Played beta. That's probably not a "fair chance", admittedly. But what I saw was not compelling for a subscription based game.
I don't like 2.5d space games, in general. I want a proper Z axis. Not a deal-breaker, but it's immersion-breaking to have enemies directly beneath you but have to spiral down to attack them.
Definitely needed top & bottom shields for the same reason. As I'm turning relative to an enemy above or below me, their targeting would rapidly cycle through front/side/rear/side shields faster than I could possibly adjust. Again, frustrating and immersion breaking.
No properly playable Klingon race didn't bother me since I'm a TOS guy. Klingons are the enemy, period. Kill on sight, or at least cleverly outwit and make miserable ("where they'll be no tribble at all"
The tactical part of the engine just didn't work for me inside bases and around narrow corridors/turns. It was difficult to keep team members firing at the right targets. Been a while, so I don't remember exactly why I didn't like it but I didin't.
No bridge view was a problem. I don't mean the ability to view what the bridge would look like if it mattered. I expected the bridge view to matter in some way. Not "star trek"-y enough somehow.
Surface missions and base environments weren't varied enough. I liked the dynamic mission concept (warp into an area and be automatically joined with people seamlessly), but difficulty scaling seemed problematic (tho I don't remember which direction...)
Eventually leveling (even to the cap allowed in the beta) seemed grindy.
I'm sure that most of that's been corrected or changed since beta, but if you want my money, you've got to make a good initial impression. Even still, though, I doubt I'll give the F2P version a look. I tried it with CO, EQ2 (was a paying subscriber for 2 years at one point), AOC and DDO and none of them hooked me.
And it's not anti-f2p bias. I played rappelz for 18 months and currently play Forsaken World.
I can also roleplay the tower in a chess game and shout "is that a peasant at the horizon I see? I will smash it I will! Oh damn I broke one of my merlons!". -- maji
As much as i hate Cryptic, this game was ok as a space hack and slash, it just wasnt worthy of a mmo title or ongoing fee. It was great for some mindless fun after a hard days work nothing more or less. Unfortunately Cryptic polished a single player game and told us it was an mmo.
If you pay for an IP you should make a game forthe fans of the IP, if you just want to make a game for average MMO players you don't need an existing IP. WAR did the same thing.
I agree with you. But when big companies buy a popular IP, it's because brand awareness is already established so they save on marketing costs. Not because they want to make a true experience of the IP.
I can also roleplay the tower in a chess game and shout "is that a peasant at the horizon I see? I will smash it I will! Oh damn I broke one of my merlons!". -- maji
As an avid Star Trek fan, I was dissappointed when I heard STO was going to feature a "everyone is the Capt of their own ship" style of play.
I think there was were the whole thing went wrong from the start. Making a game for the trekkies would have been a lot more work but it had the potential of being a huge hit.
Instead they tried to make the game for MMORPG fans, but the problem is that the game is a CORPG like Guildwars and DDO, and games like that shouldn't have monthly fees.
To me it seems like they always took the cheapest choices and the IP deserves more than that. If you pay for an IP you should make a game forthe fans of the IP, if you just want to make a game for average MMO players you don't need an existing IP. WAR did the same thing.
STO do have some positive aspects but it isn't a Star trek game. But of course ST is the hardest MMO IP I can imagine, possibly with Zelazny's "Amber" as the exception. I am not so sure any company could have pulled it off.
I remember the forum wars about it here. Funny now some people who were ardent supporters of Cryptic's design choices are now ardent haters of the game.
Star Trek is too rich an IP to base a shallow MMO on and think it'll be a success.
1. I think there was were the whole thing went wrong from the start. Making a game for the trekkies would have been a lot more work but it had the potential of being a huge hit.
2. To me it seems like they always took the cheapest choices and the IP deserves more than that. If you pay for an IP you should make a game forthe fans of the IP, if you just want to make a game for average MMO players you don't need an existing IP.
3. WAR did the same thing.
4. STO do have some positive aspects but it isn't a Star trek game. But of course ST is the hardest MMO IP I can imagine, possibly with Zelazny's "Amber" as the exception. I am not so sure any company could have pulled it off.
1. Cryptic didn't give themselves the time though; they put out that they could mass-produce MMOs in a 18-24 month time period, and then took on developing two MMOs at once.
