Time Played: (Not including Beta) 6 hours
Relevant Biases: World of WarCraft addict; Deep Space Nine was the best Trek
Platform: PC

I was never terribly excited about Star Trek Online to begin with, and with the game’s official launch now a week out, I'm not exactly surprised to discover that the game has not lit my world aflame. ST:O has a lot going for it, not the least of which being its well established and universally loved mythos, but for reasons I am hard pressed to explain, every time I fire the game up I start thinking about how long I intend to play and isn't there something else I could be doing with this time?

The fundamental problem is that Star Trek just doesn’t make sense for me as an MMO, or at least ST:O developer Cryptic Studios hasn't convinced it does. The genre is locked in for me with distinct preconceived notions about loot gathering and level progression. I applaud Cryptic for rising to the necessary challenge of reinventing the wheel, but it’s endlessly hard to believe I can’t, as acting captain of the U.S.S. Renegade just have a fancy personal shield or hypo spray replicated. Why exactly am I taking one off a dead Klingon, anyway?

Additionally, the progression and advancement system is obtuse, and even at level — God, I don’t even know, maybe just six — there’s no sense of things changing or how they might change in the future. I can't credibly comment on how that progression may or may not improve as I unlock new powers, skills and tree option, but I’m already shooting down Birds of Prey and the occasional Battlecruiser right now, what will I be doing in fifteen or twenty levels? Shooting down suitably stronger versions? Does that even make sense?

I stress, the problem is not that Star Trek: Online doesn't have an answer. The problem is that the answer is hard to see early on. I imagine that if you can go into this game with a sensible desire to simply explore, then all of this is just meaningless minutia that will take care of itself. My play style is goal and reward driven, and I feel so far like a square peg being kicked into a block of wood that doesn't even have a round hole much less a square one.

It’s funny, because by and large the mechanics of the game are not where I find myself discouraged. Granted the away missions can get a little tedious and predictable from time to time, but they do have a sense of narrative to them that goes beyond just the collect and kill quests. It’s at least something to feel like you’ve boarded a medical ship lousy with stinkin’ Klingons to rescue some doctors rather than playing pest control for some local constabulary. Space battles are also a highlight, particularly if you get involved in a larger scale battle or fleet action with ships swooping in from all directions firing great streaking arcs of phasers and crisscrossing photon torpedoes.

I want to be more excited when I log into Star Trek: Online, which is increasingly stable by the day, and I’ll keep it on my desktop hoping for that moment where it all clicks into place for me. But, the reality is that between having just finished Mass Effect 2 and eyeing Bioshock 2, it’s difficult to imagine when I will have the time, much less the inclination to give it the time it deserves.

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Today, we highlight one of our QA leads, Andrew Scharf. Why Andrew? Because he’s the QA Lead on Fallout: New Vegas! What’s your job at Bethesda? I’m a QA Project Lead. My responsibilities include scheduling testing throughout the various stages of the game’s lifecycle, managing the day-to-day tasks of my testing team, and maintaining the bug [...]

One of the things that we love in superhero MMOs like Champions Online is the sheer creativity that people employ in coming up with their costumes. We know we spend hours stuck in the character creator. Then, just when you think you've got a great looking costume; someone whips by in some combination that will either elicit envy -- or baffled amusement. Today, we have a Champions Online screenshot that apparently edged more towards the amused side of things (although we're not entirely certain why) from CorayThan. He writes in to tell us more about it:

I met Cylon-Man (a.k.a. Flame Runner) while running around killing irradiated humans. I thought his costume was so hilarious I just had to do a photo shoot! I chased him for about 5 minutes taking all the screen shots I could. Then, in the middle of my screen-shot UI-less frenzy, I saw him yell, "help!" He'd pulled about 6 mobs at once. Sadly for him, they got revenge for their fallen comrade before I could put my UI back up and help him out. He thought it was pretty funny when I apologized for letting him die because I was too busy taking screen shots.

