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.