Star Trek: Online

You could have been bugged. It's happed in other games. My first 10 levels went fast. The second 10 slow. I also used a 4 day weekend to get to Lt. Com. I've hit a few bugs on the way. It is really aggrovating when a bug kills the mission you have been working on.

 

Its barely a MMORPG.

Most of the missions are soloing; early on you tend to get grouped up but its rare after Lt. The only ones are fleet actions which get boring quickly. You can't even make a raid for missions to do them with friends.

 

so you only did a single mission? . I had assumed you had done the other starter missions. The Azuria and the temple of P'Jem

 

A single mission? I don't follow. I mean it felt like I did at least four from the very beginning. The missions were always nested, like mini-missions within a mission, thus taking me at least a couple hours to complete--with scant rewards and points.

 

Odd. The longest mission I have played took two hours, but I got 400 points and it nearly made me reach the next level by itself. There may be something buggy, Drone.

 

what quests have you done. The starting quests after you leave tutorial and go to earth are.
1st Rescue the Azuria
2nd Bring the Ambassador to P'jem
3rd Talk to Sulu
Sulu's then has you first patrol Vulcan Sector then Risa Sector. He also offers you defend the sector missions.
If you do the quests listed you will be either 4th level or 5th.
There are two other quests the Explore quest at Delta Volanis and Starbase 24
Those shouldget you to around level 6
The patrol missions are usually made up of 4 or 5 mini missions either space or land. While the story episode missions are usually 1 space then 1 land then 1 space.
You can very easily get to level 6 in 4 or 5 hours.

 

I did everything except the P'Jem mish, which I wasn't prompted to do. I talked to Quinn, did his mish, talked to Sulu to patrol the Vulcan systems, completed that, then back to Quinn to do the Delta Volanis system. That by your definition should've gotten me to at least Level 5 or 6, as I spent more or less seven hours playing STO the past few nights. So I dunno what I did wrong.

 

I am as stumped at you. After that sequence of quests you are 5 or 6 and get sent either rimward to K7 or trailing to Regulas

 

Seriously. I have no idea why Drone hasn't advanced.

 

I'm guessing you didn't spend your skill points yet. I didn't either at first. Press "u" to get your status screen, go to your character, and spend some skill points if you haven't already.

If that's not it, then maybe your character's bugged...

 

You can level up faster by defending a sector. Ther are three "team" battles per mission and they can be done in about an hour.

 

My longest mission was 2 1/2 hours and it was a subset of sector patrol. Rescue scientist held by Gorn in a facility protected by a force field. First take down the three power stations powering the field. Fight, rest, fight, rest, fight, rest, push a button. Repeat two more times. Fight some more. Look at a dead captive. Beam up. It was probably one of the most boring quests I have done. I really hope I don't get that quest again. 1 hour for 100 points makes for very slow leveling.

At that rate it is 100 hours to move up a rank. At first that really bothered me but as I think about it, if I plan to play this game for a year I don't want to reach Admiral in the first week. What I would really like is...

1. Variety.
2. An indication of quest level.
3. Control over my team.
4. Better screen utilization.
5. A mature interface.

Variety - Quest are becoming repetitive in nature. More than that, space always looks the same. In EQ2 or WOW different locations have a different look and feel. The only environmental variety in STO is planet environment and you get the feeling that is random.

Quest level - I've completed some quests to almost the end and there is no way I could finish until I get a bigger, badder ship. Since rewards are given on completion I feel like I wasted my time.

Control over my team - In EQ2 you can tell your pets who to attack, where to stand, etc... When my away team goes into battle they spread out, shoot at different targets, and draw aggro from areas they should not be getting close to. Granted, they are good at buffing, debuffing and healing. But during hallway battles they tend to run into side rooms and draw those mobs.

Better screen utilization - During battle I find myself trying to peer under the icon and information of the target I have selected. In space you do need to look up, but on the screen looking up means looking at that target information. When you complete a quest the reward information appears on top of the communication screen of your ship asking you to beam back. Many windows have frames that are big and stylized which takes up too much space. I feel cramped playing on a 22" wide screen.

Mature Interface - Yes STO is new, but I thought it was based on and programmed by people that did another MMO. The exchange cannot sort by cost. Chat windows are a long way from what I am used to in EQ2 or eve WOW. Sparse information on how to play. If I want to change the name of a bridge character it tells me I have to buy the right with CrypticPoints but that option is not in the CrypticStore. There is an option to buy a Klingon or Ferengi character but I find no way to buy CrypticPoints on the STO site or in the game. It seems like "another thing they plan to finish" but why refer to it at all before that time? This game will probably be much better in 6 months than it is now.

 

So, in sum, 'twas a rushed product, which gave me much frustration playing this game. But even in six months, I don't see myself coming back to play it again to see if they've made improvements.

 

No, more like "It seems more rushed than I expected from a company that already does MMO's. If it turns out like EQ2 a lot of these problems will be fixed during the next 6 months. During that time be prepared to suffer some aggravation that you don't have to deal with in competing, matured games."

The EQ2 release was much like this. They spent 6 months fixing problems, adding content, and tweaking the interface. During that time many EQ1 players bought the game, rushed to level 50, then bailed and never came back. EQ2 started combining servers as population dwindled and never recovered.

 

Of course its a MMORPG.

Last night was awesome... we teamed up with 5 captains... felt like a completely different game.

Suddenly we had socializing and a lot more oomph, so we played missions above our level. While it was hard as hell in space, we ruled on the ground.

 

Out of curiosity, was it a mixed group playing their roles of attach, debuff and support, or just everyone attacking but in an organized manner? I'm wondering how much difference it makes if any to fully play out the roles associated with the three types. My bridge officers seem to do their roles pretty well, but there is no pulling mobs or organized attack when playing solo.

 

It would help tremendously if they put the enemies' "levels" when you target them. In CoH this is indicated by the level number and the color of the opponent you're fighting (e.g., red = higher level, more XP).

 

They do. Equal level to you are 0 lower levels are -1. -2. -3, -4 etc Higher levels are +1, +2, +3 etc.....

 

Yep. What is odd, though, is that I'll be a part of a Sirius Sector Block enemy contact run, and after all these -8, -7, and 0s, I get a +38 Bird of Prey! Most the time there are only 2 or 3 other ships to fight with me, if that. +38? Wha?

 

I purchased the game the other day, installed it with no issues. So far i'm really impressed with the performance. No drop outs, quick loading in, very little time updating. I have to agree that the ground combat could do with some polish, but that will come with time.

Personally, I am struggling with the mechanics of the game like skills, shields, communiction, teams - pretty much everything as this is my first MMO. But I am looking forward to learning it and really becoming involved with it.