I guess i will join the minority and say this is my go-to AND only MMO I play.
I've been in game since April 2009, and after a hiatus of nearly a year (real life issues) I came back in and enjoyed it even more.
I first started playing this game because it is Star Trek, and to me, blew other Trek games out of the water.
I loved the graphics and the ability to beam down to planets, the space combat, traveling to different areas of the galaxy, even the exploration.
But, when I came back form my hiatus, I found something lacking, I stared meeting people in game, and started having even more fun. There are a number of people in game that I am honored to call true friends, and aside from being Trek themed, they are what keeps me coming back.
We have very interesting conversations, as well as fun.. whether its running STFs, Fleet Actions, or just hanging on ESD throwing grenades at each other, setting off party amps, or whatever.. I'm having fun.
And, as a game, isn't that what it's about?
I don't worry about power creep, or if I got the right equipment for xyz... I'm not in it for that, I'm in for fun, and to relax.
STO became my go-to upon the untimely demise of City of Heroes. I tried Champions Online. Meh.
Same here. When the City of Heroes shutdown notice came, I couldn't play the game without tearing up. It was the game I played for nearly a decade. The game that brought me and my sweetheart together. The game where I created a hundred plus characters and RPed their lives.
STO became my next real MMO because Champions felt like a knockoff of CoH (and I had only two character slots, limiting my character creating abilities), and having been a Trekkie since TNG and growing up with all of them afterwards, STO just came naturally. To me, it's the near perfect mixture of Trek and game that I can enjoy.
Of note, I felt as you did re Diablo 3. The new expansion, death of the auction house and new loot system make it so much better. Much closer feel to D1 and D2, in my opinion.
Many people seem to think that about the AH, I do not as it was the only form of end game in vanilla, but that was one of many things they did to reduce their bottom line. Among other things, still no PvP, loot is just copying D3 vanilla, only one new class, bind on pickup for everything above rare and gold is soulbound which both effectively kill trading, which to your point is nothing like D2. That was a great feature in D2. This was supposedly to combat gold farmers, how does that affect me? As a gaming company isn't their responsibility to provide security? Their cutting off the nose to spite the face, basically the player suffers to "punish" the gold farmer. I could go on for hours but I am happy to be in STO and that's all that matters.
Looking for more info on Dilithium Rising? Click on the link below:
I avoided MMOs like the plague a long time ago. I just didn't like the "must raid now" mentality many of them seemed to push at players. So I stuck with Baldur's Gate I & II, Icewind Dale I & II, Wizardry 8, Dungeon Seige, Silverfall, Arcanum (best RPG game I have ever played) and any other game that allowed me to customise my character/team to how I wanted it and just play when I wanted.
When DDO:Eberron was up and running (and F2P) I dipped my toe in the MMO waters for the first time and loved it. What on Earth had I been waiting for? Good guild-mates and a game my wife would play too!
When STO went F2P I thought "what the hell?" and created an account. Okay, so it was not perfect but it had a great franchise and customisation and I split my time between DDO and STO. I then heard a rumour SWTOR was going to go F2P and players who already had accounts might earn Cartel Points so I started their F2Try and rolled myself 7 characters (got them all to lvl 15 which was the maximum you could do without signing up to a pay account at the time) out of the 8 slots available.
I dropped DDO when many of my guild just seemed to evaporate and I played SWTOR only for each alt to get to lvl 15 then I switched back to STO.
SWTOR went F2P and I jumped back in only to find a F2P player could only have 2 toons! WTF! Okay, so I had 7 and could not delete any to reroll them without paying for it? Nevermind, thought I, I'll just muddle through with them as they are. Loaded up the first toon and found I had fewer of almost everything possible (toolbars, skills, traits, etc.) and so did my companion. Everything was laggy as all hell and looked terrible as load times increased. I got consolidated to a new server as they closed servers down so 2 of my 7 toons had to choose new names. I could only do certain content as a F2P.... You get the picture, it sucked mightily.
I uninstalled SWTOR and just went nuts in STO. My wife finally joined my too. We formed a couple of fleets (KDF and FED) and have used the zen exchange to buy character slots, BOFF slots, bank slots, ships, EC limit increas, keys for lockboxes (mistake) and pretty much everything else we could want... all for free. I have even subbed when it was on offer, and bought collector's editions for the RMC.
When did STO become my go-to game? When SWTOR went F2P and did a horrible job of it. Pity too, I loved dual-weilding red 'sabers and choking stuff from 10feet away... sigh.
"...we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than the things that divide us.”
Jo Cox 22.6.1974 - 16.6.2016
While I too returned to SWTOR when it went F2P, I bought a sub, so I still play that. However, I do consider STO my go to MMO, because it's fun, familiar ships, my fleets, I enjoy the PVE queues, and while none of my characters are 50 yet, as my highest is lvl 41 Rommie Subadmiral, I enjoy the leveling. My highest Ferasan just made commander, and I got her the K't'inga Battle cruiser, which is the 2nd ship I've been aiming for on her, next to the V'orcha, which I'll get when I make Captain. It is just awesome flying around in the definitive Klingon ship now.
