Confession: I have logged an embarrassing number of hours on Star Trek Online since it went free-to-play earlier this year. I’d played and enjoyed the game when it first released two years ago, just not $15 a month enjoyed. But to its credit, STO was and is the only MMO that’s ever really got me considering paying that subscription fee.
Star Trek Online has its issues, sure. Even now after two years of marked improvement, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. There are some problems that really stand out, though: heck, a week ago, a Cryptic developer singled out PvP as a part of the game that still sucks. And that is a very, very fair assessment. Because it does.
So let’s take a break from talking about your World of Warcrafts and Guild Wars 2s and Old Republics (actually, does anyone care about that one anymore?) and break down what a sort of niche MMO can do to be greater than the sum of its parts.