Star Trek Online: Here We Go Again!

[Mrbloodworth]

Honestly, it's for sanity's sake more than anything else. 360 degree shielding would be a bitch to describe in the UI, and probably chase off a lot of newer players. As is, how shielding and reinforcing works seems to confuse the shit out of people.

Link

One of the best space UI's ever created. I always have loved that it was a working cockpit, and not just a tack on.

[Ghambit]

Yah, everyone wants the working bridge/cockpit.  I'd say it's been the most sought after feature of this game and pretty much all recent space shooters (JGE, Black Prophecy, etc.).  Yet for some reason devs are extremely resistent to adding them, and when they do it's always simply a UI choice instead of the standard.

I'd be happy if they simply had bridge navigation in "stellar cartography" mode (i.e. sector space).  And then had a boarding party function similar to PotBS... or at least the option of sending "human missiles" (away teams) when target shields go down.   It seems like right now there's very little data streamed between levels/maps in STO...  I dunno if it's even capable of doing such a thing, but it really needs it.  It'd make it possible to run boarding parties while taking damage in space, etc.  Beam down to a planet w/o securing orbit and risk death... and so on

Right now there's pretty much no integration between what goes on in your instance and the outside aside from chat.

[Mrbloodworth]

Yah, everyone wants the working bridge/cockpit.  I'd say it's been the most sought after feature of this game and pretty much all recent space shooters (JGE, Black Prophecy, etc.).  Yet for some reason devs are extremely resistent to adding them, and when they do it's always simply a UI choice instead of the standard.

Breaking from the mold makes them scared. Even if something was tried, true and tested about 10 years ago. I think it is shear LUCK that you even have an avatar in STO, and its only because of what I refer to earlier, its the same system to a "T". Unlike say, SWG:JTL.

I still content, that doing a ST game, with zero working bridges or stations is doomed from the get go. Thank you allods online.

[tmp]

Honestly, it's for sanity's sake more than anything else.

4 shields is overdoing it anyway.

[Slyfeind]

Damnit, looking at older games always reminds me, everybody seems to go "Well we could refine what works, and make it better, buuuuut let's try something else."

[Kail]

Damnit, looking at older games always reminds me, everybody seems to go "Well we could refine what works, and make it better, buuuuut let's try something else."

I gotta admit, I giggled at this coming in at page 29 of what has mostly been a "why is this game so derivative" thread.

[Nebu]

I gotta admit, I giggled at this coming in at page 29 of what has mostly been a "why is this game so derivative" thread.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with derivative as long as you are making a derivative of a good game.  Building on fun/positive aspects is good.  The rub comes when the game is derivative and it wasn't the good ideas that the game was derived from.

[Ghambit]

Derivatives remind me of Calculus - hush!
Anyways, I'm putting this thing down for a while.  OB is near unplayable in its current state - too many DCs, too much lag, loadtimes too high.  Cryptic not prepared.  But, at least they've got a good understanding of the size of this market... probably more than they can chew.

[Riggswolfe]

So, STO put up it's preorder lifetime thing. You have to do it by Febuary 1st. While supplies last (how the hell is there a supply of...nevermind). It's $240 and you can make a liberated Borg character.

Needless to say people are actually buying these.

[NiX]

I'll be flying the U.S.S. S.S.U. Suck my dick Kirk.

[Venkman]

I understand people look for a longer term commitment. I'm saying that maybe it's okay to just enjoy (or not enjoy, depending on the game) one of these things just as you would any other game instead of putting the entire onus on longevity. If STO has one month of content, and I'm still not sold that it does, then I may enjoy that one month of content and not get upset over it not being more.

No one's getting upset. If you're fine with a month of content, great! All I was saying is the business isn't fine with a month worth of content... because people wouldn't pay for the second month

Many MMOs feel like about 20-30 hours of actual unique content clone/repeated into a few hundred hours. Same mobs, different models. Non-MMOs simply don't need to do that clone/repeat part because you don't need to feel that longevity. Some do anyway though, like more recent games hoping to sell ya DLC (prime example being Fallout 3).

Doesn't matter really. Games shouldn't be played based on the mere probability of some far off distant future fun anyway.

