I been trying out the game and I do not see the issues people are complaining about, yes it can use some improvements but what mmorpg cannot use improvements? Now I do know it was a terrible launch and lacked little content but now seems allot has changed, and I do not see anything wrong with space or ground combat, only other issue I want to see more grouping going on.
And as far as being populated, I came in at 2 am the other night and plenty of people where on I was shocked.
I honestly do not see how cox is much better then this game.
A lot has changed, but it still gets boring very quickly. The problem now is that too much feels "tacked" on to the game that just wasn't in the original plan - it has thus thrown the whole game out of balance e.g. new crafting making dailies obsolete. I resub for the occasional month, but it is not surprising so many people left and wont return.
When you have done the same type of mission (with minor variations) for the 1500th time. You will begin to understand. Until then. Enjoy it while you can.
When the game was first launched it was fun, but many missions were repetitive. Those missions still exist in the game, but there are also the featured episodes (devidian and breen missions so far). These have changed the nature of the game. On top of that there have been many changes over the past year such as the new sector space style and the updated crafting system. Basically the game is heading in the right direction but has a long way to go.
Something that people don't see to realize is that this game is not even a year old yet. There are many things to be worked out. I think this is a very good game, but like anything else it has room for improvement. I guess people had high expectations and then when they were let down the bad reviews started popping up.
There is no real end game. The quest lines are good but after you do them a few times they get boring. There is no way to get more than five people in your group. Only four or five STF's and only one PVP map the players really use. No one plays the fleet actions anymore.
There is no real end game. The quest lines are good but after you do them a few times they get boring. There is no way to get more than five people in your group. Only four or five STF's and only one PVP map the players really use. No one plays the fleet actions anymore.
We all loved STO at one time.
I have to partially disagree with you. There may not be a real end game, but the featured episodes (breen and devidian) have received a positive feedback and Cryptic will continue doing them. In a sense these are the end game.
I don't think not being able to get more than 5 people on your team is a problem that causes this game to get bad reviews. Frankly it is a part of Star Trek. In the episodes you might see 6 people on an away team, but rarely more than that. It was probably a choice by Cryptic to stick with what we see in the episodes.
The STFs are a double-edged sword. It was Cryptic's attempt to add more interaction between players, but at the same time are a bit difficult. The idea is good but I feel they need to be thought out a bit more. I heard that more might be coming.
I can't comment on PvP since I am not a fan of it.
As for the fleet actions. Surprisingly the Starbase 24 one is very popular. I always see people in it even at VA. I haven't checked the other ones though.
I like it. It started out amazing IMO but I gradually get weary of the repetition if I play it for more than a couple hours in a single sitting. WoW on the other hand is the most popular MMO, but when I tried that game I was done with it after the first couple days. And I kept playing it out of a feeling of obligation of getting my 3-month subscription's money worth. That was just a chore. I've only played three MMOs (STO, SWG, and WoW) and while I don't think any of them are amazing, I definitely get more enjoyment out of STO than I ever did the other two (including pre-NGE SWG).
Well, one difference is that CoX has more missions. You can level an alt and not have to do the same missions as your last character. I'm hoping the Foundry alleviates some of that.
Of course I'm sure there will be all kinds of awful, poorly written missions in the foundry, so I hope the Devs aren't counting on that to make up for content the game needs.
When the game was first launched it was fun, but many missions were repetitive. Those missions still exist in the game, but there are also the featured episodes (devidian and breen missions so far). These have changed the nature of the game. On top of that there have been many changes over the past year such as the new sector space style and the updated crafting system. Basically the game is heading in the right direction but has a long way to go.
Something that people don't see to realize is that this game is not even a year old yet. There are many things to be worked out. I think this is a very good game, but like anything else it has room for improvement. I guess people had high expectations and then when they were let down the bad reviews started popping up.
Hate to say it but after you have done the weeklies 15-20 times, they are repetitive as well. Nor are they really much different than the regular fair of missions. Same basic Kill this bunch here, blah blah.
