Star Trek Online

[Martok]

Enlisted in beta application because I figured you wouldn't and that if I got in I could give you info not covered by NDA.

Quite true on the former; I doubt I have the necessary patience to be a beta-tester in *any* game, let alone an MMO. As for the latter, whatever you can tell us about the game without breaking the NDA would certainly be appreciated.

You did well to not play LOTRO. I close beta tested that and it was baad. I do play Turbine's other game though, DDO.

Really? I find that a little surprising, given that the game received largely positive reviews (average score of 86 on Metacritic). I'm curious as to what you didn't like about it.

I'm starting to get intrigued by Star Trek Online. While the idea of everyone being a Captain and riding around in their own space ships seemed odd initially, I can see the practical reasons for it and it will allow more solo play, which is all I could commit to.

Yeah, I had a similar reaction at first as well (that it seemed a strange choice to allow everyone to command their own vessel). On reflection, however, I realized it's actually the best overall solution: With everyone having their own ship, there should (hopefully!) be less infighting among Fleet (guild) members, not to mention the inherent freedom to explore and go where you want should you feel like doing some solo play. Also, more ships mean bigger and more epic battles.

The intriguing thing to me is having a crew that you pick, equip and level up - that appears to the RPGer in me. The ship combat also sounds promising, but the planet side combat looks weak. I may dabble with it, depending on when it arrives relative to the Star Wars MMO (which sounds much more my cup of tea).

I second this in its entirety. I'm quite curious to see how crew development/advancement works, but am likewise not impressed with what I've seen on ground combat. If I do end up getting STO, I strongly suspect I'll be avoiding those types of missions as much as possible.

BTW: I'm enjoying LOTRO, so tastes differ.

That's good to hear. So if I may ask the inverse of what I asked pevergreen: What is it about the game that you like?

I've been following this for a while but I don't know yet. I don't know if they can compete with The Old Republic. I'm more interested in sci-fi MMOs lately, because there are not that many of them. There's a lot of potential for original gameplay. Kind of an untested setting. You have WoW the king of PvE in the fantasy setting. Maybe Aion the king of PvP in fantasy setting. Maybe Eve could be the king of PvP sci-fi. I haven't seen a great PvE MMO in the sci-fi setting yet. (I generally like PvE more, with a touch of PvP.)

Some interesting points there, Krauser; there may very well be something in what you're saying. While I've not played any MMO's, I have a strong hunch that I too would mostly prefer PvE over PvP, only occasionally dabbling with the latter (if at all). I've always liked the idea of working *with* other players instead of against them.

[Beskar]

This would probably work better as a Multiplayer RPG game, opposed to a MMORPG.

[Mailman653]

I've been following the game for a while as well. I might get it at launch but I want to play as a Romulan and they will most likely be included in a future expansion; and since you probably won't be able to port your character or stats to a new one, I might not play too much to avoid getting attached to my first character.

[pevergreen]

I reccomend giving DDO (Dungeons & Dragons: Online) a go. Free to play now, its a lot of fun.

Its the only real MMO I have played outside of beta testing. When LOTRO was in beta it was just...bad.

Choppy graphics, bad storylines, animations et al.

I know it was beta testing, but even so. I couldn't stand to play it for very long.

[Krusader]

I'm not that interested, but not because I prefer Star Wars over Star Trek, but because I bought and played Champions Online, which is developed by the same company.
Champions had a big patch that changed things drastically within the game on first day of launch. Then following that there have been numerous patches which have fixed random things, but more importantly have shown that the developers didn't seem to have a focus on where they want their game to go. Doesn't inspire confidence in their other MMO.

[Mailman653]

I'm not that interested, but not because I prefer Star Wars over Star Trek, but because I bought and played Champions Online, which is developed by the same company.
Champions had a big patch that changed things drastically within the game on first day of launch. Then following that there have been numerous patches which have fixed random things, but more importantly have shown that the developers didn't seem to have a focus on where they want their game to go. Doesn't inspire confidence in their other MMO.

I think its a seperate team thats developing STO but under the same roof, Cryptic.

[Scienter]

This would probably work better as a Multiplayer RPG game, opposed to a MMORPG.

This is such a good idea! I'd love to play a Star Trek game, but I'm not into MMOs. Monthly fees make me feel like I *have* to play, even if I don't really feel like it.

[Major Robert Dump]

I preordered. Shame on me.

If anyone else is gonna get the game, we should all try to get on the same server so we at least know people, even if we arent gonna be allies or guildies. Because once I get on a server and start playing, I'm not changing. I hate starting new characters. The last MMO I played i did 4 server transfers with the same character because paying $75 each time was far more prudent than creating another character.

[Mailman653]

Pre-order list with details on exlusive pre-order items

List of pre-order items

Klingon FAQ, part one.

[Vladimir]

Syfy just finished their marathon. Every commercial break had a commercial for this game.

It was a pretty good end to the series.

[tibilicus]

Syfy just finished their marathon. Every commercial break had a commercial for this game.

