I downloaded SQ with expectations of playing something different, but unfortunately things didn't go as planned.

The first thing that put me off was the fact that the game client runs in a window in a window. Quite pointless! Secondly, setting everything up and creating a character took me a few tries before I understood what they were telling me. It just didn't feel polished enough to make it an enjoyable experience for me.

I understand that I cannot review the game on gameplay as a result (my little experience with it wasn't positive), but I thought I'd mention that I think they really need to work on those issues I mentioned if they wish to improve the game.

Have you ever played a pen and paper RPG?  The character creation screen is meant to be like that, rolling dice to create the attributes of your character.

It wasn't that that I found confusing. It was just the general way everything was layed out. It just seemed a little all-over-the-place

well charater creation is not so important just hit roll and continue for the first toon untill you get the hang of the game took me a fw goes at it to get it sorted and it runs a window in a window because most of the diffrent options come up as seprate windows so they dont block your view

also SQO is not for everyone but i love the game and we have helpful and responsive devs shock horror

This game is not very newbie friendly. I agree with the OP. More attention and focus needs to be payed to tutorials, a better interface, that is without having to download additional chat programs just to be able to meet people and get involved. It seems during beta it was never much of a focus getting new people up to speed, doing anything is very arcane. However the huge hurdle once you consult 5 websites and read 50 threads on how to play does make it enjoyable for those that want to have a complex type rpg game I guess. It's sort of what I expect people want out of a Startrek mmo, with the ships and crewing of them.

The players and devs are very friendly though so I wish them luck as their product matures and they work on the new player experience. I'm not ready to pay for it though until it becomes more intuitive because until that happens I know that new players will get frustrated and won't be joining much at all. I wanted to like it alot and I sort of do but as I said goodluck to them.

Originally posted by chillsan

This game is not very newbie friendly. I agree with the OP. More attention and focus needs to be payed to tutorials, a better interface, that is without having to download additional chat programs just to be able to meet people and get involved. It seems during beta it was never much of a focus getting new people up to speed, doing anything is very arcane. However the huge hurdle once you consult 5 websites and read 50 threads on how to play does make it enjoyable for those that want to have a complex type rpg game I guess. It's sort of what I expect people want out of a Startrek mmo, with the ships and crewing of them.

The players and devs are very friendly though so I wish them luck as their product matures and they work on the new player experience. I'm not ready to pay for it though until it becomes more intuitive because until that happens I know that new players will get frustrated and won't be joining much at all. I wanted to like it alot and I sort of do but as I said goodluck to them.

 

The admins of SQO are currently in development of a "Fort Lewis" training ground for new StarFleet players. I am not sure what they have planned for civilians.

Originally posted by A7XFan

Originally posted by chillsan

This game is not very newbie friendly. I agree with the OP. More attention and focus needs to be payed to tutorials, a better interface, that is without having to download additional chat programs just to be able to meet people and get involved. It seems during beta it was never much of a focus getting new people up to speed, doing anything is very arcane. However the huge hurdle once you consult 5 websites and read 50 threads on how to play does make it enjoyable for those that want to have a complex type rpg game I guess. It's sort of what I expect people want out of a Startrek mmo, with the ships and crewing of them.

The players and devs are very friendly though so I wish them luck as their product matures and they work on the new player experience. I'm not ready to pay for it though until it becomes more intuitive because until that happens I know that new players will get frustrated and won't be joining much at all. I wanted to like it alot and I sort of do but as I said goodluck to them.

 

 

The admins of SQO are currently in development of a "Fort Lewis" training ground for new StarFleet players. I am not sure what they have planned for civilians.

Probably jack for the civvies if they were as StarFleet obessed as they were in Beta.

The game has potential, some very good potential.  But the learning curve is steep, the community can and often does suck the big one, and you need to have friends to get anything done.  The last thing only really bites once you realize 75% of the community are either gankers or political backstabbers (more of the latter then the former.)

That  being said, there is SOME good things about the game, it's just that after the charm wears off you realize why most MMOs don't stray far from the Diablo way of doing things.

Since you just insulted about 500 people, I have to say this...

Look who's talking.

Civilians are also getting something, actually, now days, civilians are getting much more attention than Fleet. Also, the Fleet side of the game is no longer centralized, the whole government, actually, all 3 races's governments are now in Player hands, CIVILIAN hands I might add.

Its changed, A LOT since Beta. Come and see.

Originally posted by AlloughN

Since you just insulted about 500 people, I have to say this...

 

Look who's talking.

 

Civilians are also getting something, actually, now days, civilians are getting much more attention than Fleet. Also, the Fleet side of the game is no longer centralized, the whole government, actually, all 3 races's governments are now in Player hands, CIVILIAN hands I might add.

Its changed, A LOT since Beta. Come and see.

