Is Star Trek Online Worth Playing 2023? Is it Good Free?

It this video I go over if Star Trek Online is worth playing in 2023, What STO is, the end game in STO and the overall state of Star Trek Online. We will talk about how good STO is free to play players and what the future of the game looks like.
#StarTrekOnline #STO #gxa #COGG #MCSTUD
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What is STO: 0:00
Monetization & Free to Play: 10:21
End Game: 20:26
Future of STO: 25:56
Outro: 27:22

[@KeromorV2]

Why do we care about your opinion, oh wait we do not.

[@MCStu]

Funny considering you clicked on a video that is clearly an opinion piece. So maybe a little bit.... I won't tell anyone.

[@WiseOwl_1408]

How mad are you on an Average day?

[@ispeaknonsense]

@@MCStu I love that you pinned him/her/it.

[@Encephalitisify]

Spicy

[@JennySparkz]

@@ispeaknonsense Given that this is a game involving aliens all of your descriptors are actually appropriate

[@DarkElite100]

after playing this game for 7 years, I feared that I might lose interest, but it seems that the devs are very consistent about bringing in new content, ships and gear. I truly love this game and foresee myself playing it for many more years, hopefully.

[@johndoe-jv7ky]

I bought a lifetime account when the game first launched and, for me, definitely worth the money I spent because it has given me 13 years worth of entertainment, and the Iconian story arc was amazing.

[@axon1637]

Iconian story arc is probably the best story arc not including the newer arcs.

[@johndoe-jv7ky]

@@axon1637 the end of the Iconian story arc was one of THE BEST Star Trek we seen in the last, almost three decades. Picard season 3 is running a close second right now and with the excellent quality of the show, the ending might surpass that. 2 episodes left and we will see.

[@reseng123]

Also a lifetime acct, nothing better when in game you get ppl whispering how you get to play a borg

[@RicoRaynn]

I was the same. The game wasn't as huge or amazing as I hoped it would be, but it's the closest thing to 'living' in the ST universe. Been a great run for the money I dished out all those years ago. Still really hate ground combat, though...lol. So wish the community was more social, but hey, it is what it is.

[@122madman]

fighting alongside tom paris was awesome

[@sashi4440]

I'm about 9 years in. Was lucky to be around when buying Zen was relatively cheap, so I have quite a number of ships on my account. I would like to see New Romulus finally finished. Those Romulan and Reman construction workers are really slacking off.

[@UFO721]

Yep those were the best days of STO.

[@hawkeye5955]

New Romulus needs a revamp in terms of their progress of building their new homeworld. It should show gradual progress when you're progressing through the content set on the planet.

[@phlogistonix]

Thank you for this, Stu. Great summary of STO in 2023! You kept apologizing for being "all over the place", but that's just because there is so much to do now. I don't play everyday like I used to, but damn it's nice to be able to jump in and just lose myself in a TFO, a good story arc, or a new ship build. Keep up the great work!

[@Phoenix-ej2sh]

If you are new to this game, please understand this: There are 3 career types to choose from, engineer, science, and tactical. You can choose any one you like. As long as it's tactical.

[@MCStu]

LOL Love it!

[@Fosgate777]

😂

[@eSKAone-]

How could this fly under my radar? I love DS9, TNG, Voyager und The Orville 💟🌌☮️

[@OfficialReggieJamz]

Lol😂😂😂😂

[@bravenkirok3142]

I played beta and bought a lifetime membership. i played the meta for the first few years but then it went ftp and i've played casual since then and mostly for the holiday events. i'm way behind now but it's interesting to see that my old M.A.C.O. equipment is still relevant to get the job done thought i upgraded most of it. Been thinking about getting back into the game after being absent for around 3 yrs now. plenty of fun story content to play.

[@docfaust2073]

Being a life-long Star Trek fan, this was a dream come true when it launched. Shortly after I started, I jumped on the deal when they had a discount on the lifetime membership. With that being said, so far I've saved $1,830. This has been one of the best games and best investments ever. I hope sometime soon, they make the new Titan and the Picard uniforms available.

[@forrestpenrod2294]

I jumped back in after 8 years break and found I had 50,000 zen ($500 worth) from the stipends. Lifetime at launch has turned out to be an awesome investment.

[@user-dz3sq9bf6s]

@@forrestpenrod2294yeah it’s worth it to a point but me I am low budget player but they messed the akira torp

[@DeanVarney]

I played all throughout 2020 into 2021 and enjoyed my time. It was a bit overwhelming and it's hard to find your way but once I got going and into it I fell in love. It is quite grindy, and expensive. Like he mentioned I got to "end game" and wanted to really get into ships and builds but its hard as a free to play. You almost hit a pay wall unless you do want to wait years to get to the same point as someone who would spend $80-$100 a month on the game. I want to hop back in and fly my Jem'hadar ships again but I'm not sure as a free to play if it's worth it once you finish the story. Mind you, if you like Star Trek, and RPG/MMO's just playing through the story and some other stuff is worth it for free! I got over 80hr's or more just with the story on one character and that's big value.

[@jp-st2sl]

Yes definitely!!! Great community very helpful 👍 Just have fun and play whatever faction or character you want:)

[@nunya3163]

I was free to play for about three years, before I stagnated, and started spending cash. Even after I started spending, I did not make a lot of progress, until I started listening to you and Spencer on a regular basis. Wish I had found you guys sooner, as I might still be free to play.

