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Is there one months worth of content?
Philby
Member Posts: 849
Ive read a lot about the lack of content but ive been a ST fan forever and really would like this game to be what im pretty sure it isnt. My quesion is, if I buy the game will there be enough content to keep me busy for the free month? I play prettty casually but do go off the rails now and then for a marathon session. With the price of the game at around $30 if I could get a month out of it that wouldnt be too bad a deal for a ST fix. I also know about the over the top Cash Shop so would the month, if possible, be possible without spending money in the CS?
Edit for spelling.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
Comments
You know what these people will say, they will tell you not to buy the game. Go for the trial/referral, and if you have experience with previous MMOs, the trial combined with common sense will be enough to make up your own mind. It's best to just ignore all the crap that people post here.
To answer your question it takes about 60-140 hours to max out a character in terms of skills, and there is nothing on the C store that you need for gameplay, no xp potions or paid-powerups etc.
Getting from level 1-45 takes approximately 80 hours of gameplay (according to the STO devs). There are 3 pretty distinct classes to try out (and 3 character slots as standard), and enough quests Federation-side that you don't have to do the exact same things for all 3 characters. There will be a bit of overlap, but your experience depends on where you focus your gameplay.
I personally enjoy STO, but I do so as a casual game. I do marathon sessions every now and then as well, but most of the time I only play for an hour or two.
The C-Store stuff is, so far, fluff. There are emotes, extra races, costume parts and ship parts (cosmetic only). They have account services such as respecs, renames and more character slots, but those aren't really neccessary.
As for the game itself, I have no idea if you'll like it or not. It's a bit shallow and it seems that starfleet has changed their stance from 'go for the diplomatic solution' to 'shoot them in the face, shoot them in the face some more, ask questions from the survivors, and then shoot them in the face'. Shooting stuff (in space especially) is fun though.
Finally, I have to add a personal observation to this, and this is just my opinion: The Dev team seems to be quite dedicated towards making the game better. They are active on the forums, listen to the playerbase and actually try to act on it as well. Their budget isn't huge, but they're doing what they can, and Season 2.0 (next major patch) seems promising.
Also, user generated content is in the works at the moment.
EDIT: The team regularly posts Engineering reports that might be worth looking at if you're interested in where the game is going: http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=162261 - that's the latest one and the one that has the Season 2 information.
http://machineborn.guildportal.com - Now recruiting players!
Thanks to you both. I think im going to get the game. I have a PS3 and have spent twice the box price on a game and beat it in a week or two so for the price I think I will get my monys worth and who knows, I may end up liking it enough to sub for longer. Ive heard about some of the improvements and thanks for telling me about how the devs are working toward more content. Thanks again to you both.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
You're welcome, and I hope that you like it enough that you don't think it was a waste of money
One funny story, and that was part of what has shaped my opinion of the Dev team. Since the Devs announced that they were working on a Dabo minigame, a player took it upon himself to contact Chase Masterson, the woman who played Leeta, the Dabo girl, in DS9. Long story short, she responded favorably, and the developers listened. A contact between the two was facilitated (and this was all started by a player), and now it's on the list of things to come for Season 2 - A holographic Leeta, voiced by the original actress. I thought that was pretty neat. Original thread here: http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=146571
http://machineborn.guildportal.com - Now recruiting players!
Being as honest as I can I'd say buy and try the game it is awesome before you know anything about it. It should be able to get you through a month so long as you don't expect to spend your entire day grinding through the game in that case you'll get a months worth and no more. Where my problems began was right into the second month which I already knew I would have quit for but wanted to let them announce the season 2 update before making a decision, by the time they announced season 2 I had only logged into the game four times that week and never completed a mission due to sheer boredom, I literally entered my mission zone and as I floated around got caught up by one of the E Trade baby commercials or something else as insignificant.
I will give them a bit of a benefit and say I beta tested this game for about 2 months pre launch so I had pretty much been through alot of what I had seen and I also love making alts so again I really recycled the content to extreme levels but still I've played on two different servers on LOTRO and have boh servers character slots full (I think 7-8 each) and never got tired or bored of repeating that content.
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
ya 2.0 that hits in sometime in july will have lots of new things for STO. I would download the trail and just try it. I am also pretty casually it has taken me about 3 mouths to hit max lvl. now im working on my kilc. If you do get it look me up cohas@cohas79
Have No Fear Cohas is here!!!
even if you play a lot, theres still a few weeks worth of content, allthough its extremely repetitive. i would suggest getting a pre-paid credit card to activate your account as there has been multiple posts on this site alone of cryptic continueing to charge peoples cards after they cancelled.
