I'm currently searching the web, looking through all my PC games trying to find an MMO to replay because let's face it...life get's pretty boring when your not pwning n00bs. But I can't quite figure out what I want to play because A LOT of the new MMOs out these days just seem to keep flopping. So now I have my eye turned on to Star Trek Online, but the problem is I'm not sure. I watched the Set Phasers to Fun videos and was pretty entertained from what I saw. By the way I know nothing of Star Trek or any of it's shows or history to be honest, so that's another problem. Plus I have yet to see any reviews or anything so I want to see how those of you playing the game are liking it, fan or not a fan, how does it play, is it interesting to you, how's the community, combat fun? Etc...you know the deal. Help me decide. :P

Don't think you should worry about knowledge in lore really. There's not much things linking the game to the tv-shows and stuff.
There's some trivia things like offsprings to famous characters but it's not like mr Picard casually strolls by.
 
I think what draws me to the game is the combat, space combat at least. I think it's interesting ideas having skills tied to your bridge officers instead of just your own character. Promoting them and training them in skills to make the ship behave better. Feels very tactical as well when trying to broadside to eliminate an enemy's shields to fire a salvo of torpedoes at it and so on.  Ground combat is a bit so and so imo.. It works but it need more variations in environments and events. Having an away team with you feels very star trek though, even if the majority of the time they are there to do some shooting.
 
I think the big problem with this game is the intance system that Cryptic has going for it. Limiting players to 20 in some zones and 50 at bigger areas and so on. Kind of takes some of the mmo feel away from it. But I don't notice that very much myself since I'm in the Lobsters. But I can see that being a problem for the ones that prefer several servers instead where everyone are in the same instance.
 
I dunnow.. If you want some fun space combat and like to fiddle with uniforms and AI dudes to make your perfect bridge crew aboard your custom built Sovereign ship. Sure try it out.
If you expect something in the likes of WoW or EVE, then don't get your hopes up. :)

In my opinion it's a pretty bad game..but i like it. I accept it's a bad game but for me, someone who likes and watches star trek to this day the little things like seeing DS9, flying around in a starship and just little references and nods to shows make it great.
 
It's not perfect and you probably wont be playing it 5 months down the line but if you have an interest in star trek it'll certainly keep you entertained for a few weeks..which is more than i can say for most games.

In my opinion half of the game is awesome, the other half blows.
 
Space combat is where it's at in this game.  Selecting and customizing your ship, selecting and training your bridge officers, the tactical feel of the combat - all excellent.  The downside to this half is it's not very Star Trek-ish.  The Starfleet captains I've seen in the shows and films did not rush in to every encounter phasers blasting like we do in the game.  Since you're not a Trek fan this shouldn't bother you at all.
 
The ground combat is mindless.  I approach the targets until I'm in range, crouch, target the strongest enemy, give the fire on my target command, toss a nade and then spam the 1 key (primary attack) until I see my exploit attack flashing and then I press the 2 key. When I switch targets I give the focus fire command again. Repeat until the area is clear. I don't move or dodge or any of that because it's unnecessary.  I just want it to be over as soon as possible so I can get back to my ship.  Aside from that you've got the same lack of diplomacy problem here in the ground game that you do in space.
 
The space half of the game has me coming back for more though.  If they improve the ground game and add in some Trek-like mission options (fire phasers as a last resort, not as plan A) I think it could go far.  If they addressed some of the things on my improvement list that would be good too.

As somebody with zero prior interest in Star Trek, I'm still enjoying it.  I don't feel like I'm missing out on a whole lot by not getting the references or whatever, and may even be enjoying it more because I never get the "This doesn't feel like Star Trek!" vibe that people seem to be getting.  Watching tons of spaceships blow up with a Pirates! / X-Wing combat system is fine by me.  The missions have had just enough story and slight variation to keep me entertained.  The ground combat still feels all kinds of janky - to the point where it isn't really fit for release - but it isn't without it's charm.  I don't dread having to do a ground mission or anything like that.
 
I actually think the Instanced structure is far better than the alternative would be.  The shared spaces still feel busy enough to feel like the universe is active and I don't really want 100 ships milling around in the same spot when I'm trying to do a mission - space is supposed to be pretty big and mostly empty after all.  It suits me that you can basically solo the whole game if you want to - getting to a point in an MMO where you can't progress because you don't have a group just feels like a hassle to me.
 
I still feel like the pacing is way off in the first ~15 hours of the game though.  It picks up a lot once you get to choose your own ship type and start getting a few more skills - it should just get there sooner.  
 
I wouldn't want to be playing STO solid or anything, but it's fun enough for an hour or two when you don't have a better game to be playing.

Interesting opinions guys. I'm considering it more and more but what's holding me back now is the whole instanced server thing they got going on. I guess if you're in a guild of some kind and you're always talking to people that'd be different. But yes the space combat does look totally rad!

This is my first MMO so I can't say this for certain, but I think I'd prefer a more open design over the instanced design they went with.
 
One reason being the way space is divided up.  The largest spaces are sector blocks and each contains a number of systems.  Each sector block and system is an instance with a loading screen whenever you travel from one to another.  It feels segmented and constricted, not open and spacious like you'd expect traveling through, well, s p a c e.  I can understand why they went with this design, at least from a sense of scale and gameplay standpoint.  If the entire map was open and the systems were spaced out more 'realistically' seeing another player ship would be a much rarer event and the game might end up feeling pretty empty all the time.
 
Everyone in the game, no matter what instance they're in, can chat with each other which helps a little bit, but not much.

I'd prefer it if space wasn't so heavily divided into regions.  But I am very glad that the actual planetary systems are as instanced as they are.  First, as Jimbo says, space is mostly empty.  The Enterprise was not constantly running into other starships when it came to visit planets.  In fact, at least in ToS (for the non-trekkies that's "The Original Series -- i.e., the one from the 60s) the Enterprise was often out alone exploring new planets.  Second, I absolutely hate it in other MMOs where someone else is already there and has just killed the monster that you need to kill and you have to end up camping waiting for a reset.  IMO the heavy instancing is better than the alternative.

Space is big, man. If it wasn't instanced the way it is, it would be ridiculously silly.
 
 It's a good game. It warrants AT LEAST the purchase of the game (free 30 days), if not a full blown subscription.

STO reviews are starting to bottom out. Lowest one so far is 40/100. 
 
http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/startrekonline?q=star%20trek%20online

And the majority seem to be over 60, which is a rather fair grade in my opinion.