STO Defiant-class Gameplay

[DUCE]

I got bored the other night and made a little video on my tactical escort in Star Trek Online, the U.S.S. Ronin. Enjoy!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfDmAkOoXCk[/ame]

 

[Quest]

Game play with the Science Vessel is vastly different than that

 

[acefisher1]

So I know theres a few different discussions going on about this game, and I figured I would wait for a thread like this to ask.

What do you guys think about this game? I don't really like Star Trek as a franchise or whatever you want to call it, but the game interests me. I like the concept of how space battle works in this game, and it seems just involving enough to stand on its own feet. But I have to say, I am really skeptical of the game...

Can you give me a honest rating and a description of the game from your point of view?

 

[DUCE]

So I know theres a few different discussions going on about this game, and I figured I would wait for a thread like this to ask.

What do you guys think about this game? I don't really like Star Trek as a franchise or whatever you want to call it, but the game interests me. I like the concept of how space battle works in this game, and it seems just involving enough to stand on its own feet. But I have to say, I am really skeptical of the game...

Can you give me a honest rating and a description of the game from your point of view?

Honestly, Ace, if I were to give the game a rating, as of now, I would probably give it a 7 out of 10. However, it is still a brand new game, still in its infancy, and i've been playing it since open beta, and it has improved substantially.

Some of the pros are space combat is fun. It's challenging enough without required a PhD in rocket science, yet it's not dumbed down. Some of the abilities the ships have are quite fun, and deciding what skills you want to give your bridge crew is a challenge on its own. The graphics in space are nice and they are constantly improving the stability of the game graphically. The mission story arc is quite interesting, however if you are not a Star Trek fan, you might be a little bit lost, but not too horribly lost. The selection of ships is quite interesting, especially as you progress farther up. You'll notice a significant difference between tiers of ships as you progress in ranks, and you are able to customize your ship enough that most ships look different, but it's not the most sophisticated customization. What's also interesting is you have quite a bit to work with in determining what kind of weapon loadout you want to run around with, especially with the higher level tier ships. Player customization is quite amazing to say the least. You can play a slew of pre-determined races that are all part of the Star Trek mythos, however, the most customization you can do is if you decide to make up your own race. You can choose your own abilities and make a totally unique character, and I have to say that i've seen some quite remarkable examples of creativity with the character creation.

Some of the cons the game have most have to do with content. As far as missions go, alot of them are "go here, kill this amount and yer done" or "go here, scan these things, yer done". It can get a bit repetitive at times, however, the more powerful ship you get as you progress, they don't take too terribly long. The ground aspect of the game is still a bit weak, both gameplay mechanic wise and content wise. The environments themselves are hit and miss: some look nice and live up to the whole Star Trek exploring unknown regions theme, while others are bland and repetitive. The musical score is also pretty weak and repetitive, however they add a nice touch whenever you engage in combat, it switches to a more dramatic and epic song that makes the fight more epic. The inclusion of an built-in music player that syncs with musical players such as Winamp and iTunes is a nice touch as well. I find myself listening to my own music more often now. Some people complain that they feel like they are traveling a trapped area is a valid concern; it's not exactly like in EVE Online where you travel full real-space. The way they did it in STO is if you are looking at a navigation chart, which is fine by me but some people complain about it. Finally, a last complaint that I'm in agreement with is the lack of a penalty for dying, which to me eliminates alot of the challenge. You can just keep going in guns ablazing and continuously do this without a penalty. Granted, WoW does somewhat do this as well (at least when I played), however you would still have to run back to your corpse and have a durability loss, but the only loss you experience now is time.

My biggest concern is the replay value, especially when I hit the level cap at 50. I'm not sure how things play out as far as PVP and PVE goes, since I haven't gotten there, but already Cryptic has added new zone areas for higher level content and plans are to continue to add more and more content, which is somewhat comforting. However, how much of this content will be repetitive grinding is yet to be said.

