on the STO forums for more info. At some point I'm going to try playing them to see what they're about.
Reply to AttilioApril 23, 2013 at 08:49 pm
I beleive I saw Romulan TOS uniforms as an option in the Fed tailor; for some reason I was able to choose a Cardassian uniform too. My guess is that these were skins the devs use for NPCs, but as there's no reason to have TOS Romulan uniforms for them (unless there's a time travel episode!) I'd say they're likely an option for players.
Reply to tobiasosirApril 22, 2013 at 03:50 pm
Nice! If you guys are having this much fun with it, I expect this will be a most interesting expansion.
Reply to WonvertuApril 22, 2013 at 05:05 pm
Well this is great and all but will the expansion coast anything? That is my question...
Reply to briansun1April 22, 2013 at 05:15 pm
No, it's going to be joined to the rest of the universe free to play with optional things to buy. As normal in short.
Reply to WonvertuApril 22, 2013 at 05:20 pm
That's correct, it's completely free. The C-Store will have ships, uniforms, etc. for sale as the current factions have. Cryptic is actually already selling a Legacy Pack with some ships and other things that players can buy at a reduced price (this pack will cost more when Legacy of Romulus is released). Of course, you don't need this to play the game.
Reply to AttilioApril 23, 2013 at 11:11 pm
Just how do you get invited to the closed Beta Testing? I got so stoked by the new faction that I broke down and bought the Legacy set as a birthday present to myself, but I guess I'll have to wait until next month to be able to use it. I've been checking Tribble periodically to see if they have started the Romulan faction yet, but I haven't found it so far. Maybe this Thursday they will add it.
It's really nice that they're giving you the option of advancing normally at no cost, getting the Starter Set relatively cheap, or going whole hog with the Legacy Set and having a head start on every tier. From what I've seen so far, I give Cryptic an A+ on this expansion.
April 24, 2013 at 08:36 am
Closed Beta invites are done automatically. From what I read it's based on recent Tribble testing as well as earning past Tribble test week rewards.
I'm pretty sure I read they are going to have an open beta week so everyone can play in the new faction. My guess is that this will be roughly a week before the actual release.
May 25, 2013 at 12:26 am
That city DOES look like a LoZ map lol. so much time to log in, however.
Also, when is STOA going to add a romulan Fleet?
May 25, 2013 at 08:20 pm
As stated by the developers, Romulans do not have their own fleets. They can join either Federation or Klingon fleets depending on the faction you choose to ally with. STOA has fleets in both.
Reply to Attilio