What's funny is that people are going to pay $49.99 plus a monthly fee to access a game that is just a rehash of what has been released over the last, what, three years on consoles. So, they add a chat box and the ability to see dozens of people in each zone. It still doesn't seperate ST:O from any star trek single player game with multiplayer capabilities that has come recently. It truly is sad that so many are going to be duped into playing this piece of turd and fueling yet another cryptic fail at MMO games.
Two strikes Cryptic. Can they actually make a real MMO or will they strike out. Only the future can tell me.
Look. I'm not a trekkie and i probably just misspelled that. I know some star trek stuff but not much. I watched the show from time to time but i know about humans, romulans, and Warf. That's it and i enjoyed this game even through the beginning of this buggy beta. I have tried to find an action oriented MMO for some time and i sure didn't expect sto be be what i was looking for. I like ground combat (even though its buggy annoying at times and spawning and a ship on the ground means you wont get your crew unless you leave the planet and try again...and again. I do like the slow space combat because it makes you act on the fly and some plans you have get abolished by the end of the fight. Every fight is different in that you cant just stand there and press 1, 2, 1, 4, 3 then walk 4 feet and rinse and repeat. Granted ground combat is like that for me right now and i have this feeling its not gonna change. So yes i like the game and yes it needs work but the core mechanics are solid.
I don't get the people that are so critical of the game. Having played 90% of the MMOs since 1995 lol it fits right in with the rest of the MMOs, and is actually one of the better ones. Graphics are stun-worthy on max, gameplay is kind of fun. Something about the combination of space combat, moving around your ship resources, and the NPC crew is very fun. Although I'm finding the PvP the most fun out of it all. The PvE missions got a little boring after 10 levels.
What I would want to continue playing this game for longer than 2 months:
- Fleet buyable headquarters on a planet, asteroid, or starbase.
-PvP missions to raid other opposite faction PvP fleet headquarters.
-Docking animations that actually show your ship flying in to dock at a starbase.
-NPCs, behavior on the bridge, and look of the bridge (and other inside parts) of the ship to reflect the current purpose of the ship. Engineering, Tactical, Science. If I'm on the bridge of a Science type ship I want the NPCs, their behavior, and the little details inside the ship to reflect that.
-More intricate and varied PvP maps.
-Through all of the combat, something felt like it was missing. Couldn't put my finger on it and then just today I realized what it was. NPC vocal greetings, taunts, war cry, death wail.
Friendly and enemy NPCs feel very hollow without sound clips reinforcing what they are. I want male and female humanoid NPCs to have a quick vocal greeting when you click on them. I want NPC Klingons, Orion pirates, Romulans etc to have appropriate taunts, war cries, and death wails when my character is fighting them in ground combat. And in space combat I want the same but ofcourse in space they would be ship audio transmissions. Small default NPC voices are standard in MMOs it feels strange that they aren't in this MMO yet.
I don't get the people that are so critical of the game. Having played 90% of the MMOs since 1995 lol it fits right in with the rest of the MMOs, and is actually one of the better ones. Graphics are stun-worthy on max, gameplay is kind of fun. Something about the combination of space combat, moving around your ship resources, and the NPC crew is very fun. Although I'm finding the PvP the most fun out of it all. The PvE missions got a little boring after 10 levels. What I would want to continue playing this game for longer than 2 months: - Fleet buyable headquarters on a planet, asteroid, or starbase. -PvP missions to raid other opposite faction PvP fleet headquarters. -Docking animations that actually show your ship flying in to dock at a starbase. -NPCs, behavior on the bridge, and look of the bridge (and other inside parts) of the ship to reflect the current purpose of the ship. Engineering, Tactical, Science. If I'm on the bridge of a Science type ship I want the NPCs, their behavior, and the little details inside the ship to reflect that. -More intricate and varied PvP maps. -Through all of the combat, something felt like it was missing. Couldn't put my finger on it and then just today I realized what it was. NPC vocal greetings, taunts, war cry, death wail. Friendly and enemy NPCs feel very hollow without sound clips reinforcing what they are. I want male and female humanoid NPCs to have a quick vocal greeting when you click on them. I want NPC Klingons, Orion pirates, Romulans etc to have appropriate taunts, war cries, and death wails when my character is fighting them in ground combat. And in space combat I want the same but ofcourse in space they would be ship audio transmissions. Small default NPC voices are standard in MMOs it feels strange that they aren't in this MMO yet.
