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My Thoughts on STO (for New Players, Mostly)
rswfiredotcom
Member Posts: 262 Arc User
For the moment, I'd mostly like to put aside the current conflicts and take a wider view of Star Trek Online, especially for new players who are thinking about joining this game.
I followed STO from the very beginning. Being a long time Trek fan, I always wanted a Star Trek MMO and when it seemed like it was going to be a possibility, I signed up for the mailing list and eagerly awaited any news.
The first company to start developing STO abruptly stopped, dashing my hopes. Then Cryptic came along with a great many promises that got me excited all over again. I played through beta and head start and everything up to Season 5, when Perfect World acquired Cryptic Studios.
There were a lot of issues during all of that time and I was an active contributor to the forums, trying desperately to be heard because I was unhappy with so many elements of the game...and back then, there was good reason to be. I left STO because I was tired of yelling at a brick wall.
I went to play Eve Online instead (wanting to play a space MMO), and this is important. I've played it for three years now. I created an alliance and slowly learned the politics of that game, and they were always harsh lessons to learn. I am not hardcore and I am not great at PvP, but I never gave up on the people who chose to make themselves a part of the community I created.
For me, I've always had a soft spot for new players. They are the life blood of any game and how they are presented to a game has the greatest impact on whether they will stick around or not. In Eve, my alliance tried to actively oppose griefers (bullies to new players) and we were targeted by basically every merc alliance in the game for doing so. It's not a new player friendly game, in my opinion.
I came back to STO around the start of October at the request of a friend. I created a new Romulan character and played through all of the content for it, right up to 50, and I had an awesome time doing so. It was enough to completely alter my opinion of STO and I decided I was going to stick around.
The few of us that are in my fleet worked together to obtain our own Starbase, and that's no small feat -- most can't achieve it if they are in a small group. Personally, I feel that should be looked into; maybe scale the requirements based on members or something.
At any rate, I have a fair amount of knowledge about STO with a three years gap. However, the issues that existed back then seem to still exist today, so I've concluded you either have to accept that or move on, because I don't believe it will ever change.
So, putting aside the communication issues and the very odd actions taken recently, what do I think about STO? I noticed I was starting to get bored with it today, but I asked myself if that was because of the game or because I was not exploring enough of it.
You see, STO has grown substantially since I left. There are large areas of space and ground maps called battle zones, dozens of daily missions, several adventure zones, many different episodes to play and replay, queued content, and probably more I'm not thinking of at the moment. There's plenty to do in this game now.
If you're a new player looking at this game, I personally think you should try it out. One of the things I love to do is roll new characters and see what the new player experience is like, and as a Romulan I was able to experience that. I am super impressed by the new player experience in STO. They did not spare any resources ensuring a new player would have an excellent time.
Since the new expansion, I've started another character and I find that I'm able to level him just fine to continue each mission in an episode series. I'm not experiencing any gaps that break immersion. The new end game content is certainly a different story and the experience there is different than the new player experience...as it should be. Any truly alarming issues will get worked out at some point, I believe.
I wanted to write this because I've been vocal about my disappointment in some of the things that have happened (after I invested quite a lot because I believed I would enjoy playing this game for a long time to come) but I came to recognize that any such disappointment is futile. We know how this company operates and expecting them to change now is just wishful thinking. I believe this game is still enjoyable enough that I can put some of my disappointments aside.
I'm not saying there are not some serious issues that need to be addressed. The game is very imbalanced, the lock boxes and dilithium gating and extreme control over the market are all serious faults this game has. The grinding at end game could perhaps use some adjusting.
But I think you have to consider that the makers of this game have their own vision for it and if you look at where it was three years ago and where it is now, you can see that slowly they have been implementing that vision. Some of the things that hurt now are necessary to adjust the game in a meaningful direction, so I think a bit of patience is worth having.
TL;DR: Everything I write is far too long; bad habit. Play STO and have fun! And consider joining my fleet if you're a new player looking for a casual environment with some very awesome and helpful people who make up our wider community. MMOs are always more fun with friends. (Yes, that was definitely a shameless plug.) Seriously though, have a bit of faith in the vision the makers of this game have and accept that they just don't know how to communicate and interact well with their players; it doesn't mean they don't value your business.
And now for the flaming to begin...
