Unpopular opinion: Star Trek Online is a cheap, cookie cutter, generic MMO.
- Thread starter AdmiralGreg
- Start date
Nothing solely that, all missions have combat one way or another.
I haven't gotten very far in the game, but noted from the wiki that within the game your character is promoted from basically cadet to Fleet Admiral in the span of 2 years (class of 2409, fleet admiral by 2411). That strikes me as all sorts of implausible. There's not even room for a full 5 year mission as a captain!
People like a sense of progression, it keeps them playing.
I ignore the ingame rank and just pretend I'm a captain.
Yes, you can just use a regular uniform and put Captain pips on it. Als, you can set your ingame title (the one that is displayed to other players) as Captain (or Moist).
Your bridge officers only progress to Commander rank, so no problems there.
Just some dialogue in the story missions references your game rank. Easy to ignore.
Considering how the devs casually rewrite the past of your character and the storyline (the last expansion stuck Nog into the tutorial, and Bashir into the Ultimate Klingon) and these new rewrites are presumably STO canon even if your character created before these updates never experienced them, I'm beginning to think the STO storyline might be fine even with the Picard show. They might just rewrite entire past missions to fit it--they are already rewriting things now.
Worse case scenario, in-universe, they can just blame Q for the changes.
Worse case scenario, in-universe, they can just blame Q for the changes.
(Caveat: I haven't played it in years, but I don't think they've done any rewriting here.)
My problem with the game is technical. It's not immersive because of the instancing and the forced load-screens. You can't do something as simple as fly your ship seamlessly into earth space dock, for instance. The ship models are also woefully clunky and the shadows flicker like hell if you enable them. Then you have the oversized bridges.
A truly immersive space game would be something along the lines of Elite: Dangerous or Star Citizen or No Man's Sky. It's being able to experience that vast sense of scale of space, everything from the first person human perspective up to the galactic. I want to be able to just walk through the entire ship, every corridor, every quarters, and have it match the deck-plans.
STO will never give you that. It would need a complete rewrite, but STO is 8+ years old and still hanging on and hanging on. It's that lame-duck phase of MMOs where the engine is hopelessly out of date and yet they want to max out their ROI like an old worn out apartment building with rusting pipes that annoys me.
My problem with the game is technical. It's not immersive because of the instancing and the forced load-screens. You can't do something as simple as fly your ship seamlessly into earth space dock, for instance. The ship models are also woefully clunky and the shadows flicker like hell if you enable them. Then you have the oversized bridges.
A truly immersive space game would be something along the lines of Elite: Dangerous or Star Citizen or No Man's Sky. It's being able to experience that vast sense of scale of space, everything from the first person human perspective up to the galactic. I want to be able to just walk through the entire ship, every corridor, every quarters, and have it match the deck-plans.
STO will never give you that. It would need a complete rewrite, but STO is 8+ years old and still hanging on and hanging on. It's that lame-duck phase of MMOs where the engine is hopelessly out of date and yet they want to max out their ROI like an old worn out apartment building with rusting pipes that annoys me.
I don't know how it compares with other MMO's, but in-game it did became very generic very fast. Repetitive. Missions were all the same, and it's all about either grinding for new and better gear or actually buying it. Which I refuse. I quite playing a year ago or so.
I need a new laptop, a better one. If and when that happens, I might re-install and start over. The earlier missions were fun. But after a while, it's all about new enemies invading that you need to stop to make sure the galaxy finally knows peace, only untill the next new mofo comes to town. Meh.
I need a new laptop, a better one. If and when that happens, I might re-install and start over. The earlier missions were fun. But after a while, it's all about new enemies invading that you need to stop to make sure the galaxy finally knows peace, only untill the next new mofo comes to town. Meh.
It's an MMO the "Episodes" aren't really what the game is about. They are, for the most part, the STO equivalent to killing boars and picking weeds. Their primary purpose is to level and get the free gear. Most of the story, at least up to Delta Rising, is really just there for going through the motions of there actually being a story. But Delta Rising is actually pretty good, and the Iconian and Lukari stuff is okay. But you can do that anytime.
And of course, the new Jemmie stuff is pretty good. AoY and Legacy of Romulus are both excellent, but you can play through both of those in a few hours.
But the game is really about the group stuff. Unfortunately, the current state of the game makes it difficult to experience most of it -- but that's a problem with the community, not the game itself. But the truth is, some of the group content has some of the most unique mechanics of any MMO out there (including WoW) but pugging is usually totally fruitless and you'll instead just be doing ISA over and over and over and over...
And yeah, the initial 40-day grind is really rough, especially with just the level 40 ship. -- And don't waste time on the one they give you at 61 unless you have an upgrade token because unupgraded it's actually worse than the 40 ships because of poor BOFF layout. But once you get through those 40 days and get all your gear, the game really opens up and even the Episodes become way more fun.
