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Feedback from a returning player.

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
Hello,

I'm a long-time MMO player (Wow, EQ, Lotro, HGL, Eve etc), and an even longer-time Star Trek fan (the first Star Trek I played was on a mainframe back in 1982), so when STO first got mooted, I followed it closely, from the days of Perpetuals (rightly) doomed stab at it, through to Cryptics (very flawed) release of the current game.

The fleet I was in on launch-day had about 60 active members. There's about 5 of us left. I quit about a month after launch, and returned about a month ago.

For what it's worth, in case the Dev's are interested here's my take on things.

As noted, STO at launch was deeply flawed, in two fundamental ways. Firstly, it was flawed in a classical MMO sense; insufficient content, stability issues (constant rubber-banding for one), unimplemented features, hidiously broken crafting and a almost dysfunctional second faction.

It's second substantial flaw was to fail to bring the Star Trek to Star Trek Online. In particular the focus on almost constant combat was really disappointing.

I don't say all that to be overly critical, it's just how it was (in my humble opinion, and all of this post is only my opinion). It took barely a month for our fleet to basically bleed away to nothing. I myself went back to World of Warcraft, where I multi-boxed a 5-Paladin team through to ICC. Tiring of WoW (and lacking any enthusiam for yet another level-cap increase), I decided to make use of my Lifetime Subscription to STO and give it a second chance.

I'm happy to say that I've found a game much improved, particularly post Season 3. Gone is the Tron-Online look to Sector space, crafting has been reworked (though is still subpar), the Klingons are apparently more levelable outside of pure-pvp only play (I've yet to try one again), I've actually managed to level to the mid-Commander ranks where previously I could only make it to LtCmdr4 before losing interest. I actually expect this character I'm working on now to reach the level cap.

As I said, much has improved, but there's still quite a long way to go before I could honestly recommend this MMO to anyone outside of a hard-core Trekker like myself - and please, anyone replying these are just my personal opinions.

Space Combat - much better, but needs to be a little more visceral, more like the heated battles of the movies, less like graceful ships of the line combat. I must admit, I'm in a Cruiser myself, so I'm hardly in a fighter-like Defiant styled ship, but still, personally, I think Space Combat could be sped up a bit all along the front to make it something more attention grabbing.

Ground Combat - like Space Combat but only much, much worse. This is probably the biggest flaw I see with the game at the moment (and I understand it's due for an overhaul). It's bad in two fundamental ways, firstly, in the sheer number of trash mobs whenever I encounter a ground mission (I get the distinct impression of having missions deliberately "drawn out" to chew up time with the addition of un-necessary mob groups), and secondly in the slow style of play.

Ever see the DS9 episdoe "Siege of AR-558" - look at that for a phasor fight, and you'll get an idea of the speed-up factor and "shoot-out at the OK Corral" stlye of play needed to make ground combat more enjoyable.

Crafting - much better than the horrid system that went live, but still fairly basic by most MMO standards. I don't know whether you've considered some sort of professions system (it can be given a ST slant and explanation rather than being specifically called "professions"), but for the moment, crafting isn't exactly curling my toes, though it's no longer making me tear my hair out either.

Leveling - another area still needing fundamental change I think. Right now in leveling my current character, I feel like each level is meaningless, except for every 10th one when I get promoted a rank. Each time I'm promoted, I rush back to base and completely overhaul my setup, with a new ship, new or newly promoted BO's, new equipment both space and ground, personal and BO, and the like.

Then, all that gear I've bought (typically) stays pretty much the same until the next time I get promoted, 10 more levels later. In both my LtCmdr and LT ranks, I did not replace a single item of equipment the entire time I was leveling up the "minor" ranks (ie/ from LT1 to LT10 etc). Since Commander, I have made one replacement (to my own ground weapon), but still.

I don't know honestly what the answer is here, but there needs to be a more "level" leveling system. The rewards need to be smaller but more frequent, rather than basically nothing except for every 10th level.

Gear - possibly still just my returned newness to the game, but I find the plethora of attributes and stats on gear to be arbitrary and often opaque. For example, I find it almost impossible to decide whether one blue piece of LtCmdr gear say, is any better than any other LtCmdr gear of the same colour and slot.

