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Game Still Alive?
spiderlegs85
Member Posts: 4 Arc User
in The Academy
Hi guys,
I've played the game on and off a good bit since launch, I'm re-downloading the game again now and want to really get into it again, I just want a general idea of the state of the game at the moment? Hows the population? Any risk of the game being shut down anytime soon?
Cheers,
I've played the game on and off a good bit since launch, I'm re-downloading the game again now and want to really get into it again, I just want a general idea of the state of the game at the moment? Hows the population? Any risk of the game being shut down anytime soon?
Cheers,
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I didnt do this and when I found out I could they said I have to make a second account for them to 'merge' with my old account as I would lose my new characters and ships if they put my old char into my new account.
How are you finding it so far?
Be prepared for lots of changes, the past year or so has seen several major revamps of sector space, story arcs etc. The state of the game is "normal" i.e. there is guaranteed to always be someone complaining about something. The player population is probably as stable as it gets for any MMO, although depending on where player info comes from it either looks as if players are leaving in droves or there are quite a few new recruits.
As to game life cycle - we are still getting new content. ships and a mid-season update is due soon, so it looks promising.
Because of the level increase, a lot of missions in STO became a lot harder. Apparently this caused most casual players to stop playing the game. I recall reading a lot different threads about fleets loosing members because they simply stopped playing STO. I've read a few posts about some fleets that have still not recovered from the exodus of fleet mates that left after Delta Rising. However, the one caveat that I will add is that people in fleets who have been adversely affected by Delta Rising are more likely to post about their ordeal compared to people in fleets that more or less remained status quo.
STO has been constantly getting tweaks after the release of Delta Rising to improve the overall gaming experience. So Delta Rising content and the queue missions are not as immensely difficult compared to when Delta Rising was initially released. Plus there is also a learning curve as well. As I said... "teething pain".
One big difference that you will notice is that the public queued missions are relatively dead so it is difficult to pug a mission. The exceptions are Crystalline Catastrophe Advanced and Infected Space Advanced. But even those have a relatively low number of players in the public queues compared to the past. You might see 20 - 40 people playing it at a time as opposed to something like 60 - 100 people in the past. One ground mission that I really enjoyed was Brotherhood of the Sword Advanced (part of the Iconian War story arc). I never seen it active for months. Then last week I noticed 4 people queued into that mission so I quickly joined in. Sadly things went terrible because we could not even pass the first checkpoint which meant an automatic failure. I don't know if it was because there were "noobies" in the mission or veteran players who simply forgot about the strategies to get through the checkpoints or both.
It seems most people that play the queue missions do so in private groups. Players join a channel to form groups to play specific queued missions. This is probably something I need to look into...
Overall, I still like playing STO. I have even started contemplating buying the LTS when it goes on sale for $199. My only big gripe about the game is the dead public queues. Of course there are some minor gripes too, but not worth mentioning at the moment.
My advice to you is to simply play STO to find out if you still find it entertaining. If you do find it fun, then great!!! If you then wanna throw some money at the game, then don't let me stop you. The game simply cannot continue to exist if STO does not earn money for Perfect World Entertainment. If you don't find STO to be fun, then simply move on. There are plenty of other games out there trying to get your attention... and your money...
Actually, that was a typo. I meant to say "many". But that was based on reading a lot of threads about fleets losing fleetmates as I stated in my post. Not everyone is in a fleet though; such as myself. And I also stated that people are more likely to make a post complaining about something as opposed to people where everything is more or less status quo.
As for Steam numbers... The DR Recruitment event did help to bring in new players and likely brought back some old players as well so that could have helped to offset the number of players that stopped playing STO after DR was released.
This year might shape up pretty cool, too, but it's too early to tell (though we already have 3 new story missions, not sure if they keep up that pace). The 50th Star Trek Anniversary will hopefully bring a few cool events or features in the game, and might also draw in new players (Or draw back old players.)
But it also depends a bit on what you want from the game. For example, PvP is in the same sorry state it was 4 years ago. But if you enjoy for example story content, I think you'll love things. If you love ships, there are plenty of new ones (of course, they'll cost you.)
Shutdown doesn't seem imminent. The game's population seems quite stable on a decent enough level that Cryptic managed to release all the content it did release last year, for example. You can always wish for more, but I think the game is relatively safe. It will probably last a few more years, and you never know if some big expansion couldn't reinvigorate things (or a big competitor - like a new Star Trek MMO - could attract people away.)
I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
<slides over to make more room for Trendy in the STO bleachers>
I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite
colored text = mod mode
Hopefully, you enjoy it and stick around.
This is my favorite MMO. The game is still loads of fun and even my "cyber" pals who log into other games always return. There is a lot to do and yes, some of it is grindy but it is still lots of fun. Welcome home, Captain!
DR pretty much made everyone I played with go away, and they never came back. I should probably hop on TeamSpeak and see if they're still playing ESO.
I would start from a cadet again, as you said you haven't played since launch, and they redid a lot of the beginning missions, even the starting mission is different
but yea, like others said, the game is still running strong and as the only start trek game avail right now, we are all hooked
If you were new to the game, I'd recommend you find another.
STO is not n00b friendly and even the incoming Skills revamp won't change that.
Since you're a returning player, I'd say things are better if you were a Fed player when you left.
If you rolled Redside then, well...at least you won't be overwhelmed by ship choices.
TL;dr - If you were a Fed player when you left the game, things are better.
RIP KDF and PvP 2014-07-17 Season 9.5 - Death by Dev
I disagree. I would say STO is extremely noob friendly. There is practically no punishment for dying, and even an badly kitted out ship can usually cope with most of the content.
The introductory tutorial episodes are also very comprehensive.
Oh wait..., I said that already.
Don't mind me, I haven't had my banana yet today...
I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
Yes...
"He shall be my finest warrior, this generic man who was forced upon me.
Like a badass I shall make him look, and in the furnace of war I shall forge him.
he shall be of iron will and steely sinew.
In great armour I shall clad him and with the mightiest weapons he shall be armed.
He will be untouched by plague or disease; no sickness shall blight him.
He shall have such tactics, strategies and machines that no foe will best him in battle.
He is my answer to cryptic logic, he is the Defender of my Romulan Crew.
He is Tovan Khev... and he shall know no fear."
Dammit! Beat me to it!
*ahem*
Yes, the game is very much alive, in the sense that there are still players here - many of the "old guard" are still active on the forums, but I don't really pay any attention to that in-game.
A good number of my fleet's original members have left, but quite a bit of that is because of personal circumstances..others found that the game has become stale and repetitive, and that's their opinion. Some didn't exactly agree with the Fleet CoC (which has remained the same since day 1) or the new leadership - our founder left for personal reasons- and left anyway.
But I digress; the game is still alive, and strong as ever.
P.S. I thought this was going to be one of those "DDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM" threads.
EDIT: Fixed typos.