Last week Star Trek Online started its expansive open beta test and according to a new report on their site the volume has ‘exceeded the wildest expectations’. The new ‘state of the game’ report gives an update on progress being made as the game moves towards launch on February 2nd. We also have a couple of new videos.
STATE OF THE GAME
The follow is taken straight from the official site.
Where’s Sulu?
The first week of Open Beta has been amazing!
We have seen more signups and players than we ever imagined we could. So very many people have shown interest in Star Trek Online and logged in to play that we’ve actually had to scramble to support everyone. Our core engineers are this very second working like crazed technology wielding madmen to improve performance and stability across the board. We’re also adding a lot more hardware to accommodate our players.
p.s. Sulu is right behind you in Quinn’s office. Right there, behind the other desk.
Stability and Performance
Where the heck did you all come from!?!
Reality has exceeded even our wildest expectations. We looked at numbers from Closed Beta, numbers from games we’ve worked on in the past, and some numbers that float around the games industry. Based on those numbers, we predicted that about 65% of the keys we generated would eventually turn into active players (some keys never get delivered, others are lost in spam boxes, some are never redeemed, etc.). And, we predicted about 1/6 of those redeemed keys would turn into players that game at the same time. It’s what we call our concurrent users or CCU, for short.
The actual numbers crushed our predictions.
So, we tore apart our logs and began doing a lot of extra optimization work even while we stumbled upon some truly bizarre crashes that can only appear with this sort of load. The result? The shard has been steadily improving over the first few days of Open Beta. Given the hardware we’re adding and a couple more fixes we have in the pipe, shard performance and stability should continue to improve over the coming week.
Space Combat Alpha Strikes
There appears to be an issue with enemies performing devastating Alpha strikes in space — all ships will target the first player, take him out, and move through the rest of the squadron. This makes space combat, when you’re teamed up, very difficult.
We’re addressing this in the next major patch. For now, flying in a tighter formation with your team will help.
Klingon, Klingon, Klingon
Better stores are coming to Qo’noS. You’ll be able to purchase disruptors, consoles, and all the things a proper warlord needs to improve his starship and clobber his pathetic, cowering enemies.
Your ship’s starter gear is getting an upgrade as well. You won’t be able to sell this to the store for as much as you used to, but it packs a meaner punch out of the gate.
PvP maps and queues are getting a lot of attention. We’re working on all the queue and map issues we’ve seen reported and we’re jamming as many fixes as possible into the game.
Bridge Officers
Starting at Lt. Grade 6, new and sometimes strange recruits from Starfleet and the KDF will periodically ask to be transferred to your starship. Every few Grades, you’ll automatically receive more Bridge Officers.
By popular demand, Bridge Officers can now be immediately renamed and tailor when they join your crew. Sex and species are still off the customization block, but pretty much everything else can be meddled with.
UI
The build you are playing does not feature an enormous amount of work the UI team has done.
For instance, the mini-map, team window, away team controls, and many of the HUD elements have all received an overall look and feel pass. The sector maps are way more useful and the galaxy map now tells you where you are, too. A gigantic number of small fixes have also gone in to tighten up the overall HUD experience.
Klingon UI is also looking great. Icons, buttons, FX and everything else has been re-styled in true Klingon fashion. The next major patch will have you piloting a Bird of Prey using a HUD General Martok would be proud of.
Finally, and most importantly, the crew bar on the space HUD now looks like little people… But it’s so sad when they get depleted!
Exploration Improvements
We’ve fixed many bugs in star cluster missions. We’re finding and crushing them. You target ’em and we fire the torpedoes. So keep those bugs coming, please.
More alien races and stranger alien races will appear with greater frequency in those clusters now. Some are friendly and in need of assistance… Others, not so much.
Scanning
Due to popular demand, we’ve added in-game scanning FX.
On ship and on ground, pressing the scan button located near the mini-map will point you to the nearest object that you can interact with.
