Star Trek Online: Experimental Graphics
2026 is proving to be a good year for the MMORPG, Star Trek Online. After wrestling control of their game back and reassembling “the band”, IE as much of the original development team as possible, Developers Cryptic are slowly but steadily addressing the games multiple flaws. This is a much needed undertaking as STO has stagnated for a long time. However, over the last twelve months Cryptic have revised multiple elements of the game such as a general overhaul of Deep Space Encounters and the Endeavour system. These improvements have been well received by players but the jewel in the crown of this ongoing project has been the reinstating of several classic Episodes back into the game, all be it in a revised format. STO needs more story content because sadly what has been released in recent years has been of a lesser standard compared to the halcyon days of the Agents of Yesterday and Victory is Life expansions.
Returning to Star Trek Online in 2026
I recently took a break from Crimson Desert choosing instead to to play something familiar and easy going. As I’ve been logging into Star Trek Online daily to participate in the anniversary event, I decided to look through my various alts and see how far they had progressed through the game and what resources they had. At present I have twelve alts. My primary Captain was created in 2015 during the original Delta Recruit Event. I had previously played STO intermittently since its release in January 2010 but I never kept any of those characters. Hence this decade old Tactical Federation Captain has been my main focus when playing. The other eleven alts are the result of other recruitment events or whenever I wanted to try something different, such as playing a specific class or faction. I obviously played a lot of STO during the lockdown as several alts date from that period. Several had maximum reputation across all factions.
The Future of Star Trek Online
Cryptic Studios appear to have started a new round of layoffs, following those made last November. Although the developers of Star Trek Online and Neverwinter have not formally commented on the situation, it is more than likely that this is a continuation of their owners, the Embracer Group, ongoing restructuring program. So far, the Swedish company has laid off over 1,500 employees since June 2023, in an attempt to address its ill considered over expansion in recent years. At present development of Star Trek Online and other titles are being transitioned from Cryptic to DECA. The German developers are mainly known for mobile games and have recently positioned themselves as “breathing life into old games”. Their intent is to keep developing content for STO and to maintain a working relationship with the owners of the intellectual property.
Star Trek Online: Black Screen Bug
Over the last year an intermittent bug has been plaguing the MMORPG, Star Trek Online. For most players it is not unresolvable and there is a workaround. However, it is one of those bugs that is a low level source of annoyance for most and for a few unlucky players a major impediment to playing Star Trek Online. The bug is as follows. If you use the Arc game launcher to log into your Perfect World Entertainment account and then start Star Trek Online from the list of games, you will randomly get a black screen rather than the Cryptic logo and the game loading. If this occurs, you need to press ctrl+alt+del to bring up the Task Manager and manually click “End Task” to terminate the frozen GameClient.exe file. Relaunching the game from Arc a second time often resolves the issue and the game starts. However, the problem may occur again after exiting the game or it may not. It does seem to be somewhat random and capricious.
Star Trek Online: Bugs
All video games have bugs of some sort. It is impossible to release such complicated products without some technical issues getting past “quality assurance”. With regard to contemporary triple A releases, pre-sales and unmovable release dates means that games often launch in a quasi-finished state and are therefore marred by major problems. Hence we frequently see substantial “day one patches”. But such is the nature of the video games industry. Bugs, glitches and flaws are part of the landscape and we as gamers live in hope that they’ll get fixed over a titles lifecycle. Except they are often not. Take The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for example. It has been released on multiple platforms since its release in 2011 and yet the same bugs still persist in every iteration. And it’s no different in the MMORPG genre. If you want further evidence of this, look no further than Star Trek Online.
Star Trek Online: Then and Now
I recently found my original post about the MMORPG Star Trek Online from February 2010. I pre-ordered the Steam Digital Deluxe Edition version of the game for £40 a month prior. I remember that I was very excited about the launch of this MMO and I wasn’t at the time au fait with its tumultuous development history. Myself and two friends started playing virtually immediately and I can remember struggling to find the game’s virtues. It was confusing, unfinished and unbalanced. My friends quickly got tired of the situation and returned to The Lord of the Rings Online. I stuck with STO for about a year before moving on. I briefly returned to the game in early 2013 but it was still unpolished. It wasn’t until the Delta Recruitment Event of 2015 that I found that the game had finally hit its stride. I’ve been playing regularly since then. Reading back over my original thoughts is quite a trip down memory lane.
Some Video Games Fail
I was somewhat surprised to learn this week that the action role-playing video game Magic: Legends was to be closed. Not so much by the actual decision itself but at the speed at which it has been made. Technically the game has not left beta testing and will now never be formally launched. The servers will remain accessible until October 31st 2021 and players who have spent money on microtransactions via the Epic Store or Arc will be refunded. Developer’s Cryptic and publishers Perfect World Entertainment have naturally not given any specific details regarding the reasons behind the games closure. The accompanying press release is suitably vague. “We learned several valuable lessons along the way, and we will use them to improve Cryptic’s future development efforts”.