[@austinm5630]

When it comes to F2P games, I think the better question is not "is it good free?" but rather "is it good if you spend the same as you would have for a buy-to-play game?" For most AAA games that's about $60 or $70 right now. So for me, the answer is yes for STO, but you have to spend your $60 carefully. If you charge zen during bonus events, buy things on sale, and skip things that Cryptic will eventually give you for free every year (Elite Captain Token comes to mind, we get one every winter it seems) then you can easily put together a top-tier ship. One example setup might be: 1) Charge Zen during event so you have 6600 Zen. 2) Buy the Hydra or Adamant on 25% off sale. 4,350 Zen remaining. I'd say Adamant for Rom or KDF Recruit, Hydra for everyone else. 3) Buy a 20 pack of keys for EC when on sale. 2650+ Zen remaining. Use the EC to buy an Elite token for the ship with plenty left over for some lockbox guns. 4) Buy a Somerville or Balth for SIA. 400+ Zen remaining. Use SIA with the Adamant or Hydra for a DEWSci build that can easily take on every Advanced TFO in the game. 5) Do whatever you want with the remaining 400+ Zen. Of course there are plenty of other paths. My point is you can absolutely set yourself up for success in STO for $60. You can do it F2P too, but frankly it's worth paying the same you would for any other AAA game to skip some of the grind IMHO.

[@bossmga]

Its absolutely worth playing for any Star Trek fan young or old. Its got a ton of content and is well developed. my favorite aspect is the magic the gathering combo mechanics in the builds. The f2p component issues have been recently resolved, restoring the actual f2p mechanic that has been broken for years. So the Devs do care about the product. They listen to the community feedback weekly and it is as balanced as any other MMO out there. I would recommend 10/10. You never know till you try and formulate your own opinions. If you like Star Trek you will like this game.

[@jamesdax]

This game is desperate need of a new graphics engine. It looks and runs like shit.

[@bossmga]

@@jamesdax Sometimes. Honestly I've seen the same issues in majority of older games I play. I don't let it get to me, in the end remember its entertainment o7

[@Critterfurr]

Newer mmos depend heavily on their graphics to draw in players instead of focusing on the player experience like the old school mmos

[@OdenKnight]

Thanks for doing this video! Been around since Beta, but didn’t dive into it until MACO / anti-Borg gear was top tier. I didn’t like the ground game, but the space battles felt more action packed than SFC2. I had the honor of playing and theorycrafting alongside some of the legends; Alfie, Snipey47a, SarcasmDetector, Jayiie, Spencer, Vel, just to name a few. The community at that tier were both friendly and highly competitive, and I enjoyed my time with them, as they helped make the game very enjoyable far beyond what the “end game” would have kept me at.

[@squidribz4781]

i smell bs.

[@RahhmiPoofs]

and yet Oden Knight was the premier Torpboat Captain in the game, enough that certain internal people increased the torpboat game specifically because of it. Ground was always so much better, pity what happened to snipey.

[@OdenKnight]

@@RahhmiPoofs thank you for your kind words. Maybe if they had torps on the ground back then, I might have enjoyed it more 🤣🤣

[@RahhmiPoofs]

I think they do now... but I didn't mind carrying your ground segments XD

[@sr-oj9ev]

I love this game. I think the stories are wholesome and engaging and very in tune with the star trek universe. My only problem was the servers would poop out when I completed a mission, and then I'd have to do it again. Some of the missions were really hard so it wasn't fun go slog through them again. But on a whole a darn good game for the price. I liked encountering familiar characters like Geordi. And it was really satisfying to blast Borg ships and neer-do-wells to bits.

[@shonbrown93]

I've only played a little and very much enjoy it and now I'm getting ready to start a role playing series with it and I'm very much excited to play more star trek online.

[@johnhowe4221]

Hi MC..i've been here since the STO launched..love the content..love the ship building..its a game ppl can just keep on playing. oh i just subbed btw..and i'm F2P

[@davidnorton9997]

As always your videos are informative and helpful. Like other MMOs I've gone through long spurts of playing the game and then long time for not. What I like about STO in regards to other MMO FTP models is you can play and enjoy the story content and do a lot completely for free. And if you want a T6 ship, then all you have to do is the events and you can have that too. It's if you get sucked into what the big spenders consider as "must have" that it gets $$$$. I haven't played in over a year. Played alot in '21 and '22 but realized I was just grinding the daily event and some random stuff to upgrade my gear, so I could do better at the daily/random content. Became very pointless and empty with no end like all MMOs. I also never found a decent community. In other MMOs I could always get some folks from the guild to do some content together. Never with any fleet in STO was anyone will to group and do stuff together, always doing their own thing. I get that and certainly they don't owe me anything, but if I'm just going to play solo, then why am I even playing an MMO? That decision has let me enjoy and COMPLETE so many other games. Probably never going back but I'm glad for those who do still enjoy it.

[@simondaniel4028]

Got 80 hours in this over 10 years or so. My life and MMO don't mix too well but I adore the game. I keep up with the lore and I supremely appreciate what STO has done for the lore of classic Trek. The mechanics are fun and the game has a great deal of variety and a nice, quick pace to levelling up. I miss it :(

[@agentxx3022]

Great review, been playing since before legacy of romulus, only wish you had shown a bit more what you were talking about (ground combat, the tailor, the kitbashing, the ship store instead of just the z-store list, etc.), and maybe have a more recognizable ship than the Janeway class as your background footage (one of the show ships)

[@jonathanellis6097]

I was a vet. I haven't played for about 6 years now. The Fleet mechanic was new when I logged out!! I did log into my account a year or so ago, it was still all there. My build for its time was good, science captain and I had some good gear and crew members. In my brief login I did a couple of PVE matches and I could still hold my own, which surprised me. Been thinking about jumping back in, looks like there is a lot of new content.