First off, I feel the score was accurate at the time of the re-review. This was an older review and, as such, lacked a lot of the goodies we've enjoyed (weeklies, new sector space, etc.). In fact, the re-review was written during the Season 2 aftermath (which was rightfully graded down as Season 2's release was terrible for many components graded, i.e. PvP and exploration was broken during that time).
The review was fairly level headed though and STO did deserve a lot of the criticism from that review.
HOWEVER:
MMORPG has a checkered history with STO. I remember there was an article written a few months back comparing STO to EVE where the author made several blatantly incorrect statements (and was later discovered to have only logged 57 minutes on his account). This didn't go over well.
Some concerns have been brought to our attention that the author only played 57 minutes of Star Trek Onlines demo. He did not play the full retail game, though he invested significantly more time in EVE Online. We apologize to Star Trek Online for this and would like to remind our readership that this piece is not an official review, but rather an editorial generated by the author, a regular contributor to our publication. We have added this statement so that readers can better interpret the article fairly. We will have an update for you soon.
I have to partially disagree with you. There may not be a real end game, but the featured episodes (breen and devidian) have received a positive feedback and Cryptic will continue doing them. In a sense these are the end game.
I don't think not being able to get more than 5 people on your team is a problem that causes this game to get bad reviews. Frankly it is a part of Star Trek. In the episodes you might see 6 people on an away team, but rarely more than that. It was probably a choice by Cryptic to stick with what we see in the episodes.
The STFs are a double-edged sword. It was Cryptic's attempt to add more interaction between players, but at the same time are a bit difficult. The idea is good but I feel they need to be thought out a bit more. I heard that more might be coming.
I can't comment on PvP since I am not a fan of it.
As for the fleet actions. Surprisingly the Starbase 24 one is very popular. I always see people in it even at VA. I haven't checked the other ones though.
The weeklies didn't really impress me they were just more of the same. They didn't make very much sense from the Klingon side. I was healing people with my Nausicaan Tactical officer. Really, I mean come on they should at least make sense.
The not being able to group with more than five people makes things like fleet actions more difficult than they have to be. I couldn't heal with my science officer without having to spam control tab and still not get the player I want to heal. So you really can't get a working with a fleet feel.
The STF's were just a grind fest of trash mobs that lots of people don't think that are even fun.
No real way for players to get very much PVP.
I haven't done starbase 24 in awhile but it was a tier one fleet action until they changed it. I the ones I liked were empty most of the time.
The weeklies didn't really impress me they were just more of the same. They didn't make very much sense from the Klingon side. I was healing people with my Nausicaan Tactical officer. Really, I mean come on they should at least make sense.
The not being able to group with more than five people makes things like fleet actions more difficult than they have to be. I couldn't heal with my science officer without having to spam control tab and still not get the player I want to heal. So you really can't get a working with a fleet feel.
The STF's were just a grind fest of trash mobs that lots of people don't think that are even fun.
No real way for players to get very much PVP.
I haven't done starbase 24 in awhile but it was a tier one fleet action until they changed it. I the ones I liked were empty most of the time.
These are all fair assessments. There's a lot of wondering about what we'll do at end-game aside from grinding for limited loot and then having nothing to do with it but the same things.
Game press sites like MMOrpg.com try to take into account things like the CStore as well as game content. I'm not defending here I think the report from the guy who spent 57 mins in game was completely biased to EVE.
What I will say is look at the model the developers (game owners) are using then make your own judgements. We have a Star Trek experience that uses expensive CSHop purchases to fund the game on top of regular subscriptions. Unless someone can prove me wrong there's no other game that does this this. At least not for the prices currently in the CStore.
I love the game and couldn't care less what reviewers have said. Enough shockingly bad games in the past have received top marks, just look at the shambles that was Modern Warfare 2 for a quick example. To think their voice is the be all and end all is silly at the very least.