First of all, I'm supposed to care about the Fleet pricks WHY?  Seriously, I am supposed to shed a tear for a bunch of twanks who either a) got worked up over ranks when they clearly didn't have a damn clue how to act like an officer or b) used intelligence gathered from Fleet alts to conduct acts of piracy?  Out of all the fleet characters I served with, only two were worthy of my respect, Burke and Locke (although the latter apparently had some shady deals going on.)  The rest were either mentally unstable or morons that need to have their heads surgically removed from their asses.  Yes Vice-Admiral who couldn't put his dick away long enough to avoid sparking the biggest PvP battle I've ever heard about much less been in, I'm talking to you.

It's good that the game finally changed, seriously it is.  However, the game was never good enough to justify waiting for the community to either die or grow up.  Even if you're a lucky enough bastard to be playing for free, SQO is more like work then I can tolerate.

I'm glad your mature enough to recognize what was wrong with the old SQO Fleet setup.

That means you should be mature enough to take a look at the new SQO, and realize how different it is. Then you can stop bashing Fleet. If you came back now, you will see that Fleet is no longer a guild. Its a conglomerate of guilds (ships). No one player is in control of anything, or has ultimate power.

Then your also mature enough to realize that your post is no longer relevant, and needs retracted.

Like I said, before you comment any farther, try SQO out again. Start with a new account (free 30 days), dont tell anyone who you are, and join Fleet. If you still feel the same way after that, then you can bash us all you want.

You cant bash us for what someone else did.

Your bashing us for something we didnt do....
 

Originally posted by Lydon

I downloaded SQ with expectations of playing something different, but unfortunately things didn't go as planned.

The first thing that put me off was the fact that the game client runs in a window in a window. Quite pointless! Secondly, setting everything up and creating a character took me a few tries before I understood what they were telling me. It just didn't feel polished enough to make it an enjoyable experience for me.

I understand that I cannot review the game on gameplay as a result (my little experience with it wasn't positive), but I thought I'd mention that I think they really need to work on those issues I mentioned if they wish to improve the game.

To continue being cynical, if the character generation screen was a road block* then can I recommend Maple Story?  It's just as grindtastic, social interactions are encouraged instead of required, and finally, it's both free and much simplier.

To summerize my own experiences with the game:

Pros:  It's sci-fi.  Not only that but it's probably the closest to the original Startrek Online most of us are going to see in our life times.

Cons:  The community is almost entirely worthless with the exception of a notable few, the game is a GRIND, if games like Maple Story and Runescape had you bored out of your skull then you will not like SQO.  Crafting is/was difficult to get into, Mining is/was cumbersome and pretty much all you can do for ages, and you will regretfully have to interact with the community on an almost intimate level to actually get anything done unless Castlethorn took me seriously when I suggested a need for ships that required only one player to operate (such as a scout ship or blockade runner.)

And as a final note, I still have my account from Beta barring some management decision to cut off freeloaders that I somehow didn't hear about.  Which poses a interesting question, if I think the game sucked even when I didn't have to pay to play, why would I come back for ten a month?

*  Seriously, back in Beta that was the only area where the manual was actually helpful.  At least they hired a competent writer now that the game's been live for awhile.

Originally posted by Maj_Science

Originally posted by Lydon

I downloaded SQ with expectations of playing something different, but unfortunately things didn't go as planned.

The first thing that put me off was the fact that the game client runs in a window in a window. Quite pointless! Secondly, setting everything up and creating a character took me a few tries before I understood what they were telling me. It just didn't feel polished enough to make it an enjoyable experience for me.

I understand that I cannot review the game on gameplay as a result (my little experience with it wasn't positive), but I thought I'd mention that I think they really need to work on those issues I mentioned if they wish to improve the game.

To continue being cynical, if the character generation screen was a road block* then can I recommend Maple Story?  It's just as grindtastic, social interactions are encouraged instead of required, and finally, it's both free and much simplier.

To summerize my own experiences with the game:

Pros:  It's sci-fi.  Not only that but it's probably the closest to the original Startrek Online most of us are going to see in our life times.

Cons:  The community is almost entirely worthless with the exception of a notable few, the game is a GRIND, if games like Maple Story and Runescape had you bored out of your skull then you will not like SQO.  Crafting is/was difficult to get into, Mining is/was cumbersome and pretty much all you can do for ages, and you will regretfully have to interact with the community on an almost intimate level to actually get anything done unless Castlethorn took me seriously when I suggested a need for ships that required only one player to operate (such as a scout ship or blockade runner.)

And as a final note, I still have my account from Beta barring some management decision to cut off freeloaders that I somehow didn't hear about.  Which poses a interesting question, if I think the game sucked even when I didn't have to pay to play, why would I come back for ten a month?

*  Seriously, back in Beta that was the only area wher