You do not understand why so many are being critical about the game, and then go on to list off the shortcomings of the game. You answered your own question with your very own post.
Originally I was planning to play STO but I changed my mind when the concepts were changed. I don't want to be a captain of my own ship. I wanted to be a medic on somebody else's ship. Though I guess the latter was never in the plans... but I was hoping that in this game a crew in a ship would be the 'other mmo's guild'.
This is what we all were expecting. A guild would run its own ship. You would have a captain, and crew. Instead what we got was a higly instanced pos, with some grouping. I found that most of the groups were auto groups who zoned into a patroll area and got a mission done, then the group fell appart. I played the open beta for several days, quit went back tried it again. All it is is another bad start trek game among the many that we have gotton over the years, except this one you have a monthly fee for.
Sorry no dice for me.
Oh and the one thing I noticed he said that his co worker was doing this at work?? Most companies I work for would fire you for playing games at work much less a competitors game.
It's a game that was made in 18 months. In a global downturn we haven't seen the likes of since the Great Depression (something the OP himself has not only blogged about, but lost two jobs as a result of). By a relatively small, independent developer. Before Atari picked them up (who isn't exactly Electronic Arts, either). Before JJ Abrams' super sexy smash summer blockbuster. After Enterprise was cancelled, and Nemesis tanked.
Even if those are valid excuses (and I dispute some of them) - they don't keep it from being a bad game. It doesn't give anyone a reason to pay money for it.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Originally posted by hanshotfirst The cost of a lifetime sub is equivalent to paying for 16 months of subscription fees. For those not mathmatically inclined, lifetime > 16 months. Of course that's assuming the game lasts at least 16 months (free trollbait!), but if Age of Conan can pull it off (not to mention Darkfall), I see no reason to believe this one won't.
And if the game goes F2P in a year? They already have a cash shop in place. That's half the work done already.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
I'm still ahead even if all I get out of it is 80 hours of fun time. And that's presuming they never, ever expand, patch or improve the game. Whatsoever. Over the course of... my lifetime.
You're ahead compared to going to movies. You're not ahead compared to paying for the game on a monthly basis. Cryptic wins big time.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
have fun and keep playing WOW, but soem of us were ready for soemthing new....
Get your head out of the sand, there IS nothing new about STO. That's one of, if not THE, major criticisms about the game and Cryptic in general: lack of innovation.
I don't get the people that are so critical of the game. Having played 90% of the MMOs since 1995 lol it fits right in with the rest of the MMOs, and is actually one of the better ones. Graphics are stun-worthy on max, gameplay is kind of fun. Something about the combination of space combat, moving around your ship resources, and the NPC crew is very fun. Although I'm finding the PvP the most fun out of it all. The PvE missions got a little boring after 10 levels. What I would want to continue playing this game for longer than 2 months: - Fleet buyable headquarters on a planet, asteroid, or starbase. -PvP missions to raid other opposite faction PvP fleet headquarters. -Docking animations that actually show your ship flying in to dock at a starbase. -NPCs, behavior on the bridge, and look of the bridge (and other inside parts) of the ship to reflect the current purpose of the ship. Engineering, Tactical, Science. If I'm on the bridge of a Science type ship I want the NPCs, their behavior, and the little details inside the ship to reflect that. -More intricate and varied PvP maps. -Through all of the combat, something felt like it was missing. Couldn't put my finger on it and then just today I realized what it was. NPC vocal greetings, taunts, war cry, death wail. Friendly and enemy NPCs feel very hollow without sound clips reinforcing what they are. I want male and female humanoid NPCs to have a quick vocal greeting when you click on them. I want NPC Klingons, Orion pirates, Romulans etc to have appropriate taunts, war cries, and death wails when my character is fighting them in ground combat. And in space combat I want the same but ofcourse in space they would be ship audio transmissions. Small default NPC voices are standard in MMOs it feels strange that they aren't in this MMO yet.
You do not understand why so many are being critical about the game, and then go on to list off the shortcomings of the game. You answered your own question with your very own post.