The problem with STO is simply stigma. There has been an incredible difference made to the game from launch, and still people keep forgetting how long this game has been out. A year people, a damn year. The mentality that this game should have the same spit and polish as Wow is just wrong. You may not say Wow in the same sentence, but the thought behind a lot of what is said completely reflects on this attitude.
I love STO, and i look forward to spending a great many years playing it.
Game press sites like MMOrpg.com try to take into account things like the CStore as well as game content. I'm not defending here I think the report from the guy who spent 57 mins in game was completely biased to EVE.
What I will say is look at the model the developers (game owners) are using then make your own judgements. We have a Star Trek experience that uses expensive CSHop purchases to fund the game on top of regular subscriptions. Unless someone can prove me wrong there's no other game that does this this. At least not for the prices currently in the CStore.
I don't really have any problem with them trying to sell stuff in c-store. I now think it hurt STO more than anything thing else. Because they completely ignored all the major problems with the game. They always have plenty of new items in c-store that generate profit. So everything else is of no concern.
Well, one difference is that CoX has more missions. You can level an alt and not have to do the same missions as your last character. I'm hoping the Foundry alleviates some of that.
Of course I'm sure there will be all kinds of awful, poorly written missions in the foundry, so I hope the Devs aren't counting on that to make up for content the game needs.
Have they round-filed the stupid daily diminishing (or rather, vanishing) returns on Foundry play yet? Otherwise, not going to be much good for alternative leveling.
These are all fair assessments. There's a lot of wondering about what we'll do at end-game aside from grinding for limited loot and then having nothing to do with it but the same things.
The reason I don't care much for weeklies is they don't have very much replay value. You can do them a few times then they get boring. Where as STF's, fleet actions and mofe PVP maps can give hundreds of hours of game play and be different almost every time. Because you can use different strategies and will be playing with different people.
I don't really have any problem with them trying to sell stuff in c-store.
Nor do I, save that they said they weren't going to sell certain types of things, and then proceeded to do so. Had it been left at cosmetics and shortcuts I'd still be supportive of it, save for certain bits of ludicrosity like charging for any Vor'cha customization whatsoever.
I now think it hurt STO more than anything thing else. Because they completely ignored all the major problems with the game. They always have plenty of new items in c-store that generate profit. So everything else is of no concern.
To be fair, quite a bit of the C-store stuff has also shown a complete lack of quality control too. Not that that's a good thing either...
What I find myself doing instead of playing STO is having discussions on these forums. It is a sad statement towards a game, when the forums are funner than the game they are about (or is it a sad statement about how jaded I have become towards games?).
Green do you find the game diverse and not repetitive? Starting to have my doubts allot of people who play it are not defending it, usually saids allot.
I don't really have any problem with them trying to sell stuff in c-store. I now think it hurt STO more than anything thing else. Because they completely ignored all the major problems with the game. They always have plenty of new items in c-store that generate profit. So everything else is of no concern.
I actually agree with you on the CStore point...I have no problems with it either...
But there are limitations and I've covered them in recent posts so wont repeat it here. I do ask though that you take a look through some of the recent threads on the Garumba and how it was handled and released.
Nor do I, save that they said they weren't going to sell certain types of things, and then proceeded to do so. Had it been left at cosmetics and shortcuts I'd still be supportive of it, save for certain bits of ludicrosity like charging for any Vor'cha customization whatsoever.
To be fair, quite a bit of the C-store stuff has also shown a complete lack of quality control too. Not that that's a good thing either...
What really got me was when I found out they were making another game. They didn't have the resources to maintain STO with quality working order. Now they are adding even more to their plates. This is when I realized STO is what it is and peaked in open beta.
The MMO I thought had the most potential of the ones I have played. All the problems and flaws that I over looked was all it was every going to be.
Green do you find the game diverse and not repetitive? Starting to have my doubts allot of people who play it are not defending it, usually saids allot.