The only reason i come back, it is STAR TREK, in the major part anyways. . I will probably stop playing ages ago if it wasnt. It is not precisely the best mmorpg out there lol. But since it is star trek, and its the only thing abou star trek that we have, we need to keep playing no matter wat, until it is over.
I hear they have medications that can help with all that pessimism.
I don't see why that would help. It seems like it would only make it worse. Optimists exist in a world where everything is always a disappointment, but a pessimist is never disappointed.
Remember, today is worse than yesterday, but it's still better than tomorrow.
STO is my primary game now. I got the pre-order and life time sub and did the beta but was SWG through and through until it shut down. Played TOR for about the first 2 years and the the raid till you get it started to TRIBBLE me off too much. 3 months of Toborro's, SnV, and TFB with almost nothing to show for it turned me off.
STO has real ship combat, not that garbage they call space in TOR, and you can make progress no matter how much or how little you play, do hard stuff and not be stuck in the same event for hours on end. I'm trying ESO but it's not my thing I'm a Sci Fi junkie.
STO became my go-to game after someTHING happened to one of my accounts. I used to play SD Gundam Capsule Fighter and, despite the horrendous lag and the horrible, horrible power creep, I had fun.
Then, for some reason, it locked me out. Said my password was wrong. Couldn't change my password because the stupid program wouldn't work and when I tried to go to the actual company for help, they wouldn't help me because I didn't remember every little tidbit about what I had. So, frustrated, I left. By that time, I'd started playing STO (and I was very bummed out that I came too late to get the Nebula they had given away free at the Risa event) but when that happened, I came here.
And, despite the pessimism that this board showers all the time, I still love this place.
... And at the time, no other MMO that I knew of had anything remotely like a mission builder.
Actually, City of Heroes had a great Foundry-like mission builder. I like how Cryptic has revised it and made it a better tool in STO - there are some really good Foundry missions out there.
"You Iconians just hung a vacancy sign on your asses and my foot's looking for a room!"
--Red Annorax
STO is not my go-to game. I consider it an average MMO, at best; but it is a Trek game, and it is a better Trek game then many give it credit for. Unfortunately Trek means different things to different people; based entirely on which series or movies they liked best.
I do agree with you that the Rep System is a better choice then doing the Raid-till-you-get-it approach that many other MMOs take.
I play STO because it is Trek themed. If it were a generic space game I would probably still play it, as there are not a lot of sci-fi games in the market that do not also require you to PvP, but I would probably play it less. I prefer stories over pew-pewing other players.
hey, im gonna not TRIBBLE on you in this thread lol... I might give you a hard time in other threads, but it doesn't mean I have to beat on you everywhere hahahaha..
I have to disagree with something, I liked the raid till you get it approach in other games.. mainly cause they had a week cooldown on it, so you didn't end up doing the same raid every day.. sto, has these super long and boring rep grinds, and u can only get the marks in certain places.. it forces me into a pattern when I log in, where as in other games, I never knew what I was gonna do till I logged in and figured it out..
a quick example, when fleet holding first came out, I used to run "team" fleet mark gathering events, and we still did estf's. sure, the content got old after a week as per the usual. but, we were working together as a fleet/team. now, when I log in, everyone in fleet or on my friends list is too busy solo grabbing their marks.. cause its faster to just go it urself..
in essence, cryptic has started slowly killing the team aspect.
further more, you cannot compare this mmo to others.. this game is a quarter of what most games were at start up.. most "good" mmo's expansions are bigger than sto in its entire existence. when you get an expansion in say, wow, or rift, or other competing games, they keep you busy for up to six months.. you have to level, run through the story line to do so, then do the dungeons, and then you can raid. it took time, and they do a good job of giving you so much to do, that you don't get bored of the new content as fast..
cryptic releases their expansion, and as a fed character, I was bored in 3 days.. THREE DAYS. like ive debated with stahl, they need a big push of content. enough to keep people busy without getting bored. it always feels like the dev team is trying to put band aids on the obvious open wound this game has.. we need stf's that arnt 4 years old.. we need content that isn't so easy I get it in my first shot solo.. we need a challenge, and we need to feel like we have accomplished something..
I just started a new character a month ago, within a month, I have maxed out everything.. im just waiting for my reps to hit t5 (in 3 days).. a month and my character is completely maxed out.. that is ridiculous. when I bring him into an instance, I no longer feel like my hard work has paid off. I do not feel as if I gave myself an edge, or achieved something most other people I play with didn't.. everyone gets a prize, and it takes minimal effort..
I miss the days of trial and error. I miss how it took us a few months to fully figure out how to do estf's. we failed many times. and stumbled across ways of doing it.. now, you log in and its almost a certainty youll beat them.. infact, you can do all estf's in under 5 minutes.. yuck.. its been a long time since I have felt like I have accomplished something in this game..
and I agree, I prefer story lines, feeling like im making a difference in them, and feeling like im not on a merry go round (yes, sto is a merry go round, we keep revisiting stuff we have already done lol). if this game were not in the broadest sense star trek, I would probably uninstall it. this game is a terrible game, like I said, it keeps running around in circles.. my autistic nephew with adhd tells better stories. (seriously, the story in this game jumps around, it has no semblance, and it is poorly written, I have never felt like I have achieved anything through story). its the buggiest game on the market, and while im a fan of p2p, im not a fan of p2w.
