In my opinion this evaluation is too soon because their is a ground revamp coming around, set to released between 6th & 8th of July 2011 & the score of mediocre is their for unfair.



The game has come a long way in a very short time even I have to admit it was a disaster @ launch & released way to early, but since then is had been almost a non-stop monthly release of new features & content that has blown people away.



I can recommend to people who played @ launch & hated it to revisit STO in a week from know & you will be amazed.

• 
  Sector space. Hate it. Hate the idea of it, hate the implementation.


• 
  Ground missions. Clunky, buggy, boring, repetitive. No animus whatsoever.


• 
  Fleet actions. Boring, shallow, repetitive.


• 
  Exploration missions. Exploration is the essence of Trek, but these were a total failure. Pointless repetitive drivel. Infuriating lack of respect for the IP on full display.


• 
  Lack of ability to walk around ship interiors. I hear this has been fixed since launch.


• 
  Can't beam down to Earth or the Moon. Can't fly around the Sol system. What?


• 
  Can't fly a shuttlecraft to dock aboard other ships or to land on planets. What?


• 
  All solar systems are single-planet. What?


• 
  Entire game world feels like a repetitive series of tiny boxes that you fly or run around in.


• 
  Grindy questing. Kill 3 birds of prey, then another 3 birds of prey, then another 3 birds of prey, then a vorcha battlecruiser. Rinse & repeat all night to level. Dear God, when will it end? (Answer: When I cancel my account.)


• 
  The Foundry. This came along after I quit but confirmed my suspicions: nobody at Cryptic gives a flying fig about developing a large, immersive, meaningful world. Instead, they divert effort into allowing players to create petty content, thus absolving themselves of the need to approach development comprehensively. The Foundry is a shallow, cynical sham---and also the essence of Cryptic Studios. What bugs me is not that Cryptic makes half-assed non-social MMOs, but that they do it under the pretense of creating world-class AAA MMORPGs. Let's call a spade a spade, and a second-rate company a second-rate company.

Cryptic is overwatched by Atari.  Atari's business plan is to pump out a new MMO every 6 months or so.  They don't care about quality as much as quantity as they search for that one lucky break to cash in on like Blizzard did.  Right place, right time, right theme.  Keep digging, Atari.  One day you will wake up and realize there is no light at the end of the tunnel and when you look back at the way you came, you can't see that light anymore either.  Champions is garbage.  Star Trek is garbage.  Anything else they have and will pump out will most likely be garbage.  It might look sweet and succulent on the outside, but the inside is riddled with worms.

Originally posted by djvapid

Cryptic is overwatched by Atari.  Atari's business plan is to pump out a new MMO every 6 months or so.  They don't care about quality as much as quantity as they search for that one lucky break to cash in on like Blizzard did.  Right place, right time, right theme.  Keep digging, Atari.  One day you will wake up and realize there is no light at the end of the tunnel and when you look back at the way you came, you can't see that light anymore either.  Champions is garbage.  Star Trek is garbage.  Anything else they have and will pump out will most likely be garbage.  It might look sweet and succulent on the outside, but the inside is riddled with worms.

/SWISH!

Guy that spends days reading forums = 1

Multi-million dollar corporation = 0

Originally posted by djvapid

Cryptic is overwatched by Atari.  Atari's business plan is to pump out a new MMO every 6 months or so.  They don't care about quality as much as quantity as they search for that one lucky break to cash in on like Blizzard did.  Right place, right time, right theme.  Keep digging, Atari.  One day you will wake up and realize there is no light at the end of the tunnel and when you look back at the way you came, you can't see that light anymore either.  Champions is garbage.  Star Trek is garbage.  Anything else they have and will pump out will most likely be garbage.  It might look sweet and succulent on the outside, but the inside is riddled with worms.

 So we're going back to the "it was entirely Atari's fault, and Cryptic are the poor victims" line? Cryptic was the one who said they could mass produce quality, AAA MMOs before Atari bought them out. Atari merely held them to that promise. Atari pulled a lot of junk while they owned Cryptic (such as the digital download of the game with 60 extra free days, just a few weeks after launch), and they should be held accountable for that, but rushing MMOs out of the door was Cryptic's idea in the first place.

