Dyre Straits

Perfect World Entertainment confirms Star Trek Online going F2P this year | Massively

Cryptic Studios recently was acquired from Atari. The new owners have confirmed that Star Trek Online will be going F2P by the end of the year.

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comp_ali

So many MMOs are going F2P, wonder how good is this one.

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BlueMak

If done correctly, I will gladly jump back to the game.

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The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

Judas

sadly..... almost all of the MMO's are turning into complete garbage, specially when they go F2P

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Dyre Straits

FTR, my son and I have been very pleased with the development that's been going on with this game. So, it's with a bit of mixed feelings that we receive this information but not at all surprised after reading about the acquisition a few weeks ago.

Verdict is still out on whether or not it will continue to take up any of our time playing. A lot depends on just how well/poorly the devs continue supporting the franchise.

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Liqourice

What will it mean really? No subscription but you'll have to pay for new items in a much wider sense than it is now?

I mean, they've got to make money some way?

Dyre Straits

I haven't been playing it as much over the past few months due to some other new games that came out.

But, I've spent some time on the F2P server after creating a new character and I'm quite impressed with the improvements and changes made. They do still have the subscription server up and running and also have a Tribble Test server. So, currently, there are three servers in all.

Additionally, players have the ability to create their own content. Player content can be rated by other players to determine if it's worth playing or not.

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BlueMak

Since it is now free (right?), I think I might get back to the game soon.

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The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

Dyre Straits

"not free" or did you mean, "NOW free"?

I do know that it's supposed to be free by the end of the year. I'm not sure about how the current setup is for those joining now. But, those who have/had the game "should" be able to use the F2P server, I think. Best to check the forums, though.

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BlueMak

Yes, thank you.

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The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

Matth

Free to play is a rather misused term.
If you can do BETTER by buying items / points, but could do everything (even at only 10% efficiency) without, then it's free to play.

The name I give to those where you really need to purchase boosts, is "item buy". The question is balance, if an item buyer can come along and annihilate every free player due to superior weapons & defences, then free players are just cannon fodder.

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Mary had a little lamb,
Her father shot it dead
Now Mary takes her lamb to school,
Between two crusts of bread

Dyre Straits

There are some very interesting new features getting added to the game.

One of the most interesting to me is the ability to assign new crew members to do away missions that you don't actually do yourself. For now, this id being done on the F2P server. After starting my new character and reaching Level 7 I'm able to acquire additional crew members. So, I've sent two teams on missions that will take up to 2 Days -- in real time -- to either accomplish or fail to accomplish. Success or failure depends a lot on your choice of team member that you send away.

Will update this upon getting a report from the teams in a couple of days.

Meanwhile, I'm doing other missions to continue building up my skill points toward promotion.

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Neshi

is this that game that a couple of HH'ers were playing a while back, where you are the captain of a ship and do missions, buy better weapons and better ships, and create whole fleets and stuff... right?

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If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live?

Life is just too damn short for if's and maybe's

Dyre Straits

Yes! You can go solo -- with AI crew members OR you can get together with your buddies online and do Fleet missions.

I know that Teme has played it a lot, too.

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Neshi

so I've been looking at their site, but the F2P isn't out yet, correct?

However I got a slight impression the F2P servers are already accessable.. so how do I do it?

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If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live?

Life is just too damn short for if's and maybe's

Dyre Straits

F2P is still in development, I think. You do need the game client before you can do anything at all, though.

I'm not sure just how it works for those just now coming onboard, though.

You can check out the download options here....

Download | Star Trek Online Official Site

It may be that an initial purchase of the game is required, like as with Guild Wars.

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Neshi

I guess I'll have to download and see.. It's just that I don't want to waste bandwidth.

their site says:

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If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live?

Life is just too damn short for if's and maybe's

Dyre Straits

Well, you do have to have the client installed. And, they do update the client constantly with patches and new content. So, you need to be aware that you'll be getting updated content pretty consistently. Not sure how that affects your own situation with your ISP.

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Neshi

how big is the game and consecutive updates?
I've got a ~25gb limit per month..

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If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live?

