Giving STO Another Try

[137th Gebirg]

"Okay" is actually a good way to put it. I don't play it on PC, so I don't have a good frame of reference to compare, but it works fairly well. Unfortunately, it suffers from the highly restrictive nature of the console software release model. It's easy to put out independent updates and patches on PC, as there is no third party "partner" like Microsoft or Sony to go through for deployment approval on their platform. As a result, at this exact point for example, we are going to have to wait until January 12, 2021 to get the newest "House Shattered" episode with the new perks and bonuses associated with it, whereas it's already available for those on the PC. Worse, if any untested bugs or other code glitches appear, they have to wait for MS/Sony's approval to deploy hotfixes or patches to clear up the problem. Last month, a large update broke all the shard servers and nobody could get in for several days. It was quite the dumpster fire. I don't recall PC users experiencing the problem, only console players. If PC users did see it, it was fixed much quicker than ours, for the same reasons.

When it's running, it runs fine. Some rubber-banding on several maps where multiplayer activities are available (galaxy map, Nimbus III, battlezones, etc.), but for the most part it's ... okay. If you can live with it, and live with the 2-3 month lag-time between major episodic updates, you'll be fine. If you need the latest and greatest yesterday, then get a new PC, amp it up with 32GB RAM minimum, 2 TB storage and a video accelerator card that requires a liquid nitrogen tank, dims your house lights and makes an Alienware look like an abacus.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I don't have the latest and greatest, I have an i7-3770, GTX 1070 and 16GB of ram which I think is sufficient for this being an MMO and older to boot. I also have an Xbox One X so I could go either way. Sometimes it's nice to use the TV and big screen but some games are more ideal on the PC. I could go either way but I was curious how the console was as an option which you've helped describe.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

I am jumping between the PC and the Xbox at the moment just because on the console version making zen is so easy, as with just two charactors running daily patrols to get 8000 dil each, that will net you 80 zen a day, that's 560 zen a week, and 2240 zen a month, while the PC LTS stipend nets you 500 zen a month just as a comparision, and that same amount on the PC version will net you just under 40.

 

[137th Gebirg]

I had considered doing that but I have a number of things that need upgrading up to Epic status and I need lots of dilithium for it. Just finally finished opening up all my extended character Traits through the Fleet Research facility which required a couple hundred thousand dilithium by itself.

 

[JD]

I haven't played this in months, and never got past the first handful of missions, and I just kind of ended up getting sidetracked again. Honestly, I'm not sure how long I would have stuck with it, it was already starting to feel kind of repetitive.

 

[137th Gebirg]

If you're trophy/achievement hunting (like I was initially), you'll be disappointed, as some of the newer "Klingon Civil War" missions apparently broke several of the older "Klingon War" missions and those achievements are no longer available. I got in just under the gun when I started last year and was able to acquire all available achievements for the game. I don't believe that's possible any more on either of the console versions of the game. Now, I just play to boost my character, main ships and equipment. It's been keeping me busy.

 

[JD]

I don't really care about trophies or any of that kind of stuff.

 

[Mage]

Actually just uninstalled it. Every mission is the same, the storyline got boring. Meh.

 

[Freman]

There's too much emphasis on space battles in STO. Someone should tell the game designers that Star Wars is the space battle franchise, and Star Trek is the more cerebral landing party, exploring, solving mysteries franchise.

I've never understood why there are soooooo many starship heavy games for Star Trek and hardly any good, walking around on the ground type games.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

There's too much emphasis on space battles in STO. Someone should tell the game designers that Star Wars is the space battle franchise, and Star Trek is the more cerebral landing party, exploring, solving mysteries franchise.

I've never understood why there are soooooo many starship heavy games for Star Trek and hardly any good, walking around on the ground type games.

And yet the vast majority of Star Wars games takes place almost exclusively on planet surfaces.

 

[Freman]

And yet the vast majority of Star Wars games takes place almost exclusively on planet surfaces.

I know. That's what I mean. They've got it ass backwards. Lol

Although I prefer that the SW games are like that. Never understood the appeal of starship combat games.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

I am quite enjoying the game at the moment, that new ship space set is quite good and i got my first character fully up to teir 6, and now after about 7 years i am giving the Klingon and Romulan characters some time. Ha


Hopefully the black Friday sales have some good ship pack discounts, have been looking at that science ship expansion pack of late, has a lot of ships, that or the Romulan expansion pack........

