General Zod wrote:Make that "canceled preorder". I read "the combat is just like ST: Legacy" and couldn't push the cancel button fast enough. I don't remember hearing anything but bad stuff about that game.
Well what Blayne wrote was "like STL but improved" and "loads of fun" so I don't mind the similarity, in essence the idea behind space combat in STL was fun, it was just the execution that was lazy, shoddy and full of suck.
Anyways, I just got fed up with the massive grindfest that is endgame LotRO right now, so I just preordered, too (from amazon.co.uk which means I'll get a Borg bridge officer, which is better than stupid uniforms). Sadly I'm too late for open beta access but I'll see you guys after launch
Flagg wrote:If anyone has an extra or one they don't wanna use, Id appreciate a beta key.
The only way to get extra keys is to order the collector's edition, afaik. Since otherwise using a beta key means you're locked into purchasing it if you got the beta through preorder. I've decided to hold off in case they start offering free 10-day trials but I'm not getting my hopes up.
"It's you Americans. There's something about nipples you hate. If this were Germany, we'd be romping around naked on the stage here."
The only way to get extra keys is to order the collector's edition, afaik
There have been scattered giveaways; check the STO site. Unfortunately the beta key system appears to have been a bit glitchy, with some keys getting rejected and others only activating several hours after they're put in.
The only way to get extra keys is to order the collector's edition, afaik
There have been scattered giveaways; check the STO site. Unfortunately the beta key system appears to have been a bit glitchy, with some keys getting rejected and others only activating several hours after they're put in.
Every giveaway I've heard about has been completely given out by the time I got there, so eh.
"It's you Americans. There's something about nipples you hate. If this were Germany, we'd be romping around naked on the stage here."
I've only managed to get past character creation due to a weird Windows issue, but so far it looks and feels like a beta. It's obvious that whoever designed this game had his heart in the right place but movement and controls are clunky and it just feels very awkward.
Also, is it just my 10-foot stick insect character, or are the levels stupendously out of scale for anyone else? The bridge looks like a basketball court.
Actually, it's not bad at all. The space combat is actually quite good in a sort of SFC-lite way; it looks superficially like Legacy but now has a full 3D engine and they ditched the godawful retarded camera system. It actually looks impressively huge.
Ground combat is not as good but it's still good enough. You get bonuses for ambushing and flanking enemies so while it's still just "lock on, hit fire" there's some more interaction involved. I don't really know where people get the stiff animation from because it doesn't look worse than some other shooters I've played.
My biggest gripe is actually that it's blatantly obvious they've just taken a stock MMO and grafted some Trek onto it, so you get those ridiculous stat modifiers for abilities you have no clue about. But the grafting has actually been done right. The atmosphere is bang-on even in this unfinished state. If I can figure out why my PC randomly reboots this could turn out to be a great time sink.
Bounty wrote:I've only managed to get past character creation due to a weird Windows issue, but so far it looks and feels like a beta. It's obvious that whoever designed this game had his heart in the right place but movement and controls are clunky and it just feels very awkward.
Also, is it just my 10-foot stick insect character, or are the levels stupendously out of scale for anyone else? The bridge looks like a basketball court.
All the rooms are huge. I think it's just a necessary evil with MMOs, but that's just a guess. Makes it easier to do things maybe?
It really is -- even the ground combat has its similarities -- except that it's sped up by about a factor of 4. Gundeck reload times in PotBS have a median time of around 30 seconds, versus about 6 for a phaser array in STO. Ability cooldowns in the former are usually 5 minutes; versus 1 minute and 30 seconds in the latter.
Take that how you will. I find myself frequently getting into hot water because it's so fast-paced in STO; whereas I'm used to 'zooming' (15 knots) around at max speed in PotBS in order to maneuver, STO's maneuvering occurs at much higher perceived speeds and throws me off a little as a result.
And on that note, I doubt I will be able to participate much in a SDN fleet, unfortunately. I recently got a reply on an unrelated support ticket which I was not at all happy with and as much as I'm liking STO, I'm not too keen on Cryptic at the moment.
Agitated asshole | (Ex)40K Nut | Metalhead The vision never dies; life's a never-ending wheel
1337 posts as of 16:34 GMT-7 June 2nd, 2003
"'He or she' is an agenderphobic microaggression, Sharon. You are a bigot." ― Randy Marsh
Bounty wrote:I've only managed to get past character creation due to a weird Windows issue, but so far it looks and feels like a beta. It's obvious that whoever designed this game had his heart in the right place but movement and controls are clunky and it just feels very awkward.
Also, is it just my 10-foot stick insect character, or are the levels stupendously out of scale for anyone else? The bridge looks like a basketball court.
All the rooms are huge. I think it's just a necessary evil with MMOs, but that's just a guess. Makes it easier to do things maybe?
