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Captain's Log: Fleets for new players in Star Trek Online
Once again it's time to delve into tips and tricks for new players in this week's Captain's Log. I'm quite happy to say that many of these previous columns are still very popular and generate a lot of feedback. This week I will endeavor to help new Star Trek Online (and MMO) players with questions I've received via email about the pros and cons of joining a fleet. All MMOs have social groups, most called guilds. In Star Trek Online these groups are appropriately referred to as fleets due to the naval structure of the factional militaries. These social groups are extremely diverse, as diverse as the people who play the game. The trick is finding the right fit.
Star Trek Online creates a gingerbread colony for the holidays
Not since Aunt Beru's blue milk has science fiction looked this tasty! Star Trek Online's mischevious Q is creating a gingerbread colony for the game's annual Winter Wonderland event. As part of the event, players will be shrunk down to defend the colony from snowmen by flinging snowballs and firing snow guns at them (which, if you think about it, is kind of like flinging body parts at the enemy). Toss in ice and yetis, and you have the strangest Star Trek episode ever. And yes, I'm including the one with Data and the masks. What was that about? Participants in the event can get special prizes and recipes, including a starship. Q's Winter Wonderland will be in the game from December 5th through January 16th of next year.
Perfect World ends the quarter strong, looks to Dota 2's China release
Perfect World Entertainment, the China-based publisher behind games like Perfect World International, Neverwinter, Star Trek Online, and Champions Online, ended the last financial quarter in a strong place. Citing the Chinese release of Swordsman Online and Saint Seiya Online as driving factors, Perfect World claimed $136.2 million in revenue and $19.8 million in net profit -- up from last year's marks of $114.2 million and $14.2 million respectively. Perfect World also expressed its hope for even better quarters to come thanks to big launches in the pipeline. It is currently localizing Neverwinter for a Chinese release and will be overseeing Valve's Dota 2 as it makes its way into Chinese markets.
Captain's Log: Star Trek Online's new Starfleet tutorial
Star Trek Online recently revealed a freshly revamped tutorial for players who create new Starfleet characters. This week I had the opportunity to check the new material out for myself, so I rolled a new toon and experienced what it is like to have greatness thrust upon me! What? You don't believe me? It's true! My character went from academy graduate to captain of a Starfleet vessel in a matter of minutes! Oh wait, I guess that's not so surprising; even Captain James T. Kirk did it in an alternate universe. The fact of the matter is there's no easy way, story-wise, to get a new player's character into the command chair in a completely convincing manner. I'll be explaining how it all happens, so if you want to remain surprised about anything in the new Star Trek Online Starfleet tutorial, avert your eyes for the remaining portion of this away mission. But do me a favor and scroll down anyway, look at the pictures, and pretend to read it. It'll make me feel better. The rest of you are with me. Engage.
One Shots: Angmar, you're going down
It's a beautiful morning, so why not spoil it by going to Angmar? Oh Angmar, that blackhead on the face of Middle-earth, with your whining sky and your eyesores everywhere. Why can't evil ever be beautiful, can someone tell me? Perhaps reader Michael18, who took this particular photo, can: "To celebrate the release of the Helm's Deep expansion, I send you some of my screenshots. I tried to capture the beauty of the old zones of Lord of the Rings Online like Angmar. With all the Rohan pictures to be seen on the web over the next couple of weeks, this might be a nice diversion." That's it, Angmar; you're going down. I'm going to get some flowers and go plant them all over your fields. Take that!
Captain's Log: Arc Q&A with Perfect World's Noel Holmes
A week or two ago, I came across a dev blog about the new portal called Arc on the Star Trek Online website that seemed to raise more questions than provide answers. Not unlike most passionate gamers, I reacted emotionally and admittedly with some unfounded anger. I realized very quickly that if I was having that kind of reaction, then there were likely many others who were having similar reactions. So I did the only thing that I could: I contacted the representatives of Perfect World to gain some clarification to the blog and hopefully ease my concerns. Instead of a shoving a palm to my face, Perfect World made available Noel Holmes in the hopes he would be able to clarify not only my concerns but also concerns borne by other Star Trek Online players as well.
