Is this the end of Star Trek Online?

Let's Go Whaling: • Let’s go whaling: Tric...
#sto

[@seabreezeuk4]

What does 'maintenance mode' actually mean?? Best of luck to those who were laid off, and will maintain hope that STO continues.

[@gausssto570]

It means that the servers will still be on and they will continue to cycle existing events, but they won't be adding new content. Even if they decided to go that route tomorrow, and we have no reason yet to believe they will, they would still have stuff lined up that would be coming out for a little while yet.

[@seabreezeuk4]

Awesome, thanks, much appreciated @@gausssto570 real shame that any kind of STO2 is highly unlikely given, as you say, that for all its faults there is no other Trek game like it (although it would kill me a bit to have to start again from scratch- but as Spock said, there are always possibilities...)

[@NoBudjetFilms]

I enjoy Star Trek Online, I'm not an avid gamer, but I like to relax and play a daily mission or two afterwork, make some more progress towards whatever my current goal is, and then go about my day. I buy ships I like, and I admit I have bought quite a few over the years. I only get gamble boxes if I am in need of Lobi, but now that they are offering free Lobi during the yearly events there is less demand for it for me. I also love seeing all of the cameos from actors from Star Trek.

[@garywilliams3419]

Imagine a decent company got hold of the rights for an online Star Trek game... This tired old beast needs new eyes.

[@johnmlln9982]

Lifetime sub from pre-release. All good points.

[@ascelot]

same, the meta has gone to simply buying more and more powerful ships and dps is king

[@Robotrik1]

At least the current EP came home to the world he came from -- mobile games . Cue X-Files intro music. If this game does go into maintenance mode , and there will be no further branches of code developed for it -- then I would have one request for the STO community (including you!) , and that is to lobby Cryptic in a continuous manner to have them adapt and re-introduce the Foundry to this last code branch . This would ensure that new content is created -- even if under some sort of subscription model -- and it would give people the impetus to buy new ships even when the "official content" is reduced to little more than Lockbox ship production .

[@gausssto570]

I seriously doubt it's going into maintenance mode, at least yet, but I agree completely. When that does happen, putting the foundry back would be for the best

[@ToadieBog]

Cryptic hasn't added anything meaningful for a long time, and was happy to just charge hundreds of dollars for skins. It's been run by soulless people for years.

[@mike2kmagic1]

Add to the fact that they want us to spend 200$ on 12k zen ship bundles

[@BurningFlamesofDivineDragon]

I wish they would add a Discovery Recruitment Event with rewards and stuff. I said something about it on the STO Facebook page but a lot of folks out there are thinking it won't happen.

[@brianstiles1701]

In January it will be 4 years since I bought my half-price lifetime pass. I calculated this as when the free Zen would pay for itself. I hope the game finds a way to grow.

[@blkmgk16]

Bought mine over 10 years ago, came back to it after 3 years, wooo all the zen!

[@pwn600]

This game after 2018 became a glorified casino coupled with non-stop events that rewarded fluff (campaign events) intermixed with decent events-anniversary, summer, and winter. In this manner, the devs artificially padded the numbers because players felt that the only way to reap the best rewards was to participate in at least 4/5 of the campaign events and all seasonal events. The quality of the game (regularly released missions) was no longer the main factor driving players to come back, it was fomo. Go back even further in time. Up until 2014, casual gameplay in sto was alive and doing well. However after the difficulty changes were implemented and the level cap was raised advanced and elite queues became extremely difficult and you could fail the mission. This was one of the steps Cryptic took that virtually killed casual gameplay. It made a small comeback once some people decided to come back but never fully recovered and after the elimination of free mission rewards (like the jem hadar officer, the breen officer, and the orphidian cane), elimination of event tokens (which allowed you to play the game on your own time and not Cryptic’s), and phasing out of event rewards being brought back to phoenix box, Cryptic continued moving the game to nonstop fomo and turning almost everything into a micro-transaction. Together with the introduction of Mudd’s Store, these changes as a whole were the final nail in the coffin for casual gameplay. The publisher that owns Cryptic as well as the previous ones, along with many other publishers, have virtually killed casual gameplay in the video game industry as a whole for the sake of profit margins. In their wake, they destroyed families by encouraging addictive behaviors that tend to put people (minors included) into crippling debt. We as a society will have to pay the price for the damage that they have done to people in the long term when people’s mental health deteriorates due to stress brought upon them by financial ruin, not to mention the anxiety caused by constant FOMO events. This game as is stands now and even as it stood in 2018, does not deserve to have it’s license renewed.

[@mikeekim2532]

Totally agree and been saying these things for years as well. They focused all their time into things that only the .001% of the population demanded, and the bean counters ran the show fully. Binnezz as usual.

[@andrewtaylor940]

Something to remember and think on. There really is no Maintenance Mode for a Game Like STO. It's a licensed IP. They have conditions for the license. They cannot do anything that would intrinsically damage the IP. But that's the other big concern. It's a licensed IP. And Embracer isn't exactly flush with cash currently. WHat happens when contract renewal comes up? Does anybody remember Star Wars Galaxies? Just saying, this games fate will likely never be "maintenance mode" because it costs to much to maintain the license to just have the game sit there falling apart. They will shut it down before it ever gets to that point, because it has to great of a potential to invert the costs on them in any maintenance mode.

[@sr3473]

I dont see Paramount/CBS renewing the license after this...

[@felixgalaxyhackerwewo1463]

To the money stuff, I still spen little sums in a hope to creep the servers up

[@benx2230]

The end has been a long time coming. Free-to-play brings the end.

[@adamwalkervfx]

Ever since Discovery reared its ugly head, this game started to go downhill. I'll never forget when they outright murdered The Foundry and removed certain missions that didn't fit in line with the rebooted "canon" the Nu Trek shows were trying to crap out.

[@isaacencarnacion70]

Cryptic is dumb right now, all it takes is to do what they did in the beginning… release full story arcs, like 8-10 episodes a arc, events, new tfo’s, gear, they can continue the Zen store, just make it worth paying for the items in the game…. I’ve played this game for over 10 years and I miss the days where the content was there…. A lot veteran players simply do have enough to do but do daily’s and if you already maxed everything out, some may simply say I’m going to not play for awhile. Cryptic did this to itself. The gambling aspect of the game also hurt the game…..players want to know that when they put money in the game, that they at least get what they are paying.

[@QALibrary]

I have not played this game for years now

[@OdeeOz]

They're alongside of EPIC Games now too. Really annoyed when they went Free, and cut off all our Lifetime Subscriptions, and went with ARC Games... Who always mess with your logins, and passwords! Totally screwed up our Perks, and all items we VIP's got.

[@theseek7278]

Gearbox is under the Embracer Group parent company, not Deca.

[@gausssto570]

Cryptic is no longer under Gearbox, they are under DECA now.

[@Retset]

I still play because they have successfully drilled into my FOMO and because I enjoy ship builds. I like Star Trek but the game is such a mixture of different shows etc. that I could care less about immersion which is why I have KDF toons in Fed ships etc. I have zero problem putting money into games but I only ever put about £25 into STO and that was very many years ago. I disagree fundamentally with the business model. If purchase prices were truly 'micro', they would probably have had a lot of cash from me over the last 10 years! If the game hits maintenance mode, perhaps I will finally be able to break the habit of playing, which is is as much bad habit as it is fun ... All this said, I do feel for all the staff across many studios who have had their lives ****ed up by Embracer.

[@ancientgamer2386]

I am planning on quitting this game at the start of the year after more than a decade of playing. It has been a log in, do the event and then log out game for a very long time and it makes me feel like that is a complete waste of my time.

[@eol6632]

I really enjoy some parts of this game but it's death, weather it comes now or later is well earned. I started playing 3 years ago and I was kinda shocked by how little actual game content was in this game in the ten years prior. I'm sure there are some people that really care about making good content working on this game but STO has been run like a lazy cash grab by management. There are online games that do it right, and are well cared for. Take Final Fantasy 11. That game is ancient by today's standards and it still runs well and has regular updates. STO is in the same league as War thunder & world of tanks.

[@raijinmeister]

That second comment you read is very interesting.

[@gausssto570]

Indeed

[@tenalpoen]

As soon as I know there's no more story episodes coming I'm done. The day I do the last story mission is the last day I log on.

[@Samuraith2077]

I'm sorry but just as others who I will not name that are active in the sto community have stated. We don't know what this means. It is speculation all we have. So I will air on the side of caution y'all gauss and such I'm just going to wait and see.

[@michaelpickard8779]

They took away the mac client, and I can't even get past the glitches on the PS5. I used to love it, but stopped when it became more group centered and less individual. I much prefer being able to log on and play without needing people.to.join me on a quest. Kinda why I don't like MMORPG's.

[@carbonstar9091]

So basically the same as games like Rift. It's another zombie MMO that they milked for as long as possible before they sold it to a holding company. But the fanboys/whales of course were in loud denial.

[@michaeltiberius4166]

(not a rant, just commentary. it sounds angry when I read it back) Edit: So, to clarify. I love Gauss' videos, generally agree with his opinions, and know STO marketing is not his job. Top 5 STO youtubers spent the past year making videos about how incompetent Cryptic's staff is, instead of playing or promoting the game. What did we legitimately expect to come from that? You guys are probably 95% of this games promotion, and it's best hope for survival. I do appreciate your videos, just wish the gameplay vs news were more balanced.

[@afterlame]

It's not up to the content creators, who, like us, are just other players, to do Cryptic's job of promoting the game. Gauss uses his platform to express his honest opinion (which usually line up with mine when it comes to STO), it's not his fault Cryptic hasn't given us much reason for a 'balanced' opinion about their product for years now. I know what's happening with them now is not their fault, but let's be honest, they haven't done themselves any favours over the years, either. However, if you disagree, you're totally welcome to start making your own videos about STO

[@shaytepes7351]

I told Spencer exactly that, probably was ignored. That larger creators seem to be more into internal drama and complaining about content than anything else, every once in a while you get a build. They never seem ever promote the game to a person who may be interested in playing STO. If I wanted to play STO for the first time in 2023, and got online to check out the creators, I wouldn't. All the "cool kids club" B.S. would turn me off.

[@Josh-xo7ik]

.........yeah... what you said. It's not a mobile game.

[@gausssto570]

True, but it's monetized like a mobile game. Intermediate currencies that don't align with real currency or item prices, lootboxes, constant events, and the DPS meta effectively serves as a whale war arena.

[@mikeellery3336]

What do you think the chances of some company purchasing STO and actually doing something with it, instead of letting it linger in the void?

[@GRIGGINS1]

Unlike other games Deka has. STO is a Star Trek game and Paramount is the IP Holder. They have final say in everything and can easily demand Embracer sell STO to a better company. Because Paramount at the end of the day want to make money and add more content to STO.

[@mikeellery3336]

@@GRIGGINS1 I wish they would. STO is getting quite boring. There isn't an enemy my ships can't handle. Buying a new ship is just transferring Epic Equipment from one build to another. And game play is just another drag through the same TFO I've done a thousand times already.

[@zeroiceice008]

maybe a new game is on the frontier, an we go where know one has gone before

[@Carlos0619ASmith]

Like a mobile app? Really now?

[@dread-cthulu]

So glad I got off of the P2W hamsterwheel. It's sad and disappointing, because I love Star Trek, but STO isn't really created in the spirit of Trek IMO.

[@NotoriousNickNorris]

It 'was'. And some of the artists really believe in trek.

[@apptreeline]

rip

[@radeadcool]

Geca games? Nooooooo

[@zillatattoo]

the calculus nerds and "clans" ruined PVP. pvp is endgame, not grinding new space and ground sets. BS klink in rommie ship vape builds trolling Kerrat.

[@Blackinterceptor999]

wtf?

[@raijinmeister]

Are you surprised? Kek.

[@mrghqrt4234]

Perfect stop funding the game so the game will die. Whales and people who are willing to fund the game keeps games alive. You free people really don’t contribute to the game. However I do understand the argument of getting your money’s worth. But that only applies to those who spend money on the game. Paid players keep the content coming

[@gausssto570]

While I was never a whale, I have spent more on this game than most of the players ever have. They gave gotten more than enough from me over the years.

[@mrghqrt4234]

@@gausssto570 Fair enough. I understand if they don’t deserve your dollar anymore. But please have hope for the game. If the game really dies all that money would have been wasted. And you’ll never get another game like it. Trust me I spent at least 5k on planetside 2 on PlayStation just for them to only upgrade the pc side and let the PlayStation version die. Waste of my money and time. But Sto feels different to me at least and I never watched a single star trek film

[@mike2kmagic1]

game gets boring anyway let it rott

[@rogeryoung9934]

So, when are you going to stop playing STO and play something else? You complain (in the most monotone voice ever) about it, and how you won’t support the game… but that doesn’t stop you from making content about it for that youtube money.

[@bX-rk2oo]

Nice to see Mr. Negative come back to whine about a game he dosen't even play anymore. Hopefully people don't take much stock in his bs.

[@GRIGGINS1]

Yeah he whines about STO and Cryptic and does not even mention how Embracer is the one that caused all this mess in the first place

[@short72hp1]

hi stranger 😀