No Money Down
Not much has changed since I last went through the introductory portions of Star Trek Online -- and for a subscription game gone free-to-play, that's a really good thing. After a painless signup and install, I created my free character (my freebie account only gets one Federation and one Klingon slot) and embarked on my voyage virtually unrestricted.
You'll be flying your first starship in no time at all.
STO wasn't a brilliant MMO at launch, and most of those problems still exist, but it shines as an example of how free-to-play can work. What it has, it gives freely -- the only limitations on what missions and other content I could play was a result of my character's low level, and the pace of leveling up felt just as satisfyingly brisk as before. There are limits on the size of the inventory, number of Bridge Officers, and ship selection, but they're generous enough that I was able to play for 12 hours and never felt more than a gentle nudge to drop a few dollars to expand these slots.
There are limits on the size of the inventory, number of Bridge Officers, and ship selection.
By the time I get to level 25 I might start to feel to the pinch -- Bridge Officer slots start to get more important around then for flexibility, and only having one to spare could really start to hinder my ability to customize my ship for certain roles in groups. I can also see the 42-slot inventory (as opposed to 72 for a paid account) eventually becoming a pain for captains who like to craft on the side.The new ground combat is much more engaging.
There's a handful of customizable features of STO that you don't have to pay for right away, like Cryptic's awesomely flexible character creator, modifying the appearance of your starship, or a good selection of uniform designs. It's more than enough to get new players into the game and taking on the Borg in space, blasting Gorn with phaser rifles, or besting Klingons in melee combat. As a side note, the ground combat is hugely improved from when I last played during launch -- now it plays out like Mass Effect 2 as opposed to typical World of Warcraft-style MMO combat.
Of course, these quests aren't significantly better than they were two years ago, and replaying it today it felt even more dated when compared to recent MMOs like SWTOR. Even the three "Feature Episodes" that are now lumped in with the story missions are stale in comparison. But again, we're talking about completely free stuff here.
There's a lot of story missions to play... but most of them aren't very good.
Once I passed level 5 and dove into the PvP and PvE content, I found another nice surprise for free players: the loot drops are *gasp* useful! Better engines, shields, and weapons have all revealed themselves to me during these events as well as the story missions. I even picked up a one-hour XP boost after destroying a handful of Gorn ships during one such mission.
After roughly 12 hours of space battles, planetary adventures, and Klingon engagements I've never felt like I've been forced into a corner to drop some money in order to progress -- but I could see the temptation on the horizon once I get to the higher levels. Especially for the Trekkies out there.
Insert Coin
As I touched on earlier, the only purchase I'd consider necessary for high-level play would be increasing my Bridge Officer slots. And even that is reasonably priced for only 200 Cryptic Points (sold in bundles for as little as 500 points for $6.25 to a maximum bundle of 5,000 points for $62.50) and wouldn't be necessary until I get around level 25 or 30.
Looks like someone spent 400 points on a fancy ship.
All of the transactions in the C-Store are designed to customize your experience in STO by offering things like XP boosts, special crew members, and adding some vanity through costumes and pets that even the most disciplined Trekkie will have trouble avoiding. Then there are some great ships that are available for purchase that have some special weapons and abilities. Notably, the heavy cruiser Excelsior class (800 points) with its trans-warp drive that quick-travels across the known galaxy. So these starships are not just skins; they have value.
I'd be willing to bet these offerings could triple in size in the next couple of years.
Just looking at the top sellers today, the original USS Enterprise is on top (of course). For only 400 points, players will have an awesome retro-starship to fly around in the game that is armed with its own share of customizable weapons. And considering the decades of Trek lore that Cryptic and Perfect World can pull from, I'd be willing to bet these offerings could triple in size in the next couple of years. PVE content is great with a full match of players.
The recent skill-tree redesign makes it easier for players to jump between various ship classes. If you start to feel compelled in that regard, you'll probably be looking at increasing your total ship slots (400 points). But if you could keep yourself disciplined, you'll still get a free ship every 10 levels, or simply be vigilant about the ships you keep active in your inventory at one time.
Free or Flee?
Unless you see yourself getting invested enough to create a fleet (guild), or need to increase your bridge officer slots and inventory, there's nothing in STO that's "off limits" for free players (you can see the complete breakdown here). Even though a majority of the quests are rather unremarkable, space combat is entertaining enough to make it worth a look, and it's certainly one of the better Trek games in recent years (true, that's not saying much given the competition). Even if you have to put down a couple of bucks to increase your inventory a little bit, that's not a bad investment for an MMO that lets you run around for free in the final frontier. Not bad at all.