trek-online
Latest
Captain's Log: Epic adventure, revenge, and an interview with Adam Ihle
This week, after what seemed like an interminable period of waiting, Star Trek Online's acting Executive Producer Stephen D'Angelo posted a dev blog that outlines most of the details for STO's second anniversary events. Beginning Thursday, February 2nd, STO will see the return of the infamous Q and his mischievous ways. Players are invited to sign in every day between February 2nd and 6th to participate in a challenge handed down by Q. After doing the entity's bidding, players will be rewarded with a different daily prize, although what those four prizes are has not been revealed. However, the news that really has the playerbase buzzing is the announcement that the new and very highly anticipated Federation and Klingon flagships will also be up for grabs -- for free. I will be outlining D'Angelo's follow up posts that give us more details into both ships. Also, in light of the announcements, I took the opportunity to catch up with Adam Ihle, whose winning starship design became the inspiration for the final look of the Odyssey class; we'll hear his reaction to the ship's debut in the game.
Captain's Log: Cryptic's Lead Designer responds to questions
The weekend before Star Trek Online launched its free-to-play format, Cryptic Studios' Lead Designer, Al Rivera, responded to a lengthy list of player concerns, rants and questions via the STO community podcast PodcastUGC. PodcastUGC usually focuses its broadcasts on issues revolving around the game's user generated content tool, The Foundry, but as of late the co-hosts of the show (including me!) have been desperate for specific Foundry issues to discuss due to the lack of changes since last year. In the previous week's episode, I let my opinions fly along with my frustrations about what I felt was a severe lack of story-based content. I asked aloud, "What the hell have they been doing the past year?" To our surprise, we were contacted by Al Rivera, who set aside his day off to talk with us about just that.
MV Guide: January 16-22, 2012
MV Guide is a weekly rundown of the MMO gaming events planned on Massively TV. Every week, the Massively staff logs in to play various MMOs live and in person, and we'd love for you to drop by the channel and visit. We have a combination of regular weekly games and new surprises, so you'll find a variety of titles to take a look at. During our streamed events, you can participate in the live chat, ask questions to learn about the game, and simply spend some time with Massively staff and readers. (Of course, streaming is subject to the whims of outside forces like server-side gremlins once in a while.) Follow along after the jump to see what's on this week's schedule!
Captain's Log: Will two cloud bursts cure a drought?
After the most tumultuous year in Star Trek Online's history, we stand on the cusp of the game's second anniversary and full-blown evolution to free-to-play. Early F2P entrance for former subscribers was opened last Thursday. And now, unfortunately, loyal subscribers have been informed that the anticipated flood of new story-based content might more accurately be described as a trickle. In his most recent Dev Diary #11, STO's acting Executive Producer Stephen D'Angelo outlined his future hopes for the game in 2012. As players are wont to do, we read between the lines and noticed not what was contained in the blog but rather what was blatantly missing: a detailed outline of future playable content.
Some Assembly Required: A virtual world roundup
If you are perusing this column, chances are you are a fan of virtual worlds and the sandbox genre. Join the club! (Dues will be due on the third Tuesday.) The aspect that compels many aficionados to delve into a game is the ability to make an impact on the world in some small respect instead of making them into Hive Member 1593072 running a static, predetermined gauntlet. How that impact is accomplished, however, varies; there are multiple features that can facilitate it, and which ones are considered most important depends on the player. With the loss of one of the best sandbox games just last month, some players may be feeling a void. Others still are looking/hoping for the "ultimate" sandbox that contains nearly every virtual world feature. Certainly, there are some upcoming games that make some drool-worthy promises, but what about playing something now? There are actually games out on the market that have at least one aspect of the genre, if not more. To start off the new year, Some Assembly Required looks at some of the top features of virtual worlds and lists games that incorporate these features. While this list isn't exhaustive (considering the sheer number of games when you include all of the smaller free-to-play titles, I'd run out of column space!), it is a comprehensive enough overview to point you toward some games worth playing that perhaps you hadn't considered before.