For me its perfect. I played Wow for over 5 years, raiding 5/6 nights a week, and i simply can not do that nowadays. I'm doing a Degree at the moment and i don't get a much free time as i did back then. STO is exactly what i wanted right now, and yes i find it very diverse and not repetitive, but maybe thats because i'm not on all the time and have priorities that take...priority.
Every space battle since i began playing STO has its epic moments, and even if i am doing the same thing over again, its still so much fun. I love the creativity in peoples characters and bios, the general community (although the small minority of moaning minnies do frustrate) and people i've met through playing STO.
You say you hear a lot of people criticizing this game, but still this is just a fraction of the player base. More people play the game than will ever head over to these forum pages. Its just something i've done since Wow, as i love to read and find out everything i can about a game.
I love the game and while i'll defend it to a certain degree, i won't waste my time with the usual crowd. I'd rather just play the game. People forget quickly how long STO has been out. Cryptic have done a great job, particularly in these last few months. I'm very much looking forward to what will be presented once Foundry goes live, and Season 4/5/6/7. I expect an expansion after that, just like Jeremy mentioned on STOked.
I'm a Life Time Subscriber and couldn't be happy and i'm here for hopefully a long and great journey to come. Hope that gives you a different perspective on things
That is interesting atleast someone enjoys it, I want to know if you get enough abilities to spam ground and ships, also it is kind of fishy they just now release more content when newer mmos are coming out.
Well I do not have an issue with endgame much cox didnt have much endgame either that game was about rerolling but im not hardcore player myself.
CoX had a lot more different "classes" than this game though. You had your 5 archtypes in CoH. Each archtype had a variety of choices of primary and secondary, which could change the feel of it quite a bit. And if you add in CoV, you get another 5 classes with their own mix of primary and secondary. Plus there's the whole arachnoid trooper thing, for another 4 classes.
In STO, you've got 3 "classes", your captain's background, which you mostly only notice in PvP or on the ground. Additionally, you've got 3 ship types while leveling. If you want to count the Klingons, that number goes up to 6 (ignoring the 41+ stuff for now). Now, that might seem like you have 18 choices, but the problem is that most of them don't really make that much difference. You use the same weapons. From a playstyle standpoint, it really feels like just 3 classes. The little guy that zips around with tactical powers and big guns. The lumbering giant that broadsides and soaks. And the debuffing ships. Why? Because all the ships pretty much use the same weapons, so the BOff power choices make more of a difference to feel than anything else.
Then there's lack of content. STO launched with about 1/4th of the content it should have had at launch. If you wanted to avoid using repeatable missions, there was only one path for Fed side...and it had gaps. There was nothing Klingon side. If you compare this to CoX, you typically had more than twice the number of missions available in a level range than it took to get through that level range. As a result, you could mix and match missions, rather than run the same things all the time.
So from a replay standpoint, STO fails in comparison.
And that hasn't really changed. In almost a year, there's still no complete PvE advancement path for Klingons. There's still only one for Feds. The quality of the weekly missions is higher than previous missions, but as far as the amount of content the game should have before it even launched, STO still falls short. It won't have enough until the Foundry is up and running and players fill the gaps. Assuming that stuff is viable to level off.
The game basically never had enough content designers assigned to it.
You also see this lack of devs in other areas as well. Consider the new sector space changes. I'd be willing to bet that someone at Cryptic noticed and pointed out that the stars in the systems are still tinted by the system colors. Blue stars in Fed space, red in Klingon, green in Borg, and so on. They really shouldn't be. But they are.
Likewise, you can tell by the Foundry. Its current state leads me to believe that the designers at Cryptic don't have a good mission creation tool. If they did, I'd have expected the player version to be based more off it, to have more of the functionality found in Cryptic missions right out the door. That would seem to indicate either a lack of tool development time or else the lack of someone to design what such a mission creation tool should have.
There's also gameplay problems. Some of those have been fixed, but others still exist. Some examples of ones that are still there include ground combat/skill trees, leveling speed, and the whole item system. Ground combat is due for a revamp, but that is in the future and there's no guarantee it'll fix the current silliness sufficiently. And items just aren't designed with allowances for end game gear, for additional levels.