Overall, I find the game to be a fun and satisfying experience. It's not perfect, but as a veteran of many different MMOs, including Anarchy Online, Age of Conan, Vanguard, World of Warcraft, Runes of Magic and EVE, it's definitely a different experience. One thing I noticed that's becoming a trend is comparing this game with EVE, and honestly it's not a fair comparison. Those are two vastly different games and experiences. The good thing is that things are constantly being fixed and improved, and the game is definitely a work in progress.

 

[acefisher1]

Thanks for the review Duce! I actually bought the game last night and started playing my first character. I actually decided to buy the game because I realized that I have no preconceived notions of what the game is going to be, or anything about the lore to be upset about. Its basically an entirely new universe to me (which is rare for me).

I'm enjoying it so far. I went with an engineer and made an alien race. His name is Viserion Ingot Stormborn. I actually wrote a little backstory on him and his race too. I was shocked with my enthusiasm for the game and was more than impressed with character creation as well as plenty happy with the ship customization from what i've played thus far (on the mission to talk with suluu or however you spell his name).

Hit me up in game or Steam, I'd love to have some people to play with. And i'll post my contact info in the ID thread as well.

Again thanks for the honest review!

 

[DUCE]

Thanks for the review Duce! I actually bought the game last night and started playing my first character. I actually decided to buy the game because I realized that I have no preconceived notions of what the game is going to be, or anything about the lore to be upset about. Its basically an entirely new universe to me (which is rare for me).

I'm enjoying it so far. I went with an engineer and made an alien race. His name is Viserion Ingot Stormborn. I actually wrote a little backstory on him and his race too. I was shocked with my enthusiasm for the game and was more than impressed with character creation as well as plenty happy with the ship customization from what i've played thus far (on the mission to talk with suluu or however you spell his name).

Hit me up in game or Steam, I'd love to have some people to play with. And i'll post my contact info in the ID thread as well.

Again thanks for the honest review!

Anytime, bud! I'm finishing up the big move, so I prolly won't be on until maybe later on today or Friday, but hit me up. My name in-game is Duce@phylmob21 if you want to send me a friend request.

Also, if anyone wants to try the game out, I got a 5-day trial key for whoevers interested and wants to try out.

 

[Diomed]

Well I am max level at Rear Admiral 5 and I just canceled. The game is buggy, unfinished and the ground combat makes me want to slit my wrists. It does have good space combat but even that gets old.

I flew a Defiant at Captain and enjoyed it but I bought an Intrepid class Science ship and fell in love. I got so sick of the pounding the escorts take. The Sci ships are much more powerful and more effective overall. I can take entire fleets with my Luna, albiet -4 ones.

 

[CanadianNoOB]

You would post this lol!

 

[SturmBruder]

Also, if anyone wants to try the game out, I got a 5-day trial key for whoevers interested and wants to try out.

I got one too. PM me if you wanna try it. But remember, retail is really beta 2.0.

 

[Omniblast]

I gotta remember to watch this later. See how other Tac Caps handle things. So far I've been using the follow BO's:

Science
Science Team I
Sensor Scramble I

Engineering
Engineering Team I
Reverse Polarity Shields I

Tactical
Tactical Team I
Torpedo Spread II
Cannon: Rapid Fire II
Attack Pattern Omega III
&
Beam Array: Overload I <-- probably going to change this for Torpedo: Spread I
Attack Pattern Beta II <-- don't really find this to be too useful *sigh*

Running full Tetryon Cannons, 2 duals, 1 regular cannon, Transphasic Torpedo, 2 Turret cannons on aft.

Survivability is an issue sometimes. Glad that there is Reverse Polarity Shields & Science/Engineering Team. Wish they would be on seperate timers. -_-.;;

===
I'm glad that they have no death penalty, because it seems like I end up dying a lot. heh.
Also there's that skill called Abandon Ship. Causes self destruct, and massive damage to enemy. (I like the escape pods ejecting out.)