I am currently subscribed to 8 MMOs and play several more FTP games. There is not a single one of them that I cannot get to max level with in a month. This has nothing to do with the amount of content they have. It has to do with the fact that I have played them before and do not take the time to read all the text or scour every area - as I already know what the text states or what is in the area. Once you have played through a game subsequent play-throughs are always several times faster. That is no different in STO then it is in WoW, SWTOR, LotRO, etc.
I am not saying this game does not need new Mission Content - I have been screaming that for 4 years. I am simply saying this game is not as lite on Mission Content as some like to believe. It is simply the notion that some people have been here too long and have burned themselves out on the Content.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
Very few things make me nostalgic for Everquest "hell levels" but that comment did. I think there's something wrong with me now.
OMG! Those Hell Levels! How I miss them.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
I am currently subscribed to 8 MMOs and play several more FTP games. There is not a single one of them that I cannot get to max level with in a month. This has nothing to do with the amount of content they have. It has to do with the fact that I have played them before and do not take the time to read all the text or scour every area - as I already know what the text states or what is in the area. Once you have played through a game subsequent play-throughs are always several times faster. That is no different in STO then it is in WoW, SWTOR, LotRO, etc.
I am not saying this game does not need new Mission Content - I have been screaming that for 4 years. I am simply saying this game is not as lite on Mission Content as some like to believe. It is simply the notion that some people have been here too long and have burned themselves out on the Content.
I wasn't talking about getting to max level.. Christ, I can do that in the other mmos I play too, skip story and boom, youll move right along..
what I was saying was there is nothing more to do for my character.. since everything is purchasable (weather in c store, rep, or fleet) there is no real struggle to get gear.. I enjoy it taking a while to get gear.. I enjoy getting that new piece here and there and being proud of it.. I am not proud that I have all the dyson consoles I need, and the warpcore, and the set bonuses, and that in less than a month, my character now has nothing more to gain, to move towards, or to do for that matter..
lets take rift.. I play that a lot, infact i was playing thismorning.. i made a new character about the same tiem i made my new captain in this game.. i have spent more or less equal time with them.. i find myself thinking of my warrior in rift, more than in sto.. see in sto, i know im gonna get everything, i know its just mathematical in how much time it takes, and thus i don't get excited to run content.. there is no reason too.. there is not carrot on the stick..
i do however find myself constantly thinking about what im gonna spend my hard earned currency on in rift. cause it takes much much more time to buy your gear.. it makes me really think about what to add next. how it will effect my build.. if i get the wrong thing in sto, no biggie, i just buy the right one in a few days.. or open my wallet if i don't want to waite a day or two.. there is no sport to it.. there is no feeling of accomplishment. there is no feeling that i built something that others are still striving for.. in rift, when i have an uber awesome weapon, i can take pride in it.. in sto, i used to have that pride when i had all my mk 12 purple consoles.. now there are better ones that are a dime a dozen.. almost everyone has them, or will have them in no time..
the only thing that sets me apart from say you cosmic, or any other player in the game, is skill. (not saying im better than you, for all i know youd wipe the floor with me lol, just making an example). and even now with the power creep, you don't need skill. lol.. i can literally fly to the objective close my eyes, run my rotation, and still beat it..
this game doesn't just need new mission content.. it needs to double its content in one release.. fleet gear, and rep gear should be a step towards getting the uber awesome gear. give me a reason over just getting marks to hop into stf's.. increase to level cap, and a new set of weapon mark. the game is stale. it is slowly withering away cause it cant get itself out of the whole it dug.. cryptic fell in a hole with sto (mainly cause the pathetic size of the development team), and instead of trying to get themselves out, they have decided to keep digging deeper..
ive said this before.. one of my close friends is a 3d content developer for another studio. he gave sto a go, and after watching the forums, and seeing how they make their content, and what they had for content, and what they were planning on releasing, he left. he said he saw what they were trying to do, but that it wouldn't work. his words were also that while its a stunningly beutifull game, it lack any real goal, or path to fallow. in wow, in wrath of the litchking. everyone knew the goal, it was to kill the litch king. everyone knew the path. there was a plethora of content to support the story, and the story was bullet proof.. he said this game has no goal.. no short term, no long term. it started with a klink war that has gone no where, turned into fifteen other wars that went no where. no peace treaties were signed.. no one surrendered, its just a merry go round that keep going round and round.. they keep saying iconians and what not, but there has been no real move towards that..
he said, most of the larger companies laugh when you bring up cryptic. this game is ok at best.. the only way i can play is if i ignore most of the stuff. i still have not set foot in the dysons sphere. i refuse to, im not fighting a dinosaur with lazer beams on its head.. i was only able to do the dyson rep by opening boxes from the mirror event and converting marks into the other currency.. (1 of the 1k currencies currently ingame lol)..
This game became my go to game the day I installed and played it during the closed beta. The ships and the space combat sold me on the fact that I WANTED to play, to get more ships and customize the hell outta them.