[Malakili]

So, STO put up it's preorder lifetime thing. You have to do it by Febuary 1st. While supplies last (how the hell is there a supply of...nevermind). It's $240 and you can make a liberated Borg character.

Needless to say people are actually buying these.

I see they upped the ante from Champions, and now the Lifetime is 240 (was 200 for Champions).  Then again, I'm sure they are hoping to capitalize on Trekkies who have been waiting for this game for a decade and who won't be able to contain themselves.  Incidentally, given the interesting note that they are also offering a recurring 1 year a 120/year recurring option for people who sign up for it now, the lifetime is effectively saying you think you'll play for 2 years (where as for say, the Champions Lifetime, you are effectively saying you'll play for around 15 months).

Anyway cost/benefit analysis aside, I'm sure we'll also see people buying it just to unlock the liberated borg character option.



ETA:  The part that scares the shit out of me is that a popular post on the forums is currently "How do they expect me to come up with that money in 2 weeks?!"  Believe me when I say I am very aware that not every has $240-300 bucks to drop on short notice, but I can't imagine thinking it would be a good idea to drop that kind of money on short notice if I was the kind of person that didn't have that much money to spend in the first place.   If I am scrambling to put together 300 dollars, I have a feeling that 300 could be going to a lot better places, is my point.... Then again, far be it from me to tell people how they should spend their money, I guess.

[Ratman_tf]

Edit: It's been a decade since I played my last Wing Commander (Prophecy, I actually loved that game complete with cheesy FMV) game but I don't honestly remember it having top and bottom shields either.

Nope. Fore and aft shields, and 4 facings for armor. And neither X-Wing nor Wing Commander had true newtonian physics!  

[Montague]

Getting back to STO, this game is not even remotely ready for release. I've gotten 3 hard locks, a CTD, and a bugged quest in the first 2 hours of play. Total shovelware.

[Ghambit]

Isnt the liberated borg an option for one of the pre-order sets?

[Malakili]

Isnt the liberated borg an option for one of the pre-order sets?

I happened to notice a sticky just now clarifying that the pre-order allows a liberated borg BRIDGE OFFICER, while the life time allows for a liberated borg CHARACTER.

[Slyfeind]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with derivative as long as you are making a derivative of a good game.  Building on fun/positive aspects is good.  The rub comes when the game is derivative and it wasn't the good ideas that the game was derived from.

Well put. I've been trying to figure out that damn duality for ages.

[Riggswolfe]

Getting back to STO, this game is not even remotely ready for release. I've gotten 3 hard locks, a CTD, and a bugged quest in the first 2 hours of play. Total shovelware.

While I think the game could use about 3 or so more months of beta your experience isn't typical. I've had a bugged quest but other than that my only problems have been little cheesy bugs and the disconnects when the server hiccups.

That said I posted a fairly reasonable post about how this game shouldn't be in open beta because of:

1) Only 2/4 faction options available
2) Bugged quests
3) Way too much placeholder text
4) Other bugs such as the occasional skill point spending error.

I was called a troll and my post was closed. Right now the fanbois are going through a very familiar cycle: shouting down anyone who correctly points out that alot of these issues should have been fixed in beta and the ever popular "just leave if you don't like this awesome game!"

I'll still go ahead and play for a few weeks but no way in hell would I sink $240 into it. That said, I'd laugh my ass off if they made the liberated borg character something you can buy with a microtransaction.

[Ratman_tf]

Getting back to STO, this game is not even remotely ready for release. I've gotten 3 hard locks, a CTD, and a bugged quest in the first 2 hours of play. Total shovelware.

While I think the game could use about 3 or so more months of beta your experience isn't typical. I've had a bugged quest but other than that my only problems have been little cheesy bugs and the disconnects when the server hiccups.

I had 3 CTDs and a couple of hard locks the first day of playing. It seems to have gotten a little better at recovering today. There are still times where the loading screen when entering an instance just hangs there for an awful long time. With no feedback to the user that it hasn't locked up.

[Malakili]

Getting back to STO, this game is not even remotely ready for release. I've gotten 3 hard locks, a CTD, and a bugged quest in the first 2 hours of play. Total shovelware.

While I think the game could use about 3 or so more months of beta your experience isn't typical. I've had a bugged quest but other than that my only problems have been little cheesy bugs and the disconnects when the server hiccups.

