by Medeor on Jan 20, 2010
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/add/story">Star
Trek Online's
Open Beta is over a week old and everyone is piling
into the game while piling on in the forums. Server restarts and
gnashing of teeth on the forums was expected, but for once it appears
that we can have civil discourse about the game’s
possibilities (both
positive and unknown). At the mid-point of Open Beta, it’s
time to
reflect on the changes so far and progress of the game as we start
peering at the launch date right around the corner.
STO
isn’t the first game to include public quests or other
mechanics to get players to work together. I would say though that the
system
works very well so far. Zoning into a mission can land you into a group
automatically where everyone works together to defeat a common foe. The
missions are fairly straight forward and it’s
in
everyone’s best interest to
take out the enemies. There isn’t much actual teamwork
required, just aim and
fire. I’ve been surprised by two social impacts of this
system. First, in
general chat players are actually recruiting for group quests and
seeing things
like “Meet at the Bhea System for anyone
interested” is not uncommon. Secondly,
the grouping is easy and fun. And if for some reason it
isn’t, you can just
leave. No questions asked. I’m sure there is some ass-hat
quotient out there,
but thankfully they aren’t playing when or where I am.