Someone willing to explain details to a brand new OCD player?

[Spifff]

Group of us just decided to pickup this game. Had a blast in my first few hours. Now the OCD kicks in and i must know as much as possible about any of the permanent character choices before i make my 'real' toon.

I've read a lot of forum posts and random guides from the internet. But since this game is so old i find a lot of the information has changed so i'm sometimes unsure of what the current state of the game is. My goal is to spend little to no real money on this game. I understsand that given time/grinding i can generate the currency needed to buy things anyway. real money just removes the time commitment.

Hopefully someone out there is willing to answer some annoying questions.

1. Racial Trait. Most guides say if you chose the 'alien' race you can actually choose your racial trait at character creation time. But i didn't see that.

2. Trait respec. Most guides say your traits were locked in at character creation. Then some say there's a respec token. But in game it seems there's just one big list of all traits and you can freely turn any trait on/off at any time for free no matter what race you chose? Is it now 100% free? That would mean if i'm an engineer i can run around with dps type traits for a while. And if i decide to tank with friends i can quickly just swap out my traits to be a bit more efficient at that role?

3. Ships. Guides say that at lvl 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 you will be given a token to trade in your current ship for one of the next level. Is that still the case? You lose your old ship and you choose a ship from the next level? So i could try out an escort at lvl 10. and then a science at lvl 20. and cruiser at 30. And then kind of decide on my final choice for my lvl 40 and 50 ship?

4. Character respec. This still costs $5 worth of currency?

Any thoughts appreciated.

[vorik]

1. as an "Alien" (the customizable character -- I've seen people running around as Na'vi from James Cameron's Avatar) you can pick from a full list. At Level "1" (Cadet for Federation, different names for the other factions) you can only use 3 of the traits under "Personal" and other trait slots will unlock (one more at level 10, one more at 20, one more at 30, etc.)

2. some of those guides might have old information. Some races might not have access to some traits (i.e. Trill gets "Partial Telepathy" instead of "Telepathy"). As Alien, you can probably switch out at any time and will have a full list. You only can activate 3 at lv 1-9, a total of 4 at lv 10, a total of 5 at lv 20, etc. You can switch these at any time, but not in combat.

3. no. you get to keep all your ships. so at lv 1 you get your starting escort, lv 10 (don't know the exact level) you get your next ship token, and you still keep your old ship. You just don't need to use the old ship. It's avalable to switch to whenever you're back at a starbase (Character screen -> click on ship name). There's a 1 min cooldown.

4. yes and you can get additional tokens at different subscription levels and for dilithium (http://sto.gamepedia.com/Respec)

http://stowiki.org has a lot of good info like this. try that perhaps. It is a bit of information overload, for me. I'm just coming back to the game after about 2 years, and only Commander 25. You get I think 4 slots for chars at free (I'm on lifetime so I have like 8 or so). You can just pick a Vulcan perhaps and play thru a few levels to get the scripted hang of things. Then figure out your dream character.

[D.T.]

I wouldn't mind filling you in on the information I know, but I don't really feel like typing all of it due to the sheer ammount of text and time it would consume. however if you don't mind voice chatting you can add me on steam and i will answer any of your questions and explain as much as i can about the differences between the recent patches and the past mechanics which have changed.
I don't think I'll be able to explain every single detail, but a very good majority of it i can. i have 3 characters all at max rank on the federation side and will be making my (real) first klingon soon, and romulon shortly after. I tried the klingon empire once long ago before they made any big changes to it, but I still know the differences of how it was from then to now in terms of the klingon empire as well.
be sure to add me if you don't mind the request!

[Szeron]

First off, a lot of this really doesn't make nearly as much of a difference as you might be accustomed to from other games. STO has a very large skill and knowledge ceiling and that FAR outweighs simple stats. A veteran PvP player in a starting frigate can and will kick the crap out of a newbie in a blinged out fleet ship with full rep gear.

There are some races with some very specialized benefits to unlock in their traits(Romulans with their cloak-based traits, for example), but it really won't make or break a playstyle in most cases.

1.) Traits have been completely redone, you can customize your traits whenever and as you level up now - you can even unlock new traits and mix and match them in as you see fit.

2.) See 1.), as of Season 9, the trait respeccing is completely free and you can do it from any non-combat area.

3.) Starting Frigate: level 1. Free ship tokens at level 10, 20, 30, and 40. You keep your old ship(s) and are able to get a new ship and switch between them as you please. There is no extra 'tier' of ships at level 50. 'Paid' ships generally only get an extra console slot and marginally better stats. Not all ships are created equal, this is true of paid and non-paid ships. At level 40, you can also get 'mirror' versions of ships with comparable stats at a relatively cheap cost of energy credits on the ingame exchange - feel free to use it as a chance to experiement.

4.) For the time being. There is likely going to be a skill revamp within a year or so. Odds are, you're going to mess up your first character, regardless. Don't sweat it(pretty sure everyone does it), it isn't going to completely ruin the ability to play the game.

[Nerd_Baller]

I played this game for a LONG time but it's added a lot since (Romulans). Unfortunately none of my friends play it any longer. Is there a group out there that could help a somewhat noob back into the game ?

Add me, steam name: theashmaker :D :D