There is so much more to Trek than just combat, thinking that the game is going to be so narrow in focus is starting to make me rather sad.

Randomly-generated planets aren't going to give us adventures from the various series. What a shame. I'm starting to get a Warhammer Online vibe from this, and it makes me ill, as I actually care about this IP.

Everyone is jumping the gun before they have played the game. Think of how Dragon Age Origins is being marketed; As some sort of 3rd person perspective action game. Seen the trailer for the 360 on the live marketplace? Hundreds of people will buy it un-aware that it is a very deep and conversation oriented rpg. Will Some of them either bother reading the story? They will click past dialog and get back to the action.

STO may very well have the elements in its game that you feel  is also a meaningful part of the star trek universe as a whole. Cryptic may very well feel like marketing that sort of message will not appeal to the masses. Because it is not us, MMORPG readers, who are going to make the company money. We are indeed the niche group of individuals. Its my dad who sees the name and says "hey i remember star trek, that could be cool" who will make them their money. Those very same people who have made the Nintendo Wii the most successful console out right now.  

Originally posted by Ruyn

 

Oh you must feel real special being a captain.  Wait a second, everyone is a captain.  So what's so special about it? 

It's not being a captain that makes you special in STO, it's your ship and crew, and I'd prefer having fun and being a 'non-special' captain to taking commands from someone I don't know or like any day of the week.

Edit: Grammar

It's safe to say the MMORPG.com forum users can sometimes be a rough crowd, which sparks fierce debate.

*ignores all the hate wars going on* I think her experience sounded rather exciting I can't wait to get into STO to beta test.   It'll be nice to have micromanagement over my crew and the ship.   I usually duo or trio with my two friends and not many others so itll be nice we can just pick who's going to bring what and meet up.  I'm guessing but I'm betting some sort of PVP or guild like related activities are going to be included that require you to actually fight as a group without your crew members.   It'd be silly to make a game that you never have to group ... but people always tend to jump to the extreme without any real proof that its better to group then to use just your crew members.

Originally posted by judgecal

It's interesting to see people proposing a game in which you are NOT a star ship captain. I could see the marketing department trying to sell that to people: "Set Your Phasers On Scrub! You too can start out as a Star Fleet Ensign! Scrub those decks. Lick your superior's boots."

Or maybe, "Time to get out your red shirt! The captain has a job for you."

Seriously, who comes home from work and wants to relive the tedium of real life? I certainly do not need a military social simulator when I'm trying to relax. Of course I want to be a star ship captain!

 

You're entertained by simplicity and accessibility, others want something deeper.  Nothing wrong with that.

I'll try out the game, but it doesn't excite me as much as a more ambitious design might.

I really need to stop reading stuff about STO. Everything I read just makes me mad. They're clearly not developing a Star Trek game, they're just making a game with a Star Trek skin.

---

Originally posted by Terranah

I only have a couple things to say.
 
First, it's not, "Launch rear photon torpedoes."  It's, "Aft torpedoes, fire!"
 
And it's not, "Warp speed 9, engauge."  It's, "Warp 9, engauge."
 
Pretender...

---

Originally posted by Chastian

It's safe to say the MMORPG.com forum users can sometimes be a rough crowd, which sparks fierce debate.

Debate is good since it hammers out the pro's and cons of the varying arguments.  Problem is it sounds like the creative design element in this game should have undergone MORE debate.  Instead I believe a good opportunity with the IP has been wasted and the core of the game flawed.

Sounds pretty fun, as a long time Trek fan i have no issues with the way they are taking this game.  After all they are making a game, not a simulator.

i think some here are looking for a Star Trek Simulator, let me know when you find it, i'll be enjoying this game when it comes out. =)

Originally posted by Ruyn

 

Oh you must feel real special being a captain.  Wait a second, everyone is a captain.  So what's so special about it? 

The fact that I can write my own captain's log makes me feel special, I did something like this in Eve when I was lost in wormhole space, check it out;

Captain Zerox Iin Day 10, 01:02 Location: Sylvia Moon I

My wormhole has closed and now me and my crew are stuck here,

some of the crew has lost hope of ever getting home and have started

to jump out of the cargo bay in hopes of committing suicide

but they forget that they will instantly go into cargo containers and will have to wait

two hours before the can loses oxygen and implodes.....yeah that's a slow death

i'd rather not think about.

My top Astrometrics lieutenant has gone crazy due to the overwhemlming amount of

signatures he has to go through to find a wormhole home and I fear he might become

colour blind after staring at that screen for so long. I'm here at the astrometrics table running

through each sig trying to make sense out of the crazy cluster of signatures that litter

this solar sytem..... I'm getting bored and have taken to naming each planet after the crew members

whose containers have popped...."Pchsssh!"..... Oh... there goes Gary...

