Star Trek Online

[Rico]

So, what's the latest from folks playing?  I haven't really had much more time for the game yet, but hope to over this weekend.  I heard they have some new content coming.

[billybob476]

I was able to get in for a little while yesterday, they released a new Borg "raid" for higher level players and the first major content patch is coming out soon (which they refer to as 'seasons').

I'm still a mere Lt. Commander 2, while sometimes it feels like missions are sparse, I'm still enjoying myself and the storylines in the missions themselves are quite cool. I got into a group yesterday and we had to beam to a planet and save colonists from Klingons. The group worked really well. I'm an engineer so I'd run ahead and drop a phaser turret then fall back and drop a medical generator while the others attacked. it made for some cool maneuvers.

Here's what they are saying about the content patch:

Our latest content update, Season One: Common Ground, is releasing shortly. Here's just a bit of the updates we have headed players' way.

PVP Updates
Wargames – Federation players can now participate in PvP against one another to better prepare for the dangers of the battlefield.
New PvP Map – Explore "Shanty Town," a brand new Ground Assault map available for both Klingon and Federation players.
Customization
Off-Duty Uniforms – Experience DS9 in style! Starfleet officers will have the option to change into off-duty outfits to enjoy more casual attire.
New Stances and Hairstyles – Further customize your Captain by changing his or her hairstyle, or adopting two brand new stances: Stern and Relaxed.
The Captain's Log - A web-based application to check in on you and your friends' Captains and ships.

Ships
A New Klingon Battle Cruiser – The K'Tanco Battle Cruiser has been made available to Klingon Lieutenant Commanders.
Klingon Ship Customization - Use the ship tailor to customize your Bird of Prey, Carrier or Raptor.
Missions
New Fleet Actions Everywhere!
The Big Dig – Available in Romulan space.
DS9 Under Siege - The True Way has attacked and boarded DS9. Repel the invasion to save the day.
Klingons Can Play, Too – Klingon Captains may now access the Crystalline Entity, Big Dig and Breaking the Planet Fleet Actions

Skills
Respec Is Here – Unhappy with your Captain's skill point allocation? Use the respec tool to change things up. (Available both in-game and as a C-store item.)
New Skill: Starship Attack Vectors – Improve your ship's accuracy and critical hit chance.
New Skill: Combat Maneuvers – Improve your ship's evasion and turn rate.
New Skill: Starship Battle Strategy – Improve your ship's critical hit severity and damage resistance.
In The C-Store
New Bridge Variants - All new ways to update your Bridges' look, available for a low price in the C-Store for both Federation and Klingon ships.
Federation Ship Variants – New takes on your old favorites, available for a low price in the C-Store.
Respec - Unhappy with your Captain's skill point allocation? Use the respec tool to change things up.
Character Slot - Purchase an additional character slot if you'd like to have more than three characters on your account.
Rename - Changed your mind about the cool name you chose? Get it legally changed! Recognized across the Alpha Quadrant.
New Federation Playable Species - Become a Tellarite, Pakled or Rigelian.
This is only a bit of the changes, fixes and updates coming to Star Trek Online in March. Season One: Common Ground will be available in mid-March. For a full list of what will be available in Season One, please visit the Engineering Reports forum. Interested in checking things out early? Visit the Tribble test server forums for early release notes.

http://www.startrekonline.com/season_one

[KingIsaacLinksr]

I plan on picking up a trial 10-day from my friend soon.  So I'll be on for at least 10 days.  

:)

King

[Blackride]

I am a rear admiral 3 (playing time 150 hrs) and have not played at all this week. The higher you get , the less there is to do. I haven't played much this week because it's just has not been holding my attention. Hopefully some new content will help with that.

I will say that if this games stays the way it is there are going to be lots of people dropping out. I hate to say that as I want the game to succeed due to it being Trek.

...and I still can't sit in my own darn captains chair!!!

[billybob476]

...Actually it looks like you can now sit in your captain's chair! Been having some stability issues my last two play sessions. Coupled with not much time I still haven't gone past Lt. Cmdr 2. I just got the Guardian of Forever mission so looking forward to that.

Also it looks like they've come out with an Armory style site, here's my guy:

http://www.startrekonline.com/character_profiles/64720/view

Still pretty barebones but it's good to see them releasing content an community utilities steadily.

[Rico]

New content trailer.  Looks very cool!  Q!

Star Trek Online "Expanding Universe" Trailer, Part One

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Ok, so I did get to try this game, and here are my thoughts on this.  

