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 href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/co/guides/nemesisbasics"
target="_blank">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 href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/co/editorial/microtransactions"
target="_blank">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.