I have introduced a couple of family members and a few friends to STO since S6. One friend has always resisted even though I pushed it at him persistently.
After S7s "issues" I became a little less promotive, but still tried to get this one friend on-board. Thanks to the good work of Branflakes and the "fixes" that where eventually set into place to make S7 a little more enjoyable, I was back to pushing STO on anyone that I thought would dig it. Still no luck with my friend though.
Now rather than go through the rest of the seasons/Expansions in detail, I'll just say that with each change right up untill DR, even with the less fun changes I still made the occasional recommendation, not nearly as often as before but still sometimes. Still couldn't convince the one friend.
Since DR I have not recommended this game to anyone, I was running a LAN session on Elite Dangerous with the one friend a couple of days ago, he pointed out that I hadn't logged into STO or tried to convince him to join for a while...
He was right.
"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." — Lazarus Long --->Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
While I love anything that is Star Trek and I have been a fan since the very first show in TOS in the 60's, what PWE/Cryptic has done to this is no longer, IMHO, Star Trek.
1) Fun taken out of the game.
2) Massive grind put into the game.
3) Less and less rewards for time spent in the game.
4) Zero customer support.
5) Developers that call the players morons in a public place and are still working for PWE/Cryptic.
6) Total lack of understanding by the Dev team and Producers of this game of what the players are saying to them or asking for in the game.
7) PWE money grab from the players.
I could list more, but I am too discouraged to continue.
Depends on which friend. If they like Star Trek I'd tell them to give it a whirl. If they're a Star Trek roleplayer I might pitch the idea to them.
If they're looking for instant gratification and not so much grind, I would tell them no.
If they like friendly communities, I'd tell them to stay the hell away.
If they are curious about how fans of Star Trek really are, and want to see first-hand how horrible many of them behave, I'd tell them to hang out in Zone chat on ESD or on the STO forums. As a sociological experiment, STO is quite fruitful.
I would heavily emphasise the Foundry as well, since it is one of the strengths the game has going for it.
But as far as recommending this game to friends who enjoy MMOs, PvP, or think Star Trek Online should be something it isn't, I would most definitely tell them no.
I do have some friends who might be painfreaks....maybe to them
Jellico....Engineer ground.....Da'val Romulan space Sci
Saphire.. Science ground......Ko'el Romulan space Tac
Leva........Tactical ground.....Koj Romulan space Eng
JJ-Verse will never be Canon or considered Lore...It will always be JJ-Verse
My most recent interaction with these a s s hats was filing a ticket compalining I can't get in. Hell, I've been on this forum idk how long and i still can't even post a new THREAD. But my support post, I asked them to unlock my account because im not getting an e-mail.
So they sent me something to try, and I did, and it failed. But my ticket was locked! So I filed a new one, and got told it's a f*$#king DUPLICATE and they were deleting it! Needless to say, I'm in the process of a BBB complaint right now over this TRIBBLE.
^It is sad all you can do is kiss Cryptic's *** when you KNOW this game is broken. I am sorry to say this, but you are the reason ALL Cryptic did when it came to improving difficulty is increase f****** hit points. If you can't see the laziness out of that **** than you are right STO fans do ASK too much from the DEVS.
I like how giving scathing criticism to Cryptic counts as kissing their aft. You clearly know what you are talking about.
It doesn't (and hasn't for a looong time) make any effort to represent the ideals or ethos of Star Trek. There's no Exploration, very few examinations of philosophical conundrums, etc.. Even the Klingon Empire, which lends itself to the PvE slaughter/PvP competition that MMOs excel at, aren't utilized correctly.
The game has departed a great deal from how things worked in Trek, from Carriers, to Starfleet/KDF/RSE Captains flying Vulcan/Andorian/Risian/Cardassian/Dominion/Ferengi/etc ships, to the aforementioned slaughter..
The Grind, dear lord The Grind.. The way Dilithium is wedged into everything and the obvious intention of every single addition to the game is to squeeze the most possible Zen purchases out of the playerbase, or make those players who don't pay grind months.. Even the in-game upgrade and crafting systems, which are normally alternatives to the Cash Shop in other games, are laden down with prohibitive Dilithium costs designed to railroad you to buying Zen and then trading it for Dilithium.. It's frankly starting to remind me of an abusive relationship. I don't like the bruises PWE/Cryptic leaves on my Bank Account/time, but but but, I love this game..
