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All tho who enter here, despair...
Elikal
Member UncommonPosts: 7,912
You know, I was really thinking, ok this time I make a not so bad review, this time I am being more forgiving and lenient. I tired, really, but as it is, it is impossible. THIS IS A GODDAMN ALPHA!
I mean, what the heck were they thinking? This is two weeks before launch and it plays like at least half a year away from launch. Not to speak of the sheer snoozefest which is circle-phazor-circle-phazor ad nauseam. As one who is a mild Trekkie for 25 years I have to say, Cryptic, this is NOT a Star Trek MMO! This is a MMO which is 90% the space pew pew we feared it would be with a Trek pastiche over it. It's so embarrasing to call this Star Trek, that if you hear something buzzing, it's Gene Roddenberry rotating in his grave.
There are two sides of the coin, the bad design per se, and the plethora of bugs.
BUGS
Yes, it is beta. But as said, I feel a game which is 14 days from headstart should be a bit more complete and working. I don't know what some fanbois have entered as alternate reality to defend this, but IMO it has indeed reached Vanguardesque proportions. Like, every 2nd time I enter some star system in that Nebula (name... something with C) I am kicked out of the game. Or like time and again I crash in the loadscreen or even crash in a battle, and the entire long series of things to do is reset. Or how it can be that a Starmap has no text? Just nameless dots for the systems, and you have to click them all to know which is which. Or how every group member, if you make group quests are spread over all the various instances of a mission? But especially the crashness and the many times I was kicked back to character select right in the battle or some of the MANY loadscreens was disheartning, given the fact for some reason it resets the ENTIRE thing you were doing.
DESIGN
It kinda made our worst fears come true. That a Trek MMO would not be like a TV show was to be expected, but THAT'S it? That's Star Trek when 95% of all missions is kill 20 of X? Kill 5 Klingons, kill 5 Klingons, kill 5 Klingons, kill 5 Klingons... it isn't even funny anymore. Sure, some of the main missions are "sort of" interesting with their story, but the end of the day always means, kill more Klingons. Or Orions, if you are really lucky. In the essence you spent the long beginner ship time in the same ship like everyone with the same abilities: shoot phasors and shoot torpedoes, and all in all, thats what you do. Two buttons, phasors and torperdos, all the way up. Yes you can allocate power and tinker with some special skills of your crew, but there is zero progress in the sense of how you know it from characters, like getting totally new powers or ways to fight. Its phasors and topedos and THATS IT. So you circle and phasor and the enemy circles and phasors, and thats called tactics. I dunno, but you really need to be easy satisfied to call that tactics. It was dull in Pirates of the Burning Sea and it's just as dull in STO.
The ground combat is not much better. Sure you can add some skills here too, but all in all its just phasors pew pew and a reminder of the worst parts of Tabula Rasa. Most missions are heartlessly generic places with random Klingons and oh look more Klingons! So after playing 3 days I feel like I did all over and over and over. In a sense it's indeed like Champions, it's a game that is purely about Kill X amount of Z, and thats it.
The issue is, essentially BEING a Starship most of the time even takes the cool sense of identity our CO Superheroes had, away, because you are a Starship like a gazillion and with torpedoes and phasors the only difference is that mine do 30 dps and the next rank does 40 dps... or somesuch. You don't see anything different, like the various new powers, say of a Flame based Superhero in CO. You also don't see any new places becaue try as you might, essencially all parts of black, cloudy space look the same to me.
The balancing is INCREDIBLE bad. Sometimes, especially when soloing, many quests were very easy. But try to make missions with a group, and it gets hellish difficult very fast. 15 Klingons ships including 3 BIG ones vs your motely crew of 3 beginner ships. Be prepared to die a LOT. It doesn't do anything that you die, but still, it's a ridiculous feeling and it can't be avoided. When your group enters a fight, the first one to shoot WILL die. Period. Because every single Klingon will shoot at you at the same time, and you can forget any sophisticated plans of strategy. Mostly I felt quite unheroic, usually overwhelmed by superior numbers or firepower, sometimes even both, I honestly felt in many places the game is WAY too difficult. Maybe 3D space navigation isn't my thing, but the endless series of "dying through an instance", where you just throw yourself at the enemy time and again in the same mission is just so frustrating and dull.
I would not say the game is altogether bad, but issues, missing elements and the totally narrow design towards a shooter is miring down the game way too much to really recommend to any but really die-hard Trek fans.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Comments
Tbh mate I really think when the devs made the group content and you complained about dying they did make it as group content....I have died once in the game and that was my own fault,if you do not work as a team you will fail,regardless of how many times you die and run back in,if you work as a team then I have seen no problems so far.
Sorry but while there are some problems with this game I do not see your point in this 1.
