Thoughts:
While this game is certainly in Beta & incomplete, it does some things well & others not so much.
Pros:
Character Creation- Even though I've unlocked Klingon, I haven't made a Klingon Character yet. Regardless, just the federation side has lots of different option. There's the mainstay "races" (Human, Vulcan, etc.) + many races I'm unfamiliar with (not a Trek Fanboy) & even an "other" option. The abilities of the named races are psuedo-unique (plus you get to pick a couple more) or the "other" race can choose all 4 of their abilities. The physical look of your character as well as it's uniform is extremely customizable. Also, once you start the game & make it to base, you have the option to customize some more (it may cost game $ after beta, but right now it's mostly free).
Ship Customization- Once you make it to base, you can fully customize your ship. It's mostly free during the beta, but may cost in game $ once the game launches officially.
Space's Graphics- Flying around zones with different colored suns, nebulas, planets, rings, etc. looks plain old cool.
Ship Battles- Once you get the hang of it & upgrade your ship a bit, they're fun. Well, they're a lot more fun with my new "uncommon" shield MK II that allows me to fight multiple enemies while still prioritizing weapons & not getting owned. Before that, I would have to prioritize shields while slowly wearing down the enemies' shields before switching to prioritizing weapons & shooting a high yield volley of torpedos at them.
Cons:
Ground Missions- Mass Effect & Dragon Age are much better 3rd person "action" rpgs, look many times better, & are a lot more fun. You can't control your team members & their AI isn't fantastic. They get stuck if you sprint too much. The enemies' AI is ok, but they don't really use teamwork. The background, armors, & character models are not what a new 2010 MMORPG should look like, considering FFXI looks better & came out 6 years ago.
The Exchange (Auction House)- This is mostly due to the fact that since the game is so new, prices are all over the place. Up until this point, I've NPC'd everything I didn't need for $. While you can search for individual items, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to how they're displayed when you search all (It's not Alphabetical, by price, or even grouped by like items).
Crafting- Collect various items that are worth $0 to NPCs & when you have enough of them of various types, you can combine them with a common item to make that item "uncommon" (better & worth more $). It's, well, not great.
Currently pushing from level 9 so I can get a new ship at 11...Thinking of going Cruiser as I like big guns.
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"The Rich are there to take all of the money & pay none of the taxes, the middle class is there to do all the work and pay all the taxes, and the poor are there to scare the crap out of the middle class." -George Carlin