I will try to break this down in a logical manner. This is a very very long read.
First, some background.
I was in the beta yes. I pre-ordered yes. I got the collectors edition yes. I did the lifetime sub yes. Finally I quit after less than a month in live.
The beta was... good. I have to admit, the team was working with the testers. Stuff was changed, modified and adjusted more or less and there was decent feedback.
The bad was there wasnt enough content. Especially for KDF.
The ugly was that the game was released about 4 months too early.
I remember when you went to a nebula, you couldn't get out, and missions being bugged, and ... well I do still see some of the same problems, just not as much.
I came back to the game about 3 weeks ago or so. And I have been playing an average of 10-15 hours a week. Ish anyways... So this is not a fly by night look at the game from a fresh pair of eyes. I have been digging.
Character Creation
Without a doubt, awesome. Some new hair, new face tattoos, even stances. And of course the uniforms. I do feel it is slightly subpar compared to other games out there though... considering this is a cryptic game. But it does the job, and I feel my Captain is good enough. I wish there was more facial features though.
The uniform selection I will mention is much much better organized than it once was. Those at launch and beta know what I am talking about. Along with the variants makes things more customizable.
There are more Federation Races, and you can buy more from the C-Store. But it is nothing gamebreaking that you don't have access to. Same with the extra costume slots. I will admit that I dropped about $50 or whatever on the C-Store. Just because I did not "buy" the game in November, so justifying the cost was too easy.
C-Store
This was originally the way to collect my Red Matter and Borg officer.. but it has expanded like crazy. So far there is no game breaking thing in there that gives you a leg up on others. Well, the Borg Officer, I do feel a little cheated, since I ordered from Amazon.
Anyways, the addition of Bridges is sexy along with the fact that most purchases affect your entire account and ALL your characters. Except for the "Services". I was skeptical about the whole microtransaction thing, but it really is not that bad. You can survive not purching a single thing from the store and be just as good as anyone in game. It just lets you tweak things a bit more to your liking.
Tutorial
It is the same thing as beta with minor fixes and adjustments. Nothing really new or changed. Oh, wait they did add a new starting screen where you are in the ship's lounge when all hell breaks loose and you report to the bridge.
Bridge Officers
This part of the game is pretty fun, not too complex, and works out well. Having BOs assigned to the bridge, and figuring out what skills go where and promoting, and assigning them away teams... lots of fun. I wish it was a bit more complex (not too much) as the PC skills works. But the system is pretty snazzy.
Having the ability to change their appearance, names, and positions on the ship is awesome. I hope more games in the future take note of this. Simple equiping them with weapons, items, and armor/shields is nice too. Allows you to ensure they won't be a Redshirt on an away mission. Any appearance change for the first time on a bridge officer is free, same with the rename.
Ships
What can I say. Lots of ships. The ability to fly any ship you want for your side is pretty cool. Each with their advantages and disadvantages. To suit your playsyle. Of which your bridge officers play a pretty sizable role as their abilities will your tools in a fight compared to what rank slot they are filling.
When I flew an escort (Defiant) I found myself with a Tactical Commander filling a slot and I had 6 tactical abilities at my finger tips. But I was down to only 2 science abilities. I missed my having 6 abilities in my Intrepid.
Customizing your ship is great. Again, I wish there were more options, like changing out your rims, or leather interior, but you can swap between 4 part base and 3 difference styles for each. Not bad. The colors are... lacking. Red is not red, and Green is not really green. All the changes you make on your ship for the first time are free. Glorious free. Same goes with changing the name.
Selecting your bridge (which is new to me by the way) costs 1,000 credits. Not something doable by me then. Now.. pretty easy. I want to say there are at least 20 different bridges you can choose from if you buy them from the C-Store. You get 3 by default.
Outfitting the ship is a serious endeavor. So many questions... and this is just the tip of the iceburg. What weapons do I use, what torpedos, do I use mines, what in the hell is the deflector dish good for? What makes an item good or bad, my blue is better than this purple... I still have questions. But for the most part am doing better.
