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Forums > Home› Star Trek Online General Discussion

4th Anniversary: Remembering Beta

cptwilliam2cptwilliam2 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
edited February 2014 in Star Trek Online General Discussion
Having popped back into STO a week ago. I was hit with a wave of nostalgia for early STO and especially the open beta. (I even am watching some old episodes of STOked while I play)

I remember laughing when I'd beam to ESD as the starship and back into space as my character. The end of game ESD Borg invasion was a real fun way to end it.


Anybody else have memories from the beta or early months of STO to share?
Join Legends Memorial, a chat channel to share stories about the legends of Trek who are no longer with us.
Post edited by cptwilliam2 on

Comments

  • azurianstarazurianstar Member Posts: 6,985 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    Well you pretty much highlighted the only fun in Beta - the ship in ESD / player in space and the Borg Invasion. The only other highlight I had was testing Space PvP and was in a torpedo build sabre and 1-shot a BoP, and him going WTF LOL afterwards.
  • thecosmic1thecosmic1 Member Posts: 9,365 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    Ah, Beta... self-destructing your ship outside of ESD and taking a dozen players with you. Good times. :)
    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.
  • cptwilliam2cptwilliam2 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    I was mostly curious who all was still around from those early days, not just beta but also those first few months.

    I do vividly remember the epic first time trying Starbase 24. When the servers weren't dying of course :D


    thecosmic1 wrote: »
    Ah, Beta... self-destructing your ship outside of ESD and taking a dozen players with you. Good times. :)

    I never knew you could do that.


    BTW, epic signature (I used to fight against T5 Connie lol)
    Join Legends Memorial, a chat channel to share stories about the legends of Trek who are no longer with us.
  • charliescot25charliescot25 Member Posts: 269 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    You mean this old memory http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl-qJHbtJc8 :D
    [SIGPIC]USSDundee_zpsfcfe716b.jpg[/SIGPIC]
  • redshirtthefirstredshirtthefirst Member Posts: 415 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    I remember moment when the game turned on for the first time in closed beta... Only Sirius block was opened and "astrometric view" was always on by default, felt like flying into a box, you could see the walls. Missions were only a few 'story' missions and the rest were exploration grind "kill these 3 waves of Naussicaans" or "Scan these 5 anomalies".
    Server not responding (1701 s)
  • cptwilliam2cptwilliam2 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    charliescot25 wrote: »
    You mean this old memory http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl-qJHbtJc8 :D

    That's epic!

    redshirtthefirst wrote: »
    I remember moment when the game turned on for the first time in closed beta... Only Sirius block was opened and "astrometric view" was always on by default, felt like flying into a box, you could see the walls. Missions were only a few 'story' missions and the rest were exploration grind "kill these 3 waves of Naussicaans" or "Scan these 5 anomalies".

    I remember during closed beta, wishing i was in the closed beta on the forums :D
    Join Legends Memorial, a chat channel to share stories about the legends of Trek who are no longer with us.
  • ogitalogital Member Posts: 26 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    cptwilliam2 wrote: »
    Having popped back into STO a week ago. I was hit with a wave of nostalgia for early STO and especially the open beta. (I even am watching some old episodes of STOked while I play)

    I remember laughing when I'd beam to ESD as the starship and back into space as my character. The end of game ESD Borg invasion was a real fun way to end it.


    Anybody else have memories from the beta or early months of STO to share?



    I myself came back from a multi year break recently. Most fun from the early days I remember, when shuttles were introduced. The Klingon version was bugged in a way that when you used Transwarp to Qo'noS it ended up at ESD. So ESD was invaded by the at that time very few Klingons. It was actually possible to kill the Merchants, and it was quite a slaughter.
    I came to explore foreign Galaxies, and now I'm hunting Rabbits
  • cptwilliam2cptwilliam2 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    ogital wrote: »
    I myself came back from a multi year break recently. Most fun from the early days I remember, when shuttles were introduced. The Klingon version was bugged in a way that when you used Transwarp to Qo'noS it ended up at ESD. So ESD was invaded by the at that time very few Klingons. It was actually possible to kill the Merchants, and it was quite a slaughter.

