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Star Trek Online not what I hoped

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
Star Trek Online is not what I hoped for. I was hoping for a cross between the Star Trek games: A Final Unity; Starfleet Command; Klingon Academy and Elite Force.

There are three areas of the game which I think are the most disappointing. These are space / ground combat, exploration and missions.

Exploration

In the game, “A Final Unity” there was a huge galaxy map and you could warp anywhere. While warping you stayed on the bridge but could explore different places on your ship... the holodeck, engineering, conference room , transporter room. or you could stay on the bridge and talk to bridge officers. Options were limited in these areas but this was a 1995 game. The warp times could take a few minutes and when you got to a system you could use impulse to move between planets. Almost all of the planets were the same but it was still fun and that was 1995 limited to cds and small hd sizes.

I was hoping that in Star Trek Online we could view a huge map of the galaxy and plot courses using different warp factors. I was hoping that from one edge of the federation to the other would take hours of game time but would reduce as you upgraded ships. So this would limit you at the start of the game to missions close to earth – unless you wanted to just warp endlessly into space. I hoped Star Trek Online would expand on the different sections of the ship so that when at warp you could go to mess hall and talk to different members of your crew or talk to passengers you are transporting on missions. Or you could just wander around your ship and go to your quarters, go to sick bay or engineering or the holodeck like A Final Unity but with 2010 hardware you would have much more depth to these areas.

Basically, the focus of the game, I was hoping, would be your ship and your crew... it should have been like your home but it doesn't feel like that in Star Trek Online and there are no real opportunities to get to know your crew and bridge officers.

In Star Trek Online you have sector space and its literally just the same as normal space except with different graphics representing star systems instead of planets - it doesn't feel like you are warping though space. Also within star systems its just one planet and that's all. You can't move between different planets or move close to the sun etc. In Klingon Academy you could do this - you could move at impulse or warp even within a star system. The level of engine control in that game was incredible and really did feel star trek like. But in Star Trek Online its just a slider that doesn't give the same trek feel as "1/4 impulse", "warp 4" etc.

Space / Ground Combat

The missions in Star Trek Online are heavily focused on combat and are too repetitive. When warping into a system you see the objectives coming up... "Destroy Klingon Escorts 0/7", and about 10 minutes later you look up again and it is only at "Destroy Klingon Escorts 1/7" and the next 6 times are the same so it all feels like a burden. It isn't really any fun at all especially since there is no price for failure and that each objective is very easy but just takes a lot of time. There is no satisfaction in seeing ships blow up. Contrast this to the Starfleet Command games. There you could have one on one battles which take 30mins plus and when you send in a final torpedo that hits the target and the ship explodes its greatly satisfying.

The actual combat itself is a disappointment. Weapons always lock – they never miss. They even fire through walls, asteroids, starbases etc. There are no real tactics in ship combat. It is just move and press the fireall button. Starfleet Command games had an array of different manoeuvres that had a real impact on the game. Counter measures could be used to make it more difficult for phaser fire and torpedoes to hit you. You could reinforce the shields, use fighters or shuttle craft as decoys, engage evasive manoeuvres, use warp engines to quickly turn your ship around so you could fire off a barrage of weapons fire at close range, you could use transporters to send marines to the other ship to try to disable certain systems but at a cost of having to drop shields which left you vulnerable. You could use your tractor beam to hold onto your target or use them to hold onto incoming missiles.

I also don't understand why in Star Trek Online your systems stay operational even when your hull is at 1%. No damage is done to your ship at all. Your weapons still work and you can still move as fast as if your hull was at 100%. This is totally different to Starfleet Command where you can suffer damage to every system, phasers, torpedoes, shuttle bay, transporters, tractor beam, sensors. and not only this but your power levels drop too so it makes it even more difficult when you are badly damaged... you have to choose do you want to keep shields up or should you disable all weapons and make a run for it – escape was an option in Starfleet Command. And not only that but you could repair all your systems too but that took time.

I was hoping for something like Starfleet Command in Star Trek Online with the same level of detail in ship to ship battles but I find myself just flying into battles, using the move keys at top speed and pressing the fire all button over and over until the other ship blows up.

Ground combat is quite poor in my opinion. Even in A Final Unity the puzzles and exploration there was immense - you beam down, interview people which helped you try to figure out how to repair equipment etc. Here in Star Trek Online its pretty much the same thing every time and is just a ground based variation of space combat with your objectives reading something like "Kill Klingons 0/9". It isn't any fun because its exactly like space combat, just press fire key over and over until they all die. The movement of the character on the ground I find extremely poor. Something like the Elite Force games would have been nice but the movement of the character feels more like the Broken Sword adventure games.