Ship Weapons
You get 7 different types of weapons throughout the game. Beam Arrays, Dual Beam Bank, Dual Heavy Cannons, Dual Cannons, Cannons, Turrets and Torpedos. Each have their own firing arc, each have their firing speed and believe it or not, does matter which ship you fly to use them.
Of those 7 weapons, you get 12 damage types. 6 for your non torpedo weapons and 6 for your torpedos. Each has their own bonus and all have (minus torpedos) the same flaw. If you fire a different weapon energy type, you lose extra weapon power. So having one type of weapon is a good thing.. and a bad. Because now if the enemy has defenses dedicated to stopping your energy type.. well you are going to have a long day.
Captain Skills
One word sums this up. Overwhelming. Another word will do it too. Confusing. At launch there was not much information on what did what. Even today there is still some ambiguous info concerning skills. At least to me. Does this one skill affect all engine stuff, or just these two skills associated with it? Just confusing.
You have to spend so many points to advance your level. Careful though. Because it is possible to stop your ability to level because you cannot spend enough points. Plan things out. There are a number of webased character planners you can use.
Missions
It is no mystery. Ground missions have always been the problem child. I have had mobs disappear into walls, the floor and even be non attackable (no not the psychodeleic gas mission). Mobs heal and regen their shields, even when they are stunned, knocked down, or held/sleep. It is as if their timer gets done, they break whatever is stopping them and they heal or rejen or whatever. Absolutely annoying.
Even had one mission last night where ALL of the npcs disappeared.
I will say though.. With the story driven missions, you can do 3-4 of them and gain a level. That makes leveling not seem so much like leveling. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be as much content past Commander 6 or so. You have to rely on doing patrol missions, exploration, etc. With time, it might be possible to level without grinding once.
The space missions are fun. This is not Pirates of the Burning Sea in space. You have firing arcs, you have your BO abilities and your abilities to use in combat. It is simple, and satisfying. Break shields to hit the hull with a torpedo.
Hmm Why didn't any Captain of the Star Trek shows ever hear that in academy? Firing torpedos at a ship with full shields... jeez.
And now you can repeat all the missions you did via your captain's log in your ready room makes things cooler.
Conclusion
I am not a Trekkie (nothing wrong with that though) nor am I a fanboi for Crypic or Star Trek. I like to play games.
I like this game. It is refreshing, fun and easy to pick up without feeling like you need to spend all night playing to get anywhere.
Will I say with it forever? Probably not. But I can see a few more months. Especially when they release Season 4 with some more goodies.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Feel free to one star it, or 5 star it accordingly.
good review. I am interested to know though, how did you find the new featured episodes? Did you find them of better quality than the earlier missions?
good review. I am interested to know though, how did you find the new featured episodes? Did you find them of better quality than the earlier missions?
There is so much to an MMO to talk about, but I can give you my feedback on that.
I loved the Episodes. I wish they would make an effort in releasing them at the very least Monthly. The stories are obviously thought out and the rewards are great. (I did miss the Breen officer reward by a matter of weeks, ,,, but I did get one from a member of the boards here for free.. thank you again).
The areas seem... better. Both visually and flows better. The devidian missions were great as it allowed you to travel to.... ooh you almost got me there.. .spoiling the missions heh.
I look forward to future Episodes. TRIBBLE the rewards, I want to know more about the Trek Verse. In game only heh. Let's see more Mirror Universe craziness.
well they do release a series, each episode in the series on a weekly basis, and then between each series there is about a 2 week break. But this month they are not having one because of season 3 (bug fixes and what not) and because people take a lot of vacation and sick time in December.
I think these weekly episodes have made the game much much better because it gives you something to look forward to.
I was a beta tester too and I wished the klingons side had patrols missions and more story mission also. I really dont like playing klingon on the lack of content for the klingon side so I send ideas to the Gm/Devs to improve that side. If the Devs make a 3rd Faction to this game I hope that faction wont be like the klingon with missions
I hate to say it, but player reviews seem so meaningless to me. I mean, one player will say they love it, another will say they hate it, but neither carries more weight than the other because they are just some average joe player. I dont always agree with professional reviews, but at least they have some sort of legitimacy.
I hate to say it, but player reviews seem so meaningless to me. I mean, one player will say they love it, another will say they hate it, but neither carries more weight than the other because they are just some average joe player. I dont always agree with professional reviews, but at least they have some sort of legitimacy.