    That reminded me of the first time I found the playable runabout in game (from either someone mentioning in chat or forums during the early months) and tried to run Starbase 24. I got so owned :)
    Join Legends Memorial, a chat channel to share stories about the legends of Trek who are no longer with us.
  • snowpig74snowpig74 Member Posts: 267 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    On weekend I will post a pic of my character relaxing on Risa - just seconds before the beta servers have been turned off :D
  • chrisbrown12009chrisbrown12009 Member Posts: 790 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    ramming speed then abandon ship....can we still do that? i so want to do that.
  • erei1erei1 Member Posts: 4,081 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    thecosmic1 wrote: »
    Ah, Beta... self-destructing your ship outside of ESD and taking a dozen players with you. Good times. :)
    I still have the videos I did blowing miranda outside ESD. Lots of fun :D


    I also remember the unfinished Klingon side, using fed bridges, federation marks of whatever it was called, and fed crew. I had a good laugh with that.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • ransom2375ransom2375 Member Posts: 243 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    snowpig74 wrote: »
    On weekend I will post a pic of my character relaxing on Risa - just seconds before the beta servers have been turned off :D
    Maybe you find yourself on my screenshots. :)

    Quality is not the best, old PC with reduced graphics due to activity overload, but it was fun to be there.
    Star Trek Online: Foundry 02.12.2010 - 11.04.2019
  • onyxheart1onyxheart1 Member Posts: 347 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    Heh i wasn't around for the beta or the first couple of years, but i do love the stories from back then.

    The bit about klingons being routed to ESD accidentally and killing the merchants and such there,

    heh, wish that were possible now, give us like an hour long raid event where we could invade ESD and take on defending players and mobs :D
    KDF for Life! <3 Romulan at Heart <3 Fed cause they made me ~ :P
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  • revandarklighterrevandarklighter Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    thecosmic1 wrote: »
    Ah, Beta... self-destructing your ship outside of ESD and taking a dozen players with you. Good times. :)

    That was still possible well after release^^
    ogital wrote: »
    I myself came back from a multi year break recently. Most fun from the early days I remember, when shuttles were introduced. The Klingon version was bugged in a way that when you used Transwarp to Qo'noS it ended up at ESD. So ESD was invaded by the at that time very few Klingons. It was actually possible to kill the Merchants, and it was quite a slaughter.

    That wasn't beta either^^
    And I think it was the orion sci ship that had the broken transwarp... Or may be both...
    azurianstar wrote: »
    Well you pretty much highlighted the only fun in Beta - the ship in ESD / player in space and the Borg Invasion. The only other highlight I had was testing Space PvP and was in a torpedo build sabre and 1-shot a BoP, and him going WTF LOL afterwards.

    Na not really. I had a lot of, I sometimes even think more then after release. Back then all the missions still were new , the game showed a lot of potential on wich we still could hope cryptic would build up ( they never did).
    Also it was a far nicer... Community. People were invested into community events. Wich were fun.
    Today people are mostly and rightfully sarcastic and cynic, and I feel like walking through a minefield where I have to avoid to invest attention into anything ending with a paywall. We have lock boxes and grind.
    I sometimes feel as if sto were ultimately a better game in beta.
    Support more story content in STO
  • mightybobcncmightybobcnc Member Posts: 3,354 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    Ah good old beta. When Starbase 24 had a visible leaderboard at the end of the match and there was no such thing as a kick timer at the end of fleet actions and you could loiter until it reset a few minutes later.

    Yes beta, trying to gind out as many levels as possible as fast as possible during finals week to be the kid with the coolest starship on the block because you were leveling faster than everyone else and nobody had hit 50 yet. So much fun to race to the top.

    Beta wasn't too long after James Cameron's Avatar hit theaters so there were a bunch of players (myself included) running around with the best approximations of a Na'vi they could make using the character creator.
    Joined January 2009
    Finger wrote:
    Nitpicking is a time-honored tradition of science fiction. Asking your readers not to worry about the "little things" is like asking a dog not to sniff at people's crotches. If there's something that appears to violate natural laws, then you can expect someone's going to point it out. That's just the way things are.
  • thecosmic1thecosmic1 Member Posts: 9,365 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    revandarklighter wrote: »
    That was still possible well after release^^
    Yes, but I was specifically referencing the events from Open Beta. Those of us who were in the Closed Beta were well aware of the self-destruct. When the temporary Open Betas began it was hilarious watching it happen to the people who were entirely unsuspecting.
    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.
  • cptwilliam2cptwilliam2 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    Since beta, I've jumped three computers or so so I only have this wallpaper I made of my Beta Crew and the highest ship I could get to. (because you couldn't rank up a level from one mission, I miss that)

    Beta Crew

    I have mostly the same crew on my main, though I changed some of the appearance.
    Join Legends Memorial, a chat channel to share stories about the legends of Trek who are no longer with us.
  • daqheghdaqhegh Member Posts: 1,490 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    redshirtthefirst wrote: »
    "Scan these 5 anomalies".

    That was back when data was bind on pickup, had no other purpose, and was only good for discarding. Even then, no EC came out of it. We didn't have crafting or the ability to sell them. Hell, there was only one star cluster -- and scanning was the mission. there weren't any planets to explore.
    My Old Blog about things that could and should have been added when I wrote it. Not sure what I want to do with it now. I'll just keep it available now that most of it is outdated.
  • UnknownUnknown
    edited February 2014
    This content has been removed.
  • wildmousexwildmousex Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    Where's Sulu?