By leveling speed, I mean the worst, slowest levels are 1 to 20. Limited number of BOff powers, limited number of weapon slots. They go slow. Once you hit 21, you start to level a lot faster. And each goes faster than the one before. Most MMOs do this the other way around. They want to get the player into the game faster and, once their character has matured a bit, then they slow it down some.
With the items, thing increasing linearly. If a Mk X is +5 to some stat, then a Mk XII or a rare Mk X are +6 to that stat. This has two big implications. First, you cannot slap an end game at a certain tier and then, when you increase the level, reign those players back in easily. And second, things start out weak sauce (+1 weapon power, weee!) and will eventually wind up out of hand (35% shield capacity). These reasons are why a lot of games give crit rating on gear, not crit chance. That way, how much rating you need to get a given amount of crit chance can be changed as you level, allowing for low level gear that is decent and an easy way to bring raiders back in line with the player base when you increase the level cap, so you can start everyone on a reasonably equal playing field again.
Anyway, much of the game feels like it was built on a very limited budget and limited time, possibly with some inexperienced designers in the mix. They tried hard, they worked some crazy hours, but the time and resources just weren't there.
That doesn't mean the game cannot be enjoyable. But it is what it is.
And knowing what it was, what it would most likely be, I bought a lifetime sub. Still fine with that decision. Means I have no problem with playing it for a while, then dropping it, then coming back whenever.
It is sort of like Michael Bay movies. It won't be Citizen Kane or a highly regarded movie people actually watch, but it will have entertaining explosions. And occasionally tick you off. Well, maybe a lower budget version of Michael Bay movies, hehe.
STO is perfect for the casual player that can play 2-3 hours a week, but for the more hard core players that plays 6+ hours per day or have played other MMO's where you actually need to work for your level and equipment/ships it can get boring fast.
That is interesting atleast someone enjoys it, I want to know if you get enough abilities to spam ground and ships, also it is kind of fishy they just now release more content when newer mmos are coming out.
There are plenty of people that enjoy STO, and likely they are all playing now as opposed to have to deal with the haters on these forums. I'm just about to go bed now so i usually have an hour here or there reading on the forums.
I tend to spend more time in Space combat than i do on the ground. I still have areas that i need to address with my ground team in terms of abilities, but my Ship abilities are great. I was a Healer for my five years in Wow, and i've continued that mentality with STO. Keeping others alive as my Shield and Swords when engaging the enemy is so rewarding, and those little replies of 'thanks', and 'you are awesome' (yes i'm not blowing my own trumpet, it does happen ) really make my day.
And the fishy bit you mentioned. I disagree that it is fishy. Dan Stahl took over as Executive Producer and since then the direction and content has been getting better and better. This game needs more content, i'm under no illusion there, yet i have only seen a fraction of what is offered due to a very intense term at University. I'm a Captain 6 at the moment, and that has taken me since mid November since returning to STO since the Beta (my old computer simply did not cut it, constant repairs and overheating issues and i didn't get this MacBook Pro till October) to achieve, and every moment spent on the game has been an absolute joy.
I've recently purchased some more character slots ready for the future when i decide to make more characters, as i know i will. I have begun a Klingon Borg too and she is nearly promoted to the next rank. I'm looking forward to having many characters one day, simply because its a game i enjoy and a real nice break away from studying. I'm not even a Trekie yet, with JJ's Star Trek as my sudden interest in this franchaise. I did watch odd episodes from various series' (Voyager i loved) and i have finally seen all the previous Star Trek films, yet this game has really pushed forward a huge interest to see more. I'm looking forward to watching DS9 each night in bed before another day at University starts next year.
I'm starting to sound like a terrible student, surely i should be out partying all the time But i enjoy what i enjoy and have got great marks so for to show for it too, and one of the things i really enjoy is STO.