I followed STO from the very beginning. Being a long time Trek fan, I always wanted a Star Trek MMO and when it seemed like it was going to be a possibility, I signed up for the mailing list and eagerly awaited any news.
The first company to start developing STO abruptly stopped, dashing my hopes. Then Cryptic came along with a great many promises that got me excited all over again. I played through beta and head start and everything up to Season 5, when Perfect World acquired Cryptic Studios.
There were a lot of issues during all of that time and I was an active contributor to the forums, trying desperately to be heard because I was unhappy with so many elements of the game...and back then, there was good reason to be. I left STO because I was tired of yelling at a brick wall.
I went to play Eve Online instead (wanting to play a space MMO), and this is important. I've played it for three years now. I created an alliance and slowly learned the politics of that game, and they were always harsh lessons to learn. I am not hardcore and I am not great at PvP, but I never gave up on the people who chose to make themselves a part of the community I created.
For me, I've always had a soft spot for new players. They are the life blood of any game and how they are presented to a game has the greatest impact on whether they will stick around or not. In Eve, my alliance tried to actively oppose griefers (bullies to new players) and we were targeted by basically every merc alliance in the game for doing so. It's not a new player friendly game, in my opinion.
I came back to STO around the start of October at the request of a friend. I created a new Romulan character and played through all of the content for it, right up to 50, and I had an awesome time doing so. It was enough to completely alter my opinion of STO and I decided I was going to stick around.
The few of us that are in my fleet worked together to obtain our own Starbase, and that's no small feat -- most can't achieve it if they are in a small group. Personally, I feel that should be looked into; maybe scale the requirements based on members or something.
At any rate, I have a fair amount of knowledge about STO with a three years gap. However, the issues that existed back then seem to still exist today, so I've concluded you either have to accept that or move on, because I don't believe it will ever change.
So, putting aside the communication issues and the very odd actions taken recently, what do I think about STO? I noticed I was starting to get bored with it today, but I asked myself if that was because of the game or because I was not exploring enough of it.
You see, STO has grown substantially since I left. There are large areas of space and ground maps called battle zones, dozens of daily missions, several adventure zones, many different episodes to play and replay, queued content, and probably more I'm not thinking of at the moment. There's plenty to do in this game now.
If you're a new player looking at this game, I personally think you should try it out. One of the things I love to do is roll new characters and see what the new player experience is like, and as a Romulan I was able to experience that. I am super impressed by the new player experience in STO. They did not spare any resources ensuring a new player would have an excellent time.
Since the new expansion, I've started another character and I find that I'm able to level him just fine to continue each mission in an episode series. I'm not experiencing any gaps that break immersion. The new end game content is certainly a different story and the experience there is different than the new player experience...as it should be. Any truly alarming issues will get worked out at some point, I believe.
I wanted to write this because I've been vocal about my disappointment in some of the things that have happened (after I invested quite a lot because I believed I would enjoy playing this game for a long time to come) but I came to recognize that any such disappointment is futile. We know how this company operates and expecting them to change now is just wishful thinking. I believe this game is still enjoyable enough that I can put some of my disappointments aside.
I'm not saying there are not some serious issues that need to be addressed. The game is very imbalanced, the lock boxes and dilithium gating and extreme control over the market are all serious faults this game has. The grinding at end game could perhaps use some adjusting.
But I think you have to consider that the makers of this game have their own vision for it and if you look at where it was three years ago and where it is now, you can see that slowly they have been implementing that vision. Some of the things that hurt now are necessary to adjust the game in a meaningful direction, so I think a bit of patience is worth having.
TL;DR: Everything I write is far too long; bad habit. Play STO and have fun! And consider joining my fleet if you're a new player looking for a casual environment with some very awesome and helpful people who make up our wider community. MMOs are always more fun with friends. (Yes, that was definitely a shameless plug.) Seriously though, have a bit of faith in the vision the makers of this game have and accept that they just don't know how to communicate and interact well with their players; it doesn't mean they don't value your business.
And now for the flaming to begin...
Post edited by rswfiredotcom on
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Comments
lol mine also
system Lord Baal is dead
New players, if you really want a space mmo go look over at Star Citizen. There you can see what happens when a bunch of space junkie cash-whales get together. That game has turned into something special. All financed by players.
Star Citizen, Star Citizen, Star Citizen... I like to see you guys say that again when all the pieces are put together and it turns out to be a disaster. Seriously, one or two pieces might look lovely, but you need to look at the whole picture and Star Citizen isn't there yet.
