Star Trek Online Discussion Thread (now free to play!)

[Rocketeer]

Mic of Orion,

Appreciate the comments. IMHO, a TAC char could function well in the Adv Hvy Cruiser Refit. It's not free and it's not popular with the younger crowd (not large enough or modern enough), but it's an offensive tank.

I wish that ship setups (BO allocation, item placement and power bar) would save like a costume. That would make switching between ships a breeze. Currently it takes me about 20 minutes to reconfigure between ships. The other day I was helping a friend on "Night of the Comet" and when it put the Klingon ship holo on my ship, it removed all 3 BO engineer assignments (but not the Sci or Tac). I didn't get an indication of this as it did not remove the engineer powers from the power bar. It took me the longest time to figure out what was wrong. I'd click on the power (for example Engineering Team) and nothing would happen.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Mic of Orion,

Appreciate the comments. IMHO, a TAC char could function well in the Adv Hvy Cruiser Refit. It's not free and it's not popular with the younger crowd (not large enough or modern enough),

hey I'm 23 and I don't have a problem with it.

I JUST WANT A T5 CONNIE DAMNIT

But seriously I think its more of a series preference about it, except fot the "It's 2409" people who don't seem to understand that not everyone cares about canon and arbitrary dates, they just want to use the ships they watched on TV and that Cryptic is in the business of making money so they will shock of shocks give people stuff they want to buy, except when CBS is being abunch of jealous pricks and won't let them.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Yeah, I considered that, but I'm already working on changing my Tac Captain from an Assault Cruiser to a Tactical Escort Retrofit - don't really want to change him up for a Sci ship now.


Edited to add: Via an official forum thread, Executive Producer Daniel Stahl is leaving Cryptic.

Well here's hoping for young minds, fresh ideas.

 

[Rocketeer]

Didn't mean to step on your toes. Just my observation that most players like to use the large ships like the Exploration Cruiser variations.

I love the TOS Constitution and also want to see a T5 version. I have the ship with the original interior, shuttle and uniform. I tried to use it but the T5 enemies tore me up. So I've moved back into the Excelsior Refit for now.

 

[Rocketeer]

I'd also like to see a T5 Miranda Cruiser Refit, like a soupped up Reliant.

 

[Rocketeer]

Yeah, I considered that, but I'm already working on changing my Tac Captain from an Assault Cruiser to a Tactical Escort Retrofit - don't really want to change him up for a Sci ship now.


Edited to add: Via an official forum thread, Executive Producer Daniel Stahl is leaving Cryptic.

Well here's hoping for young minds, fresh ideas.

Here's a small article on Stahl's departure.

http://www.trektoday.com/content/2011/09/stahl-exits-star-trek-online/

 

[Eckauskas]

So, any word on when this becomes FTP?

 

[PsychoPere]

^ Please see this previous post.

 

[Scout101]

Would be nice to get a little new content soon. Last featured episode ended in the first week of March, been pretty dead since...

 

[Rocketeer]

I'd like to see a featured episode involving the SFA.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Hey,

I played the game when it first started and got up to the part where I fought Ambassador B'vat's Doomsday Ship before I felt I'd done most of what the game had to offer (it was getting a bit repetitive) so I was curious - has the game improved any since then?

Also, were I to come back, could I still use my old character?

 

[Trek]

Yes the game has improved a lot since the initial release. There is a lot more to do now than just fly about shooting things (there's even a whole diplomacy side to the game).

Cryptic also never delete characters, so your character will still be there when you log back in.
​

 

[Noname Given]

Hey,

I played the game when it first started and got up to the part where I fought Ambassador B'vat's Doomsday Ship before I felt I'd done most of what the game had to offer (it was getting a bit repetitive) so I was curious - has the game improved any since then?

Also, were I to come back, could I still use my old character?

IMO - yes the game has improved quite a bit. because Atari decided to sell Crypotic and wouldn't let them even backfill vacated positions, the last six months have been a very lean time - Dev mission content wise.

In August 2011, Perfect World Entertainment (an Asain MMO developer who unlike Atari, has money, knows MMO development, and saw Cryptic as a way to expand into the Western MMO market) bought Cryptic for 50 million dollars U.S.; and is now properly funding Cryptic (they're hiring again, and expanding the teams on all their projects).

That said, it's probably going to continue to be a little lean as Cryptic's development tools are all proprietary, meaning the new hires will need some time to get trained on them and get 'up to speed'.; and the staff they have are all working toward getting teh f2P model of STO launced before the end of this year (Read: Before SWToR launches)

That said, in the time you've taken a break:

- Three new 'Feature Episodes' have been added (each is a 5 mission arc with a ni8ce item reward at the end)

- The 'Azura Rescue', 'Diplomatic Orders' and 'Doomsday Device' missions have all been 'remastered' (read improved and stuff added); and teh 'Doomsday Device' remastered version is completely different from the original to the point where (imo) it's a brand new mission.

- A Diplomacy system has been added.

- Earth Spacedock has been completey redone, inside and out

- The Klingon QoNos starting zone has also been completely redone, and now really looks like an actual Klingon city.

