Star Trek Online: Here We Go Again!

[Malakili]

Regardless of how buggy/broken a game is, I always looked forward to end of beta events. One last harumph! before the suck starts. Then again, now that I think about it, I enjoyed server-wide events in online games. Something about the organized chaos that broke away from the monotonous day-to-day chaos always made me smile.

...except for the Bending in PS... fuck that

Aside from the horrifying lag at the end of Beta Champions event, the giant robot invasion was pretty awesome.   It actually was more like I envisioned the game to be, super heroes spontaneously grouping up to stop evil doers.  Too bad more stuff like that doesn't happen in Champions all the time or it might have been worth playing.

[Montague]

The STO event is total, epic fail.

Supposed to be a Klingon invasion of Sol. What happens is that a few hundred Klingon players are spread around dozens of instances and warp into Sol one at a time and get insta-ganked by 20 Fed ships, if you can even get on to the server. Head start on Friday is going to be even more epic fail. They don't have the hardware to meet the demand, though today's clusterfuck might handle that.

Edit - Forums say there are Borg cubes running around, but I'm not in any mood to try to kill the SERVER NOT RESPONDING boss.

[01101010]

The STO event is total, epic fail.

Supposed to be a Klingon invasion of Sol. What happens is that a few hundred Klingon players are spread around dozens of instances and warp into Sol one at a time and get insta-ganked by 20 Fed ships, if you can even get on to the server. Head start on Friday is going to be even more epic fail. They don't have the hardware to meet the demand, though today's clusterfuck might handle that.

Edit - Forums say there are Borg cubes running around, but I'm not in any mood to try to kill the SERVER NOT RESPONDING boss.

I was on Sol when the Borg invaded the station... it was mass spawnings of tough borg mobs and some elites. I finally managed to break out of that and get back to my cruiser - warped outta the sector and into subspace. It was interesting how they did the borg there... the spheres and cubes hunted you down and ported you into an instance with cubes and probes and spheres all +30 and up. Quite maddening at first, but my group finally started burning down the probes, then spheres then cubes... but holy shit they hit my cruiser hard.. +38k crits in some places straight through the shields. It was a mix of fun and stupid.

[Tannhauser]

Getting creamed by the borg was getting old so I went off to do a fleet action.  After a long fight we had to face the last Gorn dreadnaught when two Klingon players came in and fought us.  Since one of them was two tiers (lvl 41 or so) higher than us he kept us from completing the mission.  After over an hour in this one mission I quit when it got down to just two of us. 

So nice griefing there assholes, but I must admit it did help me sharpen my pvp skills.  So I flew to DS9 and went into Quark's and ended the beta there.

I pre-ordered the game off Steam, I can get 2-3 months fun off this no problem.

[Montague]

Getting creamed by the borg was getting old so I went off to do a fleet action.  After a long fight we had to face the last Gorn dreadnaught when two Klingon players came in and fought us.  Since one of them was two tiers (lvl 41 or so) higher than us he kept us from completing the mission.  After over an hour in this one mission I quit when it got down to just two of us. 

So nice griefing there assholes, but I must admit it did help me sharpen my pvp skills.  So I flew to DS9 and went into Quark's and ended the beta there.

I pre-ordered the game off Steam, I can get 2-3 months fun off this no problem.

What concerns me is Cryptic's shard system and their server capacity. When the server was running smooth the game was fun, but I could never go more than a couple of hours without server problems. I've preordered but I'm definitely not taking off work this weekend for head start, because it looks to be a mess.

[01101010]

What concerns me is Cryptic's shard system and their server capacity. When the server was running smooth the game was fun, but I could never go more than a couple of hours without server problems. I've preordered but I'm definitely not taking off work this weekend for head start, because it looks to be a mess.

Interestingly, while we were on Sol Station, the devs continued to spawn borg at a much higher rate than what started out. More players showed up and more borg spawned. You could actually see the server start to grind down with a small lag spike at first, then some horrendous rubberbanding at the peak. Seems the devs let that continue for a short bit before they started scaling the number of borg back to which you could feel the server start to breath again. 

The final push was the increased shields and health of the "final" borg push before the server was shut down. Focus fire was the only thing stopping some of those.

[Tannhauser]

Not much of a headstart for me, I'm in a wedding this weekend up in DC. So I'll only get Sun and Monday nights. 

Now time for foolish predictions!
2 mil box sales-It's Star Trek and it will pull inTrekkies, plus it's not a bad game.
Subs drop off sharply after the first month as Cryptic does what they do best, chase subs off.  I say 600k after the first month

Overall I enjoyed my time in beta and learning how to equip and man a starship.  There is so much they can add to this game, especially in exploration and re-visiting classic Trek locales and checking up on the places Kirk, Picard, et al interacted with. 