Comments
Something that people don't see to realize is that this game is not even a year old yet. There are many things to be worked out. I think this is a very good game, but like anything else it has room for improvement. I guess people had high expectations and then when they were let down the bad reviews started popping up.
We all loved STO at one time.
I have to partially disagree with you. There may not be a real end game, but the featured episodes (breen and devidian) have received a positive feedback and Cryptic will continue doing them. In a sense these are the end game.
I don't think not being able to get more than 5 people on your team is a problem that causes this game to get bad reviews. Frankly it is a part of Star Trek. In the episodes you might see 6 people on an away team, but rarely more than that. It was probably a choice by Cryptic to stick with what we see in the episodes.
The STFs are a double-edged sword. It was Cryptic's attempt to add more interaction between players, but at the same time are a bit difficult. The idea is good but I feel they need to be thought out a bit more. I heard that more might be coming.
I can't comment on PvP since I am not a fan of it.
As for the fleet actions. Surprisingly the Starbase 24 one is very popular. I always see people in it even at VA. I haven't checked the other ones though.
Been playing MMO's for 15 years.
I love this game.
I don't care what other people say.
Of course I'm sure there will be all kinds of awful, poorly written missions in the foundry, so I hope the Devs aren't counting on that to make up for content the game needs.
Hate to say it but after you have done the weeklies 15-20 times, they are repetitive as well. Nor are they really much different than the regular fair of missions. Same basic Kill this bunch here, blah blah.
The review was fairly level headed though and STO did deserve a lot of the criticism from that review.
HOWEVER:
MMORPG has a checkered history with STO. I remember there was an article written a few months back comparing STO to EVE where the author made several blatantly incorrect statements (and was later discovered to have only logged 57 minutes on his account). This didn't go over well.
[url] http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/352/feature/4616/Fighting-Talk-EVE-vs-Star-Trek-Online.html [/url]
from the article itself:
So, take MMORPG with a grain of salt.
The weeklies didn't really impress me they were just more of the same. They didn't make very much sense from the Klingon side. I was healing people with my Nausicaan Tactical officer. Really, I mean come on they should at least make sense.
The not being able to group with more than five people makes things like fleet actions more difficult than they have to be. I couldn't heal with my science officer without having to spam control tab and still not get the player I want to heal. So you really can't get a working with a fleet feel.
The STF's were just a grind fest of trash mobs that lots of people don't think that are even fun.
No real way for players to get very much PVP.
I haven't done starbase 24 in awhile but it was a tier one fleet action until they changed it. I the ones I liked were empty most of the time.
What I will say is look at the model the developers (game owners) are using then make your own judgements. We have a Star Trek experience that uses expensive CSHop purchases to fund the game on top of regular subscriptions. Unless someone can prove me wrong there's no other game that does this this. At least not for the prices currently in the CStore.
The problem with STO is simply stigma. There has been an incredible difference made to the game from launch, and still people keep forgetting how long this game has been out. A year people, a damn year. The mentality that this game should have the same spit and polish as Wow is just wrong. You may not say Wow in the same sentence, but the thought behind a lot of what is said completely reflects on this attitude.
I love STO, and i look forward to spending a great many years playing it.
I don't really have any problem with them trying to sell stuff in c-store. I now think it hurt STO more than anything thing else. Because they completely ignored all the major problems with the game. They always have plenty of new items in c-store that generate profit. So everything else is of no concern.
Have they round-filed the stupid daily diminishing (or rather, vanishing) returns on Foundry play yet? Otherwise, not going to be much good for alternative leveling.
The reason I don't care much for weeklies is they don't have very much replay value. You can do them a few times then they get boring. Where as STF's, fleet actions and mofe PVP maps can give hundreds of hours of game play and be different almost every time. Because you can use different strategies and will be playing with different people.
Nor do I, save that they said they weren't going to sell certain types of things, and then proceeded to do so. Had it been left at cosmetics and shortcuts I'd still be supportive of it, save for certain bits of ludicrosity like charging for any Vor'cha customization whatsoever.