General Zod wrote:The only way to get extra keys is to order the collector's edition, afaik. Since otherwise using a beta key means you're locked into purchasing it if you got the beta through preorder. I've decided to hold off in case they start offering free 10-day trials but I'm not getting my hopes up.
There'll be free trials one or two months after release if it's anything like their other MMOs. It's just not going to happen during the initial release period.
Brother-Captain Gaius wrote:Whoa, where did you get the kickass E-D bridge? I just have a shitty/lame (and way humongous) bridge.
Do you have a Galaxy or something?
No I have a tier 1 cruiser, a Constitution in my case. The E-D bridge is one of the bridge refit options under customisation once you get that far, it's not available on the starter ships.
"No it's just Anacrap coming to whine and do nothing." -Mike Nelson on Anakin Skywalker
Guess the bridges are big so that players you invite over move about easily. If there's any combat happening there, it stands to reason too that they try not to clutter things too much.
Got back in and the server is rubberbanding extremely badly. The lag is nearly unplayable which is going to be a real downer on further testing if it continues to act like that. Other than that, I am finding it rather enjoyable, its not EVE by any stretch of the imagination but in 5 years it could potentially be a major MMO player if Cryptic do the job right.
I'm finding the equipment aspect of the game a bit frustrating due to not know where to get stuff. I got ground pounder equipment easily enough but the ship equipment seems woefully difficult to get. There is the 'basic' stuff which is almost rubbish - that said, I managed to loot a quantum torpedo launcher which is better than the MKII Photons. Its fun flying around with green disrupter beams and my blue quantums next to the sea of red phasers and photon torpedoes.
It seems space combat is going to end up being the major focus of the game, hence buying ground equipment for my guys was a bit of a waste for the most part. Although you cant get the 'best' equipment without getting these 'exploration' badges which I have no idea how to get yet or upgrading via the crafting system. The latter requires collecting bucket loads of stuff that is just tedious to do. I'm leaning towards just doing killfests and scouring the loot drops until I can get a bigger ship.
Originally, I wanted to get a Escort but it seems Cruiser is going to be the best option now. Escorts are meant to be all firepower but I suspect that wont kick in properly until your A) In a fleet or B) Have high skills to make it really work. Neither of which I have, so good old cruiser it is. How much better is the cruiser from the Starting Miranda ?
Escort's definitely going to be a demanding style of ship to play. Again with the PotBS parallels, STO escorts seem like PotBS scout ships - "easy to learn, hard to master" where their maneuverability and firepower make them forgiving at first and easy to use for the impatient, but the finesse it's going to take to maximize those attributes will be rather high, I think.
Here's hoping the PvP reflects that.
Agitated asshole | (Ex)40K Nut | Metalhead The vision never dies; life's a never-ending wheel
1337 posts as of 16:34 GMT-7 June 2nd, 2003
"'He or she' is an agenderphobic microaggression, Sharon. You are a bigot." ― Randy Marsh
I think the best option is to just post name@handle and add to friends list. Making a fleet at this point is kinda redundant with a wipe coming and it being beta
Also, there's a ship editor under Advanced in the ship customization screen. It's very limited, probably because I'm broke and have been playing for a grand total of maybe thirty minutes, but it's a very cool touch. Like I said above, they got the feel of the universe post-TNG pretty much bang on.
I made a chick because my first character is always one Character creation is great, with sliders for everything (like finger-length ) and pretty much every part you ever saw glued on an actor in the series. And the ship editor is also awesome, you get pretty limited parts right at the start but even with only 3 classes to mix and match you can do neat stuff. Here's my kitbashed U.S.S. Johannes Kepler:
Maybe it's just because I'm new to proper MMO's but holy shit this is cool. I've just been in a space battle with Orion raiders, searched a derelict freighter with Predator490 up there (also: away teams are way cool. We had what, seven people running through those corridors providing cover fire and healing the injured?), shot up a shitload of Orion thugs, outran a warp core breach, another space battle against two big-ass motherships, and then I couldn't get my ship's gearshift in Drive to get back to base.
Man. I'm a Starfleet captain. How cool is that?
The ground combat actually isn't that bad. It's simple but it looks good and there's something viscerally fun about actually acting out Star Trek stuff. The interface and tutorials need some work but apart from that it's a pretty solid game.
I prefer ground combat with fellow players. Controling your own NPCs solo is quite a pain in the ass to manage.
That said, I just upgraded all my ground pounder staff to full MKII gear. The weapons seem woefully lacking in distinctiveness beyond the cosmetics. I guess it might changed when the better stuff comes into play but getting it requires those badge things and noone I have seen knows how to get them. Other than that, its using the item crafter upgrader thing, which again, is tedious to do. I have shit loads of stuff but cant find antimatter bits.