Friday, January 29, 2010

How to use ground tactics in Star Trek Online

Many people say the ground combat in Star Trek Online is shallow but I disagree. By equipping the right weapons and mix and matching the gear on your away team and having your science officer on passive you can go far. Take your time and get your gear on your officers straightened out and don't forget to make your science officer heal by setting him to passive.Also you can pull around corners in STO just like any other MMO. I also lay out turrets to help as well (I am an engineer).

Put that tricorder to use! Below is a video of me using sniping and grenade tactics as I go OFF the beaten path in a mission and farm some Klingons for skill points and maybe some gear. Remember if the planet is kind of big scan for anomalies also. Don't leave without exploring everything! The video has text pop ups that exlplain what I am doing.

As always all my videos are on our YouTube account here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/blunforce2010

View a Movie Friday 1/29/2010

This has been a busy week so I only squeezed in one movie and that was Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. I don't want this post to be about movie reviews as it is about seeing what people view during the week but this film had some good moments and clever writing.

I also appreciated the artwork and the way it seemed that in every frame something cool was going on. I got one thing to say: RATBIRD! I did like the inventions that the main character came up with. Some good laughs in there.

As is the custom, reply with what you saw lately (NO TV MOVIES) or discuss in our forum!

http://thebanstick.com/forum/index.php?board=5.0

As is the habit of this feature the trailer is below.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

The Star Trek Online beta ends: did I like it?

I spent a total of 43 hours playing this beta.

I guess in the end I played this beta a lot. This game has me wanting more despite how much I have resisted Cryptic after their poor excuse of how they handled Champions Online.

Although some nights I could not log in I still tried and it was my first effort of the night many times despite the gigs and gigs of gaming love I have installed on my PC.Now I have railed and railed against Cryptic since we did Banstick Podcast episode 3. Perhaps you all remember that one. Besides the crappy audio quality it was our in depth look at Star Trek Online.

If you don't remember it, you can listen to it again here:

http://banstickpodcast.podbean.com/2010/01/20/banstick-podcast-episode-3

Going in I knew that my inner Star Trek nerd would be calling and I would have to either beta test or pre order this game. However I really did not have high expectations for it. Given the past 43 hours of playtime I have in fact decided to pre order this game and play it starting from launch. Trust me though I do have some reservations.

First off a little Trek background for me (yes Sypster I am going there!). When I was about 6 or 7 I was in possession of a tricorder, a phaser and many other Star Trek toys that kept me entertained for hours. Also I owned some of the coolest playsets and action figures of the time. Who can forget these:



That's right. I had the full on Star Trek bridge playset. DO NOT DOUBT MY NERDINESS. Since then I have owned or do own every Trek movie, some TV series and other documentaries in DVD, VHS and Blu-ray form. So when I say I love Star Trek (including comics and books) I mean it.

I wanted this game to work. I prayed that Cryptic would not fumble out of the gate. The head start starts this Friday and I will be a part of it. Will that be worth it? Yes. The zone wide sector chat and starbase chat is a quantum leap worse than anything you have experienced in the Barrens in World of Warcraft or perhaps even the newbie channel in EQ2. In fact it is so bad that I do not think I have experienced a greater concentration of idiots in one MMO than I have seen this past week in that chat channel. I approach the head start as a chance to clear out the early missions and move on before the tidal wave of imbeciles and tourists hits on Feb. 2nd. By then I should have Klingon play unlocked and be able to at least gun them down if i want.

The things I like about STO:

I read everything, I customized my bridge crew, equipped them, used multiple skills with them, tested abilities, used the store, the auction house, the interface and explored every aspect. Through this I submitted bug after bug and then last Thursday a funny thing happened. The game got patched and suddenly things...worked better.

Now we all know as beta testers there are certain miracle things that happen before launch but this one caught me off guard. For once I could play the game and stay connected and I was having fun. The further I got in the more I got attached to my bridge crew and got used to pimping them out and after a few control adjustments starship combat became less of a chore and more about tactics.

A) I like the ground combat. Some people will scoff at this but I love doing the little things in the ground combat like flanking and stunning and building turrets and throwing grenades and controlling the away team members. Recently the game was made easier and Cryptic admits they have gone overboard with this. As such they have tweaked it a little and I expect that ground combat will not be a pushover when it releases.

B) Ship combat was fun, but there are still issues with getting stuck on objects while flying in space and such. Also there is TOO much of it. I needed and wanted more ground missions. There is a LOT of flying and scanning and warping and zoning in this game. I had no issues with the fun factor of the ship combat but it did get repetitive on some of the more grindy missions. The weapons and the flow of the fighting however are dead on Star Trek and I always got a thrill with weakening enemy shields and launching that one photon torpedo volley that would take them out. Now if only we had hailing and boarding and diplomacy before the battle ended

C) I came to grips with the currency and items and the many ways to customize you and your bridge crew. I still disagree with the amount of currency types in the game but for now lets see where Cryptic is going with this. The customization however is what sells me. I have a bridge crew I can name, equip, assign, upgrade and look after and this gives the game a very personal feel. Towards the end of beta I had my ground away team perfectly setup to really do some damage. From my science officer that would heal to my tactical officers that taunted and heaved grenades I was a wrecking crew against enemy ground troops.Then in space each officer had a specific skill that lent toward me decimating enemy ships

D) I did like the off ship areas but there needed to be more planet exploration. I preferred to wander around starbases and talk to the NPC's rather than hailing them but sometimes I had to do just that due to my distance out. When I was on bases it was fun to see the flavor put into the environments. From bars to convention centers you get the feel you are on a bustling starbase. This is without even getting to more popular places like DS9. I look forward to exploring those areas in more depth.


As beta neared the end things got fixed to my liking. I no longer fought the interface, my away team wasn't beaming down as a ship (I attribute that to server lag and image loading) and I found it easy to find mission destinations and information on what I wanted.

Are there things I still hate? Yes there are. From the shoddy animations of the avatars to ground combat that feels somewhat off in terms of hit detection there were issues. I think that there needs to be some major engine tightening done on the game before it goes live. There are also numerous mission bugs, collision detection issues and things like that which need to be squashed. The ranking system and skill menus are convoluted to say the least and I had to do some MAJOR research on the STO forums to really understand it. There is like I stated too much loading. Load screens for turbolifts, moving to sector space, looking at your bridge...everything. The chat system sucks and makes me feel cut off from the community. Chat is not simple and consists of everything I hated about City of Heroes and Champions Online.

I could go on about little bugs and the fact that the away team missions on the ground seem unbalanced but I know that despite some of these things I kept logging in and playing to see what would happen next. The adrenaline rush of warping into a mission and lining up ship attacks was just too fun for me to put the game aside. I love reducing and enemy ship's shields and squeezing that one torpedo into that gap and watching it just go to 10% hull integrity. LOVE IT. I love beaming down and seeing my crew (which by the way I have matched all the uniforms) attack and use grenades while I build turrets and deploy anti personnel mines. I live for this crap. For me the game is Earth and Beyond with the ability to get OFF my ship and further customize my crew. Except that it is STAR TREK.

Where I was once 30/70 toward not purchasing the game, I have reversed thrusters and now flipped to 70/30. I have carefully researched, tested and explored every aspect I could so as to not get bitten buy another crappy MMO release and I do feel confident that I will log on and keep logging on to this title in the foreseeable future. However, do not think that I will lay down and take dumb things I see lightly. I wanted to fight it but when I play a beta as much as I did I have to admit that I liked the game. Ok there I said it.

Here's looking ahead to more STO reporting, good or bad. With as slow as I am exploring the galaxies the end game content will have been rewritten and patched anyway so I am not worrying about it. At this point in my gaming career one or two missions a night is good enough for me to love playing this. Be VERY careful on how you decide to play this game. Your mileage may vary.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Global Agenda Live Download available

Looks like the Global Agenda download is available tonight along with the name reservation. Make sure to go your steam client and start the download. It should be labeled as Global Agenda Live. Also, make sure to activate your key and reserve your name. Once the game is active on Steam, players may install it ahead of the Early Start on Friday. Following installation, players will be prompted to activate the game on the Global Agenda website (NOTE: You need to do this even if you’ve already registered a beta account). To do so, simply follow the prompts after installation.