Looking for that last alien artifact on a bizarre and unfriendly alien world, but you just can’t seem to find it? Hit the scan button! Looking for a particularly hard to find spacial anomaly in a far-off star system? Hit the scan button! Looking for Sulu? … Look out! He’s right behind you!
Level Cap
Have no fear! The current level cap will be removed sometime this week.
We’re really looking forward to opening up the entire game for our testers. You’ll get to visit DS9, Memory Alpha and advance your characters past Lt. Commander.
Again, thank you so much for showing an interest in our game and helping us to improve the experience for all. We really appreciate the feedback and we look forward to hearing more and more and more as we continue to develop and improve Star Trek Online far past its February launch.
-Zn
VIDEOS
We hage also uploaded a couple of new ship videos provided by Atari, to the TrekMovie YouTube channel.
Pre-order and get into open beta and preview
You can get an open beta key by pre-ordering the game. You can pre-order the game from TrekMovie’s preferred retail partner Amazon (where you can select either the Standard or Collector’s Edition). The Amazon editions also include am exclusive Borg bridge officer, and a $10 credit for a future game purchase at Amazon. By pre-ordering you also get ‘head start access’ to the game on which starts on January 29th. (Remember purchase of the game includes 30 days free trial, after that there is a monthly fee).
Cryptic also has a list of additional retailers at their site. Click here for more beta key sites:
looks good
Very cool. I’m really enjoying the open beta, and have submitted a bug report or two myself. Overall, it’s a great deal of fun! I highly recommend!
Interesting how their nacelles have “exhaust” like the JJVerse ships…
#3: In gameplay, it’s more used as an indicator of your (or another’s) speed.
IT IS AMAZING. Will Tellarites be a available species, or do we have to ‘create’ them as new species?
This game rocks! Can’t say enough about it.
You get your own ship! And you can customize it!
Every single time I have played it this week, I have “Oh Wow” moments.
It’s even fun when I get my butt handed to me by a Klingon battleship.
Sorry just to be clear on the dates
Open Beta Ends Jan 26th
Head Start Access opens January 29th
Official Launch (North America): February 2nd
Official Launch (Europe): February 5th
Omg. Cerebus-class is SO beast, but I like how Discovery-class looks better. The ships look good, though, all of ’em. Anyone know what the max warp is on the 2409 ships?
(‘Trek sure has come a long way since the Enterprise we saw in “The Cage”, huh?)
in regards to the space combat alpha strike ive found that either a) im 10+km away I slow my approach speed reinforce my forward shields, once under 10km of target range I reverse my speed and reduce approach as much as possible keeping 5km in case I need to use evasive maneuvers, if im being fired at by more then a few, time to engage full speed, activate evasive maneuver and high tail it 10km away.
I find the method works well for pvp.
#3 – “well, the thing’s gotta have a tail pipe…”
According to the boards, the OB characters will be deleted, in case of glitches, so don’t get too attached to them ladies.
@7
Thx Anthony,
that gives me a clearer picture on dead time between OB and HS
dum de dum
just waiting, the loader is down again, lol
btw
what class are all you all playing?
I tried engineer which is mighty in ground combat, and pretty good in space ….
but medic class is a bit naff
little dps and very little team healing fuctions on ground combat, and in space is poor,
just my thoughts, please share yours
Tried the game in OB…
I think it’s eyecandy, but the mission need lots of improvement. They are all a little bit dull and consist of go there, shoot that or scan this or both and then get out, no matter if you’re in space ot on the ground. Level up your character and make your ship more of a flying fortress and that’s about it.
Not bad at all, but especially for a MMORPG I miss the character interaction and that decisions you make can change the outcome of a mission and therefore change the path you are on as your character.
This may depend upon taste what you think about this and as I mentioned in another topic I don’t want to transform this into an argument. I very much appreciate the work that the developers put into the game and also think that they did a fine job
P.S.: I was able to destroy a Negh’Var class vessel with a Centaur class vessel. I thought that was just too funny.
