Okay after playing for three days I will admit I am a bit underwhelmed by the general STO product. With that being said, I do not think the game is a total loss. I have not played my toons to max levels, and I have not rushed to explore all questlines. To me a good FPS is like really good greasy fast food..taste great and is scarfed quickly while MPOGs should be treated like steak..really good, slightly rare steak that you enjoy as long as you can. Well I've found some gristle in this steak...but it isnt a meal killer. I really should eat lunch before writting these...
The ST name hooked me into this title and so far has kept me but I really don't feel like I am getting a true Star Trek experience.
So, instead of posting "this game blows" posts, or telling the devs to gimme an "I Win!" item ingame I am going to just add a few things I would like to see...some are extremely trivial and I am aware of that, and others to me are no brainers that I can not understand why they were not put into play.
Red alert status. Basicly you are always at red alert. While this does save a few seconds for players to just start blasting things, I'm an old school table top gamer who cut his sci fi teeth on Star Fleet battles. When the tabletop game went to PC I liked being able to go from general quarters to red alert..added a little bit of excitement to the encounters.
More voiceovers..okay Hearing Nimoy's voice can send shivers down a Trek Fans spine on par with Hearing the first 7 notes of the Star Trek theme...But I think a few extras could be added. First The ships computers do sound a little like Majel Barret but really...should the klingon ships sound the same? Give them a more "klingon intonation". Also would it cost so much to throw some money at Micheal Dorn for some Worf (or Worf descendants) voicings. Others that come to mind Christopher Plummer (Chang) - his voiceovers where some of the best things about Klingon Academy, and Christopher lloyd from ST3 would be a nice addition even if introduced as new characters.
I also used to play the Star Trek RPG pen/paper. The Klingon addition to that game explained the different races of klingons (Imperials with the ridges, Human hybryd - STOS, and even a romulan hybrid. Would have liked to see more of that kind of detail added to the Klingons.
Space Combat is okay...i like it...but would like to see better turning radius for ships...or more exact maybe more realistic ones, I know people have posted about cruisers and dreadnoughts turning on a dime while frigates take forever to turn. Maybe add in high energy turns with a chance of damaging your engines (again old SFB stuff) I would also like to see boarding parties expanded...heck i would like to lead a boarding party!
levels...not going to mess with this...I love it when a game goes outside the box..or more exactly goes into the sandbox and allows toons to be more skill based then level based but this game as it stands is what it is and I am not gonna lose sleep over a level based game vs a skill based game.
It would be unfair of me to gripe about content as I stated I havent made it through a lot...but I will say i hope future content is added that is not so generic in nature and of course give the klingons some good missions, it is a dis service to them to not. Heck get players to submit mission ideas..they know what They have always wanted to do in a Star Trek Universe...let them.
Ground Combat..yea its clunky..a word i see over and over again..but it is. The ground based game is playable but not as much fun as it could be.
Items...okay Star Trek is Sci Fi and Sci Fi is defined by the technology used. The phasers and disrupters are okay but I would like to see more use of more mundane items. The tricorder should be used for tons more then quest related scans and anomaly hunting. The hypo spray...where are all our Bone's that should be running up behind folks and shooting them full of sedatives. Also an overload feature on beam weapons to make an improvised booby trap or grenade would be nice. Give you a reason to hold onto lower level weapons you'd sell or throw away if you knew you could take out 2 or three (and maybe yourself) mobs when the weapon hits critical mass.
Critters...okay I dont want to provoke Cryptic into giving us quest along the lines of hunt 200 pink fuzzy venusians bunnies but the worlds on away missions do seem a little barren...and on the point of critters would like to see a couple of either vanity pets (a more playful tribble) or critters that can actually be used as "pets" like a targ or even a Horta...have them fill a spot on away team missions when appropriate..yea our bridge crew are our "pets" but just wanting to think of ways of injecting more star trek into the game.
Ships...No complaint about ships, ship building, or ships looks..but would like to be able to use more of the inside of my ship...visit the holodeck, sickbay, engineering..and invite friends over. And on the topic of friends I would love to park my old rust bucket and hop into my friends ship and take on the role of tactical officer or doctor etc. In space combat The captain would still have the 3D top down view of battle but allow the other players who "beamed" over see more of a bridge POV with their console being utilized to fire weapons, damage control, sensor sweep, etc. The bridge and its crewman at consoles are to me basic Trek that can't just be thrown aside. I want to see sparks on my consoles, flames shooting from the floor plates, crewman keeling over that the doctore player has to revive. I want to see the bridge get rocked when hit by torpedos. Yes all of this is just window dressing with the exception of allowing "real" people to crew you your ship.
"I" want to be Harry Mudd! One of the things about old SWG that chaffed me (and still does) was when they got rid of the bulk of the classes because SOE and Lucas Arts decided they weren't iconic and summed it up with the arrogant saying "Nobody wants to play a moisture farmer on Tatooine...they want to play the Jedi he becomes" Well...I was one of those strange folk who loved his non iconic toons and wanted to be the moisture farmer. This is not a complaint againts STO just a nod to things i would like to see which in one form or another I think we will see...more playable races (generic rpg request) and other factions outside of the klingon/federation group. Allow traders with their own freighters to take on trade routes or mine asteroids, or smuggle Romulan ale. Yea I know this smacks of EVE...but maybe there is a reason for that. i am not saying copy EVE..I am saying make game changes that are worthy of the name Star Trek. I want to be a sneaky ferengi trader with latinum hidden in my underware, I want to run blockades, I want to steal from one faction and sell to another.
RPG elements. No I am not asking that all Klingons speak klingon to make the game more rpg friendly but I would like to see more choices that affect our toon development. Right now we can turn down or accept missions. That is the extent of our choices and they have no repercussions. I want to be able to follow a quest line that forks and offers choices to join one faction over another, or one that influence my standing in starfleet or the empire for better or worse. Something like this for a klingon toon..you are approached and asked to help spy on another house..you succed but are caught. The house in question makes an offer of siding with them by helping set up a trap for the first house...if you do help the 2nd house you now have a ticked off first house who will influence future missions etc, if you remain loyal to the first house now you have a ****ed off 2nd house who may retaliate.
The possibilities are endless and offer players a feeling that what they do matters in the grand scheme of thing.
True Exploration. The game with its instanced rooms (sectors, systems, etc) are fine but it seems like they could have more on the fly created areas where the missions could be chosen from a list of possible missions apon entering said unexplored system. Explore..simple scans...first contacts..is the planet ready to meet spacefareres, Raids...take all and leave nothing, find resources, beam down and classify a planet, and once again your choices will set the tone for future missions there.
Okay I could name a hundred more things I'd like to see...but for right now I'm content to see what the devs kick out over the next few months. all in all I would give the game 6.5 on a scale of 1-10..playable, kinda fun but not living up to its own promise..and what sucks is I could easily see this game rating a 9 with what they could do.
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