This is a truth! I cannot think of a MMORPG that is not easy. The difference in almost every MMORPG is not how hard it is, it is the leveling curve which provides the illusion of difficulty. The steeper the curve, the harder it seems. The more shallow the curve the easier it seems.

But the combat was almost perfect in CB and the beginning of OB when you had to use tactics to win.

So, you're saying that with no skills outside base skills, and no bridge officer upgrades or skillups, and no ship equipment or player equipment outside base equipment, you played and bested mobs at +5 to +10 levels over you?

If this is what you're saying, I'm saying I dont believe you. I think if such a claim is being made, it's fabricated and not true. Even with the highest level equipment items for both me and my ship, and the bridge officers, +3 is way beyond challenging ... it's a guaranteed suicide if they happen to gang up on me at more than five mobs per gang.

Then again, if that's not what you're saying, then I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean by 5-10 levels harder.

So true. So true.

They say the game gets more difficult after the first 11 levels.

I haven't made it that far yet, but I really, really hope that is the truth.

I don't know about the +5 or +10, but I invite you to do this little experiment. Take your ship, set your front and rear phasers on autoattack (right click on them, you can only set one weapon per side as autoattack). Next fight you have, stop your ship at 10km from the enemy, fire *once* and watch your ship win all fights on autofire. Sure it'll take longer since you won't be firing torpedoes, but the sole fact that you don't have to do anything to win is a clear indication that the difficulty level in this game is borked. I'm level 14 and can still do this for most if not all fights (episode missions that is, not the fleet combats of course)

with this I will agree. However, there were a lot of people who found it unplayable due to difficulty. I am of the opinion that the people who were having difficulty didn't know that the A and D keys were for turning. it is the responsability of the designer to find the middle ground in player difficulty in MMORPGs. regretfully the curve must favor the less tactically minded.

Still, higher levels are far more difficult. Game-play is like it was in CB and the beginning of BO. My hope is when they do implement the difficulty slider those of us who will play harder settings will be rewarded for our superiority through better drop tables.

It doesnt.

Not only or just a tutorial, but a means for you to become familiar with how your ship moves. Setting up the right binds to make managing your ship, weapons, and non-communicative PC BO's more streamlined. And just plain-ole learning how to create strategies that work, or at least get the job done till better strategies can be devised. How to match the BO with the right skill that will improve and augment the ships standard compliment.

Progression in levels of mobs at higher levels either make or break those strtegies and new ones have to be devised ... in this game both in space and on ground.

There's more to the first ten levels than just learning the game. That's why all the MMO's I played didn't start their Death Penalties until after level 10. So you can learn to manage yourself and stay alive as much as possible.

I think the game needs to be more challenging, yeah... but let's wait until I get my Commander rank first.