[@sambonz]

Thanks for this vid - I played way back at launch for about a year than gave it up and have never been back. Watching this and checking out the website has got me installing it again - cheers!

[@DeaconBlues117]

Start a new toon. It's basically a whole new game now.

[@sambonz]

@@DeaconBlues117 I've done just that - loving it so far starting from scratch!

[@hopebgood]

For me personally STO is absolutely yes, still worth playing. I started playing the day it went F2P and abso pounded it. I've an amazing Main ship, maxed out my Space endeavours ages ago, in a great T5 everything fleet and made some great friends. Would I be so keen on it NOW as a NEW player? Mmm...not so sure about that. There's just so much to do/grind.

[@stephenschroeder6567]

Played this when it first came out and then moved on to other things. I didn't realize this was still around. It does not look like anything I remember so massive changes must have occurred. Great video.

[@DeaconBlues117]

"Massive changes" may be an understatement. One of my favorite new features is that when you start a new character, once you get out of the tutorial you can use a Tier 6 ship (a lot of things are locked away until you reach higher levels, but for instance a T6 carrier still has its fighter bays, which can be very useful at lower levels). There are new species, new regions of space, the quadrants aren't separated by sector walls any more, the captains have "kits" that can give them extra abilities on the ground... it's just so much more than it was back in the day. Also, if you start a Klingon character, you don't have to PvP just to reach level 20 any more - there's a beginner arc for the Klinks too, and also the Romulans (leading into the Romulan Republic getting a new homeworld).

[@honeybadger9425]

A lot has changed the best thing they did was completely redesigning the space dock you not got endless corridors and lifts anymore lol so it’s a lot easier for new players find everything they need in one place without getting lost.

[@flowtographycg306]

Thx 4 the vid the tips will be very helpful!

[@johndoe-jv7ky]

The thing that keeps bringing me, and you kind of touched on it, is the story is still going on. They usually release “episodes” with four or five new mission every six months or so, and they are usually pretty good story wise.

[@shadowr2d2]

Thank you for posting this video 🎉. You have a new subscriber. Keep up the great work 🎉.

[@LastRealPlayaAlive]

From this video and the comments, I think I’ve been missing out. I’m not a big Star Trek fan but I have been getting into since my dad died (one of his fav shows) I’m going to download it now and get my fun on. I hear 7 of 9 and Tuvok are on there he would’ve love to see this

[@mikealpha2611]

I spent money on this game once and that was the half off lifetime pass 10ish years ago worth it at this point. The thing that I do "end game" is typically recruits other then that events.

[@josephmassaro]

I started the game back when it was in Beta and played it for several years. Unfortunately, I found as time went on, the game became more about micro-managing than actually playing a game. For me, the small solo missions started to disappear in favor of epic story arcs. I've logged back in, now and again, but I think the game is where it is and where it's going to stay and that isn't really my cup of tea. Not to shamelessly plug another game, but I'm very interested in the long awaited Star Trek Resurgence. It looks like a promising Telltale style rpg do out in May.

[@seans878]

Awesome discussion topic. Your mention of this topic mid-February gave me the idea to find out. I created an Arc Account, Epic Account, and Steam Account. I'm working each account's dailies; will try to create at least one new recruit character each event; and will eventually level a 65 Klingon to get cross faction play unlocked. I think we already know that the Arc accounts get the best freebies from various promotion websites. I missed the free stuff during the Week long anniversary give-away, but did get the Digitizer ship for each account. Will anything "good" come out this year that makes playing for free more interesting...we shall see. Trying out some of the low cost exchange starship traits will prove interesting. I should mention that I started each first character as a Jem'Hadar to try and get a jump start in reputation account-wide unlocks. Life is tough on a new free-to-play account in 2023.

[@TheTilitus]

The Hirogien t5 is a great ship you can get on the echange. I use it for one of my alts for a more of a "role play" feel.

[@seans878]

@@TheTilitus Great tip! I never thought to actually try to get an "affordable" ship from the exchange with a free account.

[@juni674]

I got the lifetime sub on April 1st, 2021. I started to play back in '12. ( yes I did purchase it on "All Fools Day". ) I made a Klingon toon last month when that event started. I am having fun. So playing 9 years free and now the lifetime should say something. I think the best animated ship is the Baul. That thing is crazy. I have over 60 starships. So yeah I think it is worth it.

[@philedwards5638]

Thank you for this video! I'm a brand new STO player and it's super overwhelming, any advice on where to start or casual gaming for STO is greatly appreciated! I'm excited to finally get on there!

[@nolgroth]

I'm not MCStu but I have five pieces of advice for now; 1. Look up one of MCStu's Build videos and make a note of how he builds his Skill Tree. There are many things that you can swap in and out, but you are stuck with a Skill Tree for quite some time before you can change it. Best to just build around a good one from the get-go. 2. At level 15 (or so), the R&D system opens up. Pick one (I suggest Beams unless you somehow decided to do Science) and run the very last mission in the list. You can run it up to 3x per day, assuming you have three Research Scientist Duty Officers. You probably don't right now and they are expensive, so just run it as many times as you can. Doing R&D unlocks access to powerful consumables at level 10 and new Personal traits at level 15. Takes just a couple of minutes to set up and the long-term payoff is worth it. 3. AFTER you start R&D missions for the day, slot as many Duty Officer missions as you can. As you level the Duty Officer categories up, you are awarded with more and more capable Duty Officers. This can take a wee bit longer but is, again, worth it. 4. Just build the character you want to play and follow the missions. If you come across a mission with a set or equipment you want multiple copies of, you can replay the mission to get the other set pieces or copies. 5. After Level 10 (or for Romulan faction characters, once you pick an allegiance), you will be eligible to participate in Events. Do so. Events can provide you with a lot of good gear. As a sort of bonus tip, don't be adverse to letting a more powerful player help you out. You'll learn to pick them out. Just stay close, take your pot shots, and let the powerhouse take the hits. One day, whether you know it or not, you'll be the one somebody else is hiding behind. That should do it for now. STO is incredibly layered and complex. I don't want to overwhelm you with systems and choices. Playing through the missions and events will probably be the most fulfilling part of the game. You will encounter some difficulty spikes along the way. Some of those spikes will be frustrating. Just go back to the well. The STO community, with some exceptions, is a pretty friendly place. Somebody will help guide you.

