Star Trek Online preorder TRIBBLE!

[Vanas]

I think they mean that it's a T2 ship, so on average, you'll be using it as your main ship for 20 hours or so, until you get T3. That would, you know, make sense.

Edit: Oh, as well as the Miranda? That's more sensible, so it's both T1 and T2. And likely hilariously over-powered for T1.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

Yeah, Oskuro, you fail at reading comprehension.

They were just clarifying how much you can expect to be using it before it becomes obsolete - you'll have better stuff soon, like with most pre-order things.

[Oskuro]

If that's the case, why point it out instead of saying you can have the ship until you get tired of it? Or is it that you lose your older ship when promoted to a new one?

[charlemagne]

If that's the case, why point it out instead of saying you can have the ship until you get tired of it? Or is it that you lose your older ship when promoted to a new one?

Well because every MMO player will ditch whatever he's using when something better comes along. That's all there is to the sentence. Once you hit level 11, T2 ships are available which are vastly superior to the starter ships, so no one will not change ships.

You don't lose older ships btw, there's starbase services where you can look into your "garage" and set whatever ship you like as current. So not only can you randomly swap escort for cruiser for science vessel, you can also go back to lower tier ships. The latter is probably not a bad idea if you e.g. want to help out some low level friend of yours and don't want to spoil the low level mission by going in with an overpowered ship.

Edit: Of course it's also possible that a science guy comes by when you hit level 11 and says "Stop flying that precious old constitution in original almost mint condition, this belongs in a museum!"

[Bounty]

FUCKDAMNIT just when I get my shiny new T2 cruiser kitted out the login server goes down. Damnit.

[Vanas]

If that's the case, why point it out instead of saying you can have the ship until you get tired of it? Or is it that you lose your older ship when promoted to a new one?

Well because every MMO player will ditch whatever he's using when something better comes along. That's all there is to the sentence. Once you hit level 11, T2 ships are available which are vastly superior to the starter ships, so no one will not change ships.

IIRC, the TOS Connie is the same as the T2 Connie but has an extra (device?) slot. So you can keep it until T3 and steamroll T1.

[Netko]

Any way to get it with digital download instead of retail for Europe? I've looked at the retailers on the STO site, but you can't sort them by bonuses so its very likely I'd missed it.

I'm getting a bit interested in trying this out - unfortunately, do to final exams at uni I don't have time for the beta right now, but since I'll have time exactly on the 5th and beyond, I'll probably take a preorder if its worth it. So the question is for those in the beta - what are your opinions on STO? Good game? Worth buying? I'm coming at this from a SFC fan background - do you think the game is something I'd like?

[GuppyShark]

I have gotten it via Steam.

EDIT: Oh, you mean that specific bonus, not the game.

[Bounty]

what are your opinions on STO? Good game? Worth buying?

If you're a Trekkie, it's worth getting. The look and feel are done really well and the plot, while simplistic, is obviously written by someone who knows the series by heart.

There are problems, though. The open beta has been very buggy for me, to the point where I can tell which button will CTD the whole thing without fail. Missions can become unplayable because parts of your team fail to appear, objectives get screwed up, and that's with half the game's content still locked out. If you buy early, expect to grin and bear a shitload of technical issues.

I can easily look beyond those because I'm in a beta and not paying anything, but once this goes public, Cryptic will be in a world of hurt if they offer a game with this many issues and expect people to pay good money for it. On the other hand, if they manage to make the game stable and less screwy, this could be a pretty big MMO, and it's definitely a fun one.

[GuppyShark]

What is with you guys? Beta /= preview. Wait a month or two and there'll be a free trial, just like every other MMO ever.

[PREDATOR490]

The game has promise but cryptic need to really get off their ass with their customer service.

The recent development is that your skillpoints are capped. It was stated before they were going to allow people to allow an open ended skill system more like EVE where the only defining thing is TIME. Now its more like Anarchy online where you have to grind to level 250 and pick your skills carefully if you want to remain effective. Any deviation gimps you and subsequent patches that alter things in game can ruin the specialisation of a character.

I am pretty pissed off in this regard, I like EVEs ability to train everything and be a 'master of all" type affair. Granted you cant be 'elite of all' cause it would take 33 years but the variety is good. Getting stuck into a skill system which forces you to spend points to level up on stuff inorder to get to the higher stuff you might eventually WANT to train is just irritating. I like Escorts, but I want to see what the Science and cruiser high tier things offer as well. As it is, inorder to get there I'm going to need to spend points to get the rank to fly them to see what one I like.

Its fortunate this is beta, otherwise I would be truely pissed off but at least now I know skills are capped I can make a proper character when it goes live. I'm going to make a pure tactical space escort pilot. No skills in anything but that until I reach the other escort classes, then see which one I like and the weapons to match. THEN specialise the skills in it.

