I know, I know... Another "I'm leaving thread." :P I know I won't be missed. Hehe.
When I cancelled, there was an option to leave suggestions for improvement. So i did. I just thought I'd share to see if anyone else shares my opinion on any of these points, or if anyone disagrees with me. I also wanted to be sure I got this out there to make sure Cryptic sees it. If you disagree, please explain why. No joke, I actually am interested in hearing other people's opinions.

One more thing, this is a long post. If you don't like long posts, please stop reading. Don't say I didn't warn ya!

Here's what I wrote to Cryptic:
As it stands, the game revolves around warping into an instance, shooting a few enemies, scanning something, shooting more enemies, and then warping out. Or any number of combinations of those things. It gets boring after awhile. There is simply not enough depth and variety in the missions. Some of the Klingon war episodes were great, original, and exciting. The Romulan ones... meh. See below for more on that. The repeatable/random ones are just horrendously repetitive though.
Also, since you asked for suggestions, here's 10 of them:
1. Add more variety to the missions. Make them less repetitive as well. Also, the exploration missions are dull as scanning a few anomalies is ridiculously simple and boring. There is no exploration, just scanning!
2. Where is the famous Star Trek diplomacy? I don't consider talking to a few people in a linear, scripted situation, scanning things, clicking a few computer consoles, or delivering supplies diplomacy. I would like to see different options to solve a single situation.
3. Social game play is limited to grouping during missions. There is nothing to do on Vulcan, Risa, a bar, etc. Make some mini-games and interactive environments! Make people want to hang out in a certain location. Even the bridges, while nice eye candy, are featureless. They are totally useless. Why would I ever need, let alone WANT, to visit my bridge? I can't even sit in the captain's chair without having to type in an emote.
4. I understand that 2409 is a time of war and that heavy combat is to be expected. However, I can not see a reason why the Federation would ever abandon its principles. In every combat situation it's fire first, ask questions later without any option to try to resolve a conflict another way. The mission where the Klingons accuse the ambassador on my ship of being an Undine is a good example. I would really like to know if there is an Undine on my ship. The Klingons weren't opening fire so it would be a simple matter of saying "Please standby while we attempt to verify your claims." and then doing so if I feel like it. Instead, you have NO option but to attack immediately. Also, the Federation is at war with the Klingons, NOT the Romulans. What right would the Federation have in flying around freely in Romulan space, landing on their planets, attacking their ships, or deciding that something like a Borg sphere in THEIR space can't be salvaged by them? That mission really didn't make sense to me. Again, we aren't even at war with them. Hostilities? Yes, but not war. Some of the missions give a BARELY acceptable reason to enter their space, but even then I feel like it isn't quite justified.
5. Just way too much instancing... I totally understand why you chose to go that route, but something as simple as trying to meet a friend somewhere involves figuring out which instance to go to. There's got to be a way to reduce the instancing without affecting game play. Even if just sector space could do away with the instancing, I'd be happy.
6. Crafting in STO is not crafting. It's trading. Worse, it's trading for things that aren't even really worth the effort. The fact that you even call it a crafting system bothers me, since it obviously is not. It's like saying, "Hey! That's a big ocean!" while pointing at a puddle, and expecting people to accept the statement as the truth. It's not fooling anyone. At least have the decency to treat us like intelligent human beings, please.
7. No death penalty? Yes, they're frustrating, but they need to be put in! There is NO sense of loss in this game! Not even a MINOR Skill point drop. Nothing. What's the point of trying to do well, if there's no reason to just keep making suicide runs on the enemy?
8. Ground combat. It seems clunky to me. I have issues moving around while firing, especially with the keyboard controls. All of a sudden the "A" key will make me move forward, instead of turning to the left, or the "W" key will make me strafe to the right instead of moving me forward, etc. It makes targeting, firing, and moving more difficult than it needs to be. The camera seems to be "off" somehow as well, but I can't pinpoint exactly what it is that irks me as far as that goes. Ground combat is a close second to the "exploration" (scanning) missions in the things I like least about this game. It has the potential to be so much better.
9. Targeting enemies is just... weird. Sometimes it works well, other times I can't for the life of me target something that's right in front of me! Not quite sure what the problem is there. It's worse in ground combat than in space combat.
10. I'm a Captain. Allow me to give orders! It always seems like my bridge officers are telling me what to do and then giving me condescending verbal pats on the back after I'm forced to do what they say. It makes me feel more like the ships autopilot system instead of the one who's in charge of a ship and crew. I also feel like the ship's mascot puppy who's just waiting to hear my tactical officer say, "Good boy! Who's a good boy? YOU are! Here's a treat!" Again, this means giving me OPTIONS. I have no problem with a bridge officer giving me a recommendation for a course of action, but let me have options to choose from. Objectives are just too linear, too scripted, and there's zero chance to fail or make a mistake.
Having said all that, I truly do appreciate the fact that it is not easy to make an MMO. I have no problem with all the technical issues, bugs, broken content, etc.. Those are things that can be patched. I didn't let those things factor into my decision to leave. I'm sure those things will get better over time.
I really, REALLY want this game to be great. I'm really routing for you Cryptic! I will DEFINITELY return in another couple of months to see how things have progressed. I have no problem giving ST:O another shot. I hope I will be pleasantly surprised when I do. It's just that, as of right now, I can't, in my own mind, justify paying for this game. Especially since money is tight.