Late at night Cryptic gets chatty

Late tonight Cryptic got very chatty.

Along with the state of the game message below for Star Trek Online, they also posted a nice overview of STO skills which you can find here:

http://www.startrekonline.com/node/956 (If you beta tested and didn't "get the skills" or how they worked read that)

ALSO they released a huge state of the game message for Champions Online which you can review here:

http://www.champions-online.com/node/594828

Here is the state of the game message summary for Star Trek Online: (NOTE I HAVE SHORTENED THIS. See the link for the full blah blah)

http://www.startrekonline.com/node/957

The Borg

The Borg have planned. They have adapted. They have evolved. What the Borg cannot assimilate, they will destroy.

You saw a little Borg action in our End of Beta event – prepare to see more. The Federation have tracked down the Borg staging ground for their assault on the Alpha Quadrant. Join up with Battle Group Omega and take the fight to the Borg. Experience new Federation Episodes, Borg Exploration Clusters, deep space encounters. Also expect daily missions for these tasks to maximize the rewards you’ll be getting for helping out Starfleet in the Gamma Orionis Sector.

"Raid-i-sodes"

These are the high-end episodes you’ve been waiting for. Locked to 5-players, you’ll need every trick and every bit of teamwork to complete these challenges.

A Borg raid-i-sode series culminating in an encounter with the Borg queen is on its way. Expect a couple other “loose ends” to be addressed in the future, as well..

First Update

We’re already working on it and it’ll be out before you know it.

The first update is going to have more PvP, Klingon exploration content, more ground fleet actions, more ship costume pieces, more playable species, and then some.

Bugs and Reactions to Them

Of course, like any MMO, we’ll scramble during the first couple weeks reacting to new bugs. putting in quality of life fixes, and closing exploits that weren't exposed to us during Beta.

We’ll be fine tuning as well, but don’t expect thoughtless or harsh changes to game balance. We’re more than willing to wait and make sure everything we do is measured and calculated.

Expect a public test shard to become available real soon, too. We’ve named her "Tribble." This is where the brave Captains (read: addicted testers) amongst you can try out our changes before we push them live. If you’re one of those who can’t get enough of the bleeding edge of development – or have a penchant for finding bugs and balance issues – keep an eye on the forums for details.

Star Wars Galaxies makes itself more Star Warsy

Oh Sony Online entertainment you silly marketers you. Just announced Star Wars Galaxies is taking the "War" in Star Wars to a whole new level now by introducing this GALACTIC CIVIL WAR: FORCES UNDER SIEGE update and inviting everyone that ever had an account to come back and play free for one month.

THE SAME MONTH THAT STAR TREK ONLINE LAUNCHES AND IS FREE FOR A MONTH FOR PEOPLE THAT HAVE BOUGHT IT.

Sony: what the hell are you thinking? Why not wait until March when the free month for STO wears off and MMO tourists are seeking to go back from whence they came? Are you crazy?
A variety of billing options can be found on the official Star Trek Online website and 60-day Game Time Cards can be found at select retailers nationwide. 30-day free trials are offered with every retail purchase.

The sad thing I would not mind dropping back in to try this but if you think that my away team and the USS WhateverIcallMyShip will wait for me to check this out you are on crack. On the flip side I guess I could have the best of both worlds and play both games but...I just don't know I think my head would explode from too much sci-fi love.


Someone please fire Sony's MMO marketing division. All of it.

Here are the details:

FEATURES: Star Wars Galaxies™ Galactic Civil War: Forces Under Siege includes new, massive invasion warfare scenarios in three major cities featuring:

o New Gameplay:

  • Cities will display Imperial or Rebel banners and faction-specific NPCs, quests, terminals and pylons depending on which faction is in control

  • Added support for Factional Mercenaries. Neutral players can align themselves with either faction to participate in city conflicts and earn rewards

  • Mayors of player cities are able to set their city’s factional alignment from the management terminal

  • Fight battles within newly implemented Planetary Regions to determine which faction controls a planet


o New Interactive Structures:

  • Defend cities by manning barricades and building defensive turrets

  • Assault enemy cities and take out defense structures and key enemy personnel with the might of AT-AT or Hailfire missile attacks


o All New Profession-Based Quests:

  • Contribute to the battle with profession-specific quests that let players bolster defending or invading forces

  • Improve and repair defensive structures, revive fallen soldiers, heal fatigue, entertain demoralized troops, slice terminals, scout and sabotage patrol points, and more


o Epic New Rewards:

  • Battle-specific quests such as manning barricades, building turrets and treating wounded soldiers, now grant tokens that can be cashed in for new rewards, including: faction-specific clothing including capes, cloaks and battle-scarred armor; Entertainer glow sticks; bombing-run binoculars; an upgraded personal shield generator and multiple new weapons


WHEN: The Star Wars Galaxies™ Galactic Civil War: Forces Under Siege game update is scheduled to release January 26, 2010. The promotional re-entitlement period begins February 1, 2010 and ends on March 1, 2010

I feel like I have seen Gerard Butler's new movie before

Anyone get a feeling that Gerard's new movie The Bounty Hunter is a newer version of the 1988 film Midnight Run with Robert DeNiro and Charles Grodin?

I do except of course it is male female and not male male.

Anyway here are the trailers. Keep in mind I have not seen The Bounty Hunter. Of course I guess there is not much you can do with a bounty hunter plot after all.

Midnight Run



The Bounty Hunter

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Star Trek Online end of beta event

BORG. Borg everywhere.

So it was my beta time ended with quite a bang.


In fact so many bangs I had to retreat and give it a rest. The end of beta even was fun while it lasted however and at 8:10 pm CST the servers shut down to prepare for launch. I had not actually stayed in a game beta until servers shut down since City of Heroes as I missed World of Warcraft's end of beta festivities. I logged in to find the Earth Starbase under assault from Borg drones and then when I left I saw nothing but Borg cubes everywhere. I tried to fight and help out but alas, they were way overpowered. This was pretty much the case for everyone as the Borg were being controlled by GM's that were relentlessly pursuing people in sector space.

After about an hour of fun and taking down some Borg with much higher level players, I decided to get in one last mission before the servers went down. This mission was pretty cool and actually involved my away team. I had to rescue some scientists on a space station that was invaded by Gorn. Along the way I got to put out fires and have a jolly old good time. I even evaporated a few Gorn to prove my point that the Federation means business.

All in all I had a blast in the end of the beta events and I hope Cryptic can carry this momentum forward. Oh and somewhere in there tonight they mentioned a Champions Online expansion or something. Whatever.



Global Agenda's Name Reserve and Head Start

Looks like today is the end of several betas: STO and Global Agenda. Good news is, there are early start events for both of them. I only really care about the Global Agenda news though.

Here is the information at hand. The beta ends today, I have not seen a hard edge time on what time today. Which brings us to our next point. Members of the Hi-Rez staff will be jumping into random PvP missions and spawning bots and vehicles that are normally reserved for the games meat. I.E. , Conquest mode (Agency vs Agency.) So, if you have not had a chance to experience any of that content during the beta, go ahead and hop in.

Getting away from the beta ending, if you pre-ordered (and if you are playing the beta you have) you can pre-register your name. It is sort of a wonky way of doing it. According to Hi-Rez once the "Live" game is download ready on steam, you'll be prompted to activate it on their website and then you can hop on and create a character. Oh, this all happens on Jan 28th END OF DAY (Once again, there is no solid time given, just a date). One day later, on the 29th, the early start begins where you will be able to take your toons to level 10 only. The early start also ends on Jan 31st. Why? I have no clue. Probably to tweak the servers and give people a little rest time before any bugs that weren't found, (I didn't find many) get worked out.

When the name registration starts, I'll be sure to make a post for our readers. I will also possibly do a step by step guide if it is like doing differential math problems without any sort of calculator or a brain. Sometimes these things can be a cluster fuck.

So for the quick readers and zero to minimal quips...

  • Beta Ends Jan 26th with neat in-game events in the pvp matches via Hi-Rez employees

  • Early Name Registration begins Jan 28th once you are able to download the full game off steam.

  • Early Start starts on the 29th at the following times (Approximate): 3 EST, 2 CST, 12 PST. We will see if that happens. The Early starts ends on 5 EST, 3 PST, 2 CST, on Jan 31st.

