Star Trek Online: Upgrade Your Ship Even Further?
Cryptic used the same statement on their recent news release. Except they ended it with an exclamation mark whereas I’ve chosen a question mark instead. Because I really do question the wisdom of expanding the Experimental Ship Upgrade path and the benefits of applying additional tokens to your ships, unlocking further device, console and trait slots. This is a classic example of doing something because you can, as opposed because you should. Do players at level cap who have already upgraded their ship(s) from Tier 6 to Tier 6-X really need to augment it further? Beyond the immediate stats boost, does it offer any significant benefit to the player or the game in the long run? Or does this situation simply boil down to the fact that it’s another cynically contrived excuse for Star Trek Online developers, Cryptic, to sell you something. For the record, Experimental Ship Upgrade tokens are available for sale in the Zen Store (for money) or can be purchased via Phoenix Prize Pack (for dilithium).
Star Trek Online: Trait Bug
All MMORPGs have bugs. It is a certainty in life, just like death and taxes. However, some have more than others. I’m sure we could argue for hours as to which particular game has the most but I’ll leave that discussion to others. Star Trek Online has its share, many of which have persisted for years. But there is one that stands out, due to its longevity and sheer annoyance. To be specific, the “trait bug”. Like many MMO’s STO has a trait system that offers a range of passive or active buffs, skill boosts and statistical tweaks. STO is very much a number game, especially if you are chasing a high DPS output, which lots of players do. The trait bug is the random “unslotting” of some of your characters traits. It can affect any of the seven categories of traits but tends to most often happen to Personal Space Traits and Starship Traits. Unless you regularly check, most players will not immediately know this has happened.
LOTRO: River-hobbits Preview
There have been four test previews of Update 37 for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, recently on the Bullroarer test server. I only managed to briefly log in on the 1st of August, specifically to check out the new River-hobbit race. During my brief time on Bullroarer I investigated their respective character creation options and after quickly throwing together a new alt, logged into the game itself. Because I have been absent from both LOTRO and the official forums of late, I was not aware of any of the details surrounding River-hobbits. I was somewhat surprised that they hailed from Lyndelby in the Wells of Langflood. As I was short on time, I didn’t play through the new bespoke starter story associated with the new race. I logged out with the intention of returning during the next beta test but sadly I missed it. Hence I have spent the last few days reading several blogs and the official game forums to find out more about River-hobbits and how well they’ve been received so far.
MMO Tropes: Death
“The MMO genre is rife with its own set of tropes; recurring themes and motifs that have become established and ubiquitous. All of which are ideal material for a hastily produced, lazily conceived, recurring blog post”. Dying in an Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game is a clear and unambiguous fail state. A means by which to teach the player that they’re doing something wrong and that they need to rethink their strategy. IE Don’t mess with the foul Marmydons unless you have back up and are wielding the Sword of Kagnazax. Dying is a reminder to not get overconfident and maintain situational awareness. It teaches us to ensure you have the right gear and consumables, to be au fait with the mechanics of any fight you’re about to get into and that winning is not a given. Any enterprise that offers a tangible reward will come with potential risks and consequences. If you’re playing in a group then death provides a timely reminder not to rely on Colin.
MMO Tropes: Running All the Way
“The MMO genre is rife with its own set of tropes; recurring themes and motifs that have become established and ubiquitous. All of which are ideal material for a hastily produced, lazily conceived, recurring blog post”. I was in London recently, idly walking to the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, when a group of tourists started running for no discernable reason. Someone I was with asked “ I wonder why they’re running” and I replied “perhaps they think they’re in an MMO”. The quips fell on deaf ears but that is a cross I often have to bear. This anecdote highlights one of the points of this post. Namely, why do our avatars in the MMORPG genre run by default? I would also like to discuss the manner in which MMOs address the issue of travel around an ever expanding virtual world. Is fast travel lazy? Our mounts a boon or a bane?
LOTRO: Cardolan and Swanfleet Preview
The Bullroarer test server for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, recently had a three day preview for Update 34: Before the Shadow. Beta #1 provided an opportunity to explore the new regions of Cardolan and Swanfleet, as well as the new tutorial which starts in the village of Mossward. I shall write a separate article about the latter as it merits more than just a cursory paragraph. This post however, is specifically about the new zones themselves. The test held between Wednesday 19th and Friday 21st October, presented a fairly complete version of Cardolan and Swanfleet, which provide level 1- 32 content. The “mob” density was somewhat low in open areas. However, as this was a beta test there is scope that this will change in the final live release on Wednesday 9th November.
