The Energon Pub

As an old Star Trek fan from high school, I took great interest when i heard they were finally going to release Star Trek Online. Done by Cryptic Studios (who also brought us Champions Online and City of Heroes/Villians), I got into the closed beta and am now particpating in the open beta. I'd love to know if others on this site are in the beta and what their impressions are. Here are some short ones on my end:

1. Space AND ground combat is included and is actually surprisingly complex. The HUD is very WoW-ish, but it works so might as well roll with it. Chracter classes are: Engineer (ablities include ability to place phaser turrets and shield generators; "tank"), Tactical (hand to hand expert or phaser expert; DPS), and Science (can buff and debuff enemies or allies; "healers"). Likewise, the starships fit into similar molds.

2. Space combat is BEAUTIFUL. The graphics for space combat are fantastic. Phasers and disruptors (and other beam weapons) have the perfect flash, shining light on both target and shooter. There is a wonderful array of weapons to choose from as well. Whatever your Trekkie mind wants to use is available.

3. Ground combat is still rough around the edges. They have issues making sure a target faces who they are attacking. Also, the AI for the other away team members (up to 4 members of your bridge crew can beam down with you) is still rough as they can get lost or stuck in hallways.

4. Bridge crew; you are able to select your own bridge crew of the same choices that the characters may be: Science officers, tactical officers, and engineering. These officers provide different abilities in both space combat and ground combat. So, diversity in your bridge crew's abilities is a must.

5. Fanboy factor: missions and voiceovers. Parts of the game are narrated by none other than Leonard Nimoy. In addition, a good number of the missions (called episodes), involve encounters with Star Trek lore. The first encounter is one which involves the daughter of two ST:Voyager members. Another mission involves the Doomsday Machine from the original series. A third involves a trip through time using the Guardian of Forever and drops you in a fight that puts you side by side with the original USS Enterprise fighting off Klingons. The fanboy in me joygasmed.

6. Last thing I'll mention is the rather unique leveling system. Technically, the cap is level 50. However it's not called that. Each level is a rank and grade. There are five ranks: Lieutenant, Lt. Commander, Commander, Captain, and Admiral. Each rank has 10 grades. So, level 50 is Admiral Rank 10. XP are called bridge officer points and are used to buy skill advancements for your character. In addition, you are able to buy skill upgrades and promote your chosen bridge officers. Essentially, you are managing 5 characters for each 1 primary character you make. You are able to move up in ship class at levels 11, 21, 31, and 41. There are five tiers of ships with a wide variety of customization. I love the mmix and match possibilities of the ships.

7. PvP: The game is set about 30 years after ST: TNG/Voyager/DS9. The Federation is at war with the Klingons...again. Players can choose which side they play. The PvP is still heavily bugged, but is much better than it was. We haven't had much PvP as most people haven't had time to play both sides yet, so it's pretty lopsided.

All in all, this is the most original and exciting MMO i've seen. It's a new idea, which is great. I personally thought that the fantasy MMO genre was getting seriously played out. SOmething else sci-fi related is a refreshing break from the usual Orcs and Dwarves stuff. I am very enthused to playing it full time...I think enough of this game to have shelled out for the lifetime memberhsip. If anyone has questions, I'd be happy to answer them. Otherwise I'll see ya'll out in teh final frontier.

I'm a pretty hardcore Star Trek fan and was really excited when I heard an MMO was finally coming out! I didn't get in on the closed beta, but I've been playing the open beta for a bit now. I really like it so far. It's true that the game as a few rough spots - mainly ground combat and a few minor things - but that's what's nice about an MMO; they keep updating it! I think by the end of the beta it will be polished up pretty good. I have the collector's edition on pre-order. After the game launches I'll try to get back here fairly quick with an in-game ID so that we Seibertronians can help eachother out!

btw: anyone live near, and eat at, a Del Taco??????? There aren't any with in two states (in any direction) of me! And I desperately would like to get the code of the collector's cub for the shuttlecraft pet!!! (if anyone is willing to help me out please send me a PM!) http://www.startrekonline.com/deltaco

Will you be playing the game? And there's a shuttlecraft pet? I SOOO want that! If there are enough Seibertronians, I figure we'll start our own fleet!

Yes there is a shuttlecraft pet, but you need a code and to get that code you need to travel to a taco food chain that dramaticaly scaled back over 20 years ago (late 80's) and buy a drink. it doesn't have a presence in most states.

who's big freaking idea was that? I oughtta quantum torpedo their asses....

Some incompitent marketer. Guess he forgot to look up the part where Del Taco doens't operate in most states anymore since Taco Bell kicked the crap outta them in the late 80's. (I liked thier fries with their kids meals over TB's when there was one in my area.)

Yep, need a macho drink or meal from Del Taco for the shuttlecraft pet (code on cup). But hey are basically only in the western part of the country.

I have preordered and have been in the open beta. So far it's a blast! I'm going to play Friday night at the beginning of the head start. Once I have settled on a character name and career choice I'll post them hear so any Seibertronian STO-ers can message me if they want!

Head start begins Friday? Damn...gonna miss the first 36 hours because I'm in mexico drinking tons of tequilla and enjoying 85 degree weather! Did I mention the tequilla? There's tequilla here. Lots of it. And I've drank like half of it. More than half. Had 12 shots on the snorkeling trip by 2pm. Half as many as I had yesterday so far.