After release, as soon as I heard about the life time subs, I grabbed one then and there; I knew I'd be playing until the day the servers die, and I don't think I was wrong
I wasn't talking about getting to max level.. Christ, I can do that in the other mmos I play too, skip story and boom, youll move right along..
what I was saying was there is nothing more to do for my character.. since everything is purchasable (weather in c store, rep, or fleet) there is no real struggle to get gear.. I enjoy it taking a while to get gear.. I enjoy getting that new piece here and there and being proud of it.. I am not proud that I have all the dyson consoles I need, and the warpcore, and the set bonuses, and that in less than a month, my character now has nothing more to gain, to move towards, or to do for that matter..
lets take rift.. I play that a lot, infact i was playing thismorning.. i made a new character about the same tiem i made my new captain in this game.. i have spent more or less equal time with them.. i find myself thinking of my warrior in rift, more than in sto.. see in sto, i know im gonna get everything, i know its just mathematical in how much time it takes, and thus i don't get excited to run content.. there is no reason too.. there is not carrot on the stick..
i do however find myself constantly thinking about what im gonna spend my hard earned currency on in rift. cause it takes much much more time to buy your gear.. it makes me really think about what to add next. how it will effect my build.. if i get the wrong thing in sto, no biggie, i just buy the right one in a few days.. or open my wallet if i don't want to waite a day or two.. there is no sport to it.. there is no feeling of accomplishment. there is no feeling that i built something that others are still striving for.. in rift, when i have an uber awesome weapon, i can take pride in it.. in sto, i used to have that pride when i had all my mk 12 purple consoles.. now there are better ones that are a dime a dozen.. almost everyone has them, or will have them in no time..
the only thing that sets me apart from say you cosmic, or any other player in the game, is skill. (not saying im better than you, for all i know youd wipe the floor with me lol, just making an example). and even now with the power creep, you don't need skill. lol.. i can literally fly to the objective close my eyes, run my rotation, and still beat it..
this game doesn't just need new mission content.. it needs to double its content in one release.. fleet gear, and rep gear should be a step towards getting the uber awesome gear. give me a reason over just getting marks to hop into stf's.. increase to level cap, and a new set of weapon mark. the game is stale. it is slowly withering away cause it cant get itself out of the whole it dug.. cryptic fell in a hole with sto (mainly cause the pathetic size of the development team), and instead of trying to get themselves out, they have decided to keep digging deeper..
ive said this before.. one of my close friends is a 3d content developer for another studio. he gave sto a go, and after watching the forums, and seeing how they make their content, and what they had for content, and what they were planning on releasing, he left. he said he saw what they were trying to do, but that it wouldn't work. his words were also that while its a stunningly beutifull game, it lack any real goal, or path to fallow. in wow, in wrath of the litchking. everyone knew the goal, it was to kill the litch king. everyone knew the path. there was a plethora of content to support the story, and the story was bullet proof.. he said this game has no goal.. no short term, no long term. it started with a klink war that has gone no where, turned into fifteen other wars that went no where. no peace treaties were signed.. no one surrendered, its just a merry go round that keep going round and round.. they keep saying iconians and what not, but there has been no real move towards that..
he said, most of the larger companies laugh when you bring up cryptic. this game is ok at best.. the only way i can play is if i ignore most of the stuff. i still have not set foot in the dysons sphere. i refuse to, im not fighting a dinosaur with lazer beams on its head.. i was only able to do the dyson rep by opening boxes from the mirror event and converting marks into the other currency.. (1 of the 1k currencies currently ingame lol)..
A few things:
1. RNG sucks. Progressing toward nice stuff a little at a time is better in the long haul than praying you get a drop in a dungeon. It takes over a month to go from Tier 1-5 in any reputation if you run rep daily.
2. They average a season about every 6 months and a major update at the 3 month mark. Plus events sprinkled in everywhere. This isn't WoW, it's a FTP game. It's designed for the casual player that may have a life outside of gaming. SWTOR is trying to go that route, which is why to most that play that game thinks its expansions suck. Cryptic does a WAAAAAAY better job at pushing content then bioeafail does with SWTOR.
3. It's called Sandbox elements. Not every game needs to perennially hold your hand through from start to finish like SWTOR and WoW. IMO WoW is the worst thing that could have happened to MMOs. Since WoW launched MMOs as a whole have lost creativity and difficulty. The best part about Sandbox is you write your own story.
STO became my go to game when I was broke, had no job, and no life. I played the heck out of it. Then when the good things like a job and life came back around I left STO. Then I got bored and tried to come back to STO but realized the only thing I enjoy about it anymore is talking with my fleet mates and joking around and not actually playing the game which I've now found to be incredibly boring and repetitive.
There's no challenge, no incentive to grind, and as a now casual player things are so expensive on the exchange that I can't even fathom being able to fly anything other than a mirror ship. It's also getting farther and farther away from what I consider the "Star trek" feel and the immersion is awful so I'm pretty much over it.
my boyfriend started playing this stupid game. it went form a "oh, ok, I'll give him a break" to "G**D****T" turn that game off!"
then I decided to why he was so enamored. Mind you I had seen maybe 1-2 episodes of the various series. and some of the movies. I got the bug, sat and watched every episode of every season at least twice (Yes, Virginia, even Spock's Brain and The Royale) and all the movies. armed with my now overloaded Star Trek head, I demanded he let me make a toon. 6 months later fo fighting over who got to play I boutght a lifetime
Sto is the only game I play now. I gave up my xbox sub, and buying any other new xbox games. I sometimes play a couple of hours of AC with the mrs on an off day but that's about it.
