I am in it for the long haul, but am only a Captain, so I do not have access to some things.
Star Trek: Online
- Thread starter tranya
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I've been looking into this game for a while now (since before it was released) however, I can not justify paying for the game, installing the game, then having to continually pay more and more in order to keep playing it.
It's why I gave away my world of warcraft to someone for free.
I know the whole argument that they need the additional money in order to keep it active, to keep developing it, to keep it more interesting, but I find that argument to be a crock.
There are plenty of games out there that you buy, install and play.... that's it, and that the developers of said games don't charge you continually to keep playing it, yet they keep updating the games, patching them, continually add free content, items, characters, levels, etc. all for free.... for many years after original release.
Valve (creators of Half-Life, Counter Strike, Team Fortress, etc.) have never made players pay and pay out the wazoo.... they kept updating and adding content to their games, sometimes almost for an entire decade after their games were released and well over a decade from release of such games as Team Fortress Classic, Counter Strike and Day of Defeat.... thousands upon thousands of people still play those games even today, which were originally released back in 1998-2000.
People keep playing them, because the company kept updating and keeping their games relevant.... while not charging the players more and more to keep doing what they already were doing for free.
Making players pay every month to be allowed to keep playing the games they already paid for isn't to allow the games to be continually updated.... it's a money grab, and for that, I refuse to purchase this game.
I'm sure it's fun and entertaining, and it looks it.... but I can not go against my principles on this.
It's also why I never bought an X-Box, but rather went for a Wii.
It's why I gave away my world of warcraft to someone for free.
I know the whole argument that they need the additional money in order to keep it active, to keep developing it, to keep it more interesting, but I find that argument to be a crock.
There are plenty of games out there that you buy, install and play.... that's it, and that the developers of said games don't charge you continually to keep playing it, yet they keep updating the games, patching them, continually add free content, items, characters, levels, etc. all for free.... for many years after original release.
Valve (creators of Half-Life, Counter Strike, Team Fortress, etc.) have never made players pay and pay out the wazoo.... they kept updating and adding content to their games, sometimes almost for an entire decade after their games were released and well over a decade from release of such games as Team Fortress Classic, Counter Strike and Day of Defeat.... thousands upon thousands of people still play those games even today, which were originally released back in 1998-2000.
People keep playing them, because the company kept updating and keeping their games relevant.... while not charging the players more and more to keep doing what they already were doing for free.
Making players pay every month to be allowed to keep playing the games they already paid for isn't to allow the games to be continually updated.... it's a money grab, and for that, I refuse to purchase this game.
I'm sure it's fun and entertaining, and it looks it.... but I can not go against my principles on this.
It's also why I never bought an X-Box, but rather went for a Wii.
A game like WoW takes a lot more money to maintain the servers than team fortress. It also requires a great deal more updating to keep interesting. New races, dungeons, continents etc... That takes more resources than the occasional tiny battlefield and balance patches team fortress gets. As for principle it 15 bucks a month for entertainment. Thats the price of a single person going to the movies for 2 hours or 1/5h of a monthly cable bill. It's around the same price as a singe meal at an average restaurant. Companies have tried to go with your suggestion for MMORPG's and only one manages it. Guild Wars and it does not have anywhere near the content that WoW has. It also has very few updates and is almost entirely PvP. Wow, EVE, COH etc.. haefull time staff continually working on updates.
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That said, it is rather difficult to define STO as an actual MMO. The "Massive" aspect of the game is missing. The vast majority of your time in game, you can only interact with what would be an average multiplayer non-MMO. Games like Battlefield 1942, which is not an MMO, yet in Multiplayer has more people in one area than what you would find on STO. That should not be, as Battlefield 1942 is 8 years old and is still completely free to play online once you purchase the game itself.
I disagree with that. In say WoW, yes the instance has a thousand or so players on at once but no more that 50 to a hundred can actually be at any one place at once. In STO even though you don't get more that 50ish people on a given area at once EVERYONE is technically all on the same server. In practice they are the same. I would even say STO is more massively online than WoW. I have friends scattered all over the WoW servers that I can't play with. I can play with anyone I know in STO as they are all on the same "server". Battlefiled is not even close to a MMORPG. STO is much more so. and again you simply cannot compare something lke Battlefield to WoW or STO. It has nowhere near the same number of updates and expansions. It's a FPS.
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When you are instanced to a max of 5 people in DSEs, approximately 20 people in any given instance on a Starbase, then the word "massive" begins to disappear. If you have 10 apartments in one apartment complex, that doesn't mean you have 40 people living together. You have 10 groups of 4. STO is not an MMO in the true sense of the word. It is an online multiplayer, but it's not massive. Not by a long shot.
Almost always when I am playing there are multiple instances available and the starbases seem to be roughly as crowded as the secondary cities on the average WoW server. Sure Starbase one doesn't feel as crowded as Ogrimmar or IronForge but it feels more crowded than say ThunderBluff. STO's server system is also FAR more convenient than WoW's multiple server approach. Particularly for casuals. You never have to worry about your friends main characters being on different servers. That alone is wonderful. Also there is no reason why STO can't as tech increases allow more people on each instance. Or in the longer term make instance transitions more seemless. WoW actually has load screens but the disguises most of them better that STO does at the moment.
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The starbases only appear crowded because there are a great number of NPCs. I've been on a Starbase where it's crowded, but not a living soul to chat with.
And I have been to Ogrimmar and been the only person there. STO IS a MMO it's even a MMORPG.
Have to disagree about the number of people online - any time I'm in Sector Space, or in a major system, or at Earth Spacedock, DS9, Memory Alpha, etc., they've all been pretty packed. And factoring in that I've played at most times of day (once at 4am when I got in from working late - yikes!), that's saying something.
