In the area of gaming, Star Trek Online (www.startrekonline.com) has gone Free to Play. Of course there are limitations; monthly subscribers and lifetime members get some things that free players have to pay actual money for (Buying Cryptic Points, and spending those points in the online and ingame C-Store). Things that cost money that are worthy of noting:
- Extra Character Slots: Paying members get 3 character slots, Free Players have only 2, and need Cryptic Points to get more. Old players who stopped paying for their accounts can use their accounts now for free, with all the perks they had at the time that they quit.
- Inventory and Storage slots: It doesn't sound like that much of a thing, and when you're used to getting extra slots automatically each time you go up a rank, it's suddenly very relevant that your Vice Admiral might be stuck with only 42 inventory slots, rather than the 84 a paying member gets. Likewise, you get more storage slots on rank-up if you pay monthly (or paid for a lifetime membership).
- Top Tier of Ships: Each time you rank up (10 levels in each rank), you get a token to buy a new ship in your corresponding tier. This is the case up to Rear Admiral, Lower Half. At the highest level (Vice Admiral), there are much better Retrofit ships available, but you can only get access to those with Cryptic points (and quite pricey, at that).
- Other things that cost real money (including things that always cost extra): costume change slots, Respec tokens (to allow your captain to rearrange his skill points), Extra slots for ships, bridge officers and duty officers, access to special races of bridge officers (like Borg), access to play special races as your captain (like Caitan and Joined Trills), and Dilithium (part of the dual currency of the game).
* Note that playing a Borg captain is restricted only to Lifetime Members (~$300)
** Cryptic Points can be exchanged for Dilithium (which is earned in certain missions and by doing Duty Officer assignments); theoretically making it possible for Free Players to get things that cost Cryptic Points without spending money, but the exchange rate is quite daunting, requiring a lot of grinding to get enough points to buy most things)
Still, it's a fun, addicting game giving most kinds of gamers something to enjoy; space battles, ground combat, diplomatic missions, exploring new worlds; even relaxing on Risa or following the story episodes (giving you a mix of several of the gaming types). Even once you reach the highest level, there are Daily missions that can be done to earn Dilithium, top-tier gear, etc. Special Task Force missions allow you to team up with 4 other players and take on the most challenging missions in the game. There is even player-created content available to play.
- Extra Character Slots: Paying members get 3 character slots, Free Players have only 2, and need Cryptic Points to get more. Old players who stopped paying for their accounts can use their accounts now for free, with all the perks they had at the time that they quit.
- Inventory and Storage slots: It doesn't sound like that much of a thing, and when you're used to getting extra slots automatically each time you go up a rank, it's suddenly very relevant that your Vice Admiral might be stuck with only 42 inventory slots, rather than the 84 a paying member gets. Likewise, you get more storage slots on rank-up if you pay monthly (or paid for a lifetime membership).
- Top Tier of Ships: Each time you rank up (10 levels in each rank), you get a token to buy a new ship in your corresponding tier. This is the case up to Rear Admiral, Lower Half. At the highest level (Vice Admiral), there are much better Retrofit ships available, but you can only get access to those with Cryptic points (and quite pricey, at that).
- Other things that cost real money (including things that always cost extra): costume change slots, Respec tokens (to allow your captain to rearrange his skill points), Extra slots for ships, bridge officers and duty officers, access to special races of bridge officers (like Borg), access to play special races as your captain (like Caitan and Joined Trills), and Dilithium (part of the dual currency of the game).
* Note that playing a Borg captain is restricted only to Lifetime Members (~$300)
** Cryptic Points can be exchanged for Dilithium (which is earned in certain missions and by doing Duty Officer assignments); theoretically making it possible for Free Players to get things that cost Cryptic Points without spending money, but the exchange rate is quite daunting, requiring a lot of grinding to get enough points to buy most things)
Still, it's a fun, addicting game giving most kinds of gamers something to enjoy; space battles, ground combat, diplomatic missions, exploring new worlds; even relaxing on Risa or following the story episodes (giving you a mix of several of the gaming types). Even once you reach the highest level, there are Daily missions that can be done to earn Dilithium, top-tier gear, etc. Special Task Force missions allow you to team up with 4 other players and take on the most challenging missions in the game. There is even player-created content available to play.
Just sharing my addiction :P
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