Nah see you don't get what I said. People are so critical about STO but it like 99% of the other 10+ MMOs I have played. The things I suggested they improve are small additions. Could be added in one patch 2 months down the line easily. Fleet headquarters, docking animations, more complex PvP maps, and NPC sound clips. Those aren't huge changes. The core game itself is fun already.
I decided after reading some of the out right bs in the thread about how it gets better after you get your t2 ship to go back and finish out the beta.
Well I got my t2 ship constitution class looks like the old enterprise form the movies not the series. Long story short it moves better than the marinda class, but the game is still the same. Highly isntance, mostly combat and very little to no social action. The only social action is folks talking in zone thats it. No grouping no nothing.
Im not paying 14.95 a month or whatever the price was for a lifetime pass when this should be f2p.
I hope those who like it are ok with it, and I am glad I did not pre order. Once again Cryptic with the big letdown.
For me I see it for what it is and it's not for me. I'm not paying for a subscription on a game designed as a solo game for consoles. (ie, looks and plays like a console)
It's a good effort on Cryptic's part. Can't blame them, but it's not a deep enough game for me. It is what is is.
Instead of call this game Star Trek, they should call it Star Shortcut because they have taken every shortcut in the book to get it out this soon. They have not even finished the Klingons. They are basically asking people to pay to alpha test this game and the fools are lining up to do it..
Too much instancing, hard to call it a MMO, the need for grouping is so limited.
Then you see posts complaining about not advancing fast enough that make me laugh out loud. What are they going to do when they make admiral in a month or two?
This game is just another MMO joke on genre population.
Then you see posts complaining about not advancing fast enough that make me laugh out loud. What are they going to do when they make admiral in a month or two?.
That is a good point, but advancing and unlocking new abilities and ships is really the only thing to do.
I just get frustrated and angry that such a rich IP was handled so poorly.
I have other favourite IPs that might make for great MMORPGs (like Dune), but now I just dread the announcement, rather than long for it.
It's like having a movie of your favourite book made, only much more disappointing.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Considering that SW:TOR is now delayed , This well known space franchise will have more of an opportunity with those looking for alternatives to the current offerings /wink
And What inside knowledge do you have? It has NOT been delayed. You cannot delay something that has no release date in the first place. Q1 of 2011 is a reasonable release date considering how huge this game will be. in fact even if it's delayed to 2012 I WON'T CARE. I want bioware to do this right. The Star Wars game to end all Star Wars games. Not this shallow puddle of a Star Trek game. SW:TOR will be so much better then STO will ever be. I feel sorry for CBS, a better studio should have gotten Star Trek online. But the past is replaying it self again, with Star Trek and Star Wars. AND Cryptic has ANOTHER mmo due out next year. I seriously doubt they will put any amount of attention into STO, after all CO is such a powerhouse of features and stability riiight? Cryptic is now my most hated studio by far. Much more then SOE or Funcom. They destroyed one of my favorite IPs ever. But at least SW:TOR will make up for it. The web site alone for sw:tor is so well done and already has more content then all of STO.
I will give Cryptic not one penny for this blasphemy.
"You can never go broke appealing to the lowest common denominator" - Cryptic's Moto
The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity. - Harlan Ellison
Considering that SW:TOR is now delayed , This well known space franchise will have more of an opportunity with those looking for alternatives to the current offerings /wink
And What inside knowledge do you have? It has NOT been delayed. You cannot delay something that has no release date in the first place. Q1 of 2011 is a reasonable release date considering how huge this game will be. in fact even if it's delayed to 2012 I WON'T CARE. I want bioware to do this right. The Star Wars game to end all Star Wars games. Not this shallow puddle of a Star Trek game. SW:TOR will be so much better then STO will ever be. I feel sorry for CBS, a better studio should have gotten Star Trek online. But the past is replaying it self again, with Star Trek and Star Wars. AND Cryptic has ANOTHER mmo due out next year. I seriously doubt they will put any amount of attention into STO, after all CO is such a powerhouse of features and stability riiight? Cryptic is now my most hated studio by far. Much more then SOE or Funcom. They destroyed one of my favorite IPs ever. But at least SW:TOR will make up for it. The web site alone for sw:tor is so well done and already has more content then all of STO.
I will give Cryptic not one penny for this blasphemy.