Originally posted by Dinendae

Originally posted by djvapid

Cryptic is overwatched by Atari.  Atari's business plan is to pump out a new MMO every 6 months or so.  They don't care about quality as much as quantity as they search for that one lucky break to cash in on like Blizzard did.  Right place, right time, right theme.  Keep digging, Atari.  One day you will wake up and realize there is no light at the end of the tunnel and when you look back at the way you came, you can't see that light anymore either.  Champions is garbage.  Star Trek is garbage.  Anything else they have and will pump out will most likely be garbage.  It might look sweet and succulent on the outside, but the inside is riddled with worms.

 So we're going back to the "it was entirely Atari's fault, and Cryptic are the poor victims" line? Cryptic was the one who said they could mass produce quality, AAA MMOs before Atari bought them out. Atari merely held them to that promise. Atari pulled a lot of junk while they owned Cryptic (such as the digital download of the game with 60 extra free days, just a few weeks after launch), and they should be held accountable for that, but rushing MMOs out of the door was Cryptic's idea in the first place.

I didn't realize I had spoken these words publically before (I haven't), therefore I am confused how I could be "going back" to anything.  With that said and therefore your cleverness debunked, the business plan I am referring to (released by Atari) is freely posted on the internet and but a simple google search away.  It wasn't Cryptic's.  Now, am I defending Cryptic or calling them the scapegoat?  No.  Because if I had, I would have said as much.  Debunked, yet again.  Nice try though.  They're bad developers but they make a game that atleast interests /some/ people.  Fine, let them cater to those people.  No skin off my back.  Doesn't change the facts.

Originally posted by Dante1443

And for that matter, only one sentence on the Foundry?  It lets players create and share original missions completely from scratch.  Name me one other MMO that has that.

City of Heroes introduced the Mission Architect (User created content) a couple of years ago.  STO having the Foundry is nothing original or groundbreaking.

Also, let us all be honest here and admit that any UGC system is going to have both good and bad uses.  The MA in CoH led to powerleveling farms and the like.  Within an hour of the Foundry going live in STO, it was already polluted with accolade farms and other garbage.  It is not much different than the MA in CoX... well crafted missions are the exception, not the rule. 

Originally posted by Morfeus641

This review is right on the money and exactly reflects my experience with STO. As much as I love Star Trek, STO failed to deliver on anything beyond giving me a space to geek out over the ship models. 

Stuff that disappointed me, specifically:

• Sector space. Hate it. Hate the idea of it, hate the implementation.
• Ground missions. Clunky, buggy, boring, repetitive. No animus whatsoever.
• Fleet actions. Boring, shallow, repetitive.
• Exploration missions. Exploration is the essence of Trek, but these were a total failure. Pointless repetitive drivel. Infuriating lack of respect for the IP on full display.
• Lack of ability to walk around ship interiors. I hear this has been fixed since launch.
• Can't beam down to Earth or the Moon. Can't fly around the Sol system. What?
• Can't fly a shuttlecraft to dock aboard other ships or to land on planets. What?
• All solar systems are single-planet. What?
• Entire game world feels like a repetitive series of tiny boxes that you fly or run around in.
• Grindy questing. Kill 3 birds of prey, then another 3 birds of prey, then another 3 birds of prey, then a vorcha battlecruiser. Rinse & repeat all night to level. Dear God, when will it end? (Answer: When I cancel my account.)
• The Foundry. This came along after I quit but confirmed my suspicions: nobody at Cryptic gives a flying fig about developing a large, immersive, meaningful world. Instead, they divert effort into allowing players to create petty content, thus absolving themselves of the need to approach development comprehensively. The Foundry is a shallow, cynical sham---and also the essence of Cryptic Studios. What bugs me is not that Cryptic makes half-assed non-social MMOs, but that they do it under the pretense of creating world-class AAA MMORPGs. Let's call a spade a spade, and a second-rate company a second-rate company.