    I kinda miss the random ships in space flying up to you and pulling you into an instance.

    seriously though, where's Sulu?
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Me playing UT2k4 (red guy) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz0DnP7wXnU
  • mightybobcncmightybobcnc Member Posts: 3,354 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    wildmousex wrote: »
    Where's Sulu?

    OH GOD. *assumes fetal position* OHGODOHGODOHGODOHGOD
    Joined January 2009
    Finger wrote:
    Nitpicking is a time-honored tradition of science fiction. Asking your readers not to worry about the "little things" is like asking a dog not to sniff at people's crotches. If there's something that appears to violate natural laws, then you can expect someone's going to point it out. That's just the way things are.
  • fleebnorkfleebnork Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    cptwilliam2 wrote: »
    I remember laughing when I'd beam to ESD as the starship and back into space as my character. The end of game ESD Borg invasion was a real fun way to end it.

    Hey guys what's going on in this thread? :D


    Yeah man, the Borg invasion was nuts. Total chaos.

    I was stuck in a transporter buffer for a few years, so my post count got reset. Makes me look like a noob, but I've been here since open beta.

    Check out my mission log in that screenshot. It's all explore this and patrol that. Since returning, I created a new Fed character and leveled all the way up to 50. I was so glad to see that story has filled in the gaps and there aren't any more of those run-and-scan-5-things missions.

    I just finished leveling a Romulan to 50. Probably will start a Klingon toon in a little while.

    Man, ESD sure was ugly back then.
  • jtmarshjtmarsh Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    This was my first MMO. Beyond a little Elite Force 2 PVP and Phone games I was all but retired from gaming. Then this comes out! I have always said I am not a gamer but a trek fan:)

    So I was in the last 2 weeks maybe of open beta. I was up too I think Captain and was feeling great!! Then launch happened and was like where did my progress go!?! Did not understand that in beta things get erased lol.

    That was the first thing I learned about MMO. The next was a week later when people spoke about end game. I was like WTF!! Its been already a week and they are already talking about the game ending!! I signed a 6 month payment plan!!! I thought MMO was different than console games. How the heck could it be ending already. Then a nice guy in game explained it to me. While the rest of the zone laughed at me lol.

    I still love this game and have been almost a daily player even if its just checking in on duty. I wish it 8 more years and beyond. My son was 9 when this game came out. Late last year he started his own guy. We now play this together.

    Ty to my past and now current fleets
    League Extraordinary Captains "Mike, Owen, Lucas and Major"
    106th fleet Jeremy
    Battle Maco
    and my current and great fleet Task Force Spectre


    Also ty all who bring up "Hey Exo Squad" I am glad im not the only one that watched that great cartoon.
  • dkshadow9498dkshadow9498 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    IMO - best closed beta (the one in 2009) bug: When you, or your Boffs petted a Tribble, it grew to GIGANTIC size; and re-petting it made it grow more. :eek::D (Of course this was only visible while petting - somehow they still were able to be put away afterwards)


    Haha! I forgot all about that!

    My computer from beta has long passed on into Silicon Heaven, not long after my video card exploded (STO's fault I might add), and with it went all of my screenies )I tried to save the drive, but it was skipping so bad it sounded like a metronome)

    I had some nice shots of giant tribbles, my Miranda helping defend the Azura... from the inside. The good old days when Starfleet armor had combadges. Blue UI on my Klingon. Someone mentioned Klink ships having Fed interiors, I don't recall that, but if it was so, I probably had a picture of it.

    And of course, the great Borg Invasion of ESD.
    VADM William "Darkshadow" Shadow | Join Date: Apr 2009 |
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  • mightybobcncmightybobcnc Member Posts: 3,354 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    Tribbles so big they hit the camera clipping plane
    Joined January 2009
    Finger wrote:
    Nitpicking is a time-honored tradition of science fiction. Asking your readers not to worry about the "little things" is like asking a dog not to sniff at people's crotches. If there's something that appears to violate natural laws, then you can expect someone's going to point it out. That's just the way things are.
  • dkshadow9498dkshadow9498 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2014
    Oh, and the good old days when armor had Combadges on them.
    VADM William "Darkshadow" Shadow | Join Date: Apr 2009 |
    USS Immortal NX-93608-F (Oddyssey Tactical Cruiser)
    VADM Rogueshadow IRW Kirino Kosaka (Valdore Retrofit)
    LT General Morbo IKS Karac (Bortasqu War Cruiser)
    LT General Posu IKS Saya Takagi (Chel Grett Warship)
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