Pros:
Customization for both ships and characters are very nice.  Could spend hours on trying to get it right.
RP wise, the universe felt semi-deep and expanded in accordance with Star Trek Cannon.  
The amount of ships introduced was great.  I wish I could have flown more, but never got beyond my first ship.  
Music was pretty good :)


Cons:
Graphics are not up to par with current graphic engines.  The drain on the graphic cards was 2X higher than most MMOs demand.  And for what you get out of the drain, it really lacks compared to WoW or EvE.
Social element is lacking.  For this game, it feels like you could solo forever until the "high end raiding" and even then, getting a fleet might be forced.  Lack of Guild/Corporation is bad.   (Or did I miss this?)  Even when in fleets, there is no need to coordinate as you can just charge in and PEW PEW.
Lack of death penalty.  This really detracts from using strategy or thinking ahead as you can just charge in, lose your ship and be back in 14 seconds.  
Ground combat was basically point, shoot and hope you survive.  
Too much instancing

Final thoughts:
Basic Key control settings is just terrible.  But since this can be changed, its not really a con.  Just a complaint :P


Also, I went through a ton of patching.  This ruined several days of playing the game.  And on a 10-day deal, that annoyed me.

The game itself had potential, but ultimately there just isn't enough to hold me here.  Lack of Social element, lack of risk, just....lacks. Which makes me sad as I had hoped to play this game as well.  There are positives, but just not enough of em.  


King

[Blackride]

Ok, so I did get to try this game, and here are my thoughts on this. 

Pros:
Customization for both ships and characters are very nice.  Could spend hours on trying to get it right.
RP wise, the universe felt semi-deep and expanded in accordance with Star Trek Cannon. 
The amount of ships introduced was great.  I wish I could have flown more, but never got beyond my first ship. 
Music was pretty good :)


Cons:
Graphics are not up to par with current graphic engines.  The drain on the graphic cards was 2X higher than most MMOs demand.  And for what you get out of the drain, it really lacks compared to WoW or EvE.
Social element is lacking.  For this game, it feels like you could solo forever until the "high end raiding" and even then, getting a fleet might be forced.  Lack of Guild/Corporation is bad.   (Or did I miss this?)  Even when in fleets, there is no need to coordinate as you can just charge in and PEW PEW.
Lack of death penalty.  This really detracts from using strategy or thinking ahead as you can just charge in, lose your ship and be back in 14 seconds. 
Ground combat was basically point, shoot and hope you survive. 
Too much instancing

Final thoughts:
Basic Key control settings is just terrible.  But since this can be changed, its not really a con.  Just a complaint :P


Also, I went through a ton of patching.  This ruined several days of playing the game.  And on a 10-day deal, that annoyed me.

The game itself had potential, but ultimately there just isn't enough to hold me here.  Lack of Social element, lack of risk, just....lacks. Which makes me sad as I had hoped to play this game as well.  There are positives, but just not enough of em. 


King

Good points King. I am actually canceling the game after getting Rear Admiral 3. There is just nothing to do. The social aspect of this game is also totally missing or not needed. I cant put my finger on it.

I guess I will wait for KOTR MMO :)

[billybob476]

Just a small update from me, still enjoying myself (keeping it very casual). I actually re-rolled a tactical officer (a Klingon!). Sorry to hear others aren't enjoying themselves. My new guy is only about Lt. 5.

I find myself dying a lot more on the ground then I did with my Engineer. I guess that shield generator really did help!

[Rico]

I haven't gotten a chance to play more for a couple weeks.  I think I may just wait a few months until they add some content and features.  One little thing that kind of bugs me still is character movement.  Seems a bit wonky at times, depending on where you are.  I still do think the game could have used a few more months of work before they released it.  But I do hope they continue to enhance it and add more to it.

[billybob476]

I kind of alternate my weekends, last weekend was an STO weekend, this weekend will probably be WoW. I feel like the game stability has gotten a lot better in the past few weeks and the low level content is definitely there. There's a big patch coming where before the month is out where they will be introducing the difficulty slider (kind of like normal / heroic in WoW but for all levels) and a death penalty system.

[billybob476]

Oh wow, just poking around the STO site and came across this!

http://www.startrekonline.com/node/1564

Rico, you've been linked!

[Rico]

Oh wow, just poking around the STO site and came across this!

http://www.startrekonline.com/node/1564

Rico, you've been linked!

WOW!  Coolness!  About the interview with Mike Martin last weekend.  Nice!

[Feathers]

Neat!

[billybob476]

I love my wife...

I just made Lt. Commander on my Tactical officer and got my first escort ship. She walks in the room, looks at the screen and says "Hey that looks a bit like the Defiant."

Completely awesome, I think Fran might just be an Anomaly :)

I'll throw up a few screenshots when I get home this evening.