"You can never go broke appealing to the lowest common denominator" - Cryptic's Moto
He knows its been delayed because he can read. EA stated it was delayed and Bioware confirmed it. His inside source is called google, check it out.
In other news, while I like star trek, I would have to agree after playing the game for a while its really does not live up to the Star Trek name. I did pre-order the game because at first I thought it was great, after about 15-20 hrs I found out the game has really nothing going for it. Cryptic shrank pvp down to 5 vs 5. Klinks have no content whatsoever and really its just a combat game all around. No thinking required. The changes they have made to pvp in the last month have just made it worse. Closed beta was really a better game imo. It should be renamed to federation online. I will play the game for the first 30 days that are included to see if they can salvage this ship wreak but it's really not the game I had wanted. Please cryptic don't destroy another good mmo Idea by making it.
I didn't really like this game all that much when I first started playing it, but i gave it a chance, and as you begin to advance in level it gets pretty fun. You ship gets more abilities and so do your foes, it makes the space battles more challenging. Also the planets I have gone to, some have been quite unique looking. While I could stand for the quests to be a little deeper, I am hoping for some epic quest lines to be added into this game. One thing this game has room for is expansion. Space games can expand a little more easily than games that have terrain. I really like the space battles alot, they don't feel repetitive to me. I also tried out PvP, and while I was only lev 13 in a 10 to 20 range, and got utterly destroyed, it was alot of fun. The classes are rather balanced, and because of the variety of looks and weapons avail in ground combat, it is hard to tell how to fight another player, until you see them do something, you don't know how to fight them. And if you are going to have factions, what better than the federation vs the klingons. I will not buy a long subscription, but I will be playing this game and giving it a chance.
I enjoyed the article, thank you. We need more of this on MMORPG.com, this makes it feel like it's written by gamers for gamers.
YES!!! totally agree I related to every word written.. I am a trekker from way back.. I even remember the PILOT for the first Star Trek series lol.
I have been in the beta and yes, I found it somehwat wanting but it IS STAR TREK! I can choose the type of uniform I wear and I have a Star Trek communicator! and I get on my ship, use the turbo lift to the bridge (shame about the captain's chair) and warp speed across the galaxy. I can talk to Star Fleet and I can BEAM UP!! I am in heaven I have pre-ordered and I will play for at least the first 30 days.. then probably wait a few months until they fix it LOL.
After playing in the head start a few hours I must say I am torn. I am also one of those Trekkies that can speak Klingon and knows the difference between a Hydran and Kzinti. I am old school computer trekking as well, back through all the mess and ending with Star Fleet Command.
STO so far has been interesting, the FPS element is okay but I am not a big FPS fan so I might not judge it fair. The starship element has me torn. It is more tactically oriented than the other star ship mmo scifi offering. This to me spices up the combat. However I am left feeling more like I am flying a fighter than a starship.
STO is trying to walk the middle ground between the rich tactical combat of SFC and the orbit and click combat of EVE.
At the end of the day this is a fun title and gets you your trekkie fix however I do not see it being listed as a great title. EVE will not lose a lot of players because STO does not appeal to the same group, the lack of sandbox in STO saves EVE. The PvP to me in STO sounds better however, I hate blob fights, perferring the quick dance of small fleets.
At the end of the day the success or failure of this MMO will be known in about 6 months. Cryptic has a title on it's hands that wins in some small degree without any game. You say Star Trek and you draw in a nice little group. However they need to put some serious support in for a real win.
The game has a number of graphical glitches that are just lazy quality control. The server problems are to be expected so we get to see how they handle this. The game play has a bit more of an arcade feel than I feel most trekkies will like so it will be interesting to see how they rework that or if they do.
Right now it is a fun change of pace but to make it a down the road MMO they are gonna have to beef it up.
On a side note what happened to my favorite race the Gorn?
