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Star Trek Online is a ripoff!

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DeaconBlues
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03 Sep 2010, 10:34 pm

Okay, so, having tried the alleged "free trial" of Star Trek Online (in fact, you can only play the introductory mission, although you can play it over and over with different toons), I decided I'd spring the $20 for the game, which, according to its packaging, comes with 30 free days of playing time.

Except that when I got it home and tried to install it, the game wouldn't activate unless I either gave them a valid credit card number, or purchased a 60-day game card for $30. In short, if you don't have a credit card, or don't want to give it to them (and they promise they won't charge it until your time is up, but then they promised 30 free days on the package, didn't they?), this $20 in point of fact costs $50.

And very few places will let you exchange software you've purchased once you've opened the package - which is the only way to find out about this ripoff, unless someone tells you first....


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Xenu
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03 Sep 2010, 11:25 pm

Welcome to MMO's.



DeaconBlues
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04 Sep 2010, 1:23 am

Hey, World of Warcraft may have only offered a ten-day free trial, but at least in those ten days you could level a character of any race or class to level 10 anywhere in Azeroth. The "free trial" for STO consists of the opening mission. That's all. You can do it over and over, but it's all you get to see. With this sample, I'm not ready to commit to that much time and money.

Also, with WoW, the free month is exactly that. You get one month of playtime when you install their software. If you want to play after that month, then they want gamecard or credit card info. STO wants it before you so much as access an account! Once you've bought your next two months, then they condescendingly permit you the "free" month advertised on the packaging - a codicil unrevealed until you've already bought and installed the software, at which point few if any stores will give you a refund.

EVE Online's free trial is similar to WoW's - you can't get a better ship than a frigate during your trial period, so this limits the missions you can accept, but you can at least noodle around space and see if the game is to your liking. (I didn't like it - I've never regarded spreadsheets as entertainment - but my roommate's a huge fan.)

DDO is actually free - there are certain dungeons you can't enter without paying, and the best gear costs real-world money, but there are no real restrictions imposed if you don't want to pay cash.

STO is the only MMO I've found where they won't even give you the "free" time included until they've gotten more money out of you. Cryptic Studios is a ripoff.


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nikki191
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04 Sep 2010, 5:35 am

I may be cynical but could it be their attempt to get as much money as possible from people before the mmo fails? I haven't heard very good things about the StarTrek MMO



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04 Sep 2010, 5:49 am

Xenu wrote:
Welcome to MMO's.


+1



zer0netgain
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04 Sep 2010, 5:52 am

[mild sarcasm]

Wow! Yet another badly done Star Trek game.

Color me surprised!

[/mild sarcasm]



Xenu
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04 Sep 2010, 12:31 pm

DeaconBlues wrote:
Hey, World of Warcraft may have only offered a ten-day free trial, but at least in those ten days you could level a character of any race or class to level 10 anywhere in Azeroth. The "free trial" for STO consists of the opening mission. That's all. You can do it over and over, but it's all you get to see. With this sample, I'm not ready to commit to that much time and money.

Also, with WoW, the free month is exactly that. You get one month of playtime when you install their software. If you want to play after that month, then they want gamecard or credit card info. STO wants it before you so much as access an account! Once you've bought your next two months, then they condescendingly permit you the "free" month advertised on the packaging - a codicil unrevealed until you've already bought and installed the software, at which point few if any stores will give you a refund.

EVE Online's free trial is similar to WoW's - you can't get a better ship than a frigate during your trial period, so this limits the missions you can accept, but you can at least noodle around space and see if the game is to your liking. (I didn't like it - I've never regarded spreadsheets as entertainment - but my roommate's a huge fan.)

DDO is actually free - there are certain dungeons you can't enter without paying, and the best gear costs real-world money, but there are no real restrictions imposed if you don't want to pay cash.

STO is the only MMO I've found where they won't even give you the "free" time included until they've gotten more money out of you. Cryptic Studios is a ripoff.