Missions

The missions are disappointing. Its almost always combat. I was hoping for missions such as transporting passengers to different planets but then someone gets murdered on your ship en route and you have to investigate or some puzzles and mysteries to investigate such as your ship gets attacked while on patrol and you have to track them down by beaming down to some kind of ds9 type station and walk around interviewing the different characters to find out info which leads you onto an asteroid field where their ships are hiding and you have to hunt them down and then maybe throw in a little combat at the end but only on a 1 on 1 scenario and not, "Destroy Raiders 0/6".

Or maybe if you are randomly warping through space and aren't on any mission at all and you are messing around in the mess hall you get contacted by your first officer on the bridge saying the ship is receiving distress call so you go back to bridge and investigate - its a freighter that lost power and is falling into a planet. You warp there and with an array of options at your disposal you have to decide how to save the ship, You either make the right choice and they live or you don't and they all die but even if you fail you don't have to repeat the mission but maybe suffer a loss of skill points. But if you do save them maybe they tell you something that means you should investigate some sector etc which sends you off on an intriguing quest. All of these types of missions have been done many times in Star Trek episodes and as a fan I was hoping to get that kind of immersion in the universe but playing Star Trek Online feels more like a chore than an adventure.
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
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Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    And the point of this thread is what?
    Maybe you shouldve done a bit more research before you bought the game.

    I do agree though. It couldve been a lot better. Ground combat is the worst Ive ever seen in a game. Pure TRIBBLE.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    Good feedback. That would be an awesome game but would take longer then the 18 months this game was developed with.

    I don't expect much from MMO's these days. It means I am rarely disappointed.

    About the only MMO I have seen that really breaks the mold of KillingStuffOnline is EvE and some of those free MMO's.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    I do agree also, although lets not forget (hope) there should be plenty of room for expansion/improvements
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    "Missions always combat"

    I keep reading this is various threads. I wish someone would give me an example of an MMO where missions are not combat?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    This post has been edited to remove content which violates the Cryptic Studios Forum Usage Guidelines ~Dionaea
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    well i didnt need to read your wall of text
    the title says it all
    its not what you hoped??
    your expectations werent met??
    so sorry sir, put millions into it then maybe it'll matter
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    Lot's of things you wanted, not sure what that has to do with the game....I'm glad it's not just a cross with those games, I quite enjoy this one,


    I
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    JansanRuno wrote:
    "Missions always combat"

    I keep reading this is various threads. I wish someone would give me an example of an MMO where missions are not combat?

    Well they aren't always combat t, my last two missions involved yapping with people and escorting a freighter.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    JansanRuno wrote:
    "Missions always combat"

    I keep reading this is various threads. I wish someone would give me an example of an MMO where missions are not combat?

    So? Why should MMO's just be combat? Is combat the only sphere of human endeavour that is enjoyable?

    Hell even in WoW you get plenty of courier and diplomatic missions.

    This is what I hate about MMO's. They must be the most risk averse type of game on the market.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    Sounds like you had some pretty ridiculous expectations. You wanted a multiplayer MMO that was a combination of at least 3 single player games. I want to introduce you to something -it's called reality.
    JansanRuno wrote:
    "Missions always combat"

    I keep reading this is various threads. I wish someone would give me an example of an MMO where missions are not combat?

    It's also BS. I've several missions that didn't involve combat.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    Completely agree with the OP.

    I'm in the same boat but with more to add.

    I was hoping for a multiplayer world where somebody would be able to explore the universe, beam down to planets on almost any location and face world PvP if somebody ran into a group of Klingons. Game feels way too instanced and they haven't even added a death penalty. Why bother with anything else but a Tactical officer in an Escort if you don't lose anything by dying...?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    My last six missions involved:

    Infiltrating a Klingon listening post and stealing their data (ground combat)
    Scanning a system for signs of a lost freighter (non-combat)
    Brokering peace between two warring factions (non-combat)
    Removing an Orion pirate threat in an asteroid belt (combat)
    Scanning a system for anomalies (non-combat)
    Bringing in supplies to a quarantined world (non-combat)

    Sure there's a lot of combat, but it's not *ALL* combat.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    kalnaren wrote: »
    Sounds like you had some pretty ridiculous expectations. You wanted a multiplayer MMO that was a combination of at least 3 single player games. I want to introduce you to something -it's called reality.



    It's also BS. I've several missions that didn't involve combat.

    Actually, I said the missions are almost always combat / heavily focused on combat. And I don't think it's unrealistic to expect / hope for a game I'm paying for to have good elements from other games in the same franchise.

    I don't understand why people on forums write such nasty comments about other people's opinions.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    colmmg wrote: »
    Actually, I said the missions are almost always combat / heavily focused on combat. And I don't think it's unrealistic to expect / hope for a game I'm paying for to have good elements from other games in the same franchise.

    I don't understand why people on forums write such nasty comments about other people's opinions.

    There's a difference between having an opinion and voicing your legitimate complaints, and having complaints because your expectations were beyond the realm of reasonable or achievable.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    I agree that sector space and the exploration clusters are dissapointing. The sectors are too small. The movement in sector space actually doesnt feel like Star Trek it feels more like Fish Trek. The sectors are unimaginative and lack character.. stoic lines, repetative icons, blah .. each sector is pretty much like any other.

