TheDrago

Suggestion: Why don't you play it again before making sweeping generalizations about it? Might make your posts sound more informed. Cheers!

Um, the answer is money. Companies like Cryptic are not Blizzard. They do not have near endless development budgets, allowing them to sit and continue adding things while the game is not bringing anything into the company.

At some point, the company (in this case, Cryptic) decides that the game is "good enough" for release and puts it out there. Then, with the money they get from people buying the game, they use it to pay their staff, satisfy their investors, upgrade their tech, and upgrade the game.

It's called running a small business.

Dude, STFU. The game isn't rubbish. It has a lot of wonderful qualities.

Overall, the game is in good shape in terms of beta. Is it ready to be released? No, but that's the nature of MMOs. WOW's release was utter shit, and that game turned out ok, last I checked. That said, overall STO has some wonderful design elements and offers some truly GREAT potential moving forward. The possibility of not two but FOUR factions down the road really adds another level to a game that offers some unique fun for an MMO.

For starters, there is both ship v ship and regular "shoot the baddies with a gun" style combat. Ship v ship combat is excellent. Ignore JP because he is clueless on ship steering and maneuvering. He also hates everything and, well, every new MMO offers the same broken record response from him. Ships in STO do not turn on a dime because they are big. However, the controls are intuitive and the re-routing of power to specific systems (shields, weapons, sensors, sensor disruption, etc.) makes ship combat very, very fun. Adding bridge officers also gives you additional ship abilities, like a photon torpedo spread or a tachyon beam from your science officer that weakens and opponents shields. Bridge officers get better at these abilities and can be trained in new or additional ones. In beta I had a 15 minutes white-knuckled fight with a Gorn battleship. Normally, long, drawn out battles piss me off because I feel the game design is "cheating me." In this case, the battle was fun and, at the end, I felt I'd kicked some serious butt.

The other combat element (away missions) are standard. I enjoy them, but I like them more for seeing how my bridge officers kick ass with all the abilities and gear I give them rather than the fighting I do. Again, nothing terribly unique about this mechanic: "Beam" into an instanced or zoned mission, kill all the baddies, click the glowie, get points. For me, the enjoyment is less about finishing the mission and more about watching my Vulcan tactical officer lop grenades at a Klingon Swordmaster.

In terms of how it does justice to the Star Trek IP, I'd say a B. I'd like to see more missions that involve "logic" or puzzle solving and a bit less "KILL THE GORN!" stuff. One mission I enjoyed involved beaming to a planet where miners had issued a work stoppage against management. Rather than me beaming in and blowing everything up, the mission involved me interviewing the miners, gathering information, and taking it back to the managers. The managers then asked me a series of questions based off that info, and the more answers I got correct them ore points I got. The mission ended without a single phaser fired.

Again, simple "logic-based" mission that is in-line with Star Trek. I'd like to see more missions similar. But, overall, the game is good.

I'd like an invite, please.

Not as tired as we are of reading posts like yours that needlessly bash the game for damn reason whatsoever.

Looks like you'll also be able to separate saucer sections from ships. I saw the Next Generation Enterprise ship flying around in that video without its saucer.

Cue the Champions Online-Bill Roper haters in 3... 2... 1...

Well, considering most of the serious reviews that came out when the game launched disagree with your assessment, I don't think you know what you're talking about when you say "They were counting on fanbois and hype because they new the game was just, well, to be polite, not that great."

He's a hater, period. And a schmuck. And he wets his bed at night.

Seriously, I don't think I've ever seen a positive comment about a game come from this loser in any post on this blog.

Just a lot of stupid ragging by a silly fool who likes to think he's important.

Anyway, I've read mixed about CO's Blood Moon event, which is what I often read about ANY event here.