Scott Jennings: STO - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

I agree on all points, except one, i don't regard token cash ins as "crafting" in any way shape or form.

However, i only played to last day of open Beta and decided this was not a game for me, so whether anything has improved since then i cant really comment on, but it doesn't sound like it.

"Your first ten levels aren’t as fun as the rest of the game. You’re given a single ship, the Miranda class light cruiser, which just isn’t very good – it doesn’t have the survivability of cruisers, nor the maneuverability of escorts, nor the special abilities of science vessels. By level 8, you’ll most likely have exhausted the available story line missions and will find yourself grinding deep space encounters just to get a decent ship. This is not the best first impression; experience point requirements for the 5-10 levels should probably be greatly lowered."

I agree with the miranda class as ur first ship...but u can change the appearance and mix/match somthing diff but yes the overall ship itself...maybe not the best ship choice. But then what newbie ship should have all of what you stated?  i should think none...it shouldnt b a cakewalk with this sweet uber ship at your disposal at level 1

The part about you exhausting the available story line by level 8?  what story line are you talking about?  because my missions under the klingon front seem to keep comming as im 16 now and i have a quest log stuffed full of things to do...yes some repeatables but mainly things i have yet to get to...heck i was actually passing up lower level quests and not even realizing it.  so i guess im a bit confused on how you burned through all the content by level 8....idk maybe i read what you said wrong :/

and as far as the xp required....did u at all go through the game in the lower levels just playing and not even realize you had leveled?  i know i did....i went through the first 10 with ease really and i started this game as newbish as they come.

if the progression is so slow and content is lacking...idk why  a few ppl that i know are already rear admirals.....idk in my eyes i think more content is needed for sure.

did ya know you can re-do missions you've completed if your with a buddy who is currently on them?  AND you get XP for completing them again?  depending on level but im 1 higher than a buddy...he helped me with a few missions last night...and got all the same xp, bo pts, etc....minus about 45pts on each.

atleast ya get something for helping out on something you already did :)

  Good article. In the end the game just seems to be missing the necessary interactivity to be a really good MMO. For instance the game takes the simplest path to tell stories. Instead of weighting the consequences of your actions your really just a puppet. Games such as Anarchy Online, UO , EvE and a few others make good use of the choice and consequences system. Take for instance the sequences we are told to disable klingons to save a diplomat. To my knowledge the Federation Crews often stunned there enemies before they killed them. They hailed ships to give them a chance to explain. This entire segment of ST Lore is missing and it seems such a shame to waste a mechanic such as this. 

  In anycase I'll keep playing the game for now. It has its good moments and it definitely has its share of bad ones. I actually am finding it extremely fun to write a captains log with the supplemental notes system. Sadly I tell a better story then the game does hehe.

Nice plug for Eve at the end there, Kenny Rogers.

Been playing STO since beta and it is a lot of fun, but I just don't see it being a long time gaming experience. I also enjoyed Champions a ton when it came out, and then it too became kind of a chore. Cryptic has this way of slapping me right in the face to get my attention, then tell me her dads home and we'd just have to sit on the couch doing nothing for a long period of time with the hope of fun later.

I tells you, in MY day, this UO thing....

Originally posted by Techleo

  Good article. In the end the game just seems to be missing the necessary interactivity to be a really good MMO. For instance the game takes the simplest path to tell stories. Instead of weighting the consequences of your actions your really just a puppet. Games such as Anarchy Online, UO , EvE and a few others make good use of the choice and consequences system. Take for instance the sequences we are told to disable klingons to save a diplomat. To my knowledge the Federation Crews often stunned there enemies before they killed them. They hailed ships to give them a chance to explain. This entire segment of ST Lore is missing and it seems such a shame to waste a mechanic such as this. 

  In anycase I'll keep playing the game for now. It has its good moments and it definitely has its share of bad ones. I actually am finding it extremely fun to write a captains log with the supplemental notes system. Sadly I tell a better story then the game does hehe.

I agree with this. Choices would go along way in making STO more of a ST game. Not everything should be about killing everyone. Diplomacy needs to be there as well as exploration.

As far as the MMO part. I agree that they dropped the ball here. I have no problem with the instances in sector space, missions, quests, PvP and spacedocs. There are too many players to open any of them up to everyone.

What I would have like to have seen is planets available to explore. Not just a small rectangle instance, but a large world with an expanded size to the instance. A place to meet and greet as in most MMO's. It would have been nice to see large open sector space that could take a long time to find anything. New planets with quests for some nice items as well as harvesting areas. This entire exploration sector should also be open PvP.

There is so much they could do to change this game in a more ST direction. More than just the eye candy and sounds from the IP. They have the cash with the $20 million bonus from Atari to develope loads of content and change things around. I just hope they do it. This game could be a huge cash cow for Cryptic if they get it right. It is a good foundation they have started with. I enjoy the combat as is, it is just content and a lack of choice.

Originally posted by artemisentr4

Originally posted by Techleo

  Good article. In the end the game just seems to be missing the necessary interactivity to be a really good MMO. For instance the game takes the simplest path to tell stories. Instead of weighting the consequences of your actions your really just a puppet. Games such as Anarchy Online, UO , EvE and a few others make good use of the choice and consequences system. Take for instance the sequences we are told to disable klingons to save a diplomat. To my knowledge the Federation Crews often stunned there enemies before they killed them. They hailed ships to give them a chance to explain. This entire segment of ST Lore is missing and it seems such a shame to waste a mechanic such as this. 

  In anycase I'll keep playing the game for now. It has its good moments and it definitely has its share of bad ones. I actually am finding it extremely fun to write a captains log with the supplemental notes system. Sadly I tell a better story then the game does hehe.

 

I agree with this. Choices would go along way in making STO more of a ST game. Not everything should be about killing everyone. Diplomacy needs to be there as well as exploration.

As far as the MMO part. I agree that they dropped the ball here. I have no problem with the instances in sector space, missions, quests, PvP and spacedocs. There are too many players to open any of them up to everyone.

What I would have like to have seen is planets available to explore. Not just a small rectangle instance, but a large world with an expanded size to the instance. A place to meet and greet as in most MMO's. It would have been nice to see large open sector space that could take a long time to find anything. New planets with quests for some nice items as well as harvesting areas. This entire exploration sector should also be open PvP.

There is so much they could do to change this game in a more ST direction. More than just the eye candy and sounds from the IP. They have the cash with the $20 million bonus from Atari to develope loads of content and change things around. I just hope they do it. This game could be a huge cash cow for Cryptic if they get it right. It is a good foundation they have started with. I enjoy the combat as is, it is just content and a lack of choice.

I agree with what you said as well....hit the nail on the head about darn near everything...games good....could be epic if they choose do impliment some more options as far as what you can explore/do while exploring.

 Good article all together but i'm kinda disapointed how you glossed over the "costume bug" these were pre order item, people paid extra for them. And here we are, 10 days later and they still arent working and the devs havent said anything about them since the 4th.

Any game that let's players achieve max level in a week has serious issues, especially when there is not much end game content yet.

This game has far too much instancing in it, nothing wrong with instances except when overdoing it.  How hard was it to glean that it was a huge issue in Age of Conan?  Only braindead designers ignore prior problems other games have had in this genre.

Then to throw in the included item shop.  While it is not a big deal at the moment, once subscriptions expire that will be a very tempting income source.

Far as I am concerned this is another failed MMO launch.  It remains to be seen if Cyrptic will ever finish it enough to be a decent game.

I've played it from the last day of headstart until yesterday. there's just no "there" there for me. unfinished, poorly-designed shit. I keep hearing about this 20 mil bonus. if that's why cryptic put this turkey out in it's current form, then I hope that 20 last them a long time, because damn few people will plunk down any cash for a cryptic product again. Greed, thy name is Cryptic...

Nice article and I have to agree with most of it but I'm not too sure how you ran out of non repeatable content as I played open and closed beta (which required many restarted characters) and very rarely if ever had to repeat quests and it has been the same sincew launch two characters both LTC and no repeats until I got my main close to Commander but I also have to add with this toon I now skipped a whole lot of the early quests so it's no surprise I missed out on a bunch of skill points I could have gotten.

If people are looking for a game to change the face of mmo's this is not the game but what is there right now is really fun and if nothing else I can say that Cryptic may have hit on the "cookie cutter" sci fi mmo.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

Any game that let's players achieve max level in a week has serious issues, especially when there is not much end game content yet.

This game has far too much instancing in it, nothing wrong with instances except when overdoing it.  How hard was it to glean that it was a huge issue in Age of Conan?  Only braindead designers ignore prior problems other games have had in this genre.

Then to throw in the included item shop.  While it is not a big deal at the moment, once subscriptions expire that will be a very tempting income source.

Far as I am concerned this is another failed MMO launch.  It remains to be seen if Cyrptic will ever finish it enough to be a decent game.

That's a major gripe right here. If Cryptic has shown one thing. Then that's the fact that they are very poor at maintaining an MMO.

Champions Online was hugely neglected, because they shifted their main focus to STO the moment CO was launched.

Now with the very strong rumor floating around that they are already working on a third project (D&D MMO).

Who says they are not going to do the same with STO now and start shifting their focus again on their third project?

As so far, it just seems that this company's sole strategy (especially seeing their marketing strategy with lifetime subs and extra ordinary amount of effort in pleatora of ingame bonus items to maximize retail sales) is focussed on launch and launch profits only.

Pretty much like how game studios work who produce standard (non MMO) games.

And to be honest. It pretty much already shows. Just have a look at the official forums. It's gotten totally out of hand.

Since launch, the whole communication level plummited to an almost non-existent level. And players are getting more angry and more frustrated each day. Especially with all the issues going on.

Thanks for your reflections and thoughts Scott.  You did a nice job of presenting some of the good aspects while not glossing over some of the bad.  I do have to ask you, if you respond to these posts, if you happen to play Darkfall.  I base that on the screenshot of your ship name which made me LOL but there is also a Rick Astley in DF.  Not so common of a character name choice so I thought that may be you. lol

 hahaha You sneaky, Russian, bastard... 

He snuck in a link to EVE online at the end. I laughed pretty hard at that and am still laughing while typing up this reply.

I wish I liked EVE's gameplay. I find it too sterile, but it's definitely the best example of a persistent, player controlled world. And damn CCP for being so dedicated to that game. There dedication makes me want to jump in again and try to convince myself that I enjoy the gameplay. If the skill system wasn't real time training and the ship to ship combat wasn't so RTS-like, I'd happily play it to the exclusion of everything else.

Hell, if they added in "AMBULATION" (Said with dramatic basso and accompanied by a drum roll. Seriously, it's lame to try to spin and hype up walking like that.) as well as revamped the ship to ship combat and skills system, I'd venture to say that their population would more than double.

Arguably, it wouldn't be the same game, but it would certainly be a fun and engaging one.

I think that games based on exploration should not be so instanced as STO is. I didn't get the impression that i was playing a massive game and i did not find it interesting exploring square areas with npc crew members.

Anyway don't think it's bad as an online game but a very bad mmorg and i see no reason to spend 15 per month for it since Mass effect 2 does much better at a lower price.

Originally posted by Airwren

 I do have to ask you, if you respond to these posts, if you happen to play Darkfall.  I base that on the screenshot of your ship name which made me LOL but there is also a Rick Astley in DF.  Not so common of a character name choice so I thought that may be you. lol

Rick Astley is an infamous singer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0

As it is now.

The game only goes to lvl 45, not 50.

The story missions stops at lvl 42.

Like it or not - just facts.

There are few fucking boring quests, the rest is randomly generated missions(which means no babysitting/hand holding)?

I wanna play!!

I miss random generated missions so much, i hate fixed quests, with their fixed destinations, fixed rats count, fixed all.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

Any game that let's players achieve max level in a week has serious issues, especially when there is not much end game content yet.

 

This is as much an issue with the game as the players so I am less inclinced to be bother by this from a game point of view.

I thought the review was solid and well done pointing out every aspect of the game.  This game is a good game but not a great one and it could be.  As for the success or failure of this game I have no doubt it will succeed. Trekkies are a loyal and die hard crew. The ONLY way this game fails is if Cryptic does nothing. If they make and effort and improvements as well as increase content this game will do fine and be likely 1 million subs strong if not more.

I see a lot of people thinking there should be more exploration. I understand this but you need to understand exploration would be BORING! The Star Trek show only accounted for a TINY fraction of the time the Enterprise spent in space. Exploration of the kind people seem to want towuld involve literally hours of doing nothing but looking.

The exploration missions they have now are okay and could be better but you have to be careful and rmember that while this is Star Trek it is also a game. If they make it where diplomacy and exploration play a much heavier role they risk ruining the fun to basically having you stand around while two people talk over their issues and your science officer spends hours watching scanners.

1-10 is slow but there is ample missions(consisting of episodes and patrols which you stated were randomly generated bu t are not) to do with out resorting to do the repeatable DSE missions more than once.i even skipped one mission that i could not complete solo.

overall not a bad early review, not entirely accurate but not bad.

Guild Wars is an MMO.  You list it here, on your site, MMORPG.com.

Originally posted by Kryogenic

 hahaha You sneaky, Russian, bastard... 

He snuck in a link to EVE online at the end. I laughed pretty hard at that and am still laughing while typing up this reply.