Granted, in terms of interacting with them, that's a seperate thing, as a lot of them seem to be getting on with their own individual agendas, rather than socialising. Not that I particularly mind, of course - indeed, I tend to ignore a lot of them, considering that some of the uniform designs/character names I've seen are pretty effective at killing my suspension of disbelief...
Granted, in terms of interacting with them, that's a seperate thing, as a lot of them seem to be getting on with their own individual agendas, rather than socialising. Not that I particularly mind, of course - indeed, I tend to ignore a lot of them, considering that some of the uniform designs/character names I've seen are pretty effective at killing my suspension of disbelief...
Anyone know where I can get Dual Phaser Pistols? I have the MK2 that I got from a fallen enemy, but want to graduate to MK3s (I have MK3 or 4 for most everything else) or more and can't find them.
I looked at Earth Spacedock, DS9, K-7, Memory Alpha, and Starbase 39 and still can't find them.
I looked at Earth Spacedock, DS9, K-7, Memory Alpha, and Starbase 39 and still can't find them.
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Did you check the exchange?
Have to disagree about the number of people online - any time I'm in Sector Space, or in a major system, or at Earth Spacedock, DS9, Memory Alpha, etc., they've all been pretty packed. And factoring in that I've played at most times of day (once at 4am when I got in from working late - yikes!), that's saying something.
Granted, in terms of interacting with them, that's a seperate thing, as a lot of them seem to be getting on with their own individual agendas, rather than socialising. Not that I particularly mind, of course - indeed, I tend to ignore a lot of them, considering that some of the uniform designs/character names I've seen are pretty effective at killing my suspension of disbelief...
And considering most of the chat in IronForge or Orgrimar is of the "Looking for Tank/Healer foe <insert instance> Heroic"; or "Selling <Uber Item> 950 GP - send tell" or "Crafting XXX for mats only, donations welcome"; or "Cheap gold! www.tainwangoldseller.net has best prices!" (and boy did STO have that until the STO Devs got the the spam logic going
), etc.; I don't miss WoW chat much. I honestly find STO Starbase 1 chat a bit better. Also, while it's often quit, it just takes one operson to say something and then converstion starts going across all instances.The only places I have ever found any dual pistols are drops and in the exchange.
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I will concede that it is an MMO, however I do stand by my dislike of the use of instances in large places such as Starbases, or at the very least, a smaller number of them. There are times when I check an instance and there are 3 people in it, 5 in another, 2 in another. I just don't get that sense of community that I did playing WoW.
Have to disagree about the number of people online - any time I'm in Sector Space, or in a major system, or at Earth Spacedock, DS9, Memory Alpha, etc., they've all been pretty packed. And factoring in that I've played at most times of day (once at 4am when I got in from working late - yikes!), that's saying something.
Granted, in terms of interacting with them, that's a seperate thing, as a lot of them seem to be getting on with their own individual agendas, rather than socialising. Not that I particularly mind, of course - indeed, I tend to ignore a lot of them, considering that some of the uniform designs/character names I've seen are pretty effective at killing my suspension of disbelief...
I enjoy the socializing, and hope they have plans for that in the future. Without socializing, I'm just playing a game, one that I could easily buy for my PC without the need to go online, and that is where STO is lacking. WoW could never be played as it is, by yourself, solely on your own system, and that is where the fun is, when you and a group of people you've never met get together to kill Onyxia, only to find that she's wiped out 5 of you in the first ten seconds. I remember one such instance, where we were engaged in battle with Onyxia, and it got so intense, the lead tank just starts yelling "Run Away! Run Away!" and the image of all of us brave, fierce, determined warriors turning around and running from this lumbering beast still causes me to laugh out loud.
I often turn off zone chat in Starbase 1. the "WERES SULU!?!?!11" "Where's admirals office?!" "Where's the bank?!?!" "Where's the exchange!?!?" etc gets really old really quickly; as well as the general drama that always seems to start when someone wants to complain about something, people whinging when someone starts tribble jokes, or trying to use zone chat to sell their items because they can't figure out the exchange.
(For the non-STO players, Sulu is in the admiral's office which is directly in front of you when you beam in. The station is a small four spoked wheel, inside, so it is impossible to get lost and you'd have to be apocalyptically stupid or lazy to not be able to find the exchange and bank as they take up 1/4 of the wheel.)
I tend to ignore a lot of them, considering that some of the uniform designs/character names I've seen are pretty effective at killing my suspension of disbelief...
I've had to report more than a few people based on their names (Almost always people whose names refer to them being a Nazi or Klansman). Though one day I was bored and went to the captain search on the STO home page and did a name search for "hitler" and reported a few more. : / I don't know if I'm more ashamed of myself for being a naming snob or of Cryptic for not having a way to catch that. After all, they make it so you can't make your name "Khan", or a swear, but didn't consider names that would do more harm than that. Add to that that it only took me 2 seconds to search for that name, how hard would it be for an employee to just type in some potentially hurtful words/names into the captain search and mark them for investigation?
Need to get back into this. Been so busy that I haven't had time to play!
The idea is to not police the players but to do whats best for the game overall. If no one has a problem with something there isn't a need to act on it. Sure, it still isn't advised to you provocative names; in fact I think it's against the TOS in the manner you've stated. But again, so long as no one has any issue with it there isn't a need to do anything about it. If they get reported enough then something will probably happen. But overall any player is free to ignore things they don't like and that often ends up being a better experience by doing so.
Do you have evidence to back up this claim?
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