Is a lifetime sub worth it?

reemus · November 2017

Weighing in here. I was burned on my last "lifetime" sub on another game and was reminded that "lifetime" means the life of the game. So, I have to ask myself just how long does STO have? Are the perks worth paying $200 for? I mean, when it comes down to the real wallet... 1 year doing a monthly sub is $180... To really feel like I got my $200 worth with a lifetime sub I would need at least 2 years of the game with the perks...

It is a tough choice for me.... I know you get a little extra dil to refine daily, 500 zen a month, and some XP boosts so far that I have read but, I have to ask myself if I am really hurting in these areas in the first place?

Would like some honest input by the life-subbers. I know many of you have been around a long time on this game and may have had a lifetime for a while... Would you buy a lifetime sub right now with a game that has been running as long as this one has? There seems to be the MMO curse of 9yrs where things start to fall apart. WoW, EVE, CoH/CoV. I still play EVE but it is dying fast....especially since after 13yrs they decided to go to the F2P route and pay to win.... short term big money before the close of the game.

Anyways, If I am going to drop $200 into STO (again) I wonder if it will be around long enough to enjoy the perks...Or if that $200 should dropped into the c-store and be swimming around in a sea of new ships I can play right now.... hmmm

starkaos · November 2017

None of us have any idea when STO shuts down its servers. There is supposed to be a Dominion Expansion coming out next Summer, but there have been cases like City of Heroes where they are busy working on their next major patch and the people in charge give their pink slips. So the only people that have a clue when STO shuts down is Perfect World. So unless Perfect World decides to shut down STO, then you have at least a year to enjoy your perks.

The extra dilithium is a duty officer assignment so it is not used by every lifer. If you are going to buy a LTS, then do it now. All I can say is that when I bought it before the game was F2P, the LTS was extremely worth it. If I bought it now, then I would have to seriously consider whether it is worth it. The only thing that should affect your decision is if the ingame items are worth it. Are the Liberated Borg and Talaxian races, a few costume options, two transforming ships, a unique shuttle and EV Suit for each faction, access to a dead social zone, Android Bridge Officers, a pet, and other items worth it to you? All I recommend is either go F2P or go LTS since there is no other reasonable option.

tigeraries · November 2017

PC sub... if you plan on playing for 2 years then yes... that is if the game lasts for 2 more years.

If your playing more than 1 toon, then yes.

The only real incentive is for 500 zen a month stipend. everything else is fluff that you can grind for. Vet ships arent any better than what is on the Z-Store or the free event ships. The extra playable races are meh.

binebane · November 2017

sto is here for what 5 years? if it lasts 9 years so thats 4 more years. go for it than.

nimbull · November 2017

I got my lifetime sub right before Legacy of Romulus. So for me it was worth it. These days I don't know if it is worth it since it's been stated there won't ever be another Legacy of Romulus style update again. If you are going to play Fed exclusively then there might be more incentive to get it but if you are looking at Romulans or KDFs ya might try vanilla zen purchases or grinding out stuff instead.

Look at the state of the game. Is it to buggy for you? Do you run in to missions where the environment is out of whack yet the mission has been around for quite a while? Stuff like that will tell you if it's worth putting money in to this game. Since it's free to play those things most likely won't get fixed because they need to put out the newest money makers. This means your overall play experience might go down because you don't want to level new toons through buggy content and staying on already leveled ones after a while gets stale.

seaofsorrows · November 2017

You're going to get varying opinions here, but honestly.. I think you would have to be nuts to buy a Lifetime at this point in the games life cycle.

You would be better off just subbing for a month to get the perks like inventory expansion, the bank, and to get re-spec tokens as you level. Once it expires, buy the EC Credit Cap unlock, buy a couple ships (or even ship packs) that you like and you're good. You'll get a lot more that way for a lot less money.

I played today for the first time in a few weeks and the game was even more desolate then last time I played. I'm not going to cry 'doom' but I honestly believe this game has more years behind it then ahead of it. Lifetime at this point would just simply not be worth the money, even on sale.

usskentucky · November 2017

I just read about PWE laying off the entire labor force for Gigantic.

valoreah · November 2017

usskentucky wrote: »

I just read about PWE laying off the entire labor force for Gigantic.