I wish I liked EVE's gameplay. I find it too sterile, but it's definitely the best example of a persistent, player controlled world. And damn CCP for being so dedicated to that game. There dedication makes me want to jump in again and try to convince myself that I enjoy the gameplay. If the skill system wasn't real time training and the ship to ship combat wasn't so RTS-like, I'd happily play it to the exclusion of everything else.

Hell, if they added in "AMBULATION" (Said with dramatic basso and accompanied by a drum roll. Seriously, it's lame to try to spin and hype up walking like that.) as well as revamped the ship to ship combat and skills system, I'd venture to say that their population would more than double.

Arguably, it wouldn't be the same game, but it would certainly be a fun and engaging one.

If EVE had STO ship controls that would be sweet.

I hate point and click. They need to let people keymap turning!

Very nice article. Good to see that people start to realise and question if heavily instanced games like MMOs really are MMOs?

There is the famous saying: If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck then it is probably a duck.

Apply it, but reverse, to this game. It says it is a duck, but does it walk like a duck? Swim like a duck? And quack like a duck?

I dont think so, no.

However, as this artical pointed out, just one persistant zone where fleets could fight for control of starbases, for example, would go long ways to make this game feel like an MMO.

While I am enjoying the game (primarily as a diversion from other online games that I've grown weary of), I can't help but find myself constantly thinking of things that would make the experience more interesting.  Here are a few...feel free to add your own:

1. Achievements - This one kinda of requires a solid foundation of content before it's feasible.  Been to every sector?  Achievement.  Killed 1 each of Gorn, Klingon, Romulan, and Borg in ground combat?  Achievement.  Done it with your bare hands?  Achievement. 

2. Rare quests granted by rare item drops - Instead of looting yet another personal shield generator, how about a strange alien artifact that sets off an interesting quest chain?

3. Rare spawns: Klingon Aces, Notorious Villains, etc.

4. Ability to beam down to ANY large planet and at the very least have a random encounter generated.

5. Ability to beam down to special large planets and have it be like you dropped into Tabula Rasa.  In fact...BUY Tabula Rasa and implement it as the away team component to the game. 

6. I see a lot of trader ships lurking around various systems....why can't I have a cargo ship and haul goods from place to place to earn money a la every space sim in the last 20 years? 

There are so many ideas that SHOULD have been borrowed from other sources ...  and don't even get me started on ideas from TOS/TNG episodes...how about beaming down to a world of Chicago style gangsters?  Or having to cooperate with Mark Twain?  Or rescue a station from it holodeck gone awry. 

Sigh.

-- JWW  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

who | grep -i hottie | date | cd ~; uptime; unzip; head; touch; finger; mount; ramsize; gasp; yes; unmount; sleep

Originally posted by joelweisman

While I am enjoying the game (primarily as a diversion from other online games that I've grown weary of), I can't help but find myself constantly thinking of things that would make the experience more interesting.  Here are a few...feel free to add your own:

 

1. Achievements - This one kinda of requires a solid foundation of content before it's feasible.  Been to every sector?  Achievement.  Killed 1 each of Gorn, Klingon, Romulan, and Borg in ground combat?  Achievement.  Done it with your bare hands?  Achievement. 

2. Rare quests granted by rare item drops - Instead of looting yet another personal shield generator, how about a strange alien artifact that sets off an interesting quest chain?

3. Rare spawns: Klingon Aces, Notorious Villains, etc.

4. Ability to beam down to ANY large planet and at the very least have a random encounter generated.

5. Ability to beam down to special large planets and have it be like you dropped into Tabula Rasa.  In fact...BUY Tabula Rasa and implement it as the away team component to the game. 

6. I see a lot of trader ships lurking around various systems....why can't I have a cargo ship and haul goods from place to place to earn money a la every space sim in the last 20 years? 

There are so many ideas that SHOULD have been borrowed from other sources ...  and don't even get me started on ideas from TOS/TNG episodes...how about beaming down to a world of Chicago style gangsters?  Or having to cooperate with Mark Twain?  Or rescue a station from it holodeck gone awry. 

Sigh.

-- JWW  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

who | grep -i hottie | date | cd ~; uptime; unzip; head; touch; finger; mount; ramsize; gasp; yes; unmount; sleep

 

Nice ideas but please no holodeck stuff, it was the single most awful thing in Star Trek. I watch a space sci-fi to see space sci-fi stuff, not some cheap 1950 gangster story. Awful, terrible, hated every holodeck episode.

Originally posted by Yamota

Nice ideas but please no holodeck stuff, it was the single most awful thing in Star Trek. I watch a space sci-fi to see space sci-fi stuff, not some cheap 1950 gangster story. Awful, terrible, hated every holodeck episode.

I watched TNG to enjoy the cast and the story and space. I loved the concept of the holodeck.

Back to the article, nice review. i still can't imagine why they would make the first handful of levels such a grind just to finally choose your ship. They should have at least thrown in a few instances (since everything is an instance) where you played each ship a few times and then got to decide maybe via a simulator of some sort.

Okay - So I am going to come across as a complete schiz here but bear with me....
I am one of the Beta testers / Head starts / Life time subs players for STO and I am loving it on the one hand. Space is great and well rendered in a EVE / X style and flows well. The ground combat / events are okay - people seem responsive to noise / actions etc and things flow well and respawns seem balanced so far... Kit drops seem equal and not to un-balanced. Playing the beta and then the head start I thought it was a good idea to go for the life time sub based on the subs costs and how long I played SWG / WoW etc for before binning them. (Hell - I would still be playing SWG now if it weren't for the stupid CU upgrade !!!) . There were major problems on the beta and head start on logging in but these where acknowledged quickly and a plan put in place that seemed to improve it - And you expect teething probs on a beta - that's why it is called a beta !

However......

It is limited and has the feeling of a half finished game. The missions are repetitive and the dialogue doesn't seem to have any bearing on the game yet - Klingons aren't gaining space / sectors etc. The Borg just seem completely random and (To the best of my knowledge) no Romulans / Cardassians / Dominion etc so the story line doesn't seem to add anything.

I don't know about anyone else ('m in the UK BTW.) but I am now having a problem logging on as I can't get a retail copy as my online retailer didn't get enough of the pre-orders (Huh - go figure...... Ah Yes - I have XXXX pre-orders for you - So don't worry - just ship me 1/2 or 2/3 of these.). No online or retail shop seems to have any and Direct2Don't load can't take my order via credit card or Paypal as they need to check if I know I need to by a subscription to play before I can download (And I why would I want to down load it you muppets when I have it on my PC already !!!!! ) Just give me a KEY !!! How stupid is it that after launch you can't buy it direct from STO when they were quite happy to take my money for the Lifetime Sub offer ???
 

Feeling today is that it is just a grind out at the moment - Missions don't seem to affect the story line or power plays and are repetitive - Sometimes it Klingons, sometimes Gorn, Sometimes Nausiccans..... Oh Hum - Same ship - Different Name...

While the big defend the sectors are "okay" they are exciting for the first few times as people band together again there is no logic to them..... So you destroy enough to "Win" the combat but they then just hang around waiting for a re-set.... Why don't the balance leave to regroup elsewhere? Starbase 24 sucks for the same reason - Hang on - I did this yesterday and was told I won - So why is the battle still going on ???

(Anyone remember the old days of STFC III when someone set up a server and then we played it till someone painted it green / red or blue and then it was reset and you upgraded your ship and crew as you fought....)

The "Crafting" sucks as well - Its a grind and doesn't seem to offer anything that you can't get from battles or requisition - Either that or it isn't explained well enough.... (Where's my manual ??? - Oh - I didn't get one... I know – I’ll check the online one… Oh, Wait !!! – There isn't one really.)

I also feel that there isn't the scope for "proper" exploration.......(Maybe this coming???...) You’re stuck on a grid in sector space. You are stuck in a box on space "missions" (I accidently left my ship on full impulse once while I grabbed a drink as I was looking for anomalies and came back to it bumping on a invisible "Q-Net" –( it must have been as in space I can keep going forever - Right ?)) Planets seem to all have shields to stop stupid space captains crashing in to them as well as I bumped in to one trying to kill a Bird of Prey....... and StarFleet must have a really strict policy on beaming now as you can't run forever on the planet surface.

(Gene Roddenberry had three Golden Rules when submitting a script - 1. Starships must have two nacelles otherwise they looked "wrong" and special effects could cheat... 2. Don't mess with the timeline without good reason / explanation - If someone was dead then they were dead - Don't bring 'em back to life just cos it made a good story or they were a good actor and 3.. Anything you suggest must be at least theoretically possible - Dilithium Crystals became just that because someone pointed out that Lithium already existed and won't power a Starship - The script writer said he had heard it somewhere and lithium sounded a cool word....(Before anyone says it – Yes – I know I need to get out more.)

Anyone else bored of the constant "Loading....." tag each screen yet either

Uniforms look silly - I want to simply pick one of the series ones...???

Still buggy and crashes / does weird things in graphics or doesn't refresh targets properly.

Still has "Gold" spammers - When is someone going to write a filter to catch / stop before they start these guys???

It's wrong that people have maxed out in the first week (Jedi anyone ???)

Maybe I'm asking too much and maybe it shouldn't be called a MMORPG and maybe it needs more work but...

I'll still play it (In the absence of anything better or that does what I want.) but I am worried for its future.  "It's a Game, Jim - But not as we know it."
 

Originally posted by Breezeycouk

I also feel that there isn't the scope for "proper" exploration.......(Maybe this coming???...) You’re stuck on a grid in sector space. You are stuck in a box on space "missions" (I accidently left my ship on full impulse once while I grabbed a drink as I was looking for anomalies and came back to it bumping on a invisible "Q-Net" –( it must have been as in space I can keep going forever - Right ?)) Planets seem to all have shields to stop stupid space captains crashing in to them as well as I bumped in to one trying to kill a Bird of Prey....... and StarFleet must have a really strict policy on beaming now as you can't run forever on the planet surface.

(Gene Roddenberry had three Golden Rules when submitting a script - 1. Starships must have two nacelles otherwise they looked "wrong" and special effects could cheat... 2. Don't mess with the timeline without good reason / explanation - If someone was dead then they were dead - Don't bring 'em back to life just cos it made a good story or they were a good actor and 3.. Anything you suggest must be at least theoretically possible - Dilithium Crystals became just that because someone pointed out that Lithium already existed and won't power a Starship - The script writer said he had heard it somewhere and lithium sounded a cool word....(Before anyone says it – Yes – I know I need to get out more.)

Anyone else bored of the constant "Loading....." tag each screen yet either

 

Honestly, I believe that the Cryptic engine can't handle large zones. I'm not really sure what it was designed to be best at, but massive, seamless worlds ain't it. I only played CO for a few days, but it was the same way - small zones, lots of loading screens and instances. I think Cryptic made a serious mistake trying to shoe-horn the massive STO universe into a tiny zone engine - and Paramount made a mistake licensing their IP to Cryptic. There are probably many other types of games that the engine would work for, but exploring the vast "final frontier" seems less so when you get a loading screen every 2 minutes.

I do like the game. It is fun for what it is, but a total let-down for Star Trek. I'll keep playing, warts and all. It will probably get better. I'll try SW:TOR when it comes out and if it blows me away, probably leave. If not, guess I'm in STO for a while. It's a shame though. I think if they had used a massive world engine (like SWG) they could have had a WoW competitor on their hands.

Originally posted by Stradden

MMORPG.com columnist Scott Jennings has been playing Cryptic's Star Trek Online and today uses his article to talk about the game, pointing out the good, the bad and the ugly.

As I mentioned in an earlier column, I found my inner Trekker unable to resist Star Trek Online’s siren song. Yet it’s difficult to turn off the analytical game designer part of my brain, even when thinking up silly names for your starships, so an interesting topic for today’s column, I believe, is a look at how Star Trek Online shapes up as an MMO as opposed to an outlet for my nerd-Trekkery. I’ve been playing it for a little over a week now (achieving “Lt. Commander 6”, or level 16 out of 50 in other words), which while not enough to conclusively file a review is enough for a first look at some of what Cryptic is trying to accomplish with the game. So, unlike the earlier piece, which was more about me and what a sad, sad little Star Trek fan I am (and only slightly about raised expectations regarding beta programs), this is more a look at Star Trek Online as it stands on release.

Read STO - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.

Scott, scott, scott, scott, scott......

its glaringly obvious, you arent a writer.....

really...  im at a loss as what to say at this point.  i really wish i could post the finer points of why i disagree with your article.  but youve created a situation where i dont have to by directly linking to a directly competing mmo in eve online.

who is as we all know, one of the longest time, and oldest front page advertisers of this site.

now while it might have seemed like a good idea to contrast a sensationalist pun to color your article.  how could you not realize the journalistic ramifications of a large percentage of your readers, who are passionate about the mmorpg genre, seeing that link and immediately dismissing your entire article based on what appears to be obvious journalistic bias toward a site advertiser?

how could you not see this?

im actually embarassed for you.

It will probably turn out to be a decent game in about a years time, but as of now it's really not worth people's money. Even once they have ironed out the kinks and fleshed out the game it's still not going to be anything you haven't already seen before and the core mechanics will still be the same as they are now.