Global Agenda: A look into the Recon class.

Ahh, Global Agenda, how you remind me of several stellar games of the past. Some of you might look at it and go aha! Tribes! And yes, there is a great resemblance. Others, myself included, and probably the vast majority of people who may read this review on the Recon class will say it is the hybridization of a few species. Namely, the team based, twitch, non-realistic FPS. I'm talking the Unreal Series, Team Fortress Classic, Quake, Doom, Tribes, you get the picture.

In any case here is a dive into the Recon class. The Stealth, sniper, over made class. Before jumping into a huge discussion, i'm going to list some pros, cons, and a few videos. You may see a few in both categories, as some traits can be a saving grace and a boon. Mostly notably depending on who is behind the keyboard. (PEBCAK anyone?)

Pro's

  • Great survivability (If you're not a complete dumb ass)

  • Play style flexibility

  • Very Fun to play

  • Lone Wolf


Cons

  • Poor survivability (Dumb asses apply here)

  • Competition for AvA spots (AvA = Agency vs Agency. The territory control portion of the game. )

  • Lone Wolf

  • Very skill dependent


Now to discuss these. As for the pro's its pretty straight forward. If you're not an idiot you can use the skills available to the class to either destroy whomever is attacking you, cloak and disappear, or create a decoy of yourself and then disappear.

This feeds into play style. The Recon unit has two "paths" to follow. A melee ninja-esque frantic hope for a back stab style. (An attack with a melee weapon from behind counts as a back stab strike and deals a significant amount of damage). Or alternatively, and what most do, the asshole sniper. Because of this classes ability to cloak you can really have fun with irritating the other team with pot shots or with quick un-cloak, blade flashing, Klingon war scream melee storm.

But if you don't choose the right moment to attack...

You'll be that retard who is constantly dying. Which is why careful choices impact the success of this class. If you're sniping, snipe from a smart spot and move constantly. If you're running around flailing about like a karate chop G.I. Joe doll. Know the appropriate time to pop out of cloak and attack. The class has a lot of utility skills, mines, fire bombs, a decoy for Christ sakes. Use them.

Star Trek Online head start and beta end event

The Star Trek Online Beta ends tomorrow January 26th, at 6pm PST, head start begins on Friday at 10:00 am PST, and we have a few surprises in store to celebrate!

Of course that is now TODAY, the 26th.

Read more about this here

http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=83100
A massive Klingon Fleet is forming near Qo'noS for an invasion into Federation Territory. Klingon Warriors who wish to join this fleet may rendezvous near Qo'noS at 2pm PST (We're GMT -8 right now).

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Usenet still exists and it even gives out awards: best wargames

Remember when newsgroups were all the rage? I would subscribe in Outlook Express and argue for hours about PC games in the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.war-historical area and go back and forth about tactics and strategy titles. Usenet is still around and for the most part has really good conversation to this day. You can still get a good review of a game or even insight on the newsgroups.

They recently handed out their Wargame of the Year awards (3 winners in Gold, Silver, Bronze) so I want to post the results here:

War-Historical's Wargame of the Year 2009 :

# 1 – Warship Combat : Navies at War - 60 points

The Silver and Bronze go to :

# 2 – Empire : Total War - 27 points
# 3 – Field of Glory - 19 points

The rest of the Top 10

# 4 – World War 2 – Time of Wrath – 14 points
# 5 – Total War in Europe – War on the Southern Front – 13 points
# 6 – War in the Pacific – Admiral’s Edition – 12 points
# 7 – War in Europe II – 8 points
# 8 – Commander : Europe at War – 6 points
# 8 – Squad Battles – Dien Bien Phu – 6 points
# 8 – Hearts of Iron III – 6 points
# 8 – Napoleonic Battles – Austerlitz – 6 points
# 8 – For the Glory – 6 points
# 8 – King Arthur – 6 points

Hellgate: London minus Bill Roper? This may work!

A long time ago I was a fan of the lore and the graphic novel surrounding this title. In fact when I blogged on Hudson's Hideout about it I really got into the storyline and the characters of Hellgate: London. Well as we all know the title didn't work out so great for Bill Roper and his Flagship Studios company. Thrown into chaos by  a poor pricing model, lack of bug fixes, poor management and repetitive gameplay Hellgate: London quickly became the whipping boy for the gaming press in 2008. News has been going around about this title being brought back, and some have beaten me to the punch in terms of posting this (even though I had this typed up way early yesterday).

Sadly Flagship Studios folded and Hellgate: London went away, but I still own my collector's edition proudly because I do love the comics and the stories surrounding the title. Also sadly Bill Roper went on to have another less than stellar launch with Champions Online. Not sadly he is no where near Star Trek Online. Coast is clear, go for it trekkies.
Hellgate London, Bill Roper, and Flagship Entertainment are not involved in Star Trek Online in any way.

Bill Roper is the Executive Producer of Champions Online, and does not work on Star Trek Online.

This thread, it is closed.

"Set in a post-apocalyptic London in the year 2038, Hellgate: London is a fast paced action role playing 'hack and slasher'."

Naturally given my love of the post-apocalyptic setting I was in deep with this game. While it had some issues I will admit, I never got tired of jumping in and playing it. The Guardian class in particular was my favorite. I loved running in there and shield blocking, taunting and charging into demons. The game was fun and I made several blog posts about it before giving up on it once they stopped support.


The good news is that the title is coming BACK to United States. HanbitSoft has since taken over the game and it has been active in Korea and now they are bringing it back to us with the title Hellgate: Resurrection. They are also adding other locales like Tokyo to the game. I personally think this will be awesome and I cannot wait.

This is a long way off however so to get pumped up I have imported my older HG:L posts back into this blog. I have kept the dates intact so if you want to read them you will have to use the Wayback Machine over there to the right ------------> and look up the Hellgate: London category. I should also point out that these are rumors thus far but I can hope can't I? By the way the game had a single player offline mode which can still be loaded and played to this day if you install it.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Lord of the Rings does a Welcome Back Weekend ...again...

Lord of the rings online is doing another win back event. No doubt in an effort to raise subscriptions for their newly released expansion pack, Seige of Mirkwood. If you do decide to go back no reactivation is required. I may pop back in too see what the new expansion has added if not just to say, "None shall pass!" one last futile time. (It was also named best expansion of 2009.... but I can't recall any other expansions that were released. Mostly just games going to a F2P model or a patch including a decent amount of content.)

The Welcome Back Weekend is from January 21st-25th and you will find yourself with the following bonus'.

  • 5% bonus XP from monster kills. (Also stacks with rest XP)

  • Free Travel from all Stable Masters.

  • Access to the new Gondamon, Tuckborough, and Weathertop Skirmishes. (More if you are invited into a different skirmish by a person who owns the expansion.)


If this sounds like something you're interested in go ahead and check it out. Full information at the Lord of the Rings website after the jump.

Also, I would like to throw awards out to AoC and LoTRO for being able to throw out so many free weekends I may never need to sub to a game again. Cheers.

View a Movie Friday 1/22/2010

This will be a new feature I put up each Friday that will cover the LATEST movie you saw. It must be off the cuff and this includes Netflix or any rentals you may have made. We will not be taking made for TV movies or anything on the Sy Fy channel you watched while in a robe drinking scotch at 3 am in the morning.

Simply reply in the comment section on this post or sign up and visit our gaming discussion boards and reply to the View a Movie Friday thread for the date it was posted.

I will start by putting the trailer for the latest movie I saw here in this post. Remember, you have to be honest! If you watched Devil Wears Prada with the little woman in your life, put it down. It only works if we get a good range of movies that people have been watching. We won't judge I swear...

My latest film was (drumroll please)

THE BOOK OF ELI

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Global Agenda NDA Lifted



Looks like the folks at Hi-Rez have gone ahead and lifted the NDA on Global Agenda. Which means, in the next day or two, The BanStick will have some great footage, commentary and over all goodies to show for the game.

Look for a post late tomorrow on the general directions of the game. Especially if it is something you are on the fence about.

Oh, why tomorrow do you ask? Gotta get the video's all set up and hosted. (Working with a new set up it. May take me a few to get everything right. Which as an aside. I am always right.)