I had 3 CTDs and a couple of hard locks the first day of playing. It seems to have gotten a little better at recovering today. There are still times where the loading screen when entering an instance just hangs there for an awful long time. With no feedback to the user that it hasn't locked up.

I idle in a chat room in which a lot of people have been playing this (I gave up a while before OB started myself), but ever since OB the chat has been littered with "Agh, crashed, brb" "Crap, tell the guys I'll be back in soon" and so forth.

[Riggswolfe]

Sooo in what I think might be a first STO has teamed with a West Coast Taco place. Buy one of their large drinks and you get a collectible STO cup and a shuttle craft "pet". That's....interesting. Mostly that a fast food joint would team up with an MMO company for a promotion.

[Raging Turtle]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with derivative as long as you are making a derivative of a good game.  Building on fun/positive aspects is good.  The rub comes when the game is derivative and it wasn't the good ideas that the game was derived from.

Well put. I've been trying to figure out that damn duality for ages.

Penny Arcade last week:

[Sheepherder]

Nope. Fore and aft shields, and 4 facings for armor. And neither X-Wing nor Wing Commander had true newtonian physics!  

Forgive me, I must have been like... seven?  When I played it.

Here's a decent shield UI:

[Ghambit]

So pre-orderwise the only perks that actually are valuable throughout the game is the Amazon one for the Borg bridge officer eh?  Everything else is rendered moot in 10-20 lvls, cept the passive 360 turret (in pre-order boxes).

[Surlyboi]

Buy a lifetime subscription for 240 bucks and get to play a Borg.

[01101010]

Getting back to STO, this game is not even remotely ready for release. I've gotten 3 hard locks, a CTD, and a bugged quest in the first 2 hours of play. Total shovelware.

While I think the game could use about 3 or so more months of beta your experience isn't typical. I've had a bugged quest but other than that my only problems have been little cheesy bugs and the disconnects when the server hiccups.

I think the standard these days is to open a game in shambles because the first 3 months the devs can slowly get around to fixing shit and say "Hey look!Wwe patch things in a speedy, constant way! We care and are working for you!" This will give the fanbois the ammo to combat the critical posts other than your standard fare: "The game is only X months old. WoW was horrible at release too. Give them time." It also gives the team something to hang their hat on, in terms of the money from the d2d and box sales.

[Shatter]

The lifetime sub makes me think they know the game will tank quickly and its a money grab knowing failure is imminent. 

[jakonovski]

Buy a lifetime subscription for 240 bucks and get to play a Borg.

Fuck, and here I was hoping STO would amount to something. The beta is fun, but if it's yet another grab & run MMO...

[Shatter]

Buy a lifetime subscription for 240 bucks and get to play a Borg.

Fuck, and here I was hoping STO would amount to something. The beta is fun, but if it's yet another grab & run MMO...

Well its 16 months of sub time so if you plan to stay with it for 16 months...have at her.  Your total with box purchase will be about $300 to play STO.  Personally Id rather go slam my dick in a car door especially from what Ive seen in the current beta. 

[jakonovski]

Well its 16 months of sub time so if you plan to stay with it for 16 months...have at her.  Your total with box purchase will be about $300 to play STO.  Personally Id rather go slam my dick in a car door especially from what Ive seen in the current beta. 

I haven't played any MMO except WoW for 16 months, and I regret even that. Bah, I'll probably end up buying the box and quitting in disgust two months later, as usual.

[Shatter]

Doubt you will last 2 months 

[NiX]

Much like Star Wars, this game has high grief potential for anyone who wants to fuck with trekkies.

[CmdrSlack]

The lifetime sub makes me think they know the game will tank quickly and its a money grab knowing failure is imminent. 

Not saying that the game isn't going to fail, but LotRO did the lifetime sub thing and is still chugging along just fine.

[jakonovski]

Doubt you will last 2 months  

That's usually the case.  

One saving grace might be the forced and automated grouping, I love it. Many MMOs are destroyed for me when I can't be arsed to be social and end up breaking my spirit on shit solo content. Here it's not an issue.

[Nebu]

I haven't lasted more than one month in any of the MMO's developed after WoW.  Sure, I may go back in a few months and look at them again, but none have held my interest beyond 30 days.  Considering what has been released since WoW, I guess it's not a huge surprise.