IF THE ONLY DEFENCE FOR CRITICISM OF A GAME IS CALLING SOMEONE A TROLL OR HATER, THAT SAYS A LOT ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THE GAME
I've only been playing STO for a month now and to be honest, expected it to be poor and boring from what i'd read in various places. But i'm pleased I gave it a try as i'm really enjoying it,! I'm even playing my beloved Eve a lot less now...
Give the trial a try and see how you get on.
Hard core Eve player, and enjoying STO at the moment as well...
Get the game and see for yourself. It comes with thirty days free game time, so if you don't like it then don't subscribe. As another mentioned, make sure to remove any credit card information after you get your account up and running; while it may be solved, there were problems early on with people who had cancelled still being billed. If you do like it and wish to subscribe, you can always reenter your information then. As mentioned, it can get repetitive fairly early on; I would suggest trying to vary your activites a bit (do a patrol mission, then some exploration missions, then perhaps some PvP, etc.) to help alleviate that problem, unless you are a very casual gamer (an hour or so tops of game time per session).
Concerning the cash shop, I would avoid it until you are sure you are going to subscribe; other than respecs, there's nothing in there that is important to buy. Do a bit of studying on the STO forums to see what people suggest as good places to put your skill points; that way you can avoid having to spend money on repecs in the cash shop if you make mistakes.
"Oh my, how horrible, someone is criticizing a MMO. Oh yeah, that is what a forum is about, looking at both sides. You rather have to be critical of anything in this genre as of late because the track record of these major studios has just been appalling." -Ozmodan
gotta love how most of the "sto is a great game" posts are now by an account made the same day.
IF THE ONLY DEFENCE FOR CRITICISM OF A GAME IS CALLING SOMEONE A TROLL OR HATER, THAT SAYS A LOT ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THE GAME
Concerning mistakes, they have put in respecs that you get with each rank advancement, I think it is (every 10 levels or so). These you get automatically and free, so as a new player, you have a bit of leeway for making mistakes and such without it costing you money to respec.
http://machineborn.guildportal.com - Now recruiting players!
Most posts here are saying give it a try, today was my first post after visiting this site for a couple of years so I thought it was time to join up.
I'm not saying its a great game, but i'm enjoying it so far and pleased I gave it a try. Will I still be playing it in a couple of months? I don't know, but with Season 2 coming out soon I hope so.
Hard core Eve player, and enjoying STO at the moment as well...
There's about 40 hours of content (i.e episodes). The rest, which makes up to the average 70 hours until level cap are just rehashed repeats of generic missions.
Its also extremely linear and has next to no diversity.
They may be able to turn it around, but not for quite some time. To much work is needed.
Play it casually for the free month. You wont experience anything other than a rudimentary third-person space shooter with some of the most shallow, redundant, single-player esque game-play on the market.
If you're into trek, you'll have a great month.
That's it.
If you're expecting a serious MMO, don't buy it. It has one of the worst quality single player content on the market, 100% instanced PvP and gameworld and only three classes.
M
When the devs said there was about 80 hours of content, it was a pretty accurate estimate, provided you take a little downtime here and there to find/buy new gear. Divvy that up however you will.
short answer (sure)
The following statement is false
The previous statement is true
It's alright, not very complex but amusing enough in an arcade-like way.. Kept me occupied for about a month, before getting bored and moving on.
The pvp is a joke though, and the pve is rather easy, so gets old fairly fast.
Thanks everyone for the honest opinions. Like I say, if I can get a month out of it with the box price being what it is then its a good buy for me considering the console games ive purchased and completed in half or less that time. Ive read quite a few reviews and with realistic expectations going in I may get a pleasant surprise or two and find I enjoy it more than expected.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
I bought this game with a 2 month, giving me 3 months of game time. Level capped in 3 weeks, logged for dailies for a week. I think the game might still have active time. I havent logged in for over a month or more. Its very, very casual friendly. If you like the idea of flying a starship, dont have time to live an MMO, this is your game.
PvP is hideous but I played 5+ years of EvE so my views on PvP are less than mercifull.
True, but a new player can screw up more than once every ten levels, hence the advice to study a bit first.
"Oh my, how horrible, someone is criticizing a MMO. Oh yeah, that is what a forum is about, looking at both sides. You rather have to be critical of anything in this genre as of late because the track record of these major studios has just been appalling." -Ozmodan