To be fair, quite a bit of the C-store stuff has also shown a complete lack of quality control too. Not that that's a good thing either...
I actually agree with you on the CStore point...I have no problems with it either...
But there are limitations and I've covered them in recent posts so wont repeat it here. I do ask though that you take a look through some of the recent threads on the Garumba and how it was handled and released.
What really got me was when I found out they were making another game. They didn't have the resources to maintain STO with quality working order. Now they are adding even more to their plates. This is when I realized STO is what it is and peaked in open beta.
The MMO I thought had the most potential of the ones I have played. All the problems and flaws that I over looked was all it was every going to be.
For me its perfect. I played Wow for over 5 years, raiding 5/6 nights a week, and i simply can not do that nowadays. I'm doing a Degree at the moment and i don't get a much free time as i did back then. STO is exactly what i wanted right now, and yes i find it very diverse and not repetitive, but maybe thats because i'm not on all the time and have priorities that take...priority.
Every space battle since i began playing STO has its epic moments, and even if i am doing the same thing over again, its still so much fun. I love the creativity in peoples characters and bios, the general community (although the small minority of moaning minnies do frustrate) and people i've met through playing STO.
You say you hear a lot of people criticizing this game, but still this is just a fraction of the player base. More people play the game than will ever head over to these forum pages. Its just something i've done since Wow, as i love to read and find out everything i can about a game.
I love the game and while i'll defend it to a certain degree, i won't waste my time with the usual crowd. I'd rather just play the game. People forget quickly how long STO has been out. Cryptic have done a great job, particularly in these last few months. I'm very much looking forward to what will be presented once Foundry goes live, and Season 4/5/6/7. I expect an expansion after that, just like Jeremy mentioned on STOked.
I'm a Life Time Subscriber and couldn't be happy and i'm here for hopefully a long and great journey to come. Hope that gives you a different perspective on things
CoX had a lot more different "classes" than this game though. You had your 5 archtypes in CoH. Each archtype had a variety of choices of primary and secondary, which could change the feel of it quite a bit. And if you add in CoV, you get another 5 classes with their own mix of primary and secondary. Plus there's the whole arachnoid trooper thing, for another 4 classes.
In STO, you've got 3 "classes", your captain's background, which you mostly only notice in PvP or on the ground. Additionally, you've got 3 ship types while leveling. If you want to count the Klingons, that number goes up to 6 (ignoring the 41+ stuff for now). Now, that might seem like you have 18 choices, but the problem is that most of them don't really make that much difference. You use the same weapons. From a playstyle standpoint, it really feels like just 3 classes. The little guy that zips around with tactical powers and big guns. The lumbering giant that broadsides and soaks. And the debuffing ships. Why? Because all the ships pretty much use the same weapons, so the BOff power choices make more of a difference to feel than anything else.
Then there's lack of content. STO launched with about 1/4th of the content it should have had at launch. If you wanted to avoid using repeatable missions, there was only one path for Fed side...and it had gaps. There was nothing Klingon side. If you compare this to CoX, you typically had more than twice the number of missions available in a level range than it took to get through that level range. As a result, you could mix and match missions, rather than run the same things all the time.
So from a replay standpoint, STO fails in comparison.
And that hasn't really changed. In almost a year, there's still no complete PvE advancement path for Klingons. There's still only one for Feds. The quality of the weekly missions is higher than previous missions, but as far as the amount of content the game should have before it even launched, STO still falls short. It won't have enough until the Foundry is up and running and players fill the gaps. Assuming that stuff is viable to level off.
The game basically never had enough content designers assigned to it.
You also see this lack of devs in other areas as well. Consider the new sector space changes. I'd be willing to bet that someone at Cryptic noticed and pointed out that the stars in the systems are still tinted by the system colors. Blue stars in Fed space, red in Klingon, green in Borg, and so on. They really shouldn't be. But they are.
