Star Trek Online: Here We Go Again!

[Malakili]

I'm having fun and still a few weeks away from the moment I suddenly, in the middle of a quest or PvP that was fun until that exact second, log off and never ever logon again.  My MMO breakups are always abrupt and total.   

This is what happened to me in Dragon Age, but I usually have much softer landings in MMOs.  Although, ironically, I was in STO beta and put the thing down never to pick it up again quite quickly.

[Murgos]

I'm actually sending a first look/review as my next column to MMORPG.com today  

(I'm level 16 so I think I'm at least moderately qualified.)

I'll ask my standard question.  Yes or no answer please.

Is it fun?

[Kageh]

The article was pretty much saying that yes, it is fun in spite of all the troubles.

And reading all the glorious space battle reports it almost makes me want to go out and buy it. Almost! Then again, reading about the sheer quantity of the solo experience I'm thinking this game will be more fun in a couple months when even more bugs have been ironed out, in spite of the player numbers they'll probably have lost by then. 

[Ghambit]

Seems like this game is built for the inevitable loss of players.   
And yah, that promise of improved server farmage never happened btw.  2 weeks after launch and there's still rubberbanding, DCs, and server outages.

[Sir T]

I'm in the "will probably try it in a couple of months once the real beta is over" camp.

[Venkman]

I'll ask my standard question.  Yes or no answer please.

Is it fun?

Here's my own impressions:

They should have started you in space first. That's where the game shines (relatively speaking). Ground combat feels like a broken version of Tabula Rasa, something you fight through between space battles. It's sluggish and buggy and makes ME2 feel like MW by comparison.

So "fun" is going to depend how much you need to get your no-longer-relevant Trek on.

[Stormwaltz]

Ground combat feels like a broken version of Tabula Rasa, something you fight through between space battles.

About the only thing I can credit STO's ground combat with is being an accurate depiction of the incredibly stupid infantry tactics seen in the TV series. "Let's crouch on opposite ends of the room without taking cover and exchange pistol fire for five minutes."

[Tannhauser]

I think the game is fun.  About to log in again now.  But I am a huge Trekkie.  I also like the ground combat as much if not more than the space combat.  Don't ask me why.  It just hits me.  Also, I'm a Ferengi who wants to karate chop aliens like Kirk.

Plus, now my friends are playing and that makes it more fun. 

[Riggswolfe]

I'm actually sending a first look/review as my next column to MMORPG.com today  

(I'm level 16 so I think I'm at least moderately qualified.)

I'll ask my standard question.  Yes or no answer please.

Is it fun?

Yes but....

I doubt it'll last you more than a month or two. It's fun but will not have staying power. Oddly the higher level I get the more interesting the missions get. It's kind of ass backwards from what usually happens. It's like if you can struggle through some of the boring shit you'll get to some more interesting stuff. Storyline-wise at least.

[Venkman]

Ground combat feels like a broken version of Tabula Rasa, something you fight through between space battles.

About the only thing I can credit STO's ground combat with is being an accurate depiction of the incredibly stupid infantry tactics seen in the TV series. "Let's crouch on opposite ends of the room without taking cover and exchange pistol fire for five minutes."

That's actually a really good point. Even the retarded jog/trot from the shows is emulated here. It certainly does fit the IP, so is a faithful brand extension  

[Modern Angel]

Oddly the higher level I get the more interesting the missions get. It's kind of ass backwards from what usually happens. It's like if you can struggle through some of the boring shit you'll get to some more interesting stuff. Storyline-wise at least.

This is no lie.


The storyline, god help me... it's really not bad at all.

[Surlyboi]

I'm actually sending a first look/review as my next column to MMORPG.com today  

(I'm level 16 so I think I'm at least moderately qualified.)

I'll ask my standard question.  Yes or no answer please.

Is it fun?

Yes but....

I doubt it'll last you more than a month or two. It's fun but will not have staying power. Oddly the higher level I get the more interesting the missions get. It's kind of ass backwards from what usually happens. It's like if you can struggle through some of the boring shit you'll get to some more interesting stuff. Storyline-wise at least.

Totally. The Undine infiltrations, Section 31. The secret of the Hobus supernova. The higher you go, the cooler the story actually seems to get.

[Rishathra]

They added a Q mission in the last patch that was wall to wall  .  The only thing missing was having him do that bright flashy teleport thingy whenever he did stuff.  That, and I was upset when it was over.  Whatever the game's flaws, the stories aren't among them.

[Tannhauser]

Just don't get too spoilerery please, some of us are still low level.

[UnSub]

That's good to know about the higher level content - the lower levels weren't particularly captivating to me (although there were some interesting missions, just not a lot).

[Kageru]

And how much of the high level time is spent doing these "interesting" story missions as opposed to shallow repetitive gameplay?

[Modern Angel]

A lot. I don't know about cap but I'm mainly doing story missions as a level, supplemented by randomly generated exploration missions.

[Surlyboi]

Same. There's an occasional lull between the missions and the amount of XP you need for the next level, but so far, it's been pretty non-stop.

That is, when the fucking servers stay up. This is the second time in as many days that I've been booted in the thick of an interesting mission because the server shit the bed without warning.

