Hello Old Friend

Yeah, I know it's a Babylon 5 quote, but what the hell, it fits.

Those of you who read back in this blog will know that it's been almost a year since I posted here. It wasn't intentional or desired, just the reality of life taking precedence over gaming. In a way, it's a good thing. I hadn't logged in much over the last several months, and so, I really didn't have much if anything to say here.

Things are different now though. RL is now allowing me far more free time in front of my computer, and so I'm back in STO catching up on what I've missed while I've been gone. Quite an improvement from what I remember in some ways, not so much in others. Being a lifer makes things so much easier. If I were still having to pay monthly subscription fees I'm not sure STO would fit into my budget now.

And so, having returned to the fold after so long, here are some immediate impressions after about a week back:

One of the biggest problems I had when I began playing STO was that it launched with what I considered to be an unacceptably small amount of playable content. Sure, the content that was available was very good, and in fact that's what inspired me to take the plunge on a lifetime sub, but I all too soon reached a point in the game when it seemed that all there was left for me to do in the game was explore the B'Tran Cluster and similar areas over and over.

That, combined with some real life issues that had to take precedence over entertainment time, were key reasons why I ended up not playing STO with any regularity  for several months. Not only was my attention focused on other things, but I had no incentive to return. Frankly, had I been on an ongoing subscription plan, I probably would have just canceled my subscription and never looked back, just as I have with other games when I felt they were no longer worth the time and money I was spending on them.

As an STO lifer, however, having already spent around $300 on an STO Collector's Edition and a lifetime subscription, I also knew that whenever I found the time I could always return to the game when it recaptured my interest. I kept up with the game news and knew they were introducing more content and addressing some of the gameplay issues players had. I did log in a few times over the year just to see what changes, if any, I could see for myself, but RL kept me from making any serious attempt from getting really involved again. Then, a little more than a week ago, my schedule changed to one that allowed considerably more free time at home, so I decided it was time to see how the ol' Final Frontier had changed while I was gone.

The first thing I noticed was the most obvious: The content. Simply put, there was just a lot more to do in the game than there had been when I'd taken a break. The new episodic missions have kept me busy and I find them to be a lot of fun to play. While it seems that I somehow managed to join a fleet during my off-time (though I can't for the life of me remember when I did this), I'm mainly a solo player.

Even now, my schedule and available playtime, despite having more of it, are wonky and inconsistent. I play when I have time to play and I'm pretty unreliable in terms of being able to participate in scheduled events. In fact, that's the single biggest reason why I left Eve-Online. Once you reach a certain point in that game there's really not much you can do that's not done in concert with other players, and usually finding myself unable to coordinate my RL schedule with my corporation's scheduled events led to my eventually deciding that it just wasn't worth the $15 a month for a game I could barely play.

While I may catch up and find myself in the same place a while down the road, I've got plenty of content to keep me busy in STO for the moment, but there's one issue that's really bugging me about this game: Server stability.

It seems like the most common thing I do in STO these days is reentering my password. Just getting in is like breaking into Fort Knox. While that's a common and acceptable issue for an MMO still in beta, I don't think that should be the case for a game that launched over a year ago. It seems like almost every time I want to log in, leave or enter a system, take a lift, beam myself somewhere, or pretty much do anything that requires a map or instance change, I find myself kicked out and dealing with the login screen.

In addition, loading times can be slow to the point of ridiculousness. All too often, I find myself having to stop and rerun the game in order to get into the area I'm headed for in a reasonable amount of time. Again, while this kind of thing is acceptable in a game still in beta and perhaps even in the first few months, the fact that this is still an issue for STO over a year into it is not what I consider an acceptable level of quality or customer service. As enjoyable as the new content is to play, the STO experience can be all but ruined by having to spend several minutes at minimum having to enter and reenter my password over and over just to get into the game or continue playing.

I've spent some time reading the forums and so I know they're working on these issues. I just don't think they should still be this much of a problem this long after launch. Surely by now the devs have a pretty good idea of the size of their player base and what's needed on the back end to provide reliable service to their customers. The obvious question I have is why it seems things have actually gotten worse, not better, in this regard after all this time.

Despite these issues, I'm now enjoying myself with this game more than ever before, and remembering why I took the risk of shelling out for a lifetime subscription even before I knew if this game was going to be a long-term success or just a flash in the pan.

In my next post (and yes, there will be a next post, and another and another...), I'll talk about what I've been doing in-game and my thoughts on some of the new missions I've been playing. After that, who knows? I'm someone who enjoys writing about the games I play, especially MMO's, almost as much as I enjoy playing them, so stick around, there's lots more to come.

