I have taken the plunge. After more than 3 years away from Star Trek Online, I have finally decided to reinstall the game. I must say, I'm rather impressed! While many things are the same, and what I remember; there are some things that still rub me the wrong way.

My History with STO

I first got into Star Trek Online when the game first launched for PC. Even though the game is now on Xbox One and Playstation 4, I have no desire to play the game on a console. MMORPGs are meant for PC!

At the time, I had a very under-powered Toshiba laptop that barely ran anything. I was able to run World of Warcraft on low settings, but not much else. Half Life 2 and other Valve games ran flawlessly, but Star Trek Online felt like it was running on a toaster. No matter what I did, I couldn't get the frame rate above 15. It was a nightmare to run.

It was at that point that I decided to forget about STO for the time being, and just play the games that did run on the laptop. I had Star Trek: Bridge Commander and Star Trek: Elite Force, which kept my interest going with Star Trek. However, that didn't stop me from looking for the perfect computer to run Star Trek Online. So, we decided to take advantage of a rent-to-own program a local computer shop runs. That allowed me to get a better computer, better graphics card, and most importantly: more RAM! I now had a computer that would run Star Trek Online!

Unfortunately, I had to go in for surgery shortly after that, so I didn't have much time to really get into the game. My husband, however, was immediately hooked. Once I recovered, I was hooked too! We joined a Fleet that said they helped new players, and we loved the Fleet - at first.

Turns out, there was quite a bit of backstabbing that went on. Favoritism was rampant. We soon found ourselves creating a new Fleet. We were very successful at first, but people soon left to join the big Fleets. I can't blame them either! We were small and trying to gain some traction, which is easier said than done. That Fleet is still around, but is more of a personal Fleet than a recruiting Fleet, and that's okay!

When the game went Free-to-Play, and was sold to Perfect World, I was happy with the changes. Although, that was the time I feel the game went full "Pay-to-Win". Like most Free-to-Play MMORPGs, they need an extensive cash shop to keep the game going. Every time a new Season was released, I always thought that one would be the last.

Positive Experiences

The social aspect of STO is what really drew my husband and I in. We loved how Fleets were organized, and we thought the various in-game events were very well done. Itemization and skills were easy to understand, and the User Interface was easy to navigate. Coming from other MMORPGs, it took a while to get the controls down, but we got there in the end.

The story of STO is very well written. If I had the resources to do so, I would create a movie or a TV series based on the events that happen in-game. The addition of more voice acting was a welcome addition as well. However, if I were to improve upon that, I would suggest going the route Star Wars: The Old Republic (yes, I play that too) took. Each race and gender would have a specific voice actor, and that voice actor would speak the lines your character says in-game, rather than looking at a motionless model on the screen. I know that's probably not feasible at this stage of the game, but it's just one thing I feel would make the game better.

Not so Positive Experiences

There aren't too many "Not so Positive Experiences" I can think of. The one thing that really bugs me would be how items are equipped. In most other MMORPGs, you can right click the item in your inventory to equip the item. Here, right clicking opens a context menu where you'd need to select Use in order to equip it. That's a bit counter-intuitive, but only slightly. After all, you can just double-click on the item to equip it.

The tooltips could also be improved quite a bit. Star Wars: The Old Republic shows you the stat changes that would occur if you were to equip that particular item. There's an addon for World of Warcraft that does the same thing. Sometimes all I want to do is make sure the item I want to equip changes the stats I need them to.

Other than those two things, there's not much else I can say needs improved. Of course my opinion might change the more I play now that I'm back in the game, but only time will tell.

Summary

Star Trek Online has changed in many ways, some good and some not so good. This is only my opinion, and you're welcome to have your own opinion as well! Star Trek Online has surprised me in that new content is still be released after all this time. I'm quite happy development is still active, and I feel adding the 23rd Century options were a nice touch. I'm optimistic the future for STO will be bright, and I'm looking forward to the next major update! Now, where's my Cardassian faction!

WRITTEN BY Elnian
EDITED BY Infinity - lewis.holt@ufplanets.com