Blah,
I felt the need to write my own review, whether or not you all agree with my thoughts is another thing entirely.
At first glimpse I really thought this game had a lot of panache, While the obligatory Missions requiring oneself to rinse and repeat were there I did them anyways because I really wanted to see the raw nature of this game and see where in all actuality it takes you. As of this moment I am Rear Admiral 5 mind you so I have played the content through, not rushed but on a very constant basis.
First and foremost there is no reason whatsoever I should be maxed at this point in time. It is less than two weeks since release and a lot of us are dead in the water, They could not scale back the exp because that would then require them to make more Missions for us to regain that lost Exp, Inevitably this means they do have quite a lack of content.
This goes back to the general rule of thumb about MMO's which this game in a way you can consider an MMO it is strictly thus a Instanced one. Guild Wars did moderately well for itself, but then again its non subscription based as well. I have to say all in all I am feeling that bit of lackluster feeling overall since release. You know how you feel giddy and excitement from lets say getting ready to do a "raid" or something special, You don't really get that here, Mostly because a lot of the missions are repetitive based. It is essentially the rinse and repeat formula that is far too linear for the Star Trek Universe. Another hateful statement I will say here is the Mission setup for WoW was simple but it was unique, There isn't really anything unique I feel thats going on here...
Go here and kill X Amount of Enemies...
Cryptic gives us the allure that the Federation is in a time of War. While that may be the case it should not require every encounter that we are in to be strictly combat. Have our choices affect the outcome in persay a later mission etc etc. The Patrol missions need to go, They have no point in being there other than just a simple time killer.
I will say this next part with great dismay as to the "Exploration" content. What they have in place right now is nothing but a set of guided variables, The infamous Aiding the Planet, go here and scan 4 items And more kill kill scenarios. Whatever happened to the ideal of finding new life? Spacial anomalys such as nebulas and comets? It is far too linear to swallow and as such I simply do not do any of it because it is in a sad state of affairs.
PvP isn't balanced quite effectively as a Federation player lets just say I have witnessed a bit of exploitation from Klingon players. To be fair in all honesty the whole deal about cloaking is OP. I know its the Klingons Technology and everything however that gives them the ability to choose their battles and when to chicken out on them as well. I'd like to see Open PvP but since they have this shard system in place it'd be hard to implement.
The UI after a long duration of playing is fairly depressing to look at, its just very plain and not much going on there. It ain't game breaking but it'd be nice to have something to look at that isn't strictly 2 colored, Including the icons for our abilties etc etc. Mouse cursor is very glitchy and tends to disappear for no apparent reason, and no its not my graphics driver either or mouse hardware.
In the end I feel that they could have spent another year on polishing this game off. While I am teetering on canceling my subscription it would be good to hear something from Cryptic's side in great detail as to how they are going to challenge us as players in the coming months. I would hope that they continue communicating and listening to us Fans and really start to take us seriously. I love Star Trek I always will but I feel that they haven't done the genre justice quite yet.
Feel free to comment about my article here, I'm sure I will get some trollage and flaming but I do want you to understand that it isn't my intent to cause mischief only to state my point of view.
I more or less agree with all of this. Whereas I really do like the game, now that I've hit Admiral I have nothing to do aside from PvP. After getting halfway through Captain I really started to get bored with the games. All the missions were the same, give or take a few guest appearances from the Defiant, the Enterprise, etc. Playing became a chore. I found myself continually transwarping in to just fiddle with my Bridge Officer's costumes.
I more or less agree with all of this. Whereas I really do like the game, now that I've hit Admiral I have nothing to do aside from PvP. After getting halfway through Captain I really started to get bored with the games. All the missions were the same, give or take a few guest appearances from the Defiant, the Enterprise, etc. Playing became a chore. I found myself continually transwarping in to just fiddle with my Bridge Officer's costumes.
Everything you said is true. So now we are in a holding pattern till the dev's come out with the 45 day patch they talked about. All we CSM do now is continue to suggest what we think would make the game better. Then hope it happens in the near future.
On another note. It was nice to see Cryptic change their minds about the CO expansion. It is now free to everyone. It gives me more hope that they will continue to expand and expand because this game is where the money is for Cryptic. If they fail with this game. They may never be trusted as a gaming company again.
It's a very fun game, in my opinion. Well, in the earlier Ranks, and then you realize the repetition, but you level cap anyways and then realize there isn't anything left to do aside from PvP.
I'm downloading the 10-day free trial of LotRO tonight, see if I can get back into that until STO gets more content.
Or until TOR comes out, whichever happens first.
I have hopes for the 45 day patch, but since the game thus far has not been worth even the $100 I paid for the collectors edition, I will not be a subscriber at that point, as my subscription runs out on Feb 6th.
I wish i could check the forums and see feedback on the 45 day patch, but apparently Cryptic only wants subscribers to read what players are saying. That tells me that they really have no interest in any kind of customer retnetion/recovery and instead are out to make the quick buck.
Very constructive post. One thing that hit me though and you pegged it and I havent seen any other posts mention it really was the finding new life, planets, comets and stuff. That is what I was wanting to feel as well when I came into the game. I find the map to be the problem it is a box and in a box you have to stay. If they had a map that was overshadowed or something and as you move along and warp to other areas it would uncover the map and as you discover more the map would grow and the points you have discovered would become smaller on the map because space would start to become more vast and then over time you would finish off maybe a system and then you would finish off a sector but the sectors would not be in squares they would just be bigger areas than systems but constantly that map would continue to grow then expansions would come along adding more content. Right now Cryptic has us stuck in this little box.