If someone had came up to me in 1980 when I was on my Atari 2600 and said we will be playing games with thousands of people at the same time.I guess my response would have been,"but I only have 2 joysticks"
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/235780/page/8
It's beta, there will be bugs. Sorry it isn't the MMO you imagined. Get over it. Move on with your life.
[Mod Edit]
I have to agree with the OP on the bugs.. I didn't experience that many bugs during my Fileplanet beta weekend, but with the masses flocking to open beta, I don't know what they did in the last two patches, but it wasn't good. The game has been darn near unplayable for me... Maybe it's that their server is not ready for that many players, and maybe they are learning from it, but you would think that this close to release that they should have that part all figured out.
Pretty much exactly how i see the game as well. Other than the group thing, which i never tried, what exactly do you find the op did not get right?
Lot of bugs, very linear combat and missions. Both space and ground it is 90 % or more combat. Boring combat at that.
Did not get to end game, but from what i heard it is just more of the same. Missions that have you fly around killing groups of enemies. I keep hearing how missions are fun, well i never saw that. Just about every mission was the same go here kill these enemies.
In a group or out, how can it be fun for the majority of the game to be the same thing just make the enemy groups a bit larger and larger ships as you go along? Is just leveling to a better ship enough to make it fun? Not for me it was not.
Hope they can eventually make this a decent game. But it is just a buggy shooter that could use another 2-3 months minimum to even get that right.
I haven't had a single crash yet, I'm not sure whether it's a configuration aspect, or what but I honestly haven't. The only bugs I've seen are the ship/avatar mix up and what seems to be server side lag. I think you're over stating the severity of the bugs in game. That or you played while server loads were really heavy, I've been playing during non peak hours, maybe there's a difference.
No, not a fanboi in anyway, don't give a damn about the I.P., or the creator. Hated COH hated COV had no interest in CO. However I have seen nothing to the extent to say it's to buggy, to not be fixed up for launch time anyway. Whether it gets like that later on I wouldn't know haven't gotten that far, just stating what I've seen.
I still caution anyone considering the game if they have woes to wait and purchase down the road, and try a trial before doing so. The game is very different than your typical MMO.
I also caution anyone on buying into to much of what anyone says (including me) about the game, as it's their opinion and expereince they're commenting on. Bugs can vary from machine to machine, crashes especially. Outlooks on gameplay vary even more, it's always best to see first hand, (for free if available).
I got lucky I guess didn't pre-order stillI got in beta. As are many without paying, so I really have no stake in seeing this game succeed. I do feel it's a fun enough diversion to pay 50 bucks for, a monthly fee is a beast of a different color. Jury's still out on that one.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
By the way, all MMOs are buggy, especially at launch. WoW had a TON of bugs at launch, so did EVE, SWG, Guild Wars, you name it.
As far as "kill 5 klingons", I really didn't notice it. You must have skipped all the missions where you do diplomacy or exploration or collecting samples, etc. You must've skipped all the storyline missions too. It's too bad, there's some great story stuff in there.
"Because it's easier to nitpick something than to be constructive." -roach5000
Pretty much exactly how i see the game as well. Other than the group thing, which i never tried, what exactly do you find the op did not get right?
Lot of bugs, very linear combat and missions. Both space and ground it is 90 % or more combat. Boring combat at that.
Did not get to end game, but from what i heard it is just more of the same. Missions that have you fly around killing groups of enemies. I keep hearing how missions are fun, well i never saw that. Just about every mission was the same go here kill these enemies.
In a group or out, how can it be fun for the majority of the game to be the same thing just make the enemy groups a bit larger and larger ships as you go along? Is just leveling to a better ship enough to make it fun? Not for me it was not.
Hope they can eventually make this a decent game. But it is just a buggy shooter that could use another 2-3 months minimum to even get that right.
Sorry, but the underlined part invalidates anything you say. The level cap is at 16 (a common complaint of MMO DOUBTER) so no one could have been able to get to the end game. Not to mention the fact that many features such as the Genesis system have been turned off. Nice try though.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
Well you all know the OP is right dont you? sto is just a very simple single player game with online capability, that plays very bad on land, and its basic and boring in space...etc etc...
[Mod Edit]
i like the game so far, i've been kicked off a few times some due to maintenance some not, but honestly most mmo's i've played in open beta have this problem. I really love the space combat in this game, imo its the best feature. The ground combat isn't nearly as good as the space combat, but it's not terrible. As for crashing all the time? I'm running this game on a 6 year old comp (3.6 ghz, 2gb ram, 768 vid card) its not the best comp but it plays the game very smoothly after I turned down some of the settings.