Star Trek Online: Ascension
This afternoon Cryptic launched the latest season update, Ascension, for the MMORPG Star Trek Online. Furthermore, I’m sure it will not come as a shock to long term players that it was broken and an emergency patch had to be applied. Oh how we all laughed. Even after being “fixed” players are still experiencing bugs with the new content, especially the ground mission part of the update, but this sadly is just par for the course. Personally speaking, it is not the bugs that I have a problem with as they are just part of the overall gaming experience when playing STO. What I am saddened about is the actual gameplay found in Ascension. The space combat section of the game is simply “more of the same”. Destroy some specific vessels and once the goal has been met, watch the cutscene. But the ground combat is especially uninspired and repetitive, despite its interesting setting.
LOTRO: Coming Changes to Race and Class Choice
Standing Stone Games are currently testing the second beta build of Update 33.2 on their The Bullroarer Test Server. The latest patch notes indicate that there are some major changes coming to the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online. The proposed Minstrel class changes are proving controversial and I suspect that there will be a strong degree of pushback from players. As I have not played this particular class, I am not in a position to express an informed opinion but reading comments both on the official forums and on Reddit, I think players have legitimate concerns. Changing and rebalancing class skills and in any way altering the status quo, never goes down well as you can never please everyone. It will be interesting to see if SSG take on board player comments or push ahead with their proposed changes regardless.
A Month in Gaming
I last wrote a post in this series in June. Back then I wanted a break from MMOs as I had invested heavily in Star wars: the Old Republic and The Lord of the Rings Online. Because I was still enjoying the Star Wars vibe, I decided to try Jedi: Fallen Order. Sadly, despite the story showing a lot of promise, the PC version of the game handles poorly and the controls are sluggish. Often it felt like my character was wading through mud and there was a tangible amount of skills lag. So I uninstalled it and moved on to something else. One of the odd things about gaming is that despite amassing a library of free and discounted titles, we often end up buying something new, instead of playing that which we already own. And that is exactly what I did. I purchased Stray amid all the excitement surrounding the game, but to date I still haven’t played it. Make of that what you will.
Navigating in MMORPGs
The Lord of the Rings Online was my first major MMORPG. I started playing in late 2008 and quickly discovered that there was a necessity to become familiar with the game world. Although the game provides quick travel options they were not ubiquitous at that point and often a player would simply travel on foot to travel costs down and to take the most direct route. Back in 2008 you could not own a mount until level 30. Hence I began “learning the maps” in the game and to this day still remember how to travel from one side of Moria, to another. The maps in the base game remain clear in my mind as they were so well trodden. Not so those in the regions. There are far more stables with fast mounts present in the game now and so convenience trumps any requirement to become so familiar with newly added zones. Nowadays Standing Stone Games designs new zones that tend to funnel players through them from quest hub to quest hub.
Star Trek Online: Five Tips
I’ve been playing Star Trek Online on and off for about 8 years. During that time I read a lot of Wikis and watched a lot of videos on YouTube that explore the game’s various systems and mechanics. I find a lot of the recommendations made by “expert” players to be impractical. The commonest being builds that include traits and consoles that you can only obtain from buying specific ships. Or using resources in quantities that take months of grinding to build up. This is hardly what I’d call handy advice for a new player. So I thought I’d give five tips of my own in no particular order, that I feel are useful. Some are glaringly obvious. Others not so. But hopefully they will prove useful to both new and returning players.
Star Trek Online: The Timeline Needs You (Again)
Cryptic are once again running the Temporal Agent Recruitment event in Star Trek Online from Tuesday 6th September 2022. Players who create a TOS (The original series) era character during this time are eligible for bonus dilithium, equipment and special traits as they play through the game. Progression also unlocks rewards for existing alts which can prove very useful. There are also unique tasks associated with Temporal Agents such as finding and unlocking Temporal Probes, which are hidden throughout the game’s story content. Once a player has created a 23rd century Starfleet character, completed the tutorial and received their special Temporal Agent transceiver device, they will gain the title Temporal Agent. The goals and bonus content associated with the event can be completed anytime, even after it ends on October 4th.
Echoes of Angmar and “Classic” LOTRO
Video games are evolutionary products that change over time, driven by technology, consumer preference and market trends. Furthermore, change is not always for the better. Video games are consumer products and all too often artistic and creative decisions are overruled by commercial considerations. Irrespective of the rectitude of such things, video games do not stay static. If you want a clear example of this, consider the MMORPG genre as it is today, as opposed to how it was in the late nineties. Compare the likes of Ultima Online with Guild Wars 2 of The Elder Scrolls Online and they are very different beasts. If you prefer a more specific example, then how about The Lord of the Rings Online as it is today with the game as it launched in 2007, fifteen years previous. Because the private LOTRO server Echoes of Angmar provides exactly that.
