Star Trek: Online

Question ...
What about the game's story?
Will it actually have a story or is it going to be a classic MMO merely set in a ST universe?
Honestly though I'm not playing any MMO's atm due to the fact they require subscriptions.
Although I'm still wondering about this game.
If it won't have a story, then I don't think the fact it's set in a ST universe makes it any better.
The SW TOR for example has a fully fledged story for example and that makes it quite interesting.

 

What do folks think about the announced ranks? Personally I think they have simplified the ranking system too much; all MMOs need room to grow, if they had included things like LT JG, Fleet Captain, and Commodore, they could have left more Admiral ranks for possible expansions.

 

I don't know how they work. Do they have any connection to the class of ship you're commanding?

 

Cryptic has a couple of news items on their site about it, here, and here.

I like the way the ranks work in coordination with the skill trees, I'm just thinking the way they structured things builds them into a box a bit.

Also, it's nitpicky, but I wish they had used a few more of the established ranks from ST. If they are successful (every MMO should have this problem, of course) there will inevitably be pressure to create higher level content, akin to raising the level cap in WoW.

 

I don't see how it's a problem; your rank is just a function of how many skill points you've allocated and when you reach the top rank there's still more skill points to earn. In other words, ranks aren't actually your level, they're just a label based on what your level (or equivalent) is. Adding more granularity to the top level label doesn't really get you any advantage, so I think it's best to keep it simple.

Plenty of MMOs do this sort of thing. Warhammer Online, for instance, has the game divided up into four tiers; the content you have access to depends on the tier. And what tier you're in depends on your level. It's really the same thing, just with different words. Furthermore, in STO they don't actually have to raise the "level" cap... just add more skills.

 

Your rank will determine what ship tier you have access to and the ships within it. So for example:

Lt. Cmdr: Tier 1
Cmdr: Tier 2
Captain: Tier 3
Admiral: Tier 4

Cruisers:
Tier 1 Constitution
Tier 2 Cheyenne
Tier 3 Galaxy
Tier 4 Sovereign

Science:
Tier 1 Nova
Tier 2 Olympic
Tier 3 Intrepid
Tier 4 Luna

Tactical:
Tier 1 Saber
Tier 2 Akira
Tier 3 Defiant
Tier 4 Prometheus

 

Repeating the question:
Will the game have an actual story?

 

Heh, would it be cool if I forgo the Sovereign to keep my Galaxy?

 

Yes, they've said that it will have a major storyline running throughout. If you want, you could also read up on their 'Path to 2409' buildup, it starts at 2379-2380: STO Back story

 

I'm aware of the back story ... my concern is with the actual story within the game itself.
Will it be something akin to Star Wars TOR or just quests for gaining xp.

 

The rank and skill point thing sounds a lot like the WoW skill tree. What about actual levels? Will they have that as well?

 

It's actually quite different from WoW. In WoW you gain levels and this is how you earn skill points. In STO you gain skill points and how many you apply determines your rank. There are no levels as such.

 

I was more referring to the assigning of different points to different skills. But if this is how you "level up" so to speak, they really should consider adding more to it. I wonder if you get demoted for shooting a fellow crew member...

 

PC Gamer's article on STO is now available to download in PDF format: http://www.pcgamer.com/pdfs/Oct09_StarTrekOnline.pdf

 

It's good to see so much interest in STO over here on these boards (can't believe I just found this BBS myself!).

If anyone's intersted, we have a fleet/guild forming for STO already. It's a "by fans, for fans" group, and I hope we'll build a great ST-loving community there.

If you're interested, please check our site: http://section13.guildlaunch.com/

 

They have the Miranda and Constitution but no Excelsior...what a crock.

 

Actually they said a couple of days ago in irc that you can make an Excelsior-class in the Tier 1 Cruiser set. Just as you can make the Steamrunner-class in the Tier 2 Escort set.

Should also mention that they'll also be a total of sixteen basic configurations for the Federation.

 

How many configurations for the Klingons, dammit? It'll suck if they artificially create a player imbalance between the races due to lack of variety for Klingons.

 

I'm kinda wondering if the Constitution may be a typo and they meant Excelsior since we already have a Constitution like ship (Excalibur).

 

Bit more than a typo.

Though I'm not sure myself, I've seen in a demo video at some show the ST:O crew were at, and in showing a batch of ship 'skins' we see a refit Constitution class there, so I don't know if this is just a 'skin' of the Excalibur class, or a separate class in it's own right.