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STO News

SciFiFan

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Good afternoon from Texas my fellow MSFC junkies. I know that many here do not have a very soft spot for the game Star Trek Online. I do understand many of the veiwpoints on the subject. Not much has been discussed on the game lately so I thought I would get you all up to speed on the happenings if you are not following.

1. Many of you may know that Cryptic Studios was sold by Atari to Perfect World (PWE). Many in the STO community believe this was a great move for Cryptic as PWE is in a far better financial state then Atari is. Also, PWE is a dedicated MMO publisher. They have many MMOs available and all are free to play.

2. The developers at Cryptic Studios have been telling us how things are improving. PWE has given Exc Prod D. Stahl permission to hire as many programmers, writers, and designers he needs to get the game up to speed. This is excellent news to allow the team to grow and expand the game as it needs. PWE and CS are in constant communication discussing what the game needs and PWE is throwing 100% support to CS. This is to include finishing the Klingon Empire and the addition of the Romulan Empire and perhaps more!! They are also sending new hardware to CS to help with the development.

3. This is probably the most exciting part. PWE has officially anncounced that STO will be going Free to Play by the end of the year. You can read the transcript of a conference call here. This has many in the community very excited, including myself. They are still working on the details on how the F2P model will work out but, speculation in the community is that it will be alot like Champions Online. Anyone will be able to download and play the game for free. Subscription holders will be given a monthly stippend of C-Points to use in the C-Store. Also, subscribers will have access to some content that F2P players will not. Again, the model is all speculation at this juncture.

As you can see. There is a lot of exciting things going on for the STO community. Let it be known that this exciting change will take some time. I hope to see some of you there in the future.

Best regards,
SciFiFan
 

Zelph

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Hmm, sounds promising. If it goes F2P I might give it a shot. If college isn't monopolizing my life at that point.
 
S

Straxus

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Former MSFC Member
Cool! If it goes free to play I will definitely check it out!

It looks cool from the videos I see on youtube.
 

Terra_Inc

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The same here. I personally don't like the premise and realization enough to spend money on it (and STO is, or at least has been, quite expensive). But if they make it f2p I will give it a try!
 

Majestic

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I will certainly give it a shot if it's a F2P game. I also approve of the idea that particular items/ships can only be bought that is what Flyff (a game Katala plays) does and it works out very well.
 
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thunderfoot

Deleted Due to Inactivity
Former MSFC Member
I play a Facebook game called, "Train Station", which uses this format. It is a good idea and I hope they are as successful. But as to playing STO, I think I'll pass. HK's entry in the DTNE contest was good. Good enough to win and far better than what the bean counters at CBS chose. The fact a professional CGI artist won the contest smells very bad as far as I am concerned. To stand by one's friend, no matter what, is something I do. I make no judgements upon the acts of others here. Keeping Thunderfoot in line and on target is a full time job which leaves no energy to comment upon how others act. Being this way has cost me some things I really wanted sometimes, but in the end I find I value my friends and my honor far more. So STO will just have to do without me. They'll live, I'm sure. And my personal honor is satisfied as well.
 
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Ragnar

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Actually read about this earlier today and wasn't really surprised about the F2P, PWE has more than enough money to throw around from it's Asian counterparts :)

Plus, using Lord of the Rings Online as an example, LotrO profit's rose exponentially when it went F2P (I think it was tripled or x5, can't remember).

Just shows what F2P can do :)

However I probably won't be playing it, as I'm going to be blasting away Jedi on Star Wars: The Old Republic :) Screw Star Trek :p
 

Majestic

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I too am seriously thinking of playing the Old Republic, looks awesome.

While I can agree with Thunderfoot, that whole competition was a joke and I think a bit of corruption and under the table tactics were done, and the fact that non-US people were not allowed to participate which I feel was discriminative I will give it a shot if for nothing more than to see what it's like. However I think my time playing it will not last long, as I'll probably get bored with it as I think the entire storyline is a load of rubbish personally.
 
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Walternate

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Former MSFC Member
When I had played STO in the beta, I found that it was OK, but didn't feel it was worth paying for (felt like there were too many issues, like poorly-designed ground missions). I heard that a lot of the problems I had were fixed in some of the later updates, so now that it's free to play, I'll have to give it another shot.
 

SciFiFan

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I am not a big fan of the main storyline either. That said, i do enjoy the game play and many of the sub-stories are good. The featured series are extremely well written. Featured series #4 will be released either later this year or beginning of next (hopefully the sooner).

As for the contest. I agree that it is strange a professional CG artist won. It seemed the top vote getters on the fan balloting didnt make it to the final cut. However, I am not going to punish Cryptic for CBS' actions. Also as I had a LTS prior to the contest, i cant exactly boycott lol. As for the open only to US players, it was supposedly due to different international laws. I dont even know most of my local laws, much less those of other countries. So on that, I am forced to give Cryptic the benefit of doubt.
 