These are largely my criticisms of STO as well.  A year out and the game has made some nice cosmetic improvements, but it is mostly fluff with no substance IMO.  Featured episodes are decent, yet suffered from showstopping bugs upon release.

A year out from launch and the universe is still quite small and boxed in.   The content is still repetitious and tedious and there is no meaningful exploration whatsoever.

Personally, I give STO another 5 years before it begins to become "good" in my estimation.  That is of course assuming it is still operating in that time. 

Originally posted by djvapid

I didn't realize I had spoken these words publically before (I haven't), therefore I am confused how I could be "going back" to anything.  With that said and therefore your cleverness debunked, the business plan I am referring to (released by Atari) is freely posted on the internet and but a simple google search away.  It wasn't Cryptic's.  Now, am I defending Cryptic or calling them the scapegoat?  No.  Because if I had, I would have said as much.  Debunked, yet again.  Nice try though.  They're bad developers but they make a game that atleast interests /some/ people.  Fine, let them cater to those people.  No skin off my back.  Doesn't change the facts.

 Do you think you are the only person who has tried to shift the blame to Atari for the short development cycle? Trying to shift the blame entirely on Atari for Cryptic's shove them out of the door mentality has been going on since STO's open beta. Sure you may not have been defending Cryptic, but you were trying to drop the issue in Atari's lap. Also, a simple internet search, or just a search of interviews from this website, will show that Jack was talking about the fast turn around they could do with their amazing new Cryptic 2.0 engine before Atari bought them. Sure Atari held them to that promise, and apparently was going to continue to do so even after CO and STO launched, but once again Cryptic were the ones who were touting how quickly they could produce MMOs.

Well all those fanboys saying the review should have waited for Season 4, well its out now and guess what, its still not the best thing since slice bread. Even some of the fanboys are showing a few teeth.

Have you seen the amount of bugs and stealth nerfs/changes? Lots of these were even pointed out when it was in testing on tribble but they ignored them. Whats the point of point them out if they are not going to fix them?

And where is the masses of content? Cryptic like to use these "seasons" as a way to get people to come back or to stay, but what they don't tell you is that most of the stuff doesn't come out when it's launched and is released later (sometimes a lot later). Even then it comes with broken promises.

Where are these FE? Listening to "Judge me by my record Dstal says, they are only halfway through creating the next FE? What about the every 2 weeks malaky? 3 months since new content. Ahh but it doesn't matter cause your making your own.

You know what, most of the cryptic staff have moved on to the next project NWN and STO is going to go the same way as CO. Don't you see the pattern? Make a shallow game, milk as much as you can with a C-Store, move onto the next game and so on, rince and repeat.

When you only have a team less than the size of a Starbucks what do you expect.

From the looks of what they have made and are continuing to make, it look like they hired most of their staff from Starbucks...

Now, I've been out of the game for a while, and I can't ask in the forums whether or not the game has improved because you can't post if you're not paying a subscription fee.

But without knowing what's going on in "Season 4," when I left the game it was because of the lack of depth (a puddle in the desert during a drough is less shallow than STO), poor implementation, and unbelievably high repetitive nature of the game.

The reviewer is absolutely correct on all counts.  The game looks great but plays horribly.

I've been saying that since Beta, but what do I know?

And it's true: if you like games that have meaningful story, depth, variety and a wow-factor that will keep you coming back for more, STO is not for you.

If you're looking for a casual game that a kid could play with no problems, then STO is precisely the game for you.  If you're looking for a game that will have you doing the [b][i]exact same thing[/b][/i] over and over again, then STO is precisely the game for you.  It requires no thought and no action apart from button-mashing.  At least, it did.  And this review doesn't make me think anything has changed in that respect.

Funnily enough, however, I'm willing to bet that much of the UGC is better than the dreck coming from Cryptic itself.

Originally posted by Stelakh

Now, I've been out of the game for a while, and I can't ask in the forums whether or not the game has improved because you can't post if you're not paying a subscription fee.

