I started playing STO a while back and I shifted my focus to it completely half a year ago. (It was a decision of what game I want to spend time with and I chose STO) As it seems more and more obvious I made the right choice(no nerfs, no complete redesigns of pretty ships (goodbye Orca), no stress over whether next day my ship worth 500 million will be worth 100) and playing it is extremely satisfying.
I am an active player and a high-ranking officer in both UFP and KDF Fleets (although I do like Klingons a bit better, because less players choose them and there is less random lolwuttery going on.) And personally I've had lots of fun with this game. Both the Fleets that I'm a member of are strictly RP and it works very well. The game is in many ways designed to help you with it.(Foundry for example is perfect for creating Fleet-based missions and story-lines)
Now to why I am even writing this post. Since it seems at least part of Disco is trying STO I'll sum up my experiences and common mistakes and assumptions that people make (that I made) so that you don't have to repeat them. I'll also address some of the issues already discussed in this discussion.
About the game and why it's awesome
1.) The game is story-driven. Unlike Disco it is not an open sandbox. It has lots of open-world elements but you basically cannot do anything(besides RP) without a mission. Which leads to..
1.a)You can RP a trader but you can't really fly around trading stuff. The reason is actually pretty simple. You are a Captain of a military starship in one of 3 playable factions (or one of the lesser Trek groups, like Ferrengi or Cardassian, which aren't major player faction but can be RPed quite easily since you can create a character belonging to said faction and you can fly their ship ) And you are a captain belonging to an organization that's in war for survival! You are a protector of Federation(or Empire/Republic) and you are facing constant threats. Be it the Borg, the Elachi, the Breen, or nowadays the Voth...
1.b) However even though this game is story-driven and most of the official stories are about how you as a small but crucial member of your faction fight for it's survival, not ALL of them are like that. Most importantly Federation players have the possibility to level up from level 0 to max without having to shoot anything beside the tutorial that tells you how to shoot. It is called the Ambassador story-line an it is well documented on the STO wiki, so if you are interested feel free to check it out. As the Federation Diplomat you will unlock special missions(for example first contact with new races and peaceful exploration of unknown worlds and civilizations), costumes and even Diplomatic immunity that will allow you to fly into space belonging to opposite factions.
1.c) And best of all, you can do both. You can explore strange new worlds and save whole planets from natural catastrophes (by providing necessary medical aid and supplies) and then you can jump back to an ongoing campaign against the Borg or explore time-distorting mysteries of Drozana station(and these are all official story-lines)
2.) The big hit and main reason why RP enthusiasts like me play STO are not the tons and tons of spaceships that you can fly, nor the top-notch PvP, not even the constantly developing PvE zones like the Dysopn Sphere. The reason why I play STO is the Foundry.
The Foundry allows community members to create their own missions and develop story-lines of their own completely independent of the main story. Currently there are several THOUSANDS of missions that can be played and several hundreds of long campaigns developed by groups of people(usually members of one Fleet(which are like Guilds from your typical MMO or Player Factions in Disco)) Many of them are good, some of them are great. Really really great.
So there is nothing stopping you in playing the stories you want.
3.) The devs are creating their story in a clever non-offensive way that allows everyone to have fun, but never crosses the line so that Kligon players can still snark at Federation and vice versa, while providing enough common enemies that all the sides(nowadays including Romulans) have to face together. They are also including actors from the show and giving each of them an epic story of their own which only increases the player's immersion. In the last few months we had Michael Dorn(Worf) and Tim Russ(Tuvok)
4.) They are doing all of this while staying true to the Trek universe story-line, keeping equal opportunities for RP-based PvP PvE and their own PvP-PvE battle Royale (called Warzones) listening to the community and introducing completely new ship designs that are reacting to the universe's development (as of lately starting to shift from War back to Exploration) without feeling the need to nerf any of the previous ship designs.
(Yes this is basically the point that made my decision and one of the reasons why I believe Disco in it's current state does not have a future when competing with games like STO (ego-tripping power hungry devs compared to mature company that realizes that their success depends on not alienating the community)
Now as to actual advice
1.) Leveling up can be made ridiculously easy. You don't actually need it for good quality RP, but to make it simpler all you need to do is use your Duty Officers. These are men and women who are the regular employees of your faction. Their tab is on the right under the map. You can queue up to 21 (20 normal 1 development) mission for them. If you use the right officers for right missions and not endanger your personnel unnecessarily you can basically make 1-2 levels a day without the need to actually do anything in the game, since Duty Officer missions are time-based and don't require any more interaction (you are sending them on an assignment)
2.) Joining Fleets is easy. Look around the forums, visit their webpages (usually you can tell a good RP Fleet by the amount of work they have put into their information web) and then post your request in the appropriate way(just like you would in Disco) Plus you can cite your RP experiences with Discovery. You would be amazed how many STO players know and have played/visited the Discovery Freelancer Mod and you might find you are playing with friends who you haven't seen/played with in months or years since they quit Disco.
3.) Getting ships is rather easy. Many people don't know that you can buy ships in the Auction House. Sure that is not in any way RP-friendly but it can allow you to set up an unusual character (Say a Ferengi Merchant, or Ex-Cardassian Military who is now a pirate) or it can allow you to play something else then you originally planed (or improve your RP if the ship you originally chose doesn't fit with your current RP)
4.) There are in fact a "prestigious factions" that provide opportunity for "end-game development." They are an elite force created(inRP) from among the best of the best. The Klingon Honor Guard, the neutral Omega Group and Federation M.A.C.O. And actually getting their full suit of equipment is something that is not common and gives you certain bragging rights.
5.) Fleets also have the chance to build their own Shipyard that allows them to create special ships (and Ship Refits) that can't be gained in any other way. Said shipyards can also be heavily customized and provide a similar function that bases do in Discovery)
I think those are the some of the questioned asked here that aren't that easy to find/aren't explained in tutorial. If you have more, feel free to ask me
What you won't find in STO (And shouldn't expect)
Elitism and acting superior to others based on your personal relationship with Devs. Luckily this is achieved by STO being a big, commercially successful game that can't afford a personal-preference based advantages.
Also acting superior to others based on your game "seniority" (like this little example.) Well... no one will stop you from feeling superior but STO community have shown a very strong dislike for people bragging and acting superior to others for whatever reason. Sure it is great that you are a member of Honor Guard and have played since launch. But any other member of your Fleet who'll catch you bragging or looking down on younger (and often lower-ranking) members will probably warn you about misbehavior and such actions can result in you a) being thrown out of the Fleet and b) getting a very bad rep among leaders of other Fleets.
STO vigorously protects it's younger members from abuse (at least as my experience goes) which I believe partially stems from the Universe itself that was build by countless idealistic TV series.
Overall the game certainly isn't perfect, (and some of the original campaign missions do tend to get repetitive) but it is a good game that has built it's fan-base grown well over the year and provides a stable game-play experience and nice community, similar to what can be found in Disco. So I definitely advise you to give it a try.
Also I'd like to state that I'm not in any way connected to the STO devs and I am purposely not inviting anyone to my Fleets (or naming them at all) so that I wouldn't be accused of advertising a different game. I'm just stating what I like and providing advice. Whether you try STO or not won't affect me in any positive or negative way.
[22:52:23] Michał Golański: Not everyday leader of warrior feminists sleeps with one of the most powerful admiral badasses in the universe!
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) And you are a captain belonging to an organization that's in war for survival! You are a protector of Federation(or Empire/Republic) and you are facing constant threats. Be it the Borg, the Elachi, the Breen, or nowadays the Voth...