I come back because I am both a big scifi fan and a trekkie.
I came for the game, I stayed for the people and the fleet.
Were this a single player game only, I surely would play it from time to time but nothing like I do currently considering the amount of time I've played it.
It has many bugs but I keep playing and will do for as long as I am able and the frontlines of our fleets.
I truly love sto for all its faults. My mrs can attest to me saying (not knowing this game existed at the time and playing legacy), "man I wish I could comman a fleet, customize my ship with different gear, Engage in large scale player combat and engage in the trek world more". Or something very much to that effect.
And I found that in sto.
Now give me verbal ship commands and I am in nirvana and will die happy
"If this will be our end, then I will have them make SUCH an end as to be worthy of rememberance! Out of torpedos you say?! Find me the ferengi!".
Many people seem to think that about the AH, I do not as it was the only form of end game in vanilla, but that was one of many things they did to reduce their bottom line. Among other things, still no PvP, loot is just copying D3 vanilla, only one new class, bind on pickup for everything above rare and gold is soulbound which both effectively kill trading, which to your point is nothing like D2. That was a great feature in D2. This was supposedly to combat gold farmers, how does that affect me? As a gaming company isn't their responsibility to provide security? Their cutting off the nose to spite the face, basically the player suffers to "punish" the gold farmer. I could go on for hours but I am happy to be in STO and that's all that matters.
Glad to hear it. STO is definitely my preferred choice of game to play. Im curious to know what other people get out of it and also its good to hear the positives instead of the opposite.
STO is my go-to game and has been since launch. I've been playing faithfully for the last 4 years. It's in my top 3 with BC and Armada. SFC is up there too.
I was my Go to game last summer for those 3 months it took me of grinding to get my Jem'Hadar Dreadnought Carrier. Then another 3 months after I got the ship,...I realized I burned through $300 USD :eek: and I still wasn't able to use the Jem'Hadar Attack ship pets (which I feel should come with the ship, at least the regular version. Those whom sold their soul to the Cryptic Devil should get the Elite versions).
So 6 months in total. After that,...my eyes were opened to how poorly Cryptic manages this game and I've pawned so many players and NPC's in my JHDC that it wasn't as fun to play. But that ship still has my heart, it's still my flagship and every time I pilot it, I feel safe and invincible (insert cute music playing in the background).
P.S. Cryptic give me my Jem"Hadar Attack ship pet or refund me all that real world money I spent on lockbox keys (selling some and using some to get lobi).
That is all.
One day Cryptic will be free from their Perfect World overlord. Until that day comes, they will continue to pamper the whales of this game, and ignore everyone that isn't a whale.
I was my Go to game last summer for those 3 months it took me of grinding to get my Jem'Hadar Dreadnought Carrier. Then another 3 months after I got the ship,...I realized I burned through $300 USD :eek: and I still wasn't able to use the Jem'Hadar Attack ship pets (which I feel should come with the ship, at least the regular version. Those whom sold their soul to the Cryptic Devil should get the Elite versions).
So 6 months in total. After that,...my eyes were opened to how poorly Cryptic manages this game and I've pawned so many players and NPC's in my JHDC that it wasn't as fun to play. But that ship still has my heart, it's still my flagship and every time I pilot it, I feel safe and invincible (insert cute music playing in the background).
P.S. Cryptic give me my Jem"Hadar Attack ship pet or refund me all that real world money I spent on lockbox keys (selling some and using some to get lobi).
That is all.
I can see from your sig and post that you want the elite attack ships. I fly the JHDC as my primary ship and had to use a lot of real money (buying keys and selling for EC) to get the attack ship for the pets and then even more for the elite versions with dilithium and tons of fleet marks from contributions. It takes time and money so I don't think they will ever just unlock them as players like myself who did a huge grind and paid money would have spent it for nothing. I estimate it takes another $100-$150 to get the attack ship and elite pets give or take. I don't think PWE/Cryptic are going to give them away when they are earning a good profit.
my boyfriend started playing this stupid game. it went form a "oh, ok, I'll give him a break" to "G**D****T" turn that game off!"
then I decided to why he was so enamored. Mind you I had seen maybe 1-2 episodes of the various series. and some of the movies. I got the bug, sat and watched every episode of every season at least twice (Yes, Virginia, even Spock's Brain and The Royale) and all the movies. armed with my now overloaded Star Trek head, I demanded he let me make a toon. 6 months later fo fighting over who got to play I boutght a lifetime
It's these posts that remind us that the game is loved by people and exactly why I started it.
STO became my go-to upon the untimely demise of City of Heroes. I tried Champions Online. Meh. I used to frequent the Trek-themed MUSH sites and loved roleplaying in this universe, so when I happened across STO it was a no-brainer.
Agree wholeheartedly, although I probably wouldn't play it if it weren't Trek. Maybe if it were Babylon 5.
