Star Trek Online
Game » consists of 6 releases. Released Feb 02, 2010
A sci-fi MMORPG developed by Cryptic Studios and Perpetual Entertainment which allows players to fight amongst the ranks of Starfleet, join the Klingon Empire, or rebuild a Romulan homeworld.
Deal Of A Lifetime?
All of that is run-of-the-mill pricing stuff. Of course, you still have to buy the actual game, which is $50... unless you want the collector's edition, which gives you some extra doodads for a total price of $60 for a downloadable version and $80 for a physical copy, which comes with a fake communicator and some concept art.
Again, nothing out of the ordinary here. It's the two other payment options that are throwing me for a loop. These are limited time deals that are only available until February 1... you know, the day before the game actually comes out? If you opt for these, you can lock yourself in at a yearly rate of $119.99 (that's just under ten bucks a month) or you can just do away with all of this monthly fee crap and give Cryptic $239.99 for a lifetime subscription.
Keep in mind that's the lifetime of the game, not the lifetime of the player.
Now, until I saw the lifetime subscription package, I had almost no intent of even playing Star Trek Online past the end of the open beta. The beta seems fun enough. The systems feel reasonably well-conceived, I guess. But I haven't really played enough of it to figure out if the game is actually any good or not. That's what makes these additional offers so tricky... you have to pay up front for a game that might not be all that great. Heck, it might not even reach or maintain the subscription numbers it needs to survive, if you want to get technical about all this. But that's probably a misplaced worry... surely something with the Star Trek name attached to it will at least attract an audience for the first year or so. From there, it'll all depend on how much support the game gets.
At this point, I'm essentially trying to talk myself out of dropping $300 on an MMO. But the notion of paying once for a game that normally has a monthly fee associated with it is incredibly appealing. What if the game's a hit? What if the late-game stuff is amazing? What if my latent Star Trek nerddom takes over and I get fully hooked on it? Regardless of all that, I have to make my decision before the game is even officially available. Sneaky. Very sneaky.
At this point, if I'm going to play it at all, I'm going to get a lifetime subscription. The other option, paying a monthly fee, would feel like an endless ripoff with what I know now. In the back of my mind I'd always know that, for the price of 16 regular months, I could have eliminated the fee thing entirely. It also removes some of the pressure of actually playing an MMO. Half the time, I played World of Warcraft out of guilt, just because I knew the meter was running. There's something weirdly liberating about eliminating the regular fee.
Christ, this is starting to sound like an informercial.
Maybe that's the worst part about all this. It's a very salesy sort of thing. By forcing players to make a decision based on time in a decidedly shaky open beta, players are asked to place a certain amount of faith in the game's developers when making this decision. I guess City of Heroes was/is well-supported. Seems like Champions Online has seen some meaningful updates since its launch. Surely a big licensed thing like Star Trek Online would at least get that level of support, if not an additional layer to keep the license holders happy, right?
Fine. OK. I've talked myself into it. I like Star Trek. So I am going to buy Star Trek Online. End of story. This, people, is why they still make licensed games. Because occasionally someone will get suckered in without paying any attention to the quality of the actual game. Now I just need to decide which pre-order bonus I want...
Steam. Done. I don't need a concept art book or little communicator badge that'll just sit in its box forever. $300. God, it's like I just bought a whole new console or something.
Dear Star Trek Online,
Please be good.
XOXO,
Jeff
All of that is run-of-the-mill pricing stuff. Of course, you still have to buy the actual game, which is $50... unless you want the collector's edition, which gives you some extra doodads for a total price of $60 for a downloadable version and $80 for a physical copy, which comes with a fake communicator and some concept art.
Again, nothing out of the ordinary here. It's the two other payment options that are throwing me for a loop. These are limited time deals that are only available until February 1... you know, the day before the game actually comes out? If you opt for these, you can lock yourself in at a yearly rate of $119.99 (that's just under ten bucks a month) or you can just do away with all of this monthly fee crap and give Cryptic $239.99 for a lifetime subscription.
Keep in mind that's the lifetime of the game, not the lifetime of the player.
Now, until I saw the lifetime subscription package, I had almost no intent of even playing Star Trek Online past the end of the open beta. The beta seems fun enough. The systems feel reasonably well-conceived, I guess. But I haven't really played enough of it to figure out if the game is actually any good or not. That's what makes these additional offers so tricky... you have to pay up front for a game that might not be all that great. Heck, it might not even reach or maintain the subscription numbers it needs to survive, if you want to get technical about all this. But that's probably a misplaced worry... surely something with the Star Trek name attached to it will at least attract an audience for the first year or so. From there, it'll all depend on how much support the game gets.
At this point, I'm essentially trying to talk myself out of dropping $300 on an MMO. But the notion of paying once for a game that normally has a monthly fee associated with it is incredibly appealing. What if the game's a hit? What if the late-game stuff is amazing? What if my latent Star Trek nerddom takes over and I get fully hooked on it? Regardless of all that, I have to make my decision before the game is even officially available. Sneaky. Very sneaky.
