Star Trek Online

[Vostok 7]

How much is the subscription fee for this game? I've never really played an MMO before apart from the free to play version of RF online. I'm actually considering trying out star trek though, but I'm worried that it might end up getting deserted and end up being a waste of money. I've heard similar stories with Conan and warhammer where their servers ended up being deserted within a year.

Well, Conan (first hand experience) sucked and so did Warhammer (from what I've heard).

The fee is $15/mo or there's discounts for buying months in advance. There's also a yearly of $119.99/yr or lifetime of $239.99. I went with the lifetime because $239.99 is equal to 16 months of $15/mo and I figure it has to survive at least that long. And besides, I dumped more in to SWG and FFXI than that and they weren't as good IMO.

[kaiotheforsaken]

Subscriptions are 14.99 a month, which is pretty standard MMO fare. The problem with Conan is that it has insane system requirements from the get go and was not very playable. Warhammer focuses almost entirely on PVP. Games that are one trick ponies tend to get old. Star Trek has a nice solid PVE side which can be played in small groups, large groups, or solo and some solid PVP from what I've been able to try. And both are completely viable ways to progress your character through the ranks. Single player also has some very nice story elements as well.

I'd say take the plunge with STO, Cryptic has a solid track record for MMOs and there is a large enough fan base for Star Trek to keep things going. As long as Cryptic provides content for players, I think it'll stay healthy. That and, unlike wow, all the servers are tied together much like the districts of cities in Guild Wars, so even if the population dips in the future you still wont have a "dead server".

If I had the cash on hand I'd be going lifetime as well, but Christmas + January birthdays means I'll probably pass.

Edited January 20, 2010 by kaiotheforsaken

[Warmaker]

I've been following this MMO's development off and on. A bit wary at the moment considering the game's previous development troubles (or was it publishing?). STO is getting alot of attention on gaming sites these days and several different in-store preorder editions to add to the chaos. Holding back until getting some of reviews (esp. player ones).

I've been burned by 2 of the last big name MMOs that came out in the last couple years: Age of Conan and Warhammer Online. I was there at the beginning for both and was not too happy after peeling back the onion more.

As an MMO player, I've got more leanings towards PvE and like to jump into PvP every now and then. Not too keen on the idea of Open PvP, esp. the type that involves players looting your junk.

Edited January 20, 2010 by Warmaker

[Ghost Train]

As an MMO player, I've got more leanings towards PvE and like to jump into PvP every now and then. Not too keen on the idea of Open PvP, esp. the type that involves players looting your junk.

I used to have the same opinion about Open PvP, but I think it's the best way to keep people in line. In PvE or limited-PvP environments when someone rips you off, sullies your reputation, or does something generally "bad" to you or your buddies your only recourse is to go to a forum and start arguing and flaming away. With Open-PvP the avenues of justice and retribution are endless.

In EVE, I have this friend who is not really a combat-type but was more interested in the industrial (mfg/mining) part of the game. For a few weeks he noticed this guy was intentionally trying to undercut him and drive him out of the system and reduce his income. He was not a combat type and our corp was not willing to declare war on the other corp, so he hires a mercenary corporation to war dec the undercutting guy. By the end of the week, his opponent was in tears - as the mercs blew up his 1 billion ISK faction battleship, and pretty much set him back considerably.

You can still behave badly in a sandbox environment, just be wary that retribution is just around the corner . ... PvE MMO's on the other hand, you're pretty much powerless.

Also lol @ comments about paying subscription fees - another reason to play EVE. You can use in-game money to buy game time, which is sold by players who need game-currency. Hence they have solved the problem of paying subscriptions and people illegally purchasing in-game currency in 1 blow by creating a way to legally accommodate these needs. But you can pay normal subscriptions if you want.

[Mercurial Morpheus]

Interesting system. I may have to check out EVE sometime. Though the whole PvP thing reminds me of Starfleet Commander over on Facebook. I'm currently in diplomacy mode just so I can take a load off. It slows you down, but saves you from having to worry about fleetsaving.

[Ghost Train]

Epic EVE PvP engagement:

[mikeszekely]

I'll say this... the more your play STO, the more it grows on you. That's more than I could say for WoW.

[eugimon]

haha.. naomi wildman...

[kaiotheforsaken]

The references to older shows and the appearances of characters that you remember is pretty awesome

Apparently they are lifting all the beta restrictions sometime this week as well, which will be pretty cool. Sadly I'm going out of town and come back right before ME2s launch, so I'll be a bit conflicted lol.

In any case, I got to do a ground based fleet action last night. There was easily 50+ people on the map running around as a group completing objectives and there was almost no hickups or lag. It was a lot of fun and encouraging to see it run so well. I had to update...yesterday I guess it was and the away missions have been running much much better since.

[eugimon]

I've been getting dropped from the servers every 10-20mins today. pretty annoying. I agree with mike though, the game grows on me the more I play. Might subscribe later after ME2

[Vostok 7]

I'm pretty surprised how "fast" you level once you hit Lt. Cmdr. and get your first upgraded ship. You also seem to make money pretty quickly too, I just bought an Escort to play around with. My plan is to eventually have one of everything, since there's no limit to the ships you can have (I believe you can even have multiples of the same type), I'm gonna go pokemon on that isht!