Majestic

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Unfortunately I can't, they didn't even give us the option to just get the credit of designing the ship, for many fans that is enough. However the entire thing is moot as I seriously think the entire thing was a load of poop, a publicity stunt.
 

Knight

"What? Too flashy?"
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I'll give it a whirl if it goes f2p. Unless old republic is lol
 
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Ragnar

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I'll give it a whirl if it goes f2p. Unless old republic is lol

I don't think Old Republic would be F2P. Tbh though, a game that looks as polished and sweet as SWTOR I'd pay anything up to £15 a month :D
 

Hellkite

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The Old Republic will cost From Bioware $59.99 USD for the Standard disk and it only comes with 30 Days Game Time included so it definitely subscription based

Sorce of this info is off the Bioware site
 

Adm_Z

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yeah...not going to happen for me. maybe $15USD for a 30 day trial, but I"m not going to be fooled by a physical disk for a game I don't actually own when I can buy other games for the same price and keep it forever.

If I am going to waste away my time playing games:D, I might as well not be wasting my money at the same time.:thumbsdown:

now if STO goes f2p, I might consider it.:thumbsup:
 
A

Aerilon

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Well, if this plans out and becomes reality (which seems to be the case) count me in. I figure we can download the game for free as well as being able to play it for free, right?

I didn't realize either that the LotRO game was free to play either, not until I read about it recently. Might have to give that a try too. But yeah, STO, I'm there. Anyone know when the official changeover is? I've often contemplated buying this earlier, though I didn't want to dedicate having to pay a monthy subscription for a game that I might not play that often, though if its free, that saves my having to worry.

I've already got my crew sorted, just need to figure out what I make my ship look like, cause lets be honest, there are some ugly designs out there.
 

Knight

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That klingon ship is ugly as hell. The Galaxy is ok, but its not what I consider Venture class. Glad to hear its going to free play. Will have to look into this
 

Majestic

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I'm the opposite Knight, I think that Galaxy is ugly as a Witch from that Dr Who episode, not saying the Klingon ship is pretty but lets face it a lot of Klingon ships these day aren't all that pretty.

Thanks for the update SciFiFan. :thumbsup:
 
W

Walternate

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Oh wow, they absolutely butchered that Galaxy's deflector dish. :(
 

SciFiFan

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I'm the opposite Knight, I think that Galaxy is ugly as a Witch from that Dr Who episode, not saying the Klingon ship is pretty but lets face it a lot of Klingon ships these day aren't all that pretty.

I made a Galaxy using the Venture saucer and Nacelles and it looks pretty sweet. Also, I changed the head (for lack of better terms) of that Klingon ship to the head of the Vorcha and it looked better.

Thanks for the update SciFiFan. :thumbsup:

Its my pleasure. As more updates come out, I will post them in this thread. Anything from ships, to missions, to the details on the Free to Play model.
 

Knight

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I'm the opposite Knight, I think that Galaxy is ugly as a Witch from that Dr Who episode, not saying the Klingon ship is pretty but lets face it a lot of Klingon ships these day aren't all that pretty.

Thanks for the update SciFiFan. :thumbsup:

Lol, fair enough. I'm just going on the basis that it could have been a lot worse, especially looking at some of the ships on offer. I personally want the Connie if I ever get into the game
 

Adm_Z

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Yeah, I don't mind the galaxy so much, but compered so some of the other ships in that game, The galaxy is flawless.:lol:
 
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thunderfoot

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It appears they hired Mad Doc's art team. Go back and look at some of the Stock A2 ships. The similarities are horrifying. To me the STO ships really do look that bad; and poorly done to boot. And they really have little excuse for it as well. I wonder if we shouldn't all volunteer to give them some of our ships so the game can at least somewhat resemble Star Trek. I'd match Avon's Aad's and Aerilon's future Klinkers against anything their art team can come up with and I already know who the winners would be if the players had a choice.
 

Majestic

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It appears they hired Mad Doc's art team. Go back and look at some of the Stock A2 ships. The similarities are horrifying. To me the STO ships really do look that bad; and poorly done to boot. And they really have little excuse for it as well. I wonder if we shouldn't all volunteer to give them some of our ships so the game can at least somewhat resemble Star Trek. I'd match Avon's Aad's and Aerilon's future Klinkers against anything their art team can come up with and I already know who the winners would be if the players had a choice.

I'll do the Fed's with my MDY designs like the Linerunner, Jigoku and Dawnstar for example. :thumbsup:
 

Majestic

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Thank you SFF, much appreciated. I was hoping they would provide a little more info but it's more than we had yesterday. It's good to know F2P players will have weekly episode missions and such.
 

Knight

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Sounding better and better all the time. Hope my laptop will run it.
 

Borg_Queen

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This sounds great. I may give it a try then it gets F2P. :)
 
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