Oh. I tried to provide information to what I was seeing. Factual stuff of what I see in the game and occasionally throw in what I think. As in, I dont like it, or is it great. But take from it what you will. There is a lot I did not cover.
Nearly all of my experience was Fed side from the return. Even started up a Science guy from the start to get a fresh outlook on the game.
And foundry I did not talk about because I have not seen it. I will see it when they put it on the holodeck or whatever the live server is called nowadays. The same reason I didn't talk on the Set Items .. as I haven't used it yet. 3-4 more missions and I will be of the correct rank to use my Aegis Set.
I hate to say it, but player reviews seem so meaningless to me. I mean, one player will say they love it, another will say they hate it, but neither carries more weight than the other because they are just some average joe player. I dont always agree with professional reviews, but at least they have some sort of legitimacy.
Really? Considering the level of non-perfessionalism displayed by Massively and other MMO sites - I honestly don't find their reviewers all that professional - especially when they make comments lie "I don't know why I was assigned to review X as [inset genre] isn't my thing, but..."; and as for Gamespy; the positiveness of any review seems related to how much banner (or other site advertising) the company getting the review has paid for on the site.
A review is a review - read it, and evaluate it for yourself, yes, but if someon takes the time to state what they like, dislike, etc. and can present some reasoning behind their views, the fact it's on a Forum, gamingsite, magaziine, whatever, should make that big of a difference.
... If you fire a different weapon energy type, you lose extra weapon power. So having one type of weapon is a good thing.. and a bad. Because now if the enemy has defenses dedicated to stopping your energy type.. well you are going to have a long day.
Im glad you are enjoy the game and your review was fine.
But I just wanted to point out one VERY common misnomer. The power drain you are referring to drains power regardless of weapon time. In other words the first shot is free, each additional shot in the firing cycle regardless of weapon type or energy type, will drain the from your total power levels.
The tool tip is worded poorly, they really need to put an ANY in there someplace. So mixing energy types, plasma or phaser, ect, wont effect your power levels. They will deplete regardless its just the nature of firing weapons.
The reason its not recommended to use multiple energy types however is due to the skill point cost. Investing in a lot of energy skills can eat up a lot of valuable skill points that can easily be used elsewhere.
Ahh ok . I thought it took another 10 power for example with the beam arrays. You still use power regardless, but more is consumed. So at least I thought.
When you look at a weapon and it says. To Self: -10 Weapon power when firing other weapons.
It should say. To Self: -10 Weapon power when firing ANY other weapon.
Be it a phaser, plasma, or what have ya. Its going to generate the same drain. The only way to avoid the drain is to not fire multiple weapons within a firing cycle. Or to manage the number of weapons that fire simultaneously within the cycle.
Oh and yes, this whole thing is to not only be used by the devs but also new players or returning players as I was a returning player, and starting a new character. Seeing the game with a fresh set of eyes and hopefully well, I hope that it helps others decide to give the game another try, and the devs to notice some of the good things, and the constructive criticism.
I hate to say it, but player reviews seem so meaningless to me. I mean, one player will say they love it, another will say they hate it, but neither carries more weight than the other because they are just some average joe player. I dont always agree with professional reviews, but at least they have some sort of legitimacy.
I can see nothing wrong in giving direct feedback to the devs on the Forums of their game. On the contrary, I think it's a great idea!
While I don't agree with some parts of your review (it's more upbeat than my own one I posted when I returned a few weeks ago), I can agree with parts of it.
Ground combat is still I think fundamentally flawed and needs (imho) to be completely redone. Space combat is better (personally I'd still speed it up a tad, but I can live with that).
Equipment stats are a mess, even checking the wiki half the time I'm not totally sure just exactly what each attribute on a piece of gear means (and I haven't yet found a site explaining it all in detail).
On the whole, the game got better since launch, the question is whether it's getting better enough, quickly enough to carve out a small niche of survivability in a highly competitive market or not.
Despite my lifetime sub (and C-Store purchases), I stil think that's only a 50/50 proposition at this time.