I won't lie these were digusting

I knew I shouldn't have but I did anyway. Saw them in the little convenient store downstairs in my building at lunch and just had to try these. In my mind I knew that they may not be good but I was not prepared for the true horror of the taste.

#burgerking

Well speak of the devil: STO patched today

Ok well here go. A major patch to the Star Trek Online beta today (my comments in red). This is a huge patch so if you are playing the game you may want to just see the link below:

http://www.startrekonline.com/node/910

Level Cap Removed! (Hey lets see how fast people cap out and complain about end game. This is a GOOD thing)

Leonard Nimoy has provided an audio journal overview as you enter each new Sector Block (Ok well whatever. Throw money at it thats all good and stuff but lets make sure we use that money to fix the game also)

Improved loading screens (meh, kinda cool the loading screen had this weird issue with the background image not fitting the whole screen which was odd)

Updated Klingon starting equipment. Ground and Space. (whole slew of Klingon fixes also)

Bug Fixes for nearly every mission in the game.

Added 2 NPCs talking about sulu being admiral quinn's office (wha??)

Improved ground combat balance. Easier at earlier levels, and more balanced at higher levels. (now you are doing this?)

Players can now Save/Load costumes.

Dragging and dropping items has improved (sigh..this should be one of the first items ANY MMO gets right)

Update message for when the shard is full.

Ground Combat Holds - Increased player innate resistance to holds, which effectively reduces the durations of holds against players. Once holds expire, they apply additional hold resistance buffs. When players have this buff stacked on them, the resistance will become complete immunity. This does not affect NPCs.

Buffs now display how long they last, and how many times they have been stacked.

The list goes on and on but the point is....THANK YOU. This patch was needed.

Star Trek fanboys assault true beta testers

I love how Sypster (or Darren or I for example) point out blatant errors about a game and blind pre order fanatics berate you at every turn.

This is a syndrome of players that play MMO's for 7-11 levels and think they are all awesome. Then move on to the next game. This is why I actually made this blog is to go after things like this that happen to people that actually approach new MMO's subjectively. I would do the same thing for Star Wars also. Sure I love Star Wars but I am not going to sit there on a podcast (like the blind fans over on STOked) and say "I would pay 100 dollars a month to play this game its AWESOME!) if it wasn't technically sound or ready for prime time.

And STO is NOT ready for prime time. Yet. I want it to succeed trust me and it does have its moments of coolness. Right now though I see Cryptic written all over this title and some things just need to be worked on. I am not going to list every issue just go to the forums. I have talked too much about this game and frankly I'm tired of it lets just get on to the next patch and see if things are worked on.

To see the flaws in an MMO you have to look at every angle: economy, PVP, PVE, character progression, gear, and lore. People that bandwagon into these games don't take the time to see what is wrong with them and help point out things to be fixed. Instead what they do is fork money over play for a month then move onto the next message board for some new messiah game. There they can continue to chastise people that actually bug report and find errors with their "beloved" game.

And Star Trek Online has a boat load of them.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Gmail is starting to warn us about account scams

Noticed this today on my gmail spam messages:

Warning: This message may not be from whom it claims to be. Beware of following any links in it or of providing the sender with any personal information.  Learn more

Looks like Gmail is starting to warn people, in BIG RED LETTERS, that something may be a scam. So if you still click on it well...that's your tough luck. Of course that and I guess it helps to have a Gmail account.


Aion and WoW accounts are getting the usual scam emails such as:
We have evidence to prove your account has been in different countries and regions, several attempts to login.
So we have to remind you to enter our web site as soon as possible http://www.worldofwarcraft.com to account verification, otherwise, we will be lock your account.
In order to protect your interests.

and for Aion, which I only beta tested and then cancelled my pre order on:

When you receive this message at the same time means that you have a routine account of our recent examination, was checking your account we have the evidence to prove that involved in the controversial game currency transaction so we had to take the necessary measures.
Please visit our web site https://secure.ncsoft.com as soon as possible to activate your account or we will suspend your account.

The NCsoft Team

So same company doing it, almost the same message. I find that pretty bold.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

OMG! Dont do Avatar 3D it will kill you!

This just in from Taiwan.

* Man starts to feel unwell during movie
* Dies 11 days later
* "First death linked to Avatar"

This is why I saw Avatar in 2D folks. 3D KILLS U!

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/man-died-after-watching-avatar/story-e6frfmvr-1225821333043

"A 42-year-old Taiwanese man with a history of high blood pressure has died of a stroke likely triggered by over-excitement from watching the blockbuster Avatar in 3D, a doctor says.

The man, identified only by his surname Kuo, started to feel unwell during the screening earlier this month in the northern city of Hsinchu and was taken to hospital."

This movie, mostly due to the popularity of the film, has spawned some interesting news articles and a hilarious exposé on CNN. For example people that are so into the world they want to kill themselves after seeing the film and returning to the real world. Maybe I won't go back and see this again in 3D. I don't know what it may do to me. After all I get into my movies pretty hard core.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/11/avatar.movie.blues/index.html

"That's all I have been doing as of late, searching the Internet for more info about 'Avatar.' I guess that helps. It's so hard I can't force myself to think that it's just a movie, and to get over it, that living like the Na'vi will never happen. I think I need a rebound movie," Elequin posted.

Ugh

Star Trek Online: currency confusion

Energy Credits
Merit Points
Exploration Points (badges of orders 2nd, 3rd and who knows what)
Space anomalies and junk you loot
Food buffs
Personal shield buff things that can be turned in to upgrade gear (WHA?)

Some say this is to prevent credit farmers on day one and to make the currency have more meaning but the game is all over the place with skill points and currency if you ask me.



I do not know for a fact what badges of exploration are for because they are not active in game right now. I would assume, true to their name, that they are for exploring. There are badges of the 2nd order, 3rd order, 4th order and maybe some more but how they are gained? No idea. Add to that the fact that the Klingon side is woefully incomplete and these badges seem to create more headaches than solve them. I quote:
I finally found a dev to tell me the way to get "Badges of Exploration" is to do Star clusters (Genesis/Exploration system). The problem is that Klingons don't have access to Star clusters so we have no way at getting the badges. Please replace all Exploration Badge items with PvP Medals until you give Klingons Star Clusters

Then we have Starfleet Merits. We have energy credits. We have pieces of junk that we pick up and can use to upgrade gear if we turn in a certain collection of them.

The currency in this game is all over the place. To top it all off the PC skill points and bridge officer skill points are not given out at the same rate. When you complete a mission in this game the list of stuff you get scrolls like credits at the end of Avatar:

You have gotten bridge officer skill points!

You recieve Starfleet Merit points!

You get XXX credits

You get some random gear thing that may or may not go on your ship or crewmembers

You have looted a space anomaly or some debris thing

You have gained a level in our obscure bloated leveling system (level 3 first commander of a 2nd platoon!)

Too much. Add to this that each currency type has a vendor and you are running all over trying to figure out what to spend where PLUS you can buy ship modifications and change the way things look. So that is another vendor for cosmetic purposes only.

If anyone in beta at this moment can clear this up for me feel free to post here. Until then I am going to scour the STO boards for a definitive post on this and then cut and paste that sucker for long term reference. I could RTFM too but I doubt it is in there. Good luck asking in game. Zone chat is full of arguments about WoW, Star Wars Galaxies, people asking where to get a light saber and others proclaiming that EvE Online "sucks compared to this game".

2009: Looking back Blunt Force gaming style

Well I guess if I have to look back at everything I played for the most part it was a giant collection of failed MMO's (what a terrible year for MMO's) and a ton of first person shooters.

Other than that most games were total shit.

I am not going to go into great detail about each title but I will list a few:

Biggest Let Down: Champions Online. What a piece of dreck. The best fun was watching all the idiots that dropped a ton of cash for lifetime and 6 month subs to get this game. Told you from the beta it sucked. And now Star Trek Online will follow suit. I took a punch to the balls on this one after the shit title that is Warhammer Online kicked me in the stomach. I predict more free to play garbage from these two titles this year as their player base shrinks.

Worst RTS I played for about 2 hours: Universe at War: Earth Assault. This game had me assaulting my recycling bin within a few hours. I even was loaned this title to play it. Price tag in the Target bargain bin: $5.99. Not even worth it.

