What does paying get you in Star Trek Online?

Question

I've heard Star Trek Online described somewhat critically as a pay-to-win game, but what mechanics do they use and how drastic are they? Is it simply like League of Legends or Team Fortress 2 where paying can get you things faster but ultimately have no effect? Or is it at the other extreme where the gameplay is severely limited (where you can go, unable to get items of equivalent power, etc)?

Can I play STO without paying and enjoy it, or am I always going to be a second-class player, in the shadow of those who dump cash into it?

Answer 1

Paying money gets you better star-ships faster. And some of these star-ships ARE much better than what you get in-game.

Star ships can also be earned through in-game grinding namely grinding dilithium and converting it to ZEN points. ZEN points is what you can buy with real cash.

However there's a cap how much dilithium you can convert daily. Also the exchange rate of dilitium <--> ZEN points may fluctuate. It can go as high as 320 dilithium for 1 ZEN point and as low as 130 dilithium for 1 ZEN point.

End game ships go for around 3000 ZEN points.

In short, you'll be a second-class player if you don't dump cash into it. That's the way Cryptic has designed STO to be pay-to-win or F2P if you want.

Answer 2

Some of the mechanics used that count as pay to win:

• the best ships are 'Fleet' versions of the main top tier ships. They can only be acquired by buying several tokens (aka fleet modules I think) from the cash store, and you have to do this per character not per account

• There are many other ships which are only bought through the cash store, each of these usually includes a special power that gives you an ability not available via any other means. These are usually implemented as 'modules' that can be transferred to other ships

• A number of special ships can only be acquired by opening lockboxes with keys bought from the cash store (although it is technically possible to buy keys via other means). In addition the chance of one dropping is very low and possibly not genuinely random

• Dilithium is used to fund many purchases or required as part of the payment for many items. While it can be acquired in game there is a cap on the amount per day. If you need it quicker than that then you have to buy it from an exchange that use the cash store Zen points

• Account level services are only available trough the cash store - costume slots, character slots, inventory space, bank space, etc. Although this is about on par with other f2p MMOs

Overall STO is a good game that is badly hampered by a free to play model with very strong pay to win elements. While it is possible to enjoy the game as a free player you will be distinctly disadvantaged compared to someone who invests a lot of money.

If the PVP wasn't almost completely ignored by the developers the PVP players would spend all their time complaining on the forums about the pay 2 win features.

Answer 3

In sto paying money gets you ZEN, which can buy you space ships that you couldn't usually buy, but are still your level. It also can get you minor visual changes. The entire game is F2P, but if you pay money, you can get a larger inventory and start a fleet. So paying wont really get you into a much better position.

Answer 4

Its completly the opposite, its not at all Pay To Win, Yes you get a better ship when you pay , BUT its not all THAT much better, its also about skills and playstyles, and certainly for the PVE stuff you don't NEED the ships that cost money, the freeships do their job. The Klingons have "worse" ships the the FED and still they rock in PvP.

Just go play and have fun, and if a ships comes out that you like go buy it , but not with the intention that you now have payed and your uber but just because you liked it.

I bought for the first time the andorian escort, because i have a andorian captain i think it completes my setup. i don't expect to go out and shoot every klink i see. ;-)