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STO's Season One: Update Two soft lands today
Star Trek Online players are in for a treat today as Cryptic's next content patch hits the servers. Titled in such a way that we think they're going to count to 10 eventually, Season One: Update Two (Mark Three, Variant Four, Version Five) comes bundled with a number of new features and quality of life improvements for all to enjoy. The premiere features of this patch are the new Accolade and Squad Support systems. Accolades are your basic MMO achievements with a Star Trek veneer, although if you collect enough of them, you can earn real benefits for your character (such as passive resistances) in addition to titles. All we can say is that if there isn't an accolade for the number of "Picard Maneuvers" you've done, then Cryptic needs to get on that and make it so. Squad Support is a new version of Cryptic's famous Sidekick system from City of Heroes. It paves the way for friends of varying levels to group together for missions and fleet actions by temporarily raising or lowering the rank of the group to match the squad leader's. Season One: Update Two contains several other additions, so head over to STO's site and check them out!
The "Picard Maneuver" for rogues
Something in the title of this tactic really amuses my inner geek. Never watched Star Trek: The Next Generation? Well, I'll enlighten you -- the Picard Maneuver was a technique that involved moving a ship at extremely high speeds in order to appear to be in two places at once. And Gweedo (a rogue after my own heart) has put in long hours perfecting a similar technique for rogues to use when attempting to pull annoying caster mobs that don't like moving (because they can cast!) and might have friends (so we can't run in and ambush them). Gweedo breaks the strategy down into three/four simple steps Step 1: Take your gun, bow, throwing knife, dynamite, whatever... make sure nothing is behind you, and get the mob's attention. One at a time, please. [Elizabeth's note: I assume he means to do this from maximum range] Step 2: Immediately begin backing up. If it's a caster mob, the first thing it will try and do is cast. If you're fast enough backing up you will be out of casting range before their spell is finished casting and this will force them to abort this line-of-attack and give chase. Step 3: As they move forward watch where they are, and when they are out of range of the rest of their friends, hit Sprint immediately. This should get you back into melee range before the mob has a chance to get a shot off. This would be an excellent time for the 'ole Gouge/Backstab combination. Optional Step 4: If you're crafty and can get a kidney punch in fast enough they won't have a chance to get a shot off. Most casters are stupid. They won't resort to melee or hand-to-hand unless they're out of mana. [Fan art by Astrid Hansen]
