Author: johnk

On the Klingon Front

My latest Klingon captain is moving up in the ranks: Qohn is now a Lieutenant Commander aboard the K’Tanko class battlecruiser IKS Toranga. He got there almost exclusively with solo content, mostly fighting in the Kahless Expanse.

That’s been slow going compared to my previous Klingon characters; they leveled mostly by FvK PVP a few months ago.  Back then, a new match started every few minutes in prime time.  In two full nights of playing, Qohn only faced other captains twice, both KvK, and had a dozen attempted matches end in “not in queue” or “not enough captains accepted” messages. It’s hard to say if the queues are empty because they’re bugged or because there aren’t enough new subscribers or old ones rolling new characters. We’ll know when Cryptic fixes the queues–hopefully very soon.

The bright spot tonight was “Bringing Down the House”, the first Klingon PVE content I’ve played.  Chasing down a Romulan assassin across several worlds allowed for a good mix of ground and space combat. The story’s interesting if a little linear (most MMO content I’ve played so far is) and surpasses anything at equivalent levels on the Federation side.  More, please.

But first, Cryptic, please fix the queues.  Although I avoid PvMP like the Black Breath in LOTRO, I couldn’t get enough KvF after launch, and it’s going to be a long climb to Commander and (gasp) my beloved K’t’inga without it. And I promise to tear myself away from disintegrating Star Fleet captains long enough to enjoy any new Klingon PVE at or near level this time.

Revisiting Star Trek Online

I started playing Star Trek Online again last week after months away from the game. Has Cryptic addressed enough of STO’s shortcomings with Season 2 for a second look? Yes and no.

STO wasn’t a horrible game at launch, but it suffered from a rush to release after a bumpy development cycle. Being Star Trek, expectations were probably unreasonable from the start; the previous developer hadn’t helped matters by promising the sun, the moon, and another 100 million stars.

The game still suffers from bugs (some from launch) and a wonky interface 6 months after going live. Mini-games and a new diplomatic mission track don’t address some of the most egregious shortcomings at launch, but there is a sense that STO’s moving in the right direction. It’s hard to say if this is a course change because of STO’s new executive producer or if Cryptic is just getting its bearings after the chaos of launch. Regardless, STO is still a few parsecs away from being satisfying as a game instead of a Star Trek environment.

With LOTRO fighting for my attention (even better now that I’ve unlocked skirmishes), STO feels like a labor of love.  I’ve worked my way back up to Lt. Commander, and it’s felt like real work at that. PVP was a big part of what made STO fun: It brought people together and paid out where missions skimped.  Now, the lower-tier PVP queues are deserted–a lack of new subscribers perhaps–and the join mechanism failed the few times a match actually came up.

Although PVP gives Star Fleet some nice extras, it’s a Klingon’s bread and butter. Is there enough Klingon PVE content at the lower tiers to level without PVP? I’m eager to get a new Klingon rolled, but it may be quite some time before I plant my Klingon butt where it belongs, in the Captain’s chair of a K’t’inga class battlecruiser. Sigh.

I’m not as excited about becoming a Star Fleet Commander; the science ships are the ugliest in the fleet, the four-nacelle cruisers look as natural as two-headed snakes, and the otherwise-gorgeous Akira class escort is my least favorite type of ship to fly. STO’s August calendar of upcoming events brings hope with the addition of the Excelsior class as a tier 3 cruiser. Otherwise, I dread looking at the aft of any of today’s tier 3 vessels. I won’t be able to claw my way out of Commander fast enough.

That’s my problem in a nutshell: I keep seeing the STO I want to play in the next release. Season 2 is arguably better–probably more for end gamers than those starting up or starting over–but it’s only a step towards a fully-realized STO. I want to experience a consistent game throughout my character’s lifetime. This kind of incremental improvement will have me rebooting every six months and resenting it. Maybe this is just a point of friction between me the solo computer RPG gamer and the constantly-evolving-to-stay-marketable world of MMOs.  Sigh, again.

Carcerariphobia — Fear of Wardens

I rolled an elven warden, Aelondwe, and leveled him to 10 tonight. This isn’t my first warden: There was a failed experiment with a hobbit who never made it out of Archet. The gambit system was interesting but looked too mechanically alien compared to the other classes. I feared that one could not master the warden without complete devotion and religious zealotry–the kind EMACS requires.

This time around, the mechanics don’t seem as disruptive. Gambits feel more intuitive; they allow for flexibility that I don’t associate with meat shields like guardians. My attempt at a dwarf guardian was almost as big a failure as the hobbit warden: It took too long to kill things! Wardens don’t seem to have that problem. They also feel more forgiving than champions at lower levels by having a ranged attack for pulling and self-healing for the aftermath of an overly-ambitious impulse. I’m still worried about memorizing all those gambits since I plan to give at least equal time to the latest reroll of my elven runekeeper, Banhorn, but I think I’ve conquered my carcerariphobia–for now.

It’s probably no coincidence that I’m settling down with the two Moria classes. In the early levels at least, they feel more flexible, inventive, fun to play than the original LOTRO classes. Both classes appear to be a good compromise between versatility for grouping and solo viability; I’d like to fellowship more but not become stranded on a leveling plateau if I can’t find groups. In fact, I joined a runekeeper in Limael’s Vinyard tonight. The runekeeper wasn’t particularly aggressive about healing or DPS, but we meshed well enough that Aelondwe brazenly waded into the midst of the goblins. The classes complemented each other, and I wouldn’t mind a regular pairing with a runekeeper. It’s ironic that Aelondwe and Banhorn would make a great duo.

Some of the web chatter about wardens that got me curious  …