[@justinedge4834]

You can buy the 10000xp boost for r&D schooling it’s helps

[@Raishiki]

end game is advancing your admiral lvl so your character slowly but surely gets better and better. getting or collecting different ships with different traits/modules and combining them in such a way for the 1 ship you like the most to make it as OP as you can that's about it.

[@davidwilliams4239]

Well after being away for a few months (due to work, medical issues, and my mother having medical issues) I come back and my FPS is staying around 11-15 FPS. Everything is up to date. Safe mode makes it better for about 10 minutes at best. So I am missing out on playing but fortunately the STO support people have been awesome. Right now the devs themselves are trying to figure out my issue. I do miss playing and hope they can fix it as I've been playing since Beta.

[@Pozer714]

A slight learning curve is a massive understatement. You'll be a legend in your own mind.

[@trazyntheinfinite9895]

Here is a fun fact: you do not need any zen but the one to enable large ec transfers. The games story missions are doable on free ships and equipment alone. Its the tfo were you will feel it mostly

[@OriginalMergatroid]

The tier 6 ships are not really for the story arc part of the game. They are really for the TFOs and post-game stuff. The story lines are too easy to bother with a tier 6 ship.

[@malec8517]

@@OriginalMergatroid Gotta crank that diff up to elite on your story missions!

[@ascelot]

Well, I will say this, going by prices at 15:25 average zen price for t6 ship costing 3,000 zen to get starship trait, and playing a single character (8k refine dilithium cap per day), would take 187.5 days to get 1 ship (3k zen) or 937.5 days to get 5 ships to max traits out. Then, would need to take several years more to maximise your ships weapons, consoles and ground equipment using even more dilithium. Might add a year or so.

[@malec8517]

Yea that's what I was thinking and wondering too, I know he has like 10 characters but I guess that's the strat for farming?

[@katieblackmore2004]

As a 44 year old, i remember the FASA table top game, more so the ship too ship table top game, where you had too manage your ship or ships, manage your control points, what you would use for shields, weapons, superstructure.... It was a real tactical based game. Then of course you had the FASA ships which were the best. Federation with the Loknar, Larson, Chandley Frigate, Constitution, Northampton class..... Klingons with the D7, D10, L9 Romulan with their Bird Of Prey, Winged Defender and many more. The ships back then had so much more character. I wish they could make a turn based game based on the FASA era for today's hardware

[@brennangum6236]

I just dont like the manipulative marketing. As in they are trying to manipulate your emotions and crap to buy things that are quite expensive. I think it's pretty hard to play for completely free. And I get it. They need to make money. But people buy these pricey things and they won't even give us a new adventure zone. But besides that I think the game is fun. I find building out ships really rewarding and interesting (albeit a target for that manipulation I was talking about). A couple of the arcs are REALLY good like the Iconian War and the Lukari stuff. And the Voth battlezone is still a really fun place to hang out and do more fluid activities.

[@smoketreez666]

I've tried a few times to get in to this on Xbox but I end up getting too confused and quitting. I've been playing MMOs since the ultima online days but there's just something about this game that overwhelms me. I can barely make it out of the training quests before I start getting my butt kicked in the space battles.

[@OriginalRazar]

I play on PC, however there are not a lot of differences between them. A few important things to keep in mind, especially in ground combat is your bridge officers. On ground, when you get better weapons and gear for yourself, make sure you put your old gear on your bridge officers. The weapons they start with are trash. And starting out, they are a large part of your damage, and they also act like increased hit points for you. On PC you can set a rally point for them to go to. I am not sure if you can on console. But if not, you can put a more powerful weapon on one of them, so they will draw the aggro. And don't fire on anything until all of your bridge officers are with you. For space, you can make sure you have them trained with the best skills. To start off, your Science bridge officer should have Science Team 1, and your Engineer should have Engineering Team 1. Science Team will give an instant shield heal. Engineering Team will give an instant hull heal. For Tactical, you should be running Beam Fire at Will 1, or Beam Overload 1 as their first skill. They usually start with a torpedo skill (high yield, or spread). That is only good after you get the shields down. But getting the shields down is more important for faster kills. The regular torp, without being buffed, will be enough starting out. Next, your subsystem powers are very important. You need your weapons power to be set to max. And everytime you get a new ship, your subsystem powers will be set to balanced. So they need to be adjusted. I don't know how to adjust them on console. But there should be KZbin videos on how to play the game on console. Sorry I can't explain how to do things like that on console. I haven't had access to a console in a long time. Next thing to remember is that the energy weapon types and energy types are 2 different things. Energy types means the type of energy it shoots (Phaser, Disruptor, etc). It's best that all of the energy weapons are the same energy type, so that you can get tac consoles that will boost that specific energy type. As for weapon types, there are 2 main categories, kinetic and energy. And in both of those have different types as well. I'll just focus on energy weapons. There are cannons (this includes turrets), and beams. Cannons have the narrower fire arcs. They are designed to be fired in front of you. The widest fire arc for cannons is 180 degrees for single cannons. They are not very good, because they have the lowest damage for cannons. Turrets are considered cannons (because they are affected by cannon skills), and have a 360 degree firing arc. So they will go on the back of the ship. The best cannons for the front are dual and dual heavy cannons. Beams come as dual beam banks, beam arrays, and omni directional beams. Dual beam banks are forward facing (90 degree fire arc), and like cannons should be used in forward facing builds. Beam arrays have a much wider fire arc, and can be used on the front and back of the ship so you can broadside and hit the target with all your weapons. Here is an important thing about these weapons. You shouldn't combine beams and cannons. The only exception to this is dual beam banks. You can put 1 on the front of the ship with cannons. But many people don't like that. It's best to go all cannon, or all beam build. Last bit of info at this point, set your subsystem power to max weapons, and put everything else in engines. Run Beam Arrays, all the same energy type, and spam either Fire at Will, or Beam Overload (I prefer Overload), and keep flying as fast as you can. The faster you go, the less likely they are to hit you. And if you have all beam arrays on your ship, as long as they are beside you, you can hit the enemy with all of your weapons. I hope these tips help. Razar.

