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Captain's Log: Is the state of the game good, bad or ugly?
Newsflash! This just in: Star Trek Online has endured a turbulent life so far. You had no idea, right? Except for the part where Captain's Log has discussed that very topic for the past two weeks -- and who here doesn't hang on my every word? (Don't answer that.) STO's rocky road also features prominently in the latest state of the game letter from Cryptic Studios. Executive Producer Daniel Stahl offers some visions for the future of the game and drops some hints of what to expect in coming updates. He also comes this close to sharing frank information about STO's performance. So what does Stahl's vaguenesses imply, and what does Cryptic have in store for STO?
Captain's Log: Five features STO should "borrow" from other MMOs
Hi, everybody! (Hi, Dr. Nick!) Thanks for tuning in to another edition of Captain's Log, where we laud and lament the finer points of Star Trek Online each and every Thursday. Last week sure was fun, wasn't it? Nothing gets the comments pumping like defending the work of Cryptic Studios, amirite? This week, I feel like having a little more fun. These are exciting times for MMO-lovers, and I admit my eye -- and my playing time -- have gone a-wanderin' of late. So I got to thinking this week about which features from other MMOs I would most like to see implemented in STO. Keep reading, because I'm going to tell them to you! And then I'm going to demand that you suggest your own features in the comments!
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.
Newest Ask Cryptic focuses on Star Trek Online's weekly episodes
The Breen might be backstabbing frozen monsters, but they've been a part of something wonderful in Star Trek Online. Not in the sense that they've stopped being backstabbing frozen monsters, but in the sense that you'd be hard-pressed to find a player unhappy with the new featured episodes. And with the ongoing plan to add a new episode every week, there's going to be a lot more content to enjoy in short order. The most recent Ask Cryptic feature, unsurprisingly, has focused on this new aspect of the game, with Dan Stahl fielding player questions on the weekly feature. Perhaps most interesting for players will be the fact that Stahl talks about using the prototype version of user-generated content tools to develop some of the patrol missions seen in-game, reminding players that the option to make your own episodes is coming with time. There's also re-affirmation of the episodes becoming permanent features of the game and scaling to all levels, allowing players to take off the rails of the previous leveling structure and chart their own course. View the full article for a deeper look inside the newest part of Star Trek Online, and really, don't turn your back on a Breen.
Cryptic celebrates the holiday with a C-Store sale
If there's one feature of games from Cryptic Studios that's generated the most controversy, it's the C-Store. That having been said, it's hard to deny that the development team behind Star Trek Online and Champions Online takes any excuse to cut down the prices for a while. A holiday weekend combined with the one-year anniversary of Champions Online is the perfect opportunity to have a general sale for both game stores, lasting until 10 a.m. PDT on September 7th. For the remainder of the weekend and well into Tuesday, all items in both stores will be 20% off the listed price on the website. The only exceptions are the newest additions to the store -- the Millennium Costume Set for Champions Online and the Excelsior-class ship for Star Trek Online. If you've been putting off picking up one of the many vanity items for sale, now would be a perfect time to add them to your collection.
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: Starship interiors and hints of the future
Oh, hi there, readers! You'll have to excuse me; I was just enjoying a little quiet time in my quarters. My starship quarters. Inside my starship. Because I have those now. Yes, among many other features, Season 2: Ancient Enemies introduced starship interiors to Star Trek Online. Continuing from last week's discussion of diplomacy, one of Season 2's other big additions, I thought we'd spend this edition of Captain's Log examining ship interiors. Plus, we'll take a special side trip into the future to consider what else STO fans can look forward to -- in the future!
Captain's Log: Impressions of diplomacy in Star Trek Online
Peace be with you, readers. Today, we convene once again for a new edition of Captain's Log, in which we discuss, with mutual respect for all opinions, Star Trek Online. Begging your pardon if you disagree, but I thought it appropriate that we explore one of the game's brand-new features: diplomacy. With the advent of Season 2: Ancient Enemies, Treksters and STO fans the world over may breathe a sigh of relief. Cryptic Studios finally introduced a dedicated system for being all peaceable and stuff, like on the teevee. So how does this diplomacy business work, and is it any good? Read on to find out.
Star Trek Online gives old players a chance to come back
So you were playing Star Trek Online, but for whatever reason you stopped for a while. And all of the additions in Season 2 are certainly tempting, but you're not sure if you quite want to subscribe for another month to see if they're everything you ever wanted. If only there were some way to get a short jaunt back so you could decide one way or the other? If that describes you fairly well, you're in luck, as Cryptic has just announced that this weekend will be welcoming all lapsed players with open arms. From now until Monday, August 9th at 10 a.m. PDT, anyone with a valid Star Trek Online account will be able to log in and play with no restrictions, giving players a chance at all the updates and expansions from the latest large patch. That includes new Klingon content, minigames, an expanded level cap, and the Federation Diplomatic Corps. It's enough to lure anyone back for the weekend, so take a look at the full terms and conditions, then head off to start boldly going where some players may or may not have previously gone.