I've leveled to admiral twice now, once in the open beta as a Klingon and once in retail as Federation. The Klingon side shouldn't be in the game full stop, there is absolutely nothing for them to do other than requeue for the same map PvP matches that you've been doing since level 6, their PvE content is non existant, even all the way to admiral you are still doing the Kill X mobs quests that need to be repeated 3 times to get the reward, then you have to start it all over again as there are no other different ones.

Federation content stopped dead at 42 for me. Whilst not as bad as the Klingon side it is still pretty dire, all that are left to get you to the max level (currently 45 as they chopped off 5 lvls due to them not being finished) is to do the defense missions - see description of klingon pve content - or exploration. Exploration with their Genesis system is not all it's cracked up to be, randomly generated yes but from a finite number of missions simply set to different backgrounds, once youve done it in one setting youve seen them all. That and of course you can queue for the PvP for the last few levels, but that is horribly broken in tier 5 due to the exploiting of Carrier summons.

Unfinished and unready for release yet released it is. As a core game it is an ok one but still needs much work for it to be worthy of a subscription fee. Do yourselves a favour and stick by the advice that is normally given out at the launch of a new MMO, wait 6 - 12 months before even thinking of buying the game.

Im a huge StarTrek fan - but STO is something I will never touch.  The way Cryptic has gone about their buisness is something I will never support.

Since I have not really played the game I can not judge it really.   Let me tho say that alot of players are talking about the lack of exploration in the game.  Thats something that is a MUST in a STO game.  In fact it should be the KEY to the game. 

Star Trek: 25th Anniversary is still the one of the best games I have ever played.  It had space combat and alot of mission style gameplay (like the TV epesodes are built on).  I have always dreamed of an online StarTrek game with quite abit of random generated maps that have random generated missions and then random generated items (not drops) that you then return to a sience station - space station - or even leads you into another random generated map.  Or find some items or minerals that you can sell on diffrent worlds to make the most money.  The options could have been ENDLESS.

Sadly it seems like STO has turned into tank, dmg, healer type of game - instead of really going for what StarTrek is really all about.  And thats not combat...  Small part of it should be about combat.  But there are other means of dealing with things.  Thats what StarTrek has ALWAYS been about.

All I can say is the op is very much dead on about several things, and all these had been pointed out way so many times on these very forums

(1) Lack of Content  - Very True

(2) Combat well yes that too

(3) Crafting if you can call it that

(4) server stability  he he he omg, we all knew about this when oben beta went live. 

I just find it somewhat funny now were seing all the same stuff over again that had been pounded to death. To bad I don't have a dead horse picture to place somewhere.

As for the good, well customization of ships and character yes,  but that is not content.

Lets wait 6 months and see what the game looks like at that point

Originally posted by cerebrix

Originally posted by Stradden

MMORPG.com columnist Scott Jennings has been playing Cryptic's Star Trek Online and today uses his article to talk about the game, pointing out the good, the bad and the ugly.

As I mentioned in an earlier column, I found my inner Trekker unable to resist Star Trek Online’s siren song. Yet it’s difficult to turn off the analytical game designer part of my brain, even when thinking up silly names for your starships, so an interesting topic for today’s column, I believe, is a look at how Star Trek Online shapes up as an MMO as opposed to an outlet for my nerd-Trekkery. I’ve been playing it for a little over a week now (achieving “Lt. Commander 6”, or level 16 out of 50 in other words), which while not enough to conclusively file a review is enough for a first look at some of what Cryptic is trying to accomplish with the game. So, unlike the earlier piece, which was more about me and what a sad, sad little Star Trek fan I am (and only slightly about raised expectations regarding beta programs), this is more a look at Star Trek Online as it stands on release.

Read STO - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.

 

Scott, scott, scott, scott, scott......

 

its glaringly obvious, you arent a writer.....

 

really...  im at a loss as what to say at this point.  i really wish i could post the finer points of why i disagree with your article.  but youve created a situation where i dont have to by directly linking to a directly competing mmo in eve online.

 

who is as we all know, one of the longest time, and oldest front page advertisers of this site.

 

now while it might have seemed like a good idea to contrast a sensationalist pun to color your article.  how could you not realize the journalistic ramifications of a large percentage of your readers, who are passionate about the mmorpg genre, seeing that link and immediately dismissing your entire article based on what appears to be obvious journalistic bias toward a site advertiser?

 

how could you not see this?

 

im actually embarassed for you.

When I look at the front page of MMORPG.com I see STO advertisements not EvE. 

So... not sure a front page advertisement means they will be biased in favor of a game considering... STO is advertised on the front page currently lol. 

Originally posted by artemisentr4

Originally posted by Techleo

  Good article. In the end the game just seems to be missing the necessary interactivity to be a really good MMO. For instance the game takes the simplest path to tell stories. Instead of weighting the consequences of your actions your really just a puppet. Games such as Anarchy Online, UO , EvE and a few others make good use of the choice and consequences system. Take for instance the sequences we are told to disable klingons to save a diplomat. To my knowledge the Federation Crews often stunned there enemies before they killed them. They hailed ships to give them a chance to explain. This entire segment of ST Lore is missing and it seems such a shame to waste a mechanic such as this. 

  In anycase I'll keep playing the game for now. It has its good moments and it definitely has its share of bad ones. I actually am finding it extremely fun to write a captains log with the supplemental notes system. Sadly I tell a better story then the game does hehe.

 

I agree with this. Choices would go along way in making STO more of a ST game. Not everything should be about killing everyone. Diplomacy needs to be there as well as exploration.

As far as the MMO part. I agree that they dropped the ball here. I have no problem with the instances in sector space, missions, quests, PvP and spacedocs. There are too many players to open any of them up to everyone.

What I would have like to have seen is planets available to explore. Not just a small rectangle instance, but a large world with an expanded size to the instance. A place to meet and greet as in most MMO's. It would have been nice to see large open sector space that could take a long time to find anything. New planets with quests for some nice items as well as harvesting areas. This entire exploration sector should also be open PvP.

There is so much they could do to change this game in a more ST direction. More than just the eye candy and sounds from the IP. They have the cash with the $20 million bonus from Atari to develope loads of content and change things around. I just hope they do it. This game could be a huge cash cow for Cryptic if they get it right. It is a good foundation they have started with. I enjoy the combat as is, it is just content and a lack of choice.

Not really disagreeing, but I theorize that it had to do with something that was written in an earlier article about 'scope'.

I bet Cryptic decided, that to have a reasonable scope to their game, they could start with the sort of missions they have now, which are probably infinately easier than missions where there is a variety of choices.

I'm not sure I agree with that decision, I believe what you are describing probably should have been a top priority, as it would have set it apart from many other online games. However, to have a reasonable 'scope' what should they have eliminated from the existing game to meet their deadlines? Space combat? Ground missions? Star systems?

It'd be pretty tough to decide. And thus, I understand why free form missions weren't implemented. As it stands, it seems that they had a reasonable yet ambitious enough scope to produce a relatively polished game - which is kind of what the community has been asking for. But at the same time, we are now seeing the results of developers having to limit their scope in some areas  to appease the masses in others.

Originally posted by cerebrix 

now while it might have seemed like a good idea to contrast a sensationalist pun to color your article.  how could you not realize the journalistic ramifications of a large percentage of your readers, who are passionate about the mmorpg genre, seeing that link and immediately dismissing your entire article based on what appears to be obvious journalistic bias toward a site advertiser?

Considering that I actually work for an MMO company that runs neither STO nor Eve Online, I find the accusation that I'm shilling for a particular competitor somewhat amusing.

Originally posted by LumTheMad

Originally posted by cerebrix 

now while it might have seemed like a good idea to contrast a sensationalist pun to color your article.  how could you not realize the journalistic ramifications of a large percentage of your readers, who are passionate about the mmorpg genre, seeing that link and immediately dismissing your entire article based on what appears to be obvious journalistic bias toward a site advertiser?

Considering that I actually work for an MMO company that runs neither STO nor Eve Online, I find the accusation that I'm shilling for a particular competitor somewhat amusing.

read again scott.  im not saying that you are, read again.  the link hurts the integrity of your article.  

i realize half handed remarks that hint at something are the norm around here, so i dont take the reply personally.

however, in this, i was being literal.  posting that link without thinking about the consequences is kind of a "noob mistake" when it comes to writing.

i think thats a reasonable criticism dont you?

p.s.

ive worked for 2 mmo companies as well.  so trust me, i understand the perspective you might have far better than you might initially realize.

Originally posted by cerebrix

its glaringly obvious, you arent a writer.....

 

Right, he's a game designer.  I read his articles not because he's a good writer but because he has lots of objective insight into what is good about games and what is bad.

Edit to clarify: It's not that I think he's not a good writer, I do find his articles entertaining and the EVE Online link made me laugh because it's true.  It's just that I believe the best thing about his articles are the fact that he has so much experience in the industry.  He has insight to draw from that other writers do not.

Originally posted by cerebrix

Originally posted by LumTheMad

Originally posted by cerebrix 

now while it might have seemed like a good idea to contrast a sensationalist pun to color your article.  how could you not realize the journalistic ramifications of a large percentage of your readers, who are passionate about the mmorpg genre, seeing that link and immediately dismissing your entire article based on what appears to be obvious journalistic bias toward a site advertiser?

Considering that I actually work for an MMO company that runs neither STO nor Eve Online, I find the accusation that I'm shilling for a particular competitor somewhat amusing.

 

read again scott.  im not saying that you are, read again.  the link hurts the integrity of your article.  

 

i realize half handed remarks that hint at something are the norm around here, so i dont take the reply personally.

 

 

however, in this, i was being literal.  posting that link without thinking about the consequences is kind of a "noob mistake" when it comes to writing.

 

i think thats a reasonable criticism dont you?

 

p.s.

 

ive worked for 2 mmo companies as well.  so trust me, i understand the perspective you might have far better than you might initially realize.

I have an idea, drop the pretentious attitude and join the discussion. I'd rather not fine pick someone's writing decision and would rather discuss the content of the article. If your sense of journalistic integrity has really been so offended, PM him; you made your point and he responded. Let it go.

No one wants to read someone with no varifiable credentials go on and on with a high and mighty attitude critiquing his stylistic decisions - simply because you have a differing opinion of what constitutes good writing.

The "crafting" isn't anything of the sort. And the "energy tokens" is just "gold" by another name. Then there's the fact that your bridge crew doesn't actually DO anything, YOU drive your ship, YOU fire the weapons, YOU heal the ship. Whatever happened to your pilot, gunner, and engineering bridge crew? Are they just sitting on their butts and aren't capable of any independent thought of their own? Apparently. Not to mention that EVERY single mission you get is "go kill this", and "go kill that". Battle happened in Star Trek but it wasn't the whole bloody point of it like it is in this game.

I desperately wanted to like this game. Its one of the most famous titles in entertainment history, it SHOULD be good. It SHOULD be involving. Star Wars: The Old Republic's release date has been delayed so the devs can get it right. THIS game should have been delayed too.

Originally posted by cerebrix

Because, you know, comparing two internet spaceship games is terrible. Wouldn't want someone to give their opinions on games in a game review article.

Internet spaceships are serious business. Nice troll, though.
 

I think is a pretty fair write up on the in game attributes of STO. Its too bad so many out of game decisions effect the game.

 Hmmm... I've never gotten space loot in the ground game... or vice-versa.

I'm in agreement that the content is light (Cmdr 3 here).  The named missions are pretty cool for sure but they are interspersed with the largely-bland Patrol and Explore missions.

And I'm 100% in agreement on the global channel being useless. I think this is one of the biggest faults of the single-world design that Cryptic uses.  In separate servers (even fully loaded), the Zone chat would be much more manageable and useful (and therefore more interesting) than in the STO/CO standard.  Someone asks a question and even though I immediately start my response, it comes out 4 pages later.  Zone chat is rife with confusion.  You have to use a tell to make sure your target gets what you say.  One of the senior members of my guild picked up the game yesterday and logged in for the first time.  Within 5 minutes of his fleet invite, he was asking how to disable the Zone chat so he could focus.

I'm still having fun and enjoying the experience.  Not rushing to the end, just taking my time.  Duoing quests with my wife although we both agree that the game is essentially a single player deal at the moment.

Originally posted by Goristro

Originally posted by cerebrix

Because, you know, comparing two internet spaceship games is terrible. Wouldn't want someone to give their opinions on games in a game review article.

Internet spaceships are serious business. Nice troll, though.
 

sorry, but although it might be easier to dismiss something you dont agree with as a "troll".  some of us are trying to have a conversation.  it saddens me that these days anything that is any kind of a disagreement quickly gets a label thrown upon it.  i believe david cross once called that "another symptom of the glorification of stupid".  which i thought was a very astute way of putting it.

i was looking for feedback from scott on this directly.  hence why i directly addressed and quoted him.

 Ignore the haters Lum, I loved the Eve link. I almost fell out of my chair laughing. Besides, I really love that system in Eve, even if I never actively participated in it (I liked my ships too much).

I don't seen any problem in linking Eve, it is very relevant to the discussion. It doesn't kill his integrity all of the sudden because he points out what one game did well that another did not do well. The idea he sold out to the advertisers is laughable.

