I’ve an odd confession, I’ve have not played Star Trek Online since its early beta days. Originally released as a subscription MMORPG I shrugged it off, despite it having one of my favorite intellectual properties behind it and the not-too-common setting of science fiction. This is way back in in early 2010. Well before developer Cryptic Studios was under the wing of Perfect World Entertainment. Years ahead of the watershed moment of Dungeons & Dragons Online reinventing itself as a free-to-play games. Before I was in grad school, and thus had time.
It had interesting features, multiple gameplay modes, various progression tracks and an endless amount of lore to utilize and the only way to see Star Trek on a screen (still true!). Since launch Cryptic has made STO ever more enticing by adding new races, creating complex and interesting storylines, dropping a free expansion and fixing up player-created content.
It has nearly everything I want in a game and yet I still haven’t played. Initially, it was the taste that Champions Online left in my mouth. Now, well I have no idea. I can’t give you a good reason. I’ve installed the title, patched it up only to have it haunt my hard drive until space became a precious commodity. Multiple times. I play plenty of other titles and have often juggled two or more MMOGs, such as Neverwinter and World of Warcraft. What’s holding me back?
Season 9.5 is coming out this month. Perhaps that’ll finally get me to return to the Federation.