Best RTS I played: I relived Company of Heroes a TON and also Dawn of War 2. Yeah I know CoH is not 2009 but this is a list of what I played so deal with it

Biggest Hyped Game I cannot Finish: Fallout 3. Everytime I go to play I cannot get into it. I feel like I should be playing an online game where this stuff counts and is saved.

RPG I was done with without even really trying: Dragon Age: Origins. I just couldn't get into this one. I don't know what it is. Maybe too much chit chat or the way it feels like the entire game was created by scenario designers on the forum I don't know. But by level 3 I was bored and moving on to Torchlight.

Best Console Game I played: I shut my XBOX360 down due to lack of fun, but I did have a blast in Red Faction: Guerilla

Best Console Game I played on the PC instead of a shitty console: Red Faction: Guerilla and good old Mass Effect 1

Biggest MMO Surprises: Fallen Earth, Runes of Magic expansions and the suprisingly good Allods Online gameplay. Would I play any free to play MMO as my main. Nah. But still they were worthy of hard drive space for at least a week. Fallen Earth is not F2P but as a niche title it is doing well and dispenses with the usual cliches.

Favorite First Person Shooter: Borderlands. I hate the multi player, it sucks ass and Gamespy can die in a fire. However the single player game is addictive as hell and environment is cool and unique with awesome characters and emotes.

Grindiest EMO MMO I tried: Aion. Holy shit the goth teenagers prayers were answered with this one. I lasted until...level 10.

Biggest First Person Shooter Let Down: Deadspace. Got it cheap, but hate the controls and the gameplay. Not a big fan so glad I did not pay full price. Not better than Doom 3.

Best Wargame I Played: Birth of America 2 and Napoleons Campaigns (TIE, same creator). Also a nod out to Field of Glory by Slitherine which I picked up near the VERY END of the year. AGEOD keeps making awesome games but now they have been bought by Paradox so that is probably the end of that.

Worst Wargame I played: Europa Universalis 3. No thanks. Paradox keeps releasing buggy over inflated games that last about 1 hour on my hard drive. Blech. This is really a strategy game, but I simply cannot stand the combat, the real time crap they try to force on it and the overall interface.

Biggest Wargame Letdown: Empire Total War. I don't know what it is but past the oooh and ahhh factor the game has no staying power with me. This was my last attempt in the series. I am done. The ship combat was cool though.

Best MMO: Do I need to type this. It continues to be World of Warcraft and their LFG Dungeon Finder system was a better release than many so called "Triple A" MMO titles.

Biggest Gaming Letdown: My entire XBOX360 console, from the rip off that is XBOX Live to the lack of titles I find even remotely interesting to play on my 52" HD TV. Back to the PC I go. I wish I had gotten a PS3.

Best game I keep reinstalling on Steam: TIE. Call of Duty World at War and any Left 4 Dead title. Nothing beats the total destruction, violence and gritty realism of these titles.

Award for dumbest trend that people fall for: Pre ordering shitty MMO's that people don't even try out before they drop 60-70 dollars on them. When will you people learn to stop supporting this garbage.

Coolest Movie I Saw that was not a huge blockbuster: The Road with Viggo Mortensen

Worst movie I saw in the theater: The Stepfather. And yes I even saw Obsessed with Beyonce. Stepfather was THAT bad.

Best WoW Podcast: Blue Plz with Total Biscuit. Preach the truth and do not stop.

Worst WoW Podcast: I don't really have a worst one, except for WoW podcasts that do not TALK ABOUT WOW. Look I realize it gets slow, but don't tease us with crappy show notes. Some shows are annoying and I guess the one that I unsubscribed to was Casually Hardcore. I just didn't click with that one. I need to go back and see if it has changed.

Predictions? I don't really have any this year. Not much to say that isn't obvious.  I will enjoy seeing the majority of bloggers getting ripped off again by another Cryptic title as they post about it for around 3 weeks then forget about Star Trek Online. I look forward to more expansions for shooters and RTS games coming out and probably a bunch of really shitty MMO's taking a dirt nap and going away for good.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Cryptic makes state of the game post and realizes the obvious

I just read perhaps the dumbest state of game address ever wherein Cryptic relays to us, the dumb user community, that they were caught off guard at how popular Star Trek would be. Those of us who have played it know that the game is not ready for prime time and I see this message as a clever attempt to cover up everything that will go wrong launch day.

Lets take a look at this.

  • Star Trek

  • MMO

  • Gaming nerds around the world

  • Spam and advertising out the ass

  • New Star Trek movie rebooted franchise last May


Nah, there is no way in hell this game will be popular right?

Cryptic is "stunned" and "crushed" about how popular it is just two weeks before the game goes live. Two weeks. The game goes live February 2nd or the 12th I cannot remember. Does it really matter? The release date is just days away and now they are basically admitting that they are not ready. Take a look at this statement:
The actual numbers crushed our predictions. So, we tore apart our logs and began doing a lot of extra optimization work even while we stumbled upon some truly bizarre crashes that can only appear with this sort of load. The result? The shard has been steadily improving over the first few days of Open Beta. Given the hardware we're adding and a couple more fixes we have in the pipe, shard performance and stability should continue to improve over the coming week.

Oh ok I see. Glad that you are planning an MMO based around one of the biggest sci-fi franchises ever and just now upgrading your hardware. This would be like Bioware stating two weeks before release that they hadn't planned on Jedis being so popular so now they have to finish that content. Speaking of unfinished content on release the state of the game also goes on to mention Klingons getting some love for their afterthought faction play:
Better stores are coming to Qo’noS. You’ll be able to purchase disruptors, consoles, and all the things a proper warlord needs to improve his starship and clobber his pathetic, cowering enemies.

Yeah because heaven forbid you leave out stores and gear for your incomplete faction on release day. As it is now Klingons are made to level fast to catch up to the Federation players to create "pvp targets" so that it looks like that side of the game is all well and dandy. That may be some beta thing but I really doubt it.

The letter goes on to mention that the build we are using is still behind the actual work being done and yes we all know that. But that will not fix things such as me beaming down to planets as a ship, beaming up to space as a person, the terrible performance of the engine and over half a million bug submissions that are sitting in the queue right now.

Overall I see Cryptic scrambling to cover up the fact that the game is going to be released in a rushed unfinished state. I have little hope that they can clear these things up by the time the game launches and I feel like many of us will be paying to beta test. So if you bought into the lifetime subscription plan well you might as well have put in an application with Cryptic to fix the game over the next 6 months. Only you just paid them for your work.

You can read the full State of the Game message here :

http://www.startrekonline.com/node/899


Sunday, January 17, 2010

Busy weekend: STO and Fallen Earth

Played a lot of games this weekend, none of them World of Warcraft. Something snapped in me last week and I cannot log back into the game right now. Usually when that happens...I am done.World of Warcraft had another blow up with my psyche which made me realize that the struggle with the people that play overbears my enjoyment of the game. Thusly I have decided to pull out and cut my losses before I loathe it. Resigned as tank for the guild and announced I was taking a prolonged leave of absence.

Also I have moved on to more immersion oriented titles like Fallen Earth and managed to (believe it or not) find a scant sliver of enjoyment in Star Trek Online. In Fallen Earth I am still playing two characters each one has a different weapon specialty. Taking my time on this one and breathing it all in. One character is in South Burbs and the other is in Midway.

As for Star Trek Online well what can I say. Not sure what it was but I think that teaming up with a buddy in STO during ship to ship combat was one of the neatest things I have done lately. I know...it scares me also. I don't want to admit that Cryptic hit a sweet spot for me but maybe just maybe they found a way to make it fun. The game is buggy as shit and plays like garbage when it is crowded but damn that ship combat. Damn it to hell. As a Trek fan it hits that little sweet spot that has not been addressed in so long in other games. Still the problem is 80% of the rest of the game stinks.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Dresdox: Fallen Earth explorer

Welcome back to life Dresdox.

I have spent enough time convincing others to play Fallen Earth so I figured it was time for me to jump in. I need some sci-fi in my life and with the collapse of the Hellgate: London idea, Tabula Rasa and my inability to comprehend Eve Online I decided to delve into Fallen Earth. My co-worker and long time friend had recently picked it up and his brother is the clan leader of a popular casual clan. I had some connections going in and knew I wouldn't be totally alone.I had gotten decently into Fallout 3 but every time I played it I couldn't help but think I wanted to be online with other people doing more mundane things in society.