Star Trek Online Season 8: The Sphere energizes today
As part of what I'm calling "Mega-Update Tuesday," Star Trek Online has released Season 8: The Sphere for brash and bold captains to explore. Season 8's storyline challenges players to explore a Dyson Sphere that could be pivotal in the politics of the galaxy. The sizable update contains a new adventure zone, a reworked Federation tutorial, a new reputation track, a battlezone, queued events, curved hallways, and more goodies for fleets. For a limited time, Cryptic is giving players a free Solanae Tribble to celebrate the new season. Massively's been to the sphere and back to bring you the trailer and an in-depth preview of Season 8, so consider it your captain's duty to check those out.
Captain's Log: Star Trek Online's Season Eight Preview
It's almost here: Season Eight in Star Trek Online releases tomorrow, November 12th! There is a lot of new material that will be implemented into the game when the season goes live, so much that there really hasn't been a single list of everything that's to come. So in today's Captain's Log, allow me to do a breakdown of all of the new content that Star Trek Online players can expect to see when they finish patching. You can also catch a quick glimpse of Season Eight's material by watching the official Season Eight trailer that Massively revealed last week. As you can imagine, this column will be chock-full of spoilers!
Exclusive: Here's Star Trek Online's Season 8 launch trailer
Hey look, it's another Star Trek Online dev blog, this time focused on the Federation tutorial revamp hinted at yesterday. STO content designer Matt Miller is your guide for a look at the hows and whys of bringing the Fed newbie experience up to par with its Romulan and Klingon counterparts. We've also got an exclusive first look at STO's Season 8 launch trailer. Click past the cut and enjoy!
Star Trek Online dev blog details Federation interior revamp
Star Trek Online environment artist Jeff Miller has penned a new dev blog focused on the upcoming Federation ship interior revamp. Players can look forward to dynamic hallways and smaller, more compact designs that still allow plenty of room for combat maneuvering. What's a dynamic hallway? It's a hallway "built in sections that can easily be swapped out with other things," Miller explains. "For example, if a mission calls for the player to be in a more engineering-type deck, we can very easily swap out a paneled wall section with piping. Another example would be what we like to call special situations. A special situation would be like if a mission required a sudden explosion to occur and an entire section gets blasted out into space. The way the new hall kits are made let us do cool new things like this a lot easier." There's much more to the dev blog, and of course the revamp itself will be playable via the new Federation tutorial coming in Season 8.
Captain's Log: Star Trek Online's Sphere of Influence, Season Eight, and reruns
Just ask the Massively writers and they'll agree that writing about a specific game is a lot like chasing the tide; information about a game comes and goes in waves. It's been no different with Star Trek Online, but now the tide is rolling in. A lot is happening in Star Trek Online: release dates have been announced, a new beta Mac platform is coming, the new featured episode is live, old featured episodes have a rerun promotion, and a lot more is on the way, so let's just jump in because the water's fine! New featured episode Let's start with the most recent featured episode introduced into the game. Called Sphere of Influence, the mission involves the player being invited back to New Romulus to witness the power-up of the Iconian gate that he helped discover. Upon arriving, the player is informed that Klingon Ambassador Worf is also there to act as a consultant. Worf has had prior dealings with Iconian gates, and sure enough, when the player is introduced to the Ambassador, he will hear actor Michael Dorn's voice.
Star Trek Online dev blog on building the perfect Worf
Last week we told you about Michael Dorn's return to Star Trek and his role in Star Trek Online's Season 8 content. Cryptic has followed up on that announcement with a dev blog focused on Worf's character design. Senior character artist Joe Jing walks readers through the design process and talks up everything from Klingon body models to uniforms to Worf's initial appearance in STO's The Next Generation 25th anniversary event. That version didn't exactly capture the character's essence, Jing explains, so Cryptic pulled out all of the stops for version 2.0. "There were key details missing to make a convincing Michael Dorn as Worf. For example, our existing Klingon forehead ridges didn't quite have the same look as Worf's ridges," Jing says. "And the textures for the face were missing one of the coolest and most distinguishing facial features -- the groove under the eye and in front of the cheek bone that helps make Worf look so damn tough. So we modified textures for both, making new versions that are closer to the show."
Star Trek Online Mac beta starts November 12
November 12th is a big day for Star Trek Online, and not just because it's launch day for the sci-fi MMO's Season 8 content. It's also day one of the game's Mac beta according to a post on the game's official forums. [Thanks Trekkie!]
