Star Trek: Online

I should hope there are more Galaxies around. I just bought the E-D from Art Asylum, and I need that baby next to my computer!

 

welcome to my world...

 

Got to admit I've gone from being excited to lukewarm on the project the more I hear, I just think another typical MMO, which is all talk. The idea of MMO's are brilliant I just cannot find one that I like I so want to like this.

 

The screenshot of the galaxies and spheres looks nice.
The lighting was nicely done (although I do think it could use more work on planets)

 

I hope that the Excelsior makes it into the game, I've always preferred it over the Miranda and given we've seen the centaur in the game, maybe we'll see the Excelsior as well. Maybe the Excelsior will be the basis and the Centaur a variant you can modify the ship to.

 

My thoughts on this:

I like the direction they are going with the story. I dislike the direction they took with the game play though. 12,000 ships running around? Really?

Personally, I would have loved it if you started out as a cadet either as a Federation or Klingon, gone to the academy, picked a branch you wanted (science, engineer, security) and then at level 10 or so, became a cadet. You get posted to one ship with a bunch of other players. As you level, so does your skills. At let's say 30-40 you take your test to become an officer. From there you keep going up. until at 60 you become a captain and get a ship of your own.

People complain what about if my helmsman is gone. You get an NPC to take over for you. Same with security. You can custom make these guys to your liking. But they can also be 'turned off' if your security officer is online at the time.

 

I agree with the story, it's unfolding to be quite interesting. Hopefully they'll continue it while the game is out, so the political landscape changes as well as the physical?

As to the number of ships, it's a big galaxy out there.

Soooo what you're saying is that a player (who may somewhat likely be a not a hardcore Star Trek fan) who wants to command the pretty starships (a pretty big part of the appeal of a sci-fi game, especially one like this in such a franchise) has to devote however long it takes to get up to level 60 before even being able to command even the smallest starship...?

Sorry, but for an MMORPG, that's almost suicide.

Now I like that idea for a game, but in the format that ST:O is meant to be, the idea doesn't really work and not just for the reason above. You bring up the point about 'what do I do if I have no helmsman' and refute that, but consider this; what about the players who are on ships whose captains have different aims to get out the game. For example the security devoted players are going to be bored out of their minds on a ship where the captain is just intent on exploring. How will players be able to control which ship they're assigned to?

 

^ That's a pretty good point. If I don't want to be an explorer and I'm assigned to a Science Ship as a Security officer I'd be pretty bored.

 

Runabouts? Possibly a smaller ship like Miranda or Nebula for a commander.

The point is, I would like to see the ship being a milestone and not something just given out freely.

Security is always needed even on exploring ships...You explore a new section of space and guess what? They aren't very nice.

You run into the Borg while exploring or a Breen scouting ship.

 

I understand completely this sentiment, and I can name a similar example, where people thought that in Star Wars: Galaxies (I think it was) it should have had Jedi stay as a random class or one with fairly specific class requirements, to keep the class special, rather than an update that was done later where it was a freely available.

The problem is that here, we're talking about a hugely different style of gameplay between being a 'Lower Decks' player/officer and being the captain. What you going to do if you're stuck on a ship where the captain is a complete prat? Sure it's realistic, but there's a balance to be struck between realism and balance.

Perhaps what you suggest could be a variant style of play available as an option (do MMOs have separate servers with differeing rules?) so that players who wish to play with specific ranks structures and the ability to perform specific ship duties. The problem is that, while great as an option, is too...limited (if thats the right word) for a first part release of the game.

 

Who cares if the captain is a complete prat? Like other MMOs, you get to pick your missions. Your on a ship. If you need help, you get a group together. If you don't, you can solo the mission.

 

I'd prefer to have freedom in the STO universe without having to grind my ass off just to get a big fancy mount, thank you very much.

 

I would think that getting a large ship like a Galaxy should be an accomplishment. A Nebula or Miranda, would be nice at around 30-40 level (if they do the leveling like normal). That shouldn't be too hard.

 

Of course a large ship would be an accomplishment.

But little ones are given freely at the start. And that's the way I like it - so I don't have to deal with Captain Tosser, except in group/raid - type situations.

 

I just don't like that at all. There is no linear progression.

 

i think both aproaches have merit... i like the idea of a ship being a guild thing, a flying base... other ships are controlled by NPCs are also flying towns/quest hubs... as you play through the game, your assignments send you from location to location to do quests based on your area of expertise...

of course, a more casual player will want to just get a ship, get a crew (or just be given a crew) and go... nothing wrong with that.

so i think the tough part is how attractive is this game going to be to casual gamers? do you just say "forget about casuals, this is for the hardcore fans" and have a really high barrier to entry (like EVE)? or do you say, "forget the fans (they'll show up regardless) we need to attract casuals"

i dont know what is better. my gut says, just go for the hardcore, because odds are the game won't do all that well, so you might as well make the hardcore happy...

 

The biggest issue for me, as I mentioned is the liner progression. Sure grinding isn't fun and they will have to find a way to make it fun (and Trek could possibly do it) but seriously. I go from being a cadet to running my own ship? And then there is the break down of the three main categories. Engineering, science, and security. I want there to be more depth in those three than anything.

 

This I definitely agree with you on.

 

I'm really liking the screenshots. Excalibur-class is cool. It's hard to say at this point, but I think they've gotten the main point that a Star Trek game about space exploration is where it's at.

I'm not as crazy about power leveling and min/max-ing. I want to be able to take my ship into unknown areas, scan planets, interact with the universe and the events unfolding. What I desperately don't want to see is so much auto-piloting that you can't travel freely, or where you only have 2 or 3 options of where to travel to next.

 

I've never played an MMOD game, but sure as hell would if it were Trek.