According to comments made by Cryptic Studios' Jack Emmert - the head cheese on STO - the MMO will be launched with minimal PvE content for Klingons, who are being branded as a 'PvP-focused race'.
Thus, the game will inevitably fall short of many fans' expectations - a point that Emmert seems to implicitly acknowledge in his post.
But what worries me most is this:
We are trying to get some PvE in (there's already a tad bit). And, if the players demand it, we'll add more content (like episodes). I want us to be agile as a company and respond to what the customers want.
And this:
If people like the federation gameplay, we can put that in for the Klingons. If players have a different set of requests for klingons, we can do that instead. We can make STO into the game that YOU want.
And this:
MMORPG's aren't just about release. They're about community and the years of gameplay. Disappointed that there isn't more Klingon gameplay? Play STO, tell us what you'd like and we can deliver that. Every passing day, we can make STO into what the fans want.
Yes, Jack, MMOs aren't all about launch, but why launch a bare-bones game and then wait for feedback after it falls short of expectations to begin the long and arduous process of adding content that it was clear the target audience wanted included from day one?
It's pretty clear that fans want STO to be a big, epic, sweeping (and polished) game - an MMO with the standards that we've come to expect from a universe with the pedigree of Star Trek.
I would consider a three factions (say, Federation, Klingon and Romulan - perhaps with an unaligned Independent faction as well), each with PvE content and a three-way self-balancing PvP angle, as being the baseline of what people would expect. And PvE content needs to be more than just blasting, but should include problem solving, exploration, diplomacy, science and combat.
As it stands, it's pretty clear STO will be pretty thin on the ground (and in space), and will only offer a full PvE experience for one faction. It's sounding less and less like an MMO I'd be willing to spend money on - at least in its first year. Cryptic would do well to push it back 12 months and add these extra features before the game disappoints Star Trek fans.
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