Alright enough with the poor Star Trek roleplaying. If you haven't guessed it by now (you truly are a slowpoke if you haven't) I've been playing a bit of the Star Trek Online open beta thanks to a generous member of the staff here at Giant Bomb who provided me a key when all seemed lost.The USS Luchadeer continues its mission through the Internet Quadrant, to boldly go where no Hamz has gone before. To seek out new memes and discover new levels of fail and win. Our primary mission to record and categorise new information for the wiki database so that future generations of the Space Neon Lobster race may learn from what we find.....
It's a beta and the nature of such a thing is designed primarily for server stress testing more than showing what the final product will be like. That being said to all the apologists out there do keep in mind a beta is also one of the few ways to actually get your hands on an MMO without either buying the game or waiting an untold length of time until a free trial is handed out. So don't hate me too much for the things I'm about to say!
My general feeling after playing the beta is that Star Trek Online has been rushed into an early February release. The game does not strike me as being released in a state that could be considered 'finished' by any means. It lacks a lot of depth that most MMOs have and the content shown during the beta feels extremely shallow. What there is in the game felt great for the first few hours until I begun to realise that is pretty much how it continues for the foreseeable future time playing the game.
The game just doesn't feel worth the money you would be expected to pay each month in order to play compared to the same price you pay each month in order to play other MMOs out there that provide vastly more content and depth to be experienced. All throughout my time playing the STO beta I kept thinking back to Guild Wars and how similar both games feel yet how GW managed to be free to play and maintain lasting appeal by actually providing substantial content in Prophecies at release alongside the expansions released later down the line. We'll have to see when and if Cryptic release a free trial if they manage to produce enough content later down the line to make me feel the game is worth that monthly subscription or not.
All the negativity aside I do want to mention a few quick bullet points of things I found enjoyable about the game.
- Gorn throwing rocks during a planet side fire fight. Quite possibly the best thing to randomly occur during an away mission, me versus the rock throwing Gorn.
- Tribbles. Everything about them from the adorable purr they make when petted to the fact they'll multiply and fill up your ship's cargo space in a short space of time.
- The main menu music in STO is very much Star Trek inspired and sounds great. The battle music also has a nice epic feel too it during an intense space fight that gets the blood pumping.
- Ship selection, variety and customisation is really well done. Allowing you to pilot iconic classes of vessel while mixing it up by customising parts of vessels together to create a unique looking ship is indeed a lot of fun to be had.
- Having a Klingon captain decide to use the "Today is a good day to die, prepare for ramming speed!" phrase and actually ram your ship is both hilarious and amazingly devastating to shield power and hull integrity.....
Also on a sidenote to the fine folks who joined the Space Neon Lobster fleet during the beta. Bravo ladies and gentlemen, bravo. Finest group / guild I've been apart of in an open beta for a long, long time. I just hope those folks who decide to carry on playing once the game is officially released do continue the great work of the Space Neon Lobsters by unison dancing in the Starbase, tribble farming in the fleet bank and using terms such as "Oscar Mike", "Roger" and "Mayday! Mayday!" during team / fleet actions in-game.
Next time on Captain's Blog!
- Darksiders and how I've managed to spoil the ending of that game for myself (before actually finishing it) without reading up on any spoiler material!
- Prototype and why it is way more fun to whipfist a bitch on the street than it is to listen to a bitch moan on and on about Gentech!
- How life begins to fall apart when your computer begins to die on you!
Till next time folks :)
Hamz, XOXO!
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