RP or Shoot ‘Em Up?

Hi everyone,

I’ve DL’d STO, but haven’t created a character yet.

I’m trying to find out if the game is primarily RP or Shoot ‘Em Up? If there is RP, can someone stick to that and more or less avoid the fighting?

Some of you may know Second Life from the ‘Old Days‘, and may even have played in BSG-47. (Battlestar Galactica) If you know of it, well, THAT’s the kind of RP I like.

Thank you!
Piper

welcome!

we do have an RP group but they need some active RPers...would you like to volunteer? :D

n yes i remember the prims ;)

Welp. I'll be honest... Star Trek Online is a very combat oriented game and there are no game mechanics that allow you to side-step combat on a regular basis. You will be fighting and blowing people up in a very un-Starfleet kind of way for the majority of your progression through the story line. The developers have found it difficult to create an MMO that allows level progression without killing things, and that is apparent when you play the game.

HOWEVER, there are elements of the game that allow you to immerse yourself moreso into an RP environment.

They duty officer system: Once you make it to Lieutenant Commander rank, you can send your virtual crew off on assignments throughout the galaxy. They'll do their best to complete those assignments and bring back experience points, commodities and other various goods that will help you with your progression throughout the game. The assignments that are available for your crew change, depending on where in the galaxy you are at the time.

The Admiralty system: Upon becoming a Fleet Admiral, all of the ships that you've previously flown throughout your game progression, become available for you to send out on assignments, much like the duty officer system.

New Romulus: At level 50, you'll gain access to the New Romulus adventure zone which is one of the game's largest zones and is almost entirely non-combat oriented. Possibly the most Starfleet feeling of your exploits will be in this zone, helping researchers, tracking animals, locating artifacts, and learning the secrets of the planet. Some people feel that the lack of combat makes this area boring, but I actually enjoyed it a great deal.

The Foundry: A user generated mission database, some of which are amazing creations that really have more of a Star Trek-esque feel than the official missions that you play to level your character. A listing of some of our best fleet member authored missions is here: http://fleet.stonewallgaming.net/forums/the-foundry/73967-the-foundry-folder-fleet-mission-index

Roleplay fleets and events: There are some fleets that offer a roleplaying environment for your character. Stonewall's RP is on-again/off-again, but there are other fleets and channels that you can team with for an RP immersive experience.

There are more ways that you can enjoy the game for more of an RP standpoint, but since I'm not much of an RP'er, I'll have to rely on other people to chime in on this thread with additional info.

Hope this answers your questions a bit!

Voleron (Dave)

Hi again,

First, thank you for the replies, even if I’m not especially thrilled with the info.

Calx, yes, I’d be interested in the Fleet’s RP group and would like some more info about them. However, I’ll not commit myself at this point. First and foremost, I have to decide if I’ll really try to get involved in the game, since it seems there’s no way to avoid combat. Second, I’m only a ‘Casual Gamer’, and, as I work for Disney, I don’t have a lot of free time. I’ll not commit myself to ANYthing unless I feel I can give it the time and effort it deserves.

Voleron, thank you for the in-depth info on game play. It’s not what I wanted to hear, but at least now I know. And yes, sadly, I can see the difficulties in creating an MMO that allows level progression without killing things, even when the killing runs counter to what SHOULD be perceived as realistic RP.

It’s also extremely limiting. Consider all the roles in Trek that would/will have no place in STO.

*sighs*

I’ll have to give STO some thought, and watch some of the game play vids that are avail. If STO turns out to be too far from what I’d like, there’s not be much point in getting involved with it.

Again, I thank you.

Take care,
Piper

No problem! I'd hate to turn you off of the game before trying it, and others may have opinions about the game that run contrary to mine. Hopefully they'll pipe up here to balance out my views.

With that said, Star Trek Online is very much tailored to casual gameplay, probably moreso than any other MMO I've ever played. There's really not a whole lot of emphasis on competition with other players and you can easily progress through the content without being overly well equipped or an elite player. Content is primarily mission focused until you arrive at higher levels, so you can play a mission today and return another day to play the next mission in the story-arc without having to worry about having missed anything.

I think my biggest recommendation would be to launch the game, create a character and see if it's for you! The tutorial will give you a pretty good idea of what's to come.

What Voleron said + we're always happy to join you in missions, if you don't feel like doing them alone. I myself really like to constantly make new characters and level them up (before the Great Cleanout of 2015 I had over 30 characters!) so I am always happy to team up with someone!

indeed, yes the game play n levelling up stuff...does have to involve combat...

but the wonderful imagery that exists and the worlds you see and experience, including the sounds are something that pulled me out of SL into here for the last 3 years now. it could be a RP dream and something the RP group get into, using the ships and landscapes as part of it.

RP content is of course what you make yourself. STO's landscape just helps it feel more real :)