[GenVec]

After Fallen Earth and Aion I swore that I was done signing up for MMOs in the first month of their release. I would wait for the shiny to wear off before making an informed decision.

Damn you all for making a fool of me again.

[Jherad]

Typically an average level is:

1 x Patrol Mission (visit 3+ systems and do a zone themed, but generic mission).
1 x Storyline Mission (often contained within a single system, but not always)

followed by doing one or two repeatable Exploration missions (visit 3 systems in a nebula, completely generic missions), or deep space encounters to ding.

Hasn't felt like a grind at all - the storyline missions are getting better, while the patrol missions feel ever more generic (only so many combinations of 'scan these asteroids' or 'kill these ships' before they all look the same).

[Venkman]

After Fallen Earth and Aion I swore that I was done signing up for MMOs in the first month of their release. I would wait for the shiny to wear off before making an informed decision.

Damn you all for making a fool of me again.

Eh, you're in good company. Took most of us 8 to 10 games before we started signing up for every beta, and 5 or 6 more games after that before we stopped pre-ordering just to get into betas 

[ghost]

I've signed up for this, but plan on taking it very, very slowly.  With both Star Trek and Champions Crytic has put out some decent little games, if you don't have to have an "endgame" to race to. 

[Modern Angel]

Like I said, it's just not a bad game. I know it's disappointing in a perverse way (I was disappointed, I swear!) but it's true. Some parts are average, some parts are slightly above average. The only downers are a little repetition in what you do and the supposed absence of an endgame.

[Brolan]

I've been having more fun with this lately.  While the grindy type missions are getting pretty boring, the Fleet Action missions are the most fun I've had in a MMORG. 

30 people running around gunning down Klingons is whole bag of fun.  And the lag wasn't that bad.  At the end something like 100 Klingons counterattacked and I had the memorable moment of spinning around and facing another Fed player at about 20 feet.  I had to gun down a Klingon about to attack him from the rear, and a second later he did the same for me.

Now, if they could only keep the frickin' servers up they might have something.

[Lum]

Yes, it's fun, at least for now. I'm currently Commander 3 (level 23 out of 45 total) and I am the most casual player alive, there are people who have been max level for a week already (they're the ones who already did the new Q/Borg missions).

Once I get max level on Fed, I'll probably pwn faces as a Klingon but I can see a lot of people getting a month or 2 of gameplay and saying "welp, I'm done".

[Ghambit]

As much as I enjoyed ground PvP, upon really analyzing the combat system it's pretty apparent there's WAY too many disables in the game.  Between the uber-debuffs, placates, telekinetic knockdowns, stuns, stunlocks, slowdowns, and on and on... you're pretty much screwed if you're focused in any confrontation.  And since no one is endgame specced you're pretty much forced into grouping with people who's main aim is damage and not buff/debuffs/cleanse.

Which all pretty much leads to the simple fact that no matter how solo/casual-friendly STO is, it's many times more the game with a concerted group of friends... both in PvP and moving through the Storylines.  (and loot and scaling as well; 3 is the magic number)

[Lum]

For all the times you all make fun of me for recommending movies and single-player games, all I have to do is come into this forum and lick the hypocrisy.

It tastes like Strawberry.

Kindly point me to where I recommended this game for YOU, Mister "I hate every game that is not a roguelike in some fashion and haven't played MMOs in 12 years".

[Malakili]

For all the times you all make fun of me for recommending movies and single-player games, all I have to do is come into this forum and lick the hypocrisy.

It tastes like Strawberry.

Kindly point me to where I recommended this game for YOU, Mister "I hate every game that is not a roguelike in some fashion and haven't played MMOs in 12 years".

Lies, schild played (plays?) Fallen Earth.   Also, who is that in your avatar, and why has it been mirrored, and why is he wearing an NKVD shirt?

[Venkman]

I believe that's Lum. Though it's been a few years since I've seen him

For all the times you all make fun of me for recommending movies and single-player games, all I have to do is come into this forum and lick the hypocrisy.

Whose recommending this? Everyone playing it is a) surprised they're doing so; and, b) not sure for how long   

[Lum]

Also, who is that in your avatar, and why has it been mirrored, and why is he wearing an NKVD shirt?

Me, I don't know, I like irony.

[Malakili]

Also, who is that in your avatar, and why has it been mirrored, and why is he wearing an NKVD shirt?

Me, I don't know, I like irony.

Fair enough.

[Pennilenko]

Played Demon's Souls yet?

That was a horrible game, I really feel that way at the risk of being an outcast.

[Lum]

Played Demon's Souls yet?

*looks around house for PS3 to play it on, remembers he doesn't own one*

[Falconeer]

Played Demon's Souls yet?

That was a horrible game, I really feel that way at the risk of being an outcast.

You are so wrong I would say you can't be real. No, you are too wrong. That doesn't exist in nature.

[UnSub]

Played Demon's Souls yet?

*looks around house for PS3 to play it on, remembers he doesn't own one*

I'm in this boat too. Now I'm worried that during WWIII not owning a PS3 is proof of disloyalty, or at the very least a case for being stripped of all my possessions and being placed in some kind of slave caste.