I'm in the same situation. I was playing STO anyway but CoH was my first choice on any given night during the lifetime overlap. When Valiance Online or City of Titans or Heroes and Villains come online, I might spend less time here--but I won't go away completely. I saw TOS in first-run. The mission has gone well beyond five years for me--it's 46 years and counting for me.
Laser shooting dinosaurs? They could put 'em on roller skates and it wouldn't matter to me.
Comments
STO is in a lull right now between seasons. Kind of boring actually, not really anything for my admirals to do other than their daily doffing.
I've been in game since April 2009, and after a hiatus of nearly a year (real life issues) I came back in and enjoyed it even more.
I first started playing this game because it is Star Trek, and to me, blew other Trek games out of the water.
I loved the graphics and the ability to beam down to planets, the space combat, traveling to different areas of the galaxy, even the exploration.
But, when I came back form my hiatus, I found something lacking, I stared meeting people in game, and started having even more fun. There are a number of people in game that I am honored to call true friends, and aside from being Trek themed, they are what keeps me coming back.
We have very interesting conversations, as well as fun.. whether its running STFs, Fleet Actions, or just hanging on ESD throwing grenades at each other, setting off party amps, or whatever.. I'm having fun.
And, as a game, isn't that what it's about?
I don't worry about power creep, or if I got the right equipment for xyz... I'm not in it for that, I'm in for fun, and to relax.
Same here. When the City of Heroes shutdown notice came, I couldn't play the game without tearing up. It was the game I played for nearly a decade. The game that brought me and my sweetheart together. The game where I created a hundred plus characters and RPed their lives.
STO became my next real MMO because Champions felt like a knockoff of CoH (and I had only two character slots, limiting my character creating abilities), and having been a Trekkie since TNG and growing up with all of them afterwards, STO just came naturally. To me, it's the near perfect mixture of Trek and game that I can enjoy.
Many people seem to think that about the AH, I do not as it was the only form of end game in vanilla, but that was one of many things they did to reduce their bottom line. Among other things, still no PvP, loot is just copying D3 vanilla, only one new class, bind on pickup for everything above rare and gold is soulbound which both effectively kill trading, which to your point is nothing like D2. That was a great feature in D2. This was supposedly to combat gold farmers, how does that affect me? As a gaming company isn't their responsibility to provide security? Their cutting off the nose to spite the face, basically the player suffers to "punish" the gold farmer. I could go on for hours but I am happy to be in STO and that's all that matters.
[SIGPIC]Click here to visit my STO YouTube channel[/SIGPIC]
When DDO:Eberron was up and running (and F2P) I dipped my toe in the MMO waters for the first time and loved it. What on Earth had I been waiting for? Good guild-mates and a game my wife would play too!
When STO went F2P I thought "what the hell?" and created an account. Okay, so it was not perfect but it had a great franchise and customisation and I split my time between DDO and STO. I then heard a rumour SWTOR was going to go F2P and players who already had accounts might earn Cartel Points so I started their F2Try and rolled myself 7 characters (got them all to lvl 15 which was the maximum you could do without signing up to a pay account at the time) out of the 8 slots available.
I dropped DDO when many of my guild just seemed to evaporate and I played SWTOR only for each alt to get to lvl 15 then I switched back to STO.
SWTOR went F2P and I jumped back in only to find a F2P player could only have 2 toons! WTF! Okay, so I had 7 and could not delete any to reroll them without paying for it? Nevermind, thought I, I'll just muddle through with them as they are. Loaded up the first toon and found I had fewer of almost everything possible (toolbars, skills, traits, etc.) and so did my companion. Everything was laggy as all hell and looked terrible as load times increased. I got consolidated to a new server as they closed servers down so 2 of my 7 toons had to choose new names. I could only do certain content as a F2P.... You get the picture, it sucked mightily.
I uninstalled SWTOR and just went nuts in STO. My wife finally joined my too. We formed a couple of fleets (KDF and FED) and have used the zen exchange to buy character slots, BOFF slots, bank slots, ships, EC limit increas, keys for lockboxes (mistake) and pretty much everything else we could want... all for free. I have even subbed when it was on offer, and bought collector's editions for the RMC.
When did STO become my go-to game? When SWTOR went F2P and did a horrible job of it. Pity too, I loved dual-weilding red 'sabers and choking stuff from 10feet away... sigh.
Jo Cox 22.6.1974 - 16.6.2016
First time I took a break, the Kumari brought me back.
Second time I took a break, Cruiser Commands brought me back.
Remember, today is worse than yesterday, but it's still better than tomorrow.
STO has real ship combat, not that garbage they call space in TOR, and you can make progress no matter how much or how little you play, do hard stuff and not be stuck in the same event for hours on end. I'm trying ESO but it's not my thing I'm a Sci Fi junkie.
Then, for some reason, it locked me out. Said my password was wrong. Couldn't change my password because the stupid program wouldn't work and when I tried to go to the actual company for help, they wouldn't help me because I didn't remember every little tidbit about what I had. So, frustrated, I left. By that time, I'd started playing STO (and I was very bummed out that I came too late to get the Nebula they had given away free at the Risa event) but when that happened, I came here.
And, despite the pessimism that this board showers all the time, I still love this place.