Likewise, you can tell by the Foundry. Its current state leads me to believe that the designers at Cryptic don't have a good mission creation tool. If they did, I'd have expected the player version to be based more off it, to have more of the functionality found in Cryptic missions right out the door. That would seem to indicate either a lack of tool development time or else the lack of someone to design what such a mission creation tool should have.
There's also gameplay problems. Some of those have been fixed, but others still exist. Some examples of ones that are still there include ground combat/skill trees, leveling speed, and the whole item system. Ground combat is due for a revamp, but that is in the future and there's no guarantee it'll fix the current silliness sufficiently. And items just aren't designed with allowances for end game gear, for additional levels.
By leveling speed, I mean the worst, slowest levels are 1 to 20. Limited number of BOff powers, limited number of weapon slots. They go slow. Once you hit 21, you start to level a lot faster. And each goes faster than the one before. Most MMOs do this the other way around. They want to get the player into the game faster and, once their character has matured a bit, then they slow it down some.
With the items, thing increasing linearly. If a Mk X is +5 to some stat, then a Mk XII or a rare Mk X are +6 to that stat. This has two big implications. First, you cannot slap an end game at a certain tier and then, when you increase the level, reign those players back in easily. And second, things start out weak sauce (+1 weapon power, weee!) and will eventually wind up out of hand (35% shield capacity). These reasons are why a lot of games give crit rating on gear, not crit chance. That way, how much rating you need to get a given amount of crit chance can be changed as you level, allowing for low level gear that is decent and an easy way to bring raiders back in line with the player base when you increase the level cap, so you can start everyone on a reasonably equal playing field again.
Anyway, much of the game feels like it was built on a very limited budget and limited time, possibly with some inexperienced designers in the mix. They tried hard, they worked some crazy hours, but the time and resources just weren't there.
That doesn't mean the game cannot be enjoyable. But it is what it is.
And knowing what it was, what it would most likely be, I bought a lifetime sub. Still fine with that decision. Means I have no problem with playing it for a while, then dropping it, then coming back whenever.
It is sort of like Michael Bay movies. It won't be Citizen Kane or a highly regarded movie people actually watch, but it will have entertaining explosions. And occasionally tick you off. Well, maybe a lower budget version of Michael Bay movies, hehe.
/agree same here i respect other people's opinions but other people dont do my work, make my money, and especially choose my decisions.
There are plenty of people that enjoy STO, and likely they are all playing now as opposed to have to deal with the haters on these forums. I'm just about to go bed now so i usually have an hour here or there reading on the forums.
I tend to spend more time in Space combat than i do on the ground. I still have areas that i need to address with my ground team in terms of abilities, but my Ship abilities are great. I was a Healer for my five years in Wow, and i've continued that mentality with STO. Keeping others alive as my Shield and Swords when engaging the enemy is so rewarding, and those little replies of 'thanks', and 'you are awesome' (yes i'm not blowing my own trumpet, it does happen
And the fishy bit you mentioned. I disagree that it is fishy. Dan Stahl took over as Executive Producer and since then the direction and content has been getting better and better. This game needs more content, i'm under no illusion there, yet i have only seen a fraction of what is offered due to a very intense term at University. I'm a Captain 6 at the moment, and that has taken me since mid November since returning to STO since the Beta (my old computer simply did not cut it, constant repairs and overheating issues and i didn't get this MacBook Pro till October) to achieve, and every moment spent on the game has been an absolute joy.
I've recently purchased some more character slots ready for the future when i decide to make more characters, as i know i will. I have begun a Klingon Borg too and she is nearly promoted to the next rank. I'm looking forward to having many characters one day, simply because its a game i enjoy and a real nice break away from studying. I'm not even a Trekie yet, with JJ's Star Trek as my sudden interest in this franchaise. I did watch odd episodes from various series' (Voyager i loved) and i have finally seen all the previous Star Trek films, yet this game has really pushed forward a huge interest to see more. I'm looking forward to watching DS9 each night in bed before another day at University starts next year.
I'm starting to sound like a terrible student, surely i should be out partying all the time