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My little feedback after reaching RA 5

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
Mh, this is something I wanted to do in the last days already, never found time, but as I am patching right now I think this time is good...

I wanted to give the Devs my feedback on the month of STO I have played and so I will begin...

Quiet some time ago, as I first heard about Star Trek Online, I already was sure, that I needed to play that game. I had been a Star Trek fan since many years, and even tho I am not a hardcore Trekkie I still know a bit about it. So I was more than happy when I was able to play the Open Beta and finally the released Retail Version.

My gaming experience (in the Beta) started with a big "Wow" from my side, the tutorial mission was really to my liking and felt like a Star Trek episode. Sadly even the best tutorial is only fun for a certain amount of playthroughs, so after creating several new characters, what I ended up with was the tutorial getting an annoyance. Maybe there should be an option to skip the tutorial and start right at Starbase 1.
Also, even tho I liked the tutorial I kinda would have found it even more awesome, when the game would had started you off at Starfleet Academy. But yeah the Starfleet Academy wish is compared to the wish to skip the tutorial very small.

Anyhow, finally when I came from the Vega Colony back to Starbase 01 my missions started. First of course I was really excited by the missions, that excitement never faded fully, but it dulled quiet a bit. The first missions were fun, everything was new, you felt like you would really make an experience you never had before. But at least when your second patrol mission started you felt the game getting repetitive. Again you needed to kill 5 groups of an alien species, again you needed to scan five things, or all enemies in a Starbase. There were very few missions that I later felt immersed im, the best example probably being City on the Edge of Never.
And even there I kinda felt not like a Starfleet Captain, what the game was missing for me, was the fine diplomacy, the scientific missions, instead of 1000 weak enemies one strong and special one, like you knew it from the episodes of the Star Trek Series. Also I felt my ship being to weak and the combat too Star Wars like, I mean remembering Star Trek the ships usually did not fly that much when fighting, and it took much less hits to destroy an enemy ship than it does in the game. Also violence in the series was always the last choice and not the first.
So in short words I was missing the Star Trek feeling very soon, even tho I was playing a half-klingon I did not feel that the special qualities of her race or the races of my bridge officers were really from importance, nor any other Characters race. Klingons, Gorn, Orions even Cardassians, they all were the same... a mob with a different modell and texture.
Still I was enjoying the game quiet a lot as it is, an MMO, but not as something where I really felt like being part of the Star Trek universe.

Another thing I noticed was how fast I was getting from level to level. I'm not a friend of death penalties and am strongly against one, but there should have really been more quests and slower leveling so the game could keep you longer, especially since, there is basically no end game content still. I could do repeating missions for Medals to buy me purple stuff, but I can't use or need the purple stuff, because I can't spend anymore skillpoints on any of my skills and I have not skilled Antiproton. There is no respec, so I'm basically sitting there with no more to do - so far at least.

I don't want this to be a rant it is just how I feel in the game right now.

Something I think is even sadder is, that the klingons have no quests that have a real storyline, being a PVP race is nice, but I had really hoped that I could learn something about klingons and theire way in Star Trek Online when creating me one. But I can't even choose my house, so I don't learn much about klingons at all, not even their motivations for the current conflict with the federation, not their standpoint not anything storyrelated... only PVP.

And that leads me to my next point, PVP. I like PVP, well at least I like ground PVP, because Space PVP is so unbalanced that your death is basically sure even before you have joined a game. Klingons tend to ball up and destroy the federation players, also they have the ability to run and hide when they are about to die, something federation ships can't do. Besides of that in the Admiral Levels they are able to summon 30+ additional ships to themselves who the Federation then stands no chance against.
Ground combat PVP is fun, because everybody is about the same and you can use strategy to win, in Space Combat PVP that is missing in my opinion.
But there is something about PVP in general that bothers me and that is, that it has no relevance, you fight against them only for XP, nothing relevant is achieved. I remember playing Dark Age of Camelot back in the days RvR really had a meaning, you could conquer different keeps and steal different artifacts, and those influenced the players ingame. If your realm had more artifacts the players of that realm got certain boni, that they kept having until another realm stole the artifacts back.
I bring that example because something similar could be realized in STO. Federation or Klingons fighting over the control of certain planets and through that ressources, that give them boni while their faction has them. This would be PVP I like, because it would feel relevant and it would keep you playing. Especially if there would be an additional ranking system for PVP, those Medals you earn for example not only giving you the ability to buy green items, but for example giving you the ability to buy special PVP skills, another thing that would keep people playing and what could be considered as Endgame content.