Anyways I never expected much from this game to be honest but was really surprised how much fun I was having. I'm by no means a trekkie, and not a fanboi at all. I've only played maybe 6-7 hours since open beta started, theres things I like and things I don't. But to be honest i'm actually having fun in this game, which is probably the first time I can say that since I played WoW and EVE.
Pretty much exactly how i see the game as well. Other than the group thing, which i never tried, what exactly do you find the op did not get right?
Lot of bugs, very linear combat and missions. Both space and ground it is 90 % or more combat. Boring combat at that.
Did not get to end game, but from what i heard it is just more of the same. Missions that have you fly around killing groups of enemies. I keep hearing how missions are fun, well i never saw that. Just about every mission was the same go here kill these enemies.
In a group or out, how can it be fun for the majority of the game to be the same thing just make the enemy groups a bit larger and larger ships as you go along? Is just leveling to a better ship enough to make it fun? Not for me it was not.
Hope they can eventually make this a decent game. But it is just a buggy shooter that could use another 2-3 months minimum to even get that right.
Sorry, but the underlined part invalidates anything you say. The level cap is at 16 (a common complaint of MMO DOUBTER) so no one could have been able to get to the end game. Not to mention the fact that many features such as the Genesis system have been turned off. Nice try though.
You are aware that some of these folks are former CB testers right? Or are you suggest that even in CB that the level cap was also "16". Which would probably mean another Warhammer Online in the works.
In War - Victory.
In Peace - Vigilance.
In Death - Sacrifice.
Pretty much exactly how i see the game as well. Other than the group thing, which i never tried, what exactly do you find the op did not get right?
Lot of bugs, very linear combat and missions. Both space and ground it is 90 % or more combat. Boring combat at that.
Did not get to end game, but from what i heard it is just more of the same. Missions that have you fly around killing groups of enemies. I keep hearing how missions are fun, well i never saw that. Just about every mission was the same go here kill these enemies.
In a group or out, how can it be fun for the majority of the game to be the same thing just make the enemy groups a bit larger and larger ships as you go along? Is just leveling to a better ship enough to make it fun? Not for me it was not.
Hope they can eventually make this a decent game. But it is just a buggy shooter that could use another 2-3 months minimum to even get that right.
Sorry, but the underlined part invalidates anything you say. The level cap is at 16 (a common complaint of MMO DOUBTER) so no one could have been able to get to the end game. Not to mention the fact that many features such as the Genesis system have been turned off. Nice try though.
Again with the attacks at posters:) How about try to say if either OP or I were wrong?
And yes i was in CB.
Anyone want to say that there are not a lot of bugs? That you lose all of your mission if you crash and have to start from start? That 90% + of game is combat? I might give you that to some the missions would not start off as boring.. but really, how many times can you go to a place kill a few enemies move a bit and do it again 4-5 or more times to complete a mission and still not think that is boring?
If you want to post your opinion please do but just trying to attack others for theirs seems kind of childish.
1. There ARE always bugs at launch.
2. Just because you had problems does not mean everyone else did.
3. Some people really are trolls and people can legitimately bring them up.
Actually, he has done the same thing on a multitude of other MMORPGs throughout the history of this site. Lots of hate for MMORPGs in the OP.
Please avoid personal attacks against other users.
The OP seems to basing his "review" on two or maybe three days of BETA testing. Cryptic is currently attempting to balance the server load and some gameplay elements. The game, on the last couple of days of CLOSED BETA was very staple and had very few issues. That is not to say that it did not it did not have any but those that it had at that time were minor. In OPEN BETA there are a lot more people playing. That is requiring a major juggling act in trying to keep things running and trying to smooth out server lag and other issues. Now, do I agree with anything the OP said? Only slightly do I agree that ground combat needs some more tweaking. It is better then it was a few months ago but still not smooth enough for my taste. Space combat (other then a few balancing issues) is pretty much right on. All in all, I am having fun with the game and plan to have a Lifetime Sub...have already pre-ordered and and set to roll.
Let's party like it is 1863!
I have to agree with some of the negative points that have been made so far. But, overall I have enjoyed the limited time I have had being able to play so far (the servers are often down whenever I do get a couple hours to geek out, like right now!). I have grown a bit bored with all the fantasy MMO's out now, and I even finally canceled my almost 4 year old EVE account due to boredom. I think STO has great potential and probably should not be ripped a new one just yet!
Even being an advocate for this game, I agree it is not the stage of development yet to be released in two weeks. It is VERY buggy still. I just try to keep in mind that this is still a beta version and that I only spent .99 cents at Target to try it. The game doesn't seem to be able to handle the population currently playing, and now thousands of more keys are being given away! Doesn't make sense to me. The open beta part of any game should be a very near finalized version. It should be a time that the people playing are spreading the hype over how good the game is going be since they have all had great experiences so far. It can be a powerful marketing tool! So far this is not true for STO.
