Star Trek Online?

[Snowbluff]

Does anyone here play this? I've leveled up to 50. I think the space battles are fun, and the writing is pretty nice at times. I've leveled with Romulan Escort Warbirds, but I've bought a Scimmy, because it looks really cool (even though it turns like a truck compared to my other Warbirds) and I wanted to support the game for a fun leveling experience.

[The_Jackal]

Does anyone here play this? I've leveled up to 50. I think the space battles are fun, and the writing is pretty nice at times. I've leveled with Romulan Escort Warbirds, but I've bought a Scimmy, because it looks really cool (even though it turns like a truck compared to my other Warbirds) and I wanted to support the game for a fun leveling experience.

I played it for a while, but swiftly became annoyed with the intensely repetitive endgame, and the constant wallet-tugging of their reward system. Basically, there are two ways to progress: Fleet progression, which involves a near-endless slog of PVE battles, and dilithium farming, which is gated at a snail's pace for the free tier of player. The space battles are pretty good, but even that gets tiresome after months upon months of doing the same grind for not very much reward.

[Snowbluff]

I'm fine with the amount of money it was for the Scimitar. I usually say $1 per good hour for free to play games, and I've gotten more than 25 out of it. If it gets too grindy, I might drop it. I'll more likely set up another character for another plot, though. Maybe do a cruiser or science vessel run. Either way, I think I have 10 levels to go before the endgame, and the good weapons are not from fleet stuff AFAIK (Too many +[dmg] tags, which suck, especially with a rommie +crit crew).

[The_Jackal]

I'm fine with the amount of money it was for the Scimitar. I usually say $1 per good hour for free to play games, and I've gotten more than 25 out of it. If it gets too grindy, I might drop it. I'll more likely set up another character for another plot, though. Maybe do a cruiser or science vessel run. Either way, I think I have 10 levels to go before the endgame, and the good weapons are not from fleet stuff AFAIK (Too many +[dmg] tags, which suck, especially with a rommie +crit crew).

I don't think STO is a bad deal, at all. I think I paid somewhere in the $20 range for quite a bit of good fun with my mates, and was able to kit myself out in a few nice ships, with middling quality weapons, such that I could comport myself well in the fleet actions. My issue isn't that there isn't a game there, it's that the progression doesn't come with any additional challenges. In any given WoW expansion, you've got an introductory raid tier, then they release new encounters and bosses with upgraded loot. In STO, however, you do the same content repeatedly, for a trickle of in-game resources which you can use to upgrade your fleet's merchants. Then you use refined dilithium to purchase what you want from those self-same merchants. After which you go BACK to the SAME rotation of fleet encounters to grind some more fleet credit, to upgrade your fleet's merchants again, and so on.

My point is that there's no differentiation at endgame, no sense of progress, just an ever-steeper hockey-stick curve of timesink to unlock the next tier of equipment, which, to be honest, you don't even begin to need.

And that's the problem I've experienced with every Cryptic title ever released: A dearth of endgame progression CONTENT. At least in City of Heroes/Villains, the guys who took over for Cryptic put in a system for player-generated missions and tasks forces, and they contented themselves selling costume packs to their player base. But evidently that scheme wasn't profitable enough for them, because CoH was shuttered.

[Lord Fullbladder, Master of Goblins]

I've got a lvl 60 Federation captain I regularly pop in on, at least for the Duty Officer grind and the events. Plus my seriously neglected lvl 45 Romulan. My KDF character is even more massively neglected.

I don't really care about being, y'know, meta-based competitive or something. I've got my gloriously butt-ugly Breen ships from the winter events, so I'm happy.

I still enjoy the game, for the most part. Never bought a ship, though.

[Derthric]

I have had a Lifetime Sub since launch. I jump in and out of the game every few months, usually based around the events they regularly hold, some are more interesting than others.

The game is vastly improved since launch and their realization that the kids of the TNG Era Crews, and a holographic Leeta are not enough of a connection to the world. The leveling 1-50 is faster and more fun with far less xp grinding. DR made 51-60 a slower experience but the missions are fun and the inclusion of Voyager cast VO's is nice.

The grind is a pain, no way around that. And the dependence on the random lockbox system is annoying. But overall the game can be fun.

Also Lord Fullbladder, your avatar has made my day in so many ways.

[Lentrax]

*Waves. Points to avatar.*

Lvl 50 Fed admiral. Started the romulan captain, but not too impressed. Might try Klingon later.