On a similar note, the prohibitive costs if you do go the pay route. $25USD for an endgame ship? $5USD for a costume? Then figure in how much you have to hand over to trade for dilithium in order to gear up.. I took a two year break from this game, and in order to catch up and unlock all the ships I'd like in order to match the set up I had before I left and deleted my toons, I'd have to spend over $300USD, before gearing. Think about it this way, to get the Odyssey/Bortasque/Scimitar Bundles, I'd have to fork over $150USD, $125USD for a single Expansion Bundle.. That's easily two other full games and a DLC elsewhere. I play PS3, and similar in-game items in GTA:O or Battlefield 4 cost half as much or less.. The greed on display by PWE here is quite frankly disgusting.
Original Join Date: January 2010. Ragequit Date: January 7th 2012. Return Date: October 23rd 2014.
Best Space PEW PEW out there. No other space game comes close to the fun in Space Combat!
Its Totally Free
You do not have to "Grind" at all to enjoy the content
Hours and Hours of free enjoyment, did I mention Free?
Great artwork, sets, missions, ships, story, foundry, character choices, costumes, Game-play Mechanics, PEW PEW, Transporter sounds, challenges, events, free-stuff, Borg Battles, crafting, exploration. I can go on but yeah you get the point.
Haters gonna hate, so why don't they just leave already!
So much complaining, so much hate, I just don't get it. Dont like it, dont play.
Some of us got it when it was decidedly not free, some of us got lifetime subscriptions when it meant something, and some of us are pretty torqued off about how we've been treated. F2P has been horrible for the game, even taking into account the new content (which is exceptionally well written), it just isn't enough to compensate for getting screwed over with no lube.
Cryptic has lied to the customer base from the start, they've displayed the antithesis of basic business ethics and customer service seems to be anethema to them.
At this point, I would only recommend STO to college students majoring in gaming to see how not to run an MMO.
Had one friend who played - he got tired of this BS....and left....
I'm only still here because I have invested interest in it - otherwise I'd be popping smoke.....
Edit:
I started to wonder about the shark jumping when the Nicor Cruiser came out. This DR thing hasn't rubbed me quite as raw as others...but this thing with the Intrepid pack or whatever, nope I see what kind of people these guys are...not people I would associate with IRL.
I've started to move toward Warframe anyway(finally got a decent rig) - the community is....you know...a community, and the devs seem to respond and interact with the players....I stress "seem to" since I am new there.....
The game itself is decent, but it keeps drifting more and more towards grind from the fun that it was when I first started playing.
The rate of progression is too slow for the amount of playable content, and certainly too slow for 110 levels worth of progression (split between 60 actual levels and 50 additional pseudo-levels to finish unlocking the Specializations).
The Crafting System is overly variable, has unnecessary intermediary steps, and required the addition of the Upgrade System to become worthwhile... and doesn't actually involve the player crafting.
They keep nerfing queue rewards, only to put them back... but always at a lower amount that the rewards were originally.
They have three factions in the game...but instead of taking the opportunity of a new ship tier to balance out endgame ship offerings, they make T6 even more imbalanced than T5 was.
They add Starship Traits and tie them to individual ships, but instead of making them account unlocks as a means to sell ships across faction lines they make them single-character unlocks so that 2/3 of the game's factions can't actually fill their Starship Trait slots without grinding out 80 levels (60 actual levels and 20 additional pseudo-levels to unlock two Starship Traits in the Specializations) or gambling on lock boxes.
There are good aspects of the game. The Episodes are actually better than when I first started playing... I particularly enjoy the Klingon Episode arc, which are some of the best written as far as sticking to the faction's basic "flavor". They have improved customization by allowing us to select our own Kits and Kit Modules, as well as swap out our various Traits. They have added account-wide discount unlocks for the Summer and Winter Events, and they have introduced more missions, queues, etc. during my time here. A lot of the art assets and environments in the game are very well done and interesting to wander about in.
Unfortunately, all that is still hobbled by the commitment to grind, overuse of the RNG, and the grossly imbalanced faction offerings. It's kind of funny... the grind is intended to motivate players to spend money to bypass it, but instead that's the reason I haven't spend money. Well, that and I decided to help out the KDF half of our allied Fleets awhile back, which means that there isn't that much to actually buy. The very things that keep me from spending money on STO are the warnings that I'd give anyone interested in playing STO.