 The Miranda is supposed to teach you tactics and ship mobility, mixing and matching of skills and getting a hold of how to play the game.. so I'm not sure why the complaint Scott.. did you want to have the Sovereign as a your first ship? 

The glitiches are well.. a bad mark on Cryptic to be sure, but the game is a blast IMHO... does it feel a bit repetitive? Well.. what MMO isn't repetitive? So again.. not anything new there. And although I usually applaud "Shameless" plugs but to plug Eve over STO? *alarm* Wrong answer! Sorry Scott that was bad.

Originally posted by cerebrix

i was looking for feedback from scott on this directly.  hence why i directly addressed and quoted him.

Originally posted by cerebrix

Scott, scott, scott, scott, scott......

its glaringly obvious, you arent a writer.....

im actually embarassed for you.

Awfully passive aggressive way of going about your task.

Originally posted by Masoniclight

 The Miranda is supposed to teach you tactics and ship mobility, mixing and matching of skills and getting a hold of how to play the game.. so I'm not sure why the complaint Scott.. did you want to have the Sovereign as a your first ship?

Not particularly. It's just that the Miranda doesn't particularly have *any* strong point; the difference between that and the specialty ships is dramatic. Perhaps making it more maneuverable would have helped.

And I'm sorry if you thought my somewhat snarky reference to a related game was out of bounds. As can be seen from my sig file I have been playing an Internet spaceships game this past week and it isn't the one I am supposedly shilling. It is common to treat discussion of MMOs as zero-sum games, but really, saying that one game does something well does not automatically follow as an attack on every other title in the genre.

Originally posted by cerebrix

Originally posted by Goristro

Originally posted by cerebrix

Because, you know, comparing two internet spaceship games is terrible. Wouldn't want someone to give their opinions on games in a game review article.

Internet spaceships are serious business. Nice troll, though.
 

 

sorry, but although it might be easier to dismiss something you dont agree with as a "troll".  some of us are trying to have a conversation.  it saddens me that these days anything that is any kind of a disagreement quickly gets a label thrown upon it.  i believe david cross once called that "another symptom of the glorification of stupid".  which i thought was a very astute way of putting it.

 

i was looking for feedback from scott on this directly.  hence why i directly addressed and quoted him.

Yes, and as I said earlier, some of us are trying to have a conversation about the content of his article rather than his stylistic decisions.

And also as I said, if you are looking for feedback from scott directly, why don't you PM him, and let us talk about what he wrote instead of how he wrote it.

You are obviously trying to humiliate him publicly and you are catching a lot of flak for it being entirely unfounded. If your aims were honest, than, you would be following my advice above.

I think it's odd that on reviewing this game (even a partial based on the first few levels) you didn't mention the lack of well... Star Trek-ness of this game.

Ignoring the original TV series, Star Trek is rarely about space combat or ground combat or escorting stuff, it's usually about strange new life forms and the problems of initiating communication or trying to best work the prime directive in a new situation or whatever. In short it's full of clever interesting puzzles (think Q for great examples of this), and STO just isn't. It's the standard kill/collect/escort stuff of other offerings with tedious reliance on a random quest generator making them all feel identical.

If you want mindless stuff, then Space Above and Beyond should have been the franchise linked to this game not Star Trek.

Originally posted by cerebrix

Originally posted by Goristro

Originally posted by cerebrix

Because, you know, comparing two internet spaceship games is terrible. Wouldn't want someone to give their opinions on games in a game review article.

Internet spaceships are serious business. Nice troll, though.
 

 

sorry, but although it might be easier to dismiss something you dont agree with as a "troll".  some of us are trying to have a conversation.  it saddens me that these days anything that is any kind of a disagreement quickly gets a label thrown upon it.  i believe david cross once called that "another symptom of the glorification of stupid".  which i thought was a very astute way of putting it.

 

i was looking for feedback from scott on this directly.  hence why i directly addressed and quoted him.

As someone already said, send Scott a PM then. 

Nobody wants to read the nonsense that you are spouting.  It has nothing to do with the content of the article.

Also, if you can't be bothered to capitalise these little rants, you really have no business attacking somebody else's writing.

Originally posted by ascroobla

I think it's odd that on reviewing this game (even a partial based on the first few levels) you didn't mention the lack of well... Star Trek-ness of this game.

 

I think that makes the review stronger actually. There have been some claims that the Star Trek fans are demanding too much. Well here is a review that focuses mostly on the gamer aspect, still not up to par. I admit, I am a fan of the series but not everything Star Trek. Even overlooking the nonstop kill everything in space, kill everything on the ground aspect of the game, I found it lacking for the price they were asking for it.

Originally posted by Nesrie

Originally posted by ascroobla

I think it's odd that on reviewing this game (even a partial based on the first few levels) you didn't mention the lack of well... Star Trek-ness of this game.

 

I think that makes the review stronger actually. There have been some claims that the Star Trek fans are demanding too much. Well here is a review that focuses mostly on the gamer aspect, still not up to par. I admit, I am a fan of the series but not everything Star Trek. Even overlooking the nonstop kill everything in space, kill everything on the ground aspect of the game, I found it lacking for the price they were asking for it.

I know where you're coming from, but this is a licenced game, not just "a game". The game play definitely needs the review, and I agree with you that it's shoddy in it's own right.

But it's also supposed to be a "Star Trek" game, and it fails in that aspect too. I'm not a big Trekkie as a sci-fi series it's one of the few I could take or leave (I'd rather see a Babylon 5 or Farscape based game tbh).

The big draw for STO is the franchise after all, if this had been a "insert random space game name here" game it would have sold much less than a million boxes and the gameplay would have been all that mattered.

But here you not only have a bad game, but it's a bad game that doesn't really capture the essence of the franchise it is supposed to represent.

Originally posted by ascroobla

Originally posted by Nesrie

Originally posted by ascroobla

I think it's odd that on reviewing this game (even a partial based on the first few levels) you didn't mention the lack of well... Star Trek-ness of this game.

 

I think that makes the review stronger actually. There have been some claims that the Star Trek fans are demanding too much. Well here is a review that focuses mostly on the gamer aspect, still not up to par. I admit, I am a fan of the series but not everything Star Trek. Even overlooking the nonstop kill everything in space, kill everything on the ground aspect of the game, I found it lacking for the price they were asking for it.

 

I know where you're coming from, but this is a licenced game, not just "a game". The game play definitely needs the review, and I agree with you that it's shoddy in it's own right.

But it's also supposed to be a "Star Trek" game, and it fails in that aspect too. I'm not a big Trekkie as a sci-fi series it's one of the few I could take or leave (I'd rather see a Babylon 5 or Farscape based game tbh).

The big draw for STO is the franchise after all, if this had been a "insert random space game name here" game it would have sold much less than a million boxes and the gameplay would have been all that mattered.

But here you not only have a bad game, but it's a bad game that doesn't really capture the essence of the franchise it is supposed to represent.

What  they need to do is change the skins and music in the game and call it: GENERIC Warhammer 40K. the mission system and game play in general is more reminiscent of that franchise...

Change Star Fleet to Imperium of Man, and kill all that aint of the empire.

You're incorrect on a couple of points in terms of the gameplay;

Loot is split as ground versus space items. You will never loot ground items in space, and never space items in ground. So you will never loot a quantum torpedo launcher off a Reman Centurion.

There is also no such thing as a "Torpedo boat escort" for strong alphas - while you can outfit a ship with torpedoes, torpedo auncherss put other launchers on cooldown, so you can only ever open up with a single torpedo volley.

"Patrol Missions" are not randomly generated - you're thinking of the "Genesis" missions that are available to you in nebulous zones. The Patrol Missions are straight content missions that are intended to get you around through levels between the more story intensive 'episode' missions - this is the reason you've blown through content and are at a low level feeling you need to grind deep space enounters. Not doing the patrol missions is actually causing you to miss out on huge sections of experience.

In regards to Klingons - in the coming patch, Cryptic is promising PVE missions for Klingons, which will be the equivalent to the episodic missions you get Federation side. How true this is, however, is certainly up to debate - but should be noted as one of the things they are promising.

Missing documentation is a good point - and is actually related to a few points you're missing in your comments.

Weapons do have a range - while every weapon can fire at 10.0KM, they have optimal damage ranges. Different weapons experience 'fall off' values of damage at different rates. Beams can do more damage at further range than cannons, but cannons do greater damage over all, while Torpedoes always do their damage no matter the distance. Your weapons power setting - which I noticed you didn't go into power settings at all - effect the damage of your energy weapons, which include beams, cannons and turrets, but not torpedoes.

In regards to power settings; weapons power increases beam damage, and weapons firing will drain power the more of them you have, shields power increases the regeneration rate of your shields, engine power increases your flight speed, aux increases your turn rate and certain science abilities. Energy settings in any field below 50 have a negative effect, 50 is a as-advertised effect, and above fifty increases the effect of those systems.

  Yet, like Guild Wars, Star Trek Online is heavily, heavily instanced – while this allows all players, like in Guild Wars, to effectively play on a single “server”, this also means that at any given time you’re only with at the most 20 or so other players, and usually no more than 4 others. 

Thats did it for me right there.

I'll stick with my EVE thank you.

Originally posted by SeijiTataki

You're incorrect on a couple of points in terms of the gameplay;

Loot is split as ground versus space items. You will never loot ground items in space, and never space items in ground. So you will never loot a quantum torpedo launcher off a Reman Centurion.

There is also no such thing as a "Torpedo boat escort" for strong alphas - while you can outfit a ship with torpedoes, torpedo auncherss put other launchers on cooldown, so you can only ever open up with a single torpedo volley.

"Patrol Missions" are not randomly generated - you're thinking of the "Genesis" missions that are available to you in nebulous zones. The Patrol Missions are straight content missions that are intended to get you around through levels between the more story intensive 'episode' missions - this is the reason you've blown through content and are at a low level feeling you need to grind deep space enounters. Not doing the patrol missions is actually causing you to miss out on huge sections of experience.

In regards to Klingons - in the coming patch, Cryptic is promising PVE missions for Klingons, which will be the equivalent to the episodic missions you get Federation side. How true this is, however, is certainly up to debate - but should be noted as one of the things they are promising.

Missing documentation is a good point - and is actually related to a few points you're missing in your comments.

Weapons do have a range - while every weapon can fire at 10.0KM, they have optimal damage ranges. Different weapons experience 'fall off' values of damage at different rates. Beams can do more damage at further range than cannons, but cannons do greater damage over all, while Torpedoes always do their damage no matter the distance. Your weapons power setting - which I noticed you didn't go into power settings at all - effect the damage of your energy weapons, which include beams, cannons and turrets, but not torpedoes.

In regards to power settings; weapons power increases beam damage, and weapons firing will drain power the more of them you have, shields power increases the regeneration rate of your shields, engine power increases your flight speed, aux increases your turn rate and certain science abilities. Energy settings in any field below 50 have a negative effect, 50 is a as-advertised effect, and above fifty increases the effect of those systems.

Scott reviewed the game as it is NOW!  As it should be!

I am getting so friggin' tired hearing (almost regelious) fans talking about "coming patch will fix this", "coming patch will bring that".... yadaydayada.

First see, then believe!  Cryptic has promissed the sky with CO as well, tricking people with their 45-day after launch patch that never came. Just to get them subcribe for another month. So please.

And now they pull the same trick again with the 45-day after launch patch for STO. And so many people just keep falling for this little clever marketing trick. Unbelievable!

Cheers

Did you even read my post, or lock onto one single line about a coming patch and flip out?

Everything except one point was written about content that is currently live in the game, and the only point I made about coming content was clarifying on a point he made by referencing from what was said on the website.

These so called fan boys who you are referencing (I even made a point to say that what they say and what occurs could be different) are just as bad as people who flip out for no apparent reason without properly stopping to read.

Originally posted by Masoniclight

 The Miranda is supposed to teach you tactics and ship mobility, mixing and matching of skills and getting a hold of how to play the game.. so I'm not sure why the complaint Scott.. did you want to have the Sovereign as a your first ship? 

Whatever the weaknesses of the Miranda should be, the fact remains that a lot of people complain how it just isn't fun.  This is a game, so if it is seriously lacking in fun then that's a problem.
 

For me being able to dress in any ST uniform from any time in the series is ludicrous. I did not expect them to just use one uniform set. ST always saved money by not showing people in hazard/environmental/space/armour suits. So putting those in is fine.

It does not matter if you had to preorder or whatever, the basic uniform should be the same for all members of Star Fleet. To have every uniform from the different series means this game should be called Star Trek Themepark, not Star Trek Online. (I am not referring to gameplay here, to avoid confusion).

Originally posted by Breezeycouk

 

Okay - So I am going to come across as a complete schiz here but bear with me....
I am one of the Beta testers / Head starts / Life time subs players for STO and I am loving it on the one hand. Space is great and well rendered in a EVE / X style and flows well. The ground combat / events are okay - people seem responsive to noise / actions etc and things flow well and respawns seem balanced so far... Kit drops seem equal and not to un-balanced. Playing the beta and then the head start I thought it was a good idea to go for the life time sub based on the subs costs and how long I played SWG / WoW etc for before binning them. (Hell - I would still be playing SWG now if it weren't for the stupid CU upgrade !!!) . There were major problems on the beta and head start on logging in but these where acknowledged quickly and a plan put in place that seemed to improve it - And you expect teething probs on a beta - that's why it is called a beta !