Video Game Tutorials, Again
I’ll try and keep this post concise so it doesn’t sound like a rant. It is intended to be a legitimate complaint. I just find it dispiriting that this topic has raised its head yet again. I am currently playing the MMORPG Neverwinter, a game I haven’t touched for 7 years. I created a new character and am currently working my way through the low level quests. So far the game has had a few tooltips appear on screen and the occasional voice over pointing out issues of importance. Overall, I have seen neither hide nor hair of what I would define as a tutorial. I have managed to bluff my way through the game so far, by drawing upon my experience in other MMOs. As this is a game developed by Cryptic, there are elements of the interface that are similar to Star Trek Online. However, this and my general knowledge of other genre games can only help me so far. I knew that sooner or later, I was bound to be flummoxed by something and today this finally occurred.
Return to Neverwinter
I originally tried the MMORPG Neverwinter during its beta test in early 2013 and having checked my original notes I wrote at the time, I enjoyed it. I think the main reason I didn’t persist with the game was due to not having a major connection to the franchise and that there was a lot of competition from other MMOs at the time. If memory serves my only niggle during the beta was that you couldn’t use your skills while moving. Combat is therefore a question of running, attacking and then repositioning your character. Although you can dodge or perform a variation thereof, fighting in the game is not what I would define as “action combat”. It is more of a hybrid of old and new MMO fighting styles. However, that notwithstanding, I decided to finally re-install the game and give it another go. A lot has happened in the intervening 7 years and Neverwinter is now more polished and has a lot more content to offer.
Star Trek Online: Buying Reputation
It would appear that Standing Stone Games isn’t the only MMORPG developer making controversial business decisions at present. Cryptic announced yesterday that they were introducing a means to purchase reputation tiers in Star Trek Online. A move that was met with much virtual eye rolling over on the games unofficial subreddit and more angry comments on the Massively Overpowered website about “pay to win”. The main issue isn’t the adding of this particular mechanic to the game. STO is no stranger to adding services that allow you to bypass “the grind” by spending money. Monetisation has been built into the game since it went F2P in spring 2012. The primary objection to this rep buyout system is the price which is about £20. Furthermore this only buys reputation up to Tier 5. Tier 6 still has to be earned and it’s a particularly arduous chore. There are also 13 reputation factions to complete.
Further Changes Coming to Star Trek Online
A decade ago the MMO genre tended to favour quite complex game systems. It is what the playerbase expected and allegedly preferred. But tastes and prevailing trends change over time. Plus game developers often see a change in staff and alterations in their creative visions. Hence over time, game systems can become unwieldy, esoteric and frankly annoying. So when a decision is made to refine, rationalise and improve these systems, it can be a complex task to undertake. Furthermore not only are there the practical and logistical realities of having to tackle ageing code, there is also the choppy waters of community relations to navigate. Because regardless whatever you seek to change, there will always be those who will oppose it and consider it an outrage perpetrated upon them, comparable to the Peterloo Massacre.
Star Trek Online: Lohlunat Festival 2019 Controversy
Yesterday Cryptic posted details of the forthcoming summer event, known in Star Trek Online parlance as the Lohlunat Festival 2019. As usual there’s a Tier 6 ship to be earned through daily missions along with a ton of cosmetic items. Emotes are popular with players and so this event also includes several that can be used in space via your starship, giving “Captains” further means of expressing themselves. At first glance, there’s nothing exceptional about this bundle of goodies. Nor nothing controversial. However, the devil is in the detail, as developer’s Cryptic subsequently found out.
Cryptic to Close the Foundry
Cryptic have announced that they will be removing the Foundry from both Star Trek Online and Neverwinter on April 11th. The Foundry was first introduced to STO back in 2011 and has proven a popular means for players to create and share their own missions, using in-game assets. Cryptic state in their press release that “the legacy knowledge required to maintain the Foundry at our quality standards is no longer available”. This is a roundabout way of saying that the member of staff responsible for curating and quality testing the service has no left the company. Naturally, Cryptic has stated that they will acknowledge those players who have contributed to the Foundry over the years by handing out various virtual trinkets and baubles. There has been quite a strong reaction of the STO subreddit as no one like to see content removed from a game. However, the isn’t a black and white as it first appears, because the Foundry has been broken for a while.
Star Trek Online: Beyond the Nexus
One of the major selling points of Star Trek Online is that it features voice acting from artists who appeared in the various TV shows and feature films. From Star Trek: The Original Series, Leonard Nimoy and Walter Koenig reprised their iconic roles, bringing Spock and Chekov to the game. Michael Dorn and Denise Crosby beamed in from The Next Generation, adding the voices of Worf, Tasha Yar and Empress Sela to several featured episodes. Chase Masterson and Aron Eisenberg came to us from Deep Space Nine to reprise their roles as Leeta and Nog. From Voyager, we have the talents of Tim Russ, Robert Picardo, Jeri Ryan, Ethan Phillips, Garrett Wang, Robert Duncan McNeill, Kim Rhodes, and Lisa LoCicero. Kipleigh Brown and Matt Winston from Enterprise recently joined the roster. The legacy of James Doohan was represented by his son Chris, reprising his father’s role as Scotty. And Zachary Quinto and Joseph Gatt from the Kelvin Timeline Star Trek film franchise have joined the ranks of esteemed Trek alumni in the game.