[kung flu]

Well, Conan (first hand experience) sucked and so did Warhammer (from what I've heard).

The fee is $15/mo or there's discounts for buying months in advance. There's also a yearly of $119.99/yr or lifetime of $239.99. I went with the lifetime because $239.99 is equal to 16 months of $15/mo and I figure it has to survive at least that long. And besides, I dumped more in to SWG and FFXI than that and they weren't as good IMO.

the lifetime subcription is only availabe on the pre-order, so how does it work, do you not need a copy of the game first?

I'm so conflicted over this, i really don't like the idea of paying monthly fees, but the lifetime subcription is tempting but its a limited time offer and the game isn't even out yet to get reviews or a demo. I've never played a pay to play mmo before so I've never really spent so much money on a game before. My mmo expeience is limited to free to play RF online which was a total grind and every review i've read on other MMOs both free and pay seem to consist of the same grind gameplay.

But this game is "STAR TREK" which has got me really interested.

[Vostok 7]

the lifetime subcription is only availabe on the pre-order, so how does it work, do you not need a copy of the game first?

I'm so conflicted over this, i really don't like the idea of paying monthly fees, but the lifetime subcription is tempting but its a limited time offer and the game isn't even out yet to get reviews or a demo. I've never played a pay to play mmo before so I've never really spent so much money on a game before. My mmo expeience is limited to free to play RF online which was a total grind and every review i've read on other MMOs both free and pay seem to consist of the same grind gameplay.

But this game is "STAR TREK" which has got me really interested.

You have to have a beta key. You will need a box or digital download copy after release though, but you don't necessarily need a Collectors Edition with a beta key to get access to the lifetime. One of the free beta keys will work just fine then you can get the cheapest box or DL copy you can find.

Rumor is lifetime will be offered after release but will go up in price a bit, supposedly to $299.99 which means you have to play at least 20 months to "break even".

The best thing about this game is that there ISN'T the insanely boring grind gameplay of other MMOs. The missions are a little repetitive, yes, but they manage to stay interesting at least. Leveling is linear and relatively easy, it doesn't seem like other MMOs were the first 10 levels are an absolute breeze and then suddenly the game is practically impossible. If anything, the first 10 levels in this game were harder than it's been since! It levels a lot like a single player game, and scales nicely if you join in to groups. There's still missions that require groups but so far 95% of the missions I've been on I could solo. Some were difficult but soloing them made me feel that much more accomplished for completing them.

And thank GOD there's no "go to this distant town and get this, and take it to that distant town. Oh, and you can't fast travel the distance." type stuff.

[Robelwell202]

I would have loved to try this game in the 'Open-Beta' timeframe, but it's damn near impossible to get a Beta Key... You gotta be a subscriber (Premium) of a gamer site, or enter a contest...

Looks like I'm waiting.

[eugimon]

And thank GOD there's no "go to this distant town and get this, and take it to that distant town. Oh, and you can't fast travel the distance." type stuff.

But there is the "grind until you find 10 of these and come back" missions.

The nice thing about ST:O is that there's more than enough missions where you can just not do the dumb ones but still advance levels and story

[kaiotheforsaken]

Most gamestops still have tons of open beta codes for pre-orders. 5 bucks down gets you the code, if you hate it you go back to the store and get your money back. Course that really only helps if you have one near by. This next week will be where it's at for STO as they are upgrading/adding more server hardware and opening up the whole game.

Edited January 20, 2010 by kaiotheforsaken

[kung flu]

You have to have a beta key. You will need a box or digital download copy after release though, but you don't necessarily need a Collectors Edition with a beta key to get access to the lifetime. One of the free beta keys will work just fine then you can get the cheapest box or DL copy you can find.

Where could i get a free beta key?

edit- never mind, just realised robelwell answered it.

Edited January 21, 2010 by kung flu

[Warmaker]

As I understand it, you can only play as a Klingon after being hippy Federation after so many levels? Dang, I would like to jump straight away as a rampaging, violent Klingon skipper in one of the Bird of Prey type of ships

Klingon RP-PVP guilds should be... interesting

[kaiotheforsaken]

I noticed the Klingons available after a few days...I think it was a patch vs a specific level. IF it was level it was between 9-11 which is pretty minimal.

Oh and the new patch hit tonight, 800 megs almost. Looking forward to seeing some classic areas (like DS9) as well as the additional polish to the UI and so forth.

Edited January 21, 2010 by kaiotheforsaken

[eugimon]

800 megs? no wonder it's taking forever.

level cap has been removed as well.

http://www.startrekonline.com/node/910

Edited January 21, 2010 by eugimon

[kaiotheforsaken]

Indeed, which is good since I was only about half a level from hitting it. Debating on going too much farther to have the reset button hit on the 26th. I definitely know I'm gonna play, it's just a question of if I can turn off ME2 at all in the next 3 months to actually play "at launch"

[Uxi]

Interesting system. I may have to check out EVE sometime. Though the whole PvP thing reminds me of Starfleet Commander over on Facebook. I'm currently in diplomacy mode just so I can take a load off. It slows you down, but saves you from having to worry about fleetsaving.