One Shots is all about what you're doing as players, but we can't post your screenshots if you don't send them in! All you have to do to take part is to email them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what's in the screenshot. We'll post it out here, and give you the credit.

Filed under: Super-hero, Screenshots, One Shots, Champions Online

One Shots: Oops, sorry originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Battlegrounds are on Test and Test-Copy! Be sure to check them out and take a look at this preview video! News republished from official EverQuest 2 website.

Another mysterious parcel dropped off by a dark elf (I assume it was a dark elf, her eyes were shrouded but I’ve had experiences with this before!) I don’t have the slighest idea what any of this means – so uh, have fun with it! Related posts:Saturday Bits and Pieces Ah yes, an Related posts brought to [...] Related posts:

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MMORPG.com columnist Justin Webb writes this week's article on difficulty in games, looking back at a past where games were just... harder.

NCsoft has announced that the 14-day free trials for Lineage II have returned. The free trial limits characters to reaching level 40 on up to three characters, but will, of course, save your data so that you can continue the same character(s) should you decide to subscribe. The trial is hassle free, requiring no credit card details, simply download, sign up, and play!

MMORPG.com's Bill Murphy writes this week's list, taking a look at five current MMOs in development that may just surprise MMO fans.

NCsoft has announced today that players can look forward to Issue 17, which has been titled "Dark Mirror," this April! Most players expected to find the new graphical updates featured in Going Rogue with the release of the upcoming expansion, however, it appears that the previously announced "Ultra Mode" will make it in with Issue 17!

LEGO Universe was more or less given a full unveil at this year's CES, and while beta sign ups were available for those at the show, those of us stuck at home were left unable to throw our names into the hat. Today, however, things are different! LEGO fans everywhere can now rejoice, as beta sign ups have officially begun!

MMORPG.com's Garrett Fuller recently spoke with Age of Conan's Erling Ellingsen about the upcoming Rise of the Godslayer expansion.

PlayOMG has announced that the beta test for their upcoming 3D fantasy MMORPG, N.E.O. Online, is now underway! The test is technically a "Closed Beta," though anyone who is a PlayOMG member or has a social media account (Facebook, etc) can join in.

On Tuesdays, MMORPG.com will present three new screenshots from the upcoming MMORPG Battle of the Immortals.

Link Fighter Guild Fresco / L2 VAULT Screenshots database The fighters guild in Goddard has this awesome artwork on the wall. Swords clashing in...

After a few oblique references and potential name leaks, Ubisoft has finally confirmed today development of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, the latest entry in the tactical squad-based shooter series not seen since 2007's Ghost Recon: Advance Warfighter 2.

The game is being developed by the same Ubisoft Paris team behind the original Advance Warfighter and its sequel, and the press release purports Future Soldier will feature "cutting-edge technology, prototype high-tech weaponry, and state-of-the-art single-player and multiplayer modes." But alas, it left out any details of what makes these modes and technology so cutting-edge and state-of-the-art.

The good news is many of us will soon be able to see for ourselves. While the game isn't set for release until "Holiday 2010" (read: probably November), Ubisoft will be launching a multiplayer beta on the Xbox 360 this summer. Invites will be shipped along with Splinter Cell: Conviction for a limited time.

EA has made some aggressive strides recently to encourage purchasing new copies of games by incentivizing with exclusive downloadable content. Dragon Age: Origins gave players a fully realized party member, Saboteur gave users a nude show, and new copies of Mass Effect 2 included access to the Cerberus Network, a gateway that granted free access to various pieces of DLC. According to comments made at yesterday's investor conference call, the company has benefitted from the move and has similar plans for future products, reports G4.

"In every case, what we've seen is a very positive response from the consumer and each case, particularly starting with Dragon Age, a strong pick-up in revenue per user," said CEO John Riccitiello. "By and large, they like the extra content and we think it's a strong positive move." He went on to remark that the company has "similar strong PDLC [paid downloadable content] with each and every one of our titles this year."

