Hands down one of the best Star Trek themed MMOs out there. Although the game has A LOT of backlash, here's my review on the game with 1295 hours on steam, and over 1k on the cryptic launcher itself. The game is legit 11 years old, and still feels new. Yes, a large majority of the missions are obsolete, but with the release of the Klingon Recruitment Event from The Year of the Klingon, many of the first series KDF Episodes have been revamped and redone completely. Saying this, the game is buggy as hell, as many vets know. This can be a turn of for people who don't to what Star Trek even is as a franchise. Saying this, there are issues with the game that I agree, and disagree with people who point them out. I will list these issues, and my responses to them below.

1) The game is full of bugs. Whenever a patch comes out, five more are brought up to fix one bug.
Yes this is a problem with the game, however if you think about it, how many other games have this same problem? There is bound to be errors, especially when releases come which the devs are unaware of. Usually the dev team for STO is pretty active on this topic, and fixes come relatively fast within 2-3 days, worst possibility a week or two.

2) This game is pay to win. It's just a cash grab who could care less about you.
This is one of the most prominent problems with the game according to many players, yet this isn't entirely true. Although the game has an abundance of ships and items you need to buy with "zen", or real money, you don't necessarily need these ships unless you plan on doing a high-end build. Because of this, I'd personally say the game is Pay-To-Win-Faster, making purchases increase your progression rather than give you an advantage.

Moreover, there is one factor that keeps this game in the "free to play" category, that being the stock-market like Dilithuim exchange. This feature allows you to convert in game material into paid currency at rates set by the player base. MANY players, and those gifted in exchange knowledge know how to use this system to make bank without spending a dime.

3) Prices in the zen market are ridiculous
Yes this is true, with these new bundles being literally hundreds of dollars. However, this is due to a factor which will be said next.

4) The player base is tiny
This is the exact reason STO charges ridiculous prices for ships and items in the store. Because STO doesn't have a large player base, they rely solely on the more fortunate of us to keep the game running. In essence, its easier to make money from the rich by charging 300 bucks than charging something like 80 per account due to the small player base. This is also one of the many concerns we as veteran players have with the game, as if those "fortunate people" move, the game will die.

5) Too much gambling. Don't spend your money on this.
This is true, and one of the points I agree on. The game uses gambling as a last resort to make money from those of us who don't spend hundreds of dollars, and especially those who might have an addiction to gambling. To me, this system just ruins the game, however the dev team seems to be making an effort to get away from it via the recent 5-episode event going on, offering players a choice between 3 items, one of which being any lockbox or promo ship in the game as of dec. 31, 2020.

6) Sci-Fi lovers that haven't seen trek won't find this game fun.
This is true. I've had many friends of mine who have yet to watch a single episode of ST play this game, and get board in a matter of minutes. If you have no context of the game, you really won't understand what's going on. Those of us who do love trek, this game is a must have.

My final thoughts on the game are pretty well. I would suggest this game to anyone looking for trek related, or just anything sci-fi related. The game embodies trek well, even to the point where most, if not all content in the game is canon, meaning in line with the trek universe. The game's drastic shift from TNG to Discovery themed missions is questionable to some people, but all in all the game is great. Speaking of the "stock market" of the game, I will have a guide out soon on how to play it, and how you can make 300 or more zen from 30000 dil, without spending a dime.

Hands down one of the best Star Trek themed MMOs out there. Although the game has A LOT of backlash, here's my review on the game with 1295 hours on steam, and over 1k on the cryptic launcher itself. The game is legit 11 years old, and still feels new. Yes, a large majority of the missions are obsolete, but with the release of the Klingon Recruitment Event from The Year of the Klingon, many of the first series KDF Episodes have been revamped and redone completely. Saying this, the game is buggy as hell, as many vets know. This can be a turn of for people who don't to what Star Trek even is as a franchise. Saying this, there are issues with the game that I agree, and disagree with people who point them out. I will list these issues, and my responses to them below. 1) The game is full of bugs. Whenever a patch comes out, five more are brought up to fix one bug. Yes this is a problem with the game, however if you think about it, how many other games have this same problem? There is bound to be errors, especially when releases come which the devs are unaware of. Usually the dev team for STO is pretty active on this topic, and fixes come relatively fast within 2-3 days, worst possibility a week or two. 2) This game is pay to win. It's just a cash grab who could care less about you. This is one of the most prominent problems with the game according to many players, yet this isn't entirely true. Although the game has an abundance of ships and items you need to buy with "zen", or real money, you don't necessarily need these ships unless you plan on doing a high-end build. Because of this, I'd personally say the game is Pay-To-Win-Faster, making purchases increase your progression rather than give you an advantage. Moreover, there is one factor that keeps this game in the "free to play" category, that being the stock-market like Dilithuim exchange. This feature allows you to convert in game material into paid currency at rates set by the player base. MANY players, and those gifted in exchange knowledge know how to use this system to make bank without spending a dime. 3) Prices in the zen market are ridiculous Yes this is true, with these new bundles being literally hundreds of dollars. However, this is due to a factor which will be said next. 4) The player base is tiny This is the exact reason STO charges ridiculous prices for ships and items in the store. Because STO doesn't have a large player base, they rely solely on the more fortunate of us to keep the game running. In essence, its easier to make money from the rich by charging 300 bucks than charging something like 80 per account due to the small player base. This is also one of the many concerns we as veteran players have with the game, as if those "fortunate people" move, the game will die. 5) Too much gambling. Don't spend your money on this. This is true, and one of the points I agree on. The game uses gambling as a last resort to make money from those of us who don't spend hundreds of dollars, and especially those who might have an addiction to gambling. To me, this system just ruins the game, however the dev team seems to be making an effort to get away from it via the recent 5-episode event going on, offering players a choice between 3 items, one of which being any lockbox or promo ship in the game as of dec. 31, 2020. 6) Sci-Fi lovers that haven't seen trek won't find this game fun. This is true. I've had many friends of mine who have yet to watch a single episode of ST play this game, and get board in a matter of minutes. If you have no context of the game, you really won't understand what's going on. Those of us who do love trek, this game is a must have. My final thoughts on the game are pretty well. I would suggest this game to anyone looking for trek related, or just anything sci-fi related. The game embodies trek well, even to the point where most, if not all content in the game is canon, meaning in line with the trek universe. The game's drastic shift from TNG to Discovery themed missions is questionable to some people, but all in all the game is great. Speaking of the "stock market" of the game, I will have a guide out soon on how to play it, and how you can make 300 or more zen from 30000 dil, without spending a dime.