I haen't left Diplomacy mode yet but so far liking that game. What sort of fleets do people have? Can't recon without leaving? I have about 20 fighter at each of my 4 colonies. Couple athena battleships and a handful of Apollo and Poseidons.

Been loading up on ABM and just started interplanetary missiles at my two biggest planets.

[CoryHolmes]

I used to have the same opinion about Open PvP, but I think it's the best way to keep people in line. In PvE or limited-PvP environments when someone rips you off, sullies your reputation, or does something generally "bad" to you or your buddies your only recourse is to go to a forum and start arguing and flaming away. With Open-PvP the avenues of justice and retribution are endless.

In EVE, I have this friend who is not really a combat-type but was more interested in the industrial (mfg/mining) part of the game. For a few weeks he noticed this guy was intentionally trying to undercut him and drive him out of the system and reduce his income. He was not a combat type and our corp was not willing to declare war on the other corp, so he hires a mercenary corporation to war dec the undercutting guy. By the end of the week, his opponent was in tears - as the mercs blew up his 1 billion ISK faction battleship, and pretty much set him back considerably.

You can still behave badly in a sandbox environment, just be wary that retribution is just around the corner . ... PvE MMO's on the other hand, you're pretty much powerless.

I've never played an MMO before and EVE is extremely tempting, though I've promised myself that I'll hold off until TOR comes out (next year?). But the more stories I hear about EVE's power struggles, the PvP that doesn't always involve ships and guns and lasers, and the player politics make me all the more determined that any game I play simply must have those. I hope to George Lucas that SW: TOR has those, because that sounds like fun

[Vostok 7]

The new patch is FANTASTIC. The game is a billion times better than it was.

[CoryHolmes]

The new patch is FANTASTIC. The game is a billion times better than it was.

Tsk tsk tsk. This is a Star Trek game; "billion" should be 10^6 times better. Or six orders of magnitutde better. Better polish up on your terminology...

[kaiotheforsaken]

The new patch is FANTASTIC. The game is a billion times better than it was.

I was coming on to post the exact same thing. The UI is better, the map is better, the graphics are better, everything is enabled. It looks and plays smooth as silk. Color me impressed.

And when I say the graphics are better I really mean it, in the previous build ATi cards had no anti aliasing support and were generally not running STO as smoothly as Nvidia cards. It's really nice to see this ironed out so I can crank out even more detail from the game. You also get nice voice over intros when entering new sectors strait from Leonard Nimoy, further explaining the conflict/story in a given area.

I also love the attention to detail, traveled to DS9 and the wormhole was open, as I approached the station it went through a full closing animation, just like in the show.

Edited January 21, 2010 by kaiotheforsaken

[eugimon]

The new patch is FANTASTIC. The game is a billion times better than it was.

yes, the Away mission looks great now. Resized the party in relationship to the map, much better performance, just a great patch

[kaiotheforsaken]

I did a little digging on the Klingons, after you hit level 6 as a Federation player you get to make Klingon characters. So basically the game forces you through the tutorial and a handful of basic missions before you can make a Klingon.

They apparently wont have much PvE or any ship customization (visually) out of the gate though, and that these things will be added over time. But if you don't mind hopping in a traditional Bird of Prey or Vor'cha to smoke some Feddies than go for it.

I'm hoping Romulans become playable sometime down the line.

Edited January 21, 2010 by kaiotheforsaken

[Grand Admiral]

Here's an in-game shot I took yesterday. I hid the UI and zoomed in on my ship.

Click for high res.

[CoryHolmes]

Has anyone encountered the Borg yet in this game? What function do they serve as far as gameplay goes?

[David Hingtgen]

The internet was down across much of Iowa for the past 24 hours, so my connection went out very soon after I started trying out the beta. I'll play again tonight. I think I have the only Kobali captain so far...

[Vostok 7]

I like how exploration missions are actually exploration now not just "here's a bunch of spots, go scan them".

[eugimon]

Has anyone encountered the Borg yet in this game? What function do they serve as far as gameplay goes?

they serve the function of kicking your ass...

I ran into a Borg system while still in a starter ship. That was sad going.

[Mechamaniac]

I've been playing the beta as well and I like it a lot so far. My only gripe is that it seems it takes FOREVER to get anywhere on impulse power inside the star systems. If you get involved in a nice big furball and get whacked, when you respawn and head back to the fray, half the time, the fight is almost over. And I've got the power systems tweaked so that I'm dumping all my energy into propulsion and yet still I see guys blowing by at much higher speeds. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, iunno, but flying at impulse aint gettin' it for me.

[mikeszekely]

The new patch is FANTASTIC. The game is a billion times better than it was.

I wouldn't know. I've been trying to log in for 10 minutes. It took more than five to retrieve my characters, and it's been "loading map" ever since.