Does the TrekBBS have an active fleet?
Made a post here - http://www.trekbbs.com/showpost.php?p=4143696&postcount=217
Made a post here - http://www.trekbbs.com/showpost.php?p=4143696&postcount=217
Star Trek: Online
- Thread starter tranya
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After all this time, going to make Admiral soon. I should upgrade to a Luna class from an Intrepid?
Depends... if you want to emphasize your tactical abilities more Luna is the right choice. for an extra engineering console you will go Trident class. Star cruiser is also a good choice, it's specialty is engineering, but it's got two science consoles as well.
That happened even to those of us who play frequently; they added in the Accolade system and much of the data for them had been being gathered since launch, so immediately we all qualified for a lot of them.
I went up a level and a half after all of the allocades took.
Considering combat is almost ever present, I would select the Luna class.
Considering combat is almost ever present, I would select the Luna class.
Cryptic just had a huge release in the C-Store. You can buy now basically all the different uniforms from every era, except TMP and Enterprise, a playable Caitian (sp?) and The Original Constitution Class which I'm having a lot of fun with.
It's a great ship, isn't it? Just seeing it warp in-system each mission made me grin like an idiot.
I'm currently spending most of my time on my Klingon, Torlek ('Klingon Academy' fans will no doubt get that one!), and I've just switched to a K't'inga-class battlecruiser, albeit decked-out in classic D7 greys, and it's having pretty much the same effect!
As for all the other pre-order/exclusive stuff going into the C-Store, I'm really jazzed about it. I bought two versions (Gamestop CE for the DS9/TNG uniforms, Constitution-class ship and Red Matter Capacitor, Amazon regular version for the Borg Officer), as well as a Del Taco shuttle code off eBay (picked up the TOS/TWoK uniforms for free elsewhere), but I don't regret having done so - 60 days of free play and the CE goodies (including the awesome combadge!) make it totally worth it. And now I've finally got my hands on the exclusive emotes, Targ pet (wuv!), tribble, Mirror Universe uniform and others, so my inner completist is at rest.
...well, until they add the chromodynamic armour, automated defense turret, liberated borg and T-116 (sp?) rifle, anyway!
It's a great ship, isn't it? Just seeing it warp in-system each mission made me grin like an idiot.
I'm currently spending most of my time on my Klingon, Torlek ('Klingon Academy' fans will no doubt get that one!), and I've just switched to a K't'inga-class battlecruiser, albeit decked-out in classic D7 greys, and it's having pretty much the same effect!
As for all the other pre-order/exclusive stuff going into the C-Store, I'm really jazzed about it. I bought two versions (Gamestop CE for the DS9/TNG uniforms, Constitution-class ship and Red Matter Capacitor, Amazon regular version for the Borg Officer), as well as a Del Taco shuttle code off eBay (picked up the TOS/TWoK uniforms for free elsewhere), but I don't regret having done so - 60 days of free play and the CE goodies (including the awesome combadge!) make it totally worth it. And now I've finally got my hands on the exclusive emotes, Targ pet (wuv!), tribble, Mirror Universe uniform and others, so my inner completist is at rest.
...well, until they add the chromodynamic armour, automated defense turret, liberated borg and T-116 (sp?) rifle, anyway!
100% agreed.
(Can't wait for the T-116, myself!)There are a few inconsistencies with the classic Constitution, but nothing that keeps me from drooling. :3 I especially love the phaser banks. Aside from being absolutely gorgeous, they prove that Cryptic doesn't need ginormous beams to represent a phaser as with every other beam weapon in the game.
(Though the dual forward bank looks a little funny shooting out of my Star Cruiser's Emissary saucer section. :3 )I have an Original Constitution Class and take it for a cruise every time I get promoted, which should be today.
hey did it because a majority of the players asked for it (ie depending on what retailer you buy the retail box from you get one; and yes, some people were crazy enough to buy multiple boxes in some instances); but if you saw comments in game and on the boards, it was "Yeah, I have the TOS connie, but not the TOS uniforms, etc.; so after a lengthy thread and internal debate they decided to put all the pre-order items (the 'exclusive' part only refered to retailers as in 'Exclusive to the box sold from Wall-Mart', etc.)
The major uproar was the releasing of the one true 'exclusive' - the Mirror Universe TOS uniform set, as that was one you could only get if you signed up on a special 6 month or Lifetime Sub to Cryptics other MMO - Champions Online - and it was a 3 week offering and you had to sign up BEFORE the game launched (although at that point they were in open beta so you still had a chance to try the game out beforehand).
But as someone who DID do that, and had the MU set; I didn't have an issue with them releasing that, or what bthey've done with the pre-order stuff either, as it allows players to decide for themseles just what iconic perks or extras they want to round out their characters and play experience.
Hell, even i n the most hotly debated threads and converstations there were a number of player polls up on poll sites; and the general concensus even ther was 65% to 35% with th 65% being the folks who wanted the items up on the Cryptic C-Store.
So again, no desperation here - just an MMO developer listening to its playerbase (whic Cryptic does more than any other MMO developer these days).
As for the price drop on the box. Nothing unusual there as the client price for an MMO usually starts dropping after the first 3 months. Hell, you can find World of Warcraft for $10.00 in areas; and that game isn't dying (I picked a copy up back in 2005 about 8 months post WoW launch for $20.00 - it's the way things go for MMOs).
I think that's a bit of an overly-optimistic take on it, but whatever - to each his own. I think releasing the lifetime subscription uniforms was probably a bit much especially to those who dropped $200 on a game that probably won't last 2 years.
