Adam Holisky

PC Gaming By Adam Holisky

Star Trek Online head start begins

The Star Trek Online head start program has begun, allowing all those who pre-ordered STO access to the game before it officially launches next Tuesday, February 2nd. The servers should be up and running just as they will be during the full release, although don't be surprised if there are some problems along the way, just like there are in any newly released MMORPG. Cryptic has been working hard to increase their server stability since the start of the beta, and people are hopeful that things will be more or less smooth sailing warping. With the beginning of the head start, it's also important to note that all characters in the beta have been deleted. This is par for the course with MMORPG betas, and Crpytic was diligent in keeping everyone informed of this -- so hopefully no one is surprised that their beta toon doesn't exist anymore. Massively staff has been hard at work preparing guides and other information for you. Everything is available to look at via our new Star Trek Online page. Stay tuned to Massively as the head start progresses and moves into the full release next Tuesday. Update: From the error page on the STO forums at 2:10 p.m. EST: "Some players may experience difficulties logging into Star Trek Online Right now, we are aware of this issue and working on a resolution." Read all of Massively's STO coverage

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PC Gaming By Adam Holisky

Star Trek Online head start patch now available

The last patch for Star Trek Online is now available to be downloaded and installed via the Cryptic Launcher. According to Cryptic Community Manager Stormshade, the patch will be the last one before the head start begins. The head start is for players who purchased a pre-order -- if you haven't purchased the STO pre-order and are interested in it, there is still time to do so. More information is available from Cryptic. If you have been participating in the open/closed beta, your client just needs to be patched up to the latest version. There is no need to download and install an entirely new client. If you want to copy your game installation to another computer to run, just copy the folder across via normal means -- again, no need to download an entirely new client. This patch which you'll get is about 60 megs and is a quick download right now, although that is likely going to change once the masses get to it. It's also worth reminding people that their beta character has been deleted, and you'll need to start anew. The head start begins today at 10:00 a.m. PST. Enter the Star Trek universe with Cryptic Studios' Star Trek Online. From hands on reviews of the early levels and space combat, through noob questions and developer interviews, we've got everything you need to know about the game trekkies are dying for. Check out Massively's Star Trek Online page for the latest!

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Gaming By Adam Holisky

Star Trek Online 101: Currency

Welcome to the first edition of Star Trek Online 101. Over the next week and a half we'll be taking a look basic skills and information you need to be successful in STO. Each day we'll look at a different subject, and we'll kick it all off by talking about the different types of STO currency. There are three types of currency in Star Trek Online: Energy Credits Starfleet Merits Explorer Badges Each type of currency is gained through completing various actions in game, be it completing quests or selling off items. Each type is earned in distinctly different ways and provides different rewards, meaning that a successful STO player will need to be concerned with amassing all three types. Fortunately this shouldn't be too much of an issue -- in the closed and open beta energy credits and Starfleet merits seem easy enough to come by. Some people think that STO shouldn't have a currency system, while others point to the fact that Star Trek always did have a currency system, just that it wasn't really used in the shows. Either way, for an MMO to properly function there has to be some sort of reward unit, and Cryptic has developed a system which could potentially allow for a vibrant economy to develop. After the break we'll take a look at the different ways to earn these three types of currency and what you can spend them on.

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PC Gaming By Adam Holisky

Massively's Guide to the Character Traits of Star Trek Online

Star Trek Online offers several levels of character customization beyond the visual aspects, and that first level the player is introduced to is character traits. You select these traits when creating your character, and the choices are numerous. In Massively's guide to the character traits of Star Trek Online, we'll look at the different classes of traits and suggest some builds to get you started. Please remember a few things when reading this guide. First, the information was all obtained in the late closed beta -- so it could have changed without notice at release. If that's the case we'll update the guide as soon as we know about the changes, but double check everything and don't click blindly. Secondly, the traits are only a recommendation and should be adapted to your personal play style. If you're one of those players who always needs that extra bit of health, get the Peak Health trait no matter what role you're going to play. Finally, there is currently no way to retrain your traits (or skills), so be sure to select them carefully. Character Traits Guide Table of Contents How Traits Work Species Traits Federation Klingon Empire Space Traits Ground Traits Suggested Trait Builds Suggested Species and Trait Builds Federation Klingon Empire

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PC Gaming By Adam Holisky

Star Trek Online ship tactics, part 2

Part 2 of the Star Trek Online starship tactics video premiered over at IGN, and there are a couple concepts clarified over a few subjects -- but as with the last video, it's nothing really new. The gameplay footage that's attached to the explanation is quite compelling however, especially with the boarding parties where you can see the little shuttlecrafts head towards the Romulan ship. Let's take a closer look at each of the concepts the video covers. Power management. Power management is going to play a big role, which we known about for a while. You can see some detailed pictures of part of the power management UI in yesterday's article, located along the bottom of the screen with words like Defense, Attack, and Speed. Say you have 100 units of power, in STO you're going to be able to devote 25 of those units to the shields, 10 to auxiliary systems, 50 to weapons, and 15 to the engines. Power allocation will not be immediate, it will have some sort of delay associated with it. That means you'll have to think ahead about your strategic choices.