Seems like a good mix of Eve Online and Mass Effect. It is much easier to learn than both. The glitches aren’t nearly as bad as I thought they might be. It gets smoother everyday it seems. I’m a Trekker but I don’t think you have to be to enjoy this game. I think it’s going to do quite well.
one nit pick
the language option…..
English has a USA flag with it, why is that?
@15 To distinguish the language option from British English. (For example, UKEn “colour”, USEn “color.) For new products, it is cost effective to select only one because the languages are so similar. Localisation and regionalisation of text is expensive. The same situation exists for many “similar” languages, such as LTA (Latin America) Spanish and other flavors. In short, it’s to keep costs down at least until STO becomes profitable.
PS: It’s possible that you meant “United States of Africa”. 1972 Chicago ST con’s bio of Nyota Uhura states that she was born there. A lot of Trek history, that has graduated to “canon” status decades later, springs from the early 70s as fans and writers filled in gaps left by the short-lived series.
I’m in the beta, I bought the Collectors Edition, 4 words “It’s worth the money!” Can’t wait for the launch, based on what I’ve seen and done already, this is going to rock!
@#3
That’s not “Exhaust” but rather motion blur from the Nacelles/Impulse Drive light.
I shelled out the case for the CE as well, and I have to say I’m looking forward to playing the final version with all the customization features enabled.
I write fan-fiction, and I have a full bridge crew and ship waiting to be ‘brought to life’ in the game.
Seriously can’t wait to go to Quarks as well :D
Also, another thing.
Science officers kick ass, if you play, go Blue or go Home!
Man I’m hyped for this game!
I’ve never played an online game before though. On thing that worries me — If I don’t plug away at it for hours a day or something, will I fall hopelessly behind everyone else’s ship and be effortlessly murdered? :)
20 – Yeah that thought has crossed my mind as well.
I’d be such a n00b, I’d get so pwned!
Been playing the open beta past few days. Made it to Lt. Commander so far, and hoping to make it to Commander before it ends. :D Didn’t think I’d like this game that much but I’ve come to love it. Even the huge interiors don’t bother me like I thought they would. You just have to accept it for what it is, an MMO, and not another television series or movie. There’s obviously going to be changes for the sake of gameplay.
The gameplay itself is actually a bit more varied than other MMO’s I’ve played (which isn’t many but still..) I was surprised to find some missions with no combat at all! xD The combat itself though is rather enjoyable, as it often takes some tactics and familiarity with your ship and crew’s abilities to get out of some tricky situations. And good shield management! Overall it’s quite enjoyable and addictive, though being an open beta I’ve found quite a lot of bugs. I just hope they get those sorted quick, and that this isn’t a true representation of what they’re going live with next month… Still needs some work.
And thanks for posting the Cerebus! Saw it around spacedock the other day and wondered what it was. :)
I haven’t had any luck with this game at all, server lag beyond belief, i realize its beta, but makes it hard to judge if i can’t walk down a hall without having to start over 5 times, and trust me i know computers, restarted, highspeed internet connection, and regularly scan for spyware etc, and I clean the registry all the time.
I wonder if the Cerebrus can seperate into 3 smaller ships just like the Promethius?
This is my first MMO and I can say it is a lot of fun! The missions are cool, and despite some issues with glitches and availabilty for the Open Beta, I’ve had a great time with this game. I already ordered two copies of the Collectors Edition from Amazon and can’t wait for the game to open. Only disappointment will be seeing my character and rank/ship assets disappear… Since it is post-nemesis, there isn’t any reason we couldn’t see the DS9, Voyager or TNG characters (voiced by the original actors) reprise thier roles for some further missions. Overall, a great game, and my favorite Star Trek game since Elite Force and Birth of the Federation! Great job Cryptic!
This game is uber cool.
I made a miniguide on how to play it, but it is in Spanish.
http://www.clubstartrek.es/guia-rapida-de-star-trek-online/
I’ll try to find a moment to translate it to english and put it in my english website. I’ll warn when it’s done.