However......

It is limited and has the feeling of a half finished game. The missions are repetitive and the dialogue doesn't seem to have any bearing on the game yet - Klingons aren't gaining space / sectors etc. The Borg just seem completely random and (To the best of my knowledge) no Romulans / Cardassians / Dominion etc so the story line doesn't seem to add anything.

I don't know about anyone else ('m in the UK BTW.) but I am now having a problem logging on as I can't get a retail copy as my online retailer didn't get enough of the pre-orders (Huh - go figure...... Ah Yes - I have XXXX pre-orders for you - So don't worry - just ship me 1/2 or 2/3 of these.). No online or retail shop seems to have any and Direct2Don't load can't take my order via credit card or Paypal as they need to check if I know I need to by a subscription to play before I can download (And I why would I want to down load it you muppets when I have it on my PC already !!!!! ) Just give me a KEY !!! How stupid is it that after launch you can't buy it direct from STO when they were quite happy to take my money for the Lifetime Sub offer ???
 

Feeling today is that it is just a grind out at the moment - Missions don't seem to affect the story line or power plays and are repetitive - Sometimes it Klingons, sometimes Gorn, Sometimes Nausiccans..... Oh Hum - Same ship - Different Name...

While the big defend the sectors are "okay" they are exciting for the first few times as people band together again there is no logic to them..... So you destroy enough to "Win" the combat but they then just hang around waiting for a re-set.... Why don't the balance leave to regroup elsewhere? Starbase 24 sucks for the same reason - Hang on - I did this yesterday and was told I won - So why is the battle still going on ???

(Anyone remember the old days of STFC III when someone set up a server and then we played it till someone painted it green / red or blue and then it was reset and you upgraded your ship and crew as you fought....)

The "Crafting" sucks as well - Its a grind and doesn't seem to offer anything that you can't get from battles or requisition - Either that or it isn't explained well enough.... (Where's my manual ??? - Oh - I didn't get one... I know – I’ll check the online one… Oh, Wait !!! – There isn't one really.)

I also feel that there isn't the scope for "proper" exploration.......(Maybe this coming???...) You’re stuck on a grid in sector space. You are stuck in a box on space "missions" (I accidently left my ship on full impulse once while I grabbed a drink as I was looking for anomalies and came back to it bumping on a invisible "Q-Net" –( it must have been as in space I can keep going forever - Right ?)) Planets seem to all have shields to stop stupid space captains crashing in to them as well as I bumped in to one trying to kill a Bird of Prey....... and StarFleet must have a really strict policy on beaming now as you can't run forever on the planet surface.

(Gene Roddenberry had three Golden Rules when submitting a script - 1. Starships must have two nacelles otherwise they looked "wrong" and special effects could cheat... 2. Don't mess with the timeline without good reason / explanation - If someone was dead then they were dead - Don't bring 'em back to life just cos it made a good story or they were a good actor and 3.. Anything you suggest must be at least theoretically possible - Dilithium Crystals became just that because someone pointed out that Lithium already existed and won't power a Starship - The script writer said he had heard it somewhere and lithium sounded a cool word....(Before anyone says it – Yes – I know I need to get out more.)

Anyone else bored of the constant "Loading....." tag each screen yet either

Uniforms look silly - I want to simply pick one of the series ones...???

Still buggy and crashes / does weird things in graphics or doesn't refresh targets properly.

Still has "Gold" spammers - When is someone going to write a filter to catch / stop before they start these guys???

It's wrong that people have maxed out in the first week (Jedi anyone ???)

Maybe I'm asking too much and maybe it shouldn't be called a MMORPG and maybe it needs more work but...

I'll still play it (In the absence of anything better or that does what I want.) but I am worried for its future.  "It's a Game, Jim - But not as we know it."
 

Very good writeup. Wish Cryptic devs would take a look at it to understand how many flaws the game has and if it is to have any future it needs to remedy atleast some of the major ones. Like having some consequences for losing/winning a fleet action, a way to make the war go forward. I mean, everything is so static and unchangeable.

 I don't quite like that review, I'm an avid EvE and STO player and I think both are very good games at what they are trying to achieve. EvE is the best virtual world out there and STO is like a Star Trek TV season in gaming format, but the writer didn't pay enough attention to the chapters (storylines). Perhaps the writer doesen't remember neither the original serie or the more modern ones like DS9 or Voyager, or the films. If you remember well them, playing STO storylines is really like watching a TV serial with a lot of connections with those past series and films, the most well done PVE questing experience in a mmo ever. And I'm not talking about 1 quest, I'm talking about storylines, series of linked quests, that go for like lvl1 to 20 or more (I'm at lvl 21), like the most prominent Miral Paris and augments storyline.

You really need a reviewer with solid knowledge about Star Trek franchise to review STO. Even more, you need to know about Star Trek to enjoy this game, otherwise it's like other mmo, with a few innovations here and there.

I'm really agree on the documentation, trying to understand how things work is hard in the game. Also, I don't think it's an mmo in the classical old-school meaning. I don't even think it tries to make players stay ingame for years like EvE, Galaxies, etc, it's more like a game than a world, but that doesen't mean it is not a good game.

The last link mmmhh fun but I don't like it.

STO should be called a "Mini Multiplayer Online" game, there's nothing at all "Massive" about it..

I think developers have forgotten the true meaning of the MMO genre, "to make you feel small in a large world"

The only other title in the forseeable future that could hopfully pull this off successfully is Bioware's SWTOR.

Dunno how the heck you're burning through episode content. I'm currently lvl 38 as of this post and I've had episodes that have been below me level the whole game with obviously tons at my level and above. On this point, I'm confused. My log is full of episodes.

"marking out PvP-friendly sectors of space owned by fleets, with stations that they invest in and manage, which act as economic hubs and have to be defended by enemies which shift from day to day based on politics."

er, LOL

What, you mean like EVE ?

OOOoooohahaha, oh how I laughed at this, that made my day.

 I dont get what the hell you people are talking about. 

This game is not an mmo, its a horrible way of Crypic to suck money out of its playerbase once again. 

They pissed on the STAR TREK IP, and made this instanced POS, with absolutely no depth, no Trek feel, and no it does not feel like an MMO at all.

Its obvious all they want is to make money on the boxsales and then ( hopefully ) they can just fuck the rest. 

The fact that people play this, accepting this game, as an mmo. are enabling a crap devcompany like Cryptic to keep spweing their crap games out on the street.

Goddamnit even some of the musicsequences are ripped off of CoH  / CoV and CO. Same characteranimations, same lifeless feel to the world, and the same crap randomgenerated missions.

Horrible abomination of  a game, and i feel sad that people are endorsing this piece of shit game as an mmo.

EDIT: And i remember Jack Emmert, standing on stage with Leonard Nimoy, calling himself a STAR TREK fan. How can he sleep at night. ?? Gene Roddenberry must be turning in his grave.

The saddest part, is that this game is probably gonna have an impact on the new generation of STAR TREK fans, and its being presented in the most shallow way possible. Sure to destroy the future of Trek if people just accept it. 

And im not even a Trekkie ffs.

Originally posted by JoeTan

 I dont get what the hell you people are talking about. 

 

This game is not an mmo, its a horrible way of Crypic to suck money out of its playerbase once again. 

 

They pissed on the STAR TREK IP, and made this instanced POS, with absolutely no depth, no Trek feel, and no it does not feel like an MMO at all.

 

Its obvious all they want is to make money on the boxsales and then ( hopefully ) they can just fuck the rest. 

 

The fact that people play this, accepting this game, as an mmo. are enabling a crap devcompany like Cryptic to keep spweing their crap games out on the street.

 

Goddamnit even some of the musicsequences are ripped off of CoH  / CoV and CO. Same characteranimations, same lifeless feel to the world, and the same crap randomgenerated missions.

 

Horrible abomination of  a game, and i feel sad that people are endorsing this piece of shit game as an mmo.

 

EDIT: And i remember Jack Emmert, standing on stage with Leonard Nimoy, calling himself a STAR TREK fan. How can he sleep at night. ?? Gene Roddenberry must be turning in his grave.

 

The saddest part, is that this game is probably gonna have an impact on the new generation of STAR TREK fans, and its being presented in the most shallow way possible. Sure to destroy the future of Trek if people just accept it. 

 

And im not even a Trekkie ffs.

 

 

 

 

 

I disagree with you on every single point you have made above. Implying that that the above is your opinion and below is mine.
 

I am happy with this game and happy that Cryptic developed it in record time, 2 years i think. When i heard that Cryptic were taking over the IP i didnt expect to be playing STOL in early 2010.

Due to the short dev time ofc it is nto going to be an all singing and dancing game. But so long as Cryptic are dedicated to devloping it further then i am very happy.

There could be more content but that will come, in fact there is a content patch out today and more will come ala all MMOs. And since i am not a power player i am not yet hit by the lack of content.

As a trekie and also very happy with the game as there is so much to do and see in the game from a true trekie's pont of view. Hell just fighting in pvp areneas in a battle cloacking Bird of Prey floats my boat and I could do it all night, the action is very cinematic with all the explosion and sounds. A trekie's dream come true!

I do agree its not an MMO its a co-op game and therefore shouldnt draw a subscription. Apart from that its a fun light break in current mmo poop.

" Jim it's not Dead "

" SPOCK "

Rover Class

Far too leniant review. Reviewers should be tearing this P.O.S to pieces.

Originally posted by Dave3216

I do agree its not an MMO its a co-op game and therefore shouldnt draw a subscription. Apart from that its a fun light break in current mmo poop.

I guess everyone agrees that WoW is an MMO, what makes WoW an MMO and STOL not?

When i play WoW i go out into the world and do quests

When i play STOL i go out into the world and do quests

When i play WoW i see lots of people running around  in the cities

When i play STOL i see lots of people running around in the Space dock
 

When i play WoW i go to dungeons and co-operate with others

When i play STOL i go to certain systems and join with others to kill big NPCs.

When i play WoW i quest with my friends

When i play STOL i quest with my friends
 

When i play WoW i buy stuff from others on the auction house

When i play STOL i buy stuff from others on the auction house
 

Etc

Etc

 Good to see someone in the industry agree its not a MMO and shouldnt be called one. Also good writeup and echoes what most have said about the game.

Originally posted by VultureSkull
 

I disagree with you on every single point you have made above. Implying that that the above is your opinion and below is mine.

I am happy with this game and happy that Cryptic developed it in record time, 2 years i think. When i heard that Cryptic were taking over the IP i didnt expect to be playing STOL in early 2010.

Due to the short dev time ofc it is nto going to be an all singing and dancing game. But so long as Cryptic are dedicated to devloping it further then i am very happy.

There could be more content but that will come, in fact there is a content patch out today and more will come ala all MMOs. And since i am not a power player i am not yet hit by the lack of content.

As a trekie and also very happy with the game as there is so much to do and see in the game from a true trekie's pont of view. Hell just fighting in pvp areneas in a battle cloacking Bird of Prey floats my boat and I could do it all night, the action is very cinematic with all the explosion and sounds. A trekie's dream come true!

 I respect your oppinion, but i simply dont understand how a Trekkie can be sattisfied with this. Sorry sir :)

When i heard Nimoy talk in the beginning of the game, I cried a bit inside.

I cant believe im hearing Spocks voice in this game, if feels so dirty and wrong. 

If i must say one positive thing about the game tho, I did enjoy the deep space encounters. But it just gets old really really quick .

And yes, i guess the graphics arent too bad either, alltho I really dont care much for em. 

Originally posted by JoeTan

 I respect your oppinion, but i simply dont understand how a Trekkie can be sattisfied with this. Sorry sir :)

 

When i heard Nimoy talk in the beginning of the game, I cried a bit inside.

 

I cant believe im hearing Spocks voice in this game, if feels so dirty and wrong. 

 

If i must say one positive thing about the game tho, I did enjoy the deep space encounters. But it just gets old really really quick .

And yes, i guess the graphics arent too bad either, alltho I really dont care much for em. 

Well by your own admission you are not a trekie so you can't understand lol. Best leave that there, as beautry lies in the eye of the beholder or what ever they say
 

You did a deep space encounter and it got old realy quick? Why so? Is this not the same as any other MMO where you go and kill 10 boars or collect ten apples.

No doubt you were expecting something different which does not fit in with an MMO, maybe more scripted stories ala a single player game. If you were expecting that then ofc you will be disaapointed as this is not a sngle player game. 

Originally posted by Elsabolts

" Jim it's not Dead "

" SPOCK "

Rover Class

That poor dog....

On topic:

Great pre-review or "first-glance".  I think the game lacks many things...the feeling of immersion into the Star-Trek Universe, crafting, any sense that you are part of Star Fleet.  The game play is lacking and not at all like the Star Trek show that I've come to enjoy.  Star Trek wasn't about kill, kill, kill.  I, for one, am very disappointed in this "MMO" game.

It does have room to grow and I hope Cryptic takes advantage of that but I am having fun currently. Nice article that seems to touch on most of the good bad and ugly points. Can't wait to read the review!