Along with a gaming buddy of mine we both purchased the full game updating our trial accounts and set about preparing our ATV's for life in the harsh wasteland.

I am no stranger to the game I was in the closed beta for a bit and got familiar with what it was all about but now it seems it has progressed leaps and bounds beyond where it was earlier in its inception. I did my pre character creation prep, read up on the starting cities and focused on what later faction I wanted to side with (Techs of course... down with the hippies).

To me Fallen Earth is the Everquest of this generation. The game is a little rough around the edges (melee combat in particular is laughable) but it has a certain charm that hooks you if you are an older school MMO player because it does not FORGIVE. Sure there are no corpse runs but there are plenty of opportunities to be stupid and then regret it.

Case in point: Me in the first 15 minutes of my active account. All excited and thinking my ATV was some sort of "pet" I used my ATV key without READING and spawned it in the middle of....a building. The tutorial start building to be exact. Of course when I went to get on it or put it away I lacked the skill and suddenly realized that in this MMO things you PUT in the world stay PUT. They don't magically go back into a bag.

Once I picked a starter town I was transported there and guess what. It put my ATV into the garage and I would need money to get it towed. Well since I was brand new I had no chips and I had no way of getting my really cool free purchase item.

Amazingly in the help channel actual LIVE BREATHING GM's were there talking to the players. I gave one a tell and after a mighty guffaw I explained to them that my "ride" had vanished because of my stupidity in spawning it inside a building. I was told to enter a support ticket and sure enough later that night:
You should have a key for the Fallen Earth ATV in your mail in game. If you have further questions or problems please reply to this email so that we can continue to help you to resolve your issue.

Now I have to wonder how much of a chuckle that gave the person answering that support ticket. Lesson learned. In a quirky way I love you Fallen Earth. More of that please. Dresdox is born, he is ready, and he is going to start going for rifle skill and crafting his ass off. Just as soon as I learn how to park my ATV somewhere safe.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Star Trek Online lets you play Borg for $239 dollars lifetime

Just announced via Twitter and the main site:

http://startrekonline.com/node/891

LIFETIME $239

  • Lifetime Access to Star Trek Online

  • Playable Borg

  • 2 Additional Character Slots


YEARLY $119

  • Annual recurring subscription locked in at the discount price

  • 2 Additional Character Slots


Somehow I don't think the Fallen Earth community will miss this guy

I love reading user reviews on games when I am bored.

Out of curiosity I went on over to Metacritic to see how some of the games I have taken a liking too were doing and stumbled upon this gem of a user "review" for Fallen Earth:
Alexander S gave it a 0:
Fallen Earth is the worst MMO that ive ever played!!!!! Poor graphics, extremely boring tutorial and free play of course too. I ve been playing this game for 40 minutes and it have been the worst minutes in my life!!! Plz dont buy it!! Dont play It. Save your nerves!!Fallen is a crap,nothing more.

Awww. Poor Alexander. I trust this guy. Sounds like he knows a good "a crap" when he sees one so I am staying way clear of Fallen Earth.

Summing up my daily life WoW

Syncaine is pretty much an off the chart douche bag (argh I made a personal attack ok ok I take that back. I like to call him the Mancow of blogging only not as important) but he summed up every post made by Tobold and my life on a daily basis in World of Warcraft:
"Tobold is still in WoW single-serving it up, chasing tokens, asking for builds, and running an AH mod. He might still be having enough fun to not cancel his subscription (plus how else would he get freebies from Blizzard for promoting their game?), but for all we knew FE might be EXACTLY what he is looking for right now, and I fail to see how that’s not a potential loss (since everyone’s time is limited and all that) to his gaming."

Putting the personal attacks that he makes towards others aside I have to admit that made me laugh. Now back to hating you. Internet hating, not real life hating. You know kinda like internet romances and such. But not a romance...well you know what I mean. Now you get back to pimping your PVP MMO you get paid to pimp.

Getting so mad about WoW you almost unsubscribe

I almost rage quit WoW last night. No joke. I think the main issue is that I am heroic'd out. I will explain. I just spent 50 frost emblems. Now these are gained from high end raids (new stuff) a DAILY heroic will get you 2, and a WEEKLY raid will get you 5. You get some of the best gear with them. I bought my tanking cloak, and the emblem count flipped over to zero.

My heart sunk a little. As our relatively new guild is only doing some Ulduar 10 to get to know each other it takes me a while to build up that badge number. I can understand that. This isn't a welfare epic plea. This is just stating that if I have to run one more fucking 5 man I am going to gouge my eyes out with a spoon.

Being a tank makes running these 5 mans even more difficult. If guild members are not on you subject yourself to the world of PUG's. While for the most part they are ok some nights I just do not have it in me.

Case in point was last night. Buddy of mine got his battered hilt drop. So we have to work on that quest. The battered hilt is a quest starter for one of the best NON RAIDING weapons in the game but you have to do a quest to get it. I like that this is in the game now. However it also means tanking and grouping up for some annoying instances. So last night into Heroic Pit of Saron we go and I was stressed for time. I really did NOT want to run the whole thing. I wanted to get in, get my friend his ore, kill the first boss and jet. I had stuff to do and major woman agro.

Well we couldn't fill all the slots with guildies so we had to PUG a DPS member. Of course this requires explaining to this guy that if he goes we are only here to do the quest for the weapon and many of us may have to bail. I feel bad about this because it sucks to go and not finish and instance and get locked out. On the flip side I should have not PUG'd anyone and just 4 manned it.

So off we go and I admit I do a shitty job tanking. My head is just NOT in it and yet we push on. Two bosses down and people start bailing and I'm getting shouted at over my shoulder. Then it just clicks and I snap. I run into the gauntlet and the healer goes down and we wipe. People come back and start blaming others and the whole thing disintegrates into an e-shouting match. My nerves are frayed and I just say: "LOOK. I need to log, I DO NOT FEEL LIKE FINISHING THIS" and I disconnect and log out. There are some nights when I just CANNOT handle people, emo MMO players, or trudging through yet another damn heroic dungeon.

Sometimes you have to take a step back and wonder why you are playing the game you are playing. I put so much effort into WoW that I think I burn myself out. When that happens I have to step back and not log in for a few days. There is a lot of pressure on me to do so since I am primarily the tank on the most. No one else wants to do it. They fear it. If I do not log in the cries of no guild grouping start and it escalates from there.

Look I have been playing this game for 5 years. Not solid all the way through I have taken some breaks but I have raided as DPS, Healing and Tanking and all 3 of my 80's are geared for ICC 10. There are times when I just have to step back and think that maybe just maybe I play too much yeah? That cannot be good for anyone. However new people that log in and are hitting level 80 and want to "go go go" just do not understand that. I feel like that old grizzled Roman officer in the armor that is dented and rusted but he keeps on going.

Only I don't have wine and wenches. I think everyone should have wine and wenches.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Cryptic needs to hire this guy to fix their games

What an awesome post. Right there on the Star Trek Online boards

http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=59477

a poster outlines, describes and tells you how to break the gameplay of STO. This is a rather fascinating post and it still baffles me to this day how developers can let MMO's release with blatant issues like this:
Saw this in the closed beta, really seeing it in the open one and wanted to comment on it. STO currently rewards Antisocial play more than it rewards social play. How do I mean? Allow me to explain with examples I personally witnessed and then did to duplicate.

1. Fleet Actions - Re-gear your ship with all front power weapons and put your ship in attack mode. NEVER be first, the person first dies, always. Follow the pack around and the moment someone shoots at something open up. I did this and got 6 drops in a row, with more than 20 people shooting at things. I picked an entire group apart without ever being shot, while others were blown to pieces and got nothing for it. It's hilarious to watch people figure this out, they zoom towards a pack of enemies, then screech to a halt at 15, and mill about until someone's impatient or accidentally gets too close, then it's like blood in the water.

How to fix it? Give credit for dmg received as well as dmg done. Being grouped is moot, I was taking loot from groups of 5 people simply because I was free to focus fire by playing like a jerk.