[@cotim8]

Hey man, your videos have been helping me, but I’m wondering would you be able to do a build video on the kopesh warbird T6 variant

[@gamergeek914]

hello MC stu i have watch your Star Trek online videos thank you for that videos you have help me a lot i buo to the master i see you in 2024 i hope =)

[@MCStu]

Glad to help

[@tails-khoryanstar3099]

The delta quadrant definitely needs to be bigger

[@dustinherk8124]

they only depict the straitest possible line of what Voyager travelled though. there should absolutely be more delta quadrant stuff, that would be completely open for creative ideas, because no one really actually saw delta quadrant space. all yovager really did was drive down teh galactic equivelent of the autobaun just to get home as fast as possible.

[@ModestlyAmazing]

I often wonder if the Delta Quadrant species knew they were in the Delta Quadrant, or whether they thought they were in the Alpha Quadrant.

[@emti29]

​@@ModestlyAmazing pretty sure the warp capable species knows.

[@ModestlyAmazing]

@@emti29 But who designated the quadrants to begin with 🤣

[@emti29]

@@ModestlyAmazing the one who first mapped or discovered it. Like my country, it is named after the king of spain, king philip.

[@iamcerealman102]

Thank you for the video :))

[@dubioushumor9243]

I gave it a try but my main issue is that it feels like a ten year old game, the combat, menus etc. needs a MAJOR refresh just to clean it up and modernize it

[@chachy3369]

I havnt played on playstation since the ToS content came out, might come back and finish my temporal recruit.

[@Dracounguis]

Selling dilithium for Zen... one character can refine 8000 dilithium a day. If you wanted to buy a $30 (3k Zen) ship, you will need to refine 8k dilithium for 180+ days. Happy grinding! 🎉 A few years ago I did the math... Grinding dilithium earned you about 62 cents an hour. So yes go mow your neighbor's yard for $30, buy Zen and you'll be far ahead. 😆

[@ZR117]

Agreeably but as for me I'd rather thay remove a stinking limit but sto is sto

[@troglodyte8791]

I have more problems with needing to play 20 days for the special event ships if you have a full time jobb it can be very tedious but still enjoy playing the game but wish you could get a lot done in the weekend.

[@Dracounguis]

@@ZR117 you think the economy is bad now... I think if they remove the limit it would get even worse. But maybe not since the people who want to refine millions just have thousands of characters anyway. 🤷

[@ZR117]

@@Dracounguis well daily refinement is tedious to but good point but both ways are teadus if they designed the game that way and Thay know thay could but grab grab the money instead of letting it be a game I mean.

[@ZR117]

@@Dracounguis I mean destiny you can at least git a strange coin and git an exotic well like I said sto is sto

[@johntempleton3560]

nice vid, thank you. you're very well spoken. you would be an excellent educator or teacher

[@MCStu]

Thank you! 😃

[@adamwilder2943]

I've been with the game since 2016 and hope that it goes for at least another 5 years possibly.

[@SirTrinculo]

Iv been apart of it since 2012, Something about it always brings me back, even if its for a little while.

[@IdigN1]

I've got one more season of TNG to watch. So I'm on my Star Trek phase once again. Started googling for good Trek games to play. Came across STO because it's free. Tumbled on this video of yours and you have just sold this free-to-play game to me. The game is downloading as we speak. So thank you for convincing me to try this game out, sir. Let's hope it'll be an enjoyable one.

[@CasualTS]

I remember from shortly after the game went F2P the endgame was just running Borg missions. I enjoyed the ground missions as slightly easy, but reasonable once you got over their adapting mechanic. The space missions on the other hand were quite challenging, at least for my group. But I suppose those missions being considered "endgame" is all gone with player power inflation over the years.

[@mavfin8720]

I still go back to this sometimes, when I get bored with other games. It is what it is, and if you don't like it, by all means, play something else. STO is fairly unique with the ship combat. (Yes, there's Eve, but...I already have a job.) When I get bored with it, I go back to other games. I'm waiting for 6.4 to drop, so I'll take a break from STO when that happens.

[@AbsurdShark]

For a long time, Star Trek Online was my dream game. I preordered it, and i loved it even in its early state. I even loved the ground element, it was fun for me. But over the years, i just got sick of all the old and new bugs, how unpolished the experience is, and the hideous visual clusterf*ck of all the different activated skills and other shit constantly. Eventually i loved how they bring actual characters, but that too turned into something awful, into the "small universe syndrome", where every major character happens to be related to some already well known character (for instance the current terran emperor just HAPPENS to be the terran version of Wesley Crusher). So even though i paid a lot of money and had a lot of fun over the years, i won't return to this game.

