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BACONX
Member UncommonPosts: 253
I need an MMO. Bear in mind, I have played a lot of them. Rift, Eq2, LOTRO, EVE, ect. I know that recently this game went F2P. F2P scares me. I just recently logged onto LOTRO for the hell of it and the nickel and dime tactics overwhelmed me plus it didn't seem to call out to me anymore. So, I need an MMO to engross myself with. Is STO a good game and is their F2P model bearable? I'm not really looking for critque as much as I'm asking if this a pleasurable way to kill time? BTW, I'm also considering The Secret World and need to decide between the two, if any people here know about the comparison.
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I tried to jump back into it. The character creation is one of the best I have seen in a game, but the game itself just gets a little repetitive.
The cash shop didn't seem too intrusive to me, I think they give you a lot of the content free.
currently playing: DDO, AOC, WoT, P101
OP, if you think LOTRO is cash shop heavy, you won't be happy with STO. The biggest difference though is while LOTRO charges for access to new content (modules), STO does not. STO may be F2P but it has has a robust cash shop that recieves frequent additions while the rest of the game takes backseat.
STO's F2P model is decent. The intro mission is quite fun (the middle of a Borg attack). STO's Trek universe is based on the New Trek (btw, new movie is due out in March). There is a lot of space and ground combat, Space combat is very limited though - it mostly boils down to circling an enemy and mashing one or more keys repeatedly. Ground combat is standard 1st-person shooter, with either you or your bridge crew (NPCs).
The game is grindy, with a lot of generic missions (kill 10 Klinks, deliever 10 supplies to planet-Z, beam down to colony Zeta and touch all the glowing consoles...rinse and repeat). There are only 2 factions to play (good=Feds, evil=Klingons). Your Federation character is the only real playable faction (Klingons were added for PVP and are still being developed into a fully playable faction years after launch). Feds start at level 1 and progress to 50 (which you can reach in a month easily). Klinks start at level 20(?), PVP a lot and have bad taste in music. :P
If you only plan to play casually and don't mind hitting end game within a month (and thereafter being really bored)...you may enjoy STO. As a F2P player you only get two character slots (so you can play both factions). Like any other game, you'll have the most fun while learning how to play and getting your feet wet in the blood of your enemies.
Based on reviews though, I'd recommend TSW. It is an rpg, has decent story content and challenging quests (requiring thinking not just button mashing like STO).
A true old school MMO, that you won't burn throught in a month, try Vanguard.
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/147/Vanguard-Saga-of-Heroes.html
The beauty of Lotro is that you can grind turbine points and not spend any money. There are guides on the net that help you grind turbine points pretty fast. I have STO and I also have all the bells and whistles where upgrades/perks go. With that being said, I have logged in a total of about 2 hours. I am a Star Trek fan, but the game does not give me that Star Trek feel. I hope you find something you like.
I keep seeing this stated as fact, and usually without any proof, so that it's become a truism. It's hogwash. The free content in the Seasons dwarfs the items added in the cash shop.
To answer the OP, STO has one of the best F2P models in the industry. There are very few restrictions for free players. No restrictions to class, level, or missions - pretty much the entire game is available to you. Additionally, dilithium - a currency earned by playing the game - can be exchanged for Zen, which allows a player to purchase things from the cash shop without spending real money. As far as the cash shop goes, there isn't anything you really need from it.
From having played both, I don't think the cash shop in STO is as intrusive as the one in LOTRO.
As far as the game goes, I enjoy STO a lot. I love the space combat, and the missions are very well done, though I'd like to see more of them. I also think the Foundry is a great system for players to create content. The DOFF system is something different to the genre, which I also like. Same with the management of bridge officers.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
Bear in mind the "best F2P model in the industry" in the quoted post is an opinion as well, not fact. Yes, there are very few restrictions to a free player. The flip side of that isthis is mostly due to very little in the way of episodic story content in STO. So in comparison to LoTRO, there is not much content that could be tiered into the F2P model.
Just my opinion here, STO is an ok game to kill some time in between other games. The artwork is beautifully done. If you don't mind button mashing the space bar and F key and (a lot! of) task repetition, you can find some value in STO. The Foundry gets mentioned a lot as a plus, but IMO it doesn't lend much to the game as most of the missions players create are garbage. You don't need to spend any real money on the game IMO. Nothing in the cash shop is what I would call a necessity.
STO is definitely worth a try. Give it a whirl and see how it goes.
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/147/Vanguard-Saga-of-Heroes.html
I did Vanguard when it came out. Did not like the way it bugged up. Of course, this was years. I have always wanted vanguard to work but I have heard that it is desolate and for such a physically big world to have a low pop, bothers me (if it is true).
STO is by far the most forgiving FTP model on the market. You can literally play from beginning to end game without spending a single dime. There is the lockboxes that you loot which you have to purchase keys for, but you don't have to buy them. I always just tossed those away. You don't even have to pay for the download.
Far as the game itself it is MUCH improved since it's disaterous launch. The space combat is very similiar to Starfleet Command and the ground combat is fun as well with the away teams. If you get bored, you can stop and come back later for your Star Trek fix. Highly recomended.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
Okay, I downloaded it and picked science officer in the federation. tutorial was okay, I'm slowly getting used to things. What is odd though, and maybe it is just me, but is it normal to disconnect from the server a lot?
In the beginning, disconnects were the norm. Then things got better. Up until a couple of weeks ago, I thought they had fixed it completely, but the last few weeks have been rough. Not sure why.
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
This bit may prove more of a problem with sto than the cash shop as you'll burn through the 'content' within a month and that's with more than one character. After that you'll be grinding the same dozen instances over and over and over. You can grind dilithium and exchange that for c store coins if you wish. But the the games p2w, ideally if you want to be truly awesome in pvp you'll need to buy a liftime sub, play for long enough to get the vet rewards aswell as buying a c store ship, bridge officer, duty officer and initial race. Fortunately the only real reason to pvp(i think there are essentially 2 space and 2 ground matches) seems to be for the dilithium and you get that win or lose so it's one of those that has a p2w model without anything to really win at.
Forgot to add that you will also need to do a lot of grinding for the omega and romulan buffs then gear.