So, game-breakingness. Let's talk about game-breaking things in games that we all hate.
Specifically, let's talk a bit about Star Trek Online. I love the game, even though the away team missions aren't exactly the greatest thing, even though I have to pay real money for a uniform that's not the First Contact uniform or the built-in Star Trek Online uniforms, even though I have to pay real money for an Admiral rank starship that looks like the Defiant, even though some of the voice acting is really really terrible (Dave Rivas, the voice actor for Captain Va'kel Shon, has said in interviews that despite playing multiple characters in the game, he takes playing Shon seriously because Shon's the captain of the Enterprise.)
What was I talking about? Oh, yeah.
In STO, you get a ship when you begin the game, the dinky little Miranda class that's pretty renowned in fandom as having been destroyed in almost every onscreen appearance it's had. As you gain levels, you get access to better ships that fit into one of three categories: extremely durable Cruisers (like the Constitution Refit class from Star Trek VI, the Galaxy class from Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the Sovereign class from Star Trek: First Contact. By stunning coincidence, the Sovereign is one of the few Admiral ships that isn't extremely ugly), glass-cannon Escorts (like the Akira class, which was the inspiration for Star Trek: Enterprise's NX-class; or
THE DEFIANT!!! from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which I'm putting in bold italics because the Defiant is awesome as hell); or the master of the enemy ship unbuff Science Vessel (like the Intrepid class from Star Trek: Voyager).
Once you get to Level 50 in the game, you gain access to Retrofit vessels, which are basically like "The Defiant but scaled up to be a level 50 ship." These cost actual money, and not something you get as a level-up perk.
Just to add insult to injury, for some reason that has never been explained, CBS (the owners of Star Trek, and basically have to approve everything Cryptic Studios wants to do with the game) refuses to let certain ships have Tier 5 Retrofit variants. These include the Constitution Refit (a Tier 2 Cruiser), the Original Series Romulan Warbird (the Tier 1 starting ship for a Romulan Republic character), and the Universe class (the USS Enterprise-J from that one episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, but to be fair to CBS, the ship's designer has officially said that the Enterprise-J is two miles long. For comparison, the Enterprise-F in STO is only about 1000 feet from bow to stern.)
...I really should have linked pictures to those ships, but oh well.
- Designing The Next Enterprise, Except Not
Back around 2012, Cryptic ran a contest where fans got to design the class that would be the next Enterprise. (Official explanation for what happened to the Enterprise-E: Blew up in 2408, Data got court-martialed, got away scot-free.) Many designs were submitted, from the serious to troll efforts like Patrick Stewart's head with warp nacelles attached, or a screencap of the Enterprise A with its registry number very obviously
Photoshopped MSPainted to read "NCC-1701-F." The eventual winner of this contest not only got his design in the game (as a Tier 5 Cruiser that costs $$$), a lifetime subscription to STO (which kinda got really devalued when the game went free to play but still has its perks), and a sculpted model of his design, complete with "USS Enterprise | NCC-1701-F" detailing on the saucer, stern, and nacelles.
Except it came out eventually that the Odyssey class, the ship that won the contest... was not the actual winner. I don't know the exact details, but apparently Cryptic picked a winner, CBS's executives vetoed it and said, "No, we want the Odyssey." The Odyssey class wasn't even among the top 20 entries.
This doesn't
bother me because it's behind-the-scenes meddling, and I think the Odyssey is a damn fine ship, but it is a breaking thing because the rights holders stepped in and basically killed any future contests like this.
- An Actual In-Game Problem
One story arc for Starfleet characters has you going against the Romulans. Keep in mind, this is (technically) after Star Trek 2009 destroyed Romulus and Remus completely, and a lot of Romulans are (understandably) really, really bitter about Starfleet (unintentionally) allowing their homeworld to be crunched to dust. So they get to attack your ship.
The Light Warbirds and the classic D'Dierdex Warbird from TNG are easy to handle. The Mogai Heavy Warbird, however, is not.
When you fight them, prepare to meet the bane of your career: Cloaked Tractor Beam Mines. These damn things hold your ship in place, slowing it down and causing it to turn far slower than you want it to (a virtual death sentence if you're in a Galaxy, those things turn 5 degrees a second as it is!). Not normally a problem, except that if the mine gets too close, it detonates for severe damage.
Did I mention that the Mogai warbirds usually drop four mines at once, and they tend to drop them quite literally right on top of your ship? (requiring you to use area-of-effect attacks to destroy the mines quickly)
And did I mention that while you're tractor beamed by the mines,
the tractor beam actually bypasses your shields and damages your hull?And did I mention that you very rarely fight one Mogai at a time? They are almost never without Light Warbirds or a D'Dierdex to take some well-earned heat off them. (And even then, Mogai Warbirds usually come in pairs, because Cryptic Studios hates you.)