If they were going with this system, the ship skills being ranked and the ship classes being unavailable is quiet retarded. If I want to fly an Akira or Prometheus I'm gonna end up having to wait to endgame to even train the skill let alone fly the fucker and in the mean time be forced to spend my points carefully in things that will be as generalised as possible to insure I dont gimp myself needlessly.

[charlemagne]

Yeah, if that infamous interview is the truth, then not reworking the skill trees while capping skill points off is really, really retarded. This decision really sucks because the skill trees are so weird. There's skills that will be absolutely useless once your level increases.

We can just hope that there's more thought behind the issue than it seems right now - yeah right

I won't cancel my preorder over this, but on live I'll be super-careful on what to skill. I hate that you now can't be really competent in more than one ship class, and I hate being effectively locked into one class. It's strange because the game apparently really wasn't laid out for capped skill point numbers - or why give everyone the opportunity to fly every class? With the current system you could be pretty good in a science vessel even as a tactical character, and I don't think that this is a bad thing. They're striking out the opportunity to switch roles as needed, and versatility is never a bad thing.

[Stark]

How can someone make a skill system like this without respecing in 2010? Is there a reason to reject the ability to respec beyond 'I am a wanker'?

Like others, I think skill systems that punish players are totally retarded.

[Mr Bean]

How can someone make a skill system like this without respecing in 2010? Is there a reason to reject the ability to respec beyond 'I am a wanker'?

Like others, I think skill systems that punish players are totally retarded.

What's worse is this is Cryptic Their last two games featured robost Ret-con systems. Want to re-do your superhero powers? No problem! Same thing with your Bridge officers.
Funny enough in Star Trek Online it's very easy to Respec your Bridge officers but impossible to Respec yourself.

[Stark]

Wouldn't that suggest that the release game would allow it, then? They obviously have no ridiculous 'hardcore' opposition to allowing players to respec.

[Oskuro]

Well, in Chapions, as well as WoW, you can respec soe of your skills, but your class cannot be changed, and my guess is that the ship you fly is, more or less, equivalent to your class ingame, so it follows that they try and force people into a particular role.

[Stark]

Since the game allows you to change ship, this is pretty clumsy. First patch removal.

[Oskuro]

Clumsy indeed, although not dissimilar to how in Pirates of the Burning Sea you can sail ships of any type, yet your skills as a character are more helpful for a particular type of ship, and, furthermore, high-tier ships are only available to the class they were meant for. And it works fine there, it allows players some flexibility yet rewards specialization. We'll see how it develops here.

[Stark]

There's a difference between having classes with differing trees people know about, and letting people use a unified skill system where you MUST go in a certain direction to do something, can't respec if you fuck up, and will always lose if you're suboptimal.

No respeccing is clinically retarded and totally indefensible.

[Oskuro]

Oh, that type of skill tree. Yeah, sucks.

Either that, or they want to sell more character slots.

Nah, seeing how they've treated the respeccing in CO, I'd bet they'll address it, but are still gathering data on how people play and how to implement it best or something. I mean, it'd be inexcusable any other way.

[General Zod]

Oh, that type of skill tree. Yeah, sucks.

Either that, or they want to sell more character slots.

Nah, seeing how they've treated the respeccing in CO, I'd bet they'll address it, but are still gathering data on how people play and how to implement it best or something. I mean, it'd be inexcusable any other way.

Aren't they wiping everything once Beta's done anyway? Why include a respec system if it won't matter after Beta?

[Mr Bean]

Oh, that type of skill tree. Yeah, sucks.

Either that, or they want to sell more character slots.

Nah, seeing how they've treated the respeccing in CO, I'd bet they'll address it, but are still gathering data on how people play and how to implement it best or something. I mean, it'd be inexcusable any other way.

Aren't they wiping everything once Beta's done anyway? Why include a respec system if it won't matter after Beta?

Why not test it to make sure it works during Beta?
Why not give away unlimited respecs like they did during the City of Heroes and Champions Online Beta's.

[Gramzamber]

I have to agree it's stupid not to give us a respec now, especially as we're being encouraged to try out all the ship types. The only way we can effectively do that with their accompanying skills is to roll a new character which means spending another couple of days in a poxy Miranda.
Oh sure we could just park ourselves in the Sirius fleet action and grind and.. OH WAIT THEY NERFED THAT DUE TO INCESSANT WHINING BY IDIOTS.

However there will be respeccing in the game, the devs confirmed it.

[charlemagne]

We'll have to wait and see how this plays out in higher levels. With this system I'm all for cheap and readily available respeccing, because it's more fun to be able to switch from tanking to dps-ing in no time instead of having to level another toon to be effective at both. (I'm just thinking of my LotRO champion who can switch from AoE-damage-dealer to passable tank at a marginal cost whenever I want to)

[Bounty]

There's a patch!

The interface's been cleaned up, we finally get AA on ATI cards, there's new voice-overs from Nimoy, and a whole new sector of space that I don't have much use for because the exploration missions are on the fritz and I can't get new objectives yet.