Indeed, I'd not given STO a thought since its release despite being a fan of both Star Trek and MMOs mostly due to the poor handling that major IPs like Star Trek and Star Wars get. I really was surprised at the gameplay that STO offers (And I can understand that if Star Wars: The Old Republic offers anything similar that it'll be amazingly successful. From what I've seen it'll follow a similar path, with the addition from launch of the Duty Officer idea).

The freedom allowed in the demo was impressive (despite being listed as a few missions, I was able to level to Lieutenant Commander and obtain a cruiser, along with amassing about two million EC total. I spent quite a bit getting Mk IV gear and fitting my ship upon hitting LC, and then found Dabo at DS9 :3) and even if it was limited to the originally listed areas then I'd still have been hooked - the diversity offered between starting the game and getting to Earth's Starbase was enough.

Now I'm just extremely annoyed that I have Friday and most of Saturday free to play, and only have the option to re-play a new character. I was really hoping to upgrade my account and explore more of the LC level content as I've found it enjoyable and challenging (now set to the Advanced level of difficulty, I think it's called).

Since I was able to continue playing after they disallowed creation of new demo accounts, I could have continued without purchasing the game just yet if I'd had any forewarning of this problem. I'd still have bought it, I just would have delayed it until the issue was resolved. I can only hope that they offer to reimburse me the days I'm unable to play my main character. Until then, I guess I'll browse the forums and get to know things a bit better.

How did you manage to level all the way to Lieutenant Commander? After completing the Azura mission I was unable to find anything that would give XP... unless you were somehow able to grind that region over and over again.

I got to LT7 and if I hadn't been stopped, the stars were the limit.
I mean.. playing Klingon.. in one night I'm LT10 (LT9 right now, but like.. a couple hundred more skill points for a new level) and I started maybe 4 or 5 hours ago.
Granted I started at level 6, that doesn't change the fact I got 4 levels in one night (I'm kinda stuck between saying its harder to level up as you advance in rank, so 6 to 10 is harder than 0 to 4, but I won't lie it was extremely easy and I pretty much breezed through it, so we'll call it even) just shows that much is possible in a short period of time.
I'm a bit irritated with the situation, bypassing it's Friday and I want to play (I don't really have a life or a job.. so every day is friday LOL) just simply for the fact I just purchased the game.. after convincing my father for 2 days to let me use his credit card (depositing money to paypal via bank account takes 6-8 days).. and I am immediately denied playing.
$30 isn't much to start a game (I think I get 60 days too, I mean I paid $15 for a subscription and it says the game comes with free 30 days but my subscription says it's going to re-instate August for some reason) but if they want my serious money (years of subscription, I mean I played WoW for 6 years straight) then this is a really bad way of starting off and getting me attracted to the game.
I made a Klingon to pass the time, and I liked it a lot. I liked the red, I liked the characters (playing a Klingon is fun), the city was a bit of a learn curve but once I got past it, it wasn't all that bad. The whole 'warrior' motto is awesome too. The specific combat style (fast turn rates, 45' arcs) was a bit irritating as well, but I got past that too.
However when I looked through all the later ships I immediately decided I would not be a Klingon for very long (and that's ignoring the fact some guy said there isn't much Klingon content so I'd be doing the same missions over and over and they don't give much XP). Every single ship, aside from General ranks, are the exact same kind of ship. Given they look a bit different and they may have some variation, but hell they even have the same names. That's just flat out fkin boring.
I CAN'T WAIT until I get LTC and I can finally get my science vessel (I'd choose a cruiser if the original stark trek ship didn't look so freakin gay). There's no way in hell I'd be satisfied with using the same 3 types of ships for most of my gaming experience.
Anyways, thought I'd rant a bit more.
While you're fixing the patching issues, add more content for Klingons!

Some of us were not as limited as we should have been on our trial accounts. We were all supposed to be locked from Klingon and only able to repeat Stranded in Space ad nauseum. Some of us, notably those with active accounts on CO seem to have additional perks in the trial account. As I see nowhere that this was as intended, I have to assume it was functionality in place in preparation for future options.

I myself got two characters to Lieutenant Commander (LC2), and a Klingon up to Lt9. I wasn't able to send tells to anyone who wasn't a friend. I couldn't invite to a fleet, even though it let me join one. I could not send items through the mail or start offerings on the exchange.

If you ask me, the real reason that they took down the demo is that there were accounts with almost unlimited access to the game for free.

I have since upgraded to a full account, and every character I made before I upgraded is locked out. Probably serves me right. I am now working my way back to LC for the third time in two weeks.

It would make sense that they would follow what they did with Champions when it went F2P. Take a look at their setup if you'd like an idea of how they may implement a F2P model for STO.

Jolan'tru

what does this mean for the referral program? will my referal codes still work and will i still be able to claim the rewards?

Regards

I didn't do anything out of the ordinary. Went to the STO site, made a demo account. I downloaded the full client via torrent, and started playing.

Well what I meant was that the only mission I could do was the rescue the S.S. Azure mission. All others were locked, and I couldn't travel to any systems or anywhere with enemies. per_ignim's post gave me a better understanding of what was happening.

Looks like the issue has been resolved, as I am now able to log in to my original character

Thanks for getting it sorted before the weekend!

It appears the issue is indeed resolved.
There was a small patch, and now I am able to play my character again.
Hurray ^^