After playing in the head start a few hours I must say I am torn. I am also one of those Trekkies that can speak Klingon and knows the difference between a Hydran and Kzinti. I am old school computer trekking as well, back through all the mess and ending with Star Fleet Command. STO so far has been interesting, the FPS element is okay but I am not a big FPS fan so I might not judge it fair. The starship element has me torn. It is more tactically oriented than the other star ship mmo scifi offering. This to me spices up the combat. However I am left feeling more like I am flying a fighter than a starship. STO is trying to walk the middle ground between the rich tactical combat of SFC and the orbit and click combat of EVE. At the end of the day this is a fun title and gets you your trekkie fix however I do not see it being listed as a great title. EVE will not lose a lot of players because STO does not appeal to the same group, the lack of sandbox in STO saves EVE. The PvP to me in STO sounds better however, I hate blob fights, perferring the quick dance of small fleets. At the end of the day the success or failure of this MMO will be known in about 6 months. Cryptic has a title on it's hands that wins in some small degree without any game. You say Star Trek and you draw in a nice little group. However they need to put some serious support in for a real win. The game has a number of graphical glitches that are just lazy quality control. The server problems are to be expected so we get to see how they handle this. The game play has a bit more of an arcade feel than I feel most trekkies will like so it will be interesting to see how they rework that or if they do. Right now it is a fun change of pace but to make it a down the road MMO they are gonna have to beef it up. On a side note what happened to my favorite race the Gorn?
The gorn are there I found them in beta, on a mission in the arcanues cluster they are poorly done they look like crud, not very well thought out, same with klingons they just dont look right
I enjoyed the article, thank you. We need more of this on MMORPG.com, this makes it feel like it's written by gamers for gamers.
I agree and I enjoyed the article. The one issue I have with articles such as these are when the columnist also works for a gaming developer, as Jennings is known to work with the Aion team.
Despite any personal opinions Jennings might have on Aion, I doubt we'll ever see them in print to see as... blatantly... as his opinions of STO are. I highly doubt his employer would look favorably on him if he were to write a negative article on Aion, even if he felt negatively this way.
This is why one of the first rules we learn in college, when studying journalism - as I have myself done - is that you look for the personal bias of a writer. If the CEO of Enron corp writes an article stating why he thinks Oil and Gasoline are the Best Things Ever for the environment, one has to suspect his writings a bit because his bread is buttered by that corporation.
Same thing with columnists and writers who actually work for gaming companies. I have no idea if the MMORPG.com staff will let my post stand unedited, of course - or let me go without a warning on this one - but since it hasn't been said I think it is something that is very relevant to the topic.
I'm not a huge fan of STO, either, but at what point do we step back and look a bit skeptically at op-ed articles written by columnists who actually work for the competition? (For that matter, I'm not a huge fan of Aion, but that is beside the point.)
So, STO has a lot of flaws and was a huge disappointment to many. That much is obvious. STO also has a lot of loyal fans. That much is obvious. The opinions of somebody who doesn't work for any MMO gaming developer, however, are bound to be more valuable in my ultimate assessment of a game than the words of somebody who is knowingly being paid by a gaming development company, on their payroll. I know that few of the companies I have worked for in the past would have regarded favorably an article I wrote expressing any negative opinion about the Corporation or the Corporate Powers That Be.
Just some food for thought. I'll screen shot this in case it's removed quickly.
Comments
What's funny is that people are going to pay $49.99 plus a monthly fee to access a game that is just a rehash of what has been released over the last, what, three years on consoles. So, they add a chat box and the ability to see dozens of people in each zone. It still doesn't seperate ST:O from any star trek single player game with multiplayer capabilities that has come recently. It truly is sad that so many are going to be duped into playing this piece of turd and fueling yet another cryptic fail at MMO games.
Two strikes Cryptic. Can they actually make a real MMO or will they strike out. Only the future can tell me.
Look. I'm not a trekkie and i probably just misspelled that. I know some star trek stuff but not much. I watched the show from time to time but i know about humans, romulans, and Warf. That's it and i enjoyed this game even through the beginning of this buggy beta. I have tried to find an action oriented MMO for some time and i sure didn't expect sto be be what i was looking for. I like ground combat (even though its buggy annoying at times and spawning and a ship on the ground means you wont get your crew unless you leave the planet and try again...and again. I do like the slow space combat because it makes you act on the fly and some plans you have get abolished by the end of the fight. Every fight is different in that you cant just stand there and press 1, 2, 1, 4, 3 then walk 4 feet and rinse and repeat. Granted ground combat is like that for me right now and i have this feeling its not gonna change. So yes i like the game and yes it needs work but the core mechanics are solid.