Anyway, best of luck to you Cryptic, and to all the ST:O players! I'll see ya in a few months!
Comments
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=120373
Only Cryptic staff ever reads those. These people need more attention that that. In fact, they usually come back and quit two or three times to make sure the attention levels have been maximized.
Oops! Thought I did post this in the feedback area. Thanks for pointing this out.
Edit: Thanks to whomever moved this.
It's funny, we agree on what needs to change, but come to different conclusions... I want it, but am happy to stay with the game and move my characters through the ranks again with what I learned the first time through.. But many people just have to leave... and don't even like the core...
I kind of wonder why anyone would come back if the core game is that awful to them... New curtains don't make-up for hating the house altogether...
But again...your suggestions are good ones, and I wish you luck...
Take care
My reason for leaving, as a result of that stuff really stems from two things:
1. I really don't have a lot of extra money to throw around, so I'd rather save it for a few months while changes come along to (hopefully) make the game more enjoyable for me.
2. I'd rather wait to see if things change for the better than play the game a whole lot and get "used" to it to the point where any new improved versions won't really matter to me. When I come back I want to have that same "Oh wow!" feeling that I had when I first started playing.
Thanks for the kind comments.
I hope you're right and we are pleasantly surprised. In the meantime, have fun!
The crafting system I have never been happy with. As for the death penalty. I dunno. I wouldn't necessarily need to lose skill points or equipment bu it would be nice if we could fail a mission. You get in some of these missions where you are supposed to delay an enemy for like 3 minutes waiting for reinforcements. Why? It doesn't matter what you do. Blow up. blow up the enemy ships. Run to the other side of the planet. You are still waiting 3 minutes at which point you win.
I'm not even saying losing should be permanent. More like. "Mission Failed. Try again? Y/N" It would add more suspense to the missions and open up possibilities in the future.
I thought this was a well thought out post with a lot of very valid criticisms of the game, I think some of these will be corrected in time and although some of them annoy me and I wish that some things were different I am still having a lot of fun to offset it however I cannot feel any ill will towards anyone who these issues are too much for.
There's the kernel of a good game lurking under the problems, and for now I'm hanging around to see if they make any moves toward uncovering it. Hopefully, by the end of the first month we'll see some evidence that they're working in the right direction.
Now there is a great idea. I also think the difficulty should be increased.
I agree with many of his points and completely understand being careful with his $$.
Best of luck and take a peek back in a few months to see if the game is more to your liking.
I agree with you in that you should not be able to freely travel into another factions space if you are not at war with them. If they want you to do that then make a good mission that explains why you have to travel into their space. It's like some of the mission where you go into Klingon space and you have Federation bases on those systems which made no sense to me.
The ground combat needs more work. It doesn't feel right and is not that much fun.
I too feel that you should be able to make more decisions then clicking on the green text to advance the story. You should have the option of at least hailing ships you come into contact with and try to avoid combat.
The other thing is how big all of the doors and hallways are in the game. Bridges are very big too.
The other thing that bothers me about the game is how fast you can level in it. It doesn't seem to take long at all to advance through the ranks.
It is still early for the game and I'm looking forward to see what Cryptic has in store for the game in the near furure.
And thanks for pointing out the thing with the bridge officers, I always thought there was something that bothered me but I couldn't place my finger on it. It really does feel like they are the ones in charge.
That's a cool idea. The ability to fail would give you something to try to avoid AND increase the time it takes to level! Win/Win!
I'll definitely do that, thanks.
I'm leaving too. But, hopefully when I come back for a re-trial in 6 or so months the game will be more fleshed out and have a wider variety of things to do.
I completely forgot about that! That did drive me nuts, as well. WHY are there Fed bases deep in Klingon and Romulan territory??? Those are THEIR resource-rich asteroids and planets! It's as if someone in the Federatipn woke up one day and said "You know what? Why don't we just go around claiming every rock in space that we can find? Who cares if they're in enemy territory? If the federation colonists and laborers get attacked, we dispatch the USS Whatever to clean up our mess! I think the captain of that ship is an idiot, anyway. Good thing I got <imsert BO name here> on board to get the captain to do EXACTLY as I say!
In addition to the skill point issue, which has completely changed since this Ask Cryptic session was put up, I have to point out the part that I highlighted in red text.
Going somewhere and killing X amount of guys or cleaning out an enemy base is exactly what we do now. The skill thing, eh... I can understand if things change becasue they suddenly saw a problem in the future, but the killing X amount of people needs to change. Especially since half the time I can't justify killing the people that I'm supposed to in order to complete the mission.
Excellent! Thanks for the update!
I'll keep an eye out for that post. I'd like to read it. If you find it again, please let me know.
I'm happy to say the rest of the game makes up for it though