I personally think there needs to be less attributes, more obvious as to their purpose than is currently the case.

Content - the big question here, as I know Cryptic is releasing Seasons and the like, but how often and how large. STO is, in comparison to other MMO's of it's same age, still relatively content poor (the Foundry is also key to fixing this too), so having seen the benefit to the game of Season 3, the next concern is how often do those Seasons come out. Every couple of months and we're golden, once a year and we're in trouble.

In-game Support - I had occasion just tonight to submit my first ticket, a mission called "Ground Zero" resetting at the end (after 90 minutes) without completing (thus, no XP etc). I'll be interested to see how long it takes that ticket to be actioned and what the action is. A week plus of delay and an answer of "Sorry, but we're aware that mission is broken" wouldn't be a good look.

I don't want this to sound overly negative, so I'll end on a bright note.

I've seen many failed MMO launches, either from the sidelines (and sometimes much closer *stares at wasted HGL Lifetime sub while cursing the now departed Billl Roper*) and STO's was one of them. Most MMO's after such a launch either go under or go F2P (then slowly fade away).

The bright note though, is that of all the MMO's I've seen with a less than happy launch, STO has more than any of them worked to correct the issues, and with the backing of an incredibly strong IP (perhaps only second to Star Wars), has a better chance than almost all of them in recovering and someday yet becoming a great MMO.

I honestly can't recommend STO yet, but I hope someday I will be able to and I wish Cryptic every success in continuing to improve the game and make STO a, to paraphrase someone we all know, long-lived and prosperous adventure.
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    The content/grouping/ground-combat issues you brought up will all be sorted out very soon.

    Foundry (UGC) will allow for an almost infinite amount of missions.
    Featured Series (weekly episodes) will return shortly -- Cryptic focused on finishing S3 in time.
    The STFs are getting some serious love.
    Ground Combat is a major focus of Season 4.

    Each "Season" releases every 3 months or so (so far). Cryptic's definition of a "Season" is a "major code release". Each one so far has added another layer of depth to the game (new content for KDF, the sector space revamp, bug fixes, etc), and then there are smaller updates along the way up to the release of the next Season, which updates another huge chunk of the underlying code.

    Good to have you back, and message me in-game if you have any questions!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    Sanford42 wrote:
    The content/grouping/ground-combat issues you brought up will all be sorted out very soon.

    I hope so, and I am actually hopeful given what the Devs have been talking about.
    Sanford42 wrote:
    Foundry (UGC) will allow for an almost infinite amount of missions.

    This more than anything is what brought me back. I think it's really daring (full marks to Cryptic here) and has the potential to be a real game changer for STO.
    Sanford42 wrote:
    Featured Series (weekly episodes) will return shortly -- Cryptic focused on finishing S3 in time.

    Still leveling so I don't think I've got in on any weekly episodes, but I like the idea and look forward to them.
    Sanford42 wrote:
    The STFs are getting some serious love.

    Again, without a max-level toon, I've yet to try them out (I think, not sure, I've done a few group missions), but I hear tell they're getting the love you refer to.
    Sanford42 wrote:
    Ground Combat is a major focus of Season 4.

    Gods be praised for that... hehe. I'm aware of the overhaul due for it in Season 4 (though the details are still somewhat sketchy), but I'm in the "anything would be better" camp when it comes to ground combat, so I'm also hopeful there.
    Sanford42 wrote:
    Each "Season" releases every 3 months or so (so far). Cryptic's definition of a "Season" is a "major code release". Each one so far has added another layer of depth to the game (new content for KDF, the sector space revamp, bug fixes, etc), and then there are smaller updates along the way up to the release of the next Season, which updates another huge chunk of the underlying code.

    Thanks for the timetable advice. Here's hoping S4 makes the Feb timetable then.
    Sanford42 wrote:
    Good to have you back, and message me in-game if you have any questions!

    Thanks for the offer. The fleet is percolating a little nowadays (a few others have returned as well), and the few die-hards who remained throughout are educating us returnees, but I'll be sure to grab you on subspace if something comes up that stumps us all.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited December 2010
    Yeah, again there's no guarantee that Season 4 will be in exactly 3 months, but based on the release times for the three previous ones, that's been their average. -- so if it's March/April, don't blame me :p
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