PS...blah blah blah yoinktard fairy
I don't get the people that are so critical of the game. Having played 90% of the MMOs since 1995 lol it fits right in with the rest of the MMOs, and is actually one of the better ones. Graphics are stun-worthy on max, gameplay is kind of fun. Something about the combination of space combat, moving around your ship resources, and the NPC crew is very fun. Although I'm finding the PvP the most fun out of it all. The PvE missions got a little boring after 10 levels.
What I would want to continue playing this game for longer than 2 months:
- Fleet buyable headquarters on a planet, asteroid, or starbase.
-PvP missions to raid other opposite faction PvP fleet headquarters.
-Docking animations that actually show your ship flying in to dock at a starbase.
-NPCs, behavior on the bridge, and look of the bridge (and other inside parts) of the ship to reflect the current purpose of the ship. Engineering, Tactical, Science. If I'm on the bridge of a Science type ship I want the NPCs, their behavior, and the little details inside the ship to reflect that.
-More intricate and varied PvP maps.
-Through all of the combat, something felt like it was missing. Couldn't put my finger on it and then just today I realized what it was. NPC vocal greetings, taunts, war cry, death wail.
Friendly and enemy NPCs feel very hollow without sound clips reinforcing what they are. I want male and female humanoid NPCs to have a quick vocal greeting when you click on them. I want NPC Klingons, Orion pirates, Romulans etc to have appropriate taunts, war cries, and death wails when my character is fighting them in ground combat. And in space combat I want the same but ofcourse in space they would be ship audio transmissions. Small default NPC voices are standard in MMOs it feels strange that they aren't in this MMO yet.
You do not understand why so many are being critical about the game, and then go on to list off the shortcomings of the game. You answered your own question with your very own post.
Originally I was planning to play STO but I changed my mind when the concepts were changed.
I don't want to be a captain of my own ship. I wanted to be a medic on somebody else's ship.
Though I guess the latter was never in the plans... but I was hoping that in this game a crew in a ship would be the 'other mmo's guild'.
This is what we all were expecting. A guild would run its own ship. You would have a captain, and crew. Instead what we got was a higly instanced pos, with some grouping. I found that most of the groups were auto groups who zoned into a patroll area and got a mission done, then the group fell appart. I played the open beta for several days, quit went back tried it again. All it is is another bad start trek game among the many that we have gotton over the years, except this one you have a monthly fee for.
Sorry no dice for me.
Oh and the one thing I noticed he said that his co worker was doing this at work?? Most companies I work for would fire you for playing games at work much less a competitors game.
If everything else about the game was the same as now, but we could run player-crewed ships as guilds, I would buy this game.
It means that much to me. I think it will be a major factor for most Trek fans. Watch the boards.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
They took that away. Guess that means there are no more bugs?
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Even if those are valid excuses (and I dispute some of them) - they don't keep it from being a bad game. It doesn't give anyone a reason to pay money for it.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
And if the game goes F2P in a year? They already have a cash shop in place. That's half the work done already.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
You're ahead compared to going to movies. You're not ahead compared to paying for the game on a monthly basis. Cryptic wins big time.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Get your head out of the sand, there IS nothing new about STO. That's one of, if not THE, major criticisms about the game and Cryptic in general: lack of innovation.
You do not understand why so many are being critical about the game, and then go on to list off the shortcomings of the game. You answered your own question with your very own post.
Nah see you don't get what I said. People are so critical about STO but it like 99% of the other 10+ MMOs I have played. The things I suggested they improve are small additions. Could be added in one patch 2 months down the line easily. Fleet headquarters, docking animations, more complex PvP maps, and NPC sound clips. Those aren't huge changes. The core game itself is fun already.
I decided after reading some of the out right bs in the thread about how it gets better after you get your t2 ship to go back and finish out the beta.
Well I got my t2 ship constitution class looks like the old enterprise form the movies not the series. Long story short it moves better than the marinda class, but the game is still the same. Highly isntance, mostly combat and very little to no social action. The only social action is folks talking in zone thats it. No grouping no nothing.
Im not paying 14.95 a month or whatever the price was for a lifetime pass when this should be f2p.
I hope those who like it are ok with it, and I am glad I did not pre order. Once again Cryptic with the big letdown.
I'm not paying for a subscription on a game designed as a solo game for consoles. (ie, looks and plays like a console)
It's a good effort on Cryptic's part. Can't blame them, but it's not a deep enough game for me. It is what is is.