[@OdeeOz]

Hey ya Mac! Outstanding, and highly accurate game review, and analysis. 👍👍 I was part of the original Alpha, and showed them how to make Ship Interiors a viable game thing. That said, I was a paid Subscriber for several years, then that disastrous studio called ARC, took over, and started messing with subscribers logins and passwords every couple of months. Now that it's on EPIC GAMES, I'm back in the saddle again. 👍👍 10⭐

[@Aleksandar6ix]

I played just before the iconian thing and enjoyed it at the moment. But getting back into it now is very difficult and complicated. I like to just do story missions to fill out the universe....I hate looting for gear.

[@OriginalMergatroid]

You never get any good gear from loot drops. You're better off to sell all that junk and save to purchase something good.

[@BazzFreeman]

I bought a lifetime sub back in 2018. I tend to take long breaks and come back when there's more story.. yes I'm a sucker for story. I think I got extraordinarily lucky with lootboxes. Got a Tzen-tar really quickly lol. Never had such luck again of course. I do like this game a lot, but as you say the end game is somewhat limited. Still, for the amount of content it's still a good game and the ship designs are awesome.

[@stankyyboi]

"it's gonna cost you a lot to min-max it" people should understand that 99.9% of the content in this game does NOT require min maxing at all on any level and that "doing a lot of damage" is NOT the same as min-maxing

[@LashlayDS9]

min-maxing seems to be one of the comunity versions of the "end-game" .. absolutely not required to play trough the normal content of the game.

[@swooshswish4063]

i played around 2014 to 2015, did lots and leveled to vice admiral then quit when i wanted to spend less money.. now im gonna redownload it and get back into the role playing and finally figuring out how the game actually works and maybe join a guild again

[@awild93]

I've played this game years ago, had gotten the original enterprise ship, Its something I'm thinking about going back to, had an itch for a star trek RPG

[@CaptainGlack]

Been having a blast ngl, the story missions are why I’m here.

[@DSBOY33]

Star trek online is one of my favorite games to play I been playing for 12 years and I started out as a free-to-play player did not buy anything then once I got to the end of the story at that time and got all caught up that's when I decided to spend some money and get some stuff I wanted. the developers did a good job on the game is still getting updates and content. Not to mention keep a close eye because they give free stuff out. The game is very beginner friendly I will recommend for anyone to try out

[@sisbonetta]

New to the game this year, well I played briefly a couple years ago. I think the game is very nice. The combat isn't very exciting but I think I have found that the storyline and focusing on the build is enough for me. Quick question, do u stream ur actual gameplay at all? Getting close to the end game and wouldn't mind seeing some of that gameplay. Especially guides on how u are supposed to run certain TFOs. I finally figured out how to run Jupiter Itiptus, prolly spelled wrong. It's more fun when u know what steps to take in these things. Thanks again for all ur videos especially the new player guides, I watched them all.

[@overseer5660]

I honestly wish someone did a Star Trek with up-to-date stats like Starpoint Gemini or Star Citizen tier stuff. Well, not really Star Citizen but Starpoint Gemini is a good example. And added as much stuff as the online version does.

[@GhostbustersFan77]

My biggest issue, other than the repetitive game play, is that in order to really play you can't use a ship you like. For example, my favorite ship is the Refit Constitution Class, but you really can't use that ship because you are limited to two forward weapons and stations that are really bare bones. So in order to get a ship with good weapons and such you have to get a ship that you may find unappealing but you have no choice but use it.

[@antifitterds]

I played this when it first came out I think it's time to revisit

[@beezienkirsten]

Im just starting the game tutorial and all. Is lifetime subcription worth the cost? Also with lifetime sub you still have to pay for zen to get all the other ships in store? Is there a vid that shows detaily what is worth buying and not?

[@Reshtarc]

My main account is a life time preorder account. Pre release preorder. So I got the bonuses for that and a small preorder xp bonus I can claim for every character I make on the account. Pay to play..... has been so sense before game launch. Former monthly Subscribers know it was never built to be free.

[@SJForrestChannel]

I really love this game. I've been playing since 2010, since the very release, moreover, I even have a physical copy with the Atari logo. :) I will play STO until I get old, or until the game is closed. :)

[@farmdaze9961]

I have to laugh... I started less than a year ago and one of my first vids to watch was your should I play in 2022. I understood so little of what you said, now... pffft. It's like understanding a new language. The game is a roller coaster hill though. It takes a lot of time and effort to unlock the tools you need to get better at first... then it just comes together and it's down hill from there. Ty for your vids. I have learned a lot from them

[@cummins24421]

I installed it back at release but only spent a week or so playing it and went back to Eve Online. Now I've been back for less than a month and picked up a Jupiter Carrier. Having a great time figuring out how to make it work (apparently carriers are trash tier but IDK what I'm doing anyway so I'm having fun...). It's been great, spent maybe $50 on the ship and some Zen for dilithium and that's about it. It's a good time for me but I don't necessarily see it having legs unless some friends start playing or I run into some end-game content that really grabs me.

[@arthurpendragon8192]

if you are having fun, nothing is trash tier :)

[@nolgroth]

Carriers are only "trash" in the DPS chase or PvP mentalities. For anything else, carriers are awesome. One of my characters runs around with a Turret/Unconventional Systems science build on his Sarr Theln and kicks the crud out of any content I care to pit him against, including Elite patrols. Don't worry about so-called "trash" anything. Those opinions come from a very narrow, if vocal, section of the STO player base.