Originally posted by Distiler

 I don't quite like that review, I'm an avid EvE and STO player and I think both are very good games at what they are trying to achieve. EvE is the best virtual world out there and STO is like a Star Trek TV season in gaming format, but the writer didn't pay enough attention to the chapters (storylines). Perhaps the writer doesen't remember neither the original serie or the more modern ones like DS9 or Voyager, or the films. If you remember well them, playing STO storylines is really like watching a TV serial with a lot of connections with those past series and films, the most well done PVE questing experience in a mmo ever. And I'm not talking about 1 quest, I'm talking about storylines, series of linked quests, that go for like lvl1 to 20 or more (I'm at lvl 21), like the most prominent Miral Paris and augments storyline.

You really need a reviewer with solid knowledge about Star Trek franchise to review STO. Even more, you need to know about Star Trek to enjoy this game, otherwise it's like other mmo, with a few innovations here and there.

 

I'm really agree on the documentation, trying to understand how things work is hard in the game. Also, I don't think it's an mmo in the classical old-school meaning. I don't even think it tries to make players stay ingame for years like EvE, Galaxies, etc, it's more like a game than a world, but that doesen't mean it is not a good game.

 

The last link mmmhh fun but I don't like it.

Actually, no, STO should be a fun game even if the player has never seen an episode of Star Trek in his or her life.  If it only appeals to fans of the lore, it fails the definition of a good game.  (see EVE, what the heck is the lore about in that game, I have no idea, but its my favorite MMO to play)

And if you paid attention, Lum did say he was a huge fan of the IP, in fact, its the main reason he purchased the game and is a little bit too forgiving in his review of the game IMO.

You are correct, it more of a game than world, and that's the pity of it, a great IP like Star Trek should have been built as a virtual world and the opportunity was squandered.

In single player games, a franchise is frequently passed around to multiple development houses so you get many games based on an IP, (ST being one of them) but in the MMO world you rarely see a 2nd chance (SWTOR being the first I believe) and from most people's perspective, STO will have to die a quick death so the world they really had hoped for can be made.

Sadly, that looks to be more like 5-10 years away now.

Originally posted by VultureSkull

No doubt you were expecting something different which does not fit in with an MMO, maybe more scripted stories ala a single player game. If you were expecting that then ofc you will be disaapointed as this is not a sngle player game. 

 

Hei, STO is full of scripted stories that are linked with the films and series. Some of the best quests in mmo industry are in STO. Some go for 10 or more lvls. Almirant Quinn give those storylines (at lvl 20 it changes to another almirant, T'Nae I think).

Sorry Scott, but your opinion about "what is an MMO" is outdated. In fact, even in WoW you mostly play with few people and we can argue if it's better to just see other people running everywhere.

Originally posted by Kyleran

Actually, no, STO should be a fun game even if the player has never seen an episode of Star Trek in his or her life.  If it only appeals to fans of the lore, it fails the definition of a good game.  (see EVE, what the heck is the lore about in that game, I have no idea, but its my favorite MMO to play).

 

 If you know the lore you enjoy it more than if you dont, in World of Warcraft, in EvE, in Galaxies, etc. If you don't, you enjoy the game mechanics mostly, but you loose some of the enjoyment about the storyline. Both ways STO is fun, but if you remember films and series, you'll amaze at lots of quests. Exactly in Galaxies, but in STO questing is linked in long storylines, not in mostly independent quests.

Otherwise, I don't think about STO or SWTOR as mmos, but an hibrid between single player, multiplayer and mmos. Both have something in common, history is the central theme, and in both you really need to read and remember storylines to really have enjoyment. The typical trend of picking all the quest in a zone and having the journal full is bad for those kind of games, you get lost in stories that in most cases are linked in STO and, it seems, will be in SWTOR.

BTW, CCP lore in EvE is awesome and extensive (not as much as Star Trek or Star Wars of course), but it does not affect day to day play except if you're in a roleplaying corp/alliance. I was in Ushra'Khan, and gaming experience there owns any non-rp corp/alliance.

Originally posted by Distiler

Originally posted by VultureSkull

No doubt you were expecting something different which does not fit in with an MMO, maybe more scripted stories ala a single player game. If you were expecting that then ofc you will be disaapointed as this is not a sngle player game. 

 

 

Hei, STO is full of scripted stories that are linked with the films and series. Some of the best quests in mmo industry are in STO. Some go for 10 or more lvls. Almirant Quinn give those storylines (at lvl 20 it changes to another almirant, T'Nae I think).

The problem isn't the content that is there, it's the content that isn't. There are some pretty good stories in the game, some quests are fun and well done, but you run out of them quickly, and for the most part they still feel like single player experiences.

Don't get me wrong, I am having fun in the game, but am not such a fan of the IP or Cryptic that I am going to see that it's not a turd painted gold. I will stick it out to the 45 day patch (I am not optimistic that anything great will come of that given my experience with CO) and/or until I make admiral, and see how things are, but so much would have to change for me to see myself playing this game in three months, let alone a year, that I can't imagine sticking with this for the long haul.

Looks like I might give FE a try soon.

Originally posted by Naral

Originally posted by Distiler

Originally posted by VultureSkull

No doubt you were expecting something different which does not fit in with an MMO, maybe more scripted stories ala a single player game. If you were expecting that then ofc you will be disaapointed as this is not a sngle player game. 

 

 

Hei, STO is full of scripted stories that are linked with the films and series. Some of the best quests in mmo industry are in STO. Some go for 10 or more lvls. Almirant Quinn give those storylines (at lvl 20 it changes to another almirant, T'Nae I think).

The problem isn't the content that is there, it's the content that isn't. There are some pretty good stories in the game, some quests are fun and well done, but you run out of them quickly, and for the most part they still feel like single player experiences.

Don't get me wrong, I am having fun in the game, but am not such a fan of the IP or Cryptic that I am going to see that it's not a turd painted gold. I will stick it out to the 45 day patch (I am not optimistic that anything great will come of that given my experience with CO) and/or until I make admiral, and see how things are, but so much would have to change for me to see myself playing this game in three months, let alone a year, that I can't imagine sticking with this for the long haul.

Looks like I might give FE a try soon.

I also think that when you reach almirant and finish the storylines, the game is done. Same thing happens to me with most mmo, except EvE and Galaxies. But also happens with most non-mmo games when you beat the end boss, like paying 50$ for 20 hours of gameplay. I can't understand ppl playing WoW for years, but if they enjoy grinding, well, so be it. I stick with mmo's as long as storylines are compeling or because sandbox tools are quite interesting so to "live" in a virtual world. Otherwise, I cancel. EvE has rp and sandbox tools, Galaxies too, STO has storylines.

The problem is many people judge on how they (unreasonable) expectations meet or not with the game, instead the game itself.

They just pick things they do not like or they prefer in other MMOs and complain that STO do or do not have them.

Originally posted by Gdemami

The problem is many people judge on how they (unreasonable) expectations meet or not with the game, instead the game itself.

They just pick things they do not like or they prefer in other MMOs and complain that STO do or do not have them.

 

Problem is. There is not much to pick from in STO. It's either Pew Pew Pew in space. Or Pew Pew Pew on ground.

Cheers

---

Originally posted by Guillermo197
 
Problem is. There is not much to pick from in STO. It's either Pew Pew Pew in space. Or Pew Pew Pew on ground.
Cheers

---

That is the least problem.

It is funny you mention it but it is quite unique to have pew pew in space and ground in one bundle so that might be the first thing to pick.

2nd pick can be very interesting combat mechanics
3rd pick can be very good story line and PVE content all together
4th pick can be the casuality of gameplay

etc.

Originally posted by JoeTan

 I dont get what the hell you people are talking about. 

 

This game is not an mmo, its a horrible way of Crypic to suck money out of its playerbase once again. 

 

They pissed on the STAR TREK IP, and made this instanced POS, with absolutely no depth, no Trek feel, and no it does not feel like an MMO at all.

 

Its obvious all they want is to make money on the boxsales and then ( hopefully ) they can just fuck the rest. 

 

The fact that people play this, accepting this game, as an mmo. are enabling a crap devcompany like Cryptic to keep spweing their crap games out on the street.

 

Goddamnit even some of the musicsequences are ripped off of CoH  / CoV and CO. Same characteranimations, same lifeless feel to the world, and the same crap randomgenerated missions.

 

Horrible abomination of  a game, and i feel sad that people are endorsing this piece of shit game as an mmo.

 

EDIT: And i remember Jack Emmert, standing on stage with Leonard Nimoy, calling himself a STAR TREK fan. How can he sleep at night. ?? Gene Roddenberry must be turning in his grave.

 

The saddest part, is that this game is probably gonna have an impact on the new generation of STAR TREK fans, and its being presented in the most shallow way possible. Sure to destroy the future of Trek if people just accept it. 

 

And im not even a Trekkie ffs.

Damn right.

I agree with this article. I'm also with him when he says that STO isn't a bad game, and is still fun enough to play for the time being. So while I recognize the bad and ugly parts of STO, the game is still worth playing in my opinion.

Ewww! That's tacky putting a link to Eve at the end of that article with the hyperlink being," It could be a very compelling game".

Very classless and unprofessional. It nullified the entire article.

---

Originally posted by silkakc
Ewww! That's tacky putting a link to Eve at the end of that article with the hyperlink being," It could be a very compelling game".
Very classless and unprofessional. It nullified the entire article.

---

Yeah, I was wondering about the same but I was puting blame on my English for not understanding what it is supposed to mean.

Originally posted by Sarr

Sorry Scott, but your opinion about "what is an MMO" is outdated. In fact, even in WoW you mostly play with few people and we can argue if it's better to just see other people running everywhere.

The reason given in the article that implies that STOL is not a MMO is the use of instancing.

And is then compared to Guild Wars. Other MMOs that use instancing that i know of are AoC and EQ2. Are these not MMOs either because they use instancing?

Or maybe it is the amount of instancing that is used in STOL that makes it not an MMO.

To my understanding there are 3 levels of instancing, you have games like Vanguard that use no instancing, then you have games like EQ2 and AoC (and STOL) that use some instancing, and finally the total instancing ala Guild Wars where only the towns (hubs)are not instanced.

Since STOL does not use total instancing i fail to see how it can be compared to Guild Wars where as AoC and EQ2 are not.

This coupled with the points i give above regrading the way people play WoW and STOL being similar makes me wonder why the writer (Scott) and others on the Internet forums persist with this arguement, based, it seems on a "feeling" when they play STOL.

Originally posted by VultureSkull

Originally posted by Sarr

Sorry Scott, but your opinion about "what is an MMO" is outdated. In fact, even in WoW you mostly play with few people and we can argue if it's better to just see other people running everywhere.

 

The reason given in the article that implies that STOL is not a MMO is the use of instancing.

And is then compared to Guild Wars. Other MMOs that use instancing that i know of are AoC and EQ2. Are these not MMOs either because they use instancing?

Or maybe it is the amount of instancing that is used in STOL that makes it not an MMO.

To my understanding there are 3 levels of instancing, you have games like Vanguard that use no instancing, then you have games like EQ2 and AoC (and STOL) that use some instancing, and finally the total instancing ala Guild Wars where only the towns (hubs)are not instanced.

Since STOL does not use total instancing i fail to see how it can be compared to Guild Wars where as AoC and EQ2 are not.

This coupled with the points i give above regrading the way people play WoW and STOL being similar makes me wonder why the writer (Scott) and others on the Internet forums persist with this arguement, based, it seems on a "feeling" when they play STOL.

Maybe we played different games but STO has total instancing.   Its using the exact same server and instancing system code as CO.   Infact its pretty much a given that CO was the "test bed" for STO's server infrastructure.

The only place I believe that is uninstanced is the spacehub.  Everywhere else you can choose which version of the instance to go too including the Star Map, every quest is in an instanced off area where only those in your group or who are auto grouped to you can go.
 

The only time you might not notice the instancing is if you have told the game through its settings to Auto Put you in an instance instead of allowing you to choose.  If you've turned off choosing your own instance you won't notice the instancing until your attempting to find your friends on the flight map.

 A couple of notes on comments so far:

* I paid fairly close attention last night and indeed, space loot isn't awarded on ground and vice versa. So my bad there - working from memory.

* I notice that everyone commenting that there is in fact a good deal of episodic content tends to be in the upper 20s or better for level range. I have heard that the problem with running out of steam content-wise tends to disappear at that point - not sure if that's due to levelling speed or more content, though.

* I indeed did not hit on energy management being a part of space gameplay, nor did I talk about the expose/exploit system in ground combat - I didn't feel it necessary to go into that level of specifics for what was already a fairly detailed overview. I had seen some writeups on how damage varied for some weapons based on range, but given that I usually play escorts and spend my time more worrying about angle of attack then range, it's hard to tell. 

* As for my knowledge of the IP, I daresay I would put my knowledge of ST lore against anyone, including many of the more recent series writers :)  I do appreciate how the content is very much in chronological order, and cackled for pretty much a solid five minutes during the Guardian of Forever mission arc when one of the characters commented on how painful a headache time travel missions were. 

* I didn't notice a good deal of difference between Patrol and Exploration missions, I'll have to check them out in more detail (especially since I'm out of episodic content again!)