So, I won't say "Live long and prosper.". That seems a little too formal and a bit too final. Instead, I'll wind down this first post back with a different Vulcanism I find far more applicable to my own life (and maybe one day I'll tell you why). "Infinite diversity in infinite combinations".

And now, I've still got the better part of a free Sunday afternoon in front of me so it's time to post a quick note on the forums to let people know this blog is back, and then fire up STO so I can go destroy a dangerous comet and disable some 23rd century Klingons.

See ya next time.

Speeding

I dunno, it just seems like it's going a little too fast. I mean, it's just over two weeks since the beginning of head start and I'm almost through Captain and into Admiral. If this is really as long as it's going to take to max out in terms of level, why even bother having levels at all? It just seems to me like a lot more effort should have to be expended to make the higher ranks than required right now.

I am having a pretty good time with this game, but it just seems like what some people are saying is true: It's a bit lighter on content than it should be. That's not to say I'm not still encountering new missions, but also a lot of re-hashes of the same missions with different environments or with or without bad guys to fight.

I'm just hoping that when I max out on Admiral there's still lots of stuff to do. After all, it seems that anyone who plays this game for even a short amount of time is going to be one. Funny how it's so early along in the life of the game, and yet right now it feels like I've almost played it through.

I definitely think they rushed this game out when they should have taken a little more time creating missions and other content. Still, I'll be just as happy if they deliver the content in future patches. The way I look at it is that the MMO and Trekkie communities have embraced this game to the tune of a million registered accounts, and so we should have the right to expect a level of content and updating worthy of a top-ranked MMO. I don't expect miracles two weeks in, but at the same time my expectations are high, higher than they were before we knew for certain that this game would be a hit.

It'll be interesting to see how it goes...

Do I Really Want To Be A Borg?

The truth is, I dunno. I mean sure, as a lifetimer I can create a liberated Borg character, I'm just still not sure I want to play one.

For me, part of the fun of this game (and other MMO's) is recreating myself within its universe. Right now, my main (and so far only) character is Lt. Bekka Jai, a Bajoran tactical specialist. I like her, even though critics may complain that they've never seen a red-haired Bajoran before (at least, not my color...Kira's hair was a bit darker). Hey, there are always new discoveries to be made in the Star Trek Universe, and I would venture to guess that any species with spacefaring capabilities has already long since mastered the art of hair coloring. Male Klingons often wear more crap in their hair than human females, so perhaps it's even a necessary cultural step on the road toward interstellar travel.

Despite myself, I'm already invested in my Bekka Jai character. On the one hand, I do have an interest in creating a liberated Borg character to try out, I'm just not sure I want to focus on one for any ongoing length of time. I expect that sooner or later I'll create a liberated Borg just to see how it is, but I'll admit to a fair amount of ambivalence about it, despite the buff advantages of doing so.

STO, more than any other MMO I've ever played, fills me with a motivation to put as much of myself inside this universe as possible, as opposed to other MMOs where I've usually tried to escape into another persona and bury the real world completely rather than bring some of it with me.

Maybe it's that it's Star Trek, a universe that's been a part of my life for a very long time. I remember watching TOS in reruns on Channel 11 after school as a kid, I read Star Trek comics, I played with Star Trek toys, and when I was older I started reading Star Trek novels, watching new Star Trek movies and shows as they appeared, and generally being as much of an active part of the fanbase as someone who doesn't go to conventions and such usually is.

It's like I feel a desire to roleplay myself as much as possible within the context of the STO universe. A liberated Borg doesn't really fit my physical self-image, but in an odd sort of way the history of such a character does synch with my own. So, there are pros and cons for me in creating and using a libeated Borg in STO, and I haven't worked out my solution as yet.

Many, I suppose, will read this and ask "Why give a shit? It's all about having the best, most powerful character you can to better pwn everyone else!". I guess that's true for some people, but for me it has to be about more than just being an uber-leet (or whatever the hell the term of the moment is) player, it's also about the experience.

I want to immerse myself in this game when I play, and so I did what I did when I was involved with Second Life, I literally recreated myself within that universe as closely as possible, but an idealized, not realisitic, version of myself. It is, after all, a fantasy universe and there's nothing wrong with taking advantage of that reality to refine the personal image you want to present to others by making it more in keeping with the way you see yourself. In other words, it's a transsexual's best friend (and before you ask, the answer is yes, I am).

And so, for now it's Lt. Bekka Jai who will captain her starship, the USS Blackheart, across the vast reaches of the STO universe. Is there a liberated Borg in my future? Maybe. I've got some nifty stuff coming with the STO collector's edition, so I think I'll wait until at least then before I make any decisions. Either way though, I'm still happy with my main and I think she's going to stay my main. I just like her.

Damn, I'm having a great time with this game.