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Gaming By Adam Holisky

Star Trek Online open beta dates announced

According to a press release put out today, Star Trek Online will hold its open beta from January 12th through January 26th. There are some preorder deals that will give you an open beta key, and there are bound to be numerous opportunities to win one at various spots around the net. Star Trek Online is currently in closed beta, which began last month. Champions Online six-month and lifetime subscribers have been told that they'll be in the closed beta before the end of the year, so those folks should get at least a month of beta access before the game hits the retail shelves on February 2nd, 2010. Once the open beta begins, you'll likely see a flood of information and guides about STO since the NDA will have been lifted. This will provide everyone with key information as to the finer details of the gameplay mechanics.

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Gaming By Adam Holisky

New Star Trek Online video shows tactical combat, UI

Cryptic has released the first part of a series looking at the tactical ship combat in Star Trek Online. It's definitely worth watching, especially if you've been following the progression of Star Trek Online's combat development; in this regards it's nice to finally see some in-game action as we'll experience it when STO releases in February. There are a few points that STO Director of Production Craig Zinkievich, Game Designer Zeke Sparkes, and Producer Daniel Stahl make which are worth noting. We've already heard most of it, but the in-game footage demonstrates most of these concepts nicely. You can watch the video above, or head over to our sister site Big Download to grab the hi res version. The hi res version of this video is worth it. After the break we'll take a look at the major points, as well as talk about some of the high resolution screen grabs of the UI shown in the video. %Gallery-78487%

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Gaming By Adam Holisky

Star Trek Online release date set

According to Eurogamer, Cryptic has confirmed that Star Trek Online is set for a February 2nd, 2010 release date in the U.S., and a February 5th, 2010 release in Europe. This comes about a month after Cryptic previously confirmed that STO was set for a first quarter 2010 release. STO is currently in closed beta, allowing those lucky select fans a chance to the game out. If you previously had purchased the Champions Online lifetime or six month subscription package, you will also be getting a chance to try the game out during the closed beta stage. We'll be sitting down with the STO development team soon, and are looking to take all the questions you have about the ships of STO; so hurry up and get them in before 12 p.m. PST tomorrow! [Edit: We contacted Cryptic to confirm Eurogamer's story, and they say that this is not the official release date, but they will be announcing it very soon.]

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Gaming By Adam Holisky

New Star Trek Online gameplay trailer

There's a new Star Trek Online trailer out from Cryptic, originally released through GameSpot. The trailer features some impressive gameplay footage that illustrates nicely a few aspects of STO we've been hearing about for a while. There's both ground combat and space combat featured, with Klingon, Federation, and Borg ships taking part in the overall action. In one scene we see a fleet of ships attacking a single Borg cube in quite a nice display of firepower, including several (of what appear to be) quantum torpedoes. One of the more impressive aspects of this gameplay footage that we picked up on right way was the tactical maneuvering of what appears to be a mid-range ship of Romulan design. A captured still of the scene is pictured above, and you can clearly see in the video that the ship is moving to direct hits against its "bottom side" after the port shields were taking a significant beating. Note that the two ships attacking the main ship with green phasers are Klingon Vor'Cha class, so we're assuming the ship demonstrating the tactical moves is of Romulan origin. We also noticed that the ship pictured above bares some resemblance to the unidentified "classified" ship listed in the Ships of the Line articles at the official STO website. The above ship can be viewed more clearly in the HD trailer, however the unidentified ship on the STO website doesn't have a clear image -- only a blurry reconnaissance image. The warp nacelles both look similar (espeically if you take the image angles into consideration), both have the same general outline, and both have guns protruding from each wing. An interesting coincidence we wanted to point out. The video after the break.

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Gaming By Adam Holisky

Star Trek Online lore: 2379 to 2384

It's rare for an MMO to bring with it a history as rich and generational as Star Trek. The Trek universe is as deep and rich with lore as Lord of the Rings or Star Wars, and just like both those titles the lore has been passed down from parent to child over generations now. This leaves any game which attempts to encapsulate that lore in a precarious situation of both having to remain close to the canon, yet leaving enough creative room for the player to feel like they're making a true difference in the universe. And while we have yet to see if Star Trek Online lives up to the second part of that criteria, we can take a look at how they are moving the lore forward and dealing with the canocial events of past Trek incarnations. The main conduit for this lesson in lore has been through the sporadic postings of The Path to 2409 on the official STO website. However, there's a lot of information there and it's quite easy to get lost in it all. So, let's take a look at the Star Trek Online timeline Cryptic has released thus far. To begin with, we'll go over the years 2379 through 2384.

