Free Agent: Star Trek Online

GameSpy's Free Agent is your advance recon into the world of free-to-play games. His mission: jump into a free game every week and put in some gaming hours to see how much fun can be had without spending a cent, then try out some paid items to see if they're worth the asking price. This week he hobnobs with aliens and orchestrates intergalactic battles in Star Trek Online.


No Money Down

"A Star Trek MMO, eh?" I first thought, strapping on my down-to-business gloves to prepare for the bloodbath of slaughtering 10 space-rats in some nondescript starship's murky bowels. Instead I was thrown into sudden power, commandeering the entire vessel and venturing into far-off galaxies right from the get-go.


Star Trek Online is vastly different than its stock-standard MMORPG brethren, you see. You're not some wimpy disenfranchised elf having to fight his way up through rodents and farm peasants to attain the glory of equipping an oddly glowing sword. This is space, man, and from the beginning you're thrown into a suitably epic universe that sees your quick ascension through the ranks. And that means, as captain of your starship, that you'll spend a lot of time pew-pewing into the blackness of space. The usual quest model has been ditched in favor of piloting your starship and assembling a crew of bridge officers to staff it, bringing on board all sorts of combat abilities and bonuses. In between the star-flecked battles, you're beaming down to planets to accomplish all sorts of ground missions – whether it's rescuing a crew trapped in a smoldering starship by Klingon invaders, or uncovering shapeshifters posing as shrewd authority figures.

Customization is robust – almost too much so, as the sheer amount of choices available actually gets kind of overwhelming. I counted at least 30 different hairstyles on the character creation screen. And if the dozens of different races available don't it for you? Why, just make your own race of alien. From the very beginning, none of this is locked to me, and I'm catapulted into the universe on equal footing with any other player. But what makes the man in this universe? Is it his skill... or his wallet?


Star Trek Online's been around since early 2010, but it only went free-to-play in January of this year. Now that it's had a few months to adapt to its new form, my ultimate mission is, above all else, to evaluate how well it's settling into the free-to-play starscape.

Insert Coin

After crafting a Trill tactical officer and spending a week ascending her to the rank of Lieutenant Commander – still very low in the overall ranking progression system – I found myself feeling a bit confused. This felt like a subscription MMO. After numerous hours of play, still nothing with a price-tag had been dangled before me, with the exception of cosmetic changes such as new outfits (no biggie to me, given that I've been sporting the same real-life haircut for half a decade. Substance, not style, you see).


Still, I wondered about this oddly complete-seeming MMO experience. Was this actually possible in a free-to-play MMO, or was it all an illusionary ruse? Was I in fact straggling behind every other player in the universe? It was time to comb the payment options to see what edge they could offer.

Two choices were available: I could "subscribe" to a Gold Membership, just as STO players could in the old days, for a monthly $15 fee. This opens up extras like a new character slot, space for a new bridge officer, and expanded inventory, with further perks being unlocked for additional money. My other option was to remain at the free Silver Membership level, paying to unlock such goodies myself from the Cryptic Store (better known by players as the C-Store).

STO's free-to-play currency is Zen, purchased in-game with your real-life money through the Steam Wallet. Refreshingly, you'll always buy Zen at the same rate; 500 Zen costs $5, and 20,000 Zen costs $200. Whether you consider it a blessing or a curse, there are no odd scaling rates – you won't feel as if you have to drop more money for better value, meaning you're free to purchase the exact amount you want without feeling as if you're being upsold.


As for the items available for sale in the C-Store, amongst the adorable non-combat space-slug companions and rather pricey cosmetic outfit changes, I spied a few items worthy of my coin. The first thing I picked up was a Federation Starter Pack for $3. This included a small XP Boost, a couple of new bridge officers, and a bunch of equipment and consumables. While very good value, it should be noted that I actually found completing low-level missions enjoyable enough to never feel as though I was lagging without this Pack, though more focused players could certainly appreciate the bump up.

Other purchasable items that caught my attention were standalone XP Boosts – $2 for the standard boost, or $9.75 for a larger, long-lasting upgrade that accelerated the earning of skill points. Additional inventory slots, the much-coveted resource of the MMO world, were also available – 12 slots for $4, purchasable up to three times per character. And speaking of which – though I didn't envision myself ditching my baby Trill character for awhile a yet, if I ever got bored of her, I could purchase new character slots on top of the default single slot – two more slots for $6.25, or four for $10.65.

I opted to retain Silver Membership and purchase my upgrades from the C-Store, though if I had more time to devote to playing, I would have instead subscribed for a month to unlock the benefits of Gold Membership, with additional small purchases from the C-Store on top of that.



Free or Flee?

Star Trek Online is still very firmly entrenched in its origins as a subscription-based MMO. I luxuriated in the joy of undertaking cross-galaxy missions, and the space combat felt more and more engaging as I played on; I never felt throttled or encouraged to spend money. Still, with so many mechanics and options for customization, it's an overwhelmingly complex game and I would suggest that – with the possible exception of the Starter Pack – players hold off on their in-game purchases until they're of a high rank and well-acquainted with its nuances.