No, don't bother, please. The thought you can compare an expansion of a not very good video game to a person who created and lead some of the most horrific events of the Twentieth Century means your priorities may not be in the correct order or your perspective is badly skewed.
A six year old boy and his starship. Living the dream.
I do not think DR is a disaster, but I do think from a Content standpoint it is a disappointment. If DR has 30ish missions like LoR it would seem less grindy, and that would make the effort of getting to 60 and max Specialization seem less boring. What DR suffers from is lack of new playable Content. The systems introduced with DR - Crafting, Specialization, Traits, etc - are fine, though they could use some balancing. There is just not enough new things to do.
What STO need is less new system changes and more playable Content - the same thing I have been saying for 5 years.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
All told, I think DR is not awful. I'm overall happy with the story missions I have thus far played, but I find some of them are really just the same as the patrols, but it all flows together so I can't complain there.
The upgrades to crafting and such are the same kinds of technical improvements all MMOs go through over their lifespans. It's nothing I haven't seen elsewhere before. It is not the worst crafting system ever, but I never like any crafting systems anyway. I find them boring, but that's me.
The 50 to 60 grind is a grind, reminds me of early Morld of Morecraft. I think it seems so bad because 1 - 50 was always a breeze in STO. It does not prepare you for the shock of having to wait for your shiny powers. I am, though, nothing if not patient so am not at all bothered by this. I take it as it comes to me.
What I will say, and is what I usually say to people who ask, is the thing STO lacks that other games do not is side questing. There aren't many good alternative leveling methods aside from the story missions. Most of my alts were leveled to 50 back when Mirror Invasion was still part of the regular que rotation, so you could grind your way to 50 there very quickly, but it wasn't interesting to do.
I wouldn't mind at all seeing a bit more of the theme park approach implemented in STO, where little mission chains exist separate from the main story to add some flair and decent rewards to keep things fresher, longer. I realize, of course, the foundry exists, but the rewards don't scale well as you level so it only aids the technical game for so long, sadly.
This leads me to possibly the worst thing about DR - it is alt unfriendly. I don't have the gumption to level all my alts to 60 by going through it again and again. I find this the worst thing because I really do like all my alts, and enjoy playing them as I try hard to make sure they all play as differently as possible.
This would have been my hope for DR, more alternative routes to end level. I realize Cryptic is only so large and has only so many man hours to spare (as well as many divergent demands from the players). What I want would need a lot of time, and probably an expansion of its own, to do something the game probably should have had from day one. Oh well, I certainly can dream !
I liked the map expansion. STO should be about participating in the Star Trek universe, so having systems to explore and species to interact with is good.
The story was good for what it is. I do not play STO for single-player experience so to me the story missions consume way too many resources that would be better utilized on filling out the persistent universe. But it was plotted and executed well.
Almost everything else in DR is a negative. I no longer play STO every day, and 6 of my 7 toons have been abandoned, not grinding or speding money on them for any of the upgrades that are needed to play at the new end-game. Only one toon is used for anything, and he only uses the giveaway ships.
I thought with the Delta Rising we would get to have plenty of first contact missions. Instead all I got was to find my stuff got a nerf and the enemies got a massive buff in shields and hull. Not to mention tactical weapons. Then came the grind.... like a massive Ion storm that is unavoidable. Now I have gone from playing 6-8 hrs a day to checking forums every other day for 20 mins.
Cryptic want me to play again? FIX THE LAG AND UI LATENCY PROBLEM
I don't use macros and bots like some people. But it is rather frustrating when your bridge crew is AWOL and you can't fix that because you warped into combat. Until they get a handle on the situation I will find other ways to spend my time and money. At least in the mean time I am saving up zen.
Comments
You're saying that Delta Rising was like the Anschluss, the Blitzkrieg, World War II and the Holocaust? Really?
No, don't bother, please. The thought you can compare an expansion of a not very good video game to a person who created and lead some of the most horrific events of the Twentieth Century means your priorities may not be in the correct order or your perspective is badly skewed.
What STO need is less new system changes and more playable Content - the same thing I have been saying for 5 years.
The upgrades to crafting and such are the same kinds of technical improvements all MMOs go through over their lifespans. It's nothing I haven't seen elsewhere before. It is not the worst crafting system ever, but I never like any crafting systems anyway. I find them boring, but that's me.
The 50 to 60 grind is a grind, reminds me of early Morld of Morecraft. I think it seems so bad because 1 - 50 was always a breeze in STO. It does not prepare you for the shock of having to wait for your shiny powers. I am, though, nothing if not patient so am not at all bothered by this. I take it as it comes to me.
What I will say, and is what I usually say to people who ask, is the thing STO lacks that other games do not is side questing. There aren't many good alternative leveling methods aside from the story missions. Most of my alts were leveled to 50 back when Mirror Invasion was still part of the regular que rotation, so you could grind your way to 50 there very quickly, but it wasn't interesting to do.
I wouldn't mind at all seeing a bit more of the theme park approach implemented in STO, where little mission chains exist separate from the main story to add some flair and decent rewards to keep things fresher, longer. I realize, of course, the foundry exists, but the rewards don't scale well as you level so it only aids the technical game for so long, sadly.
This leads me to possibly the worst thing about DR - it is alt unfriendly. I don't have the gumption to level all my alts to 60 by going through it again and again. I find this the worst thing because I really do like all my alts, and enjoy playing them as I try hard to make sure they all play as differently as possible.
This would have been my hope for DR, more alternative routes to end level. I realize Cryptic is only so large and has only so many man hours to spare (as well as many divergent demands from the players). What I want would need a lot of time, and probably an expansion of its own, to do something the game probably should have had from day one. Oh well, I certainly can dream !
The story was good for what it is. I do not play STO for single-player experience so to me the story missions consume way too many resources that would be better utilized on filling out the persistent universe. But it was plotted and executed well.
Almost everything else in DR is a negative. I no longer play STO every day, and 6 of my 7 toons have been abandoned, not grinding or speding money on them for any of the upgrades that are needed to play at the new end-game. Only one toon is used for anything, and he only uses the giveaway ships.
Cryptic want me to play again? FIX THE LAG AND UI LATENCY PROBLEM
I don't use macros and bots like some people. But it is rather frustrating when your bridge crew is AWOL and you can't fix that because you warped into combat. Until they get a handle on the situation I will find other ways to spend my time and money. At least in the mean time I am saving up zen.