It was a pretty good end to the series.

Unfortunately I'm from the Uk but back to back episodes of The Next Generation sounds awesome. The only thing which could possibly be better is a Deep Space Nine marathon, that show was beautiful.

[Martok]

If anyone else is gonna get the game, we should all try to get on the same server so we at least know people, even if we arent gonna be allies or guildies. Because once I get on a server and start playing, I'm not changing. I hate starting new characters. The last MMO I played i did 4 server transfers with the same character because paying $75 each time was far more prudent than creating another character.

I'm currently a provisional member of Lotus Fleet. They seem to have a pretty decent organization.

[Mailman653]

Klingons part two

[Major Robert Dump]

I'm currently a provisional member of Lotus Fleet. They seem to have a pretty decent organization.

Dude...went to that forum

Whats up with the roleplay "academy" you have to spend X number of smemsters at before you become an officer? They say it is to not only make youa better player, but a better person and a better leader IRL. LMAO, sorry, I'm an officer in the US Army, I get enough of that crap in RL the last thing I need is a make believe world hashing it to me too

Gotta admit, though, people tha heavy into RP make me want to join their guld just for the sake of giggles and good times. I'm sure they have their stuff together and will make a good springboard for later usage.

But really, that guild is intense, bro.

I think, just like every MMO I've ever played, I will make 2 accounts, so llooks like i will buy two preorders, whch means my goodies will stack. Stillhavent decided what 2 I will get but I think I am going to go ground combat since that seems to be the neglected aspect of the game.

[Mailman653]

Hands on with STO

[Major Robert Dump]

Hmmm, well played in the beta tonight but I got a late start because of the patch downloads.

Oddly enough, I only got into Beta because of my FilePlanet subscription, which I forgot I had to begin with and just thought they added more slots to closed beta. Had I remembered my FP membership, I could have gotten the patches there in 1/4 of the time and got in more play.

Never got out of ground combat tutorial, was a bit opverwhelming but fun nonetheless.

Character customization is going to be vast. It looks like for just about every type of skill there is an individual skill and a boost party skill. It also looks like there are a lot of skill based stats that your character will never advance because he will never have access to those skills to advance those stats. So, if you pick a science guy with no ground combat/toughness traits and all ship/buff stuff sorts of attributes then pretty much forget about being uber with a rifle or axe.

I leveled up once and got to spend some points. I chose a science guy with all ground toughness stats (but no soldiering or offense). My skkill options to put points in were personal medic/party medic....personal ship science/party ship science...personal debuffs/party debuffs and personal buffs/partybuffs. when I say party I dont mean buff your party, I mean boost your parties abilities to give buffs.

The combinations seem endless. A group of well trained medics may be a viable option because they all stay healed. Or maybe spread the love around and have one of each class in your party. I don't know....I just don't know.

But I think, equipment notwithstanidng, each character is going to be really good at one or two things, and mediocre or bad at thew rest, which I think is kind of cool. I don't mind really, I just really hope there arent too many limits on wearable equipment. That was what I always liked about old SWG, you could not tell another players class by their appearance or specials, and even the squishiest crafter could still put on armor and grab a rifle and join the fight and no one would be the wiser that he was a crafter.

Sorry, no space action this time around. I will try to get some ober the weekend beta run

[Mailman653]

http://loyalkng.com/wp-content/uploa...3/gremlins.jpg
I don't suppose you can make a character to look like that then take a screen shot?

[Meneldil]

Really? I find that a little surprising, given that the game received largely positive reviews (average score of 86 on Metacritic). I'm curious as to what you didn't like about it.

There's a couple of thing that made the game less interesting than it could have been.

1 - The PvP. As there's only one faction (which is lame), if you want to PvP, you have to roll an evil character that can only be used for PvP-purpose, or fight against someone who rolled such a character. Now, that might seem weird, but when I level-up a RPG character, I grow attached to him/it, and expect to be able to play with it all the time.

2 - The game is honestly too casual friendly. I understand that some people think it's a plus, but there's no feeling of achievement when every single boss can be killed after a few attempts.

3 - Housing has been poorly implemented. Housing areas are instanced areas, which mean you're never ever going to meet someone in your neighbourhood. You see that more houses are being built, that statues and trophies are added to gardens, but you never meet the owners of those. Now, as much as I like collecting stuff and having my own virtual house, the fact that nobody cares about it kind of defeat the purpose. (that was my biggest let down, as the housing and collecting stuff was what make me try the game).

4 - Luck is way too important, even more so for a casual-friendly game. This is especially true with the Moria extansion, as many bosses requires you to collect a specific gear set. Some people get the complete set in a few days, while some others have been farming it for months.

5 - As a result of all this (and other things, such as the game being generally a subpar clone of WoW), servers are empty. While leveling my last character, I met maybe 30 people at max, even when I was doing stuff in capitals and big cities. And since the leveling can be handled in solo by any available class, there's no point in grouping, which somewhat kills the social aspect of the game.