2. "Secure" missions - In addition to the above, you can also level for free while alt-tabbed playing other games. Fly into a Deep Space contact, fly deep into a corner, far from the action, alt tab and surf your pr0n. Every 5 min, tab in and press space so you don't afk out. Every 15 min, tab in and call Sulu to turn in mission and get another. Congratulations, you're afk leveling in STO, just like people did in SWG, and faster than most because a mission completion every 15-20 minutes is a lot faster than many people can do. This is a big point, btw. Opening day is going to be a tidal wave of free exps.

Sit in Sirius deep space until regulus is available, lots of folks will go there, follow. There'll be roving packs of afk'rs just riding the wave, moving from sector to sector Secure missions because it's the easiest way to advance. You'll fly into Pi Canis Deep Space encounters, there'll be 50 folks there, and you're the only one actually shooting anything.

This is America, reward without work is our national pasttime. Give us a game that supports it and we'll play it from our easy chairs, watching TV and alt-tabbed going through pr0n.

How to fix it?
* If you aren't in combat, you don't get credit for the Secure.
* The mission doesn't complete until you leave the instance.
* You can only do the Secure missions 1/day.

3. General missions - You fly into a mission and are auto-grouped with people.

The mission objective is to hit glowies, but there are bad guys near them, and because you're grouped there are a LOT of them. Easily handled, let the other schmoes in the group agro, run up and snag the glowy, move on. Let them be pounded and die, I'll be moving on to the next mission. I did this last night with one of the patrols, hitting the strange objects. Some poor guy lit up 8 cruisers and was torn to pieces while I quietly zipped in, snagged the objective, and left.

The mission objective is to defeat packs of enemies. I wonder what's on TV? I'll sit at the door until it's done, then warp out when it's done. I bet I can get a few games of Gemz in!

Beta is free so I play: the Star Trek Online experiment

This seems to be the consenus around the gaming community in today's market. In fact I really do not know why it is called a "BETA" except to give the developer a shoddy excuse if the game sucks.

"Hey, it is beta...what do you expect? Want to sign up for our lifetime subscrition for $120 bucks?"

Yeah right.

So it is that Star Trek Online enters this "open beta" phase and we get to see what they have been working on for about 2 years. Wow, two whole years. That's....great. Good games get 4-5 years of development. Not in the current MMO economy though. Now it is rush rush rush get the game out and cash in on a trend or recent entertainment event.

So with due caution it was that I got my beta client and stepped into the next big MMO release that is Star Trek Online. I downloaded fast and installed with no issues, set my graphics options (TURN OFF SHADOWS AND ANTI ALIASING AND STOP BITCHING) created my character and beamed myself up.

Well...meh. The game is ok but it is nothing to stop your current MMO over. Unless of course you are not playing one and waiting for this one. In which case you will think it is awesome. I still find myself fighting with that Cryptic interface they shove into every game and their odd chat system. Everyone is running around solo'ing and shouting in general chat and there seemed to be a general sense of people treating it like any other free trial MMO but with Star Trek skins. Quests were broken, things were rubber banding, there were disconnects and I just was reminded constantly of why I hate MMO launch hysteria. I did like the missions and I like the Bridge Officer options as well as the customization. I made myself a slick looking retro uniform chose the engineering character scheme then took a science officer as my first bridge denizen.

The ground missions were cool for the most part and I could see popping in to run some from time to time like I did with City of Heroes missions. The controls of the away team that accompany you feel slow to respond though and the entire engine feels like I am playing in slow motion. Things just do not respond quickly which is a problem I had with Champions Online. You will notice I didn't say too much about the ship combat because well I found it less than stellar. Clumsy controls did not help but all I did was circle around my target and mash the space bar, adjust my speed and fire torpedoes when the enemies shields were down. This is pretty much what made Pirates of the Burning Sea boring. However, this was the TUTORIAL so it is made to be boring. I give it a free pass.

Sure there was Star Treky music, NPC's that were faithful to the series, and an overall Star Trek vibe. We get that that's great. These things do not make an MMO in the long run however. They supply an initial "ooh" and "ahh factor" but beyond that the meat of a game lies in the reaction time of an interface, its end game goals, the structure of its classes and how well balanced the gameplay is. No one right now that is starting this open beta will be able to tell us all this. That type of review would not be fair.

For once I have to agree with Tobold and his preview. So far I see nothing great about the game BUT in defense of the game I will have to admit it is early and we have not seen into the later levels. Most of the comments center around things like this:
"i put in probably over 50 hours in closed. and yeah, for a while the early game does feel kinda grindy, it has been said and cryptic are aware.. but when you start getting the episodic content, wow..

by the time you hit about level 12 and get out of that f*&^$ing miranda (i spent 36 hours trying XD) the episodic content comes roughly one mission per level and will give you roughly half your level's needed exp... not a lot of grind there.. do the story mission, grab a patrol mission and a secure mission or explore a star cluster and thats it, next level..

the game REALLY opens up when you hit Lt Cmdr, and any review based purely on 12 or so hours play just isnt going to begin to touch what starts to happen there.

cryptic's big challange is to help ease people up to that point in a more enjoyable way than the last time most of us in closed went through it.. thats what i'm looking for this time around, if the trip to Lt Cmdr is as grindy as it was 3 weeks ago.. so dont condem the game till you get to 20 eh?"

There were other responses to the thread I started as well that were positive and not overall fanboy in nature:
Well, the first 10 levels suck, but after that you get plenty of episodes to keep you more than entertained. This guy sounds like a face roller that decided to not get engaged in the game and just mashed F through all the dialog.

Levels 12+ flew by in closed. Aside from the plethora of bugged missions that wouldn't give compeletion status, I had a great time all the way to level 31. The episode missions have a very trek feel. The grind missions like the sector secures and cluster explores do NOT feel trek, but they are there if you want or need that option.

I'd have to say the reviewer played an earlier version of the beta, and didn't get past level 11. And hence his opinion is misguided and out dated.

City on the Edge of Never, Divide Et Impera, The Kuvah'Magh, Accidents Happen...good grief, I can't remember them all....Stopping the Signal, The Doomsday Device....Alpha Centauri had sooooo many great missions, they did a great job with the romulan stuff....OH I can't forget the missions about Hobus, that was pretty dope.

My verdict is still out but honestly I have so much time invested in WoW and then when I am not playing that other Steam wargames and shooters that I am not sure I have enough time to give STO a fair shake or room on my hard drive. I will say that I still miss the combat and the gritty feel of Tabula Rasa. That game was a blast to fight in. STO feels like a more sluggish version of that but with worse gear and in game engine performance. I will give the game more time as the week goes on since my WoW raiding time is done until Sunday. I have a terrible feeling that this game would be great single player and not as an MMO. It is too bad I cannot go offline with it and avoid the other morons and lag while I try to take it all in.

I will take video of what I can but others are doing it better. Check their blogs out but for now consider me taking a pass unless it does something to blow my mind. I like Star Trek yes I do. Adding a little music and costumes and setting a game in that universe won't make me spend a monthly fee if it stinks. In fact I haven't played a decent Trek game since Star Trek Elite Force 2.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

The Force is with you in the Spring of 2011

Confirmed now by EA and Bioware. I will get more excited later on. Right now all I want is Diablo 3 or Blizzard's WoW expansion. Deep down inside I would take Diablo 3 over them all to be honest.

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=109426
While we have not announced a specific date, we can confirm that we are targeting a spring 2011 release for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. We’ve got a lot of exciting updates and reveals planned throughout 2010, including the first-ever hands-on testing for the game. It’s not too late to sign up to be a game tester, so go to www.swtor.com/tester and sign up today. We can’t wait to share more about the game with you as we progress through the year, so make sure you stay tuned to the official website for details.

Oculus was blocking many achievements...but not anymore

I usually ditch out on tanking Oculus groups but I was in a generous mood last night so I ran it. One of the guys with us was one of those "achievement dudes" ... you know the type. The "Achievement Dude" insists on the strangest achievement in a heroic that should be otherwise easy but it turns out making the run a pain in the ass.

This guy wanted "Amber Void" which is of course the DPS drake (mostly) in the instance. Don't use one and you get an achievement and I guess he needed it for the drake he was working toward. Fair enough.