If someone is in the market for a Free to Play game, though, STO can be played 100% free... so long as there are still folks willing to purchase dilithium over grinding it. So, um, fellow players can ignore that and please buy my dilithium.
Devs, though... I like your game, but a few gameplay mechanics manage to drag down a lot of good work. I am not opposed to spending money on STO, but glacial progression and poor balance are not good motivators; fun is a good motivator... make more of the latter and less of the former. I know you can, I've seen you do it.
With each passing day I wonder if I stepped into an alternate reality. The Cubs win the world series. Donald Trump is President. Britain leaves the EU. STO gets a dedicated PvP season. Engineers are "out of control" in STO.
No as most of them like the eraly era of Star Trek circa 23 Century.It has no feeling of Trek except being able to beam down to other places on landing party.
Then there is grinding out the rep system.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]Age StarTrek-Gamers Administrator
USS WARRIOR NCC 1720 Commanding Officer Star Trek Gamers
Some of us got it when it was decidedly not free, some of us got lifetime subscriptions when it meant something, and some of us are pretty torqued off about how we've been treated. F2P has been horrible for the game, even taking into account the new content (which is exceptionally well written), it just isn't enough to compensate for getting screwed over with no lube.
Cryptic has lied to the customer base from the start, they've displayed the antithesis of basic business ethics and customer service seems to be anethema to them.
At this point, I would only recommend STO to college students majoring in gaming to see how not to run an MMO.
Yes indeed, I pre-ordered the game, started playing on launch day, or should that be rubber banded for a few weeks on launch, I have invested a lot into this game, time and money. After f2p I stopped subbing as there really is no need to sub. I purchase ships, recently got the DR pack, Half Di-Li half Cash that my wife spent on me.
For all the ups and down I have seen in STO since launch, I hand on heart can honestly say its a better game today than its ever been, but maybe that's just me and my 4 years worth of experiences in STO.
Is STO perfect, far from it, is STO FUN, yes absolutely, if you look through the grind, which is competely optional and open your eyes, you can see that every bit of content is open for you, grind free *
* - Exception, New Elite Queue, these require you partake in grind, but honestly, they are literally no different than advanced or normal in content, just extra HP and non-optional "Optionals". By the time you havbe kitted for a Elite, you are no more effective in that elite as a mkxii kitted peep in an advanced due to NPC HP in Elite.
Probably not, not anymore. The few I could get to give it a look recognized it for what it was right off the bat and gave it a flat no. The only thing keeping me here is the investment I've already made and a lingering and probably empty hope that they might turn this around, but to recommend a product, I have to be able to stand behind it and I can't do that with STO in it's current state.
If something is not broken, don't fix it, if it is broken, don't leave it broken.
Yes indeed, I pre-ordered the game, started playing on launch day, or should that be rubber banded for a few weeks on launch, I have invested a lot into this game, time and money. After f2p I stopped subbing as there really is no need to sub. I purchase ships, recently got the DR pack, Half Di-Li half Cash that my wife spent on me.
For all the ups and down I have seen in STO since launch, I hand on heart can honestly say its a better game today than its ever been, but maybe that's just me and my 4 years worth of experiences in STO.
Is STO perfect, far from it, is STO FUN, yes absolutely, if you look through the grind, which is competely optional and open your eyes, you can see that every bit of content is open for you, grind free *
* - Exception, New Elite Queue, these require you partake in grind, but honestly, they are literally no different than advanced or normal in content, just extra HP and non-optional "Optionals". By the time you havbe kitted for a Elite, you are no more effective in that elite as a mkxii kitted peep in an advanced due to NPC HP in Elite.
What's really depressing is that you're right, it's a better game than it's been in a long time in a lot of ways. The gripes are also the same as they've been since release, I've still run into bugs that were in at release and never addressed and Cryptic is even more moneygrubbing than they've ever been.
They do not treat the customers right and the endless grind from fifty to sixty and beyond is also sucking the fun right out of the game. The never ending moneygrab now includes making the ships I did buy in the C-Store obsolete unless I pony up another seven bucks each, which I ain't gonna do because they'll just release t6 versions right after I do, like they did with the Intrepid.
