Hmmmm , they changed the skill system.

After playing for a month on F2P , Here are my impressions:

Levelling
The journey from Level 1 to 50 is fast. Very fast. You have the Episodes, which give between 75% to 100% of the XP needed to level up. Just by playing through the storyline you can level to max. There are repeatable missions, such as the Borg Invasion in Ker'rat (Eta Eridani System) which gives 50% of a level in under 20 minutes, as well as 1440 Dilithium. Furthermore, you have Patrol Missions scattered around the maps which scale with level. I levelled from 40-50 solely by doing Exploration Missions! I only played 1-2 hours daily, except on weekends where I spent 4-6 hours.

Pay to Win?
You get a free ship every 10 levels, except 50. At Level 40 the ship token gives you a Tier 5 Ship which is the highest ship rank. So, no, you don't need to spend a single cent to get to the top. Everything can be purchased in-game, unless you are after unique ship configurations or costumes. The only real reason to buy C-Points is if you want to buy multiple ships at max level, simply by trading 500 C-Points for 100k Dilithium through the in-game exchange. 500 C-Points will cost you USD6.25 or around RM19.

End Game
What to do at max level? There are Raids, both Space and Ground, from which you can get tokens to be exchanged for gear. There is also Organised PVP. I think this is where the F2P lacks, because User created Missions (Foundry) are only available for paying players, Free players have to be content with meagre offerings.



I think it is a good game, it certainly isn't EVE, but the space combat is much better. Ground combat is rather boring, and the lack of end game content hurt this game, but if you are looking for a free spaceship simulator set in a well known IP universe, this might just be the game for you!

Caveat - STO stupid updates are usually around Friday 10pm-1am(Malaysian time) , which is a real bummer.

same company and yes same engine.

the best fleet to join is reddit fleet.