Star Trek: Online Beta Preview: Part 4 : Okay Scottie, Now Beam Down My Clothes
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Star Trek: Online Beta Preview: Part 4
As I logged onto the game for the last time I was saddened in a way. For the past week and a bit I have been playing the Beta solid and keeping you up to date with my thoughts and feelings on the game. However, as I have been doing this preview I feel that there has been a question in the back of my mind ever since I first fired up the Beta of Star Trek Online: is this game going to make a dent in WOW, and is this up to the same high standard? In a sense yes and no; I admit, even not being a major WOW fan, I have played some, and I must say I clicked quicker with Star Trek. I am not sure if it's more of a Sci-fi fan thing or because the game starts off with a bang, as you are immediately thrown into a ground and space battle.
I have been really enjoying the missions a lot during my play time and everything that I have been doing within those missions. Yeah okay the premise of the missions is pretty much the same as you play through but there is a lot of mix up. This can be due to the groups or teams you are in with either friends or even other players on the server if you are on the same mission. This leads to a new dynamic meaning that for once I don't feel like am playing a single player game in what is supposed to be a multiplayer game.
Also, as well as the mix and match on the teams, I feel that there is a lot of different tactics and approaches to defeat a lot of enemies. I for one went in gun-ho and went all out on the first few of my missions, but as you learn the tactics and how to use the powers of your ship more effectively, you begin to learn that there are certain ways and procedures for taking down big enemy groups, and different styles of fighting which can be useful in different situations.
With all of this within the combat and the missions you would feel that the graphics wouldn't be as good as they are, but if you have seen any of the screenshots you will see that the game looks amazing, and I do truly mean this. If it's just watching a planet roll by as you orbit it, searching for clues and objectives or seeing a 10 on 10 battle between ships with lasers and torpedoes flying everywhere, the graphics really do stand out and make the game so much more breathtaking to play, as well as just beautiful to look at.
Star Trek Online is well rounded and that's the thing - even though a lot of the same MMO stuff has been repeated it doesn't feel the same. It's weird how everything seems fresh and exciting and I supposed that most of has been masked by the Star Trek genre.
With all of this in mind we must say that Star Trek, in the race of the Sci-Fi MMO's, has struck first, with the Star Wars MMO being the next one to be released next year. It will be exciting to see how the Star Trek MMO will transform and what expansions and extras will be added over the next few years to keep the game fresh and maintain player interest in the game. So back to the initial question: is this better than WOW? Well yes it is in my opinion, for reasons I've stated throughout.
I thought Star Trek Online was a better quality of MMO and it just makes me feel like it's more exciting and faster paced. However, as much as I think this is a good MMO, I can't help but say I don't think this will take the top spot overnight from the power-house that is the WOW, but it's getting there. With the Beta now closed and me quitting the world of Star Trek for the final time, I feel that I may come back to this game with some of the deals at the moment, allowing you to buy a lifetime subscription for the game at the price of a two year subscription. It certainly gets me tempted to get an account and play a little more and have some fun.
So that's it, my time has come and we need to beam up. I hope you have enjoyed this four part mini-series and hopefully it has given you an insight on how the beta has shaped up, and an idea on if you should purchase this or not.
COMMENTS
Angelfromabove - 01:56pm, 4th December 2018
This is a great idea Si, mmo reviews are packed full of info, too much to take in in one sitting sometimes.
Rasher - 01:56pm, 4th December 2018
I have to admit i have really enjoyed this bring broken in to four parts i haven't finished reading Part 4 yet, but so far have enjoyed it reading it. I wasn't planning on playing any MMOs till Star Wars comes out but i am really tempted now to buy this Again thanks for putting the time in to this one Si, will post again once i have finished reading part 4 (have to be tomorrow now)
snaggs - 01:56pm, 4th December 2018
Thanks a lot for this insight into the new star trek MO, I have been waiting for this for some time now. I will certainly be signing up to this very soon.
POBmaestro-1428097466 - 01:56pm, 4th December 2018
Very clever way of delivering preview content like this. This is the only MMO I have ever considered looking into and this was a good informative read, thanks. Even though I would like to play a MMO right from launch, I've got too much going on in Feb and March, but I'll look at maybe pouring hours into exploring the galaxy in a starship in the summer :)
scottruthven1971 - 01:56pm, 4th December 2018
Si, great review, and great idea to split it into 4. STO is great, my only reservation is the missions them selves are a bit too open, it can take an age to find where you're supposed to be, and even then take longer to find the one small speck in space that you need to attack/interact with. HOwever, the feeling of joy when you finally take down 3 Klingon Birds of Prey with minimal structural integrity left, 70% casualties and no help whatsoever is fantastic. THis is the first time I have felt I might just pay monthly for a game...
Beanz - 01:56pm, 4th December 2018
THis is the first time I have felt I might just pay for a game...
:rolleyes:Si^ - 01:56pm, 4th December 2018 Author
Thanks a lot for this insight into the new star trek MO, I have been waiting for this for some time now. I will certainly be signing up to this very soon.
Look forwarded to seeing you on there snaggs. It is a really good MMOVery clever way of delivering preview content like this. This is the only MMO I have ever considered looking into and this was a good informative read, thanks. Even though I would like to play a MMO right from launch, I've got too much going on in Feb and March, but I'll look at maybe pouring hours into exploring the galaxy in a starship in the summer :)
Cheers for the comment, yes we decided it was the best way of doing a MMO preview as your views change as you play as well as also making it easier to get information up about it. Again look forward to seeing you on there pob maybe we should make a gameon fleet.Si, great review, and great idea to split it into 4. STO is great, my only reservation is the missions them selves are a bit too open, it can take an age to find where you're supposed to be, and even then take longer to find the one small speck in space that you need to attack/interact with. HOwever, the feeling of joy when you finally take down 3 Klingon Birds of Prey with minimal structural integrity left, 70% casualties and no help whatsoever is fantastic. THis is the first time I have felt I might just pay monthly for a game...