From PVP to RP... Roleplaying. Yeah... that is where my heart lies. I consider myself to be a roleplayer and that was also my main hope for STO, finding a place where I could do Star Trek Online roleplay. Sadly however, there are nearly no social maps, and basically nothing that would support roleplayers in any way. It would be nice, if there were special Roleplaying Instances on certain maps. It would be nice if you could save a location you found in the exploration missions to do roleplay at. Or what would be even nicer, if you could generate your own planets for roleplaying or maybe the creation of own missions (for an holodeck)... Places where you could play your character as he is, places where you could in a way be a "Dungeon Master" or "Game Master" (I don't mean with special abilities or anything official) but just as you know it from tabletop, somebody leading a mission. And the other kind of RP also needs room, the rp that does not need game masters, daily life rp. I don't see any room for that in STO right now....


My last critic point goes to Customization. Sure there is already much you can do, but there are some things that are really missing especially for female characters (and I want a female character being female IRL). There are missing cool hairstlyes, more long hair and yeah more detailed skins, different skins and the ability to make your character look more "Anime-Style" if you want to. And what also is missing are other clothes (I want what the orion slave girls wear :(), awesome looking clothes, something that makes your character look hot, or badass...

Yeah that were the main critic points I had, and still I have to say, that this game is a lot of fun and it gets not so frustrating like many other MMOs do because of their difficulty. Also I like that you update the game often and make it better and better regulary and that new content is added frequently (can't wait for the raidisodes).

Please don't misunderstand this post as rant, it is a critic, I was trying to be constructive, to give you my opinion, maybe give you ideas what could be changed.

lg Katii
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    ehem :P ^^ I would also be happy if other people would write something like that... I was trying so hard to write a good thread in okay english (being german that is not easy) :O.... so would be kinda sad if nobody answers it :O
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Katiilein wrote: »
    From PVP to RP... Roleplaying. Yeah... that is where my heart lies. I consider myself to be a roleplayer and that was also my main hope for STO, finding a place where I could do Star Trek Online roleplay. Sadly however, there are nearly no social maps, and basically nothing that would support roleplayers in any way. It would be nice, if there were special Roleplaying Instances on certain maps. It would be nice if you could save a location you found in the exploration missions to do roleplay at. Or what would be even nicer, if you could generate your own planets for roleplaying or maybe the creation of own missions (for an holodeck)... Places where you could play your character as he is, places where you could in a way be a "Dungeon Master" or "Game Master" (I don't mean with special abilities or anything official) but just as you know it from tabletop, somebody leading a mission. And the other kind of RP also needs room, the rp that does not need game masters, daily life rp. I don't see any room for that in STO right now....


    My last critic point goes to Customization. Sure there is already much you can do, but there are some things that are really missing especially for female characters (and I want a female character being female IRL). There are missing cool hairstlyes, more long hair and yeah more detailed skins, different skins and the ability to make your character look more "Anime-Style" if you want to. And what also is missing are other clothes (I want what the orion slave girls wear ), awesome looking clothes, something that makes your character look hot, or badass...

    thoughts two points I big for me and I thing it was well written post a little long but good. You made Great objective points. I am I am in the same bot I like Star trek but I like other Sci Fi. but The game to me is fun and dose not force you in the the Big MMO and you have to get stuff and Be the best in pvp.

    Also this is the best MMO for people like me with kids and a new born baby. I do not have the time to learn Every little trick in the game and I can solo play all I want. No have to find a group to help you in a Quest and no one helps because you ar not high level or in a Clan.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Many people feel similarly to you in one aspect or another.
    Many are waiting to se what direction Cryptic goes in, and how quickly.
    Thus game is not where most of us wish it would be... hopefully it will become what we want it to be, relatively soon and that people such as yourself are still around when it does.
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