Not that the headline will be a great revelation to anyone, but just to summarize the observation that made me start to enjoy the game so much almost (what, is that right?!?)
five years ago - these things make STO unique in the world of gaming:
- Both space and ground action. Even (I would say: especially) if the ground action is limited to actually talking to people, that's a bonus, because it reinfordes the impression . To my knowledge, there is only one other game in the development pipeline that offers something similar (though in that respect, it will be much improved over STO's model, but considering that it'll be a decade younger and built with a lot more money, that's ok.).
- The space action is about big ships, not hysterically fast fighters that, for whatever reason, can only fire forward like cold-war-era warplanes.
- There is no need to train aiming, because on our big ships, we have people for that, and on the ground, we can just use th RPG mode for our weapons to do the targetting. Instead, we can think about tactics, countering abilities with abilities, and such.
- Story missions. While it is unfortunate that we can all only experience the same story (instead of, say, the alternative of "randomly generated side stories to the overall plot"), the way these missions work means there is actually something entertaining happening in the game world.
Anything else that I missed to mention which makes STO unique?
Remember, STO is nothing but a cosmetics game, where only the rule of cool matters. The game mechanics are intentionally out of balance, don't try to "optimize" anything, as it would just frustrate you.
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bunch of authors.
Perhaps the only thing I can agree on here. Draw back is that you have to know where to find the start of the mission before you can try it. Most are hidden.
However, other games do allow players to build missions into the games, as well.
Can't think of one off-hand that has equal balance of Space/Ground combat/exploration, but several have a heavy dose of one with just a smattering of the other. Unless you look at one of the more recent SW games (NOT SWTOR!).
There are a lot of games that focus on big ships, but in those you're a pilot, not the navigator of a Star class vessel. And STO has it's share of "hysterically fast fighters", from Escorts to Fighters to Shuttles and more. Mentioning this just means you either haven't or don't want to or don't know how to use them. And Cannons "can only fire forward like cold-war-era warplanes."
Unfortunately, STO's big ships are not realistically big. Several of those other games you're referring to with this line actually give you that 'larger than life' feel you'd get from big ships, whereas STO gives us tinker-toys. The biggest issue here is that STO has no concept of true-scale.
unfortunately, the AIM command needs some serious work. It doesn't target either the ship you want it to, nor does it target the ship nearest to you. Often it is either a random enemy or very often one so far away that you can't shoot it even if you wanted to, while hundreds of other ships swarm right up on your shields. This results in a lot of 'click the enemy' action, and cycling your target is useless.
really? That's one of the reasons you put this as 'unique'? I'm pretty sure 'every' game does this for the most part.
Only one thing: This game is STAR TREK! and that's about the only thing that makes it unique.
Wait, there's a need for a team or Boffs?
More serious: I wish they'd restrict more stuff to different careers. And give each of them a clear role to make team work actually more necessary.
I understand that it would be difficult for PUGs, but it could also make things more interesting.
could be.
Yes indeed. It is so GREAT that some maps have been bugged and continued to be bugged since beta launch. Without going further...Defera City has been bugged for years...anyone care to fix it? Other MMOs would not last this long with the amounts of bugs. They will fix "exploits" faster but when it comes to Quality...this is really DEPLORABLE. I will leave PvP out of this for now but BEST MMO...very doubtful...
Indeed...Best MMO for BUGs that are NEVER fixed...
Original STO beta tester.
So being "FREE" made up for being BROKEN since launch? or perhaps we get what we pay for?
Even playing semantics this is NOT the best FREE MMO. Heck even Club Penguin can beat it in that arena!
Original STO beta tester.
Please stop with the selective reading. My exact words were that it has one of the best F2P models around. Not THE best. One of.
Eitherway - sorry to break it to you, but the 'broken' aspects of the game you are complaining of? They're not game breaking. They're annoying, certainly - inconveinent definitey. Game breaking? Nope. And 'broken since launch'? This game wasn't Free to Play at launch so that aspect of it doesn't really factor into your argument.
Anyway - these supposedly catastrophic bugs you refer to do not change the fact that STO has a very good F2P model.
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Next time when you post something think before stating a "fact" rather than clean up what was meant.
You should have said "IMO STO has a very good F2P" You dont speak for me or the rest of the playerbase who have been here for a while and know of the many bugs of STO.
You are entitled to your opinion but state that it is YOUR own opinion rather than making general comments. Good luck!
Original STO beta tester.
He clearly said 'I maintain the opinion that...'
It's not his fault that you seem to have trouble reading his statements. Any confusion that might have arisen is attributable to your limited ability to read what he's said, not his fault.
And this isn't the first time you've been advised to pay attention when you're reading other forum users' statements.
And the OP listed some good points as well. We all know that there are limited resources available and I think they're doing pretty well.