Originally posted by Neanderthal

Originally posted by MikeB

Originally posted by Neanderthal

I noticed she kept saying "we".  We did this and we did that.  I thought that was odd when relating a solo play experience.  I suppose she was refering to the AI henchmen crew.

Anyway, it sounds like an ok single player game.  Do you have to be online to play it?

 

"We" is more inclusive to the reader.

 

Ahh...we understand now.  We were confused before but now it makes sense to us.  You have given us something to think about.  We are trying to decide if we will utilize this method in our own posts.  Yes, we think we will. 

 PS:  resistance is futile.

Or it could be that she said "we" because she was including the other journalists previewing the game, or she felt like she was speaking for herself and her NPC crew.

It was cool when people used to be able to read.

Originally posted by Terranah

I only have a couple things to say.

 

First, it's not, "Launch rear photon torpedoes."  It's, "Aft torpedoes, fire!"

 

And it's not, "Warp speed 9, engauge."  It's, "Warp 9, engauge."

 

Pretender...

And wasn't  there a General Order some time ago setting the "speed limit" for routine travel to Warp 5?  

Originally posted by IstvanND

Originally posted by Terranah

I only have a couple things to say.

 

First, it's not, "Launch rear photon torpedoes."  It's, "Aft torpedoes, fire!"

 

And it's not, "Warp speed 9, engauge."  It's, "Warp 9, engauge."

 

Pretender...

 

And wasn't  there a General Order some time ago setting the "speed limit" for routine travel to Warp 5?  

The drawback with warp drive prior to 2370 has been rectified so that speed limit was short lived.

Originally posted by grimfall

Originally posted by Neanderthal

 I suppose she was refering to the AI henchmen crew.

 or she felt like she was speaking for herself and her NPC crew.

 

It was cool when people used to be able to read.

It was cool wasn't it?

Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

Originally posted by Stradden

I understand, anyone who doesn't share you opinions must be working for Cryptic.

Look, I get where you're coming from. You don't feel like Cryptic has done much with the treatment of the IP. That's cool. That's your call. Someone else doesn't share your opinion, maybe have some respect for that even if you don't happen to agree?

Well, read it again. She was practically gushing. Not very professional, IMO.

Anyone with open eyes can see Cryptic isn't being true to the IP. There is no teamwork. Trek isn't populated with captains and faceless technicians.

You get to be a red-shirt on my crew. I'll log in from time to time to see how you're doing. In the mean time, keep scrubbing the floors.

Poly-Player manned ships is an idea that will never work in a normal MMORPG. Even ww2online has trouble with 2 people in one destroyer. "Shoot Guns" and "Navigate Ship" are the two jobs. What's a third person supposed to do? The 10th person?

Originally posted by j911g

Originally posted by Ruyn

 

Yeah, 500,000 captains piloting 500,000 ships...that sounds much better.  What if it's 5 million? 

Everyone a Captain, what the hell are you on?  What the hell is Cryptic on?  It's very possible to make an MMO in the Star Trek universe, but  this should have been handled with more care.  This game will be nothing more than a flash in the pan. 

You're right, because 1 million hunters, 1 million rogues, 1 million priests, all these are oh so realistic right? Please stop trying to bring this pointless statistical realism into a GAME. It's made to be fun. Also remember that they divide the captains into sub groups, basically classes, of tactical, science, and engineering. Also remember that the game while not having different servers will most likely have different instanced zones of locations, with a certian max number of ships per instance, so it's not going to be ridiculously over crowded. People don't play games for realism, they play games for fun and to be something that they can't be in real life, for example, captain of a spaceship.

That's a very inaccurate analogy.  It would be like WoW only having 1 class.  Imagine WoW only having hunters.

Honestly, the further into development this game gets the less interesting it sounds.  If everyone is a captain and given their own ship then what are the end-game goals?  I'm not sure who their intended audience is going to be but it doesn't sounds like its MMO gamers. 

I don't really get the discussion of having an all player crew. I cannot see how that would work logistically. all players need to be captains of a ship (and all captains, from reading) have different specialties to make them different) but for the sake of arguement lets say not all players are Captains and you are a medical officer instead. Are you part of a dedicated crew? If so, does your captain and 1st officer need to be on to play, as well as your engineer, etc? If they are not what do you do, hitch a ride on another ship for a day?

Let's say that hypothetical player crews are not dedicated to a ship (not really following the lore either), how would an Engineer get to go space faring if no captain has open crew slots? Is there a massive outcry of "Looking for Ship" ? After a while of looking would it turn into "Will work on your ship for food"?

It seems like they are taking the logical approach by having all players be Captains with a specialty and having NPC officers (That I hope are not nameless and faceless and grow with the ship you are on or tranfer to later).