With WoW they also make you give them your credit card info before you start the 30 day trial.



DeaconBlues
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04 Sep 2010, 12:45 pm

Xenu wrote:
DeaconBlues wrote:
Hey, World of Warcraft may have only offered a ten-day free trial, but at least in those ten days you could level a character of any race or class to level 10 anywhere in Azeroth. The "free trial" for STO consists of the opening mission. That's all. You can do it over and over, but it's all you get to see. With this sample, I'm not ready to commit to that much time and money.

Also, with WoW, the free month is exactly that. You get one month of playtime when you install their software. If you want to play after that month, then they want gamecard or credit card info. STO wants it before you so much as access an account! Once you've bought your next two months, then they condescendingly permit you the "free" month advertised on the packaging - a codicil unrevealed until you've already bought and installed the software, at which point few if any stores will give you a refund.

EVE Online's free trial is similar to WoW's - you can't get a better ship than a frigate during your trial period, so this limits the missions you can accept, but you can at least noodle around space and see if the game is to your liking. (I didn't like it - I've never regarded spreadsheets as entertainment - but my roommate's a huge fan.)

DDO is actually free - there are certain dungeons you can't enter without paying, and the best gear costs real-world money, but there are no real restrictions imposed if you don't want to pay cash.

STO is the only MMO I've found where they won't even give you the "free" time included until they've gotten more money out of you. Cryptic Studios is a ripoff.


With WoW they also make you give them your credit card info before you start the 30 day trial.

This was not my experience - and a darned good thing, too, as I don't have a credit card. Instead, when the 30 days were up, I needed to purchase a game card at that point, lest my access be shut down. (And, in fact, it's been suspended a number of times for that very reason - it's been waiting for me since June this stretch, and I'm not anxious to renew until the release date for Cataclysm is announced.)

STO wants me to purchase more time first, and makes no allowance for people without credit cards.


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Xenu
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04 Sep 2010, 1:49 pm

DeaconBlues wrote:
Xenu wrote:
DeaconBlues wrote:
Hey, World of Warcraft may have only offered a ten-day free trial, but at least in those ten days you could level a character of any race or class to level 10 anywhere in Azeroth. The "free trial" for STO consists of the opening mission. That's all. You can do it over and over, but it's all you get to see. With this sample, I'm not ready to commit to that much time and money.

Also, with WoW, the free month is exactly that. You get one month of playtime when you install their software. If you want to play after that month, then they want gamecard or credit card info. STO wants it before you so much as access an account! Once you've bought your next two months, then they condescendingly permit you the "free" month advertised on the packaging - a codicil unrevealed until you've already bought and installed the software, at which point few if any stores will give you a refund.

EVE Online's free trial is similar to WoW's - you can't get a better ship than a frigate during your trial period, so this limits the missions you can accept, but you can at least noodle around space and see if the game is to your liking. (I didn't like it - I've never regarded spreadsheets as entertainment - but my roommate's a huge fan.)

DDO is actually free - there are certain dungeons you can't enter without paying, and the best gear costs real-world money, but there are no real restrictions imposed if you don't want to pay cash.

STO is the only MMO I've found where they won't even give you the "free" time included until they've gotten more money out of you. Cryptic Studios is a ripoff.


With WoW they also make you give them your credit card info before you start the 30 day trial.

This was not my experience - and a darned good thing, too, as I don't have a credit card. Instead, when the 30 days were up, I needed to purchase a game card at that point, lest my access be shut down. (And, in fact, it's been suspended a number of times for that very reason - it's been waiting for me since June this stretch, and I'm not anxious to renew until the release date for Cataclysm is announced.)

STO wants me to purchase more time first, and makes no allowance for people without credit cards.


