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Captain's Log: Ruminating on Star Trek Online's future story
As a self-confessed altaholic, I spent a lot of time in Star Trek Online over the past week. The third anniversary celebration is still in full swing (although it does end on Thursday, February 14th), and I needed to get all 13 of my characters through the special featured episode in order to obtain the special ships being given as rewards. Suffice it to say that I pretty much know the episode by heart now. I actually dusted off my two low-level Klingon Defense Force characters and took them out for a spin so I wouldn't miss out on the beautiful new Kamarag class vessel, but in doing so I found myself chewing on the story as presented so far in Star Trek Online and what the most recent missions could mean for the rumored introduction of a Romulan faction, as well as what they might mean for the mighty Klingon Empire.
Rise and Shiny recap: Star Trek Online
I'm not a tough guy, but the first thing I want to do when someone wishes ill on one of my first impressions is to reach through the screen and punch his lights out. There were at least a few people who did this to me when I said I would be visiting Star Trek Online. It was as though they were warning me to stay away from that scary old house on the hill. "Don't go up there, see? That's Old Man Cryptic's house! If you do, don't say I didn't warn ya!" Duly noted, oddball. I long ago made a rule to revisit games, even if I hated them when I first played them. MMORPGs change -- they have to. They have to adjust to a growing (or shrinking) playerbase, adapt to a questioning (or screaming) audience, or react to market influences (or games that do it better). Despite understanding all of this, I was worried that the five bucks I spent on the STO special edition from Amazon would be wasted. I found something I did not expect, that's for sure. Join me after the cut to find out more.
Captain's Log: Socializing and the quiet of space in STO
The Star Trek universe caters to a whole lot of different interests. You've got your basic sci-fi fan, who enjoys the shows and movies but doesn't get super into them. You've also got your movie buffs, who perk up for showings of Wrath of Khan or Nemesis (ha!). Futurists marvel at the prophetic nature of old-school Trek tech, and casual fans used to flip on the boob tube to scope out Seven of Nine's ram scoops. And of course, Star Trek has its die-hard fans, the Trekkers. (What's wrong with calling them "Trekkies," again?) I noticed a handful at New York Comic Con, traipsing about in their uniforms, snapping group pictures, scanning the Anime Festival next door for signs of intelligent life. And that got me to thinking about socializing in Star Trek Online. Why is it often so lonely in space?
Captain's Log: Did Cryptic betray the spirit of Star Trek?
Star Trek Online is terrible. Ground combat is tedious and messy. Space combat is repetitive. Missions are boring. The game engine is clunky and cartoony. The developers at Cryptic Studios are smelly doo-doo-heads. In short: STO is the worst. Or so people would have you believe. In its seven or so months of life, STO has attracted an impressive collection of detractors, naysayers and Debbie Downers. For this week's Captain's Log, let's discuss the phenomenon of anti-STO fervor. We've touched on certain aspects of it before, but the time has come to examine what I think is the biggest claim by those who really loathe STO. Does STO really betray the spirit of Star Trek? Read on as we play a little point-counterpoint, then feel free to add your two cents in the comments.
Captain's Log: Weekly episodes (finally) begin with a bang
Well, well, well. If it isn't our new friend, Mr. Weekly Episode. You sure took your sweet time getting here. What happened, you get stuck in traffic on the intergalactic turnpike or something? This is why you don't warp anywhere near Bajor during rush hour. It's true: Cryptic Studios has released the first of Star Trek Online's long-awaited weekly episodes. The shiny new mission, titled Cold Call, introduces new races, new faces and new places. It's new! Read on, intrepid explorers, as Captain's Log plays through our first weekly episode, and we learn whether it was worth the wait.
Captain's Log: Say hello to my minigames
C'mon, no Whammies, no Whammies, STOP! Argh, I got a swirly thing and some squigglies. That means I, uh... won two bars of gold-pressed latinum? I wish the Dabo girl would stop flirting with that Klingon -- I have no Bajorly clue what I'm doing. Hiya, readers! Pull up a barstool and get comfy. This week's Captain's Log, your Thursday fix of Star Trek Online news and views, is all about minigames. With the recent release of Season 2: Ancient Enemies, the folks at Cryptic Studios introduced a pair of minigames to STO, and they say they have more in the works. I thought it might be fun to check out the new diversions and maybe suggest a few of our own for future updates.