- The 'Orellius Sector Block' was added as part of the first Feature episopde added, and has a lot of Daily repeatable missions.

- The 'Eta Eridani' sector block also had a lot of Daily missions added to it.

- A Starfleet Academy zone has been added, so you can walk on Earth (a new Fleet Action and a new mission type called 'Lore Missions' are slated to be added to the SFA zone, but right now, it's just a social zone with one allocade to get.)

- "The Foundry" was added, which allows players to create their own missions for other players to play; and a daily repeatable 'wrapper mission', where when you play 3, you get extra exp and rewards. The Foundry has been a little buggy of late for creators; but it's an interesting tool. (and hell, I'll pimp the two missions I've done that are available, and have gotten an overall good response from players - "A Relic's Return" and "A Relic's Return (Conclusion)"; the second one I just published on 9/14/11. )

It's up to you if you want to give STO another try now, or wait a few more months until it goes F2P; but either way, it has improved; and I think once Cryptic has completed re-staffing itself after Atari's defunding during the time they were up for sale, I think it'll oly get better; but, time will tell.

 

[Judy Waxhorn]

On the OTHER hand...

Nothing has gotten done in seven months. Everything got pushed back except hotfix-patches and a revamp to the controls. We were promised NEW content for Season Four... missions. Ya know something to DO other than walk around chewing backgrounds.

New zones/reworked zones are nice but there they add nothing storywise.

New ships are nice... but there are no new missions to play.


See...

Everything got pushed back because of Atari wanting to ditch Cryptic.

Now PW has them... and everything is getting pushed back again because of Free To Play.

Something similar happened with the Star Trek Pen and Paper RPGs years ago. LUG put out a fantastic product... then ran into trouble and it all went to pieces.


Big issue I see is they are going F2P without finishing the storyline they started. I don't know if they CAN finish the storyline at this point. Are they counting on the Crowdsource Mission-Generator (Foundry) to be enough to draw new players? Signs point to yes. This disappoints me no end as I am paying them to develop new stories FOR me... not give me the tools to program my own episodes.

So far it has been seven months of band-aids, an occasional piece of candy and broken promises. Release dates for Feature Missions came and went... The plot has NOT advanced in months. All we've gotten is reworked episodes and new costumes.

Part of my "attitude" comes from the promise of new content and features with Season 4.1... only to find out is being pushed back yet again. AGAIN. I re-uped until November... frankly if I don't see some kind of story development between now and then I'm out of here.

I now have three characters at Endgame just started a fourth... I have the existing missions down pat I can recite them in my sleep. Frankly it's nothing more than an exercise in futility at this point.

That's my opinion. Come November I think I'll be taking a nice long break from it all... provided that the game survives the F2P transition.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

On the bright side: FTP takes off the pressure to make the most of your playtime, you can come and go as you wish.
So it will be in their best interest to produce content so you WILL come back as often as possible. Only playing people spent on the C-Store.
Everyone will be a lifer soon.

 

[mic of orion]

had bit of fun with my Delta Flyer,

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlbxb9_star-trek-delta-flyer_shortfilms

For some reason I can't upload this to youtube,

 

[Rocketeer]

The game is okay for my pace. I don't rush to VA so the missions come fast enough for me. We're way overdue for a featured episode though.

 

[Rocketeer]

had bit of fun with my Delta Flyer,

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlbxb9_star-trek-delta-flyer_shortfilms

For some reason I can't upload this to youtube,

I picked up the Delta Flyer early and had a lot of fun with it. I've even used it in the Borg Deep Space Incursions (with success). I think that the shuttles have a lower threat than starships as the shuttle is rarely targeted in PvE.

In case you don't know:

You can switch to the shuttle from your transporter room.
You can invite your friends onto the shuttle.

 

[mic of orion]

had bit of fun with my Delta Flyer,

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlbxb9_star-trek-delta-flyer_shortfilms

For some reason I can't upload this to youtube,

I picked up the Delta Flyer early and had a lot of fun with it. I've even used it in the Borg Deep Space Incursions (with success). I think that the shuttles have a lower threat than starships as the shuttle is rarely targeted in PvE.

In case you don't know:

You can switch to the shuttle from your transporter room.
You can invite your friends onto the shuttle.

cheers for that bit of info,

yeah had bit of fun, took on the borg too, but its only a shuttle so no chance of me taking anything bigger than a probe which i did and heeling sphere as well.

I was making funny comments on this video, like " guys hold your grounds calvary is coming" and when they see my little dinky thing they can't but laugh, another comment i've made which i thought was funny, Wagner (a character) was taking down ships all around me, and I took down last war bird (after it was it was crippled by someone else), I replied to Wagner, you can thank me for that later, I just saved your skin! Or how about this one, Stand Aside peeps, reinforcements has arrived.

 

[Rocketeer]

The trick of using the Delta Flyer is to ensure that a friendly starship is close enough to draw enemy fire.

Just to clarify, I get the best results in the Delta Flyer with my Vice Admiral Engineer using Plasma Turret, Automatic Defense Console? (Plasma Turret) and Plasma Torp. He's got 9's Plasma weapons and all underlying supportive skills.