And yeah, I don't care for the grind of leveling, but for what it's worth, I enjoyed the heck out of some of the main quest lines. When I get my new computer up and running I have a lot of Warp travel to catch up on. Heck, I was in the Delta Quadrant for all of three minutes when my old computer decided to kick the bucket.

I also regret not being able to be in space dock to raise a toast to Leonard Nimoy, but well, I'm sure a lot of people would think that is just stupid. But so be it.

Live long and prosper.

Adm. A. Syndressa,
CO, USS Celedonia

[JadedDM]

I also regret not being able to be in space dock to raise a toast to Leonard Nimoy, but well, I'm sure a lot of people would think that is just stupid. But so be it.

Live long and prosper.

I went to Vulcan to pay tribute, myself.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p288/JadedDM/Farewell%20Spock.jpg

I have a level 55 Vulcan science officer (seen above), a level 51 Klingon tactical officer, and a level 32 Romulan engineer officer. I've never paid a dime in the game yet. I haven't had any need to. I have bought a few things with zen, though, but by trading in dilithium for it.

I've had computer problems recently, so I haven't actually started Delta Rising just yet, but I'm hoping to soon.

[Mando Knight]

I... uh... play it some.
http://i.imgur.com/qXroft1.png?1
No, really, I'm not addicted, honest...

Anyway, if you're thinking of starting a second character, there's a new-character promotion coming in April (http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/9080423) (and if you've already filled all of your character slots, they're giving out another one then). Federation has the best Sci ships (basically by default, as Romulans and Klingons basically never get any that aren't cross-faction) and the Klingons and Federation are basically split on the best attack Cruisers (Mogh is an Avenger with the cloak integrated into the ship instead of as a separate console, the Qib trades some hull for even more agility as compared to the Eclipse), but the new must-have Command Battle Cruisers are basically cloned across all three factions and the Federation (by virtue of simply getting more stuff than anyone else) has the better defensive cruisers (Offense is really where it's at right, though) and the widest overall selection of ships.


The game is vastly improved since launch and their realization that the kids of the TNG Era Crews, and a holographic Leeta are not enough of a connection to the world. The leveling 1-50 is faster and more fun with far less xp grinding. DR made 51-60 a slower experience but the missions are fun and the inclusion of Voyager cast VO's is nice.
They always realized that. It's just that they only now have the resources to actually do anything about it. I don't think it's controversial to say that Cryptic has really stretched itself thin between STO and NW (besides the token crew for Champions, and another development team working on porting NW to XBox One), but Atari was content to let the studio rot from a lack of budget and even before that the game itself was a rush job by necessity because they bought a contract that only had two years left in the stipulated launch window, and Perpetual gave them basically nothing to work with besides concept art. Even now, the entirety of Cryptic is probably smaller than World of Warcraft's development team, and paying SAG dues as a small studio is pretty hard on the budget.

[Snowbluff]

I don't know about WoW's dev team or what they are doing. We're late for a real content patch. I think all of the A-listers are working on the next expo instead.

I don't think STO is a bad deal, at all. I think I paid somewhere in the $20 range for quite a bit of good fun with my mates, and was able to kit myself out in a few nice ships, with middling quality weapons, such that I could comport myself well in the fleet actions. My issue isn't that there isn't a game there, it's that the progression doesn't come with any additional challenges. In any given WoW expansion, you've got an introductory raid tier, then they release new encounters and bosses with upgraded loot. In STO, however, you do the same content repeatedly, for a trickle of in-game resources which you can use to upgrade your fleet's merchants. Then you use refined dilithium to purchase what you want from those self-same merchants. After which you go BACK to the SAME rotation of fleet encounters to grind some more fleet credit, to upgrade your fleet's merchants again, and so on.

My point is that there's no differentiation at endgame, no sense of progress, just an ever-steeper hockey-stick curve of timesink to unlock the next tier of equipment, which, to be honest, you don't even begin to need.

And that's the problem I've experienced with every Cryptic title ever released: A dearth of endgame progression CONTENT. At least in City of Heroes/Villains, the guys who took over for Cryptic put in a system for player-generated missions and tasks forces, and they contented themselves selling costume packs to their player base. But evidently that scheme wasn't profitable enough for them, because CoH was shuttered. I think it's a perennial problem with MMOs and similiar games in general. Destiny has this problem, and I feel like Warframes endgame is leveling Serration to max. :smalltongue:


*Waves. Points to avatar.*
For some reason I always thought it was a Mass Effect thing. Star Trek never occurred to me. :smalltongue:



Lvl 50 Fed admiral. Started the romulan captain, but not too impressed. Might try Klingon later.

