[Sei]

Hey guys,

I was just wondering if any of you guys play STO. I've been playing on and off since it went ftp and I really enjoy it for a casual MMO. It's a nice blend of Star Trek and MMO (although I wish it were a bit more true to the former).

So, anyone play, have played, or want to play? :3

[Kenai]

It seems not. I don't have much experience in space or naval warfare (except I do like reading them). So I'm nervous to bother trying for both that reason and the slowness of this computer (due whatever the hell my mother did to it)

[Alpha]

I played it for a bit back around the time it first came out and was subscription only. At the time I found it interesting but not enough to warrant the money every month given the features as compared to something like WoW or even the Old Republic eventually. What irks me even more now, however, is that the best ships can really only be acquired using paid for currency.

Anyways, the gameplay is still fun and the story beyond what was shown in the original universe and where Spock was sent back in time is rather interesting and well thought out from what I've seen and read.

[Espy]

I think I played a bit, but it wasn't quite what I liked, sooo.

[Sei]

See? I'm weird with the whole ptp/w argument. I don't mind the highest tier of things being cash-only, because I don't need to be the best. As long as I am good enough to compete, that's all I care about. Then again, I'm only really a PvE-oriented person; I don't like anything involving PvP.

[Ashy]

so what sort of gameplay is it?

[Sei]

The easiest way for me to describe STO is to say it's Guild Wars with a Star Trek skin over it.

You create a character from two and a half factions - the Federation, a full faction; Klingon Defense Force (KDF), a full faction; or the new Romulan Republic (after a certain level, flows into Fed or KDF). Then, you pick a 'class' - classes consist of tactical (DPS), science (Heals/Buffs/DPS), and Engineering (Buffs/Debuffs/Tank). The skills you can use depend on the class you pick. Finally, you pick a ship - there are three classes of ships: escorts (DPS; like Defiant), cruisers (tank; like Enterprise-D), and science vessels (heals/buffs; like Voyager).

Once all that's chosen, you can either play the story through or join a fleet (e.g. guild) and play with friends. Along the way, you gain NPCs who join your ships' crew - these are your away team and ship team. They go with you on missions and give your ship special abilities.

There is a mix of land and space-based combat, and most missions try to mix it up. Most of the races are in there, and there are certain 'arcs' that include enemies like species 8472 (called Undine in STO), RSE, Cardassians, Breen, and Vorta/Jem'Hadar.

My Admiral, for example, has completed the story. She is a science officer focusing on medical who flies around in a Prometheus-class starship (the actual on-screen Prometheus). That means she can use her healing while the ship focuses on DPS, which makes it a cool balance in battle.

It's hard to sum up in a post. Is it everything I would like a Star Trek MMO to be? Absolutely not. Does it get actual voice actors from the show to do things and try to keep everyone happy as much as possible? I think that's a definite yes. It's a nice ST-inspired game to play casually.

[Alpha]

Well, now that there's a Mac client I may very well come back and play, but I will have to start from scratch unfortunately. If only more games would follow suite.

[Sei]

That's awesome news, Alpha! Fed, KDF, or RR? Season 9 is coming out in April, I think.

[Alpha]

I'm probably leaning towards Fed, but the Klingons and Romulans came out after I stopped playing, so want to try at least one of them out...probably Romulans.

[Sei]

Romulans are cool because you eventually ally with either Fed or KDF, but it kind of sucks that they're not their own faction.

You've missed a bit, then. Fed got a brand new tutorial and the early level missions have been updated with newer effects and voices; KDF also now has a tutorial and doesn't start at lvl 20. Romulans, in my opinion, probably have one of the better stories, but they also came out the latest, so it's expected. xP

I have Fed and RomFed, so I can help there... but I still have my not-finished-with-the-tutorial Klingon. I just can't seem to get into the KDF.

[Alpha]

Well, I'll take that into consideration then when I finally get all the patch data downloaded and installed....over 7 gb...holy hell....

[Espy]

Hm. Wonder if I should go back to playing. The problem with STO (and SWTOR, actually) is that I've never watched them. Yes, I know, that's silly, but I much prefer reading things to watching, and don't really have a thing for movies. (I saw the Matrix for the first time last semester.)

So...STO lore is a bit lost on me @___@

[Alpha]

I've gotten into both so I know the backstories (and played a lot of the games really....working on DS9 so I understand the whole Dominion aspect better however).

[Sei]

I have always loved TNG - grew up watching it with my uncle. Once I got Netflix, I watched DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, and finally TOS/TAS. Once I finished with those, I watched all the TNG movies, followed by the TOS movies. I just love the universe they live in (minus hostile aliens, of course)!

[Alpha]

On a side note...I've now made two characters: 1 Tactical Federation and 1 Tactical Romulan.