 

[Felderburg]

There's too much emphasis on space battles in STO. Someone should tell the game designers that Star Wars is the space battle franchise, and Star Trek is the more cerebral landing party, exploring, solving mysteries franchise.

In STO, for whatever reason, most players prefer space combat to ground combat. I personally love ground combat... then again, it may be the emphasis on combat that's the issue in the first place My friend noted that he prefers space combat in STO because it actually feels more like Star Trek show combat: he's able to give orders like "fire torpedoes!" or "activate emergency power!" whereas ground combat just... doesn't really act like a Star Trek show, and is just a traditional MMO style combat.

And that could be why there's so much emphasis: I'm not sure how many MMOs have space *and* ground combat, or even space combat alone. So it could be that Cryptic is showcasing what's unique about STO.

I've never understood why there are soooooo many starship heavy games for Star Trek and hardly any good, walking around on the ground type games.

I think that's a consequence of games being heavily weighted towards combat. 'A Final Unity' is one of the best Star Trek games ever, but it's a point and click adventure. That's not exactly a leading genre of game anymore.

 

[137th Gebirg]

I prefer space combat but, for some reason, I have a lot more cool fighting tools for my ground avatar than I do for my ship. Go figure...

 

[Freman]

I'm just saying, Star Trek the tv shows lends itself more to a Knights of the Old Republic/Mass Effect type of game.

Why haven't we gotten something like that yet?? Lots of ground missions, some light space combat thrown in, heavy on plot and plenty of chances to get established ST actors back to reprise their roles.

But no, here's another boring space combat only game. Booooring.

I want my RPG idea, or another Elite Force game, or something like it.

 

[Felderburg]

plenty of chances to get established ST actors back to reprise their roles.

Star Trek Online has LOADS of Star Trek actors, from Martok and LaForge to a Voyager crewmember that was in all of two episodes.

 

[matthunter]

Yeah, but not many show up in the early missions, so Freman is likely missing them - though if you play as an Age of Disco character you'll get Jason Isaacs and Reka Sharma right off the bat.

The Delta and Gamma arcs are the main staple for prior Trek actors and they're endgame (I know you can skip chapters these days).

 

[matthunter]

Upgraded to a new PC so re-downloaded the game over Steam. Man, I forgot how SLOW the patch servers are on first install...

At this rate I might be able to play in five or six hours.

 

[Tirius]

The list of actors who reprised their roles has gotten quite long over the years... with a little help from the wiki:

• TOS: Leonard Nimoy (Spock), Walter Koenig (Chekov); special mention for Christopher Doohan who reprised his father's role (Montgomery Scott)
• TNG: Denise Crosby (Yar/Sela), LeVar Burton (LaForge), Michael Dorn (Worf), Robert O'Reilly (as Gowron and his ancestor Aakar), Tony Todd (Kurn/Rodek)
• DS9: Alexander Siddig (Bashir), Andrew Robinson (Garak), Aron Eisenberg (Nog), Bumper Robinson (Dukan'rex a.k.a. young Jem'Hadar), Chase Masterson (Leeta), J.G. Hetzler (Martok), Jeffrey Combs (Brunt/Weyoun/Shran's grandson) Max Grodenchik (Rom), Nana Visitor (Kira), Rene Auberjonois (Odo), Salome Jens (Founder), Shannon Cochran (Sirella)
• VOY: Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Garett Wang (Kim), Jeri Ryan (Seven), Kim Rhodes (Jhet'leya/Ballard), Lisa LoCicero (Miral Paris), Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Tim Russ (Tuvok)
• Enterprise: Matt Winston (Daniels)
• Kelvinverse: Joseph Gatt (0718), Zachary Quinto (Spock)
• Discovery: Antony Rapp (Stamets), Jason Isaacs (Lorca), Mary Wiseman (Tilly), Rekha Sharma (Landry), Sonequa Martin-Green (Burnham) and Mary Chieffo (L'Rell)

Edited feb 2021 to add 2 more for the new missions in the House Reborn arc.

 

[137th Gebirg]

^^^ Good list! Can't think of anything you missed.

I'm actually surprised they didn't use JG Hertzler to reprise his voice as Laas in the Gamma Quadrant season (don't know who the voice actor was, but pretty sure it wasn't him). They were already using him as Martok, so why not? I wonder if the the folks that did STO maybe didn't realize he played that role as well, or may be Hertzler just simply wasn't available.