How was Tabula Rasa dieing surprising? They went through three entire rebuilds of the game. And I mean.. total reconcepting and engine rebuilds, over a long development period. They racked up an enormous development budget, that even with WoW-level numbers they couldn't have possibly made a profit.

...in contrast, STO is made by a company that's first game is still running and turning a profit for it's company (NCSoft) since 2004, to the point it's got a major expansion later this year. And come on, Cryptic got bought by Atari.

If it's one thing Atari knows how to do, it's make money. They haven't been the great sleeping leviathan of the gaming industry for nothing. Think of all of the other companies that sputter out and die with even half of Atari's lifespan. If they bought Cryptic... had to have been money in it somewhere.

...Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go take an acid bath as somehow defending both of these companies has left me feeling unclean.

lol

(darn 10 character minimum limit)

Beyond what YuriFoxfirega said there's another big point in favor of this game: it's a MMO based on one of the most popular sci-fi franchises of all time. Unlike many other MMOs this game has a built-in fanbase which'll likely keep its number of subscribers up higher than many other MMOs.

It's true this game could shut down before 20 months pass by. It -is- possible. But is it very likely? Not really. If any MMO has a chance to last for years its this one just based on its franchise foundation alone. Basically I consider a lifetime deal a safer bet on this game than most of those other "no name" games.

What I like about the lifetime subscription is the diminishing cost (eventually to $0.00/hour) for the time that I am NOT playing. I know it is just a mind game, but if I have the ongoing obligation to pay for something, then I feel like I should be using it. Even though I have technically paid in advance for the play time, I have emotionally written off the expense so to speak. Now I have no guilt that I "should" be playing if I want to take a break for any length of time...

being a life is awesome.
You get an IWIN Button that kills people instantly.

Shhhh that's supposed to be a trade secret

According to the IGN article, new 'perks' for lifetime subscribers are on their way!!!
http://pc.ign.com/articles/107/1077103p1.html

Does this apply to current lifetime subscribers or does a new subscriber get these perks?

The reason I ask is that I am going back and forth about buying the lifetime subscription. I'm leaning toward going lifetime though. I'd wait if I had to for the perks. Otherwise I'd prob go lifer soon.

* The Captain's Table – A special social area exclusive to Lifetime subscribers, available to both Federation and Klingon captains.

as in the bar from the book series of the same name? that would be awsome.

The quote was...
and not
so presumably this applies to both new and current Lifetimers,,, This is most likely a replacement/substitute for the original 'Playable Liberated Borg' perk to encourage Lifetime sub sales...