Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Beta player, is the trial worth the time?
D_TOX
Member UncommonPosts: 269
It says you can 'play through the tutorial and complete the stranded in space episode', if thats as far as i think it is, then it's not even worth downloading the trial. Who downloads X gigs of game client to play the tutorial and one mission? Looks like Cryptic is still scared to reveal it's true identity to prospective subscribers.
Despite me being a massive anti-cryptic gamer, especially anti-STO since this whole sham release (see post history), my curiosity got the better of me and i decided to take a peek at STO's development. I'm quite shocked (meh maybe not) to see and hear how the game is still yet to reach the calibre that was expected of a AAA MMO on release day, let alone 8 months down the road. Perhaps i should wait another year before considering giving it another shot?
Klingon faction (ahem, monster play) appears to still be a desolate half assed endeavor. Real interiors are still 'on the horizon' (although it looks as if they won't actually serve any real purpose but fluff), 'content' is being shat out in droves in the form of boring, lifeless PvE quests and PvP appears to remain all but non-existant in this 'time of war'. Where's the open pvp 'neutral zone' specifically promised to be in at launch? Sure, the 'foundry' sounds like a cool mechanic, but in reality it's just leverage for Cryptic to prune it's STO workforce and direct more attention towards its second abomination, Neverwinter Nights. As if sh*tting all over one amazing IP wasn't enough.
So, can anyone convince me otherwise, or did i hit the nail on the head? Believe me, i'd love nothing more but to sit down and chill out in Star Trek this winter, god knows everytime i watch DS9 or TNG on TV i want to be captain! Sadly, there's just no ST game out there or on the horizon that can truly hit the spot.
Comments
Sadly the only ST game I would credit the name with is klingon academy, people still play/mod it but sadly it has issues on vista/7 etc.
There has never been a ST flight game with the depth of controls (all played with the keyboard) and ability as that game.
Small as that amount of content may seem, it's representative of about 90% of the gameplay all the way to the cap.
If you subbed now, you'll have completed the content well before Christmas. About 60-ish hours worth. So don't think "chill out with ST this winter. Think "chill out with ST this month".
I know people often exaggerate at how quickly they can level to cap. WoW to max in like 72 hours, etc. When I tell ya there's 60 hours of gameplay, I'm dead serious. No exaggeration.
so about an average single-player game's campaign then?
Currently bored with MMO's.
Pretty much. Even with the new content since launch.
lol.
I knew the content was bad, but didn't realize it was still this bad. I mean, i remember people hitting max level cap within 10-14 days of release.
It sickens me Cryptic/developers are allowed to even do this, it should be illegal. There needs to be a regulator for this industry, some sort of organization to monitor the trading/business standards of the gaming industry, someone to prevent people from lying through your teeth to sell copies.
I took a bit longer. I played at launch for 3-ish weeks. But then, I did the "exploration missions" fairly often for ship gear which didn't seem to have any perceivable effect. They had a "welcome back" weekend a while ago, during which I managed to polish off all the new content the first evening.
I think what makes the situation particularly bad, is that they can't use the excuse, "but you're just zerging through the content. Slow down! Smell the roses!".
There are no roses.
If you're into crafting, there's no real way to "focus" on what is called "crafting" in this game. The stuff you need is only available in instances and nebulae. And it's too random to really go searching for something specific that you need.
PvP is lopsided and thus, barely exists.
So there's main content, and Diplomacy missions.
They'll probably have another " Welcome back weekend " with the release of season 3 . If Cryptic is true to form, they will have the weekend right on the heels of the release . This means it'll be buggy as all shit. They are trying though . I said it a long time ago , too little , too late , to save the game, and Cryptics reputation.
Just a slight clarification, but the extreme hardcore players hit cap during the three day headstart. The general hardcore players were hitting cap generally within the first week. Average players were hitting cap anywhere from two to three weeks, and the casuals were reaching cap between three weeks and the end of the 30 day free period. Only those who were ultra casual players or purposely held themselves back (i.e. kept rerolling characters, spent most time chatting/RPing, etc.) took longer than the free 30 day period.
As for it being illegal, there's really no case excepting perhaps some of the special promotions (such as the 'exclusive' Galaxy X ship for the refer a friend program that winded up in the cash shop a short time later). The EULA covers Cryptic's butt on most of the issues and while their advertising may have been misleading, it wasn't actually illegal. Cryptic (and by extension Atari) have reaped what they have sown though, in the form of poor reviews and extremely negative public opinion.
A look at game scores shows that, although you need to subtract 5 from the scores for reviews that use a 1-10 system (such as this website): It has come to light that most of the 1-10 rating systems are actually 1-5 ratings, as the lowest score starts at 5. Given that MMORPG's STO score of 7.4 is actually a 2.4, I think that accurately reflects where STO is at the moment.
"Oh my, how horrible, someone is criticizing a MMO. Oh yeah, that is what a forum is about, looking at both sides. You rather have to be critical of anything in this genre as of late because the track record of these major studios has just been appalling." -Ozmodan
KA was a fantastic game. But that game, and it's predecessor in the SFC series (which were the best ST games ever imo) are basically just combat sims. Not that it mattered to me. I spent years on those games, first in the StarLance leauge on Mplayer, and after that died on Gamespy. There's even a couple hundred people still running Dynaverse campaigns. Those same people have also formed a group to make SFC4, which they are doing completely on their own. Sadly, it's been quite a long time since any updates have come on that front, so I'm pretty sure SFC4 is a dead duck.
I was really looking forward to that.
Even though KA, and the SFC games were sims, imo they were/still are WAYYYYY more fun, tactical, skill based, and social. The graphics are quite dated now though. There was no persistant world, they were just matches. But when I heard they were making a ST MMO all those years ago, I got so excited. I had delusions of grandeur about how they would take the combat from SFC / KA, and make a real MMO around that.
But no... Instead we got no skill, space bar mashing combat, meaningless and equally boring PVP, what they call exploration but I call a bad joke, and broken social structures where fleets can't even fit everyone in the same instance together.
Oh , not to mention the complete lack of a ST feel. Anyone who is a fan of ST knows STO didn't even come close in that regard.
Is the trial worth the time? Any trial is worth finding out if you enjoy a game or not. How else will you know but to play it yourself? If you like easy, boring, and super super super repetitive game play then you'll probably enjoy STO because I must admit the graphics, and sound / music are very good. That's about all they got right imo however.
Edit: My STO experience...
Played in Beta
Purchased LTS
Game released
Hit cap in 1 week (playing 3 hrs per day average)
Realized I didn't like the game
canceled LTS - got refund
quit by week 3 after release - my shortest stay in any MMO by FAR
Never looked back
imho the these forums are as close as you are ever going to get to a regulator (or similar forums).
buyer beware when it comes to games. but if you read the forums here you can get a pretty good idea of what most mmo's weak and strong points are.
sto is a great example of this, you see the same complaints about the game over and over from lots of people.
sto strrengths- pretty good graphics
sto weakness'- pretty much everything else
IF THE ONLY DEFENCE FOR CRITICISM OF A GAME IS CALLING SOMEONE A TROLL OR HATER, THAT SAYS A LOT ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THE GAME