The grind is definitely there and is absolutely no fun and is in no way optional unless you want to login and doff your way through the interminable grind from hades.
I will still not recommend the game to my friends for the simple reason that I want to keep them. Cryptic is losing customers and not gaining new ones, my friends list is still showing little activity and I mostly can't even be bothered to login to the forums and discuss it anymore.
You are entitled to your opinion but I suspect that it's in the minority and Cryptic is sucking the IP dry before it fails like SWG.
I used to bug my friend to try it. But for the last year or 2 (?) I've not; since I feel that Cryptic/PWE is more interested in cranking out the next lockbox than making a quality game. Just look at all the bugs that have been around for years that never get fixed, but we get a new lockbox every 3 months.
Honestly, if my friend did try STO and saw all the issues it has had for an almost 5yr old game I'd be embarrassed to say I still play it.
Sometimes I think I play STO just to have something to complain about on the forums.
I have in the past. Just trying to get friends to play. This was well before the current gauntlet of hell you have to go through to level up past 51.
The XP garbage isnt even their first error in how to run a game.
I only play because I have a ton of time and money involved.
I also have no desire to level up another character to lvl 60. My first character is a pain. I dont care about the special points right now. I just want to see the content. Took me 4 hours today of constant gameplay to make 2 bubbles to hit lvl 54.
I told this to one of my friends who played this game and he said he has no desire to return just from what I have told him.
Cryptic really needs to get their head out of the smoke. I keep thinking that they cant get any worse and then they do something to get me to double facepalm again.
So on to the question:
Would you recommend STO to a friend?
I am largely a solo player. And I am a F2P player. I don't like having to wait on people to join queues, I won't join a fleet with the intent to play with other fleet players as I'm often not around when others are, and I won't do PVP because in all multiplayer player vs player games I've ever played (not that many I admit) it always ends up being a case of some spotty teen with tons of money and tons of time to play (no offence meant if you are one of those) being better than I am, thus I have no fun because I'm constantly losing.
However I'm giving STO a go, and on the one hand since joining about a week or two before Delta Rising was released I've according to steam played the game for 210 hours.
In those 210 hours I've found it quite difficult until reaching level 50 with 2 characters (one Federation one KDF) to really do anything but grind to obtain gear so that I don't keep dying and can kill stuff and I'm sure I wouldn't have been any good in PVE's due to having rather low level and rubbish gear.
It even got to a point about a week or two ago where I was grinding for what seemed like virtually nothing compared to what I thought I needed to be getting and considered un-installing STO. Quite often over the past 210 hours of play I've felt as a F2P player that I'm not playing a game for enjoyment, I'm the equivalent of some far east WoW gold farmer working in a large warehouse with 100s of other such gold farmers, only I don't get paid/rewarded for it.
I have virtually given up on obtaining anything of a handful of stuff I originally wanted from the C-Store apart from maybe 1 T5U or T6 ship on each of the 2 characters I have when/if I ever reach a 5000 Zen target - which will take me 2-4 months as it is I think.
On the other hand I've just this last week managed to get my ships so they are functional in PVE's with some very helpful advice from people on here (although I've only done a couple of Advanced queue PVE and mostly do Normal), started to accrue Dil a bit faster via the Omega rep system at 500 per 50 omega marks (providing I can do enough PVE in a 3-4hr time span), and the last couple of days I've made about 4 million EC on the exchange by selling some R&D materials I had accumulated.
Where it was taking me about 6 or more hours just to hit 8k Dil on one character it's now taking me about that to hit 8k on two characters. But even so, I can't play for 6hrs a day and hold down a real life.
So the game has the last couple of days become more enjoyable because I can see I'm reaching my goal of 5k Zen a bit quicker. Although I still haven't done the majority of the scripted campaign content so I don't know if I will need to grind for even better than MK XII gear.
So would I recommend the game?
Probably not.
I like Star Trek, not to the point I dress up and go to comic cons and could be called a Trekkie but to the point where I know a bit about the canon and really dislike misuse of the Star Trek idea.
STO is a good time waster for me and for some reason now I can't put it down for more than a day or two.
But the game is not Star Trek unless you consider it to have been made by Ferengi.
I wouldn't mind coughing up some real cash for content, if A) I had it, and if content wasn't so stupidly over-priced, especially the stuff that is just aesthetics, such as uniforms.