Captain's Log: Pros and cons of Season 2
Hail and well met, fellow travelers! Welcome to another edition of Captain's Log, your weekly helping of Star Trek Online infopiniontainment. The past few weeks have been a little crazy around here, between the C-Store kerfuffle and the game's six-month anniversary. Oh, and did I mention Season 2 went live? Yep, the corking chaps at Cryptic Studios released STO's latest super-patch on July 27, introducing a bevy of new content. Now that most players have had a chance to sink their teeth into Season 2: Ancient Enemies, I thought we'd discuss some of the major new features, as we did when Season 1 hit the scene four months ago.
Dan Stahl highlights more of Star Trek Online's future direction
Star Trek Online's Dan Stahl has been fairly vocal since he took the executive producer post at the beginning of last month. We had our own chance to speak with him recently, where he discussed everything from the then-upcoming Season 2 content to the rumors about the game adopting a free-to-play model. His most recent interview at ZAM covers several of the same pieces of territory, but as one would expect with the time elapsed and the release of Season 2, there are several new pieces of information within. The weekly episodes are one of the major points of discussion, with the first one premiering in late August. Stahl discusses the episodes focusing around the Deferi, a race with ties to both the Federation and the Klingons, but not explicitly allied with either. He also discusses plans for an overhaul to exploration, likening the current system to "a small box where you fly around and go through random doors," something that the team is planning on changing for Season 3. The full interview is well worth a read for what it contains -- nothing earth-shattering, but more signs that Star Trek Online's direction is getting progressively stronger.
Captain's Log: Six months of Star Trek Online
Grab a party hat and some confetti, because it's time for an extra-special edition of Captain's Log. This week, we put aside recent tribble-ations in favor of some celebration: Star Trek Online is six months old! Can you believe Cryptic Studios' STO went live half a year ago? This Monday marks the big anniversary, and it sure has been a bumpy ride getting here. Awash in new content, and occasionally mired in controversy, STO is older and wiser now. So let's scoop up the sands of time with our beach pail of reminiscence, as we fondly recall the past six months of STO.
Our interview with Star Trek Online's executive producer Dan Stahl
There's a lot going on with Star Trek Online at the moment. Not only does the game have a major update fast approaching and the occasional microtransaction controversy popping up, but it's also recently been given a new executive producer. Daniel Stahl has had the reins for a little under a month, but that's still enough time to have a notable influence on both the direction of the upcoming update and the overall direction of the game. We recently had a chance to sit down and talk with the new executive producer about his work on Star Trek Online, the game's strengths and weaknesses, and where development is headed for the future. There's a new direction in store for the game, or perhaps it'd be more apt to say a new focus. If you're interested in the game's past and future, or even just in the various rumors that started flying about the game going free-to-play, take a look past the break for the full interview.
Captain's Log: Per-character C-Store services ruin everything ever
Geez louise! It's time for another installment of your favorite Thursday Star Trek Online column, Captain's Log. Despite the lovely weather, the final volume of awesome, that crazy-good movie and a parasailing donkey, everyone seems to (still) be talking about one thing: the C-Store! In last week's Captain's Log, we glanced at micro-transactions in STO on our way to discussing the game's future in an increasingly freemium world. Readers had plenty of comments to share ... and that was before Cryptic Studios dropped a hydrogen bomb in the form of new per-character services. Players erupted late last week, and the flames are still burning in a forum thread more than 115 pages long. I would be remiss to gloss over the controversy, so let's examine why folks are so upset at Cryptic this time. It's not as if much else is happening in the pre-patch lull, amirite?
Star Trek Online adds more C-Store options and controversy [Update]
There's a pattern that seems to repeat itself every time Cryptic adds new items to Star Trek Online's C-Store -- or at least, a sequence of events wherein players are at first excited, then angry or annoyed when the prices are revealed. A bunch of new items have been added to the store: two additional costume slots (not on the website at the moment), two additional ship slots, and two additional bridge officer spots. The trouble arises with the handling of the upgrades, particularly with the new costume slots, as they're counted on a per-character basis. A similar upgrade is available in the store for Champions Online, for the exact same price -- but it increases the number of costumes available on every character rather than just the character it's purchased on. The per-character upgrades, coupled with a reduced importance for costumes in Star Trek Online, all help make many players feel a bit shorted by the price tag. Others are arguing that the add-on is only $2.50, an argument that's gone on at length on the official forums. Controversy is nothing new to the game, but this much debate over a fairly minor item leads one to be a bit curious about what reception future items might find. [Update: Cryptic has contacted us with news on upcoming changes to this system, "We're going to change the way the costume slot purchases work so they become account-wide rather than per-character. And, of course, our customer service department will be able to assist anyone who purchased the upgrade multiple times to cover multiple characters."] [Thanks to Cap for the tip!]