--Red Annorax
hey, im gonna not TRIBBLE on you in this thread lol... I might give you a hard time in other threads, but it doesn't mean I have to beat on you everywhere hahahaha..
I have to disagree with something, I liked the raid till you get it approach in other games.. mainly cause they had a week cooldown on it, so you didn't end up doing the same raid every day.. sto, has these super long and boring rep grinds, and u can only get the marks in certain places.. it forces me into a pattern when I log in, where as in other games, I never knew what I was gonna do till I logged in and figured it out..
a quick example, when fleet holding first came out, I used to run "team" fleet mark gathering events, and we still did estf's. sure, the content got old after a week as per the usual. but, we were working together as a fleet/team. now, when I log in, everyone in fleet or on my friends list is too busy solo grabbing their marks.. cause its faster to just go it urself..
in essence, cryptic has started slowly killing the team aspect.
further more, you cannot compare this mmo to others.. this game is a quarter of what most games were at start up.. most "good" mmo's expansions are bigger than sto in its entire existence. when you get an expansion in say, wow, or rift, or other competing games, they keep you busy for up to six months.. you have to level, run through the story line to do so, then do the dungeons, and then you can raid. it took time, and they do a good job of giving you so much to do, that you don't get bored of the new content as fast..
cryptic releases their expansion, and as a fed character, I was bored in 3 days.. THREE DAYS. like ive debated with stahl, they need a big push of content. enough to keep people busy without getting bored. it always feels like the dev team is trying to put band aids on the obvious open wound this game has.. we need stf's that arnt 4 years old.. we need content that isn't so easy I get it in my first shot solo.. we need a challenge, and we need to feel like we have accomplished something..
I just started a new character a month ago, within a month, I have maxed out everything.. im just waiting for my reps to hit t5 (in 3 days).. a month and my character is completely maxed out.. that is ridiculous. when I bring him into an instance, I no longer feel like my hard work has paid off. I do not feel as if I gave myself an edge, or achieved something most other people I play with didn't.. everyone gets a prize, and it takes minimal effort..
I miss the days of trial and error. I miss how it took us a few months to fully figure out how to do estf's. we failed many times. and stumbled across ways of doing it.. now, you log in and its almost a certainty youll beat them.. infact, you can do all estf's in under 5 minutes.. yuck.. its been a long time since I have felt like I have accomplished something in this game..
and I agree, I prefer story lines, feeling like im making a difference in them, and feeling like im not on a merry go round (yes, sto is a merry go round, we keep revisiting stuff we have already done lol). if this game were not in the broadest sense star trek, I would probably uninstall it. this game is a terrible game, like I said, it keeps running around in circles.. my autistic nephew with adhd tells better stories. (seriously, the story in this game jumps around, it has no semblance, and it is poorly written, I have never felt like I have achieved anything through story). its the buggiest game on the market, and while im a fan of p2p, im not a fan of p2w.
I am not saying this game does not need new Mission Content - I have been screaming that for 4 years. I am simply saying this game is not as lite on Mission Content as some like to believe. It is simply the notion that some people have been here too long and have burned themselves out on the Content.
Very few things make me nostalgic for Everquest "hell levels" but that comment did. I think there's something wrong with me now.
I like it for the following reasons:
1. It reminds me of StarFleet Command.
2. RPG element.
3. Open sandbox.
4. Doff missions.
I wasn't talking about getting to max level.. Christ, I can do that in the other mmos I play too, skip story and boom, youll move right along..
what I was saying was there is nothing more to do for my character.. since everything is purchasable (weather in c store, rep, or fleet) there is no real struggle to get gear.. I enjoy it taking a while to get gear.. I enjoy getting that new piece here and there and being proud of it.. I am not proud that I have all the dyson consoles I need, and the warpcore, and the set bonuses, and that in less than a month, my character now has nothing more to gain, to move towards, or to do for that matter..
lets take rift.. I play that a lot, infact i was playing thismorning.. i made a new character about the same tiem i made my new captain in this game.. i have spent more or less equal time with them.. i find myself thinking of my warrior in rift, more than in sto.. see in sto, i know im gonna get everything, i know its just mathematical in how much time it takes, and thus i don't get excited to run content.. there is no reason too.. there is not carrot on the stick..
i do however find myself constantly thinking about what im gonna spend my hard earned currency on in rift. cause it takes much much more time to buy your gear.. it makes me really think about what to add next. how it will effect my build.. if i get the wrong thing in sto, no biggie, i just buy the right one in a few days.. or open my wallet if i don't want to waite a day or two.. there is no sport to it.. there is no feeling of accomplishment. there is no feeling that i built something that others are still striving for.. in rift, when i have an uber awesome weapon, i can take pride in it.. in sto, i used to have that pride when i had all my mk 12 purple consoles.. now there are better ones that are a dime a dozen.. almost everyone has them, or will have them in no time..
the only thing that sets me apart from say you cosmic, or any other player in the game, is skill. (not saying im better than you, for all i know youd wipe the floor with me lol, just making an example). and even now with the power creep, you don't need skill. lol.. i can literally fly to the objective close my eyes, run my rotation, and still beat it..