I will cast no judgment on the game play, missions, instancing, linear aspect, or any of that just yet. Get a beta key and try it for yourself! You will at least have a good laugh when you are trying to run a ground mission with your ship as your avatar! I still have high hopes and believe it all can still turn into a great game. Or, maybe I am just glad to be able to get out of my spaceship finally after 4 years!
Have to agree with the OP, I tested in Closed Beta and I just got sick of the game and Cryptic.. I kept thinking it was fun, up until the point where I took a break and played another game, now I realize I was just wishing the game were more fun than it actually is. Truly a sad sad disappointment.
My advice for people who are playing STO. Go out and find a new game. Whatever it is, you'll probably have a lot more fun with it.
Thats why I have split my "review". The bugs and balancing can be remedied. The issues of the very limited gameplay however can't be changed without fundamentally changing the game. And how likely is THAT? I mean, I an't even blame them now. What can you do in space other than pew pew? Ok or scan anomalities. *yawn* Cryptic made the error of narrowing a Star Trek MMO to a space shooter. Yes I have bemoaned that before and it came all true. If someone likes that mere space pew pew, thats fine with me, but I do find it narrow and repetitive. It's not without fun, PotBS was fun a while too, but it does wear off when you circle and phazor Klingons over and over and over.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
I would take issue with the term "Vanguardian" in terms of bugs and crashes. I play Vanguard (best PVE MMO game IMHO) and it never crashes on me. Maybe once in 50 hrs of play, maybe. And up to lvl 30, I have found a bug. One, so far. I love VG.
I also loved CoH as a mindless, relaxing, way to kill a few enemies. Over the years, Cryptic greatly enhanced CoH. When it started, it was missing:
- PvP villains -- they added them, along with an entire new set of villain zones
- loot drops and crafting -- they added them
- they upped the level cap from 40 to 50
- they introduced new character types for high level players (Kheldians) and new zones
- guild housing -- they added it
And this was all for free, the expansions did not cost anything. I don't really like STO much, but if it is like CoH, the game will be radically different in the future. But will they release all the fixes/new content for free? Or will it cost for each of the updates? If it is free, I bet STO can be a success, if they charge for the updates and put in a cash shop, the game will wither I predict.
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2025: 48 years on the Net.
I'm just making sure that people realize the post history of the OP. If you don't believe me see it for yourself. Even if you were in CB, which I seriously doubt, you couldn't have possibily made it to endgame. I doubt anyone but the biggest haters of the game are going to believe that. Far as proof of what the game is REALLY like, I'll stick with the threads that show ACTUAL in game footage. So far I have seen no crashes or anything of what you folks are claiming.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
I'm pretty sure he meant "Vanguardian" as Vanguard was really, really buggy when it was launched. Just about unplayable. Not as bad as Anarchy Online (from what I've heard) but still one of the worst launches ever.
And it took how many years for CoH to implement all those changes? The problem is these days, we have options, and if a mmo doesn't have what it takes to take interest from the current generation of games right from the beginning, then why would anyone play it? CoH had the advantage of coming into the market before WoW and was able to build a fanbase without being compared to anything better. STO does not have that luxury. It has to be good now. It can't be mediocre with potential.
For a truely un-biased view of the game, go here. I've watched a lot of these vids and so far the loading screens are barely a second and gameplay looks pretty smooth. If a picture speaks a thousand words than a video speaks a million.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
Maybe you haven't crashed or had bugged missions. Yet everyone else seems to have had them (including yours truly). STO is the only game to have forced me to force a reboot. While the rubberbanding and disconnects can be a result of stressed out servers there are clearly other issues with the game. This should be a cause for concern for anyone this close to release.
While I wouldn't go so far as to call it a bad game, there's no denying that it is somewhat uninspired and prone to a certain sameness in what you do. The GUI is quite bad and the game gives the impression of being incomplete/slapped together. 95% combat is fairly accurate and the game doesn't live up to the ST setting. -And I say that as someone who didn't care for TNG, Voyager or the movie(s). This could have been done way better.
It feels like Pirates of the Burning Sea in space to me. This is the first major release that I do not intend to buy.
In terms of Vanguard, I played in beta and on release, and it was a disaster. I fell through the ground at least once a day...yes, fell through the ground! It was pretty much epic fail, a bunch of amateur coders slapping together the mechanics. They've worked very hard and exterminated most of the bugs by now.
Yeah I agree with the OP, I was excited to try it but aside from the lack of polish the entire experience felt very derivative of the basic flaws we chastize other games for these days. Kill 10x, heavily instanced, lack of a coheisive world, lack of attachment to avatar, shallow combat. I was very sad as well OP.
Arioc Murkwood
Environment Artist
Sad but true.