Former subscribers get an early engagement to Star Trek Online's free-to-play model
In the universe of Star Trek Online, it's the 24th century and humans no longer make use of money. Here in the 21st century, however, you've still got a bit more time until you can play Star Trek Online without the use of said money. Or do you? Starting tomorrow, January 5th, the doors will open for players to start enjoying the game for free before the full free-to-play launch on January 17th. So what do you need to do to get this early access? Well, if you're asking now, you're a bit too late; the privilege is being extended to lapsed former subscribers, who can come back and play the game for free as Silver members. That means certain features will be restricted, but if you had played in the past and haven't had a chance to catch up with the newer features of the game, tomorrow will be your chance to log in and start trekking across the universe for free.
Star Trek Online looks to anniversary updates, free-to-play updates, and beyond
Star Trek Online's second anniversary is just a month away, but the game's transition to a free-to-play model is even closer than that. In the game's latest developer diary, executive producer Stephen D'Angelo talks about updates leading into the business model shift, the anniversary, and the eventual rollout of the game's next season. A couple of new bug fixes and feature improvements will be rolled out to the live game before January 17th, at which point the game will shift over to the free-to-play mode. In February, the game will be celebrating its anniversary with a new KDF flagship, the debut of the Odyssey-class Federation ship, and soon thereafter a series of Dominion featured episodes. Players can look forward to season 6 sometime in June, with the development team aiming at something new in the game roughly every other week once the game is free-to-play. It's a tall order, but Star Trek Online fans at least have those frequent updates to hope for if not necessarily expect.
Ground skill revamp previewed for Star Trek Online
As part of the latest major patch, Star Trek Online is giving its skill system a massive overhaul, designed to make the skill functions more transparent and encourage a bit more variety in skill setups. The space skill revisions have already been previewed, but the ground skills have only just seen the light of day in the latest entry of the Path to F2P blog series. In some ways, the revisions are much smaller than those made to space combat; in other ways, the changes are bigger. Ground skills now have two skill tracks -- one set of skills that's shared among all characters and one that's unique for each career. The shared line of skills provides straight buffs to general abilities, such as damage and shield values, while the unique line of five skills buffs career-specific abilities such as pets for Engineers, healing for Science, and buffs for Tactical. Players should peruse the full list of updates to get a sense of what ground skills will look like after the change -- they're simpler, but there's still a great deal of room for differentiation.
New Star Trek Online developer diary explores the abandoned Jem'Hadar ships
The Dominion is, in many ways, the opposite of the Federation in Star Trek Online. Rather than being composed of several races cooperating freely for shared exploration, the Dominion features multiple races honed into single-purpose tools by the Founders. One of those tools is the Jem'Hadar, the warriors of the organization and the pilots behind the fast scarab-like attack vessels players are no doubt familiar with. And as the latest developer diary outlines, the Jem'Hadar ships are turning into a mystery -- because they're turning up empty and unharmed in the middle of Federation and Klingon space. In game terms, the ship is small and quick and mounts a heavy offensive arrangement of officers and equipment. In lore terms, however, the presence of the ships could easily be the subject of an entire set of missions (and may be in the future, in the Foundry if not from the development team). It's an interesting fictional read as well as an interesting look at a new ship type in the game, both of which should appeal to fans of Star Trek Online
Star Trek Online offering perks to subscribers before the business shift
Season 5 is now live for Star Trek Online, but the actual conversion to free-to-play is still a little further ahead. That means there's a grace period during which players can be given a few extra little perks for sticking with the game. Said perks have been outlined in the most recent Path to F2P blog entry. Until January 2nd, the classic Constitution-class ship and the Klingon Qorgh Refit are free to players who log in and claim them from the C-Store. Subscription deals are also being offered through December 19th for players who subscribe for longer than one month. Picking up a three-month subscription will come out to around $36, and a six-month subscription will run about $66, both cheaper than the regular pricing. You can also pick up a lifetime subscription as well, if you're willing to drop $200 up front. While some players will doubtlessly be taking advantage of the shift to stop subscribing and keep playing, there's certainly no shortage of deals being offered to keep subscriptions after the switch.