Perfect Ten: Virtual haunted houses
Happy Halloween! Or if that's not politically correct enough for you, Happy Scare-Related Holidays feat. the Stylings of Ed Casbar and His Electric Teeth. It'd be the best of holidays if most people didn't have a prejudice against a middle-aged guy going trick-or-treating. Hey, us adults need sugar fixes too, you know! And just because you don't understand my seductive Night Elf cosplay outfit doesn't mean it's less valid than the tots with Iron Man masks. At least the online world is prejudice-free, which is why I love bouncing around between MMOs looking for a little haunted mansion action. Let's take a quick tour through 10 virtual haunted houses that go from zany to freaky, although not necessarily in that order.
Star Trek Online Season 8 set to release November 12
You've heard us gushing about Star Trek Online's Season 8 for a while now, from the new content to the new teaser trailer, and even a bit about celebrity Star Trek actor Michael Dorn making an appearance in the game. But now we have the official release date for the newest goodies: November 12. Season 8: The Sphere will introduce the ancient alien Voth species to players for the first time, while the Worf-laden feature episode Sphere of Influence is currently live. [Source: PWE press release]
Free for All: MMOs for players with a penchant for The Wolf Among Us
Ah, graphics. It's hard to describe why we like the graphical styles we do. I like the stylings of many games, but some are just so perfect that the graphics reach beyond a visual style and become a sort of textural memory in my gamer's heart. Each year, scores of games come out, and though I enjoy many of them, most do not affect me the way the look of games like The Chronicles of Spellborn or even Free Realms does. There are a lot of single-player titles that just blow me away as well. Recently I was absolutely transfixed by Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. I stayed up late one night to finish it, and the graphics just kept getting better the entire time. Then there's The Wolf Among Us, a new title by Telltale Games, the same studio that made The Walking Dead series. It's made me remember just how amazing graphics can be without requiring a massive gaming rig. Did you like the look of The Wolf Among Us as well? Here are some MMOs that feel similar.
Star Trek Online highlights its latest featured episode in a new trailer
Star Trek Online players have had to wait a little while for the next featured episode, but the wait is finally over. A new video is available to show off the start of the next episode, Sphere of Influence. It all starts on New Romulus as the Republic tries to activate a newly discovered Iconian gateway... a project that leads to a massive earthquake, trapping the players and others underground with no avenue of escape. Except, you know, the mysterious gateway that could lead almost anywhere. What follows next is less clear, but it involves players taking the controls of an ancient starship and joining up with both Klingons and the Federation to fight off some new opponents. It's the sort of exploration, danger, and adventure that you'd expect from a featured episode, in short. We have the video embedded for you past the cut.
Dorn reprises Worf role in Star Trek Online's Season 8
Worf is back in Star Trek, or rather, Star Trek Online. According to an interview with actor Michael Dorn on the official Star Trek website, the Klingon warrior will appear in the game's new Sphere of Influence feature episode. "I'm afraid Worf is always lurking somewhere in the background of my psyche," Dorn tells STO content designer and interviewer Kate Bankson. Read the full interview via the links below.
New ship and special items await STO players in 'Sphere of Influence'
With Star Trek Online's Season Eight: The Sphere content edging ever-closer to release, it's time for Cryptic to fire up the lore machine and start pushing players toward their destiny. Sphere of Influence, set to go live on October 31st, bridges the gap between current content and the upcoming Sphere additions. Starting Thursday, all players level 10 or above will be able to hail D'Tan from their mission journals and begin a new quest. This quest, which revolves around D'Tan's efforts to restore the Iconian Gateway, will take players into New Romulus to stand present at the gate's reactivation. Players who complete the quest will receive pieces of the ancient obelisk technology set as well as a special Obelisk ship that can be helmed only after the player reaches level 40. The quest will be available from October 31st to December 5th.
Captain's Log: Solonae space zone in Star Trek Online
It's been another great week of new information about Star Trek Online's upcoming new Featured Episode and Season Eight. We've learned that the new FE, which is set to be released on Thursday, October 31st, will be called Sphere of Influence. The title isn't a much of a surprise as most of us have been expecting that the new FE will carry Star Trek Online's story from the Iconian gate on New Romulus to the new content featuring a Dyson Sphere in Season Eight. A new sponsorship system will be added to STO's reputation system, which should benefit those of us who like to play multiple alts. I've also had a chance to peruse the new Voth Command reputation faction on the Tribble test server and learn it contains some interesting new passive skills. Finally, a lot more content has been released onto Tribble, including the new Solonae space adventure zone. There's also some great news for those who don't subscribe to STO but still want to test the new content: Tribble has been opened up to all players, not just subscribers! If you don't want to know anything about the new content, be warned: This column will have a few spoilers!