At this point, if I'm going to play it at all, I'm going to get a lifetime subscription. The other option, paying a monthly fee, would feel like an endless ripoff with what I know now. In the back of my mind I'd always know that, for the price of 16 regular months, I could have eliminated the fee thing entirely. It also removes some of the pressure of actually playing an MMO. Half the time, I played World of Warcraft out of guilt, just because I knew the meter was running. There's something weirdly liberating about eliminating the regular fee.
Christ, this is starting to sound like an informercial.
Maybe that's the worst part about all this. It's a very salesy sort of thing. By forcing players to make a decision based on time in a decidedly shaky open beta, players are asked to place a certain amount of faith in the game's developers when making this decision. I guess City of Heroes was/is well-supported. Seems like Champions Online has seen some meaningful updates since its launch. Surely a big licensed thing like Star Trek Online would at least get that level of support, if not an additional layer to keep the license holders happy, right?
Fine. OK. I've talked myself into it. I like Star Trek. So I am going to buy Star Trek Online. End of story. This, people, is why they still make licensed games. Because occasionally someone will get suckered in without paying any attention to the quality of the actual game. Now I just need to decide which pre-order bonus I want...
Steam. Done. I don't need a concept art book or little communicator badge that'll just sit in its box forever. $300. God, it's like I just bought a whole new console or something.
Dear Star Trek Online,
Please be good.
XOXO,
Jeff
It's never worth this much...even if it is good...you'll eventually take a break.
I shed a tear for you Jeff.
Lot of money, but yea - it's a bet. Let's hope it turns out to be a good one :)
I'm still skeptic on Star Trek online. I haven't tried it yet, but Champions online didn't really do anything special for me, except for offering, possibly the best character creator ever seen in an mmo. I'm afraid I will feel the same way with STO, unfortunately, but I might be totally off here.
What's the smallprint like for the lifetime subscription? Are there any clauses that mean they could release an expansion pack six months time, and say that the expansion pack content isn't covered by the lifetime subscription, and force you to buy a new subscription for that?
Jeff, I think you're wrong when you describe this as poor impulse control. This is more of a consumer mania. It's brilliant to see, and I occasionally wonder how you can afford all this shit, but Jesus, dude. You remind me of a friend and I in college. Neo*Geo cabinets anyone? There's a reason my fraternity has an arcade with Mark of the Wolves and Twinkle Star Sprites...
Thing is, you will probably end up playing it for like 6 months, and you just threw down 300 on it. Now you might play it out of guilt past what you would play with a monthly subscription simply because of how much you dropped on it. Either way, good luck. I hope it ends up being worth it for you in the end.
Yeah, it's sneaky of them, but also kind of shitty, because like you said, they're asking you to bank that money solely on the performance of the beta. Well, and I guess your nostalgia/familiarity with the license. That's a hell of a lot of good will they're asking for.
So you now have to play, and not just log in and look around, but actually play at least one day each month for 16 months before you get your money back. Lets hope this goes well. SWG didn't make it 16 months before they completely rewrote the game and turned it to trash did it?
I would easily pay that for WOW.. im not a hardcore wow player but my subscription has been active since the day wow came out because i do enjoy playing it and i understand that feeling you have, i blow free time doing nothing in wow just for the sake of playing it because i know im paying for the month, i want to get the most out of it.
" WHAT! Just do an endurance run and you'll get that $300 back in no time... YOU KNOW IT MAKES SENSE "Endurance Run! Endurance Run! Endurance Run!....Come on everybody, i'm sure if we all chant loud enough, it could actually happen....Endurance Run!!!
Stupid money to pay for any game. I don't care if the game lasts 10 years. The fact is it will be a miracle if you are even still interested in it 6 months from now.
Just pay in 3 month blocks and be done with it. People are starving and you are going to drop $300 on a damn game? Give me a break.
The problem is that yes, you love the game today. Sure, you'll love the game tomorrow. But -everyone- falls out of love with a video game eventually, and MMOs are no different. People stop liking them eventually.
Imagine a kid who was crazy about Gears of War 1. He would play his Gears of War constantly. No one could best him in a shotgun duel. Well, Gears of War 2 comes out two years later. Now he wants to play that instead.
There will always be a new awesome game that comes out which will soak up all your time. And this is why no single game is ever worth 300 dollars, IMO.
I'd pay $300 for a lifetime subscription to EVE. That will be around long after I've gotten my money's worth for the subscription. I have no certainty that Star Trek Online will be around in two or three years. More, I don't see it keeping me entertained for more than a couple weeks. At absolute most, a couple months. Just like every MMO out there. Putting the mechanics of WOW in a Starfleet skin doesn't suddenly make it more playable. In other words, yes, I'd pay $300 for a subscription to an MMO. Currently, I'd only do that for EVE. In general . . . the MMO that would be worth a life time subscription has yet to be created and I'm excited for it to be. I'm really tired of getting worked up over each new big MMO only to discover it offers nothing more than the last twenty that I've played and that I wish I hadn't had to pay $50 for the game.
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