* Again, I'm sorry if some of you thought the snarky link at the end was inappropriate. The two games are in fact very similar, and they both have strengths that the other lacks. Much as STO could benefit from Eve's sense of persistence and player ownership, Eve could very much benefit from STO's more visceral and active space combat.

---

Originally posted by LumTheMad
 
* Again, I'm sorry if some of you thought the snarky link at the end was inappropriate. The two games are in fact very similar, and they both have strengths that the other lacks. Much as STO could benefit from Eve's sense of persistence and player ownership, Eve could very much benefit from STO's more visceral and active space combat.

---

'The two games are in fact very similar, and they both have strengths that the other lacks.'

Seems to me quite the contrary and they are indeed two opposites.

Can you elaborate what those similarities apart from being in space are supposed to be?

I picked up a lifetime subscription to Star Trek Online because I was curious how it was like.  Between the "when all things are said and done this is pretty shallow" and "is this an MMORPG" points is why I've come to regret this decision.

I can partly forgive the first on the grounds that MMORPGs are, practically by definition, bastions of shallow gameplay where skill is swapped out for persistence.  Star Trek Online does better than usual at coaxing skill out of its players, and perhaps will do so even more if they get around to adding a difficulty slider.

As for the second, however... I logically knew what I was getting into, but it seems I had to witness it myself from the perspective of a lifetime subscription for it to really ground in.  This game lacks that certain sense of what makes an MMORPG compelling, the virtual world, the social backdrop, the grinding existing within a frame in which your progress would seem to matter... a purpose.  Virtual purpose or not, it's what makes these games worth $15/mo, and whether it's the heavy instancing or some other aspect of the design, STO doesn't have it.

You know, if I had an EVE Online lifetime subscription (that I'm aware of there's no such thing) it'd seem to meet the requirements that STO lacks but, at the same time, I would actually be a bit daunted in how much of a ridiculous grind the game is.  EVE Online is dead to me on the grounds that its balanced to be so very conductive to grandfathered power hording.  Even if it were discounted to $50, I'd pass up on a lifetime subscription to EVE Online on the grounds that there's really no place for me there. 

Besides, I never liked the gameplay in EVE Online, with all its fire-and-forget mechanics.  Orbit at x range, turn on weapon, wait, be prepared to hit emergency button if necessary.  Blargh.  The battles are usually over before they've even begun, my participation is too transparently only knowing some very crude rules about which buttons need pushing.  When I could be replaced with a simple AI script, it's not a game I want to play.

It seems what I want is a game that is both deep and massively multiplayer.  Suitably interactive and suitably dynamic.  Has such a thing ever existed?  I've played a lot of MMORPGs... I think Final Fantasy XI Renkais are as close as I've ever got.  Cabal Online combos got close, at least depth on a tactile level, but they screwed it up in their implementation of Auras/Battle Modes.  Nearly everything else... well, when I was bored of EverQuest, I was done with them.

I agree on most of your points. however part of the ugly you mentioned could easily be improved such as the server stability. you have to give them props for a smoother release than a few other mmo's of recent years. yes the grind is definately there but episodes like i believe its called "city of the edge of never" give me great hope as i got goosebumps hearing spock speak to me over audio when we were zipped into the past by the guardian. that is what a star trek mmo quest should be. i am hoping there will be more like that one in the future.

Wait a minute how can anyone comment on "the grind", when some players achieved max level in a week?  All I can say anyone mentioning that there is a grind in this game is getting heavily laughed at.

I have to agree with Lum though on the space battles, Star Trek ship battles are far more interactive than an Eve battle.  In Eve ship fittings determine far more of the outcome than skill does.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

Wait a minute how can anyone comment on "the grind", when some players achieved max level in a week?  All I can say anyone mentioning that there is a grind in this game is getting heavily laughed at.

Assuming they didn't get max level quickly by exploiting broken/misbalanced missions.  That sort of thing happened a lot in the beta.

I loved the game until they made it to easy. I have already stopped playing and have no intention of returning to this single player game they are trying to put off as an MMO. Anyone can make max in 8 days without worry of dieing or needing to group up. To easy of a game is no fun for me.

Originally posted by VultureSkull

Originally posted by Dave3216

I do agree its not an MMO its a co-op game and therefore shouldnt draw a subscription. Apart from that its a fun light break in current mmo poop.

 

I guess everyone agrees that WoW is an MMO, what makes WoW an MMO and STOL not?

 

When i play WoW i go out into the world and do quests

 

When i play STOL i go out into the world and do quests after I load...... from the room I got the quest in. Then I load....out of space dock. Then I load....into the lame grid map. Then I click on a name and auto fly to a system. then I load.....into the system kill 5 patrolls then load......back to the lame grid map. over and over and over again.

 

When i play WoW i see lots of people running around  in the cities

When i play STOL i see lots of people running around in the Space dock (lobby)
 

 

When i play WoW i go to dungeons and co-operate with others

When i play STOL i go to certain systems and join with others to kill big NPCs. Only because I am thrust in with them by the game. There is no communicaton or tactics, team work friendship or comraderie.

 

When i play WoW i quest with my friends

When i play STOL i quest with strangers I am thrust into shoebox instances with.
 

 

When i play WoW i buy stuff from others on the auction house

When i play STOL i buy stuff from others on the auction house
 

 

Etc

Etc

fixed.
 

Originally posted by oddjobs74

 

Originally posted by VultureSkull

Originally posted by Dave3216

I do agree its not an MMO its a co-op game and therefore shouldnt draw a subscription. Apart from that its a fun light break in current mmo poop.

 

I guess everyone agrees that WoW is an MMO, what makes WoW an MMO and STOL not?

 

When i play WoW i go out into the world and do quests

 

When i play STOL i go out into the world and do quests after I load...... from the room I got the quest in. Then I load....out of space dock. Then I load....into the lame grid map. Then I click on a name and auto fly to a system. then I load.....into the system kill 5 patrolls then load......back to the lame grid map. over and over and over again.

 

When i play WoW i see lots of people running around  in the cities

When i play STOL i see lots of people running around in the Space dock (lobby)
 

 

When i play WoW i go to dungeons and co-operate with others

When i play STOL i go to certain systems and join with others to kill big NPCs. Only because I am thrust in with them by the game. There is no communicaton or tactics, team work friendship or comraderie.

 

When i play WoW i quest with my friends

When i play STOL i quest with strangers I am thrust into shoebox instances with.
 

 

When i play WoW i buy stuff from others on the auction house

When i play STOL i buy stuff from others on the auction house
 

 

Etc

Etc

fixed.
 

hehe agreed was just to lazy to reply myself. Very much like instancing in Dragon Age shock horror a single player game.
 

I'm not touching this with a 10 foot pole.

..and I'm a fan of both mmorpgs's AND star trek. Truly.

You figure it out.

Originally posted by Gdemami

 

---

Originally posted by silkakc
Ewww! That's tacky putting a link to Eve at the end of that article with the hyperlink being," It could be a very compelling game".
Very classless and unprofessional. It nullified the entire article.

---

 

Yeah, I was wondering about the same but I was puting blame on my English for not understanding what it is supposed to mean.

Or perhaps y'all just don't know about the illustrious infamy of Lum the Mad from 'way back when'. Hehehe.

I actually enjoyed reading the article it was fair review, although i would personally find it hard not to be more critical of the game. To me STO will never be anything more than an online arcade game, with no real reference to what Star Trek is about. I believe cryptic missed a trick where mmo longevity is concerned.

However, they did not miss a trick on profits, this game will prove profitable for them, the IP and expectations set by the game during its design phase had ensured that.
 

My only last irrelevant comment is that i would like to have seen Bioware, or CCP been issued with this IP, i think the game would have been in my opinion a lot better for it.

Originally posted by VultureSkull

Originally posted by JoeTan

 I respect your oppinion, but i simply dont understand how a Trekkie can be sattisfied with this. Sorry sir :)

 

When i heard Nimoy talk in the beginning of the game, I cried a bit inside.

 

I cant believe im hearing Spocks voice in this game, if feels so dirty and wrong. 

 

If i must say one positive thing about the game tho, I did enjoy the deep space encounters. But it just gets old really really quick .

And yes, i guess the graphics arent too bad either, alltho I really dont care much for em. 

 

Well by your own admission you are not a trekie so you can't understand lol. Best leave that there, as beautry lies in the eye of the beholder or what ever they say
 

You did a deep space encounter and it got old realy quick? Why so? Is this not the same as any other MMO where you go and kill 10 boars or collect ten apples.

No doubt you were expecting something different which does not fit in with an MMO, maybe more scripted stories ala a single player game. If you were expecting that then ofc you will be disaapointed as this is not a sngle player game. 

 

I expected something more than what it is. The Deep Space Encounters feel just like those cookiecutter quests you mention, just with another skin. 

Its just too shallow and meaningless, to me at least.

No enough depth in the questlines, it seems they have done everything a tad too quick. Which in my oppinion has made the game very shallow.

I was expecting a real mmo, that gives me options, I dont feel this does.

It doesnt feel like an mmo at all. The heavy instancing made sure of that.

I just watched all the movies again, started on them the day after i started playing STO, made me feel even worse about the game. 

I think I was expecting way more than you tbh, but im happy that your happy.

All we got here seems like a copy of all their other games with a star trek paintjob. 

Star Trek deserves better

MMORPG.com is way too forgiving for this game. Compared to other MMO's it severely lacks features and content for a MMO, but still you pay an AAA sub. On top of that, part of the (precious few) content is offered through item mall or exclusive offers with lifetimesub/boxes. Its so obvious that Cryptic got away with this way too early release purely because of the ST IP.

Apart from the payment model, there is the incredibly shallow implementation of this famous IP. As others already pointed out its just some ST skins slapped on the CO engine. While the naval..ehm spacecombat seems nice, its just not spacecombat. The groundcombat is just really bad. Exploration, one of the important aspects in the series and something that can actually be created in MMO's, is nothing but a diceroll in this game.

Its interesting that the writer of the article mentions Guild Wars. Apparently its possible to do all this without even asking for a sub. Even Guild Wars, a 5yr old game, still offers more bang for the buck then STO.

Im really getting tired about the many articles covering this half assed game. There is nothing innovating, its not even a good implementation of an old concept. It lacks polish, it lacks features, it lacks even decent ground pve, it lacks content. Whats wrong with you ppl from MMORPG.com?

The title of the article should have been yet another MMO releases not ready. Future to come... most of the population max level before the free trial time is up, promises of more content, we are working on the issues state of the game developer talk on the boards, followed by mass cancellations do to not having said content. Then you will get some content that should have been in the game at launch that was half finished labeled as a "free expansion".

STO is an instance theme park and a half constructed theme park at that. It should not even be called a MMO with at most 80 hours of game play to max level. It is more like a single player game with a large multi-play option. I will give you space combat is somewhat fun, but that is hardly worth continuing to pay a sub after the free trial is up as most of the player base will have done all the games offers by then. But hey you can play the Klingons after you finish your limited federation content....oh thats right they released the game without ANY content for them...funny review considering the last 2 articles posted by Scott, maybe should re-read those then re-write this.
 

Have to agree with article on all points and also that im still playing because it is fun and im staying for a while longer.
 

But i also understood from the start that the game would be more guild wars like than a true mmorpg.

And the big negative is how the heck can ppl be max level after a week it seems like poor design by cryptic .

Should take at least 6month but best if it takes a year

Good article.  Any time you have tons of INSTANCES .. the game will never grow. I mean its STAR TREK! You want to play with 100s of people. In making a new online mmo.. you need to LEARN from your past. 

The article was very nice to the game. There is so much more that was left out... but hopefully in time it might be fixed.

Times are hard right now. Fun game if you like very few people playing with you..

i think this first version of startrek onine has given cryptic a very good grounding, however i fear that now the game has released and they have gotten their money from the paying public that they will put it on the back burner and when ever they need new content will run ovre and mash the "genesis" button and say here you go kids another 10000 planets containing the same 5 quest types.

Which is unfortunatly what ive come to expect from most mmo companies basically rehash the same quest types over and over.

1. find 5 xx glowies in space or on ground (you may have to fight some mobs if its interesting)

2. kill 5 xx mobs space /ground

erm thats about it for the patrol missions, the true joy from the game comes from the well thought out episodes and i wish that every single mission followed those builds with a proper story and follow through. IF they could begin working through every single patrol mission and replace it with a multiple ending tree it would be truely great.

the other issue which i think is going to really bite them in the butt is lack of documentation and as per usual some abilities being incredibly overpowered that they are a must while others are pointless.

Also some ships are SOOO slow i can say this the galaxy's turning circle currently is the entire map.

Chalk up another fail for Cryptic. Here's hoping SWTOR doesn't suck.

THe key thing here is that it doesn't matter if it is heavily instanced  or not....

It doesn't matter if some thing that it is or isn't a MMO

It doesn't matter if the content is light or repetative at the moment

The key thing for me is that it doesn't  "LIVE"  at the moment - The whole point of a MMO is that I can engage with real people and that things are more interactive - Your actions define what is happening - Even more so in a game where a war is going on - please don't make me fight stuff and tell me I've done well only to see the same thing tomorrow as there is another new player doing the same grind !!!  (Space station 24 anyone ?