I am looking forward to the beta so I can find out for myself but I don't think they can be entirely true to the show and still have a viable MMO experience.

Originally posted by eric_w66

Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

Originally posted by Stradden

I understand, anyone who doesn't share you opinions must be working for Cryptic.

Look, I get where you're coming from. You don't feel like Cryptic has done much with the treatment of the IP. That's cool. That's your call. Someone else doesn't share your opinion, maybe have some respect for that even if you don't happen to agree?

Well, read it again. She was practically gushing. Not very professional, IMO.

Anyone with open eyes can see Cryptic isn't being true to the IP. There is no teamwork. Trek isn't populated with captains and faceless technicians.

 

You get to be a red-shirt on my crew. I'll log in from time to time to see how you're doing. In the mean time, keep scrubbing the floors.

Poly-Player manned ships is an idea that will never work in a normal MMORPG. Even ww2online has trouble with 2 people in one destroyer. "Shoot Guns" and "Navigate Ship" are the two jobs. What's a third person supposed to do? The 10th person?

This. My first article covered this, it's very hard to have player run crews. Sounds easy on paper, but I can't see a way that's fun to make that happen.  When it comes to Star Trek Online, Cryptic is offering more than any other developer has come close offering in any other Trek related game, period.

Will it have flaws? Yes.

Will it cover all of Star Trek's massages? No

Will everyone like the direction? No.

If your upset with the direction its taking, then by all means this game may not be for you. I've said before, you will miss out on a game that is looking very promising by any MMO standard.

I personally enjoyed the article.

Originally posted by veritas_X

Originally posted by judgecal

It's interesting to see people proposing a game in which you are NOT a star ship captain. I could see the marketing department trying to sell that to people: "Set Your Phasers On Scrub! You too can start out as a Star Fleet Ensign! Scrub those decks. Lick your superior's boots."

Or maybe, "Time to get out your red shirt! The captain has a job for you."

Seriously, who comes home from work and wants to relive the tedium of real life? I certainly do not need a military social simulator when I'm trying to relax. Of course I want to be a star ship captain!

 

 

You're entertained by simplicity and accessibility, others want something deeper.  Nothing wrong with that.

I'll try out the game, but it doesn't excite me as much as a more ambitious design might.

Don't say deeper when you mean "more tedious".

Being a science officer for 10 hours straight waiting for something to scan might appeal to some people.

We call them masochists. Those wishing to inflict that kind of boredom and tedium on others are called sadists.

This is supposed to be a game, not a Star Trek Real Time Simulator. Note how the shows skip vast amounts of time, even from one scene to the next? Imagine to "play" that time through. That's what the "Deeper" game play folks here want.

Vast amounts of boredom...

Science Officer's Log: 

Startdate 45254.5.... still bored out of my mind. Damn captain had to walk his dogs.

Startdate 45254.7.... Captain still not online, can't do anything except watch youtube videos.

Startdate 45254.9.... Captain finally logged in, but now the first officer and the tactical officer have to go...

Startdate 45255.1.... Tried to do a mission without half the bridge crew, a single Tribble overtook the ship and we had to all respawn on a smaller older ship that the captain had in his inventory, but now there's only room for one helmsman so Timmy can't play with our group anymore....

Startdate 45254.5.... Captain offline again, booooorreedddd.... Where's that Tribble....

Originally posted by Terranah

I only have a couple things to say.

 

First, it's not, "Launch rear photon torpedoes."  It's, "Aft torpedoes, fire!"

 

And it's not, "Warp speed 9, engauge."  It's, "Warp 9, engauge."

 

Pretender...

OMG thats a really good observation hahahahaha.

Now I'm certain....FLUFF JOB!! lol

Originally posted by Chastian

It's safe to say the MMORPG.com forum users can sometimes be a rough crowd, which sparks fierce debate.

That is possibly the kindest way this could have possibly been put.

 To all the folks that are looking for very complicated, team-based interaction in the Trek universe, please go here, seriously:

www.trekmush.org/

Unfortunately, TrekMUSE seems to be down and gone (www.tos.net).  That was also an incredible system.

No they're not graphical, but they do give you what you want.  Due to the complexity of the systems in both games, I can't even fathom a translation to a graphical MMO.

Originally posted by UsedManatee

Originally posted by Chastian

It's safe to say the MMORPG.com forum users can sometimes be a rough crowd, which sparks fierce debate.

 

That is possibly the kindest way this could have possibly been put.

I agree with that statement!

This game is a disaster waiting to happen.

They have totally missed an opportunity - but they don't seem to understand that.

They will though.. 3 months after release... they will.

Originally posted by veritas_X

 <Mod Edit>

He's not telling you what you mean to say, he's saying that what your describing is not fun.

Sorry, not fun for the vast majority of people, there we go.