Very constructive post. One thing that hit me though and you pegged it and I havent seen any other posts mention it really was the finding new life, planets, comets and stuff. That is what I was wanting to feel as well when I came into the game. I find the map to be the problem it is a box and in a box you have to stay. If they had a map that was overshadowed or something and as you move along and warp to other areas it would uncover the map and as you discover more the map would grow and the points you have discovered would become smaller on the map because space would start to become more vast and then over time you would finish off maybe a system and then you would finish off a sector but the sectors would not be in squares they would just be bigger areas than systems but constantly that map would continue to grow then expansions would come along adding more content. Right now Cryptic has us stuck in this little box.
I think the word you are looking for is restrictive and thats entirely what it is, Every thing that we do in space is setup and instanced, Nothing is generated randomly. They have teased time and time again about Exploration but as you can see there is nothing to find, nothing of great use, No real actual artifacts, No rewards whatsoever...
When I had seen the one video with a Science ship tailing a comet I was like wtfbbq I want to do that! Figuring I would be able to experience such moments only made me want this game more. I can deal with the combat and even the lack of some content, but when you kill off a large portion of the genre that is what gets me more than anything else.
I think the word you are looking for is restrictive and thats entirely what it is, Every thing that we do in space is setup and instanced, Nothing is generated randomly. They have teased time and time again about Exploration but as you can see there is nothing to find, nothing of great use, No real actual artifacts, No rewards whatsoever...
When I had seen the one video with a Science ship tailing a comet I was like wtfbbq I want to do that! Figuring I would be able to experience such moments only made me want this game more. I can deal with the combat and even the lack of some content, but when you kill off a large portion of the genre that is what gets me more than anything else.
Exactly restrictive. And that is exactly what it should not be. I mean this is Star Trek those guys would warp all over and go down on planets not knowing if they were running into a tribble or klingons or that big monster I cant remember what he was called LOL.
Very constructive post. One thing that hit me though and you pegged it and I havent seen any other posts mention it really was the finding new life, planets, comets and stuff. That is what I was wanting to feel as well when I came into the game. I find the map to be the problem it is a box and in a box you have to stay. If they had a map that was overshadowed or something and as you move along and warp to other areas it would uncover the map and as you discover more the map would grow and the points you have discovered would become smaller on the map because space would start to become more vast and then over time you would finish off maybe a system and then you would finish off a sector but the sectors would not be in squares they would just be bigger areas than systems but constantly that map would continue to grow then expansions would come along adding more content. Right now Cryptic has us stuck in this little box.
I was hoping that end game would have a choice for exploration. The usuall raid, PvP then exploration as a carrier path.
Be able to use the genesis sytem to create entire planets in the middle of large open space(no sector lines). Actual exploration and discovery of new worlds with fully developed planets. With cities, quest hubs and lifeforms to find or fight. A real Star Trek game mixed in withthe MMO. As a choice, not required for those who would think it boring.
Maybe someday in an expansion years from now. I will probably be playing TOR at that time though.
i cant agree more with the original post. i do enjoy the game and will let my subscription run out then surf the net for some honest reviews in about 6 months to see if they have fixed any of the very basic things that are wrong with the game atm. the one that is my particular pet peeve is not being able to set my camera to face forward. how can i fly a cannon armed ship if i have to check to see what direction my ship is facing every 3 seconds? made captain 4 and currently have a bug ticket in and will maybe try and make admiral before my subscription runs out, assuming they answer the ticket within 24 hours. one issue that i havent seen mentioned here that is such a basic fault i feel it makes the game borderline unplayable is the simple fact that your quickslots reset themselves when u change instance. (seriously how is this game out of beta if something that simple resets itself all the time) Having said that i understand the need to generate real life money and dont blame cryptic for releasing the game, but buyer beware. good luck to those who stay around, i hope cryptic fixes some of major problems in the next few months, if they do ill most likely be back.
Comments
I totally understand what you mean man haha!
On another note. It was nice to see Cryptic change their minds about the CO expansion. It is now free to everyone. It gives me more hope that they will continue to expand and expand because this game is where the money is for Cryptic. If they fail with this game. They may never be trusted as a gaming company again.
I was really banking on this Game too...
I'm downloading the 10-day free trial of LotRO tonight, see if I can get back into that until STO gets more content.
Or until TOR comes out, whichever happens first.
I wish i could check the forums and see feedback on the 45 day patch, but apparently Cryptic only wants subscribers to read what players are saying. That tells me that they really have no interest in any kind of customer retnetion/recovery and instead are out to make the quick buck.
I think the word you are looking for is restrictive and thats entirely what it is, Every thing that we do in space is setup and instanced, Nothing is generated randomly. They have teased time and time again about Exploration but as you can see there is nothing to find, nothing of great use, No real actual artifacts, No rewards whatsoever...
When I had seen the one video with a Science ship tailing a comet I was like wtfbbq I want to do that! Figuring I would be able to experience such moments only made me want this game more. I can deal with the combat and even the lack of some content, but when you kill off a large portion of the genre that is what gets me more than anything else.
Exactly restrictive. And that is exactly what it should not be. I mean this is Star Trek those guys would warp all over and go down on planets not knowing if they were running into a tribble or klingons or that big monster I cant remember what he was called LOL.
I was hoping that end game would have a choice for exploration. The usuall raid, PvP then exploration as a carrier path.
Be able to use the genesis sytem to create entire planets in the middle of large open space(no sector lines). Actual exploration and discovery of new worlds with fully developed planets. With cities, quest hubs and lifeforms to find or fight. A real Star Trek game mixed in withthe MMO. As a choice, not required for those who would think it boring.
Maybe someday in an expansion years from now. I will probably be playing TOR at that time though.