I hate to say it, but player reviews seem so meaningless to me. I mean, one player will say they love it, another will say they hate it, but neither carries more weight than the other because they are just some average joe player. I dont always agree with professional reviews, but at least they have some sort of legitimacy.
Oh wow.. since when suddenly game reviewers are worth more then reviews form normal persons... espical after the recent evenets whre they take money to give better scores, or play less then 2h and just write what they read on the forums... lol.
"Professional" game reviews don't hold more or less validity then reviews form normal persons.
Oh wow.. since when suddenly game reviewers are worth more then reviews form normal persons... espical after the recent evenets whre they take money to give better scores, or play less then 2h and just write what they read on the forums... lol.
"Professional" game reviews don't hold more or less validity then reviews form normal persons.
Certainly MMORPG has been tripped up by that of late. I agree, it takes time to properly review a game, and some review sites obviously don't put the time in to do it right.
"Professional reviews" are often no better than, and sometimes even worse, than some player reviews.
Hawkeye, I agree with your views. Space combat.. maybe not so much, but ground does need to be better.. mostly in the aspect of fixing the mobs.. I think the way it work is pretty decent, and fun. But the mob behaviour is erratic and crowd control doesnt work on em (medic and engineers) as they will heal or regen shields whenever the cooldown is up.
T-child I appreciate the compliments, as well as everyone else. I didn't not mean for this to be a "this game is epically awesome!" but I didn't want to hate on it. As I stated, the game should not have been released when it did...
At the time, only one game really did bomb out after launch. It is still kicking (crimcraft) but not as great as it was. Now with APB being "that" game.. I hope MMO companies will realize that games can really die off no matter how new it is if there is no support.
I hate to say it, but player reviews seem so meaningless to me. I mean, one player will say they love it, another will say they hate it, but neither carries more weight than the other because they are just some average joe player. I dont always agree with professional reviews, but at least they have some sort of legitimacy.
Depends. The review here was useful to me, since he went in detail about what he liked about it, and how it improved. He also was specific in what he found lacking. A reader might find what he didn't like to be a small point, and what he liked to be worthless, to him (the reader). But he has information about the game he lacked earlier.
Some reviews are worthless. If we're told it's an epic game, the graphics are great, you get to fly Federation/Klingon ships, cool beans, but that doesn't tell me anything. If we're told the game reeks, nothing but bugs, ok, whatever, but again I don't have much to go on.
This review was specific, as all reviews should be. Well done.
I'll take a well-written review I don't completely agree with over a trashy review that I do agree with any day.
Hehe same here. That is why I tried to be focused, clear and trying to convey my experiences to others. I cannot stand the "this game sucks" and not go into the why, or on the flip side "This game is awesome" and leave it at that lol.
I am thinking there needs to be more content... storylines as it were Captain to RA. I found a void of doing defend missions and explorations. Since I did the episodes when I was a LtCom.. I didn't have them anymore other than doing them as repeat missions.
Anyhow, at the very least, this will allow the thread to go to the top for the new players of the new year to see.
Comments
There is so much to an MMO to talk about, but I can give you my feedback on that.
I loved the Episodes. I wish they would make an effort in releasing them at the very least Monthly. The stories are obviously thought out and the rewards are great. (I did miss the Breen officer reward by a matter of weeks, ,,, but I did get one from a member of the boards here for free.. thank you again).
The areas seem... better. Both visually and flows better. The devidian missions were great as it allowed you to travel to.... ooh you almost got me there.. .spoiling the missions heh.
I look forward to future Episodes. TRIBBLE the rewards, I want to know more about the Trek Verse. In game only heh. Let's see more Mirror Universe craziness.
I think these weekly episodes have made the game much much better because it gives you something to look forward to.
Oh. I tried to provide information to what I was seeing. Factual stuff of what I see in the game and occasionally throw in what I think. As in, I dont like it, or is it great. But take from it what you will. There is a lot I did not cover.
Nearly all of my experience was Fed side from the return. Even started up a Science guy from the start to get a fresh outlook on the game.
And foundry I did not talk about because I have not seen it. I will see it when they put it on the holodeck or whatever the live server is called nowadays. The same reason I didn't talk on the Set Items .. as I haven't used it yet. 3-4 more missions and I will be of the correct rank to use my Aegis Set.