2. Unfortunately they decided to go for the cash grab the Star Trek I.P. would give them.
3. In Mythic's defense, some of the foolish moves made with WAR were GW's fault (such as the whole Order vs. Chaos, or the idea that not many people would play the Chaos races).
4. The only I.P. I see as being impossible to translate well into a MMO would be Firefly.
"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
Definitely needed top & bottom shields for the same reason. As I'm turning relative to an enemy above or below me, their targeting would rapidly cycle through front/side/rear/side shields faster than I could possibly adjust. Again, frustrating and immersion breaking.
That could have been dealt with by having a first officer who handled such things; I lost track of how many times Riker dealt with things such as shifting power to damaged shields or ordering damage control while Picard concentrated on the fight.
"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
I have always liked Star Trek so I do enjoy the story missions. I also agree that standard missions do get repetitive quickly, but I am only planning to play the story and ignore the standard MMO fare.
"The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in."
I played in beta, at launch, then again about 8 months later to see if they actually finished the game.
This is my impression through it all.
One faction that has all the content, a second one there just for people to log on and look at, it doesn't really do anything. The ground missions are similar to watching paint dry while some little kid is hitting you on the head with a nerf bat. Space combat, the only thing that didn't completely suck was extremely lack luster after playing for a few days. Out side of a few really interesting quest chains, most of the content is repetative and tiring. You find yourself just wanting to beat the missions you are on as fast as you can just to get it over because they are so annoying. When I reached the rank of admiral I suddenly realized that all of my interests in the game had completely deminished, especially after making several attempts at the DS9 instance; which was massively bugged at the time.
Level cap within days as a Klingon During open beta, got annoyed that there was so little to do on that side both during leveling and at cap.
Level cap within days during the head start as Federation, got annoyed there was so little to do at cap.
Uninstall.
3 months ago i resubscribed, downloaded the game and promptly forgot about it without ever logging in after being side tracked by Borderlands. A couple of weeks later the game was uninstalled and subscription cancelled.
1. Zelazy's "Amber" series changed my life. Ok I lied. But it really changed my whole concept of the "fantasy genre"
2. Star Trek Online is visually beautiful. The ships and planets are trekkie pr0n.
3. Content issue. Issue being that there isn't much of it.
4. Grouping issue. Sometimes the game felt like a desert due to low subscriber base.
5. Cash shop issue. Most of the cool ships, uniforms, crewmates, etc always seemed to be in the cash shop, which isn't much of a problem except that the game has a monthly subscription fee.
I downloaded and started a trial account. What a horrible game. I can't believe people pay for this stuff. Very shallow in my opinion. I wouldn't even waste my time if was free to play.
Played for about 6 weeks after launch and was pretty disappointed.
Space combat was kind of fun at first but got old quick, ground based was just buggy.
Had a very unfinished feel.
I am planning to give STO another try here pretty soon, I have always loved Star Trek so am hoping they have made enough adjustments so the game is fun and interesting enough for me to want to stay around for a year or two.
Comments
Played beta. That's probably not a "fair chance", admittedly. But what I saw was not compelling for a subscription based game.
I don't like 2.5d space games, in general. I want a proper Z axis. Not a deal-breaker, but it's immersion-breaking to have enemies directly beneath you but have to spiral down to attack them.
Definitely needed top & bottom shields for the same reason. As I'm turning relative to an enemy above or below me, their targeting would rapidly cycle through front/side/rear/side shields faster than I could possibly adjust. Again, frustrating and immersion breaking.
No properly playable Klingon race didn't bother me since I'm a TOS guy. Klingons are the enemy, period. Kill on sight, or at least cleverly outwit and make miserable ("where they'll be no tribble at all"
The tactical part of the engine just didn't work for me inside bases and around narrow corridors/turns. It was difficult to keep team members firing at the right targets. Been a while, so I don't remember exactly why I didn't like it but I didin't.
No bridge view was a problem. I don't mean the ability to view what the bridge would look like if it mattered. I expected the bridge view to matter in some way. Not "star trek"-y enough somehow.
Surface missions and base environments weren't varied enough. I liked the dynamic mission concept (warp into an area and be automatically joined with people seamlessly), but difficulty scaling seemed problematic (tho I don't remember which direction...)
Eventually leveling (even to the cap allowed in the beta) seemed grindy.