Echoes of Angmar Stress Test Begins
On Saturday 20th August the stress test began for the private LOTRO server Echoes of Angmar. This project is offering a version of the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online as it were in late November 2007. I have spoken to several players who have participated in this and other tests and so far the results have been positive. The server crashed on several occasions and the longest uninterrupted period of stability was two hours. Character creation is proving to be a slow process and some players have found that they cannot see other players when logging in. However, the majority of players could create alts and progress through the game as normal. The data generated from these tests has proven useful and the team overseeing the project are currently working on a revised build to improve stability. Further server tests are scheduled for Friday 26th August.
Making Your Own Fun in Guild Wars 2
It’s a curious thing but despite there being a wealth of story content available for me to do in Guild Wars 2, I don’t feel disposed towards doing any of it. I think this all stems from the fact that it’s an original intellectual property, rather than one based upon an established franchise. Looking back through my achievements and story journal on my primary character, I played through quite a lot of narrative content when I first started playing this MMO at launch. Sadly none of it has made a sufficient impression upon me to have stuck in my memory. This is not a reflection of the quality of the storyline of Guild Wars 2 but more a case of how I tend to prefer known quantities such as Tolkien and Star Trek. Curiously, I have not encountered this problem with The Elder Scrolls Online which is equally an original intellectual property. It all seems very much a case of horses for courses.
New Mini-expansion Coming to LOTRO in September
Today Standing Stone Games formally announced their next mini-expansion for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. Before the Shadow will be available in September and as recent leaks have shown, will include Cardolan and Swanfleet as new zones for the game. The new content will be between levels 1 and 32. SSG press release stated “Before the Shadow will send players into two new regions, Swanfleet and Cardolan, as Boromir makes his way north to Rivendell ahead of the meeting of what will eventually become the Fellowship of the Ring while the Nazgûl search for “Baggins” in the peaceful land of the Shire. Players will discover the threat rising from Mordor and Saruman's Uruks as they explore the far history of Middle-earth!”
Cardolan and Swanfleet Are Coming to LOTRO
While perusing the The Lord of the Rings Online subreddit today, I stumbled upon an alleged leak from the Palantir Test Server. Palantir hosts material that Standing Stones Games is currently in “Alpha Testing”. Those invited to preview such content are subject to an NDA. However, leaks happen because one of the defining characteristics of human beings is that they can’t keep their mouths shut. Setting aside the ethics of such matters, it would appear that regions coming to the game are Cardolan and Swanfleet. Maps have been posted on the LOTRO subreddit and one enterprising individual, CMuenzen, has gone so far as to use photoshop to see how well they integrate into the existing game world. As you can see from the picture, Cardolan and Swanfleet fill the gap between Sarn Ford to the West, The Angle of Mitheithel to the North and Enedwaith to the East.
MMO Tropes: Exploration
“The MMO genre is rife with its own set of tropes; recurring themes and motifs that have become established and ubiquitous. All of which are ideal material for a hastily produced, lazily conceived, recurring blog post”. Many MMORPGs are set in open worlds that are designed to mimic a real and living reality. Beautiful fantasy or science fiction themed environments, rich with diverse fauna and flora. Settlements are filled with people that go about their daily routine. There is often a day and night cycle and changing weather. All of which is intended to make the game world feel alive. Furthermore, these open worlds become a source of content of their own. Not only do they provide the environment for the various quests and missions that players undertake but a source of exploration and discovery. Something that many players value more than other types of game content.
You Can Never Just Do the Thing You Want to Do
Last night I had some spare time, so I watched a Guild Wars 2 live stream from Massively Overpowered. I stopped playing this particular MMORPG in late 2015, a few months after the second expansion Heart of Thorns was released. To say that it changed the game is an understatement and sadly they were not changes that I especially liked. Since then I have occasionally logged into the game but never done anything more than potter about the starter zones. However, after watching this live stream I felt disposed towards giving the game another go. I wanted to try a new class and swan about casting spells, looking like Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon because that’s the way all Mages look in MMOs. Today I logged into the game with hopes of rolling a Necromancer and questing in Tyria. However, the game had other plans.
Middle-earth Enterprises and Echoes of Angmar
Last month I wrote about a private server that is based upon an early iteration of the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. The project named Echoes of Angmar, is currently in development by a third party outside of the auspices of Standing Stone Games and will contain content up to and including Book11: Defenders of Eriador. Effectively this will be a version of the game as it was eight months after its initial release in 2007. Naturally, this private server has attracted a great deal of attention, as many LOTRO players have expressed an interest in a “classic” version of the game. However, the official developers of LOTRO have indicated that they have no desire at present to pursue such an undertaking. Some sources have claimed that it cannot be done, however video footage of Echoes of Angmar posted on YouTube seems to contradict such statements.