But without knowing what's going on in "Season 4," when I left the game it was because of the lack of depth (a puddle in the desert during a drough is less shallow than STO), poor implementation, and unbelievably high repetitive nature of the game.

The reviewer is absolutely correct on all counts.  The game looks great but plays horribly.

I've been saying that since Beta, but what do I know?

And it's true: if you like games that have meaningful story, depth, variety and a wow-factor that will keep you coming back for more, STO is not for you.

If you're looking for a casual game that a kid could play with no problems, then STO is precisely the game for you.  If you're looking for a game that will have you doing the [b][i]exact same thing[/b][/i] over and over again, then STO is precisely the game for you.  It requires no thought and no action apart from button-mashing.  At least, it did.  And this review doesn't make me think anything has changed in that respect.

 Season 4 and the FPS type of ground combat does make a big difference. I always enjoyed the space combat, but ground combat was like sticking needles in my eye. But after a few hours of the new shooter play. It has changed my view. That and some of the upgraded missions. As well as the episode missions and the UGC bringing large amounts of content.

When they upgrade sector space into one giant universe with no loading screens. That is when the game will finnaly be in a state that will be very Star Trek. The upgrade they have now is nice, but they are working on the tech to get rid of the boarders and open up space to complete free flight. But that could be quite a while before they get there.

I've played this game since beta and yeah, bugs, Season 4 is out and still no new content. It is a lot of graphics, art and skins. No content. The re-review is warranted.

It would be great if Cryptic actually worked on content and Trek specifics like: piloting your ship from the bridge? After all, that is where most of the action takes place.

I guess it is time to put this game on the shelf until next year and see if anything has improved.

Originally posted by Stelakh

The game looks great but plays horribly.

IMO this sums up STO very well.  It is truly a shame to see a game that has such rich and detailed graphics that Cryptic cannot get their act together and apply that same talent to the core mechanics of the game.

So now the highly touted Season 4 is here,  I had a chance to give it a try on Live and can give my own personal impressions;

Ground Combat - shooter mode is good and the changes to weapon audio and graphics is well done.  It is a decent update, but does nothing to make up for the shallow and repetitive ground combat.  Ground missions are still beam down, fight 3 mobs then fight boss or scan 5 items or scan 3 items and fight NPCs.

Fleet Action Queques - a nice idea, but horribly implemented.  When they did work, I saw many, many people in Sirius sector complaining of 30 to 45 minutes queques for SB24 and the like.

STFs - the changes to the Borg are interesting, but Cryptic (yet again) dropped the ball in terms of balancing abilities.  If they would like to have healing classes, the healers in the game need to be able to keep up.  Damage is so fast and so high now that single target heals cannot keep up.   Also, it would seem some changes went in to these STFs that were not supposed to be there (ie. removal of Alcoves at the end of Infected, Armek assimilation power etc.) on "regular" difficulty.

At least to me, all of the good things about Season 4 are outweighed by the - yet again - sloppy implementation and game stopping bugs.  A few that I and my friends/fleetmates discovered so far;

1. Crafting Mark X items and receiving a Mark IV item
2. Unable to assign Bridge Officers to stations on a ship
3. Random forced difficulty increase (going from normal to Elite without warning)
4. Shuttlecraft daily not working at all
5. Inventory items randomly disappearing
6. "Global Cooldowns" - such as transwarps to ESD or Azuria summon forced into cooldown for ALL characters on an account.
7. First Contact missions not initializing
8. Stealth nerfing of item stacking in inventory - so Cryptic can force people to SPEND REAL MONEY in the C-Store for increased storage slots.
9. Costume changes AGAIN!

The list goes on for quite a bit. The most disappointing thing about Season 4 to me is the lack of any new content.

So to all those who complained about the reveiwer here "not waiting until Season 4" should be happy.  Had the reviewer re-reviewed after Season 4 was released, the score would be even lower and IMO rightfully so.  Season 4 yet again proves Cryptic simply does not care about quality work.

For all those that kept touting S-4 as the game changer , and how unfair the review was to not include it.  Be thankful they didn't.  As always their updates have been poorly tested and bug ridden.  To cap it off, it's not going so well is it. It'll be atleast a month ( perhaps more )  before it's playable.

http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=223276

http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=222871

You won't seem them back now complaining about this score. Cryptic have let them down (again).

