I was able to try out the Star Trek Online open beta for several hours earlier today. Contrary to what some have been saying about a 10 gig patch, I only received a 177 meg patch, which was a sigh of relief. I did not want to spend another day downloading.
Cryptic has the game level capped, creating an artificial load by containing everyone in one place. Of course, I lost server connections and was kicked out several times, but that's something to expect in betas. There was an abundance of rubberbanding as well. Other than the problems due to overcrowding, I did not encounter any game crashing bugs.
Of the parts that was playable, I enjoyed. The Star Trek atmosphere is there, but so is the standard MMORPG mechanics as well. I created an Andorian who specializes in engineering. There were many places where I was completely on my own trying to figure things out, such as skill allocation and sector space navigation. I like the Bridge Officers concept, where you obtain and develop your crew. I have only one officer so far, a Bajoran Tactical officer.
It's only been my first day, but I think I'll enjoy playing this when it releases in February.