    Other than that I like the rest of the game pretty well. We'll see in a few weeks how that lasts.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    zcenicx wrote: »
    My last six missions involved:

    Infiltrating a Klingon listening post and stealing their data (ground combat)
    Scanning a system for signs of a lost freighter (non-combat)
    Brokering peace between two warring factions (non-combat)
    Removing an Orion pirate threat in an asteroid belt (combat)
    Scanning a system for anomalies (non-combat)
    Bringing in supplies to a quarantined world (non-combat)

    Sure there's a lot of combat, but it's not *ALL* combat.

    Nice, that sounds awesome. Coffee is ready, back to playing!!!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    JansanRuno wrote:
    "Missions always combat"

    I keep reading this is various threads. I wish someone would give me an example of an MMO where missions are not combat?

    Actually as referenced above Eve is one such MMO. It is indeed heavy into combat, but there are missions where all you do is "get something" for your agent.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    kalnaren wrote: »
    There's a difference between having an opinion and voicing your legitimate complaints, and having complaints because your expectations were beyond the realm of reasonable or achievable.

    I don't think it is unreasonable to expect more from a game than...

    Warp here.
    Move here.
    Press F.
    Click Fire-All
    Repeat.

    The suggestions I had are reasonable. A Final Unity had more exploration capability than this game and that was a 1995 game released on a 600MB CD. This is 2010. To say "this is all we can do" is a feeble excuse in my opinion.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    Timeband wrote:
    Actually as referenced above Eve is one such MMO. It is indeed heavy into combat, but there are missions where all you do is "get something" for your agent.

    I wanted to like Eve and have tried it several times, but usually i end up getting bored really quick with it.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    colmmg wrote: »
    I don't think it is unreasonable to expect more from a game than...

    Warp here.
    Move here.
    Press F.
    Click Fire-All
    Repeat.

    The suggestions I had are reasonable. A Final Unity had more exploration capability than this game and that was a 1995 game released on a 600MB CD. This is 2010. To say "this is all we can do" is a feeble excuse in my opinion.

    Your assessment is unfortunately 100% spot on, but basically STO fits the mold of a typical dumbed down MMO for dumbed down players, many of those dumbed down players with no standards are attacking your original post in this thread.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    Your assessment is unfortunately 100% spot on, but basically STO fits the mold of a typical dumbed down MMO for dumbed down players, many of those dumbed down players with no standards are attacking your original post in this thread.

    The problem is that when things like combat actually took skill and thought, TONS of people complained that it was too hard. :rolleyes:
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    Your assessment is unfortunately 100% spot on, but basically STO fits the mold of a typical dumbed down MMO for dumbed down players, many of those dumbed down players with no standards are attacking your original post in this thread.

    It always makes you look mature and smart when you attack everyone with a different opinion like that....no really I'm not being sarcastic. You've clearly shown your superiority, congrats.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    There is a difference between what you THINK a game should be and what a game IS.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    I agree that there is room for improvement, and I like your ideas about navigating with a map and going into warp and the quests and such on your ship (murder mystery) etc but the game is decent quality as it is.

    Hopefully some of your ideas make it into game in the future.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    Ground combat is not the worst i've seen in a game, in fact its similar to SWG.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    tl:dr

    Your personal hopes for this game would be boring time sinks , and you don't have any original or fun ideas.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    This person made a post with good points, many of them were things that were actually expected of the game at the beginning but so far are not a part of it and i dare say will be saying we pay for in a later expansion. There is no need for a b*tching, people are allowed to say they're disappointed. Only thing annoying me at the mo is the server keep going offline, have had very little of this 'headstart'
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    JansanRuno wrote:
    "Missions always combat"

    I keep reading this is various threads. I wish someone would give me an example of an MMO where missions are not combat?

    In EvE Online, you can spend your all playtime manufacturing and buying / selling on the market. Many players actually don't even leave spacedock during months. The fact that you're struggling against other players make this part of the game quite interesting.

    Of course, this would be booooooooooooooooooooring in STO, while killing the same 15 waves of KlinGornOrions pirates ships in a row over and over is soooo interesting.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    Very good post, I agree with the OP in many ways.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2010
    STO is so basic on tis gameplay mechanics that it feels as it was design for mindless drones, Its the same mechanic over and over again. This game is for a BOT to play not a human.

    And expectations aside, with the current lvl of technology and the engine as it is, cryptic could have added tones of stuff. But its easier to milk the cow with the least effort possible.

    They new the had captive customers because of the fandom, so they made little effort in pushing the boundarys of MMO. thats why this game is going to continue thanks to those who just wanted to play a ST game and anything will do. And the Grinder Players of the typical MMO who of course feel right at home in STO because its a LONG LONG repetitive Grind.
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