Star Trek Online's 'Episode Missions' detailed

That's only a little over 30 hours worth of content at launch. :-\

Hrm. It remains to be seen if the gameplay will be compelling. Great IPO.

I am a bit concerned that they won't be able to capture the feeling of Trek, which seems to be largely about discovery. If the gameplay centers around war and destroying X-Y-Z target over and over, it might not keep the fanbase's attention.

But then, I also think MMOs went from being vast worlds to the game of WoW which is pretty much only about combat or crafting things for combat. I would like to see more MMOs implement more gameplay elements that make games like the SIMS so addictive and that would work very well in an MMO.

Basically, Star Trek Online could be a game with lots of gameplay around exploration and social interactions. It is harder to develop than tables of damage and damage resistance, but it does lead to much deeper gameplay.

"although Cryptic is saying not all episodes have to end with battle."

Diplomacy?! Yay!!!

Episode 5.

Your ship has been assigned to the far reaches of sector 7b and visit an uninhabited earth like planet. There you are to kill 25 boars and return with their pelts for the Federation Science Foundation to examine.

Boar Pelts: 0/25

Except it would not be for research but for honor instead!

63 hours of storycontent at launch does not augur well, given the Champions situation.

I have high hopes for this game, something I didn't always have, but I'm not entirely optimistic. While I haven't seen what they plan to implement for launch, I do have a slightly sinking feeling that it will be rushed without quite enough content in the game. I think the ability to costumize the inside of the craft could be very, very cool -- and actually be the first time "player housing" could be relevant that I've seen in a game, given that the housing travels with you.

There's lots of potential for this game, including sandbox potential, but I'm not sure the game will be that at launch. What about an assignment to help oversee a new federation colony, where your officers have to help oversee the development of the colony and your decisions make an impact in their life. The more successful the colony runs, based off your decisions, the more exp and rewards you get out of it in the end. Assignments on exploration, "We need lots of X ore. Find sources of X ore in Y regions of space." There may be fairly large pockets, but the bigger the pocket that you find, the more exp you get. (These kinds of missions would make having scientific vessels be a big boon.)

I think the game will eventually get to where it should, but it's going to take some time. February 2nd couldn't possibly be enough time, so I'll have to temper my expectations. That said, I absolutely think the game can be fun and somewhat polished from week 1, so this may just be the first time I've ever bought a MMO around the period of its initial launch.

30 hours of content for people with a life is quite a bit. Especially considering that these episodes are the storyline only...there are other avenues of progression, side missions with their own miniature storylines and periodic content like borg raids and distress signals.

For me, 30 hours is more thana month of over-the-top gaming...not everyone hunkers down for 22 hours a day in front of their computers, devouring games for all they are worth in the first 3 days so they can jump on to Massively and cry DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOm!