Anyone else around here in the beta? I just started it tonight and it seems interesting. The client needs a little work (it's choppy and I have pretty decent specs), but the controls seem ok for the ship, and a little stiff for the ground combat. I like the two different styles of play and it almost comes off as Anarchy Online meets EVE Online.

Then again, I just don't know how much time I can devote to a MMO these days, with sooooo many games to play, a child on the way, and a house to work on. Man, I miss being a college student and wasting the hours away on Asheron's Call back in the day!

*ahem* anyways. Anyone else out there give this a go yet?

So I've been playing this for the last 2 days and I'm really impressed. After completely disavowing WoW, I didn't think I'd want to play another MMO again, but this is shaping up to be a great experience. Here's a loose review/preview:

There are two main phases of the game, ground missions and space missions, as any Trek fan can imagine, this just makes sense. On "ground" missions you're either on another ship/starbase or on the surface of a planet and you command an away team of your bridge officers who basically act as pets to you, the captain. You can issue them orders and give them special attacks that can be upgraded based on what type of officer they are (Tactical, Engineering, or Science). The options for upgrading them and promoting them are vast and dependent on your rank as captain. As you rank up, they can rank up and gain new abilities.

These abilities also pass on to the space portion of combat and exploration. Science officers can "jam signals" for instance, stopping your opponent from attacking for a short period. Tactical officers can augment your photon torpedoes so that you fire a spread. Space is thankfully 3 axis (x,y,z) and you can move openly with impulse engines. Your ship is protected on 4 sides by shields - depending on which side you are being attacked from, attacks to that side deplete your shields. So moving around during combat is important, but if you want to keep from one side, you can actually divert power to one side or another, or just balance out your shields. When shields deplete, your hull starts taking damage for the entire ship and when that runs out, you die. Attacking is done with phasers and torpedoes, and both are on different cooldowns, but there are buttons to press to basically "fire all weapons" and just go crazy on someone - preferably when part of their shields are down

Characters and ships can fully be customized and are pretty deep in that area, much to my delight. You get new ships as you increase in rank and better ships offer better shields, abilities, weapons, and maneuvering. Speaking of maneuvering, at the start the ships are very clunky to control, but it does a great job of mimicking what real starship navigation might feel like. You later get the ability "evasive maneuvers" which gives you a short burst of speed and much greater turning power.

All in all the game is easy enough to pick up so far, but seems deep enough that it could keep you playing for some time.

Personally? I think it's going to be a hit. Not of WoW caliber, but it definitely won't sink into obscurity like so many MMOs do these days.

Anyways, sorry about the disjointedness of this post, but I wanted to give my thoughts on it. If you like 3d ship games with some strategic elements, and the classic ground MMO experience ala WoW, this game is for you. Casuals should do fine with this game also.

I've been wanting to try this and I'm trying to find a beta key for it.

I just signed up awhile back and they sent me one, didn't have to go anywhere special. I'd imagine you still might be able to get in as they are doing some serious stress testing now, as the beta ends on Tuesday. Still enough time to get a decent feel for the game though, it's really fun! If you like Star Trek, MMOs and spaceship simulators, you'll enjoy this!

I really would love to play this game, beta or full version, but I can't. Thanks a lot Mac computer! I would get another computer or run windows on this thing, but I don't have any money for it, so yea.

Anyways, I agree that STO is going to do well. The Star Trek universe has a strong fan base as is, and with the addition of the new movie that got all the younger people into Star Trek (raises hand) it has enough people to keep it alive. It's not going to be the next WoW, but it will definitely live on in the background.

Reading the information of how the game works I can tell it has some very good qualities too it, but also things that seem like it needs to be fixed. The space combat seems to be very well thought out and is the aspect of the game that appeals to me the most.

Again, I haven't played the beta (stupid Mac), this all based on what I've read. Either way I'm looking forward to how it does on it's release! I'm sure it will "live long and prosper." (Haha, see what I did there? Man I'm a riot!)

I have to say, STO space combat is a giant pile of fun. It feels just like Trek should.

It does tend to be a lot more fighting than you would see in a Trek show, but then, they are trying to make a game that isnt boring here.

Ground combat is good as well, doesnt feel like a WoW clone. I just prefer space combat because i've always liked it more, even in the show.

I'll be playing this, look for @Corvak.

A note on usernames: You friend/send tells and mail to people based on account, not character, so if you add their @Accountname you add all their alts.

Release day is today! If any of you do decide to join in on the fun in this really amazing game, look me up, I'm @araman and will be playing an Engineer Joined Trill named Araman Cayn, Captain of the USS Durandal.

Hmm... If I had any money, I would definitely look into this. 'Tis a shame, really...

If I could afford your subscription, I would pay for it, that's how much I believe in this game and want others to try it (but not get obsessed with it, down with MMO obsession)

Anyone around here join under the cover of night? Still looking for some good people to play with (haven't found a good fleet yet to save my life), and I know there's some new community members here now too, so just checking.