To be fair, I don't play any other MMO's at all. The only online games I ever tried before becoming addicted to STO were some of those simple browser games - things like Ogame, AstroEmpires and such.
But seeing that almost everything can be had without ever spending anything besides time on the game, leads me to conclude that it's a fair model.
Especially none of the games I never play but always hear from people that rather play STO and talk about STO than those other games than those practically bug-free games.
Mustrum "I've heard they have much greener grass, too" Ridcully
That being said, what bugs are you talking about that have been around since beta? I've been to Defera a LOT and have never had any issues there.
Anyone want to give me a Temporal Heavy Dreadnought pack? I'll be your friend
One of the regions (comm station) was never finished and there are some issues with the hard missions in the city, it can be difficult to start them (see? No one will hear me saying that the game's perfect or that everything is working as it should).
They're all minor issues though. It's not like the 99% of the other content in the game is suffering from this single issue that people keep repeating when claiming that the game is bugged beyond repair and so on.
Oh that, thought they were talking about the peaceful city, not the battle-zone. But either way, Defera wasnt in the game at launch, and this isnt the first time I've heard people claim that there are still bugs since beta, but they never give examples (though I will admit, Defera is close to launch.) And I'm sure the only reason they never fixed Defera, is because it died kind of quick, almost no one goes back there now.
Anyone want to give me a Temporal Heavy Dreadnought pack? I'll be your friend
Why?
No content is behind a paywall. Except for a few minor exceptions anything can be optained by simply playing it.
You are never forced to open your real wallet to get item x or y ever, provided you play the game regularely enough.
Since there is nothing to win really it also is not a P2W kind of game. If anything you could say that even if you took the short route to aquireing an item with real cash, you'd still need to grind for other things (specs mainly) like any other player. Gold and silver and f2p members are pretty much equal in that regard.
While it is definately not a tribble A title (see what I did there?), it offers a lot of diverse gameplay options, seldomly found in similar games.
It really doesn't matter if the balancing is off by a hundret miles. Not relevant in PVE, which is 99% of the game. If you want good, balanced PVP, STO is simply not your game, so deal with it.
IF you want to pay money to get yourself an advantage over other players, you won't be able to get anything more than vanity items and the privilege of being among the first to have them.
Also, dispite the claims that the game is bug ridden, there are seldomly any gamebreaking bugs...like bugs that literally prevent you from playing. In the 5 years I play STO, I was confronted with such a bug once.
All in all, STO has, not one of the best f2p models, but the best one from a casual player perspective. For whales there is probably not enough advantage to buy other than vanity items and time shortcuts.
If you disagree, plz name a game that has a better and more casual player friendly f2p model, because I sure as hell can't come up with one, although having played beyond 20 other f2p MMORPGs in the last 6 to 7 years.
> reyan01 wrote: »
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> Irrespective of anything else, I maintain the opinion that STO has one of best F2P MMO models around.
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> Yes indeed. It is so GREAT that some maps have been bugged and continued to be bugged since beta launch. Without going further...Defera City has been bugged for years...anyone care to fix it? Other MMOs would not last this long with the amounts of bugs. They will fix "exploits" faster but when it comes to Quality...this is really DEPLORABLE. I will leave PvP out of this for now but BEST MMO...very doubtful...
I think you missed the point. he said it has one on the best F2P Models out there, which is true. How good the game is has about zero effect on how good it's model is. It's model has zero effect on the quality of the game. It is true that this game has a great model. From what I have seen so far there are zero paywalls and I can play the whole game for free. Now, if the quality is bad, is it even worth playing for free? No. But that has nothing to do with the model, the model is great.
I'd say it's unique in implementation.
Level builders and modding support are abound in gaming but I've never seen anything quite like the Foundry before. In terms of "what's theoretical to make" Skryim UGC quests are probably closest, but the in-game integration, continued support, and editor's accessiblity are way off.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
He stated exactly what you suggested, "Irrespective of anything else, I maintain the opinion that STO has one of best F2P MMO models around."
It really is mind-boggling when one considers the lengths folks will go to on the intarwebs in order appear insanely obtuse and/or hyper-argumentative. Good luck!
And I'm happy it's used. I've really enjoyed some of your missions
although I agree totally I will point out that I got slated for saying exactly that in a thread a little while ago.
I guess it depends on how you look at it and if you were to look around you could find 100's of games that contain elements from this one, for example there are quite a few other star trek games out there.
IMO though sto is unique in that it does what it does in the way it does it and in a way I enjoy enough to keep playing it for as long as I have and theres not many any other games star trek based or not that can say that.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
I am thinking of buying the TOS Romulan outfit for the helmet, so I can use it on the Winter event.`When you go on the ice, you should wear head protection, don't you think?
My character Tsin'xing