Avaliable in BestBuy! You get a Beta Invite and Head Stat with the box. :D


I feel so used (yes I'm a LTS).

its not a closed beta invite, its an open beta invite, same as they did with CO

Although with time quickly approaching to the Open Beta, probably in January sometime, chances are that's about when most of us subbers will be able to get in.

CO's open beta was about 2 weeks. It'll probably be about the same for STO. That means OB somewhere around Jan 18-20.

It seems, as far as the LTS', that CB depends on how long your forum handle has been active rather then when you purchase the LTS. I have 4 friends who've been on the forum longer, but all purchased their LTS after me, who made it into CB in the first wave. It should've been first-come, first-served.

According to online sources Lifetime and 6mo Subscriptions will receive BETA invites no later than Dec 31, 2009. Of course that leaves only 4 weeks until launch of STO. I suspect head start, or Open Beta will be 2-4 weeks before launch as well. I suppose we'll have to wait and see how Cryptic handles it.

That's also working under the assumption that there are no delays...in the age of MMOs it is pretty likely.

Let me preface this by saying this: I understand that the 31st of Dec is most likely the "Worst Case Scenario" and that we all could get in tommorow.

Cryptic's ethics in their business practices as of late are pretty much the reason that myself and everyone I know is staying clear of STO. You know the saying "Fool me once...", right? I was one of the ones who didn't get in real early but saw no problem with missing the start. But if I get a CB invite on Dec 31st and am given 2 weeks? Reminds me of that TV commercial where they give the little girl the bike and tell her she can only ride it in the box barely bigger than the bike. The punchline of the commercial, "Even kids know it isn't right."

I was one of the people in the beginning laughing at the "Bait and Switch" screamers because they were clearly misusing the statement. But a reasonable person by the offering could/would infer that we were going to get more than 2 weeks of CB testing. Nobody who saw that line thought Worst Case Scenario. Even perhaps if they had specified, yes, there are waves of invites and you are in "X" wave. Just having some concrete info rather than only speculation helps. Speculation leads to rumors, rumors lead to anger, and anger leads to less revenue.

At this point, I hope they are intent on keeping Champions fans or Star Trek fans because there won't be many Cryptic fans left. But even people who are fans of Bugatti will not buy a Taurus with a Veyron tag on it. They have expectations. You may be someone saying, "well I happen to love my Tuarus." Great but it's not quite the same car.

Word of mouth is gonna hit these guys in the pockets eventually. The local Gamestop and Best Buy are already steering folks away from STO because of CO. Go in and ask them. I saw the ad in the weekly GS flyer and did. I had a Trekkie in my unit ask me about STO (yes there are nerds in the Army) and I told him he wants no part of these guys. He nodded and walked off after saying, "That's what I thought." They are quickly becoming the laughing stock of the industry.

I am a lifer in CO. I will continue to make every attempt to enjoy this product until it is no longer available. I paid for it. But Cryptic will never get another dime from me, unless they start showing me they want it.

I've been a fan of CO and was sticking with the game and trying to get others to pick up a copy and play also. But between the problems in CO and poor communication about the likelihood of being in the CB for STO any length of time I won't fall for another Cryptic game again nor can I in good good conscience recommend a Cryptic game to anyone else. Not even because I fear another game being pushed out unfinished, but because of what seems to be sneaky communication.

Is it just me, or does the closed beta testing phase of STO seem shorter than Champions' CBT phase? Not sure if that means good things or bad things...

I know that CBT of Champions was going on for probably somewhere around 6 months, while it seems like STO will be maybe 3 months of CBT. Not trying to be a doom and gloom kind of guy, but it just seems a bit short to me.

well, thing is, STO has not gone gold, no release date is 100% set in stone until then really
yes, the closed beta is short for what the timeline is atm, but whos to say that release date wont change?(as does every games release dates usualy)
also keep in mind, the main engine it runs on is tried and tested with CO already, so that part of the testing isnt involved really