[econ21]

(...regarding Lord of the Rings online...)What is it about the game that you like?

The core gameplay in LOTRO is very like WoW in many ways - the classes, the levelling, the crafting, the instances, the collecting gear etc. For some people, like Pevergreen, that's probably a bad thing but personally, I thought WoW was a pretty solid game. LOTRO has fewer instances than Wow and, as Menedil says, little PvP, but that suits me at the moment. I was looking for an RPG where I can quietly level up, rather like playing Morrowind or Fallout 3 but with more content and progression to avoid me burning out as do with most SP games.

I like the attempt made at staying true to the Tolkien lore. You are a supporting character at the time the fellowship is travelling from Bree to Lothlorien. You never hear of the ring, but you get to meet the fellowship, know they are on a very important secret quest and generally fight the war of the ring on other fronts. The best bits are often the instances that give you a peek into the Tolkien world (there's a nice one where you chase an unidentified Gollum, for example). The worst bits are the generic "kill 12 boars" quests. More generally, the world is rather attractive and true to Tolkien - it's fun to wander round the Misty Mountains, the Shire, Weathertop or Bree, for example. It's a pretty good recreation - more understated that the movies, but recognisable and nicely done. Levelling up by exploring the world is fun. I play on the English speaking EU roleplaying server and, if you log off the OOC channel, players play in a friendly, cooperative way and generally stay in character - much better than WoW, where even the RP servers are tainted by uncouth loudmouths. The server population seems reasonable - not enough to get in your way (stealing "your" quest items etc), but not deserted. It can be hard getting a group but I have not tried that too often and where I have put my mind to it, it's usually been possible. The game allows you to level without grouping, although the best story (epic) quests require periodic grouping.

Other things I like:

- the graphics: probably a notch above WoW.

- the combat: playing a tank class (guardian), I find it engaging - in essence, like WoW but relying on reactive moves rather than mindless repeating a rotation. The difficulty seems fairly well balanced to me - I seem to die more than in WoW (no paladin style heals or bubbles) and can typically only comfortably handle a couple of foes my level, maybe three at a pinch but typically four will do for me. It's easy to run into a fight you can't win and have to flee; likewise the wandering elites are sometimes winnable but sometimes too much.

- crafting: as a metalsmith, it's probably less of a time sink than blacksmithing in WoW but gives you better rewards; crafted gear is closer to reward and raid gear.

An 86% sounds like a reasonable rating for the game. The quests and writing are nowhere as good as say Bioware ones, so I wouldn't go overboard about it.

[pevergreen]

As I read through that, I see that I am still happy with staying on DDO.

1) Its free. Forever. If you want something extra, pay for it. You can aquire all features of paying subscribers in about 8 months, if you pay the same as the subscription per month.

2) Ok, so you have to pay to unlock anything after 12th level. But it takes a long time to get there, and without purchasing anything there is 79 quests to do, plus adventuring areas (3)

3) each quest, even the starting ones, is part of a good storyline. The tutorial has you come onto the island of Korthos, you wake up on a beach after your boat was destroyed by a dragon. You follow a small group of adventurers through the caverns onto the island village, defeating a sahaugin group along the way. You then have to do three starting quests; destroying a sahaugin cursed alter, protecting a magical crystal from the cultists and stealing a scroll with infomation on the dragon. Then you follow the collaborator who has betrayed everyone to the village and deal with him. Then you venture out into the island. 12 sites to visit (explorer) 3 rare monsters to find and kill (rares) and a task to kill x amount (caps out at 750. run around once you can kill 90 odd). You don't have to do these, but they are fun.

You then rescue the mayor's daughter from a sahaugin prison, kill an evil necromancer and find a giantish device, and protect a missing villager, before heading to misery's peak. When there you discover a Quisori mindsunder controlling the dragon, and you must break the crystal that gives him extra power. With that, the dragon eats the mindsunder and peace is restored to the island.

All of that, is the introduction area. 250MB download.

DDO does, however, lack housing and crafting. Crafting is sort of there, but is high level only, you do it while inside a quest chain.

[econ21]

1) Its free. Forever.

I heard something about the free to play DDO being for the US only, not for Euros. But you're in Australia, aren't you Pevergreen? I wonder if a Euro can access the free to play version?

On LOTRO, I am just entering Moria (the expansion). And it is suitably impressive - biggest dungeon ever!

[pevergreen]

DDO US is run by Turbine, the creators of DDO and LOTRO.

DDO Europe is run by Codemasters. They are modules (expansions) behind.

Many players from those servers have come onto the US. Anyone from anywhere can join.

Some European players run into credit card issues, but going through paypal resolves them. I use my credit card without issue.

Yes, I'm an aussie. Australia rules.

[Mailman653]

02-02-10 US, 02-05-10 EU

[Martok]

Holy ****! That's a full month earlier than what a lot of people were expecting.

Dang, guess I'd better start saving up my pennies that much sooner....