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You can do that. The new char can use any items that are available account-wide. You can see this for yourself using your F2P account.
I got the game via pre-order so have played off and on for a long time and I'm trying to think what the f2p restrictions were.
I can't really think of any and only had a sub the first year the game was out (when it was required). Since then I've been playing F2p, well Premium more like it as it sounds like you would be too.
Unless you can think of specific things, you can play F2p (Premium) all the content and I can't think of a single thing I've been blocked from doing not having a sub running.
OK, this one touches on your account. If you played via ARC and not steam before, you MUST link your old ARC account (with all your old account c-store ships etc... on it) with Steam. Either after you download or the first time you log in you'll get a PROMPT 'Do You Want to Link This With an Existing ARC account'. Say YES and then provide the account log in information it asks for.
If you DON'T Steam will make a brand new STO account for you and you won't have access to your old account stuff. Frankly it makes more sense just to run it via ARC if you used to have an old account with them.
No, at least not the way I think you're saying. Energy credits can be transferred just by putting them into your account bank. For Dilithium transfers you have to use the buy/sell site in game. The character with them posts them for sale at a cost no one would touch, then your character you want to receive them logs in and claims them and cancels the sale. You should look up the exact steps via google as it's all laid out and I haven't had to do that for quite a while.
More than the steam chart shows. You really don't gain anything playing via steam and if that's your only access you actually lose out as you can't redeem various codes that get offered (like the current Alienware one).
I see lots of players whenever I log in. Most seem to just hang around Earth Space Dock or Deep Space Nine etc... but they're out there. As the games about 99% solo .......
Depends on what you're hoping to get out of it. 'free' zen each month, well do the math and see how many months the game has to run to earn back your lifetime fee.
Unlocking restrictions; from a quick google search it looks like the only F2p restriction that would effect you is that you'd only be able to send mail to friends. Anything else is unlocked after 20 hrs of play, an old sub or buying via the zen store.
Me? I'd say no.
You level via the missions. It pretty much just hand holds you along for the ride. I only had to grind once when I came back after a long (5 years) break and had to upgrade my old ship for a new one to get past a certain mission (the first time you meet a Rom Battle Cruiser).
Probably not. It's seems to be one of those games that drags on forever. Plus it has Paramount backing it and using it as a vehicle to support their ST shows.
Normal questing? Not a bit. There's NOTHING you need to buy to play / beat the game.
PVP? It's a given that Pvp in ANY game is P2W.
All missions are pretty much a 50/50 mix of ground and space so it'll depend on how MUCH you don't like ground combat. If you HATE it and NEVER want to do it, that's going to really impact your enjoyment factor since you'll have to do it.
C-store ships (and other C-store purchases that are not consumable items) are account unlocks, so as long as your new character is on the same account, yes. Most ships do have faction restrictions, but you can earn a faction unlock (for all but four ships, this is done by simply owning a max level Klingon faction character).
No, but also no need. Dilithium itself can be bought with zen (cash currency) and vice versa. You can also use the dilithium/zen exchange to transfer dilithium from one character to another on the same account.
It's pretty active. Nobody knows exactly how many players there are, because the only publicly available numbers are via Steam and that only counts Steam users. The devs have openly stated that (over the long term) the total player population is not following the pattern indicated by the Steam numbers (which show a steep decline).
I've seen evidence that proves that there are more players than the Steam numbers indicate. While whole-game-population numbers are not available, you can see how many players are currently logged in and on the same location map, and there's screenshots from the event map during the last few Summer and Winter seasonal events that show a current population *just on the event map* higher than Steam's peak players online numbers for the same day.
These are all really matters of opinion and cannot be answered for you by someone else.
It's not "pay to win" at all. What would you be "winning"? And if there's no such thing as "winning" then obviously, you can't pay to do it.
There are no paywalls to content. Everything that is paid is optional (with the possible exception of the EC cap lift, which is also included in the lifetime subscription), AND can be earned in-game (via dilithium conversion) with enough grinding (except for the lifetime subscription itself, which isn't sold inside the game so can't be bought with zen, you have to use real money).
Also, the "lifetime subscription" is not as much of a game-changer as you seem to think it is. It's really just another purchase bundle of nice perks, the three biggest parts being:
- zen stipend (you get 500 zen free once per month) - eventually this will pay you back your purchase price in 30-60 months, depending on what price you buy at, but it does continue after that. I still get mine and I "broke even" in 2017.
- semi-automated dilithium refining. If you have unrefined dilithium on a character, when you log in, it will automatically refine up to seven days' worth (by using the un-used refining quotas for yesterday back to the last time you refined, with a seven day limit). It doesn't use the current day's refining quota, so some people don't think it works because they always refine manually, but it does.
- ships. You get a free shuttle, a free T5 ship, and a free T6 ship for each faction (except the Dominion faction doesn't have a T5). However, the T6s are all just variants of each other (same console, layout, and trait), and the console isn't portable to other ships and the trait is okay but not stellar, so it's not like owning this ship is a game-changer.
Lots, and active... but this is not a very social game. You don't need a tank, a healer, and bunch of DPSers... each player is encouraged to be all of those things for themselves... and because of that, the majority of any "social" gaming you do will be with your own friends or with guildmates (fleetmates) on the off chance you find a socially active fleet.
While opinions vary, I don't think a lifetime subscription is worth the money, even on sale. The up front benefits are very mediocre, and after that you get ZEN trickled back to you over time. Typically you're better off just buying a big chunk of ZEN and getting what you want immediately rather than handing over similar cash to get a minor allowance each month.
The game is VERY grindy, and it forces you to spread that grind out across days and weeks... but it does not require much time at all each day. Whether that counts as respectful of your time or not depends on you.