Which has nothing to do with Cryptic or STO.

Champions online is still chugging along after 8 years (and counting). Fairly sure STO will be around at least for another 2 for you to get your money's worth out of a LTS.

storules · November 2017

Same question comes time after time again after a sale...same answer from me LOL

It was worth it on Year 1 and lost its value as years past by. Now about 7th year...worth it... not really. IMO this MMO might have its last years counted and the BEST ones are in the rearview mirror. You might not get your money's worth but up to you

reemus · November 2017

Yea, I kind of had to use my previous experience with MMOs to gauge this. I was a CoH/CoV hardcore from day 1 and then bam.... gone. Still think it was the best all around MMO made. EVE I have played for almost 10yrs and it seems to have had the most dedicated staff to keeping the game relatively bug free and on top of that they only have (had maybe now) that one title. WoW I never liked and could only stand about an hour of playing it when it came out... The old days of Everquest etc seemed to die off quick...and Star Wars which I started Day 1 ended up being a flop for me. I am actually surprised it has made it this long...probably because of the name.

I will stick to monthly as I have been. Not so much for fear of the game going under as it is the simple question "what do I get for $200?". A plethora of new ships, slots, etc. etc. as opposed to the perks from a lifetime sub.... I would rather have it "now". Short term invest over long term...

Thanks for the input guys and gals. If a lifetime were half that or less I woulnd't even question it and just do it... If they opened up the event store to lifetime subbers to be able to purchase (with dil of course) the old event ships that I missed by a few years..it would be worth it...

itsthebishop · November 2017

It's hard to say whether or not the LTS is worthwhile or not. You'd have to roll new characters to get the Liberated Borg or Talaxian. You do get free respec tokens, automatic dilithium refinement at login (which is nice if you don't play daily), and all the veteran rewards.

I had an LTS at launch and ended up getting a refund, because I didn't feel like it was worth it at $249 back then. It's definitely too expensive at $299, but $199 is maybe 16-18 months of subscription.

If you think the monthly sub is valuable, then the LTS is the way to go. Otherwise, just buy Zen.

seaofsorrows · November 2017

coldnapalm wrote: »

To be fair sea, this game would need to reach 15 years for it to have more years ahead than behind. That's a really long time for an mmo.

True, that was poor wording on my part. It's had a pretty long run already, I'm sure it's not going to end anytime in the immediate future, but it definitely feels like things are slowing down.

For me personally, it would be really hard to justify a lifetime subscription at this point. I guess a lot of it has to do with how much time the player is currently spending in game and right now for me.. that's very little.

arionisa · November 2017

The only opinion that really matters is your own. Nobody knows how long STO is going to stick around and nobody knows what changes might (or might not) happen in STOs future, other than the little tidbits the Devs leak out. Only you know how much you play the game, only you can say how much or how little the LTS bennies will help you enjoy the game, so only you can say whether buying LTS is worth it to you.

daveyny · November 2017

It was Seven Years ago.

vosoros · November 2017

I guess Cryptic Devs need to come here and state just how many years the game will be around for yet to get these Lifetime Sub sales sold to most of us huh? I'm just happy buying as and when in the C-Store so far...

crypticarmsman · November 2017

At this point and time - I'd honestly say: "No, not worth it."

dracounguis · November 2017

Now that STO is F2P, a sub isn't a great deal like it use to be. Having a Gold or Lifetime is only really useful while leveling a character due to perks received during leveling. Once you reach max level, only the Vet ship and stipend really matter. And it will take 40 months (3.33yrs) to get your $200 back. Honestly, the best way to do it would be to subscribe for a month while you level a toon (just make sure you get it done in that month), then go back to Silver and just buy whatever perks you lost (if there are any?) and just spend the $185 on Zen when there's a sale on Zen.

If you already have all your toons at max level, just stay F2P and just buy Zen with your $200 if you still want to give PWE $200. BTW, if you hit a Zen sale, $200 will get you 28,000 Zen, not 20,000. So $80 in free Zen.

reemus#2383 wrote: »

I will stick to monthly as I have been.