Life is just too damn short for if's and maybe's

Liqourice

My game folder is about 18 Gb right now and updates are often around 2-300 Mb

Dyre Straits

My game folder right now is 16.7 GB. And, that's after nearly two years of playing the game. Your biggest download will definitely be the original client, I'm sure.

There are three of us here at the house using Comcast. Both my son and daughter-in-law are regularly online with their XBOX 360s and/or the PCs. Between the three of us, we rarely ever exceed 65 GB of bandwidth usage per month. With Comcast, the limit is 250 GB.

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Neshi

ow.. how I wish I had a limit like that. but I guess 18gb isn't too bad..
However, seeing as I would need all the data that you guys have collected over time in one go.. that's a huge packet.
I'll look into at. at this time I can't play it anyway. way too many* assignments due.. but in the holidays.. would be good. But then again.. skyrim is coming out next month..

Oh, too many fun games to play!

*edited

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If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live?

Life is just too damn short for if's and maybe's

BlueMak

Can't you download the file elsewhere and copy it? For example a university or an Internet Cafe place or something?

If you didn't live so far away I would tell you to mail you a couple of DVDs or a USB stick, but that could take a bit. It might be quicker and cheaper to buy the game. Someone might sell a copy of it near you for a low price.

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The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

Liqourice

No point in buying the game in retail either now, I gather you'll end up downloading more or less everything anyway.

I really feel for you having to think about this all the time, I'm so spoiled with having no limits at all on my connection.

Dyre Straits

I've been playing the F2P Test Tribble server for a while now and something they added just a few days ago is so outstandingly stupid I can't quite grasp just why anyone ever thought it was a good idea.

First, some background: ALL of the interactive consoles and devices have a flashing animation that draws attention to them. I don't know of any of these I've ever missed or overlooked when intending to interact with them. But, for some totally unexplained reason, the devs decided to add another item over each of these so that....apparently...no one can possibly miss them now. Worse, they are so unnecessary and so ugly and take away so much from the game, IMHO, that it really does upset me when I see these. They look somewhat like the gears in an old wind-up watch. But, to me, all that should have been done would be to make the flashing animation a little more obvious ... if the intent is to make them more obvious.

Check out the screenshot below. Can you imagine seeing dozens of these scattered around the scene when there are multiple interactive devices in the area?

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Neshi

so free to play is released?

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If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live?

Life is just too damn short for if's and maybe's

Dyre Straits

This is a test server but I don't believe it's "live" yet. As a Lifetime Sub, I have access to everything. I'm really not sure what the status is for new subs at the moment. I've just been doing a lot of playing on this server to see what direction the devs are going.

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Neshi

hmm.. ok.
Nice of you to keep us updated!

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If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live?

Life is just too damn short for if's and maybe's

BlueMak

So...how does it compare to the regular version?
Any major changes?
Or is it just a win for those of us who want to play it for free?

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The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

Dyre Straits

There are some really nice changes they are making. (Of course, the one I mentioned above is NOT one of them!)

Although I've played it since its original release, I'm finding that I really do enjoy getting back online and continuing to play. The fact that you can create so many different characters AND play back and forth between Starfleet and Klingon should appeal to a wide variety of gamers.

Customizing and upgrading your ships, deciding which skills to level up for yourself and your Bridge Crew, which missions to accept or not, are just a few of the things that make it so varied it would be hard to become bored with it, IMHO.

FTR, I don't regret having paid the Lifetime Sub for the game at outset. They ARE providing some incentives and extra stuff for "Career Officers"...is what they are calling us these days.

One other new things they've added is Duty Officers. You can acquire several different Duty Officers and assign them to various missions/tasks. Example: Science officers may be assigned to do research; Security officers may go on missions to review and meet with other races and on different planets. Your own character does not go with these and the missions continue to progress in real time. That is, even after you log out of the game, these missions will continue to progress so that, when you log back in later, you can check progress and/or completion....or if you've assigned bad choices, failure of the mission. Completion of these grants XP.

Having started a new character (Bajoran/Tactical officer) I've acquired a Science vessel that is handling things pretty well now.

And, you also can beam down to Starfleet Academy and do various missions, too. Among these would be testing your knowledge of Star Trek History at the Library.

I could add more but, if anyone really has an interest is space exploration/combat and to do it in the Star Trek environment, this should whet the appetite, I think.

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