Games of the Moment

I'm playing mostly Star Trek Online and Neverwinter these days - both Perfect World / Cryptic Studios games.

One of the things that I've noted in the past is that when you jump from one MMO to another that what happens is that you lose skill in that game and have to relearn it when you come back.  On the plus side, it does keep things fresh and new - when one game gets boring, going over to one that you haven't played in a while livens things up.

While STO and NW are very different games, because they've both been developed by the same people, it's easier to understand some of the systems.  When I pop on either, I know to look for the various hourly events and that I can basically "teleport" into them from anywhere, I know that it's a good idea to accumulate dilithium/astral diamonds to buy special things, and when the urge arises to spend actual money on the games I can divide the Zen that I buy between them if I want easily enough.

Basically, by trying to stick to a select few MMOs at the moment is my attempt to actually get more skilled and better geared in them.

On Star Trek these days, I've been concentrating on getting my various level-maxed characters finished with their reputation grinds.  The good news is that they just implemented a system with the last episode that allows a character who achieves the highest level of rep with a given group to create a token that can then be given to other characters, giving them double reputation experience with each project that they finish.  So basically, get one character to level 5 reputation, grind out tokens to your other characters, and they then have to spend half of the reputation/items/energy credits to get there themselves.  That was a long time in the coming.

I've also been working on my Klingon Empire character and enjoying the difference in KDF ships and the change in playstyle.  For those of you who don't play, Klingon ships are very focused on forward firing arcs - they're not made to attack to the stern - which I think is very, well, Klingon.

On the Neverwinter side, they just introduced the Ranger class, which I've found to be interesting.  Once they hit level 10, a bulk of their skills can be switched from a ranged mode to a melee mode, which is unique in the game thus far.  After playing my new Ranger a bit, I did head straight back to my favorite - Devoted Cleric.  He's pretty powerful in his own right and I enjoy the idea of being able to heal party members when I do group up.  The thing that I like most about this class is that it's not a sit-back-and-heal type of MMO healer - he's very active in fighting and the very act of doing so charges up his "daily" powers to add extra some extra punch into the mix.

If you do get a chance to try out either of these games, give it a go.  They're both free-to-play and you really can play them for free and be competitive (slightly less so on the STO side).

First Look At Legacy of Romulus

I just got my new Romulan Tactical officer up to level 20 this past weekend.  That might be a little long for a "first look" but I really wanted to get a feel for the expansion, the new Romulan gameplay, and my own style for this character.  Star Trek Online really did a great job on this one.

Along with the new user interface, which I like (more Next Generation), it's great to see a revitalization of the Klingon faction along with the HUGE interest in the Romulans.  Now that you can play Klingons from level one on, and there is actual Klingon-specific content for them to play, it adds a whole new dimension to the game that wasn't there before.  Being able to start off your gameplay with any faction is a plus.  The new trait system is better, in my opinion, and I really see it as helping you build the character that you want, with the style and specialization that you want, far better than the former system.

My Romulan Tactical officer (notice the Klingon shoulders)

The Romulan storyline paints them as a sympathetic race who just want to live and let live, generally speaking, but still have the signature Romulan guile, secrecy, and paranoia that you've learned to expect from them.  Character uniforms are very nice looking, especially after you've ranked up and picked an ally.  As it's so well known, I'm not calling the fact that you choose either the Federation or Klingons to ally with at some point in your story and then get access to their ships (up to tier 4 - at tier 5, you have to pilot a warbird) a spoiler.  I chose the Klingons, since all of my other characters are Federation and I wanted to try something new and you can see that in my character's picture above (you get to select some faction uniform items).  When you do choose a new ship, it looks like the standard warbird for that tier is free, but if you want an advanced warbird or one of your ally faction's ships it will cost you either Zen or dilithium.  I was actually really surprised by having to pay dilithium for ally ships - it seems that they should have been among the free choices.

Romulan Character Creation (Star Trek Online)

With Star Trek Online's Legacy of Romulus expansion going live, I figured that it would be cool to show you guys the options offered in character creation - specifically the physical customization in the form of face, body, and uniform.

The Romulans Are Coming

Tomorrow, Star Trek Online's Legacy of Romulus goes live.  It's a pretty huge update, not only bringing the Romulans and Remans in as new player character races along with Romulan-specific content, but also adding to Klingon faction content.  Klingons will now be starting characters that you level from one through fifty, as opposed to them starting at level twenty after you'd already leveled up a Federation character.  There's more, but these are the biggies.

Since The Next Generation, I've been very interested in the Romulans - their culture and their looks.  Romulans took paranoia and guile to a new level, their signature cloaking devices giving these traits form, if you will.  They always seemed to fit into the puzzle of the Star Trek universe somewhere between the Federation and the Klingon Empire.  They were very actively Imperial in nature, through conquest and not negotiation, like the Klingons and unlike the Federation.  They prioritized science and exploration, like the Federation (though for different reasons) and unlike the Klingons.  Stealth was a big part of their combat strategy (like Klingons), but they fought first and foremost for strategic wins and not for glory/honor (like the Federation).  You get the point.

Now, STO follows a different timeline than the J.J. Abrams movies and that point diverges with the destruction of Romulus.  So whereas in the movies Vulcan is destroyed and Spock and Nero travel back in time, in the STO universe Romulus was destroyed and we continue on with a timeline in line with the various series' and disregarding the new Abrams movies (so, basically, the past was not altered).  Regardless, it was very strange to see what were once members of one of the galaxy's largest empires reduced to refugees on a new planet, trying just to get by.  With the coming of this expansion, though, it looks like the Romulans have bridged the gap from "getting by" to "getting back in the game."

MMOs I'm Playing: Star Trek Online

I've been a Trekkie (or Trekker, if you will) since I was a kid.  My Dad, who was a fan, made sure that I watched the original series growing up and I continued on with each series in turn as time went on.  I HATED Enterprise, but that's an explanation for another post.  Imagine my glee when I saw that the aptly named Star Trek Online (STO) MMO was finally coming out!

I went all-in with the collector's edition, took a couple of days off of work, and played until my mouse clicking finger bled.  What I found originally was that it was pretty grindy and it seemed like the developers of the game may not have actually ever watched a single episode of any version of Star Trek.  Aside from missions where you'd beam down to catalog plant life, every mission for the Federation was to go somewhere and blow somebody up.  Star Trek was about more than that - it was exploration, negotiation, defense, and the acquisition of knowledge...and along the way you blew people up.  So I stopped playing for a while (maybe a year).

My curiosity being what it is, I had to return and check the game out.  When I did, I found that new missions had been created.  Yes, you still blew people up, but it seemed like the story behind why was more to defend those who couldn't defend themselves or to really be at the forefront of defending the Federation.  You negotiated here and there, even going so far as to having diplomacy options in your dialogues.  There was a LOT more to do and while it was still ultimately a grind like any MMO, you didn't notice because you could switch between activities if you ever got bored and still progress your character.

I liked what I saw.  So I slapped down the $200 (on sale from $300) for the lifetime subscription and I've never regretted it since.  In fact, it's paid for itself and then some.