I touched your button. :eek:
/push
This I agree with. It's rational and new players really don't need to spend any money to have a good experience as they level up their characters to 50. Beyond that, I am not sure...simply because it's new for all of us and time is really needed to see how everything plays out.
To the others who have responded, your opinion is as valid as my own, so you won't find me arguing with you. But the reason I think it's a good game for a new player (who is looking at it already) is because the experience for them is good and fun.
If they get to the end game experience, that might be a different story, but that doesn't dismiss the enjoyment they had prior to that and no one has to stick around when the game loses interest for them. Even then, I think there are a ton of options in this game to consider.
Firesworn Nation (@rswfire) - https://www.firesworn.com
The facts of the matter is that it can't be as much of an unmitigated disaster as STO currently is and previously was on release initially. It was initially designed with 4 factions in mind with the concept of adding in a 5th and maybe more at a later date. SC will ship with Humans, Banu, Xi'an, Vanduul, even if only Humans are playable, the team communicated this very clearly though during initial funding and design. The framework will be there ready to introduce the rest as needed, unlike STO who's framework got broken before beta even started.
The engine for STO is so old and the fidelity so poor that it really doesn't matter how pretty they make a ship, the engine cannot translate the concept art into something that is as good. With the small fighters in SC having more fidelity than multiple maps and ships in STO combined it doesn't say much for the evolution of the STO engine.
The FPS/TPS ground combat in STO is awful no matter how you run the numbers, something SC would be hard pressed to do seeing as CryEngine is one of the better FPS engines around.
The space flight has full 6 Degrees of Freedom (6DOF) unlike STO. This is already playable in the concept module called Arena Commander. It's flight mechanics are based off reality with speed limitations added to make it playable. STO has a flight model based off zero friction atmospheric flight, with whales and inertia is an after thought. Lets not forget that all the systems for each ship are modelled into the ship so damage that occurs to it actually happens in real time, not just a numbers race poping off the top of the ship until the HP meter hits zero.
The SP section of SC is as long and detailed as most AAA games, if not moreso as the limitations by publishers are not present. STO has the episodes, they aren't the best quality even for a game released back in 2010. I was surprised by the low fidelity and the repetitiveness back then, now it's just accepted because it's the only game in the ST universe.
Reason why I'm stating all this? STO's Dev's have introduced the worst expansion in the history of the game, then vilified the players for having fun. The very point of the games existence is not for the players any more, it's for the investors at PWE. D'Angelo sets out the game style he wants, everyone who plays has to play that way or they are cheaters/exploiters.
As Chris Roberts said "This is bull****".
"You don't have to do something again and again and again repetitive that doesn't have much challange, that's just a general good gameplay thing."
ill have a look at it, it isnt star trek...but neither is this game anymore...
I think i know the REAL reason why Branflakes left now...
oh no, i said something negative about the game...i wonder if this message will be removed for blasphemy??
EDIT: i just had a bad thought, what if PWE tries to assimilate Star Citizen and drain it of life too like they did all their other games?? :O
To my knowledge, Branflakes was kicked upstairs. Probably because the people actually liked him.
Support 90 degree arc limitation on BFaW! Save our ships from looking like flying disco balls of dumb!
he was different, he actually would be in game and team with us (that was cool) ...not sure the rest of em play at all they just make accounts to to start ARC fan clubs and stuff
However... I could not in good conscious recommend this to a new player at this point in time. Since DR launched I've been hit by several bugs, some that have cost me lost zen and left one character unplayable and I'm not sure there's any fix in sight.
With widespread bugs and the confusion around the XP issues, I don't feel the game is in a good place right now. I'm still playing but I won't be spending any more money until some things are resolved. And I wouldn't ask a new player to start in the middle of this mess.
When Cryptic gets its stuff together, I'd absolutely recommend it to a new player.
Normally, I would totally agree with everything you just said. The thing is, what is happening right now is par for the course with this company. It has happened countless times in the past. This is why I mentioned my long history with the game. Anyone who started playing this game from the start understands what I'm talking about. This company has repeatedly made these kinds of mistakes and has never once learned from them, so at this point I feel you just have to accept that fact or choose not to play at all.
Firesworn Nation (@rswfire) - https://www.firesworn.com
Firesworn Nation (@rswfire) - https://www.firesworn.com