Captain's Log: The C-Store and the perils of going freemium
Welcome to another installment of Captain's Log, in which we explore -- and sometimes complain about -- the uncharted depths of Star Trek Online. This is your captain speaking from behind a rickety card table in a basement somewhere in the murky New Jersey Nebula. Isn't moving the worst? Last week, we learned a little bit about Daniel Stahl, the brand new executive producer on STO. But not enough to prepare us for the crazy truth bomb with which he torpedoed the official forums. On Sunday, Stahl suggested that he could see STO going free-to-play. Seriously. I had planned to discuss the Cryptic Store this week anyway, and this fits in nicely, given micro-transactions' importance to the free-to-play model. Would Cryptic Studios' switching STO from subscriptions to an F2P model be a godsend or a hellish nightmare? (Hint: It would wind up somewhere in the middle.)
More details on weekly episodes in Star Trek Online's Season 2
If you're playing Star Trek Online, odds are good that you've come by your affection for the game via a prior love of the series. While we haven't had a new show on television in several years, almost every fan has fond memories of sitting down each week for the latest installments of the story. According to a new 10-question interview with Daniel Stahl, that's exactly what the team hopes to replicate (pun intended) with the weekly episodes that are coming along with Season 2. Each one is meant to give players something new to look forward to on a weekly basis, ranging from first contact with an alien race to placing your ship in perilous situations. Speaking of first contact, there's more information on diplomatic missions, which seem as if they'll not simply be standalone ventures but also components of existing content. (The once-dreaded planetary aid missions, for example, fall under their aegis.) One of the rewards for progressing through the diplomatic ranks is the chance to make first contact and define the first impression the Federation makes -- something that any fan of the series will tell you is an important event. Star Trek Online players eager for more information on Season 2 can read the full list of questions, which include a preliminary target of the last week in July.
Preview made available for Star Trek Online's Season 2
If the Season 1 patch for Star Trek Online pushed forward huge improvements to the game's engine, Season 2 looks to expand into several areas players have complained were lacking. Cryptic has just released a preview page detailing several additions, including added Klingon PvE play and six additional levels. The new levels let players reach the coveted rank of Vice Admiral in the Federation and Lieutenant General in the Klingon Empire, bringing improved versions of Tier 5 ships to coincide with the new maximum ranks. While it's not explicitly stated, it's implied that the new ships won't be mandatory upgrades, but rather options for players who want to fly some of the most iconic ships in the franchise's long history. Even with no other additions, the changes would bring new aspects of play, but the update also sees the launch of the Federation Diplomatic Corps (a separate leveling track of negotiation and social interaction) and a new minigame associated with anomaly scanning. Currently a passive form of resource gathering, scanning will be changed into a simple wave-matching game to help gather additional resources -- making it somewhat more interesting than walking to a node and pressing a button. That's still not getting into the special weekly content due to start arriving in August... there's a good reason Cryptic has made a large page to summarize it at a glance. Star Trek Online's second major patch is targeted to hit later this month, with a first impression from testing available from West Karana.
Rumor: Is Star Trek Online due for Turbine's business model?
Back in early June, Turbine surprised everyone -- for the second time in a year -- by announcing that Lord of the Rings Online would be moving to a free-to-play model akin to Dungeons and Dragons Online. It seems like a somewhat risky move on one level, but also quite understandable given the success the latter has enjoyed. Now we're hearing potential rumblings of another game heading in that direction -- specifically, from Star Trek Online's new Executive Producer Daniel Stahl. In the midst of a thread rather unhappy with some of the answers from the most recent Ask Cryptic outing, Stahl chimed in about Star Trek Online going free-to-play. Stahl mentions that he could easily see Cryptic's game adopting a similarly hybrid model, with the option for a subscription as well as the option to pay as you play. While he stops far from saying that it's in the plan, he does say the success enjoyed by Turbine is well worth taking note. Alternative subscription plans are gaining momentum, and with gamers complaining about the C-Store prices combined with a subscription fee, the idea might not be so far-fetched after all. [Thanks to Alexander for the tip!]