A new invasion is hitting Star Trek Online's test server
There has never been a shortage of stories about the Borg assimilating a culture, but it's rare for the race to actively invade a planet. But that's exactly what's happening on Star Trek Online's test serve: Defera undergoing a large-scale invasion by the Collective. Players in both the Federation and the KDF are tasked with fighting back against the Borg in a variety of different settings across the planet to help test out this new large-scale event. Running for two hours once started, the event is currently being activated frequently enough so that players can consistently test all of the new elements introduced. If simply taking part in the push to prevent the Borg from getting a foothold isn't enough, the event also offers players new items as mission rewards, drops, and craftables. It should be an interesting event for players to explore in full on the test server, and it serves as another example of the game taking the war against the Borg up another notch.
Captain's Log: To spec or not to spec?
Captain's Log, Stardate 65340.3... Hello, computer (and players)! Unlike an answer to Shakespeare's original question, the answer to the question in this week's title is probably a no-brainer for most of you: Yes! Choosing a specialization, or "speccing," in MMOs is something that stretches across most titles out there, and Star Trek Online is no different. Whether you wish to resist attacks longer, do more damage, or add strength to your powers, choosing a customized spec can be rewarding and a challenge at the same time. With so many variables and places to spend your points, the possibilities are endless. While this week's Captain's Log is not here to tell you what you should spec into for your particular class or ship set-up, I would like to go over the space skill point overhaul that STO is about to go through. In the past, one of the biggest complaints from players was that they did not have a clear understanding of which skill tree affected which ability. The devs heard this feedback and have been working on a complete revamp to make these decisions simpler. Hopefully, this will allow you to have a better understanding of where and why to spend your points in a particular skill when you do have to re-spec at the launch of F2P on January 17th, 2012. Ensign, warp 10! Let's get our readers' bookmark buttons ready...
Dates outlined for Star Trek Online's free-to-play conversion
The cat is officially out of the bag: Star Trek Online is switching over its new free-to-play model on January 17th, 2012. And if you're looking forward to the shift in payment models, you might think that's the only date you need to be concerned with at the moment. But there are a few more milestones for players to look for, starting with December 1st. That's the day when players will start receiving their point stipends for subscription, with a stipend of 400 points on the billing date for the account. Another major date listed in the latest Path to F2P blog is December 8th -- that's the latest date that the team is planning to push the current test build on to the live servers. Sometime between the 1st and the 8th, the build will go live, with several enhancements and upgrades for existing subscribers even without the inclusion of free players. So mark your calendar because these are some rather important dates to keep watch on as the next month of testing and refinement rounds out.
Newest test server pass for Star Trek Online aimed at cleaning up [Updated with F2P date!]
Bugs and design issues are present even in the universe of Star Trek Online, ranging from irritating interface bugs on ship consoles to the apparently frequent bug that causes the holodeck to nearly kill everyone on the ship every few weeks. They also crop up in the game itself, of course, but as outlined in the latest Path to F2P blog, the development team is focusing in closely on trying to eliminate several bugs and design issues currently in the game. Patrol missions, for instance, are being changed from a flat sequence of isolated system missions into a more freeform system that scales with level. Crafting changes are also being put in place, giving players "material blocks" to work with that are purchase via dilithium, thereby allowing fleets and groups of players to shunt crafting resources toward a single player. The entry also hints at an entirely new form of content coming to the test server over the next month, although players will have to wait to find out what that means. [Edit: More details on the F2P switch have also surfaced, thanks to our friends at IGN.]
Star Trek Online outlines the next several veteran rewards for players
There's still no definite date on the conversion to free-to-play for Star Trek Online, but the game is quickly approaching its 700th day of operation -- which is important. The game's veteran awards are provided for players in 100-day increments, meaning that the point is fast approaching when the players will be owed a new reward. So it makes sense that the latest Path to F2P blog discusses the next four veteran rewards and explains another upgrade to the reward for 600 days. The 600-day reward will change to a free token at level 51 (Vice Admiral) allowing players to pick a free ship, something that is currently the case but is being changed with the upcoming patch. This veteran reward means long-time players will still be eligible for a free ship, a benefit that should help assuage at least some of the issues seen with the payment model shift. The subsequent rewards range from new Android bridge officers to free respec tokens, all of which should make long-time players rather pleased.
