“Game over” is a line from the old Street Fighter Movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia, where Raul as General M. Bison screams the line in pure joy while detonating the underwater mines as our heroes try to race down river to falter his evil plans.

Why did I bring this up? Simple, they were and still are the words that ran through my head last night as I read that STO’s relaunch will happen on January 17th, 2012. Wow, that’s still nearly 2 months away. “Game Over” means that I believe that the current level of subscribers will fall drastically from now till then. We are already passing the 8 months point with no new content, not counting ships and tribble, and we already have seen what must feel as the majority on the community slipping away due to rage quitting, content loss, confidence lost in Cryptic, failed communications and the biggest one, players feel that they’re paying to test Free 2 Play content on the Tribble Test Server.

I fear that now that the date is set, you will see many subs drop till then. For a good many of us still in game, many of our friends are off playing DC universe, Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Champions Online, EvE, and now there are special deals available for World of Warcraft subs. Fleets are dying off and chat channels, vent and teamspeaks are bare, or are filled with fleet mates that moved on to greener games.

Funny thing is I usually try to keep on the bright side of things, but without any incentive, we will lose more players that will not pay to test for 2 more months. Thus, sparked an idea. This is an idea for Cryptic. Since there is 2 months left till F2P, why not send out emails to past players inviting them to a test week where they can log on for free for a week to test. Also, this is the big one, why not reward those  subs who have played and tested on tribble till now a free pass till the relaunch. Meaning, suspend all accounts that have tested on tribble but let them keep playing for free to keep the game alive till the relaunch, and then reactivate their payed subs. Or just give 2 free months to those who tested all of this. Simple, if many people leave, then who will test all the changes? Also, at this point, anyone still on the Tribble server might even be considered an employee. Food for thought, eh?

I love my community and I want to login and see all my friends. Come on Cryptic, make it worth their time.

Please comment below, because I want to hear your thoughts.