I also am struggling to see the point in the game once I've completed the scripted campaign content, I doubt once I've completed all of it that I'll be sticking around - repetitively doing PVE or any other repetitive mission just for the hell of it doesn't appeal to me.
However STO is the best Star Trek game currently available that isn't ancient. So if you want a Star Trek video game it's about the only game in town.
A crafting system that is crafting only in a technical sense. Lack of real customization for items makes crafting just another store.
Back when they were first talking about revamping Crafting I made a proposal, it's linked in my Sig, I almost predicted exactly what we got, except they added Dilithium taxes into the recipes themselves and left out the customization system I envisioned. Check it out.
Original Join Date: January 2010. Ragequit Date: January 7th 2012. Return Date: October 23rd 2014.
Comments
It hasn't always been that way though.
I have introduced a couple of family members and a few friends to STO since S6. One friend has always resisted even though I pushed it at him persistently.
After S7s "issues" I became a little less promotive, but still tried to get this one friend on-board. Thanks to the good work of Branflakes and the "fixes" that where eventually set into place to make S7 a little more enjoyable, I was back to pushing STO on anyone that I thought would dig it. Still no luck with my friend though.
Now rather than go through the rest of the seasons/Expansions in detail, I'll just say that with each change right up untill DR, even with the less fun changes I still made the occasional recommendation, not nearly as often as before but still sometimes. Still couldn't convince the one friend.
Since DR I have not recommended this game to anyone, I was running a LAN session on Elite Dangerous with the one friend a couple of days ago, he pointed out that I hadn't logged into STO or tried to convince him to join for a while...
He was right.
No, but it's a bit sad.
While I love anything that is Star Trek and I have been a fan since the very first show in TOS in the 60's, what PWE/Cryptic has done to this is no longer, IMHO, Star Trek.
1) Fun taken out of the game.
2) Massive grind put into the game.
3) Less and less rewards for time spent in the game.
4) Zero customer support.
5) Developers that call the players morons in a public place and are still working for PWE/Cryptic.
6) Total lack of understanding by the Dev team and Producers of this game of what the players are saying to them or asking for in the game.
7) PWE money grab from the players.
I could list more, but I am too discouraged to continue.
Zeus
If they're looking for instant gratification and not so much grind, I would tell them no.
If they like friendly communities, I'd tell them to stay the hell away.
If they are curious about how fans of Star Trek really are, and want to see first-hand how horrible many of them behave, I'd tell them to hang out in Zone chat on ESD or on the STO forums. As a sociological experiment, STO is quite fruitful.
I would heavily emphasise the Foundry as well, since it is one of the strengths the game has going for it.
But as far as recommending this game to friends who enjoy MMOs, PvP, or think Star Trek Online should be something it isn't, I would most definitely tell them no.
Why? Cryptic and the TRIBBLE poor support.
I do have some friends who might be painfreaks....maybe to them
Saphire.. Science ground......Ko'el Romulan space Tac
Leva........Tactical ground.....Koj Romulan space Eng
JJ-Verse will never be Canon or considered Lore...It will always be JJ-Verse
So they sent me something to try, and I did, and it failed. But my ticket was locked! So I filed a new one, and got told it's a f*$#king DUPLICATE and they were deleting it! Needless to say, I'm in the process of a BBB complaint right now over this TRIBBLE.
I like how giving scathing criticism to Cryptic counts as kissing their aft. You clearly know what you are talking about.
For numerous reasons:
Almost called it.
This game isn't even all that much fun anymore.
I stick around because i have a lifetime sub my friends well they are moving off to other games and hoping the Devs do something.
I could say more but it falls on deaf ears anyway so really whats the point?
Some of us got it when it was decidedly not free, some of us got lifetime subscriptions when it meant something, and some of us are pretty torqued off about how we've been treated. F2P has been horrible for the game, even taking into account the new content (which is exceptionally well written), it just isn't enough to compensate for getting screwed over with no lube.
Cryptic has lied to the customer base from the start, they've displayed the antithesis of basic business ethics and customer service seems to be anethema to them.
At this point, I would only recommend STO to college students majoring in gaming to see how not to run an MMO.
Had one friend who played - he got tired of this BS....and left....
I'm only still here because I have invested interest in it - otherwise I'd be popping smoke.....