And of course, the new Jemmie stuff is pretty good. AoY and Legacy of Romulus are both excellent, but you can play through both of those in a few hours.
But the game is really about the group stuff. Unfortunately, the current state of the game makes it difficult to experience most of it -- but that's a problem with the community, not the game itself. But the truth is, some of the group content has some of the most unique mechanics of any MMO out there (including WoW) but pugging is usually totally fruitless and you'll instead just be doing ISA over and over and over and over...
And yeah, the initial 40-day grind is really rough, especially with just the level 40 ship. -- And don't waste time on the one they give you at 61 unless you have an upgrade token because unupgraded it's actually worse than the 40 ships because of poor BOFF layout. But once you get through those 40 days and get all your gear, the game really opens up and even the Episodes become way more fun.
Star Trek Online is mind numbingly easy if you put any effort into your build. Work hard enough on your build and you can solo most of the advanced queues.
The majority of the game's storyline is poor, especially the unique Federation stories. Modern STO story-content falls into one of two categories - Nostalgia or a story setting up the next enemy the alliance will be at war with.
Given all the things they have you doing, that'd be for the best.
The majority of the game's storyline is poor, especially the unique Federation stories. Modern STO story-content falls into one of two categories - Nostalgia or a story setting up the next enemy the alliance will be at war with.
Given all the things they have you doing, that'd be for the best.
Well, see, if they had designed it to give players the option of diplomacy and build that in as a skill, that'd give them a way out. I find it really odd that a game that's supposedly a Star Trek MMO, with the chance to encounter new and varied species , that the only way to ever interact is by getting into combat, in-ship or in an away-team. That simply isn't very Trek-like. At the end of the day, everyone has the same cookie-cutter experience. The ideal experience would be to design several options into how one interacts, with these different contacts reacting differently to one's actions. One could still complete the missions and maybe even receive different rewards depending on tactics used (higher tier EQ on a difficult diplomatic mission?) and lead to better gameplay possibilities. As it is, everyone just assumes you're there to cause trouble.
They had to make the game in like a year. Which isn’t very long for a MMO
CBS wanted them to release at the same time as the previous company had said they would. Cryptic didn’t get anything from the previous developers except art, no game code or anything, so they needed to start from scratch.
That isn’t true at all, there are new species in STO where our first contact wasn’t down the barrel of a phaser.
And there are several missions in the game where combat is started in self-defence or in defence of others. Where conflict is ended with words or non-violent actions.
Yes nearly every mission has combat, but as I said that’s because most people like it, and it’s how they make their money.
CBS wanted them to release at the same time as the previous company had said they would. Cryptic didn’t get anything from the previous developers except art, no game code or anything, so they needed to start from scratch.
That isn’t true at all, there are new species in STO where our first contact wasn’t down the barrel of a phaser.
And there are several missions in the game where combat is started in self-defence or in defence of others. Where conflict is ended with words or non-violent actions.
Yes nearly every mission has combat, but as I said that’s because most people like it, and it’s how they make their money.
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That is exactly part of the problem and why it has the symptoms it does. Cryptic essentially only had crunch time after taking over development, and so the game received a rushed treatment of a Trek game that fit their existing MMO mold. They did their best in the circumstances they had, I'll grant them that. But I keep imagining what it could have been if they had been given an extra year or two.
That is true. But they're minor in the grand-scheme of things, and usually as a bridge towards the next part of a story that usually reverts back to combat. They simply don't make much of an impact and maybe that's why I don't remember them.
Only because non-combat hasn't been made very interesting or essential to the game. I mean, I can understand the complaints given how the game's been designed. If they'd have a better system of diplomacy in place, I'd bet they get fewer complaints.
Yet what they managed to accomplish is nothing short of remarkable. People who say STO is "a bad MMO" have never actually played a bad MMO. I don't think most people realized just how many were released between 2007 and 2012. We're talking 100s. Most of them were bloody awful. And yes, I've played most of them.
That ain't gonna be happening anytime soon, with this game, ever.
I myself was thinking about getting and playing this game, but after reading this post, I won't be. This kind of thing only works with media franchises like DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, and anything else more orientated towards action than Star Trek is (or is supposed to be); it works in small amounts when done in solo one-player games (Klingon Honor Guard, the Elite Force games, Shattered Universe, Star Trek:Strategic Combat Simulator, et.al.)
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It is ver similar to Elite Force in certain respects actually. Especially in its earlier incarnations, and if you can get used to the FPS mode that is available. They did make the storyline explain the combat at least. They are trying to head to a more balanced Trek, and sometimes they do very well...the problem is, it’s a video game in the 21st century. Pew pew is kind of a prerequisite.