I'm sure that most of that's been corrected or changed since beta, but if you want my money, you've got to make a good initial impression. Even still, though, I doubt I'll give the F2P version a look. I tried it with CO, EQ2 (was a paying subscriber for 2 years at one point), AOC and DDO and none of them hooked me.
And it's not anti-f2p bias. I played rappelz for 18 months and currently play Forsaken World.
I can also roleplay the tower in a chess game and shout "is that a peasant at the horizon I see? I will smash it I will! Oh damn I broke one of my merlons!". -- maji
As much as i hate Cryptic, this game was ok as a space hack and slash, it just wasnt worthy of a mmo title or ongoing fee. It was great for some mindless fun after a hard days work nothing more or less. Unfortunately Cryptic polished a single player game and told us it was an mmo.
I agree with you. But when big companies buy a popular IP, it's because brand awareness is already established so they save on marketing costs. Not because they want to make a true experience of the IP.
I can also roleplay the tower in a chess game and shout "is that a peasant at the horizon I see? I will smash it I will! Oh damn I broke one of my merlons!". -- maji
I remember the forum wars about it here. Funny now some people who were ardent supporters of Cryptic's design choices are now ardent haters of the game.
Star Trek is too rich an IP to base a shallow MMO on and think it'll be a success.
1. Cryptic didn't give themselves the time though; they put out that they could mass-produce MMOs in a 18-24 month time period, and then took on developing two MMOs at once.
2. Unfortunately they decided to go for the cash grab the Star Trek I.P. would give them.
3. In Mythic's defense, some of the foolish moves made with WAR were GW's fault (such as the whole Order vs. Chaos, or the idea that not many people would play the Chaos races).
4. The only I.P. I see as being impossible to translate well into a MMO would be Firefly.
"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
That could have been dealt with by having a first officer who handled such things; I lost track of how many times Riker dealt with things such as shifting power to damaged shields or ordering damage control while Picard concentrated on the fight.
"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
Playing this now due to great offer from Steam.
I have always liked Star Trek so I do enjoy the story missions. I also agree that standard missions do get repetitive quickly, but I am only planning to play the story and ignore the standard MMO fare.
"The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in."
I played in beta, at launch, then again about 8 months later to see if they actually finished the game.
This is my impression through it all.
One faction that has all the content, a second one there just for people to log on and look at, it doesn't really do anything. The ground missions are similar to watching paint dry while some little kid is hitting you on the head with a nerf bat. Space combat, the only thing that didn't completely suck was extremely lack luster after playing for a few days. Out side of a few really interesting quest chains, most of the content is repetative and tiring. You find yourself just wanting to beat the missions you are on as fast as you can just to get it over because they are so annoying. When I reached the rank of admiral I suddenly realized that all of my interests in the game had completely deminished, especially after making several attempts at the DS9 instance; which was massively bugged at the time.
SMDH...
Level cap within days as a Klingon During open beta, got annoyed that there was so little to do on that side both during leveling and at cap.
Level cap within days during the head start as Federation, got annoyed there was so little to do at cap.
Uninstall.
3 months ago i resubscribed, downloaded the game and promptly forgot about it without ever logging in after being side tracked by Borderlands. A couple of weeks later the game was uninstalled and subscription cancelled.
Let's call Star Trek Oline for what it is...
C-STORE Online
1. Zelazy's "Amber" series changed my life. Ok I lied. But it really changed my whole concept of the "fantasy genre"
2. Star Trek Online is visually beautiful. The ships and planets are trekkie pr0n.
3. Content issue. Issue being that there isn't much of it.
4. Grouping issue. Sometimes the game felt like a desert due to low subscriber base.
5. Cash shop issue. Most of the cool ships, uniforms, crewmates, etc always seemed to be in the cash shop, which isn't much of a problem except that the game has a monthly subscription fee.
I downloaded and started a trial account. What a horrible game. I can't believe people pay for this stuff. Very shallow in my opinion. I wouldn't even waste my time if was free to play.
Played for about 6 weeks after launch and was pretty disappointed.
Space combat was kind of fun at first but got old quick, ground based was just buggy.
Had a very unfinished feel.
I am planning to give STO another try here pretty soon, I have always loved Star Trek so am hoping they have made enough adjustments so the game is fun and interesting enough for me to want to stay around for a year or two.