Overhaul to skills coming to Star Trek Online
The core of progression in Star Trek Online has always been the game's sprawling skill system, but it's also proved to be something of a weakness. Not only were several of the skills difficult to understand at a glance (Astrometrics offers benefits not instantly apparent, for instance), but the higher-tier skills were often prohibitively expensive in terms of skill points. That's why in addition to all of the other changes going live with the game's free-to-play conversion, the development team is working on a major skill overhaul so that players can know what each skill does and so that everything feels worthwhile. A list of the new skills and their effects are included with the newest installment of the Path to F2P blog, with the changes allowing players to more easily switch between ship types and weapon types without feeling unduly penalized. In addition, skills are now clearly separated into buffs to click abilities or passive benefits, rather than having them tied together in several cases. It's a wide-sweeping set of revisions but hopefully one that will help make the system more transparent for all players.
Star Trek Online opens up testing for the dilithium exchange
The economy of free-to-play games can be a tricky business. Usually, they're managed by keeping a strict distinction between in-game currency and purchased currency, but Star Trek Online is taking a slightly different approach. The upcoming overarching currency dilithium can be traded for Cryptic Points via the new dilithium exchange service, which has just gone live on the Tribble server for players to test. But the trade isn't a straight one, instead working on an auction-type system. The newest Path to F2P blog outlines the means for players to use the exchange system, which works both ways -- players can look to buy dilithium or Cryptic Points and are able to browse the overall market and see what other players are offering or asking. It's not quite as simple as being able to swipe your credit card and then grab some in-game money, but it's certainly blurring the lines between real currency and game money.
Captain's Log: A two-minute read could save you 15% or more on nerdrage insurance
Captain's Log, Stardate 65340.3... Hello, computer (and players)! Welcome to this week's edition of Captain's Log, brought to you by "Geko" Insurance. (And let's just say, you may want to purchase a policy). If you are a Star Trek Online player who watches Cryptic's official forums, you know that the game experienced an Occupy movement of its own this past weekend. Even if you don't frequent the forums, you may have seen some of the concerns raised through the #STO Twitter feed. Over the weekend, players lashed out against some of the recent changes that have made their way to the Tribble test server. It may be surprising to some of you reading this, but the commotion was not related to the economy changes. The main concern is that some of the items for purchase in the C-Store are going to be changing from account-wide unlocks to per-character transactions. While I was a little perturbed at the thought too, I was happy to see that some of the misconceptions were cleared up once we got an official statement from one of the devs. But since there is a lot more to the story, let's take a look. Ensign, warp 10! And don't forget to buckle your seatbelt...
Captain's Log: Every day I'm tribbleing
Captain's Log, Stardate 65322.9... Hello, computer (and players)! For the past several weeks, Star Trek Online players have been checking out the latest F2P beta builds on the Tribble test server. While there have been a few patches on other days, more for stability fixes and minor tweaking, Thursdays seem to be the designated day for us to receive the largest pushes of new content. The latest round of updates has brought further economy changes, new events and ships, and even more heated debates. Since we seem to be a ways out from the seeing the updates ported to the Holodeck live server, there is still plenty of time to check it all out and provide your feedback to the devs. I would like to dedicate this entry to those who are helping test the changes. This week's Captain's Log serves as a checklist of sorts on what new content you can test and where you can provide feedback about it. As you read through, I suggest that you read a particular section, jump into game to check out the particular change, formulate an opinion, and head to the linked forum where you can leave your feedback. No matter what you think, it's important to let the devs know -- they will make changes based upon a collective opinion. Ensign, warp 10! It's time to create our own party rock anthem...
Star Trek Online strengthening the fight against the Borg
Since launch, Star Trek Online has always used the Borg as a major threat. This is evidenced by the Borg's position in several of the game's Strategic Task Forces, top-end challenges for the best of the best in the Federation and the KDF. The conversion to free-to-play will include improvements and updates for these STFs, starting with a change explained in the latest installment of the Path to F2P blog series. The first change is the shift to two separate difficulty modes, Normal and Elite. STFs are also being added to the PvE queue feature so that players can more easily assemble a group. Last but not least, the missions will feature special rewards that can be traded for a variety of anti-Borg equipment, allowing successful players the chance to better tune their ships for future runs. These updates won't reduce the threat level of the Borg, but they should help more players face off against one of the game's marquee opponents.