Instead of call this game Star Trek, they should call it Star Shortcut because they have taken every shortcut in the book to get it out this soon. They have not even finished the Klingons. They are basically asking people to pay to alpha test this game and the fools are lining up to do it..
Too much instancing, hard to call it a MMO, the need for grouping is so limited.
Then you see posts complaining about not advancing fast enough that make me laugh out loud. What are they going to do when they make admiral in a month or two?
This game is just another MMO joke on genre population.
That is a good point, but advancing and unlocking new abilities and ships is really the only thing to do.
I just get frustrated and angry that such a rich IP was handled so poorly.
I have other favourite IPs that might make for great MMORPGs (like Dune), but now I just dread the announcement, rather than long for it.
It's like having a movie of your favourite book made, only much more disappointing.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
And What inside knowledge do you have? It has NOT been delayed. You cannot delay something that has no release date in the first place. Q1 of 2011 is a reasonable release date considering how huge this game will be. in fact even if it's delayed to 2012 I WON'T CARE. I want bioware to do this right. The Star Wars game to end all Star Wars games. Not this shallow puddle of a Star Trek game. SW:TOR will be so much better then STO will ever be. I feel sorry for CBS, a better studio should have gotten Star Trek online. But the past is replaying it self again, with Star Trek and Star Wars. AND Cryptic has ANOTHER mmo due out next year. I seriously doubt they will put any amount of attention into STO, after all CO is such a powerhouse of features and stability riiight? Cryptic is now my most hated studio by far. Much more then SOE or Funcom. They destroyed one of my favorite IPs ever. But at least SW:TOR will make up for it. The web site alone for sw:tor is so well done and already has more content then all of STO.
I will give Cryptic not one penny for this blasphemy.
"You can never go broke appealing to the lowest common denominator" - Cryptic's Moto
The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity. - Harlan Ellison
And What inside knowledge do you have? It has NOT been delayed. You cannot delay something that has no release date in the first place. Q1 of 2011 is a reasonable release date considering how huge this game will be. in fact even if it's delayed to 2012 I WON'T CARE. I want bioware to do this right. The Star Wars game to end all Star Wars games. Not this shallow puddle of a Star Trek game. SW:TOR will be so much better then STO will ever be. I feel sorry for CBS, a better studio should have gotten Star Trek online. But the past is replaying it self again, with Star Trek and Star Wars. AND Cryptic has ANOTHER mmo due out next year. I seriously doubt they will put any amount of attention into STO, after all CO is such a powerhouse of features and stability riiight? Cryptic is now my most hated studio by far. Much more then SOE or Funcom. They destroyed one of my favorite IPs ever. But at least SW:TOR will make up for it. The web site alone for sw:tor is so well done and already has more content then all of STO.
I will give Cryptic not one penny for this blasphemy.
"You can never go broke appealing to the lowest common denominator" - Cryptic's Moto
He knows its been delayed because he can read. EA stated it was delayed and Bioware confirmed it. His inside source is called google, check it out.
In other news, while I like star trek, I would have to agree after playing the game for a while its really does not live up to the Star Trek name. I did pre-order the game because at first I thought it was great, after about 15-20 hrs I found out the game has really nothing going for it. Cryptic shrank pvp down to 5 vs 5. Klinks have no content whatsoever and really its just a combat game all around. No thinking required. The changes they have made to pvp in the last month have just made it worse. Closed beta was really a better game imo. It should be renamed to federation online. I will play the game for the first 30 days that are included to see if they can salvage this ship wreak but it's really not the game I had wanted. Please cryptic don't destroy another good mmo Idea by making it.
I didn't really like this game all that much when I first started playing it, but i gave it a chance, and as you begin to advance in level it gets pretty fun. You ship gets more abilities and so do your foes, it makes the space battles more challenging. Also the planets I have gone to, some have been quite unique looking. While I could stand for the quests to be a little deeper, I am hoping for some epic quest lines to be added into this game. One thing this game has room for is expansion. Space games can expand a little more easily than games that have terrain. I really like the space battles alot, they don't feel repetitive to me. I also tried out PvP, and while I was only lev 13 in a 10 to 20 range, and got utterly destroyed, it was alot of fun. The classes are rather balanced, and because of the variety of looks and weapons avail in ground combat, it is hard to tell how to fight another player, until you see them do something, you don't know how to fight them. And if you are going to have factions, what better than the federation vs the klingons. I will not buy a long subscription, but I will be playing this game and giving it a chance.
