Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

With the impending release of Star Trek Online, we need to take a critical look at Cryptic’s other title, Champions Online, and ask ourselves the question of whether CO will influence STO or not, and if so, then how much? A person can take the jaded view that CO can be seen as a dry run to STO in that a lot of the game mechanics found in Champions Online will probably be found in Star Trek Online. I’m sure that Cryptic didn’t spend millions of dollars for a MMOG engine not to reuse it within a year’s time. To answer our question, we’ll examine various aspects of CO and see if they should be ported over to STO or not.

Character Creation
The greatest selling point of CO is their awesome character creation. It really does set the bar really high in that you can create practically anything as your superhero. For Star Trek Online, we know that you can create one of the basic races or you can create an entirely new race if you wish. In this regard, it is a definite ‘yes’ that CO should influence STO and it appears that it has already done so. How practical some of the aliens that could be created will look I can’t say, but it’ll probably be a safe bet that most Trekkies will spend hours poring over their choices to create their specific character. My main quibble is that you won’t be able to play an official Romulan at game launch, so I’ll have to settle for something else. Plus, the Romulan I want to play would be one of the cool original series Romulans, not one of those giant shoulder-padded, Moe-haircut stooges from the Next Generation.

Crafting
To put it bluntly, the crafting system in Champions Online sucks. Personally, there have only been one or two things that I’ve created using the crafting system that I have used. The only aspect of the crafting system that I like is that you can increase your skill and get components by researching items, which means you break the item down to see how it works. This aspect of the crafting system would really fit into the theme of exploration and discovery in Star Trek. As for the rest of the crafting system, I vote a resounding NO!

PvP
I really hope that there’s solid pvp action in Star Trek Online. I want to ambush foolish Federation ships with fake distress calls and spamming the chat channels with, “Meet my photon torpedoes! The first one is called Earl Grey Tea and the second is called Your Empath is Telling You Something Stupid Right Now!” In order to have good (hopefully, great!) pvp action, then Cryptic really needs to not look at Champions Online. The pvp system in CO is terrible. There are few too maps, and what pvp action is available has no real strategy to them. It’s just a big free-for-all with different window dressing. STO will need better, especially for the space combat, if the game wants to do well.

Overall Game Experience
What I mean by overall game experience is how much you enjoy the game. Is it great, mediocre, or terrible? Is it cutting edge, innovative, or bland? To be honest, I like Champions Online, but it is not a great game. To be brutally honest, it’s an average game. There’s nothing (except the nemesis system that comes too late in the game) that really grabs you and says, “This game is different from all the other games out there! You will want to play me night and day and scream at your friends to get their butts online!” CO is not an innovative game. There isn’t a feature (again, except for the nemesis system) that hasn’t been seen in other games. Some of the features that have been taken from newer games, such as the open missions which were first used in WAR, have been poorly executed. CO is just your typical run-of-the-mill MMOG that’s wrapped in a superhero skin. I’m not saying that it’s a bad game because it isn’t, but it could have been so much more. I hope that in this area that CO will have no influence upon STO. Star Trek Online needs to be vibrant and new. Star Trek fans will flock to check out the game, but if Cryptic hasn’t done their work to make an immersive universe that rises above the same-old, same-old, then those players will quickly lose interest.

A perfect example is instances. When instances were first introduced, they were amazing to players. Finally, you had your own private area to explore and not worry about somebody else ninjaing your loot. CO uses instances, but they’re the same every time you play that particular instance. What would really be a leap forward would be to make the instance more dynamic. Have mobs spawn at different areas. Mix up the trap selections and where they’re located. Perhaps even change the layout of the instance each time you enter it. Now, I understand that the devs would probably want to keep the boss fights the same if they’ve come up with some cool things, but the journey there doesn’t have to be the same every time. Instead of, “Follow me along this wall, then take two steps to your right, wait 10 seconds, then do this, blah, blah, blah,” you could have a totally different play experience every time you enter the same instance.

Nemesis System
The nemesis system in CO is a great idea. My main gripe is that you should be able to make one much earlier in the game. STO should definitely use this system in their game. Who doesn’t want their own personal KHAAAAAAANNNNNN!!!!!? Everybody does! Having your own personal bad guy is darn neat. My suggestion to Cryptic would be to beef the nemesis system up. Right now, you have three archetypes to choose from, which mainly affect how they talk when you run into them. I would suggest more archetypes, with some flavor text examples, for the player to choose from. My own personal nemesis is based upon an Oriental warlord, but he talks like a deluded mad scientist with delusions of grandeur.

Zones
This one is easy. STO should take a different tack from CO and have more zones. While it is easy to travel from one zone to another, it can get pretty boring looking at the same three zones for the first 30 levels in CO. With STO, Cryptic should have an almost infinite number of possibilities for zones for players to explore. Planets where cities float above the clouds to rugged death planets, the amount of worlds to explore in Star Trek boggle the mind. I’m looking forward to seeing what Cryptic comes up with. Personally, I want to moon Star Fleet headquarters myself!

Micro-Transactions
I have written about micro-transactions before and to express my views in a few words: micro-transactions suck unless the game is free to play. CO has limited micro-transactions now, but I’m sure that it won’t be long before more and more things find their way into the C-Store. Sadly, I’ve heard that STO will also have micro-transactions, and this saddens me a great deal. Micro-transactions are a slippery slope. With a property like Star Trek (and renewed interest from the movies), there’s no need to bleed gamers even more than their $14.95 a month.

All in all, I believe that CO will influence STO to some degree as that the games are so close together launch-wise. However, it is my hope that STO is influenced by CO in only a few areas, such as character creation and the nemesis system. Otherwise, I hope CO shows the devs of STO what not to do, especially in game experience and pvp. CO is a decent game, but the main draw of it is playing a superhero. Star Trek Online has the potential to be so much more and the fans of Star Trek have been waiting far too long. It would be a crime if STO is just another bland, vanilla MMOG that just has Star Trek stamped on it. We, Trek fans and gamers, deserve better.