Things take a turn for the worse once players beam into away missions. Many of the missions are just plain boring, with players beaming down to the planet surface just to click on a bunch of objects. Things become more exciting when combat is involved, but it also opens up a host of problems. Although some gameplay aspects are clever, like positioning for flanking damage, there's often little guidance as to where players should go next for their objective, especially when beaming in midway through an involved Fleet Action mission. The computer controlled bridge officers that accompany the player embody all the worst aspects of MMO pets; bringing in unwanted aggro, getting stuck on objects, and running around wildly, which often gets them killed. Since a standard away team comprises of five members, these issues get multiplied four times over when soloing. Fortunately, there's a decent set of pet controls for those with the patience to manage the team, and there's no death penalty. All but a tiny handful of missions we took were memorable, and none of them (not even the diplomacy missions) embodied any of the interesting themes from the shows, where characters struggle to do the right thing. Furthermore, there are no bonuses for going above and beyond the stated mission requirements, like freeing captive slaves or helping injured NPCs.

As players rise up the ranks, they'll gain access to additional ship types along with more advanced upgrade components. This is where the Star Trek lore actually starts to work against the game. Upgrades are almost all incremental, meaning that the next phaser step up is a Phaser Mark II, III, IV, etc. If there's unique alien technology to discover, it must be very far into the game. Some gear can be downright confusing. We currently have in our inventory one console that adds +5 to deflectors and another one that adds +5 to the deflector dish. The in-depth descriptions are almost identical except for that distinction, and we can't figure out what the fundamental difference is. Some weapons fire differently for a semblance of variety, like with a wider beam or more concentrated damage, but there's no escaping the fact that there are only a few types. However, our biggest gripe about item management is that ship components take up the same inventory slots as personal items. We assume a starship has a cargo hold, so why are we carrying warp drive engines and photon torpedo launchers in our pockets? A separate inventory tab dedicated to ship items should have been included.

Obtaining customized components and high grade weapons is a task in itself, since loot drops are somewhat rare. There's no actual crafting system in STO. Instead, players must scan various anomalies for components (which is a chore in itself) to bring back to the space station Memory Alpha, where a scientist uses them to construct an item of your choosing. However, most of the scientists are unwilling to work with you unless you finish working with a lower level scientist first. What constitutes enough work? When you buy enough items or when you've attained high enough rank? Additionally, there's no way to carry any of the component recipes with you. So, other than busting out a pen and paper whenever you visit Memory Alpha, players are left to guess what parts are needed for the upgrades they want.

Shopping isn't much easier either, especially when you outgrow the vendor gear in the beginner areas. There are no fewer than five different currencies for players to work with at any given time. There's the base energy currency, anomaly components for Memory Alpha, exploration merits for completing missions in the deep space fog (which varies according to which fog you explore), Starfleet Merits awarded for completing general missions, and lastly PvP merits. It's a lot to keep track of, and the game offers little guidance for where to go when you simply wish to buy a Mark IV phaser bank without having to explore the fog or play PvP. We suppose it plays into the spirit of exploration to find these locations, but not the fun kind.

Then there are the bugs. At one point, we got stuck inside a decorative space station, unable to move or use any commands to become unstuck, and were forced to watch the last quarter of PvP match happen without us.

The biggest tragedy about STO is that it doesn't capture the charm of the TV shows, which centered on the cast of characters. Perhaps such a task is impossible with an MMO game, although we'd like to think otherwise, but it doesn't even seem like STO is even trying. There's no way to interact and speak with bridge officers, which we guess is fine, since they have no personality and are only as useful for their combat skills. In fact, officers are treated as commodities, to be customized or traded for better models, since ships can only support a limited number of crew members. Players have the option to walk around on the bridge, but there's nothing to do there, so it's tough to get attached when you're supposed to be on the lookout for the next hot thing. NPC characters aren't any better. None of them are especially memorable or interesting except for their ties to the TV shows, as mentioned earlier. No one reacts to your species, and this goes for whether you're a completely new alien or someone rescued from Borg assimilation. Sure, players can pretend and write their own stories, but they hardly need to pay a subscription fee to a game for that.

With all things considered, Star Trek Online isn't necessarily a bad game. It's just not that great, and lacks long term appeal. It hangs too much on the ship combat, which is only entertaining for a short while at best. Many of the stories are bland and filled with the same handful of mission types. The biggest motivation for going through the grind and working up the ranks is the ability to purchase better ships, equipment and crew but even this has its limitations. We understand that part of playing practically any MMO is to invest in future content and enhancements, but this game wasn't quite ready for prime time. We consider ourselves to be pretty big Star Trek fans, and our attention started to wane before we reached the Lt. Commander rank, and the experience didn't improve by much after. The developers announced that large scale improvements are in the works, but that doesn't really help those looking to play right now. Perhaps heading into the final frontier will be more worthwhile after the game has gone through a few more seasons.