Worth a try as F2P???

Corehaven

I bought STO at launch, at full retail price, and then paid for 2 months of subbing.  I enjoyed it at the time.  Basically I'm saying I haven't played it since two months after launch. 

 

I've long considered trying it again with a F2P option and probably not spending any money.  I feel I've kind of already done that origionally.  I stopped playing because I reached Rear Admiral and wasn't finding much else to do. 

 

How is the game now? 

 

Are the restrictions harsh?  I've looked at them but you know, after all this time I honestly dont understand what most of them are even pertaining to.  The restrictions I've seen have made me hesitant. 

 

Can I really enjoy the game all the way to end game without paying a dime?  Will I be frustrated by trying to do so?  If so, how so? 

 

How has the game improved in your opinion since launch?  What's worse? 

 

I suppose most importantly my concerns are limitation frustration, as well as the viability of playing the game as completely F2P ( I dont like subs and I feel giving them about $90 before sort of entitles me to some what of a good time if I return). 

 

I seriously appreciate any honest replies.  Thanks in advance. 

Po_gg

Restriction-wise the game is very open, and as a former subscriber it's even more open to you than the average f2p player. The store and the monetization has its focus mostly on endgame, so to the "Can I really enjoy the game all the way to end game without paying a dime?" question the answer is pretty much a yes.

If you don't plan to craft during leveling (samples can fill more than half of a f2p inventory - on the other hand as a former sub I think you'll have more inventory slots), and have a strict goal with your captain's role (since f2p's don't get free retrain tokens, and get only 2 BOff slots, which is enough for only one role to your captain), you can play absolutely free, without any restriction or payment. Even after reaching VA you can play free, but then it becomes grindy.

Even more so grindy if you want to play multiple roles. Ships, more BOff slots, a bit more inventory, raising the EC cap (though I think the last two you'll have by default because of the former sub status), all needs Zen. You can try to farm Zen in-game (through dilly) but it's a grind on top of the endgame grind

 

In short, you can play through the whole game without even looking at the store. And after level cap you can casually playing around for free, but if you want to play the endgame (grind) with fleets, stf's and stuff, you need to eventually spend some Zen - backing it up with money or with dilithium grind.

ktanner3

It's worth a try as FTP since you can level to max without spending a dime. You'll loot some lockboxes that require the pruchasing of keys, but I never did that. The game has improved leaps and bounds since release. They've even added some half hazard cut scenes but they would have been better off leaving those out because they're very poorly done. All in all it is what it is.The game still runs a litle sluggish even on my top end rig and companions still get stuck from time to time. It's more enjoyable if you can join a fleet and run some missions together because solo the game gets very boring..Everyplace you go looks the same and the missions gets very repetitive after awhile. 

nariusseldon

I played up to L14 so far. There is no need to spend any money, and there are lots to do.

I would say "yes" to trying/playing just for free.

Evelknievel

I just returned to STO after 3 years and there is so much to do now. I find myself logging in almost everyday and watching old Star Trek shows on Hulu to figure out what is going on in the STO continuum now.

I started watching DS9 and Voyager since I skipped them shows when they came out, but now the game makes more sense to me on who is what and where the races came from.

Am I addicted to the game now, YES, the game has alot to offer since I last played when it was released and decided to even sub to the game and join a active STO fleet.

Foundry missions are Incredible on what players come up with, all the PVE Episodes are Awesome, the in game Duty Officers are Amazing and help with the leveling and I could go on.

If your a Star Trek fan like myself and love the Star Trek immersion factor, you should enjoy the game.

Agent_Joseph

yeah for sure ,maybe you ll stay if like asian based hard core grind or if you have money for spend in Z-store.

Dihoru

Originally posted by Agent_Joseph
yeah for sure ,maybe you ll stay if like asian based hard core grind or if you have money for spend in Z-store.

For free it's worth it and as ^ put it you can earn z-store points you can then spend in Neverwinter Online if you wanted to.

Karahandras

Depends what you consider 'the end'.  Story contenet wise yo can do this free easily without paying anything.  Will take you maybe a month for two or more characters to do.  After that you'll be instance grinding a lot you will likely want/need things from the c store for this, how frustrated you will get by this will depend upon you.  Current exchang rate i think is around 100 dilithium per c-store coin so you can work out roughly how much you'd need to exchange.  You're capped at 8k dilithium per char per day should take an hour or two to get this.  BTW you will also need to grind dilithium for gear.

I did pay about 9.99 for my second account as the dilithium grind was just becoming too much to do again.  So technically it is a free game but that'll be more a test of endurance than anything.

Ideally you should pay if you want to rule in pvp, but this would be the lifetime sub for the borg character then play for long enough to get the vet awards(the stipend isn't anywhere near enough to get a c-store ship by the time you max lvl).  Think the only other real advantage to subscribing is being able to make your own foundry content.

Haven't played since launch(didn't think is looked worth the money) but have played since the start of f2p and the only thing that's really changed is the amount of lockboxes that get pushed and the huge increase in the grind.  You are looking at grinding months of the same few instances if you want the decent gear etc. which can easily be screwed up by the odd noob and freeloader(afker).

I'd say worth playing now and again for a trek fan(until a better one gets made anyhow), but look elswhere for a long term mmo.

Reizla

Originally posted by Dihoru

Originally posted by Agent_Joseph
yeah for sure ,maybe you ll stay if like asian based hard core grind or if you have money for spend in Z-store.

For free it's worth it and as ^ put it you can earn z-store points you can then spend in Neverwinter Online if you wanted to.

...but keep in mind that virtual money dropped to one PWI game can't be used in the other game... On the other hand, in STo, it's faily easy to gather enough dylithium to sell for ZEN, and NW uses kinda the same system with some kind of crystals...

Doogiehowser

Everything is worth a try as F2P and certainly STO too. it has one of the best F2P models today along with Vanguard.

Rohn

Originally posted by Torvaldr

It depends on what you want out of the game and how hard you want to play it, but for me it's definitely worth it.

If you just want to play for free you can do so.  You can also play fairly cheaply and buy some convenient perks (like the poster said above boff slots, doffs, inventory, etc).  It can get expensive if you want some nice end game ships that are c-store only or if you want to buy dilly.

 

I agree that it's worth playing.  It's really not necessary to spend money - pretty much all of the gameplay is available for free, and the things in the C-Store aren't needed to play the game, even at endgame.  Being able to earn dilithium by playing allows people to exchange it for zen if they really want something from the store, allowing them to get it without spending real money.

simplius

yea i like it too

and if you dont,,just uninstall,,the only thing you wasted is the time for trying it

just a few years ago you had to pay for a game in this quality