I will at least grant that Cryptic does listen to its fans - but they should have waited much longer before releasing the game. The endgame is brutally dull and I'd guess their subscription numbers are dropping rapidly, hence their willingness to listen to fans...
I will at least grant that Cryptic does listen to its fans - but they should have waited much longer before releasing the game. The endgame is brutally dull and I'd guess their subscription numbers are dropping rapidly, hence their willingness to listen to fans...
2 Things:
1) CBS dictated the launch date. It was either launch on the day they did, or forfeit the license.
2) They've been (perhaps too) open to the community for months.
I think opening stuff from all versions of the game is a great idea, it seems to be what most people wanted, if their forums are anything to go, and secondly having bought the DD version i watched most of my exclusive be given away in mags and online, so for me too have access to buy other uniforms and characters from other version has been i nice little extra........just bought the MU uniform and the BO.
Well, it was clearly released before it should have been. I'm not saying I hate it - I actually quite enjoy it. But I'm also not deluding myself into thinking anyone who's not a Trek fan has stuck around to play it. It's just not a good MMO.
I'm actually thinking we'll see it go to a free to play model with microtransactions within a couple of months.
I'm actually thinking we'll see it go to a free to play model with microtransactions within a couple of months.
So, just curious, what MMOs do you find as good coompared to STO?
I only asked because of my Fleet of 25 active players (most from my former WoW guild and 6 from EVE Online); only myself and 3 others are actual Star Trek fans, and the rest are either tired of looking at EVE spreadsheets, or were looking for an enjoyable non-high fantasy MMO, and they all still like STO, and the fact that the Devs are implementing stuff the playerbase has asked for. In fact, only 5 are still playing WoW as well as STO, and all the EVE folks dropped EVE completly.
As for STO going F2P in a couple of months (or anytime within the next year - if ever); I don't think it's going to happen as they are within the number of reccuring subs they projected; and if anything the games numbers are consistent or rising slightly if the number of people asking questions regarding the game at Earth spacedock are any indication.
Again, no one (not even Cryptic) has denied the game was released early, but that was more due top the fact Perpetual Entertainment had the development license for 4 years, and did nothing beyond a few pieces of concept art and a couple of 'test frame renders' that even they stated when they put them up that your average game PC at the time wouold be incapable of rendering to that degree. Cryptic only got the rights because they stated they could meet the launch date CBS wanted; and in the end, they did manage to deliver.
I was one of those whom was very skeptical that a Star Trekk MMO could even work given the nature of the Star Trek universe, but in the end, Cryptic's take on it won me over, and I finally have a space based sci-fi MMO that I actually like to play. (Tried EVE Online for a year, and even experienced a couple of major corporate PvP encounters, but imo, unless you're into real hardcore PvP, EVE doesn't have anything else going for it).
Is STO perfect? Hell no, but it's only 5 minths out of the gate (Hell, WoW was still a mess in plenty of areas 5 months out); and I do think the overall gameplay and MMO system mechanics (ie having a way to tell what skills directly affect what abilities) has improved quite a bit since launch. The Season 2 update is adding a good amount of things to the game (it's due on the test server around July 1, and will probably be put out on live in late July/early August); and like all MMOs, stuff will continue to be added and updated. If STO were in serious trouble at this poiint, I'm sure we'd be seeing Dev staff reductions, etc.; and were not.
Again, whether someone likes a particular MMO or not is based on a lot of factors, so you'll always have people who absolutely hate something, while at the same time have those who absolutely love and all the range in between; BUT, at 5 months post launch, all indications are the game is doing fine, still has a lot of potenial, and the Dev team is still being more open with the playerbase than any other MMO company I've seen; and is still very responsive to player feedback, and player feature requests, etc.
Hell, Cryptic must be doing something right, given BioWare is barrowing a couple of features for Star Wars The Old Republic. At first SWToR wasn't going to have any player ships, yet recently at E3 they announced player ships, and ship interiors (STO started out with Bridge interiors; and with the Season 2 update will be expanding to include a Captain's Ready Room, a Lounge (like Ten Forward); sick bay, and main engineering). At this point, SWToR's ships seem intended as a form of player housing; and the Bioware Devs are still debating whether there will be player ship space combat in pl;ace at launch (or ever).
They also anounced the play character 'companion' system; which from reports seems remarkably like STO's 'Bridge Officer' system; so again, interesting that this new stuff (along with a release date pushback) happens aftyer abother MMO (STO) introduced, and showed stuff like this can work in an MMO.
Lastly, if MMOs like Vanguard: Saga Of Heroes; Age of Conan (<---- Here's one MMO that was a real nightmare at launch, but is about to release a paid expansion, and by all reports has immproved a lot); WarHammer Online (which had stuff pulled during beta, and which I hear is getting a content retooling and more features actually removed), can last a year or more (there's no indication any of these will be shutdown anytime soon); AND non of these have gone 'free to play' either; I don't think:
1) STO will be shutting down anytime soon.
or
2) STO will be switching to a 'free to play' model anytime soon either.
(After 3 years Lord of the Rings Online is going 'free to play' - although if you really look at what they're doing, they're KEEPING the 'if you keep subscribe for $15.00 a month, you pretty much get the same stuff you were getting from launch in the same manner as before'; and their F2P model is more like a demo to start and you can add things piecemeal as you go. Much like what they did for their other MMO title Dungeons and Dragons Online).
As always though, time will tell.
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