Don't think there is a free trial yet, Razor. But those of us with subscriptions can give away 5-day trials at least.

Let us know if you want one

Question to game owners:

So is the ship combat handled like most MMORGs handle combat? Ergo; no matter how well you play a battle, tactically or reflexively, it all comes down to character "level"? In other words, how much $ and real life you've given up sitting in front of the screen?

Or is it somewhat like I thought the Star Wars ship combat was: flying skill was more important than character level?

I just cant stand the hamster wheel of MMORGs but have been debating about suffering thru it to get to a decent capital ship combat game. ...but not if you have to be a klingon speaking no-lifer burning away months in a basement to have a chance at enjoying it.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

This is just my opinion of course, but I think STO plays a bit differently than other MMOs.

True the concept is the same: Start with a low ranking ship and junior officers with few skills (AKA Powers). Take missions to explore or assault, earn "experience" that allows you to rank up, etc.

But, in STO, you never really get the feeling that your killing rats for 40 hours just to get to the good stuff. You're fighting Klingons in Birds of Prey right from the getgo and the game seems to do a good job of adjusting the enemy's experience appropriately so that the fights are challenging but not overwhelming.

Of course, you can wander into the darkest sectors of space and get zapped in a few seconds if you want, but that feels right to me as well. So, when you get your superduper Battle Cruiser, you feel like you've earned it but not like you've been putting in time just so the game can finally start.

JMHO, of course.

Deacon

Ship battles are much like Star Trek Legends, if you played that. Some don't care for that game, but I love it. It's not your piloting skills so much as management of ship's systems, bridge officers skills, using the right weapon at the right time and ship outfitting that wins. The smaller the ship the more piloting comes into it, like the small escort ships, but even then it's not that complex. Turn to keep your weak side away while shields restore, reinforce certain shields, keep your ship at the right angle to bring weapons to bear. Different weapons have trade off's in power vs. firing arc and special abilities.
Management isn't hard, just set up your keyboard shortcuts so you can quickly reach key commands. Finding the right layout for skills (number keys, ctrl-number, alt-number and mouse button shortcuts) is the hardest thing for me since I keep changing them up. LOL

You can get very outmatched with other ships. I wandered into one area that I had a mission in and found a ton of ships at +37 (I assume that much more advanced than mine) and I got squashed in one shot. I think that may have been a glitch, or maybe some high level players had come in there? Not sure. In general you're well matched vs. the AI, within a level or two. (so far for me that is)

Sorry for the long response, got a new keyboard I'm getting used to.

I have it downloaded and installed. Account created and I went to go make my first character and I couldn't even decide on one of the three classes. Is there a good website yet for STO? Something with good information that will help me decide on what I might like playing.

I just want to do some research rather than trial and error at first.

I haven't really looked. I started one but I'm developing ship skills more than anything. It doesn't seem to be locked in, I think you can even change appearance somewhere later if you want. Skills are picked up with kits and other modifiers come up too. Bridge officers can be retrained or replaced as well. It's a pretty good system, seems flexible.
I'm still considering a Klingon character but it's hard not to put time into my original to keep working on ranking up.

Thanks for the rich reply. I was fairly versed on the mechanics of the combat, from watching the dev previews, but I was getting a sinking feeling when you see the devs themselves using words like "tanking"...

That, and your second paragraph, quoted above, pretty much answered my question. It is all about level. That plus the fact that the AI magically increases their potential as yours goes up is a drag. SFC had this problem in its metaverse: you could have worked your way up to Battleships and Dreadnaughts and be kicking the living bejeezus out of a neighbor - and yet, even with their weakened state and economy and territory, they always seemed to field uber ships to match yours in generated missions. At least with SFC and some fiddling of the metaverse files, you could fix that. But not, it seems in STO. It looks like the old crow's tale of the next shiny thing.


Alas too bad.

What kills mmos for me is the use of gear as the "reward" once you hit max level and the imbalances this creates. Most games(FPS, sims, heck even arcade-style fighting games) start with the premise that the opponents are equal in gear (class differences aside) and so skill is the determining factor in any engagement. Not so in MMOs. Once a player hits max level the only reward hook left is gear and only those who have the most time to invest and can keep a raid guild(fleet whatever) together, and at the bleeding edge of content, will ever be at the top of the gear heap. So joe blow avg with maybe 2 hrs or so a few nights a week will forever be behind the gear curve. But in thinking about the mmo business model with an eye to retaining subscribers I don't know what other reward "hook" they could use besides the never ending gear treadmill. I know in WoW the idea that everyone could at least pvp in equal gear sends the "hardcores" screaming about welfare gear and how anyone who can't put 40hrs a week into WoW is unworthy of competing on a level playing field.