No. It is very likely to remain active for many more years because the Star Trek franchise has been quite active in recent years and looks to be continuing on from there.
"pay to win" is a very vague concept and depends on what YOU think it means. People willing to pay can absolutely go from "zero" to "stronk" in a very short time (better equipment in a big hurry with unlimited resources), but non-paying users can get to the same point over time too. Being a lifetime subscription holder does not change the degree of "p2w" in the game at all. The stipend is so small that it'll take 6 months to earn enough to buy a single c-store ship.
You can't reasonably avoid ground combat - most episodes are a mix of space and ground, and playing the episodes is the most efficient and reliable way of getting to max level and acquiring decent early gear. For some events a ground patrol will be the fastest and easiest way to grind out event progress. You can certainly focus on space combat (and most people do) but be aware you'll need to be able to survive ground when necessary.
there is a daily mark bonus to the first tfo that rewards that type for each faction.
borg marks for whatever tfo you do first would be more than its basic reward.
couple years ago the events started nearly back to back.
thats a bit of a grind but its very rewarding in unlockable items, unrefined dilithium .
lifetime gives you a bunch of junk and $5 worth of zen a month. That is 2 c-store ships a year for 'free'. Using more character slots and jem hader race (starts high level) with admiralty, I can earn a c-store ship every monthish converting dil to zen (its tedious but effective). I dunno what you want out of lifetime, but 5 bucks a month doesn't go very far in the short term. Lifetime is for a very long haul, I have had mine for many, many years (almost 10?) and its paid for itself, but run the numbers before you decide for sure.
ships, outfits and such are account bound, a new character can get what you already bought, and lifetime won't affect that.
you can transfer dil directly by putting it up for sale in the exchange (it won't sell for days or weeks normally) and then pulling the offer back down on the other character.
lots of players considering the game's age. Its active and alive and all. Less so for KDF.
the game is fairly grindy. Having only 1 character limits your dil production tremendously and its needed for most set items and other upgrades. I recommend above, multiple characters that you don't PLAY but that help you farm dil that you can transfer. Examples of grind..
earning dilithium
earning reputation
admiralty (not required, free stuff including dil)
events (do something 1x per day for 1 week or even a full month to get free ships and goodies)
daily perk thing (at max level you get random tasks to do every day for points that you then spend to upgrade your character like +1% more damage in space or similar small buffs that slowly add up to large buffs after a long time)
2 years? Who knows? People have said the game would be dead by now for 8 years. No one knows when they will pull the plug. It could be next year or 20 years from now.
About 2/3 of the players hate ground combat. The have made it much, much easier with kits and modules and toys, but its still not amazing, just tolerable. I don't hate it, but I would rather be in space.
there is no win, and there is no pay to win. You can pay to get ships or dil or other stuff or you can do what I said above and buy char slots and convert dil to zen to earn stuff free. And as I said, 5 bucks a month isn't going to get you much per year, its a trickle. 10 characters, each getting 8000 dil per day... 500 dil is 1 penny/1 zen. So that is 160 zen/day. 1600 in 10 days. 3200, enough to get a ship, in 20 days. After getting a ship, stop and take a break for a week or two and do it again. Burnout on this is a real issue, as its aggravating and boring, but it gets you the stuff you want quickly. If you read between the lines.. I am lifetime, and I still grind tons of dil to zen to feed my character....
the zen stipends not that much short time, but infinite.
the free eva suits , titles and so on and everything thats a long term sub reward instantly unlocks though, just needs to be found to claim, qonos first city, esd, etc.
+Yes it worth playing again, its such a supprise as a returning player fron long ago. The graphics are even beter. duno how they did it but they did. The episodes are the very best part. Like being in your very own..old TV show..but who doesn't still watch Star Trek.
1. Yes, C-Store ships are account-unlock. Additionally, all claimed event rewards are also account unlock, so they can be reclaimed on a new character using the 'Reclaim Rewards' tab in the event store,
2. No need to. Just make an offer to sell all your dilithium to ZEN, cancel the offer, swap over to a new character, and pull everything from the exchange balance into the personal balance. Rinse and repeat each time.
3. Playerbase is very active. You can tell because if you're running the current event (either Guillotine or Borg Battle Royale), you quickly find a match within seconds.
4. Can't say.
5. No. Cryptic is currently being bought out by another company and to the new company, STO is their most valuable asset.
6.While paying does make things easier, F2P is perfectly fine pre-endgame, and since you can win t6 ships from events (which is the biggest reason to buy something - all the free ships are utter trash) and by completing reputations to get fleet ship modules.
7. Ground combat is bad because you have bad gear and aren't using your ground abilities. Get the disco ground gear set (armor, shield, mind meld device), slot the Mind Meld Device as your secondary weapon, and use Epic Upgrade Tokens earned from Red Alert events to upgrade them to Mk. XV Epic. Also make sure you're on normal difficulty, not advanced or elite.
While yes, the community is pretty active for such an old game, you can't measure TFO participation by event participation, that's just giving you a skewed result.
Try to get any other currently not event-running TFO, and you can have anything from a few seconds to minutes and minutes and minutes to the point you just give up and try something else.
No one does certain ones it seems, even things like Starbase Defense is hit and miss.
If you have to wait for +5 minutes for a TFO even when you do a selection of several, that part of the game is not as active as the events make it out to be.
Edit: And just in case, I play at all odd and usual hours, it might still be a timezone thing, but it really feels like while ESD is always buzzing everything not really event relevant plays dead more often than not.
also private tfos are kinda removing manpower from public queues- why pllay PUGs if you couold play with fleet or premade .