Edit:
I started to wonder about the shark jumping when the Nicor Cruiser came out. This DR thing hasn't rubbed me quite as raw as others...but this thing with the Intrepid pack or whatever, nope I see what kind of people these guys are...not people I would associate with IRL.
I've started to move toward Warframe anyway(finally got a decent rig) - the community is....you know...a community, and the devs seem to respond and interact with the players....I stress "seem to" since I am new there.....
The game itself is decent, but it keeps drifting more and more towards grind from the fun that it was when I first started playing.
There are good aspects of the game. The Episodes are actually better than when I first started playing... I particularly enjoy the Klingon Episode arc, which are some of the best written as far as sticking to the faction's basic "flavor". They have improved customization by allowing us to select our own Kits and Kit Modules, as well as swap out our various Traits. They have added account-wide discount unlocks for the Summer and Winter Events, and they have introduced more missions, queues, etc. during my time here. A lot of the art assets and environments in the game are very well done and interesting to wander about in.
Unfortunately, all that is still hobbled by the commitment to grind, overuse of the RNG, and the grossly imbalanced faction offerings. It's kind of funny... the grind is intended to motivate players to spend money to bypass it, but instead that's the reason I haven't spend money. Well, that and I decided to help out the KDF half of our allied Fleets awhile back, which means that there isn't that much to actually buy. The very things that keep me from spending money on STO are the warnings that I'd give anyone interested in playing STO.
If someone is in the market for a Free to Play game, though, STO can be played 100% free... so long as there are still folks willing to purchase dilithium over grinding it. So, um, fellow players can ignore that and please buy my dilithium.
Devs, though... I like your game, but a few gameplay mechanics manage to drag down a lot of good work. I am not opposed to spending money on STO, but glacial progression and poor balance are not good motivators; fun is a good motivator... make more of the latter and less of the former. I know you can, I've seen you do it.
Then there is grinding out the rep system.
USS WARRIOR NCC 1720 Commanding Officer
Star Trek Gamers
Yes indeed, I pre-ordered the game, started playing on launch day, or should that be rubber banded for a few weeks on launch, I have invested a lot into this game, time and money. After f2p I stopped subbing as there really is no need to sub. I purchase ships, recently got the DR pack, Half Di-Li half Cash that my wife spent on me.
For all the ups and down I have seen in STO since launch, I hand on heart can honestly say its a better game today than its ever been, but maybe that's just me and my 4 years worth of experiences in STO.
Is STO perfect, far from it, is STO FUN, yes absolutely, if you look through the grind, which is competely optional and open your eyes, you can see that every bit of content is open for you, grind free *
* - Exception, New Elite Queue, these require you partake in grind, but honestly, they are literally no different than advanced or normal in content, just extra HP and non-optional "Optionals". By the time you havbe kitted for a Elite, you are no more effective in that elite as a mkxii kitted peep in an advanced due to NPC HP in Elite.
...if cryptic give me 10k zen right now
What's really depressing is that you're right, it's a better game than it's been in a long time in a lot of ways. The gripes are also the same as they've been since release, I've still run into bugs that were in at release and never addressed and Cryptic is even more moneygrubbing than they've ever been.
They do not treat the customers right and the endless grind from fifty to sixty and beyond is also sucking the fun right out of the game. The never ending moneygrab now includes making the ships I did buy in the C-Store obsolete unless I pony up another seven bucks each, which I ain't gonna do because they'll just release t6 versions right after I do, like they did with the Intrepid.
The grind is definitely there and is absolutely no fun and is in no way optional unless you want to login and doff your way through the interminable grind from hades.
I will still not recommend the game to my friends for the simple reason that I want to keep them. Cryptic is losing customers and not gaining new ones, my friends list is still showing little activity and I mostly can't even be bothered to login to the forums and discuss it anymore.
You are entitled to your opinion but I suspect that it's in the minority and Cryptic is sucking the IP dry before it fails like SWG.
Honestly, if my friend did try STO and saw all the issues it has had for an almost 5yr old game I'd be embarrassed to say I still play it.
I have in the past. Just trying to get friends to play. This was well before the current gauntlet of hell you have to go through to level up past 51.
The XP garbage isnt even their first error in how to run a game.
I only play because I have a ton of time and money involved.