I'm thinking I'm going to go Federation side...I've already signed up for a lifetime sub...that's how impressed I am with this game. I think I'm going with the same name I had in the beta: the U.S.S. Yoo Essess.

All ahead full!

Life Time Sub. here too! Dropping WoW once my subscription runs out. I'm focusing on Fed but plan to dabble quite a bit on the Klingon side as well. I'm going to log in to the head start after work today: hopefully the opening day lag isn't too bad.....

Any other STO folks out there? So far so good for me - just hit Lt. Cmdr last night and got my new ship! I've been really enjoying the game and some friends of mine are playing too. If you're in game feel free to contact me: DVK. Just mention your from the Seibertron boards!

LC5 here. Main's name is Pi of Thirteen@Pianomn626...Captain of the U.S.S. Yu Essess.

I'll watch for ya!

So how's the game play???

LC2 here. Joined Trill Tactical, Cruiser.

Foxan@Mayonaka_Kitsune is my main.

I have a Trill Tactical, Escort LC1 alt, as well.

ACtually, the gameplay is surprising cool. The graphics on space combat are phenomenal. I consider the HUD's and combat simnplified from games like WoW simply due to the fact that they had to accomodate both ground and space combat in a similar action bar. The only issue right now is that Cryptic wasn't ready for the response the game got; server issues galore. They said they have already landed a million accounts for the game...which, if true, is beyond amazing. The game is fun, PvP is challenging and highly rewarding (you get credits GALORE for doing PvP as well as landing relative XP), and there are a variety of directions you can go with each of the three types of character classes and ship classes. I'm loving it...

Hit Commander yesterday, currently Cmdr 3 (the equivalent of level 23). Got an Akira-class Heavy cruiser and customized it with a differnt saucer section and navy blue paint highlights. Officially NCC 91596-B, the U.S.S. Yoo Essess B. Should hit Captain by weeks end...then I'll get my Defiant-class battle escort.

I think First Aid really nailed. The ground combat is fun, but the space combat is where it's really at! I'm Lt. Cmdr. grade 4 at the moment. Hopefully Commander before too long. There's a lot of really neat tie-ins with the various series' as well -for instance there are a lot of neat quests around Miral Paris from Voyager, as well as tons of reference to TOS, TNG, etc...

I have only been hit by the server issues a couple times, but I play at odd hours. I think this past weekend a lot of their new server hardware was supposed to be delivered....

Here's hoping they got the new stuff installed and/or delivered. It's going to take some time to align everything and get it all working properly, but this game is fantastic. I'm loving the tie-ins as well. There's one mish in particular- City on the Edge of Never- where you actually get to use to Guardian of Forever from the original series and do some time traveling...and it results in you fighting alongside the ORIGINAL Enterprise from the TV series. I got some great screenshots of my ship alongside the old Enterprise...the detailing is spot on. You are even contacted by none other than Leonard Nimoy as Commander Spock! What a great thrill for us geeks! I highly recommend giving the game a test drive.

That mission was a blast! I actually left my friend hanging to to pull aggro from the Enterprise. It's OK - he understood.

Iron Prime wrote:That mission was a blast! I actually left my friend hanging to to pull aggro from the Enterprise. It's OK - he understood.

The Enterprise woulda made it...Scotty woulda pulled something out of his hat.

The Doomsday Machine mission was also very fanboy worthy.

I will say that the best thing about the ground missions is the random disentigration of your enemies! That's just flipping awesome. I'm also hooked on the Split Beam Phaser and Disruptor rifles.

Have you done a lot of PvP at all?

I just got Doomsday - looking forward to completing that one the next time I'm online.

Not much for PvP yet. I made a Klingon though so I can go "all out" with PvP at a later time!

Speaking of Klingon's: do you know if you can ever get an "upgraded" Bat'leth? I like the starting one, just wondering if there is ever ways to get uncommon or rare ones with bonuses....

Iron Prime wrote:I think First Aid really nailed. The ground combat is fun, but the space combat is where it's really at! I'm Lt. Cmdr. grade 4 at the moment. Hopefully Commander before too long. There's a lot of really neat tie-ins with the various series' as well -for instance there are a lot of neat quests around Miral Paris from Voyager, as well as tons of reference to TOS, TNG, etc...

I have only been hit by the server issues a couple times, but I play at odd hours. I think this past weekend a lot of their new server hardware was supposed to be delivered....

I might be getting this next week.....if my budget allows.

Haven't played the Klingon side yet so i don't know about the upgraded bat'leth.

Oh, Sto Vo Kor, they actually explain in this game why the Klingons in the 23rd century are smooth-browed as opposed to the ridged ones. Very interesting story...

They actually already did that in Enterprise - but the in-game tie-in is slick!

First-Aid wrote:Haven't played the Klingon side yet so i don't know about the upgraded bat'leth.

Oh, Sto Vo Kor, they actually explain in this game why the Klingons in the 23rd century are smooth-browed as opposed to the ridged ones. Very interesting story...

Is it different then what was explained in the Enterprise series???

Is so please share.