I enjoyed the article, thank you. We need more of this on MMORPG.com, this makes it feel like it's written by gamers for gamers.
YES!!! totally agree
I related to every word written.. I am a trekker from way back.. I even remember the PILOT for the first Star Trek series lol.
I have been in the beta and yes, I found it somehwat wanting but it IS STAR TREK! I can choose the type of uniform I wear and I have a Star Trek communicator! and I get on my ship, use the turbo lift to the bridge (shame about the captain's chair) and warp speed across the galaxy. I can talk to Star Fleet and I can BEAM UP!! I am in heaven
I have pre-ordered and I will play for at least the first 30 days.. then probably wait a few months until they fix it LOL.
BEAM ME UP, Scotty!!!!!!!
After playing in the head start a few hours I must say I am torn. I am also one of those Trekkies that can speak Klingon and knows the difference between a Hydran and Kzinti. I am old school computer trekking as well, back through all the mess and ending with Star Fleet Command.
STO so far has been interesting, the FPS element is okay but I am not a big FPS fan so I might not judge it fair. The starship element has me torn. It is more tactically oriented than the other star ship mmo scifi offering. This to me spices up the combat. However I am left feeling more like I am flying a fighter than a starship.
STO is trying to walk the middle ground between the rich tactical combat of SFC and the orbit and click combat of EVE.
At the end of the day this is a fun title and gets you your trekkie fix however I do not see it being listed as a great title. EVE will not lose a lot of players because STO does not appeal to the same group, the lack of sandbox in STO saves EVE. The PvP to me in STO sounds better however, I hate blob fights, perferring the quick dance of small fleets.
At the end of the day the success or failure of this MMO will be known in about 6 months. Cryptic has a title on it's hands that wins in some small degree without any game. You say Star Trek and you draw in a nice little group. However they need to put some serious support in for a real win.
The game has a number of graphical glitches that are just lazy quality control. The server problems are to be expected so we get to see how they handle this. The game play has a bit more of an arcade feel than I feel most trekkies will like so it will be interesting to see how they rework that or if they do.
Right now it is a fun change of pace but to make it a down the road MMO they are gonna have to beef it up.
On a side note what happened to my favorite race the Gorn?
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I have a soap box and I am not afraid to use it.
The gorn are there I found them in beta, on a mission in the arcanues cluster they are poorly done they look like crud, not very well thought out, same with klingons they just dont look right
I agree and I enjoyed the article. The one issue I have with articles such as these are when the columnist also works for a gaming developer, as Jennings is known to work with the Aion team.
Despite any personal opinions Jennings might have on Aion, I doubt we'll ever see them in print to see as... blatantly... as his opinions of STO are. I highly doubt his employer would look favorably on him if he were to write a negative article on Aion, even if he felt negatively this way.
This is why one of the first rules we learn in college, when studying journalism - as I have myself done - is that you look for the personal bias of a writer. If the CEO of Enron corp writes an article stating why he thinks Oil and Gasoline are the Best Things Ever for the environment, one has to suspect his writings a bit because his bread is buttered by that corporation.
Same thing with columnists and writers who actually work for gaming companies. I have no idea if the MMORPG.com staff will let my post stand unedited, of course - or let me go without a warning on this one - but since it hasn't been said I think it is something that is very relevant to the topic.
I'm not a huge fan of STO, either, but at what point do we step back and look a bit skeptically at op-ed articles written by columnists who actually work for the competition? (For that matter, I'm not a huge fan of Aion, but that is beside the point.)
So, STO has a lot of flaws and was a huge disappointment to many. That much is obvious. STO also has a lot of loyal fans. That much is obvious. The opinions of somebody who doesn't work for any MMO gaming developer, however, are bound to be more valuable in my ultimate assessment of a game than the words of somebody who is knowingly being paid by a gaming development company, on their payroll. I know that few of the companies I have worked for in the past would have regarded favorably an article I wrote expressing any negative opinion about the Corporation or the Corporate Powers That Be.
Just some food for thought. I'll screen shot this in case it's removed quickly.