this game doesn't just need new mission content.. it needs to double its content in one release.. fleet gear, and rep gear should be a step towards getting the uber awesome gear. give me a reason over just getting marks to hop into stf's.. increase to level cap, and a new set of weapon mark. the game is stale. it is slowly withering away cause it cant get itself out of the whole it dug.. cryptic fell in a hole with sto (mainly cause the pathetic size of the development team), and instead of trying to get themselves out, they have decided to keep digging deeper..
ive said this before.. one of my close friends is a 3d content developer for another studio. he gave sto a go, and after watching the forums, and seeing how they make their content, and what they had for content, and what they were planning on releasing, he left. he said he saw what they were trying to do, but that it wouldn't work. his words were also that while its a stunningly beutifull game, it lack any real goal, or path to fallow. in wow, in wrath of the litchking. everyone knew the goal, it was to kill the litch king. everyone knew the path. there was a plethora of content to support the story, and the story was bullet proof.. he said this game has no goal.. no short term, no long term. it started with a klink war that has gone no where, turned into fifteen other wars that went no where. no peace treaties were signed.. no one surrendered, its just a merry go round that keep going round and round.. they keep saying iconians and what not, but there has been no real move towards that..
he said, most of the larger companies laugh when you bring up cryptic. this game is ok at best.. the only way i can play is if i ignore most of the stuff. i still have not set foot in the dysons sphere. i refuse to, im not fighting a dinosaur with lazer beams on its head.. i was only able to do the dyson rep by opening boxes from the mirror event and converting marks into the other currency.. (1 of the 1k currencies currently ingame lol)..
After release, as soon as I heard about the life time subs, I grabbed one then and there; I knew I'd be playing until the day the servers die, and I don't think I was wrong
A few things:
1. RNG sucks. Progressing toward nice stuff a little at a time is better in the long haul than praying you get a drop in a dungeon. It takes over a month to go from Tier 1-5 in any reputation if you run rep daily.
2. They average a season about every 6 months and a major update at the 3 month mark. Plus events sprinkled in everywhere. This isn't WoW, it's a FTP game. It's designed for the casual player that may have a life outside of gaming. SWTOR is trying to go that route, which is why to most that play that game thinks its expansions suck. Cryptic does a WAAAAAAY better job at pushing content then bioeafail does with SWTOR.
3. It's called Sandbox elements. Not every game needs to perennially hold your hand through from start to finish like SWTOR and WoW. IMO WoW is the worst thing that could have happened to MMOs. Since WoW launched MMOs as a whole have lost creativity and difficulty. The best part about Sandbox is you write your own story.
There's no challenge, no incentive to grind, and as a now casual player things are so expensive on the exchange that I can't even fathom being able to fly anything other than a mirror ship. It's also getting farther and farther away from what I consider the "Star trek" feel and the immersion is awful so I'm pretty much over it.
my boyfriend started playing this stupid game. it went form a "oh, ok, I'll give him a break" to "G**D****T" turn that game off!"
then I decided to why he was so enamored. Mind you I had seen maybe 1-2 episodes of the various series. and some of the movies. I got the bug, sat and watched every episode of every season at least twice (Yes, Virginia, even Spock's Brain and The Royale) and all the movies. armed with my now overloaded Star Trek head, I demanded he let me make a toon. 6 months later fo fighting over who got to play I boutght a lifetime
I come back because I am both a big scifi fan and a trekkie.
I came for the game, I stayed for the people and the fleet.
Were this a single player game only, I surely would play it from time to time but nothing like I do currently considering the amount of time I've played it.
It has many bugs but I keep playing and will do for as long as I am able and the frontlines of our fleets.
I truly love sto for all its faults. My mrs can attest to me saying (not knowing this game existed at the time and playing legacy), "man I wish I could comman a fleet, customize my ship with different gear, Engage in large scale player combat and engage in the trek world more". Or something very much to that effect.
And I found that in sto.
Now give me verbal ship commands and I am in nirvana and will die happy
"If this will be our end, then I will have them make SUCH an end as to be worthy of rememberance! Out of torpedos you say?! Find me the ferengi!".
Glad to hear it. STO is definitely my preferred choice of game to play. Im curious to know what other people get out of it and also its good to hear the positives instead of the opposite.
So 6 months in total. After that,...my eyes were opened to how poorly Cryptic manages this game and I've pawned so many players and NPC's in my JHDC that it wasn't as fun to play. But that ship still has my heart, it's still my flagship and every time I pilot it, I feel safe and invincible (insert cute music playing in the background).
P.S. Cryptic give me my Jem"Hadar Attack ship pet or refund me all that real world money I spent on lockbox keys (selling some and using some to get lobi).
That is all.
It's these posts that remind us that the game is loved by people and exactly why I started it.
Thanks.
system Lord Baal is dead
I'm in the same situation. I was playing STO anyway but CoH was my first choice on any given night during the lifetime overlap. When Valiance Online or City of Titans or Heroes and Villains come online, I might spend less time here--but I won't go away completely. I saw TOS in first-run. The mission has gone well beyond five years for me--it's 46 years and counting for me.
Laser shooting dinosaurs? They could put 'em on roller skates and it wouldn't matter to me.