Star Trek Online is (still) currently due to launch on February 2nd in the US and the 5th here in Europe, less than a month from today. And as is customary, the NDA for press has been dropped before the general punters in the beta test are officially allowed to talk about their experiences.
The open beta is due to start next week, on Jan 12th, where everyone who has preordered will get a chance to see a) if they feel that they’ll get their money’s worth and b) to try to snag some variant of the name USS Enterprise which will be pointless because beta characters get wiped before the headstart, but people will forget this fact.
Cryptic have provided for a wide range of pre-order bonuses, depending on which purveyor of digital entertainment you choose to grace with your custom. These are nicely gauged to draw in the Trekkies (Constitution Class starship, mirror universe costumes, pet tribble, etc) without actually affecting the gameplay in any way. Whatever you think of this type of trick (bribe the punters with cute pets and cosmetic outfits!), it works. Or at least, it works on this punter. Bring on the tribble!
And now I just need someone to tell me how long the ship names are allowed to be so I can decide whether USS Justifiable Homicide is a go or not. Or I could wait until next week, when I will hopefully be able to file some reports from deep space in person.
Still, how are the initial preview reports shaping up?
Gamespy features a three part preview, where Gerald Villoria focusses on explaining what it’s all about (at least in the parts I have read, maybe he brings his conclusions in at the end.)
Wesley Yin-Poole at Videogamer.com likes the game and says that when it is good it is very good, but it feels grindy in the closed beta, and he finds it painfully slow paced. (My comment: Grindiness is something that is easily fixed in a tuning pass if it’s an issue, so that’s not necessarily a roadblock. But I do appreciate that he played the game and gave his genuine impressions – that’s what I like to see in a preview.)
Nick Kolan describes the opening mission in impressive depth (wonder if he played it much longer than that) at ign.com.
Anyone else planning on Star Trekkin’?
Welcome to Spinksville! 
Nope! Not unless I hear it’s amazing from others.
Wotcha Spinks,
I’m with Arbitrary on this one.
If it’s amazing, then it will still be amazing a month or so after launch, at which point I’ll get it.
I can be patient; getting into the Open Beta just isn’t worth the hassle.
Cheers,
Hawley.
This is the first time I’m tempted to try another mmo, being an old ST fan. However I really can’t see myself doing it. I can barely find the time to play, raid and blog about WoW. Without deserting it, how could I possibly fit another MMO into my schedule. Won’t happen I’m afraid. 😦
Thank you for reminding me to preorder before the 10th. I will preorder, but if I will buy it in the end will really depend on the Beta. I somewhat hate the fact that nowadays one has to make this preorder/cancel maneuver just to get into an -open- beta. Or pay a few bucks in advance like for Aion.
I am, I’m in closed beta at the moment. It’s reasonably fun, and reasonably entertaining. I can’t say more (or less) than that. If it were excellent I could not gush about it, nor if it were crap could I dump on it from a height.
The problem is that Cryptic now have 2 games to work on and update. The fear is that they’ll spread themselves too thin and both games will suffer, or they’ll focus on one and the other will suffer.
Longevity is key to an MMO. There’s enough been released by the press to show there is alot of potential in the game. Cryptic are best when they’re making Procedurally generated content and should play to that strength. It would work well in STO as far flung unknown star systems, species and alien space craft. My hopes for the future of STO is that it becomes like a more mature version of Spores Galactic Stage (in terms of random content atleast)
I have been unimpressed thus far and hate the pre order bonuses with a passion.
Given the Champions launch patch debacle, my concern for this game is that they’ve decided that a mediocre ST game will cost way less to make than a good ST game, and that they can make up the lost revenue by selling in-game tribbles and other items to the diehard Trekkies.
Pre-ordered because it was only £18 on Amazon and that’s a price point I’m happy to part with to give it a try during the free month. I’m also waiting to see the results of their “Name a Starship” contest which should be announced today and yet nothing has come out so far…. it’s been the 8th for a fair fwe hours people, I don’t care what other time zone you are in let me see if I won.
I’m looking forward to STO as a Trekker. I have no idea if I’ll make it past the free 30 days, but I’m going to give it a try.
*hug* Long time no see. Hope you guys are doing ok.
Playing in closed beta, intend to play the game at release.
I’m in the closed beta, pre-ordering soon as I make up my mind which package, as primarily a PvE player in EVE STO is likely to become my new space game.
I’m tempted. I love star trek, but maybe will see how it or Star Wars goes as an alternative to Cataclysm in six months. I expect I’ll play neither.