I finished translating the miniguide for the game. You can find ot here: http://www.geekoteque.com/2010/01/miniguide-how-to-play-star-trek-online.html
I think its ace, even on my laptop, which despite the fact that its a beasty laptop, continues to tell me my graphics drivers need updating and thus the quality in game isn’t as good!
And I feel through the Sol Starbase’s floor the other day…good old bugs! But it ace! I crave space battles as I just think they’re beautiful, and once the graphics are fixed (when I get my PC back) I will love ground combat too! Playing Tactical all the time though, worried I am going to miss out, but I love it! Just want to shoot things and be cool! Can you choose a first office btw?
All in all, amazing! One issue, why are there so many uniforms in Starfleet now, and there are too many Federation spiecies I want to play as that I end up being human so as to be mee…there is too much :D
28 – why don’t you just upgrade your graphics drivers then? It’s a simple download at your cards manufacturers website.
I’ve been playing the Beta (and i love it!!), the only question i have, does anyone know will there be an option to use a USB gamepad instead of just using the keyboard? I keep going to the options in the control area but i did’nt see the gamepad option.
28. There is a message during one of the loading screens that says on (Some year) starfleet amends it’s dress code to allow officers to were multiple uniforms.
on a side note, you can also get a beta key by getting a macho combo or macho sized drink at Del Taco
The STO developers decided not to pursue separateable ships because there was too much extra programming and control coordination involved to make the separated pieces work together in combat.
But don’t let that stop you from buying an awesome game when it comes out.
This game is aces so far in beta and as a subscription online game, the possibilities for future expansions are endless! I’m beyond excited!
We could finally have a good Star Trek game here, folks!
Free 14 day trial anytime soon?
Great update, Anthony! I’m sure Craig, Shaun, and the guys n gals at Cryptic are jumping for joy at the response thus far! Looks like some of those fears that were expressed at the meet-and-greet are being laid to rest, but as Jon pointed out we’ll see the rest come March or April.
Servers are currently down at the moment so they can apply the final patch of the Open Beta which lifts the level cap and unlocks the rest of the game.
Wonder if someone is going to make admiral before the 26th, I’m pretty sure someone’s going to do it.
I WANT TO KNOW…
Why wasn’t Rick Sternbach, Andy Probert, John Eaves or any of the other Trek production folks asked to contribute to this game? More specifically, a ship design delivered from one (or all) of them? And yes, Cryptic/Atari – you would need to pay them.
I think it would be a honorable, wonderful thing to do.
After seeing the Voyager-inspired Discovery-class, I would like to see a Sternbach-class ship. ;)
waited since day one (or two!) for this.. which is years ago! now i’ve pre-ordered and I’m finally playing the beta..
this is shaping up to be a wonderfully rich experience into the star trek universe.. i hope it continues to develop and continues to receive all this attention and support..
the downside is i already signed up to chumps online and didn’t get a sniff of closed beta :(
I wished this was going to be on the Mac too. :( I wanted to play it so badly, but I just can’t afford going out and buying Windoze for it.
I have been having a go on the open beta. I still feel the game is too combat orientated. But the even weirder thing is that I recently arrived at Memory Alpha to get my anomalous data analysed and there were players which were commenting that they had never heard of Memory Alpha before….!
Guess it’s mainly the old timers that will remember :)
BTW that does include me…. sighs.
Live long and prosper.
Ive posted in there forums trying to get info on how there microtransactions are going to work. Ive been following the dev response on this matter and they will not confirm or deny anything.
One big issue is respecing and if the only way is to pay cash or to also get in game some how. Im not sure if the people who run this board would be ok with this,but this is the link. If you want to post your opinion on it please do.
Thanks
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=76534
Errrm, I bought the collector’s edition too and am playing at the moment. Are we saying that my character will be deleted when the full retail version comes out? Also, will I also have to fork out to buy the retail veriosn too as I’ve just spent £50 on this edtion?
Also, I understand that I can’t get the in-game rewards trhat the CE offers until the full retail version is released. Is that true too?
Sorry, I have purchased the DELUXE edition…..