Really? Considering the level of non-perfessionalism displayed by Massively and other MMO sites - I honestly don't find their reviewers all that professional - especially when they make comments lie "I don't know why I was assigned to review X as [inset genre] isn't my thing, but..."; and as for Gamespy; the positiveness of any review seems related to how much banner (or other site advertising) the company getting the review has paid for on the site.
A review is a review - read it, and evaluate it for yourself, yes, but if someon takes the time to state what they like, dislike, etc. and can present some reasoning behind their views, the fact it's on a Forum, gamingsite, magaziine, whatever, should make that big of a difference.
Im glad you are enjoy the game and your review was fine.
But I just wanted to point out one VERY common misnomer. The power drain you are referring to drains power regardless of weapon time. In other words the first shot is free, each additional shot in the firing cycle regardless of weapon type or energy type, will drain the from your total power levels.
The tool tip is worded poorly, they really need to put an ANY in there someplace. So mixing energy types, plasma or phaser, ect, wont effect your power levels. They will deplete regardless its just the nature of firing weapons.
The reason its not recommended to use multiple energy types however is due to the skill point cost. Investing in a lot of energy skills can eat up a lot of valuable skill points that can easily be used elsewhere.
When you look at a weapon and it says. To Self: -10 Weapon power when firing other weapons.
It should say. To Self: -10 Weapon power when firing ANY other weapon.
Be it a phaser, plasma, or what have ya. Its going to generate the same drain. The only way to avoid the drain is to not fire multiple weapons within a firing cycle. Or to manage the number of weapons that fire simultaneously within the cycle.
I can see nothing wrong in giving direct feedback to the devs on the Forums of their game. On the contrary, I think it's a great idea!
Ground combat is still I think fundamentally flawed and needs (imho) to be completely redone. Space combat is better (personally I'd still speed it up a tad, but I can live with that).
Equipment stats are a mess, even checking the wiki half the time I'm not totally sure just exactly what each attribute on a piece of gear means (and I haven't yet found a site explaining it all in detail).
On the whole, the game got better since launch, the question is whether it's getting better enough, quickly enough to carve out a small niche of survivability in a highly competitive market or not.
Despite my lifetime sub (and C-Store purchases), I stil think that's only a 50/50 proposition at this time.
Oh wow.. since when suddenly game reviewers are worth more then reviews form normal persons... espical after the recent evenets whre they take money to give better scores, or play less then 2h and just write what they read on the forums... lol.
"Professional" game reviews don't hold more or less validity then reviews form normal persons.
Certainly MMORPG has been tripped up by that of late. I agree, it takes time to properly review a game, and some review sites obviously don't put the time in to do it right.
"Professional reviews" are often no better than, and sometimes even worse, than some player reviews.
It's all head on.
T-child I appreciate the compliments, as well as everyone else. I didn't not mean for this to be a "this game is epically awesome!" but I didn't want to hate on it. As I stated, the game should not have been released when it did...
At the time, only one game really did bomb out after launch. It is still kicking (crimcraft) but not as great as it was. Now with APB being "that" game.. I hope MMO companies will realize that games can really die off no matter how new it is if there is no support.
Depends. The review here was useful to me, since he went in detail about what he liked about it, and how it improved. He also was specific in what he found lacking. A reader might find what he didn't like to be a small point, and what he liked to be worthless, to him (the reader). But he has information about the game he lacked earlier.
Some reviews are worthless. If we're told it's an epic game, the graphics are great, you get to fly Federation/Klingon ships, cool beans, but that doesn't tell me anything. If we're told the game reeks, nothing but bugs, ok, whatever, but again I don't have much to go on.
This review was specific, as all reviews should be. Well done.
I'll take a well-written review I don't completely agree with over a trashy review that I do agree with any day.
Hehe same here. That is why I tried to be focused, clear and trying to convey my experiences to others. I cannot stand the "this game sucks" and not go into the why, or on the flip side "This game is awesome" and leave it at that lol.
Anyhow, at the very least, this will allow the thread to go to the top for the new players of the new year to see.
STO birthday coming up.