It's a Cryptic Studios game. Expect copious amounts of unexpected awesome and unexpected fail at the same time.
Like Champions Online, it's a casual style MMORPG. Casual in the sense the game isn't difficult unless you blatantly go Leeroy Jenkins or attempt to solo stuff you're not supposed to. Also, you can party with people and have your levels match so you can play together without worrying about level differences. So it's pretty cool if you have friends to play with. The character creator is pretty robust and rumors have it that was the reason why Perfect World bought Cryptic from Atari. There's also a decent role-playing community abound. If you're a Trekkie, the main plot chains are somewhat amusing. You can even replay them later... with levels adjusted so you still get stuff for running it.
That said, all the not so nice things about Cryptic Studio games also applies. There's a disturbing amount of typos for a commercial game. PVP is broken beyond belief (though not as broken as in Champions Online) and the devs have admitted that (though they have been trying to solve that). If your sole goal in MMORPGs is to rush to the level cap, you will be sorely disappointed. It's not a difficult task and there isn't much endgame content. Unlike other games which do a semi-decent job at masking the obligatory repetitive endgame grind for ever-so marginally better gear, STO doesn't do that too well.
Most of the complaints about the micro-transactions is due to Cryptic Studio's somewhat recent new lord and master, Perfect World. The cash shop, as some have mentioned, is now rife with chance/gamble boxes and horridly expensive virtual items. On the plus side, cash shop currency can be earned in-game without having to pay physical currency. There's even an integrated in-game market for that. So if you're one of those people who refuse to pay real money for the cash shops, you can earn it or buy it with in-game currency.
The game does have some neat stuff. The dual Away Team and space battle format is pretty original. If you're the kind of player who likes to toy with various combinations of stuff, STO will keep you busy for a while. If you run with a "game begins at level cap" mentality, this isn't the game for you.
As a side note, these are also the people making the next Neverwinter game.