Live long and proper!  (Vulcan Miss Manners)

[Shatter]

Now time for foolish predictions!
2 mil box sales-It's Star Trek and it will pull inTrekkies, plus it's not a bad game.
Subs drop off sharply after the first month as Cryptic does what they do best, chase subs off.  I say 600k after the first month

 (Vulcan Miss Manners)

You're on crack

[Draegan]

Two million?  You're fucking crazy.

[Modern Angel]

I'll go 500k. Maybe 700k. If AoC and WAR can get about 1mil apiece this can pull down that many.

[Mrbloodworth]

Two million?  You're fucking crazy.

While two million is high, keep in mind, anyone who bought the new star trek movie on blue-ray already knows about this game, in fact I do believe even the original series box-sets have paraphernalia about this title.

The marketing for this thing is invasive, and a good deal is outside the normal MMO stomping grounds.

[Kageru]

Hopefully there's been enough negative word of mouth to bring that number down.

The idea of cryptic getting rewarded for B-grade MMO's is almost as distasteful as the idea of a lot of people having STO as their first MMO experience.

[Stormwaltz]

While two million is high, keep in mind, anyone who bought the new star trek movie on blue-ray already knows about this game, in fact I do believe even the original series box-sets have paraphernalia about this title

I predict low cross-sales. There are gamers and there are Trek fans. Those who are both already have an opinion of the game. Those who aren't gamers will continue to not care.

[01101010]

Hopefully there's been enough negative word of mouth to bring that number down.

The idea of cryptic getting rewarded for B-grade MMO's is almost as distasteful as the idea of a lot of people having STO as their first MMO experience.

There are A-grade MMOs? news to me....

[Malakili]

Hopefully there's been enough negative word of mouth to bring that number down.

The idea of cryptic getting rewarded for B-grade MMO's is almost as distasteful as the idea of a lot of people having STO as their first MMO experience.

There are A-grade MMOs? news to me....

Cute, but there are definitely MMOs that are at least TRYING to be A - grade.  Cryptic is just tossing sparkles out the door and hope people drop everything to run over and pick them up.

Also, I predict decent sales coupled with massive drop off similar to CO, as the game seems to suffer from the same problems. Namely 1) People think the combat is decent but 2) There is simply a lack of content 3) The heavily instanced nature of the game makes it feel not very "sticky" 4) good combat won't keep people past their first free month when they realize there are tons of games with better combat that don't charge them to play every month.

[rattran]

Not only a flyer for a FREE admirals uniform, but a non-skippable ad on one of the discs of ToS Season 3 bluray. The ad looked really, really bad. And seemed really long. It made it look like you play Klingons only. And if your animation system is pathetic and/or broken, don't show it.

[Jherad]

I'm gonna go with MA's numbers, and a steep drop-off. Fiance is a die hard trekkie and is 'meh' about STO (the fact that everyone has their own ship rather than being part of a crew bothers her a lot apparently), whilst I haven't even seen half the episodes of any series and kinda like it.

Then again, never underestimate the capacity of a hardcore fan to happily buy (and swallow) crap. The licence is a goldmine.

[Pendan]

First time I have seen a tech news site cover a MMO release http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=17463
With the Dell taco and DVD publicity this certainly getting new forms of marketting for a MMO. I would not be surprised with 1.2 million box sales. I would be surprised if over 300k subscribers after 3 months.

[Mrbloodworth]

Fiance is a die hard trekkie and is 'meh' about STO (the fact that everyone has their own ship rather than being part of a crew bothers her a lot apparently),

That's a shocker!

 

[Jherad]

I can understand why it bothers her... It just doesn't bother me at all, and would be a nightmare to implement. But, I'm not a trekkie.

[tmp]

The idea of cryptic getting rewarded for B-grade MMO's is almost as distasteful as the idea of a lot of people having STO as their first MMO experience.

To be fair they did manage to get some things nice enough with this title (somehow even the ships can look decent which i'd never think possible given their original designs) Some aspects are horrbile yes, but the sad part is, overall this is more entertaining title than number of wanna-be-A-grade productions out there. So if it actually manages to take off... good for them.

[Lantyssa]

How many boxes did the other Trek games sell?  That's my upper limit on initial sales.  I generously predict 75k after six months.

[Montague]

Two million?  You're fucking crazy.

I don't think they get near that many but this will be a big box seller. My wild-ass guess is it knocks Lich King off the top spot for a week or two.

My concern is that I don't think Cryptic has near the infrastructure necessary to support the demand for this game. I'm going to predict a LOT of unhappy preorder people this weekend.