Realistic shooters yes, but others like all Rainbow 6's starting with Lockdown then Vegas, then COD4, Battlefield since Bad Company, RPG's, RTS's, racing games...all hinge on what you've unlocked that the other guy hasn't, even more than how well you can use what you have. I'm permanently behind the curve on COD, not only due to lack of skill in reflex shooters, but due to not having the toys.

IMO, for shooters at least, "perks" and unlockables are the worst thing to come along since aim bots, since they change the focus to what you can get rather than what you can do...just like MMO's but without the scale.
With MMO's, at least every so often they release an expansion to the game, often without cost. I don't have a lot of MMO experience, but I don't see a difference other than scale.

yeah I get you, but even with unlockables there comes a point when just about everyone has unlocked everything they want( ie all content is available to all with equal time/skill) and only new players are at a disadvantage. In an MMO there is no point when the "casuals" can catch up to the "hardcores". If you're not in a raiding guild that is farming the top content, when a new raid and tier of gear drops you are so behind you can't even get a raid spot to try and catch up. Only when the level cap is raised and everyone essentially starts the treadmill over again is the field equal. Either you're on the bleeding edge perpetually or you're a scrub. There is no in between.

You don't have to catch up when it's player vs. environment. The game scales to your level, just like matchmaking in a MP game. I have no idea how PvP works in STO, I'm not very interested in that. I suspect that's where people who are leveled up and on par with each other go at it though.

Well sure if you don't pvp and you don't raid who cares about your gear....you can just spend hours running low level quests for story or picking flowers to sell to other players on the AH or get every race in game to love you with a 5 bajillion point rep grind or just /dance in a skimpy outfit on top of a mailbox or summat. Most mmos have lots to do that isn't about max level, gear-dependent activities...unfortunately they all bore me to tears lol

The trouble with Tribbles.
They work, but I'm getting tired of hearing them!

I would love to try it out and see if I want to pick it up. I am just not sold yet based on the videos I have seen. But then I wasn't sold on WoW either and ended up playing that for a few years.

shoot me a PM with your email addy.

And see if you can download the client here without being subscribed.

http://www.startrekonline.com/download

No need to waste one of five days downloading it

I do have another question with those that bought the Steam version. Do I *need* to play it through Steam? I would rather not have to start up Steam each time I log in.

I believe you do, I have not tried to close Steam after starting STO, but if I click on the STO button it automatically opens Steam. I can try when I get home to close Steam after starting STO but I bet it won't work.

I will say this, I have never before encountered a game where I disagreed with the reviews as much as this game. It is far from perfect but does capture the Star trek universe well. The lowest levels are painful but things improve and I feel missions improve as you climb the ranks. Some are mundane but many capture the spirit of the series pretty well.

Yeah, I haven't read many reviews but I'm still really enjoying it.

Colt, I understand your position. I actually like playing story missions though. Endless PvP has never really done it for me...I just don't get the point if you aren't winning or losing anything other than personal bragging rights. POTBS at least had a ongoing "war" that you could aid, although even that had the uber players that gamed the game rather than fighting good tactics.

Reading the STO forums though, it seems like there is an Engame PvP Grind out there somewhere. Someone was griping about being "required" to PvP as there weren't any other sources of XP out there at higher levels. The Leet players just jumped on him so I guess some things never change.

I hope there is something else to do at the higher levels but constantly fending off sixteen year olds with Monster Energy Drink twitches, but maybe there is no answer to the stick and carrot loot cycle of MMOs.

Ah well, I have a lifetime membership so I guess I'll find out! LOL!

Deacon

Oh BTW, does anyone here know how to revert the "Big Powerbar" back to it's original size?

I was trying to organize my new skills when I made Cdr and when I pulled up the third bar, it replaced all sorts of stuff that used to be on the bottom of my screen. Same, same with my weapons window which now has a series of bars instead of numbers. I can't figure any way to revert this stuff to it's previous format.

Any ideas?

Deacon