Yes Some missions you can have a few problems on finding on what you need to do but most of it comes from checking the objectives and then look at the map for the flashing way points. Totally agree on the combat though I haven't felt so good until you take down 3 or 4 ships even if they are a higher rank than you.POBmaestro-1428097466 - 01:56pm, 4th December 2018
maybe we should make a gameon fleet.
Now that would be cool :cool:Si^ - 01:56pm, 4th December 2018 Author
Now that would be cool :cool:
I know that the head start is tonight, if i can get on ill try and reserve the fleet name :u01scottruthven1971 - 01:56pm, 4th December 2018
I know that the head start is tonight, if i can get on ill try and reserve the fleet name :u01
You will need to create a team of 5 players first. Then Fleet registration is done at Sol System Earth Base. ;) (Tried to create the Fleet myself the other day, before I read this thread. :))Gerrard - 01:56pm, 4th December 2018
I've been playing this for the last week now (started on the headstart last Friday). I ordered the Gold/Collector's edition (with a t-shirt that I won't be wearing in pulblic! :p) since it was the same price as the normal one and I found out as a bonus that I managed to get 60 days game time from the 2 codes included in it! The game is good, but I'm not sure it's "great" at the moment. Sure it's only been out a week, but Cryptic haven't exactly had a great reputation with MMOs. :rolleyes: I strongly doubt I'll carrying on after my 60 days are up unless they put something good at the end (of which there is nothing at the moment). It's interesting that they went for a single server set-up. OK, it's all instanced so it's not like Eve in that sense, but does seems to have caused some problems, mainly that I'm posting this now since I haven't been able to get onto the server since about 9pm when I got DCed while changing instances. The game seems to have been more popular than Cryptic thought it would be, and as such playing on weekend evenings seems to be a nogo situation (a bit like Eve sometimes). My views? Space combat is great. Still get enjoyment out of firing torpedoes into unshielded ships! :p It does throw in some good moments, like a mission I did this evening where you join up with a fleet of NPC ships and have a 16v16 battle! That's pretty cool. Fleet actions are also good, but being a science ship means I loose out on DPS stakes, which is what bags you the best loot. :( Mind you, Scramble Sensors works wonders as you get a fleet of ships to turn on each other for 20 seconds! :u01 Ground combat I find tedious. It's just a bit lack-lustre. As an engineering officer I can now make drones and turrets, but it takes a bit of preping before each fight and they aren't that great. Just does't feel I'm getting the same sort of achievement as with space battles (which is actually true XP/loot/reward wise). Both get repetitive (as all MMOs do) and I've settled down into certain tactics, and this is one of my main gripes with the game. It's not very linear with character development. Your character gets a new skill at x3 (general space), x5 (class specific ground) and x8 (class specific space). That's seems great, but I hardly use any of them. It's the Bridge Officier powers that I use, and they only get levelled up when you reach a new rank (every 10 levels) with a new ship. With a new ship you can gain upto 3 space powers at once, and another 4 ground powers. Not to mention the extra stuff you new ship gets (more weapons and upgrade abilities). You get sod all during the 10 levels in rank, but all of a sudden it's all change when you get promoted. This means that after the novelty has worn off 2-3 levels into your new rank, nothing much is going to change until you hit that next rank in 7-8 levels. Just find it annoying that that's no real short term goals. Anyway, that's just my opinion so far. My in game handle is my forum user name with "uk" after it if you want to look me up. I'll hopefully be in an Interpid class ship tomorrow if I can stay on the server long enough! :rolleyes:
Rasher - 01:56pm, 4th December 2018
Cheers for that info Gerrard, Si didnt reply because hes on holiday at the moment (will point him over to here when hes back) On another note, I have just popped the Klingon Preview up [URL="http://www.gameon.co.uk/game/preview/star-trek-online-part-five-attacks-of-the-klingons"]You can find that here[/URL]
ievep-1543919659 - 01:56pm, 4th December 2018
A real great MMO to MMO and great preview for me, thanks very much and this is my first time to experience a MMO:u09
ievep-1543919659 - 01:56pm, 4th December 2018
Great STO, great PREVIEW and wonderful experience, I haven't play and like any game until the coming out of STO. What an excellence thing!!
jingke-1543919659 - 01:56pm, 4th December 2018
Found a good place from SwagVault for anything u need for STO.
Milky-1543919659 - 01:56pm, 4th December 2018
Apologies for reviving an old thread, I've only just read the review. Fantastic review! I'll be looking at seeing if I can get a trial of STO before going outright and purchasing my first ever monthly subscription game! Credit to you Si.
Ex0dUs-1428097470 - 01:56pm, 4th December 2018
Quick heads up on this, if you head over to the Amazon Game Downloads on the US Amazon, you can pick this up on digital deluxe edition download for $15 :) [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Online-Deluxe-Download/dp/B0044DEPZA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1296853522&sr=1-1"]Amazon.com: Star Trek Online: Video Games@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/517%2BtZrqfGL.@@AMEPARAM@@517%2BtZrqfGL[/ame]