[Mrbloodworth]

I would like to add the to speculation pool that on other MMO sites, the Throbbing pulse on the forums is "This game is ass". This, coming form who they were targeting, the MMO player, instead of the Trek-fan.

[Montague]

I would like to add the to speculation pool that on other MMO sites, the Throbbing pulse on the forums is "This game is ass". This, coming form who they were targeting, the MMO player, instead of the Trek-fan.

Considering the Del Taco, SyFy and DVD tie ins I'm not so sure they were targeting the MMO player. But yes, the MMO players hate the game, while the Trek fans seem to talk it up. Kind of where I'm at, since as an MMO veteran I know this game's limitations but at the same time as a Trek fan I can't wait to play again.

I need help, I know.

[Mrbloodworth]

I would like to add the to speculation pool that on other MMO sites, the Throbbing pulse on the forums is "This game is ass". This, coming form who they were targeting, the MMO player, instead of the Trek-fan.

Considering the Del Taco, SyFy and DVD tie ins I'm not so sure they were targeting the MMO player. But yes, the MMO players hate the game, while the Trek fans seem to talk it up. Kind of where I'm at, since as an MMO veteran I know this game's limitations but at the same time as a Trek fan I can't wait to play again.

I need help, I know.

There were a number of interviews where they directly said "We won't put in much asked for feature X, because we are making this game for MMO fans, not Trek fans". Paraphrased.

Granted, I am sure they would love both... But I bet anyone can see, there wont be much here for people not already indoctrinated into the MMO/DIKU setting.

[Rishathra]

While aware of its copious flaws, I had a lot of fun in the beta and can see at least a good two or three months before it gets shelved permanently.  Possibly longer if they actually fix problems and add content, but, you know, Cryptic.


I managed to get this baby a day before the beta ended.  One of the little touches I like is that your ship name shows up on the hull.  I've found myself leery of changing the names of the ships I've been given, because they've all been relatively cool ones, and it would also feel less authentic, in a sense.

There aren't enough episode missions, but the ones that are there are pretty fun and tell a decent story.  City on the Edge of Never is a particularly good one.

[Mavor]

I can't believe some of you are drooling over low-polygon crap-designed space ships and, OH MY GOD, dynamic text application on a texture.

Seriously, you should be holding game designers up to higher standards then five+ years ago.

Shame on you.

[Malakili]

I can't believe some of you are drooling over low-polygon crap-designed space ships and, OH MY GOD, dynamic text application on a texture.

Seriously, you should be holding game designers up to higher standards then five+ years ago.

Shame on you.

But its STAR TREK!!!!!!!!!!!!


No seriously, thats what Cryptic is banking on.

[tmp]

I can't believe some of you are drooling over low-polygon crap-designed space ships and, OH MY GOD, dynamic text application on a texture.

Seriously, you should be holding game designers up to higher standards then five+ years ago.

It *is* higher standard than five+ years ago. Especially when you consider the 800-pound gorilla of the industry doesn't even let you turn off the fucking character's shoulders, nevermind their AV polygon count.

[Ghambit]

Let us not forget the original design for this game.  Low-poly it was not.
I sometimes wonder which design would've come out on top...  too bad we dont know much about it.

[Rishathra]

I can't believe some of you are drooling over low-polygon crap-designed space ships and, OH MY GOD, dynamic text application on a texture.

Seriously, you should be holding game designers up to higher standards then five+ years ago.

Shame on you.

Oops, sorry.  Next time I'll remember to hold my games to higher standards instead of playing them and having fun.  I'll remember to check in with you more often, as I clearly cannot be trusted to figure out what I enjoy on my own.

I acknowledge that the majority of my enjoyment probably comes from "it's Star Trek!" and it will likely wear off quickly, because there really isn't much of a game here aside from that.  In the meantime, dynamic text application on a texture sounds boring, but I CAN ACTUALLY SEE MY SHIP NAME ON MY SHIP is totally awesome.

[Lt.Dan]

In the meantime, dynamic text application on a texture sounds boring, but I CAN ACTUALLY SEE MY SHIP NAME ON MY SHIP is totally awesome.

I guess it beats having the name floating above the ship/character in neon blue...

[Modern Angel]

I just can't get upset about this game. It's a decent little timewaster that has a fair amount of short term fun packed into it. There are titles to get mad about, for sure; this just isn't one of them. At absolute worst it deserves apathy.

[Shatter]

I just can't get upset about this game. It's a decent little timewaster that has a fair amount of short term fun packed into it. There are titles to get mad about, for sure; this just isn't one of them. At absolute worst it deserves apathy.

Newsflash...not everyone wants to play a game for 2 weeks of mediocre entertainment.