Captain's Log: Federation guide to choosing your first starship
Greetings, fellow officers! Welcome to another edition of Captain's Log, your weekly dispatch from the far reaches of Star Trek Online. I hope everyone had fun tooling around the cosmos with the developers on Monday. Sadly, technical difficulties prevented me from accessing the Tribble test server. So I'm making all my engineers wear red shirts on away missions for the rest of the week -- that'll learn 'em. This week, I thought we'd cover one of my favorite aspects of STO: starships! More specifically, I'll offer some tips and information to help you choose your first ship when you reach that magic Lieutenant 11. Remember, you pretty much have to live with your decision for 10 levels, so let's make sure you choose wisely.
15 Minutes of Fame: Star Trek's Nog talks with WoW.com
15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. We continue our conversation this week with battlegrounds fan Aron Eisenberg, who played the youthful Ferengi Nog on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. With five level 80s, two WoW-playing sons and an insatiable appetite for mixing it up in BGs, Aron's a WoW player to the core. "I noticed that people want to say hi or something in BGs," he emailed us after last week's interview, revealing the name of his main level 80, Vasuna. "Maybe we should tell Allies to /salute if they see me -- then let the fighting begin. Might be a fun way to give a nod and let the game begin, so to speak." So here we go: /salute, and let's talk more with Aron about what he's doing professionally these days, plus his thoughts on what lies ahead in Cataclysm. Read Part 1: Deep Space Nine's Nog gets his BG on 15 Minutes of Fame: So we understand you're spending more time behind the camera than in front of it these days, running your own videography company. Tell us about your new emphasis. Aron Eisenberg: Basically, I did that because I wanted to make movies some day. But I couldn't go to film school because I had two boys that I needed to raise. So I thought I would do this so I could learn more about editing and using a camera and going behind the scenes, so when they're older and out of the house, I can then push myself into making films and movies. It's a plan; I don't know how well it'll come to fruition.
15 Minutes of Fame: Deep Space Nine's Nog gets his BG on
15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. WoW feels more like "Battlegrounds Galactica" when Aron Eisenberg, who played the youthful Ferengi Nog on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, logs in. The battlegrounds aficionado is a huge WoW player and Blizzard games fan, with five level 80 characters, two WoW-playing sons and an easy familiarity with WoW.com's features and content that could possibly rival that of some of our own staff members. The admiration is mutual; we've been known to bring the Ferengi perspective to our articles. Speaking of perspectives, Aron has plenty of his own to share in this two-part 15 Minutes of Fame, as well as an appearance on this week's WoW Insider Show. Beam past the break for part one of our exclusive interview.
Star Trek Online talks about the Cardassians
In the Star Trek universe, the Cardassians generally aren't listed in the same breath as the Klingons or the Romulans as adversaries. That is, unless you've seen Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Then you likely won't stop going on about the rigid and hidebound social structure and the backstabbing government plots, or even just about Elim Garak. The Cardassian faction was hinted at some time ago in Star Trek Online, but while the official page hasn't yet filled out the page, we do have a fair amount of information on the faction. And while it may or may not satisfy everyone looking forward to the faction, there's plenty for fans of the game to get excited about. At this point, the once-grand empire has been reduced to a difficult existence trying to rebuild the government and society after the events of the Dominion War, recounted on the game's official timeline. The socially-minded Detapa Council, however, is facing opposition from the True Way, an organization seeking a return to Cardassia Prime's more militaristic society. There are also rumors that the Obsidian Order might be still running around, something that almost any fan of the series would have expected. Star Trek Online looks to have plans for the Cardassians, and while it probably won't involve a tailor on the bridge crew, we can only hope. Click past the break for a short official video giving a peek of the Cardassians in action, as well as the in-universe dossiers by Starfleet and the Klingon Empire. %Gallery-83750%
Star Trek references in the World of Warcraft
Wait, what? Star Trek is now cool you say? What is my nerdy self going to cling to? What's going to make a geek above other geeks as I recite the Klingon alphabet backwards in the Qo'noS dialect? Oh wait, there's WoW! And what's more geeky than taking a look at all the Star Trek references in the game?Well, the answer is not much.But that's okay, because it's geek-chic, or whatever those babbling idiots on What Not To Wear say.So take a look my geeky bretheren, all the Star Trek references in the World of Warcraft after thy break.
STO fan video depicts the way of the warrior
We know almost nothing about Star Trek Online's ground combat. We haven't even seen any screenshots of it yet. However, we do know that Star Trek fans are a passionate bunch. In this case, they were passionate enough to make their very own concept video of what Star Trek Online's ground combat might look like.It's pretty amusing, and if you're a fan it will probably make you even more anxious to finally learn what the combat really looks like. It also ought to make you a bit nostalgic about how awesome Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's "The Way of the Warrior" episode was. Hardcore Trekkies (or Trekkers) will surely get a kick out of the fact that the combat text for Klingons is actually in Klingon. To the zealous fan(s) who made this video, we say "qapla'!"