So not only has the inclusion of free DLC encouraged new purchases, it seems that giving away some items for free is encouraging players to buy the paid content as well. As the adage goes, if you scratch our backs, we'll scratch yours. The Cerberus Network model seems particularly effective, since it not only includes the initial round of free armor and weapons, but any other small DLC goodies EA chooses to put out on it as well. Today, for example, a new Cerberus Armor and M-22a Eviscerator Shotgun (above) became available for those with Cerberus access. If this ultimately helps EA's bottom line, we may see the trend spread to other companies.

It was a bit quiet on the LEGO Universe front for most of 2009, with a reveal of screenshots, and a bit of development news here and there, but not much else.

January 2010 changed all of that, with a big reveal at CES that gave us a trailer full of zombie pirate awesome, and some actual alpha footage of the game. This quick progression from screenshots and interviews to trailers and gameplay footage led to the natural assumption that more was going to come quickly, and we were right: signups for the LEGO Universe beta began today, just a short while ago.

Don't tell us that it's a kids game and you're entirely too grown-up for it -- we know better. Nobody outgrows LEGOs. Now go sign up for the beta, you know you want to. Signups can be made here, and we hope to see you in the beta. (Yes, we're signing up too. We told you: nobody outgrows LEGOs.)

[Thanks to Dennis for the tip!]

Filed under: Betas, New titles, News items, LEGO Universe

LEGO Universe begins beta signups originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The folks at Cryptic wanted to hear from you, and hear from you they did. Last week, the call went out for fan questions for the next installment of Ask Cryptic, and the current round of questions was posted last night.

It's no secret that concern has been growing in the player community for a while now regarding all things Cryptic. While a bit of Star Trek Online made its way into the Q&A, things primarily focused on Champions Online and the company as a whole.

Fans asked questions regarding the future of Champions Online and Cryptic's commitment to the game, what they plan to do in order to rebuild faith in the company, and what they've learned from the rocky ride they have had so far. A few questions made it in that were less "big picture" as well, regarding themed characters and the upcoming melee rebalance.

The latest Ask Cryptic can be found on the official site, so take a look and see what you think.

Filed under: Super-hero, News items, Champions Online

Fans express concerns in newest Ask Cryptic originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dungeon Finder, so far, has been pretty successful for me.  I don’t use it a lot. I had been in maybe a dozen groups total with a couple of different characters in the mid-30s to the mid-60s.  But it has been fun. I’ve healed with my resto spec’d druid. I’ve tanked with my feral druid. Heck, I’ve even [...]

I played Mario Kart Wii today, and I spent more time kvetching about level design than actually playing. I like games that are not afraid to be cute in the North American market, but too many take the “it’s a kids game” excuse to skimp on things like balance or reasonable level design. [...]

I like The Onion, but I rarely find myself reading much of it because the full text rarely improves on the headlines. You might need to read the first paragraph to see where they are taking the joke, but stringing it out for 1000 words does not add much to the first 5 seconds. [...]

Unscientifically, Lord of the Rings Online takes the longest to load on my system of any MMO.  It seems I am not alone.  One big problem is the fragmentation of the internal file system.  Turbine just released a beta internal defragger for Lord of the Rings Online.  Read all the warnings and problems to be [...]

Today (feb 9th) it’s exactly one year ago, that I joined Hidden Agenda. The corp I was in previously had slowly bled dry. I had been looking for a new corporation for some time on the forums and I might even have joined the recruitment channel a few times. But I didn’t find anything that [...]

Coincidentally, I’m apparently doing iPhone app stories today, but this one is a doozy:  an iPhone app called Siri.  Siri is an app that you speak into, and it accomplishes all kinds of tasks.  You can ask it about movies, to get you a taxi, find a nearby gas station, to find a restaurant, etc.  [...]

According to Electronic Arts' investors report, Realtime Worlds' cops-n-robbers themed MMOG, All Points Bulletin, will not be making its Q1 2010 release date. Instead, EA's report lists APB in EA's Q2 2011 fiscal year, or Q3 2010.