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News

News By Adam Holisky

Meet the Team: Adrian Bott

Once a week our writers will give you a glimpse into their lives, to let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more Meet the Team.What do you do for Massively.com?I'm a general writer, which means if I'm awake and stuff goes down, I cover it. Or I pass the buck to someone who knows more about that particular game than I do. I focus on City of Heroes/Villains, since I know it pretty well by now. I think I'm also the token 'guy who's never played World of Warcraft', but that's not an official position. What's your favorite MMO?It's still City of Heroes without a doubt. I'm really enjoying Warhammer Online and Age of Conan, but there are many aspects of CoX that just aren't like other games, and keep me coming back. The community, for one; people remark that the community is one of the friendliest and most helpful of any MMO, but then, you have to remember that many of them are people who initially signed up for a game where the whole point was to be a hero and help people, so it's perhaps not all that surprising, really.%Gallery-33889%

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From Tabletop to Desktop: WAR's Order careers

It's been a month since we last took a look at how Warhammer Online's Destruction classes have made the transition from the old-school tabletop game to a full-fledged MMO experience, and a lot has happened. We've shown you a huge amount of new coverage with our Massively Goes to WAR series, and even got some more hands-on details of each of the game's many classes. We know that the guild beta is practically within our reach, and the open beta never leaves our minds, though it still lies just over the horizon.Since our last look at the WAR's tabletop roots was so well-received, we went back to the drawing board to bring you part two - focusing this time on the races on the side of Order. If you plan on joining the ranks of the Dwarfs, Empire, or High Elves and lack the proper appreciation for how the game's classes came to be, read on! From Tabletop to Desktop: WAR's Order careers >>>>> %Gallery-26491%

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Gaming By Adam Holisky

Player vs. Everything: The MMO clone wars

You can say a lot of things about a game you don't like. You can say that it sucks or that it's poorly balanced. You can say that the art direction is all wrong, or you can say that it's lacking in any number of features a good game should have. But sometimes a game takes flak for committing the most grievous sin of all: copying another game. One of the most commonly cited complaints about any given game is that they copied "feature X" from "game Y." For some reason, MMOG players in particular just love to cite the classic "It's just a clone of (whatever)" when they're trying to challenge the very essence of a particular title. If a game is a copy (the reasoning goes) then clearly the designers are wholly uninspired, worthless, and incapable of creating anything interesting or original. It really seems to irk players who feel that their game is being somehow wronged when another game uses similar ideas. But is this really such a bad thing? Might cloning features, or even cloning games, actually be the best possible thing for the games industry?

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Gaming By Adam Holisky

The Empyrean Age blasts onto Singularity

Fighting for your empire of choice? Of course. Complexes full of militia fighters hacking away away at each other? That is there too. A few bugs that result in the beloved EVE Online police, Concord, blasting you for fighting the good fight in high-sec? Well, it just would not be a war without Concord and a test without flaws! The good, the bad, and the ugly parts of factional warfare in the EVE Online expansion Empyrean Age are at every pilot's fingertips. The details are conveyed in a blog, hosted on Nuyan's Hangout, that presents an in depth look at the concepts currently floating around the test server.Factional warfare is not going to be a big ship destroys little ship game of domination. Newer players are encouraged to participate since some zones restrict ship class and eliminate the chance for a Titan to destroy your little frigate. In these zones, players attack and defend systems in an attempt to control outposts for a certain amount of time. This factional warfare feature sounds similar to the timed capture methods World of Warcraft employs. Nuyan is quick to point out that the design does have a slight hint of tauren and orc, but that EVE maintains a unique flavor that separates it from the open PvP zones in World of Warcraft. We remain hopeful that EVE will retain it's unique style and eagerly await this long awaited expansion to go live.[via Crazy Kinux]

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PC Gaming By Adam Holisky

The changing face of WoW 2.4

When Blizzard released patch 2.4 for World of Warcraft in March, they brought a plethora of changes to all types of end game play. They introduced new casual daily quests, a new five person dungeon, and a new raid zone for twenty five person play; all of this on a new island off the northern coast of the Eastern Kingdoms called the Isle of Quel'Danas. Many who play WoW consider patch 2.4 to be the largest and most complex patch to date, sans the actual expansions. It is quite rare for Blizzard to open up a whole new zone in a free patch, and even rarer for them to completely change the raiding landscape (a staple of WoW) by removing attunements and lifting other restrictions. Despite having a large and successful release of the patch, Blizzard has continued to update the game in with Patches 2.4.1 and 2.4.2. They offer more tweaks and changes that make the WoW community even happier. Take a look through our gallery for a highlight of the changes we've seen in 2.4 through 2.4.2. %Gallery-8792%

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PC Gaming By Adam Holisky

Massively's Pirates of the Burning Sea mission preview

Not that we're excited to be playing this game or anything, but we can safely say Pirates of the Burning Sea is the most fun we've had in an MMO in a long time. One of the best parts about this rollicking high-seas adventure is how they deal with missions and questing. Each mission you receive falls into two basic categories, but before we even venture into those waters, we'd like to talk about the personality of the missions in this game. Our first character in the game, naturally was a pirate – heck, who are we kidding? So was our second one because we had so much fun with the character creation – and we quickly learned that this is a game where you simply must read every scrap of text on the mission screen. This isn't because you will miss sneakily placed information or anything, it's because the banter is just so much fun. This is a game with a sense of humor, and every response your character makes to the questions she is asked is definitely worth the time taken to read it.

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