The usual crowd of fansboys who spend more time on the forums touting how great the game is or how great Cryptic is then they do actually playing the game (because of no content), are starting to realise that STO is not going to improve in any great leaps and bounds because the game design is fundementally flawed and the company who make it are a third rate company.

Originally posted by AG-Vuk

For all those that kept touting S-4 as the game changer , and how unfair the review was to not include it.  Be thankful they didn't.  As always their updates have been poorly tested and bug ridden.  To cap it off, it's not going so well is it. It'll be atleast a month ( perhaps more )  before it's playable.

http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=223276

http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=222871

Here are a few other links to some of the more gamestopping bugs from Season 4:

http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=222892

http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=223688

http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=223204

http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=222602

http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=222642

http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=222630

http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=223139

Truly a shame to see this level of sloppiness in Cryptic's work, but expected.  It is not like this is the first update they have had that contained major gamestopping bugs.  I almost feel sorry for the few, sad people on the STO forums who reply to these "well at least we can log in and play... the servers didn't die". 

No doubt Cryptic will eventually get things patched up, but IMO this should never have been releasd in its current form.  It just goes to show that Cryptic has no concerns about quality.

Originally posted by djvapid

Champions is garbage.  Star Trek is garbage.  Anything else they have and will pump out will most likely be garbage.  It might look sweet and succulent on the outside, but the inside is riddled with worms.

 

And I just have to add to the strength of this post by pointing out that its not just the games themselves that are garbage, its also the forum moderation teams and the general customer support that also reeks of immaturity and unprofessionalism.

Shaun Brody (aka Stormshade) and Gesine Fischer (aka WishStone) have got to absolutely be two of the worst community representatives I have ever had the misfortune of encountering in all the years I've been involved in MMORPG gaming, and I've got proof after proof detailing why (but it would take pages to post it all), but it would appear to me that their distasteful behavior only shows that the company could care less whether or not they lose paying customers.

Gesine likes to close out any thread with her magical stardust whenever it suits her, even if the thread itself was not in violation of the forum policy. She likes to edit people's signatures on a whim if she doesn't like them, and if you don't kiss her ass appropriately she'll end up giving you an infraction that doesn't make any sense (but will justify it by trying to wrap policy around it). So essentially, you can't be a part of her Rainbow Bright tea party unless she likes you. Smooch smooch smooch.

So you get banned from the forums just because you had an opinion that Shaun and his crack team of forum police didn't like...and this is supposed to be a professional and triple AAA MMO developer that cares about their customers? And I find it convenient that there is no telephone support to allow a paying customer to voice his/her concerns, and everything gets filtered into a shabby community support ticket system that is ran by the very people that you have a problem with. WishStone likes to remind everyone on the STO forums that if a customer has an issue, sumbit a ticket in private. There it will sit for weeks without a response, and if it is given a response, its usually Gesine that dismisses your case with the classical and cliche business atttitude which leads to lines like this, "We'll take your concerns under advisement. Thank you, and have a great day," or this, "Thank you for your feedback. The forums is a countinually evolving entity. Be well and have a nice day!"

It just sounds retarded. So my problem is with Gesine herself...and she gives me lines like this? How about REAL answers? Cryptic Studios and Atari are two companies made up of groups of children that have their own little club house...and if they don't like you, you're not invited in. Out of all the gaming companies I've encountered, Cryptic and Atari have got to be the worst in just about everything, from garbage games to garbage customer support. Never again will I ever give these people another dime, or play their games. In my opinion, both companies need to go out of business and get buried in the deepest grave in the financial cemetary. Someone amongst these posts said they'd crack open a bottle if it were to happen. I believe I'd like to have a glass of that. ;)

KDF is still garbage. Few PVE content, broken PvP.

The Company has really made itself a name for poor quality.

I returned after a longer brake and found the KDF in the same poor state as before, just the same grind through always the same missions over and over again.