I want to explore - Steer by the thrid star on the right, set engines to warp factor 5 (is that the max now?) and keep going 'til morning !!!

If I want to fight the klingons to protect my people then let me win or lose some ground - Likewise as Sun Tze said - When in War prepare for Peace - If I wan't to engage in peace mssions (a la Enterprise C ) then make it work for me.

If I've had enough of this for the minute then let me build a lab or a workshop somewhere and do some research / building.

Just don't make me do the same things over and over again  and make me think I am having Fun !

THERE ... ARE.... FOUR.... LIGHTS !!!

I was a sceptic.. I am no launch-boy ST fanbois... I just downloaded the game on a 'buddy' (aka Freebie) token this weekend after suffering some lag-fest PvP issues on my 'regular' MMO.

After I let the game download over night.. I had a day off, so I loaded it up. No issues.
I got into the character selection/customization and spent a good hour just messing around, exploring the various looks available.  Cryptic does an excellent job at this.  City of Heroes-styled character customization is one of their best features.. and adding it to STO makes this game all that more fun to play.   Yes.. it is about the 'looks'.. this isn't a text-based game ;)

Then, I started the tutorial.   And you know what, IT WAS FUN... right from the start.   The story was not hokey or silly or overdone.. it was a good 'intro' and I while I am totally new to the interface, I managed to get through without wasting a lot of time wondering what to do next.   Good stuff.

The mixture of ground with space is a VERY powerful combination.   That and your bridge officers.. your own personal NPC 'crew' that you can customize (appearance-wise) and train... makes a the whole 'grind' a lot easier to swallow.

Yes.. there are the 'delivery' missions and the 'destroy X' missions.. but the mixture of space, ground, customization... none to any high degree and just enough of each to keep it interesting.

Unlike EvE (and yes I did notice that link)... the complexity does to interfer with the fun factor.  And unlike EvE.. my character is not a meat-sack stuffed in Pod that is stuffed into a Ship.   I can walk around, interact with others... I can beam down to a planet and smack someone with the butt-end of a rifle... I am a character, not an organic brain-pod.

Also, the sense of 'team' is there.. you feel like your part of the Federation right from the start.  You fight WITH other players as a default (instance grouping).. unlike EvE where you always suspect you're going to get robbed or killed for jollies.

I am pleasantly surprised at STO.   The negative hype and reviews baffle me now that I've actually played it.  Perhaps expectations are overblown.. perhaps being Topic of the Month game on MMO's means authors have to keep finding new reasons to make comments... dig up dirt.. on how great or terrible the game is in every possible detail.

Hey folks.. its fun.   You want space + ground... STO has it, and while its not everything I dream of.. its got enough of what I enjoy right now to make it something I want to play a few hours here and there.

Its not EvE.. but then again not everyone likes playing EvE.   Its definately Star Trek.. in looks, sounds, and action.

its got a good grounding but its important that cryptic capitilises soon else the only people playing after the 30 days free after buying will be the lifetime subscribers and the gold sellers

Originally posted by giggal

its got a good grounding but its important that cryptic capitilises soon else the only people playing after the 30 days free after buying will be the lifetime subscribers and the gold sellers

Amen to that the last borg patch really helped but imo they need to revamp the ground combat.

 "Server stability has been an issue this first week, with unstable queues to log in, frequent server crashes occasionally leaving your character stranded logging into an instance, and other such teething pains. As the game’s only been released for a week, it remains to be seen if this is, as is most likely, temporary."

Server stability has been an ongoing issue since at least open beta and head start.  It seems to becoming less and less of a problem, but you invariably get that "SERVER NOT RESPONDING" error message on any one of multiple loading screens, usually when zoning (remember zoning?) between sector space and system space, or between system and planet/space dock.   It's annoying, and for some it's a showstopper.  Another problem often discussed on the STO forums and in game is the one, global server and how downtimes, scheduled and otherwise, negatively affect a particular demographic (Europeans, East Coast, Central, Mountain, and/or Pacific players).  There seems to be quite a bit of Anti-American/Anti-European animosity on the forums, less so in-game.  Like other Cryptic games there's instancing everywhere.  There is no persistent world, there is no EVE-like universe, it's all kind of slapped together MMO on the cheap.  They even reused some icon art from Champions Online!  It's a sad treatment of a classic IP.  But if you're a Trekker like me, you're probably used to putting up with abuse and will likely tough it out for a while.  

  It's a sad treatment of a classic IP.  But if you're a Trekker like me, you're probably used to putting up with abuse and will likely tough it out for a while.  

And there we have it everyone.

Another game sold on IP hype, released early to hit targets to a fan base that would buy it just because of the IP and already being talked about being migrated to 8 button console players less than one month into launch.

If this does cause the meltdown of the MMORPG / PC gamer world I really really don't know what will.

Remember when we used to laugh at console players???

People of the PC world - unite and throw off your shackles of being forced to be pre-testers for one time buyers of console games - You only have your hard drives to reclaim !!!

Really, Scott?  A link to EVE Online at the end of an article, ostensibly, about STO?

The favoritism for Aion and EVE on this site is really, really obvious but writing a review and then plugging your favorite game at the end, a game I and many other people just.do.not.like - apparently we don't get the superior game design of EVE Online and, alas, perhaps we never will.  Then again, we're just gamers/consumers - not big-time reviewers in the high-flying world of websites devoted to MMOs, so we do of course prefer to have our opinions handed to us and to be reminded, constantly, at every turn, that EVE is a superior game and that if we were just smart enough to realize it, we'd start playing it.

I'm not trying to be overly sarcastic here but this is how your writing comes off to somebody that has had experience writing everything from journalistic pieces to technical manuals.  Enough already with the EVE plugs.

If I want to hear about EVE it's been out for many years; I can find information all over this site along with all the glowing reviews.  If I read an article on STO, please don't include a link to another game at the end.  A game that you happen to like better.

Yikes.

"But a little more “MMO” in the mix would make the game go much further. Say, just as a wild example, marking out PvP-friendly sectors of space owned by fleets, with stations that they invest in and manage, which act as economic hubs and have to be defended by enemies which shift from day to day based on politics."

That would be EVE Online. Which, I think, holds more than a few lessons for successful space simming these days. Sounds like STO could have cribbed a few more lessons from their book. For those who don't care for EVE, one doesn't need to emulate EVE per se in order to take some useful concepts from game design at a meta level.

The ugly.....DeAnna Troy....the morning after sans makeup.

Originally posted by Teramis

"But a little more “MMO” in the mix would make the game go much further. Say, just as a wild example, marking out PvP-friendly sectors of space owned by fleets, with stations that they invest in and manage, which act as economic hubs and have to be defended by enemies which shift from day to day based on politics."

 

That would be EVE Online. Which, I think, holds more than a few lessons for successful space simming these days. Sounds like STO could have cribbed a few more lessons from their book. For those who don't care for EVE, one doesn't need to emulate EVE per se in order to take some useful concepts from game design at a meta level.

 

 

Or, one could create a successful space MMIO without "cribbing" any lessons from EVE Online.  Will wonders never cease.  Originality.  EVE Online isn't the end all, be all some people think it is - honestly, it's one of the most boring MMO's if not the single worst MMO I've ever played.

I'd much rather play STO than EVE, and that's saying a lot because STO ain't really a gem, either.

The Good.

• You can log in and achieve a quest goal and get out in 30 minutes if you are pushed for time.  Most missions are broken up into out bite sized chunks.
• The graphics are nice, not great, but good.
• The ships generally fly like they do in the movies/series.
• Auto-teaming for some small instance missions.

The Bad

• A lack of in-game voice means almost no communication between players, which is a shame because the game supports auto-teaming nicely.  This lack also makes coordination very difficult.
• The randomness of auto-teaming, some missions have it, some don't
• To call it's "crafting system" a crafting system is to insult crafting systems everywhere.
• One escort ship is pretty much the same as the same ship of the same lvl.
• Buffs/debuffs seem to mean nothing and seem hardly worth the effort.
• You can survive nicely by hitting stuff until it dies without putting any thought into the combat at all, this is true in space and on land.

The Ugly

• The server is down almost as much as it is up.
• The server constantly loses connection
• Incredibly long load times in a game that is almost completely instanced is totally unacceptable.
• There are more bugs than there are devs on the planet earth.  Cryptic was warned both during Closed and Open Beta that the game wasn't going to be ready.
• The lack of content... the SERIOUS lack of content.
• Depth, it has none.  Let me be clear, I have seen deeper drops of water.
• It is Star Trek in name only.  Regardless of the justification that the Star Trek universe is currently at war, the only thing Star Trek about this game are the ships.  It should have been called Star Fleet Command Online.  If you loved TNG you will find that this game pretty much just requires you to kill stuff and will disappoint you totally.

Summary

Cryptic have totally failed to present this game for what it is, they have failed to manage the expectations of the people who will want to play it because it is Star Trek.  That is a failure of Cryptic, not the fan-boys making angry posts on the forums.  Cryptic also totally failed to provide for the number of people who would want to try this game based on its name alone, hence the awful server issues.  As I write this the game is currently down again, as are the forums.

However, it has potential, lots of it... so.

Get it, play it, walk away for 6 to 12 months, come back and have another look.  Don't expect it to be Star Trek cause it ain't, expect it to be just like any other shallow MMO where all you have to do is kill stuff and you won't be disappointed.

Sticking to the layout and design of the original discussion, I also will be using the sub-titles to rate my experience of this MMO.

The Good:
     If you're into the Star Trek look and feel, this MMO has it.  It has taken from the Star Trek universe the ships and gadgetry, as well as names from the Origional, TNG, DS9, and Voyager series that most are familiar with.  Although these are not the original characters, but offspring to the represented characters.
     What I liked most about playing this game in the beginning -- Open Beta to the first month of free usage -- was that I could actually control the very ships I grew up with and loved to build the models of.  I could also design my crew(s), which by-the-way are more like Guild Wars versions of Heroes (customizable henchmen), so I could have an all-male, all-female, all-vulcan, all-andorian, all-alien, or mix-n-match crew of my choice.

The Bad:
     It is not really a Star Trek MMO.  Sure it has all the toys (ships) and gadgetry (consoles and weaponry), but it has totally no peaceful missions, no diplomatic missions, no first-contact situations ... at all ... period!  It is a shoot-em-up hack-n-slash feast at best and should not carry the iconic name that was created to break the barrier of hatred and prejudism during a time when war, hatred and violence was abound.  Throughout the years Star Trek stood for peace and non-violence in either diplomatic relationships between other species or in first-contact situations.  However, this game supports a shoot-first-ask-questions-later dichotomy.
    If it's not a member of the Federation the mindset is to kill it, take what is has, and then kill it some more to be sure it is dead.  There are a few missions where all you do is look for five items either in space or on the ground, but 80% (in my experience with the game) is either space or ground combat and it's always the same ... Kill one mob, then kill five others; kill one mob, kill four more, then kill one last mob ... always the same.  The location design may vary slightly, but the contact is always the same.  So much so that it becomes very tedious and boring at times to continuous enter a mission with the same goal, Destroy enemy squad, destroy enemy squads (0/5), destroy enemy contact. 
     I recall entering eight instances, one after the other, with the same mission requirements, only the environmental layout was different, and all of them space-based.

The Ugly:
     Sectored space is a superimposed grid laid out in space to give the look and feel of entering one of the Tron speed-cycle instances with the maneuverability akin to trying to navigate your starship inside a pizza box.  Your ability to maneuver on the Z-axis are severely limited.  It is not 360-deg, more like 45-deg zenith, and 45-deg nadir. 
     When you're flying your ship, you are literally outside the ship following it ... i.e., YOU are the camera ... and looking down on your ship flying through sectored space is quite unrealistic and not at all immersable as you follow this grid with extremely large billboard signs separating each Sector Block.  These Sector Block separators are at most several light-years wide so you do not get the idea that you are flying through space, but rather through an Atari video game.
     Ground-based activity is a rather small square that took very little time to cross in any direction.  It has no real depth and no animation outside the mobs you are sent down to kill.  No animal life forms, no wind movement, nothing to indicate that there is life on the planet outside of the mission story saying to scan this or that lifeform which are glowies that have no animation at all to them.  One does not have any sense at all of planetary discovery when locked inside a small 1km X 1km square box.

     All-in-all i was greatly disappointed with the game and I am a die-hard Trekkie (not Trekker) who recalls watching the very first aired episode (and the title of it) on broadcast TV.  I bought the Pre-Order with the hopes and expectations of Star Trek, that is, more than just the toys associated with Star Trek, but was let down terribly by the senseless violence and the foam-at-the-mouth players who wanted more violence and complained about not having it.  The forums are full of complaints by both those who abhored the violence-packed violence and those who wanted to be punished for dying too much rather than to try to play the game to stay alive.  I really have nothing good to say about this game outside the fact that it is not Star Trek, and if you're just one of those MMO-kill-seekers then this is just another dull and boring trip through hack-n-slash lane and you would probably be happy playing it till another new-and-exiciting HnS MMO hits the market.

     My subscription?  Canceled!

     This game should have been called Imperial Starfleet Online (for those who recall the episode Mirror Mirror) whose motto was "Terror Must Be Maintained".

LMAO @ Rick Rollin' the Galaxy 

Thats as close as I will be getting to this game.