I also have no desire to level up another character to lvl 60. My first character is a pain. I dont care about the special points right now. I just want to see the content. Took me 4 hours today of constant gameplay to make 2 bubbles to hit lvl 54.
I told this to one of my friends who played this game and he said he has no desire to return just from what I have told him.
Cryptic really needs to get their head out of the smoke. I keep thinking that they cant get any worse and then they do something to get me to double facepalm again.
@Desdecardo since 2008.
At least not without telling them how bad the game is now.
If they don't intend to play it seriously, and if they ignore the grind, maybe they would have fun.
Too many long term persistent bugs ignored.
Too much grind for highly specialized currencies (Rep system specifically).
Pervasive demand for dilithium and relatively few ways to earn it in quantity.
A crafting system that is crafting only in a technical sense. Lack of real customization for items makes crafting just another store.
Disastrously broken fleet economics that effectively lock out small, casual fleets.
There is more, but those are the big reasons.
Totally agree.
I can remember back in the day when an 8k cap on dilithium wasn't a big deal. Now I can't even finish a fleet project without spending real money.
I am largely a solo player. And I am a F2P player. I don't like having to wait on people to join queues, I won't join a fleet with the intent to play with other fleet players as I'm often not around when others are, and I won't do PVP because in all multiplayer player vs player games I've ever played (not that many I admit) it always ends up being a case of some spotty teen with tons of money and tons of time to play (no offence meant if you are one of those) being better than I am, thus I have no fun because I'm constantly losing.
However I'm giving STO a go, and on the one hand since joining about a week or two before Delta Rising was released I've according to steam played the game for 210 hours.
In those 210 hours I've found it quite difficult until reaching level 50 with 2 characters (one Federation one KDF) to really do anything but grind to obtain gear so that I don't keep dying and can kill stuff and I'm sure I wouldn't have been any good in PVE's due to having rather low level and rubbish gear.
It even got to a point about a week or two ago where I was grinding for what seemed like virtually nothing compared to what I thought I needed to be getting and considered un-installing STO. Quite often over the past 210 hours of play I've felt as a F2P player that I'm not playing a game for enjoyment, I'm the equivalent of some far east WoW gold farmer working in a large warehouse with 100s of other such gold farmers, only I don't get paid/rewarded for it.
I have virtually given up on obtaining anything of a handful of stuff I originally wanted from the C-Store apart from maybe 1 T5U or T6 ship on each of the 2 characters I have when/if I ever reach a 5000 Zen target - which will take me 2-4 months as it is I think.
On the other hand I've just this last week managed to get my ships so they are functional in PVE's with some very helpful advice from people on here (although I've only done a couple of Advanced queue PVE and mostly do Normal), started to accrue Dil a bit faster via the Omega rep system at 500 per 50 omega marks (providing I can do enough PVE in a 3-4hr time span), and the last couple of days I've made about 4 million EC on the exchange by selling some R&D materials I had accumulated.
Where it was taking me about 6 or more hours just to hit 8k Dil on one character it's now taking me about that to hit 8k on two characters. But even so, I can't play for 6hrs a day and hold down a real life.
So the game has the last couple of days become more enjoyable because I can see I'm reaching my goal of 5k Zen a bit quicker. Although I still haven't done the majority of the scripted campaign content so I don't know if I will need to grind for even better than MK XII gear.
So would I recommend the game?
Probably not.
I like Star Trek, not to the point I dress up and go to comic cons and could be called a Trekkie but to the point where I know a bit about the canon and really dislike misuse of the Star Trek idea.
STO is a good time waster for me and for some reason now I can't put it down for more than a day or two.
But the game is not Star Trek unless you consider it to have been made by Ferengi.
I wouldn't mind coughing up some real cash for content, if A) I had it, and
I also am struggling to see the point in the game once I've completed the scripted campaign content, I doubt once I've completed all of it that I'll be sticking around - repetitively doing PVE or any other repetitive mission just for the hell of it doesn't appeal to me.
However STO is the best Star Trek game currently available that isn't ancient. So if you want a Star Trek video game it's about the only game in town.
Cryptic: If you think the bugs are bad, wait until you see our fixes!
Back when they were first talking about revamping Crafting I made a proposal, it's linked in my Sig, I almost predicted exactly what we got, except they added Dilithium taxes into the recipes themselves and left out the customization system I envisioned. Check it out.
Almost called it.