And yeah, I don't care for the grind of leveling, but for what it's worth, I enjoyed the heck out of some of the main quest lines. When I get my new computer up and running I have a lot of Warp travel to catch up on. Heck, I was in the Delta Quadrant for all of three minutes when my old computer decided to kick the bucket.

I also regret not being able to be in space dock to raise a toast to Leonard Nimoy, but well, I'm sure a lot of people would think that is just stupid. But so be it.

Live long and prosper.

Adm. A. Syndressa,
CO, USS CeledoniaI like how the Romulan handles a few things, especially from the Federation Rommie perspective.

The Remans were collecting to use Thalaron weapons to finally fight the Tal Shiar themselves, which pissed off the feddies. Now, having been to Cardassian space, I know that they are stretched thin between the borg, romulans, undine, klinks, etc. The feddies wanted me to take down the reman leader, but I didn't want to at all. They were screwed by the Tal Shiar just like my colony was, so I empathized with the orcs. Now, it probably wasn't a choice for real, but it was nice to let the guy go rather than try and take him in.

Live long and Prosper.

[Brother Oni]

klinks

I never understood why the fanbase used that slang for the Klingons and it cuts too close to a real life racial slur for my liking.

[Mando Knight]

I like how the Romulan handles a few things, especially from the Federation Rommie perspective.

The Remans were collecting to use Thalaron weapons to finally fight the Tal Shiar themselves, which pissed off the feddies. Now, having been to Cardassian space, I know that they are stretched thin between the borg, romulans, undine, klinks, etc. The feddies wanted me to take down the reman leader, but I didn't want to at all. They were screwed by the Tal Shiar just like my colony was, so I empathized with the orcs. Now, it probably wasn't a choice for real, but it was nice to let the guy go rather than try and take him in.

Live long and Prosper.

It doesn't matter, and that arc is actually an older cross-faction arc that was retrofitted to give it a better flow for Romulan players, as well as to add voice acting for Sela. Romulan players are the only ones allowed to sympathize with Obisek from the start, but he always escapes the first episode so he can later convince the players and their faction that they need to work with his rebels to deal with the Tal Shiar.

Romulans are the only ones that get to kill Hakeev themselves, though. Pure Fed or KDF characters watch as Obisek does it for them.
Also, despite Remans perhaps looking the part, the "Space Orcs" in STO are the Klingons... at least, as a Warcraft parallel. Playable Romulans (including playable Remans) are more akin to the Pandaren, getting to choose between the Horde or Alliance Klingon Empire or Federation early on.

Anyway, my opinion is that you really only stick to MMOs if you get the right community. Without my fleet or RedditChat I'd probably have dropped the game a long time ago.

[Snowbluff]

Romulans are space drow, right down to the scimitars.

I've been lurking in thread lately.

[The_Jackal]

I don't know about WoW's dev team or what they are doing. We're late for a real content patch. I think all of the A-listers are working on the next expo instead.

No question that WoW's not in aggressive development, by my estimation, Overwatch, Hearthstone and SCII:LotV are the contenders for the A-listers, as you put it. However, even helmed by Blizzard's B-team is still the most actively updated MMO on the market, by far.


I think it's a perennial problem with MMOs and similiar games in general. Destiny has this problem, and I feel like Warframes endgame is leveling Serration to max. :smalltongue:

Every title has got an endgame, where you start to run into grinds and reward schedules. The difference, to my mind, is how often you can expect to get new content. Blizzard released 5 raid tiers over the course of its 2 year run. I can't think of any free-to-play MMO which can hold a candle to that. Not that I can blame them, WoW has ten times their player base, all of whom pay their $15/mo.

It's really a matter of economy of scale and network value of goods. I think if you could somehow send $120M/month revenue from Blizzard to Cryptic, they could do great things with it, but that's just not the market we're in. It's too bad. Most of my friends would prefer Star Trek to Warcraft, from an aesthetic perspective.

[Snowbluff]

No question that WoW's not in aggressive development, by my estimation, Overwatch, Hearthstone and SCII:LotV are the contenders for the A-listers, as you put it. However, even helmed by Blizzard's B-team is still the most actively updated MMO on the market, by far.
I think WoW has it's own seperate team, but I do think some of them went onto Overwatch after Titan was cancelled. However, WoW hasn't release a content patch for WoD yet. We get long periods without content on a regular basis. Combined with a subscription, the inconsistent content has been making reconsider continuing with WoW. Not to mention I don't raid as frequently as I would like, since I fall out every lull in content.

