Hi I wonder if someone can clear this up for me? I am a long-time Star Trek fan and I would love to give this game a try. I spent half of my weekend reading the web site and preparing my computer, updating drivers etc. I downloaded the client overnight using the torrent option. I created an account with a character name etc. Then I logged in and tried to buy 30 days of game time. That's where I got stuck. It says Paypal is supported but I can't find an actual buy-now button for it. Everything leads me to a BUY option for a retail copy. But I don't need a retail copy, I have downloaded the client with the torrent. If I MUST buy the retail copy, fair enough, but in that case, why provide a torrent?
Purchasing the game is just a standard thing with MMO's - what you're really buying isn't the game installation, it's just the activation key, which you need to upgrade to a 'full account' in order to play the game. Most MMO games purchases come with 30 days free gametime included.
Note that you must put in a valid creditcard, paypal account or gametime card to complete the activation of your account after you put in the activation key. You can cancel a creditcard or paypal subscription any time before the end of the first 30 days and you won't be billed (there's a small verification charge but it will be refunded).
It's only after the first 30 days that you can pay cryptic for gametime directly with paypal or creditcard.
Also you don't have to buy a physical game copy if you don't want to wait for delivery, there's online stores like Steam and Direct2Drive that offer the game as a digital purchase, which means they're just selling activation keys.
edit: The torrent is just there for people who need to install and don't have a better way of doing so, or for people who just prefer using torrents. Steam for instance has its own CO download, but some people don't want to install CO through steam, so they use Cryptic's downloads instead. Other people may have bought the game from a site that doesn't host their own downloads.
And ofcourse downloadable clients are usually more up to date than game discs, especially several years down the road when there have been so many updates to the client that installing from the original game discs is almost pointless.
Thanks very much Amarinth for the very informative reply. I must admit I'm not very familiar with MMOs, although last summer I tried EVE and I was able to play by simply downloading the client and then buying a month's game time with an extra fee of 5 euros. I guess I expected this to work the same way. Now I'll have to think about if I really want to spend 50 euros just to try the game!
Thanks very much Amarinth for the very informative reply. I must admit I'm not very familiar with MMOs, although last summer I tried EVE and I was able to play by simply downloading the client and then buying a month's game time with an extra fee of 5 euros. I guess I expected this to work the same way. Now I'll have to think about if I really want to spend 50 euros just to try the game!
Thanks again
Yeah, EVE seems to be about the only exception in MMO land, I believe nowadays it's even possible to start a new account or upgrade a trial account with a gametime card, so it doesn't even cost you anything more than the gametime.
That said though, you should be able to get STO for less than 50 euro's by now, the prices are dropping already, especially on the boxed copies. It can take a bit of searching though depending on where you live. Your best bet is browsing the online stores that selling boxed copies, like Amazon, Game, Play, or whatever the local equivalent is in your country.
Just had a quick look and Play still has the Gold edition. It comes with 30 days on the activation key and another 30 days if you enter the bonus item code (DS9 uniform I think), so that's some extra goodies + game account + 60 days gametime for about 39 euro's, not a bad deal.
Check out ebay also. I have steam and access to retail copies, but was not willing to pay AU$70+ for the game, but I was able to find a "digital deluxe retail key only" on ebay for a great price, ~AU$33 or 19.99GBP. (UK store DBGAMEZ)
All you need to do is plug the code in via the STO website "Activate" screen and you're on your way.
If you are a big fan of Star Trek, then I would highly recommend this game, just give the first 5 hours of gameplay the benefit of the doubt, after that you'll be hooked.
Comments
Note that you must put in a valid creditcard, paypal account or gametime card to complete the activation of your account after you put in the activation key. You can cancel a creditcard or paypal subscription any time before the end of the first 30 days and you won't be billed (there's a small verification charge but it will be refunded).
It's only after the first 30 days that you can pay cryptic for gametime directly with paypal or creditcard.
Also you don't have to buy a physical game copy if you don't want to wait for delivery, there's online stores like Steam and Direct2Drive that offer the game as a digital purchase, which means they're just selling activation keys.
edit: The torrent is just there for people who need to install and don't have a better way of doing so, or for people who just prefer using torrents. Steam for instance has its own CO download, but some people don't want to install CO through steam, so they use Cryptic's downloads instead. Other people may have bought the game from a site that doesn't host their own downloads.
And ofcourse downloadable clients are usually more up to date than game discs, especially several years down the road when there have been so many updates to the client that installing from the original game discs is almost pointless.
Thanks again
Yeah, EVE seems to be about the only exception in MMO land, I believe nowadays it's even possible to start a new account or upgrade a trial account with a gametime card, so it doesn't even cost you anything more than the gametime.
That said though, you should be able to get STO for less than 50 euro's by now, the prices are dropping already, especially on the boxed copies. It can take a bit of searching though depending on where you live. Your best bet is browsing the online stores that selling boxed copies, like Amazon, Game, Play, or whatever the local equivalent is in your country.
Just had a quick look and Play still has the Gold edition. It comes with 30 days on the activation key and another 30 days if you enter the bonus item code (DS9 uniform I think), so that's some extra goodies + game account + 60 days gametime for about 39 euro's, not a bad deal.
All you need to do is plug the code in via the STO website "Activate" screen and you're on your way.
If you are a big fan of Star Trek, then I would highly recommend this game, just give the first 5 hours of gameplay the benefit of the doubt, after that you'll be hooked.