This is my first review of anything and I will be reviewing the Xbox One version of STO so enjoy.
STO or Star Trek Online is what is known as a Free To Play game, this means that anyone with an Xbox Live account can play it in it’s entirety without paying. However in order for the creators to make money from it it also has two other names one is Pay To Win and the other is Freemium. Lets start with the Pay To Win aspect this means that if players pay they get the best of the best equipment and cannot be beat except by people who have also payed. Luckily this is decidedly not true for STO so I would happily take the Pay To Win name off, people will try to argue that it is Pay To Win as there are ships and other items only accessible through paying money. This is true but thanks to events that the designers put forth regularly anyone can get a very strong ship for just a little bit of hard work, this not to say that there is no point in I’m paying for ships as some of the Pay for ships have features that others may not. For instance there is a very good Klingon ship that not only is agile and strong but can carry small fighters that help you in battle, which can turn the tide of a fight in the fun but sometimes frustrating PVP. The free players can also get weapons just as strong as those who pay by working hard and getting enough upgrade “tokens” this makes the game very fair and balanced with enough work. Next up is Freemium which means a game is free but for a price players can get a boost such as more ship slots or more personnel, this also scares some people away who have done this and had to pay the premium price every month, month after month that is were STO wins out they only charge a flat fee, though the price is a bit high if you tried to buy everything they gave you piecemeal it would be quite a bit more expensive. Now there is nothing wrong with a Freemium game, they are fun and have many bonuses for people who do not want or cannot pay for the premium but the people who do pay also get those bonuses. Now it is not all fun in the sun on STO, let’s say you go the completely free route and have leveled your ships equipment up as far it will go in the game this is called Epic level gear and you want to face off against other players to test it out this for now is going to be a bit of a wait for you, because very few people play the PVP on this game . I myself my unsure as to why I play when I can and though I lose because my gear is not up to epic yet it is still very fun especially when you’re with friends. So the PVP is not the only thing that is worth a complaint. There is also player exchange were players sell their gear to other players for i game currency while this aspect is actually a “god send” in many ways it also has a dark side. This is due to the fact that the biggest issue I have heard people complain about is that there is no regulation by the designers except that you have a limited time to sell an item though that is a good idea. But there are people who will make an item and then post it for an inordinate amount of money to take advantage of new players but this damage can be lessened by players like me and my friends and others like us who will advise new players when we can. Another major downside I feel after playing it is how limited you are in your Bridge Officers, I would prefer to instead of having a certain amount of officers total I would prefer that each ship have officers assigned to it so when you change ships you have the option to leave those officers behind or bring them tithe new ship or you can buy all new officers for each ship much like the weapons and equipment. The only other problem I have right now is one caused by the players not the designers and that is the lack of love for the Klingon faction more players should show them some love as their ships are very good and their story is a great deal of fun. The graphics are clean enough that I made Piccolo from Dragon Ball Z and nobody who knows the show has any problem identifying him. The biggest issue they currently have is there us some freezing currently in the game I have not yet met one person who’s game didn’t freeze a couple times during a PVE event though I have not heard of the game failing to unfreeze itself. Overall I would say that STO is a wonderfully executed game and I will continue to play it and from time to time when I have had a chance to save up some money I will pay for some items just to help keep it going.
Observations 