Hm well STO sucks in general... Why not just wait until Catalyst and play a free MMO like Runes of Magic or Allods online? Both are free to play WoW clones that are actually pretty good (I like Allods more myself but more people seen to prefer ROM)



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04 Sep 2010, 2:08 pm

Xenu wrote:
DeaconBlues wrote:
Hey, World of Warcraft may have only offered a ten-day free trial, but at least in those ten days you could level a character of any race or class to level 10 anywhere in Azeroth. The "free trial" for STO consists of the opening mission. That's all. You can do it over and over, but it's all you get to see. With this sample, I'm not ready to commit to that much time and money.

Also, with WoW, the free month is exactly that. You get one month of playtime when you install their software. If you want to play after that month, then they want gamecard or credit card info. STO wants it before you so much as access an account! Once you've bought your next two months, then they condescendingly permit you the "free" month advertised on the packaging - a codicil unrevealed until you've already bought and installed the software, at which point few if any stores will give you a refund.

EVE Online's free trial is similar to WoW's - you can't get a better ship than a frigate during your trial period, so this limits the missions you can accept, but you can at least noodle around space and see if the game is to your liking. (I didn't like it - I've never regarded spreadsheets as entertainment - but my roommate's a huge fan.)

DDO is actually free - there are certain dungeons you can't enter without paying, and the best gear costs real-world money, but there are no real restrictions imposed if you don't want to pay cash.

STO is the only MMO I've found where they won't even give you the "free" time included until they've gotten more money out of you. Cryptic Studios is a ripoff.


With WoW they also make you give them your credit card info before you start the 30 day trial.

That's true, they do.


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04 Sep 2010, 4:19 pm

welcome to P2P MMOs you guys mean....you won't get any more scammed on a F2P than feeling like exp rates are too low or you'll never keep up with the 14 year olds with rich mommies and daddies buying from the item shop. However you can quit caring about being competitive and just have fun realizing that them paying is the only reason you can play for free.


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05 Sep 2010, 2:49 pm

STO = Repetitive P.O.S. grind. The missions were boring as hell and there werent enough incentive to do team play, except for to grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind, grind and grind. And exactly where was the endgame?

I unlike you, actually got that 60 day prepaid card. Got tired of it after 3 weeks. Havent logged on since early summer.

Eventually someone will come up with a MMO concept that doesn't suck and feels like a second job.


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KaiG
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05 Sep 2010, 6:15 pm

Guild Wars 2 perhaps?


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Xenu
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05 Sep 2010, 6:30 pm

KaiG wrote:
Guild Wars 2 perhaps?

Guild Wars isn't an MMO. It's an RPG with limited multiplayer features.



KaiG
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05 Sep 2010, 9:01 pm

Xenu wrote:
KaiG wrote:
Guild Wars 2 perhaps?

Guild Wars isn't an MMO. It's an RPG with limited multiplayer features.

I said Guild Wars 2, which has a fully persistent world and is for all intents and purposes a full MMO.


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06 Sep 2010, 7:23 am

DeaconBlues wrote:
Okay, so, having tried the alleged "free trial" of Star Trek Online (in fact, you can only play the introductory mission, although you can play it over and over with different toons), I decided I'd spring the $20 for the game, which, according to its packaging, comes with 30 free days of playing time.

Except that when I got it home and tried to install it, the game wouldn't activate unless I either gave them a valid credit card number, or purchased a 60-day game card for $30. In short, if you don't have a credit card, or don't want to give it to them (and they promise they won't charge it until your time is up, but then they promised 30 free days on the package, didn't they?), this $20 in point of fact costs $50.

And very few places will let you exchange software you've purchased once you've opened the package - which is the only way to find out about this ripoff, unless someone tells you first....


Actually, it doesn't work like that. You have to have a valid line of credit to play those monthly subscription games, so once you give them your credit number, you do get your free 30 days, then they deduct the subscription each month after. WoW is the same way, but if you look at your payment history through the game's site, you will notice that you did get the first 30 days off.