[@G1Arcee]

Great video : ) I don’t talk much in comments usually, but wanted to support the channel and community here, so I’ve subbed liked commented here and joining the discord : ) look forward to making friends there. See you there!

[@MCStu]

I appreciate that!

[@G1Arcee]

@@MCStu No problemo. Appreciate the good content and response. : ) Ive played Star Trek online for awhile now but, never really had friends who play it, and haven’t really gotten to feel the community much from purely in game. So finding channels like these and discord communities to make buddies in is fab.. Oh and, I play on pc, but is this game cross play? I have some Xbox friends who I might be able to convince to try the game.

[@jimbodee4043]

So I started playing this in the end 2011 and for maybe 2 years after goto lots of t5 free ships from events got 5 toons to level 50. Then I came back to the game when the romulan empire came out and got 2 more characters. At some point they raISED LEVEL CAP TO 60 AND i GOT MY MAIN AND MY REMAN TO LEVEL 60, then I have not played until now, downloaded it again yesterday. Bank + inv all full, mailbox full of doffs, no idea how to play game again :P Decided to create a new original star trek character and play though that to give me a refresh of the keys and what is needed to work out what does what and why. Do you have any advice?

[@Qaianna]

The running joke is that 'Space Barbie is the true endgame'. I find this to be absolutely true.

[@phoenixgirl673]

Just as long as this keeps coming up with new events every so often...I'm happy...that way it is never stail

[@DJParticle]

I haven’t played in a while, but mainly because Splatoon 3 is taking most of my time. I just started playing last year and I love it so much I got a lifetime subscription.

[@goddessesstartrekonlinefle3061]

I feel you understate ground combat here; On PC the ground based combat powers are incredibly fun and hugely varied! What I absolutely love about ground missions is how the powers change the way your character can move around (speed, limited flight, temporary invunerablity, knockback weapons and all kinds of force fields, though the original Cover Sheild is still the very funnest [if you use it as a platform hehe]). The fighting challenge level of ground isn't as good as space, but that's because the game has been 'fisher priced' over the years and the quality difficult ground combat has been watered down because most people where not up to the challenge (and it absolutely required a well ordered and highly skilled team). I've played the game since late Beta. The original Borg TFO's where epic hard, though now they are way too easy. IMO to get the most from the game a person needs to find a really good fleet that fits with how they like to play.

[@OriginalRazar]

I loved those older Borg missions. Well, not when PUGing them. LOL. Razar.

[@OriginalMergatroid]

Ground game sucks. It's primitive, clunky and needs updating badly.

[@goddessesstartrekonlinefle3061]

@@OriginalMergatroid it needs alot of investment to get a good ground experience IME. I can agree the combat is often times dull, but I don't find it to be clunky personally (I find space combat less enjoyable because there is little in the way of movement, though it does have a few nice points).

[@OriginalMergatroid]

@@goddessesstartrekonlinefle3061 The ground game is full of bugs and looks like it's 15 years old. Very primitive. Need proof? Just turn your character around in a circle and watch as the bottom half turns and suddenly the top half of the character turns separately. Old, primitive and poorly modelled from the beginning. And don't get me started on collision detection and getting stuck in walls.

[@goddessesstartrekonlinefle3061]

@@OriginalMergatroid I don't think you understand why that is a good thing you described. It used to be much much better too but unfortunately alot of "gamer-gamers" complained and they disabled the absolutely smooth transitions between all emotes (which was always awesome). Modern games are really dull, they don't have sufficient control over the character replaced instead by fixed set peice visuals which look good but take away so much player choice and freedom. Still, you should definitely stick to the types of game you enjoy, and hey most people don't want to control their character to that level and fair enough. It doesn't though make it a bad game. Though I welcome your alternative view point.

[@wolfjarlgrbane5771]

Tomarrow I am going to Zen Store. Defiant T5 rots, T5X is good but my eyes are on Hvy Strike Wing Akira, or Valdres. Hopefully it unlocks account wide. With Oblisk in that one mission I survived by having my Flight on Point and taking out Torps and other close problems.I would like to know wich one you prefer.

[@nfapeng187]

I just started playing this game. I have no idea what im doing but its fun.

[@asmongoldsmouth9839]

I had a ton of fun playing. Especially during events.

[@seabreezeuk4]

For me, there is still lots yet to do and explore. I still enjoy new ship builds, and love Star Trek ships and the space game play in general. And there is just enough new content on top of all that to keep me going. Love real actors doing the voice overs, and with STO ships now Star Trek lore, there is still loads to delve into and enjoy 😊

[@Reoh0z]

There's a few bugs... > Empty Mail icon patiently blinks.

[@Derguz]

I started playing in 2012 or something like that and bought the lifetime subscription.. best money I've ever spent - and I haven't put any money into the game since.. as long as you're not impatient it's actually a very good game..

[@icemanyeo4191]

THIS JANEWAY COMMAND CLASS STAR SHIP FEELS LIKE THE EXECUTOR CLASS SUPER STAR DESTROYER COMMAND SHIP FEELING FLAGSHIP WITH BIG GUNS THING VERY COOL

[@Dracounguis]

The game was launched under Atari, then it got sold the Perfect World, and now Cryptic is owned by Gearbox. I can't wait to see who buys it next! 😉

[@OwenRona]

Actually, Atari went bankrupt when Perfect World bought Star Trek Online. Atari had not been in good place since it went defunct in the 1990s and broke up to different subsidiary companies. Embrace, the Parent company of Gearbox, bought the entire Perfect World Entertainment in 2021 which gave them rights to Star Trek Online and other games in PWE as well. Star Trek Online is reported to be a top earner for Embrace (parent company of Gearbox) so it’s not “dying” anytime soon. If it gets sold again, then I reckon it would be simply because another company offered more money than what their projected sales would be … just like everything else in any market in the world. It’s true value though lies in having the exclusive Rights from Viacom/CBS to create Star Trek games content. 🙂

[@Kriegsdonner]

What ship and style is rhe uss touche? It looks really cool is it good?

