A lot of people have been complaining since OB about this game not having the standard MMO penalty when you die, making it seem like dying over and over has no effect on the player.
For some reason, this causes people to be up in arms.
"I died and must be punished!" some complain.
"It makes the game too easy!" other say.
Well guess what? There probably won't be a death penalty. Ever. There isn't now, and there wasn't in OB or Head start. I also highly doubt there ever will be one. Here's why.
1. "Suicide" abilities: Ramming Speed, Self-Destruct, etc. They gave us abilities to kill ourselves. We can use these as last ditch attempts to hurt the bad guys, or just for ***** and giggles. We do have them though, and a death penalty would occur every time one of these abilities results in a death. Why would they punish me for using a ship ability? Won't happen.
2. PvP: It is hard work to have a death penalty that would not apply across the board to everyone in the game. You die a lot in PvP, either because you suck and rush in, or you just get mobbed by the opposite team. Either way, unless you play this game way too much and are at the point that no one can touch you in PvP, you're going to die a lot. And they won't add a penalty for that. You're supposed to die in PvP now and then.
3. No need: People complain about not having a death penalty because every other MMO you've played has one. Why does STO need to? To make you happy? What about the people that HATE games with death penalties? I have quit MMO games before due to silly penalties that cause me to drop level or lose exp. Some gamers don't want that, so why add a reason not to want to play?
For those of you who probably won't read this and will go on and on about how much a penalty is needed, I offer a solution. You want a penalty when you die so badly, make one up yourself. Delete a BOff, remove a weapon or console and call it damage. Do something else creative like force yourself to go outside or something.
But quit complaining. There isn't a death penalty, and the game is already released. There most likely won't ever be one added, because the number of whiners now will no doubt double if something gets added in 3 to 6 months and everyone hates it.