Not that WoW's bad.

[Otomodachi]

Immediate impressions-

Hey, my DL might actually have gotten BETTER since Comcast acquired my ISP.

Can't change ear visuals on a ferengi? Ah well I guess they know we're all just gonna maximize em anyhow.

HOLY COW, Spock! Wasn't expecting that. And they went with the thing from the Abrams movie where Romulan star exploded. Cool. I am soooo not a visual person, graphics seem effective to me. I hope this is fun because I'm letting myself get excited, like this almost makes up for the years without a Trek show to watch. Sorry to anyone that watched TOS when it first aired for stepping on your toes, there.

Thus begins the strangely-familiar-to-everyone-but-me adventures of Dar Fanden Krix.

[Snowbluff]

My Fed Rommie is called Drathrundrial. That makes my friend contact snowbluff@drathrundrial, I think.

So, spoilers (but not really), the Voyager returns in Delta Rising. I liked that "why is this 30 year ship here" was a dialog option. I mean, I run a 30 year old design, but the R.R.W. Falcata is a modern take on a ship that could take on Sovereign-Class with no issue other than Shinzon's incompetence. When I heard that Tuvok wanted it, I was almost tempted to call the Vulcan's motive "illogical." :smallsmile:

[Chen]

So I had a level 50 Romulan and Fed char. I recall the Scimitar pretty much blowing every other ship out of the water though. Is that still the case? Do the new level 60 ships make things more even across the factions? Is BFaW still the ridiculously OP mess it was before?

[Snowbluff]

So I had a level 50 Romulan and Fed char. I recall the Scimitar pretty much blowing every other ship out of the water though. Is that still the case? Do the new level 60 ships make things more even across the factions? Is BFaW still the ridiculously OP mess it was before?
I heard it's still good.

As for BFaW, I've look into and it looks like you can get more damage by exploiting a wider variety of abilities. I want to build my scimmy into a cannon boat, because beams feel a bit too easy, though.

[Mando Knight]

So I had a level 50 Romulan and Fed char. I recall the Scimitar pretty much blowing every other ship out of the water though. Is that still the case? Do the new level 60 ships make things more even across the factions? Is BFaW still the ridiculously OP mess it was before?

Yes... mostly.

Some of the advantages of the T6 ships (namely, the Starship Trait that you get from finishing the fifth level of "Starship Mastery" in the ship) can be transferred to the Scimitar (or directly purchased, as the upgrade to T5-U gives it the scaling health, extra console, and first four levels of Starship Mastery common to T6 ships, but not the extra Bridge Officer power), and there hasn't been a T6 "Super-Scimitar" released yet to change that dynamic. As long as Fire At Will remains popular in PvE, the Scimitar's reduced agility compared to other Tactical ships is easily compensated for. There are tricks that have made a few niche builds score higher than the Scimitar in certain situations, though, and a few of the new T6 ships are better PvP assassins.

Outside of that, though, T6 ships are relatively even between the Romulans and KDF. The Federation is still hogging all of the Science ships and one of the best Starship Traits is on a Federation-only ship, but the other must-have trait is on one of the Command Battle Cruisers, which are available for all three factions, and in the running for "best overall cruiser."


My Fed Rommie is called Drathrundrial. That makes my friend contact snowbluff@drathrundrial, I think.
Other way around, actually. It's Charactername@Accountname.

[Snowbluff]

Oh, I heard the Rommie t6 escort is better for PvP because it turns better. It looks nice, but it's no Scimitar.

[Mando Knight]

Oh, I heard the Rommie t6 escort is better for PvP because it turns better. It looks nice, but it's no Scimitar.

It turns better, but the real kicker is it has a Commander-level Intelligence seat, so it can use Override Subsystem Safeties 3 to ramp its weapon power higher than normally possible and then hit with Surgical Strikes 3 for a stream of high-powered, high-accuracy critical hits. The Klingon Qib Intel Battlecruiser is also decent for the same reason, but it's slower and doesn't have the ability to run as many Romulans for critical damage amplification.

There is/was also a bug that allowed the Faeht to fire Surgical Strikes-powered energy weapons while cloaked, which is even more OP.

[Snowbluff]

OOOOh, that's what people mean by intel being good.