[@murdamooch]

Im a new player. Im obessed ive bought so many packs lol. I know you dont need to spend any money to have a good time but i love star trek and this game is so fun especially if you love RP.

[@gmailmann]

i tried to play the story casually some years ago, but at some point i became one shot and i had to fire on enemy ships for ages. Is that still the case that story is hard?

[@alanpattee4383]

Great Video! another

[@MCStu]

Thanks

[@imaxxx7105]

Nice video 👍🏻 Question: do you have any idea, or know, if there ever were, or are, plans to overhaul te game to a new engine. And renew the visuals. How cool would that be... Probably attract more new players as well.

[@MCStu]

As far as I know there is not.

[@nolgroth]

That question gets brought up regularly in the Ten Forward streams and the answer is always "no."

[@imaxxx7105]

@@nolgroth Bummer. There is soooo much more potential.

[@mattsmith1859]

I'm just going on a couple of years now and still having fun. Now I just need someone to look at my damn account and help with builds.

[@macklee6837]

Nice! I'm new and just installed STO after Picard 3. I'm not gonna grind it for 3 years, I'll probably just buy the D lol. Are you gonna make an up to date beginers guide, or is your one from 9 months ago still applicable?

[@MCStu]

Welcome, Yes all guides that are on the channel are still up to date.

[@macklee6837]

@@MCStu great ty!

[@TheDetoxy]

I played on PS4 for abit. Loved it but now im on PC alot and tbh doing that grind all over again on PC kinda sucks thinking about it.

[@remirez2k3]

lets not forget that even though they may not be the greatest high powered god tier ships FTP players have access at least twice a year to earn free tier 6 scaling ships through events.

[@Del-Canada]

My legs were blown off back there in Okinawa.

[@danielgrainger6244]

A friend got me to come back for the Klingon event, I haven’t looked at the game since 2014. Thank you for your videos, they have helped me out understanding the game again.

[@eno2870]

I bought the lifetime sub way back in the day. I played it for years and had a lot of fun. Power creep was a major problem though. I eventually got to the point that I was able to 1v6 an entire group of people, without even fighting back for a full 30 seconds. When I finally decided to stop sitting immobile and fight back, I ended the fight almost instantly. The game was very, very much pay to win. They constantly released new ships, and those new ships were continually growing more and more powerful. Older purchased ships were rendered obsolete, and it gradually became a game of buying ships not because you wanted the ships but because your build would benefit from a certain ability the ship came with. There were so many different ways to increase your power that a player that paid tons of money and created a well crafted build was infinitely more powerful than someone who just slapped something together. In the end though, I stopped playing because it was just too expensive. I wasn't cool with new ships costing nearly as much as full priced games, or ship packs costing literally hundreds of dollars. They were very much targeting whales to the detriment of everyone else, and unfortunately.. I'm the whale. When I like a game and play it a lot I'll spend money on it.. this one just pushed for too much and forced me to walk away from it and their blatantly predatory practices. Since my departure a different company bought the game if I recall, or someone else took over managing it at the very least. I don't know if they changed much, but the last time I logged in a year or so ago it sure didn't seem like anything had changed. Ship prices were still right around the same, and the economy had grown ever more inflated. I swear AH prices were up like tenfold from when I last played.

[@BlazingDrag00n]

I am the opposite. I am poor. I stopped playing STO because i can't get any new ship for the second half of the game. (and especially not for endgame content) It is way too frustrating. I worked REALLY hard to get a fleetship. And shortly after it became obsolete... and then more new ships, and even stronger ships and then more and even more powerful ships. ... but only for the rich. ... i am still stuck with my tiny fleetship that can do nothing. (And not just ships... same with equipment. ... strongest i can get is MK.XII .... how on earth am i supposed to keep up with the MK.XV players? ...)

[@eno2870]

@@BlazingDrag00n - They're up to XV now? Yikes. Crafting weapons until you got the perfect mods and then upgrading them was incredibly expensive, that's for sure. I think I had like half my ship outfitted with CrtDx4 and CrtDx3 (plus something else) beam weapons, but that took ages to make happen. Even then, upgrading them each time they raised the cap was expensive. I'm not even sure if I had them all up to 13 before I stopped played tbh.

[@BlazingDrag00n]

@@eno2870 Yeah... And XII ist still the maximum you can get through normal means (some things even only at XI ). Over 1.000 hours in STO and i have exactly two pieces of Mark-13 equipment. At some point, i just gave up on the game.

[@DeaconBlues117]

@@BlazingDrag00n Sure you can get new ships. There are events twice a year that award particular top-level ships (the Winter Event only seems to want to award Fek'irhi ships these days, while the Summer Event usually gets you something Risian-derived), and there's the year-long Event Campaign that can award (among other things) two free Tier 6 ship tokens. Right now I've got some captains flying the Compiler-class science dreadnought, which was awarded for completing the last part of the Terran Empire storyline (you didn't even have to do the earlier parts, just help Mirror Dr. Crusher talk her son down from destroying the multiverse).

[@eSKAone-]

How could this fly under my radar? I love DS9, TNG, Voyager and The Orville 💟🌌☮️

[@tails-khoryanstar3099]

I do wish they would bring back the legacy tokens. I was able to get one when I 1st started playing in 2019 and I only got 1. If I knew how they would have disappeared. I would have saved the only one. I had and used it for the event that's going on right now