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So far.......

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
......this is my view so far. I'm disappointed to say the least. I don't think the game is ready, it's far from ready. They should of took more time and waited to release it, the real Star Trek fans would of been fine waiting. There is still so many bugs, the game is so laggy that at this precise moment it is impossible to play, well for me it is, not sure what performance other people are getting but with other online games and MMOs I haven't had this much problem with the lag. IMO at this precise moment of time I feel that I could of spent my money on something better to keep me entertained, the day it comes out in the UK, they decide to do maintenance, so people who where waiting for it couldn't play on it untill 3pm, then you have still got problems.

Right that's my rant over :) will probably give it a go later or tomorrow to see if I can actually have some decent game time on it.
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Munno. I have 0 lag, and am enjoying it a lot.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    NinetyNine wrote:
    Munno. I have 0 lag, and am enjoying it a lot.

    Ditto. Also haven't run into any bugs that affected my gameplay either.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    I have had zero lag and have run into zero issues with anything in game. I feel it is a great game and a lot of fun to play. I feel as though every time I log in my bridge crew is involved in a Star Trek episode. I have really enjoyed the game so far. Hopefully your opinion of the game will improve. I know I for one really enjoy it!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    I loaded it and started playing for the first time last night. I've only played for about 3 hours total. Thus far, I am pretty underwhelmed. Comparisons to WoW are unavoidable, because I've been playing WoW for about a year and have not played any other MMOs, except for that week I played Star Wars Galaxies (a game I hated, for various reasons).

    But here are my preliminary observations/criticisms of Star Trek Online:

    1) The "background" stories provided on the web site are quite good, but they stop several game years before 2405. So we're not entirely sure what has happened to the Trek universe in the intervening years. Trekkers like myself will crave that information.

    2) I'm not fond of the Starfleet uniform variations. I'm playing and outfitting all of my bridge crew in the last TNG movie uniforms, because the "newer" versions don't appeal to me. And the lack of "uniformity" is jarring - meaning that everyone can have a different uniform. On one level it's kinda cool to have the ability for that level of customization in the game. On another, it just doesn't "feel" like "Star Trek." Dunno, maybe I'll get used to that as time goes on. I realize that this game takes place 30+ years after "Nemesis," and that the concept is that Starfleet updated the uniforms. But I just don't care for them. And the "delta shield" is wrong, on many of the illustrations and even some of the in-game uniforms - the longer "prong" is on the wrong side. A niggling point, to be sure, but again something that true "Trek" fans will notice as an inconsistency.

    Having said all that, I don't find the ship customization options as difficult to accept. Although I also don't have the resources necessary to change my ship at present, but I've been having fun playing on the "paperdoll" (they couldn't have come up with a better term?) screens.

    I also like having the level of detail and customization for your character's physical features, but the "paperdoll's" head is too small to see what the effects of those changes are, until after you've actually purchased the character refinements and can see them in-game - by which of course it is too late. It would have been better to provide a screen that just showed the face, so you can see what you're doing.

    3) I've found the lack of initial game documentation in general rather frustrating. WoW didn't have every control and feature in their players manual, but at least Blizzard included enough of the basics that you didn't have to figure out everything as you went, or rely on an annoying in-game pop-up (with an annoying voice that sometimes startles the heck out of me - can you turn that thing off...?). The document provided in the ST box was seriously lacking in detail, and what details were there weren't terribly helpful because they were not accompanied by screenshots or other control pictures. The on-screen pop-up labels provided when you mouse-over control buttons usually come up way too slowly to be useful, at least on my machine. A keyboard chart would have been useful. Even WoW provided that.

    4) I didn't have any problems whatsoever with game performance. I was playing very late at night, EST, and will try logging on during "prime time" this weekend to see if I have any problems. But I discerned no lag whatsoever. Mind you, I'm playing on a very new machine, the specs of which exceed even the "recommended" specs for the game, so if your machine doesn't meet those specs, you might have problems. I had some serious lag issues especially on the later patches of WoW before buying my new CPU, so perhaps ST wouldn't play well on my older machine, either. But I haven't had any performance issues with this game at all, thus far. Knock on wood...

    5) ST seems to be a much less "social" game than WoW. I'm still not up on the whole "fleets" thing - are they like WoW "guilds?" Regardless, It was only after about a half-dozen missions that I ran into another player who was apparently working on the same one I was. (Mind you, again I was playing very late at night.) We cooperated nicely, but it was all without any communication whatsoever. We "teamed" automatically, instead of WoW's system, where you deliberately "invite" other players to join your party. Can't decide which system I like better. To be fair, I teamed with two other ships in a later mission, and we chatted briefly because I had no idea what the heck I was doing, and asked a question. I was much more concerned with my AI away team members than I was with other players. In fact, I didn't interact with any other players when I wasn't aboard my ship. There was no need.

    6) The starmap setup is very confusing. I had to do a lot of hunting and pecking before I figured out how to use it, and I'm still not confident. It's nowhere near as good as WoW's map features. Mind you, "mapping" space is a little harder than a landscape with more physical features, etc., but I don't find the starmaps terribly useful, in general, particularly with regard to determining your current location and figuring out how far you are from where you want to go. Might have been more fun to be able to "lay in a course" and "engage" the warp engines using a star map.

    7) The tactical user interface for space flight is very confusing. I have a hard time getting my ship to turn in the right direction when using the mouse, especially when trying to "come about." Away team movement is easier, for obvious reasons, especially since they emulate WoW to a large extent. But again, some more precise labeling of the controls in general would have been helpful.

    8) The spaceflight control buttons don't look like "Trek" at all. And the icons are too small to interpret them - again, the pop-up helps are very slow, so they don't help much.

    9) The system of acquiring resources and character skill upgrades, and the use of those upgrades, is totally unclear to me. You're not "leveling" like in WoW - instead you get promoted thru far fewer "ranks," and get points in other ways to spend on improving your skills. I'm sure I'll learn the system eventually, but at this early juncture I'm making such improvements pretty blindly, and it's not clear to me that they are resulting in better character performance. Mind you, I'm only a lieutenant.

    Overall: After three whole hours of play, I'd give the game a 5 out of 10 for execution. Perhaps that score will improve, once I have more play time and get more familiar with it.
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