Honestly, that might be the worst option if you think you'll play for more than 13 more months. Cause at month 14 you just spent over $200 (have no LTS) and gotta keep paying. Either go Silver (and pop for a month of Gold when you level a toon) or LTS.

jaguarskx · November 2017

I purchased the LTS early last year. It has some decent perks the I use, though I have to admit that I have not taken full advantages of the perk. For example, I have not bothered to get the android Boff for any of my characters and I have not really used the Doff mission to refine an extra 1k of Dil every other day... If I am really desperate for refined Dil, then I will simply purchase it with Zen.

Overall, I more or less purchased the LTS simply to help support the game... though the 500 Zen monthly stipend is nice...

strathkin · November 2017

I'd say it's generally worth it especially if you take advantage of the 50% off sale going on now. It will give you access to a T5 and T6 Ship for each faction plus many other reward's not to mention the 500 ZEN monthly top up.

As long as you claim all reward's on every character - if you get a year to a year and a half of use - you'll have made the back the Zen you would have otherwise invested not to mention the additional other perks.

sunfrancks · November 2017

As someone who got their LTS in the beta, I have absolutely got my money's worth.

But, I would not recommend buying one now. If you really feel the need to spend that kind of cash on the game, then spend it in the cstore, as you will get far better value for your money.

As others have said, at this stage of the game's life, it really isn't worth the cost. Adding to that, the game has been on a downward spiral for the last couple of years, so it really doesn't make much sense.

reemus · November 2017

Hell, I could make an extra character to get 500 zen a month going the refine route

tacticalrook · November 2017

strathkin wrote: »

As long as you claim all reward's on every character - if you get a year to a year and a half of use - you'll have made the back the Zen you would have otherwise invested not to mention the additional other perks.

This makes no sense to me. How are you investing zens, exactly? Where are they going? What are you getting in return?

fleetcaptain5 · November 2017

In my opinion, a lifetime sub is only worth it if

- either the Liberated Borg or Talaxians are worth it for you
- you have a lot of characters and getting all the services through the C-store would be more expensive / take too long for you
- The Veteran ships are a must-have for you

Most of the perks are either not unique (such as the C-store services), or they are unique but they hardly make a difference because there's so many alternatives (Mugato pet, special uniform, the lifetime ships).

For me, the ships were never enough reason to buy a subscription. Only the services such as bank, ship and Boff slots were because I had many characters, and the special species were interesting enough. All other things, I didn't care much for.

fleetcaptain5 · November 2017

I think they should make the lifetime subscription more appealing. Adding more unique stuff would be a good start. Right now there are only two unique species, an unique uniform and an unique ship.

And for those last two things, there are so many alternatives that I don't really care for them.

More species, special abilities (even with just unique visual effects for regular abilities, shouldn't be more powerful of course but just different in some way), an unique and well designed (social) zone are just a few examples of what I would be willing to pay for.

Some things that only lifers can get and that you will always notice while playing the game, rather than a pet that goes away when you actually play the game, an uniform that you're usually too busy to look at or a ship for which there are dozens of alternatives or some services that anyone with enough Zen and patience can obtain anyway.

orondis · November 2017

No, it really isn't worth it.

It's not exactly active (there are armada's out that have less than a total of 10 people online at any time throughout all the 10 fleets in that armada), majority of the queues are empty and the game feels nearer the end of it's life than the beginning.

Every time I point this out to myself, I wonder why I even bother logging in.

While some of the lifetime rewards are nice, they aren't even close to worth spending that amount of money.

qbsneak · November 2017

I purchased my lifetime sub when the game first ame out and at first was a little pissed when the game went F2P but the free Zen per month is a pretty good trade off.....for me at least. I'm not a hard core player and sometimes go months between playing. When I get back in, I usually have enough Zen earned to buy a new T6 ship which is nice. As for the longevity of the game?.....well, despite the low player base, they're still making money hand over fist with micro transactions. I have a feeling if it weren't for those, the game might have been done a few years ago. I have a feeling STO will still be here for at least a few more years yet. While the player base has gotten smaller, there is still a large group of dedicated lifers that keep it going. It would be great if they would focus more on story rather than a new ship to purchase every month.

That being said, I suppose it comes down to how much you love the Star Trek universe and playing the game. If you're going to go for the lifetime sub, be sure to get it on sale rather than at the full price. Worth the cost if you factor in the free Zen allowance per month.

Is a lifetime sub worth it?

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