Well I'll be damned if we didn't get it and I had totally forgotten that the WORST instance in World of Warcraft had been blocking some achievements for me as well. Thusly, when the boss went down, guild spam erupted with FIVE achievements for me on my warrior:



I guess if you are going to do something knock it ALL out so you never have to come back. New bribes or not this instance still sucks ass. I got some dumb sack of gems with 2 more badges in it at the end but I still hate it.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Blood Bowl for the PC mini review

I had been looking at the PC version of the Games Workshop tabletop classic for a while. Since it was released I was pondering getting it, but a less than stellar demo turned me off the full version for a few months. Recently the creator of the digital version, Cyanide Studios, announced that they were adding Dark Elves to the game as a free add on. With this in mind I grabbed the Dark Elves version on Steam and off I went.


Now a little background about me and tabletop miniature games. I have been playing them since I was about 12 or 13, in my old age I cannot remember. I just hit 40 last week so cut me some slack. I had the original Bloodbowl back when it came with a styrofoam board which was pretty awesome. The game had a good lore and history attached to it and was really the introduction to Games Workshop for me. Unfortunately I never really got Bloodbowl. I was bad and I kept trying to play it like a regular wargame and it just didn't click with me. I need armies, commanders, ranks and terrain to be effective. I also tried to play the game too much like American Football which is not the way to go. Or I would simply get mad and try to kill everyone on the field.

So as the years went on I abandoned Blood Bowl even though a huge faction of my old tabletop group went on to play that exclusively. Finally, with the robust multiplayer and the multiple patches, I gave in and got the PC version of the game. Let me just say that some company out there needs to look at what Cyanide Studios has accomplished here and COPY this method for the Warhammer Fantasy tabletop version. Not an RTS, not a Dawn of War 2 clone, but an honest to god translation of the miniatures game to PC with multiplayer challenge modes built in. Cyanide Studios has PROVEN that a direct to PC translation can be done, with the option to go RTS.

That aside I need to point out that I am terribad at this game. This attests to how faithful it is to the board game. There are several modes you can play the PC version in, including a rather shaky real time mode I do not care for, so you can pick the degree to which you want to learn it.

A good place to start with this game is the game's actual forums here

http://www.cyanide-studio.com/forumBB/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=13147

The tutorial included in the game is downright awful. You will need, if you are a first time Bloodbowl player, to consult the strategy guide and rulebook to know what the hell is going on underneath the hood. My Steam version came with the rulebook and a digital PDF strategy guide so that may be your best bet.

The game features die rolls on screen, player upgrades, a full campaign mode, online multiplayer WITH leagues you can form, team creation, player creation, bribing refs, spending gold for upgrades on teams and equipment and the whole nine yards.

The graphics are outstanding as each player has animations and race specific moves as well as unique touchdown animations. Every game is announced real time by voice over announcers that, while they have some funny jokes, repeat a few things after a while that may be grating to one's nerves.

There are a few niggles I have that I overlook though. Too many cut scenes, long load times to get a game started, and a map that doesn't seem to allow me to rotate it irritate me a bit, but I usually just wait it out because the on field action is so good and strategic I cannot stop playing it. I have yet to find a team I am comfortable with and know in and out. That is part of the game, as well as the miniature version. One of the best pieces of advice I gave when playing tabletop was to try out a friends teams or use placeholder items and practice before spending the money on a team you do not like.

I started with dwarves, then orcs, then humans and still have not found my niche. I like to be a fast player, score quickly and throw a lot. So far I am having miserable success and after 3 hours this weekend have not won a game yet....ON EASY MODE.

At any rate, if you want proof a miniatures game can be brought to the PC in a faithful recreation and not be all RTS and twitch oriented, then look no further at what has been done with this title. Now I just need to get in there and re learn the actual rules of the game. There are hours of playtime in the campaign and season modes but I need to know what the hell I am doing.

I have uploaded a HD You Tube video of one of the few touchdowns I did score with my human team, which you can watch here:



Saturday, January 9, 2010

How to play a rogue and be better than 90% of the PUG'ers you meet

Tipa over at West Karana is having trouble with rogue DPS.

Granted she is level 55 and really needs to not worry about it right now, but I can give a few suggestions. First off I avoid combat spec. I think that a rogue should use daggers and be proud of it. If you want to dual wield two swords, roll a fury warrior. I raid and will always raid and DPS 5 mans in the good old stabby stabby spec. I don't really play my rogue anymore but my DPS rocked hard even in my mediocre gear.

Next little group of advice:

Go Assasination spec

Get two daggers

No sinister strike with this build. Take it off your hot bar. It's all envenom once the poisons stack

Read this

http://www.wow.com/2009/01/21/encrypted-text-guide-to-rogue-stats-for-new-raiders/

Read this

http://elitistjerks.com/f78/t37183-pocket_guide_wotlk_updated_3_3_a/

Instant and deadly poison

Use this mod:

http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/mutilate.aspx

Now use this mod:

http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/sliceadmiral.aspx

DONE. Enjoy the free tips. You can thank me later!

Friday, January 8, 2010

I'm not the best strategist but Field of Glory helps

Finally downloaded and installed Slitherine Softwares fine wargame Field of Glory which is a almost direct to PC translation of the popular ancients miniature gaming rule system.

EDIT: As a follow up the Rise of Rome expansion has been announced as well

http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14434

You can find out more about it here:

http://www.slitherine.com/games/fog_pc

I decided to see how easy it was to learn and did something rare. I jumped straight in with no reading or no research on the battle or the units. I simply loaded the game, picked my scenario and started moving and clicking units around. I didn't even know what types I had or what the stats were. However the game is so intuitive and so easy to pick up, much like the tabletop game, that I was having fun and protecting my flanks in no time. I played the Clastidium scenario with a synopsis of


The Roman-Allied town of Clastidium was under siege by the Gallic King Britomartus and his army. The Roman general Marcellus set off boldly with a force of just under 4,000 Roman Cavalry and Velites to relieve the siege. Celtic War (225-222 BC)


I cannot say I know exactly how well I did, but fumbling through the game using common sense tactics and the fact I had a hardy Roman army helped me withstand a huge assault early, recover and strike back forcing enemy units to flee. By the end of the battle which I somehow managed to rally in I had won the match however very sloppily. The game is so easy to pick up yet deep enough to use smart tactics that I was rather impressed. The interface is perfect and quick and the scenario editor included in the game is easy to pick up and learn. I managed to get the game for 20 dollars thanks to a holiday voucher Slitherine sent me in my email so the game has been worth the price. I also do not mind helping developers make wargames like this as they are a dying breed.

You Tube has a video up demonstrating the flexibility of the scenario designer and I think it will go a long way toward expanding the life of the product.


Lastly some images of my battle with the Victory Screen Results. Enjoy.








My units have the green bases and the screenshots are a bit ugly due to my low resolution. You can see over the course of a few turns how I shored up my flanks and finally learned to group my units together and backtrack to fight off the enemy forces. After doing that I turned and struck back squeaking out a victory without even learning the game properly.

You can find a batch of great scenarios here along with historical links:

http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=122055#122055

Thursday, January 7, 2010

2009: Looking back Blunt Force Gamer style

Well I guess if I have to look back at everything I played for the most part it was a giant collection of failed MMO's (what a terrible year for MMO's) and a ton of first person shooters.

Other than that most games were total shit.

I am not going to go into great detail about each title but I will list a few:

Biggest Let Down: Champions Online. What a piece of dreck. The best fun was watching all the idiots that dropped a ton of cash for lifetime and 6 month subs to get this game. Told you from the beta it sucked. And now Star Trek Online will follow suit. I took a punch to the balls on this one after the shit title that is Warhammer Online kicked me in the stomach. I predict more free to play garbage from these two titles this year as their player base shrinks.

Worst RTS I played for about 2 hours: Universe at War: Earth Assault. This game had me assaulting my recycling bin within a few hours. I even was loaned this title to play it. Price tag in the Target bargain bin: $5.99. Not even worth it.

Best RTS I played: I relived Company of Heroes a TON and also Dawn of War 2. Yeah I know CoH is not 2009 but this is a list of what I played so deal with it

Biggest Hyped Game I cannot Finish: Fallout 3. Everytime I go to play I cannot get into it. I feel like I should be playing an online game where this stuff counts and is saved.

RPG I was done with without even really trying: Dragon Age: Origins. I just couldn't get into this one. I don't know what it is. Maybe too much chit chat or the way it feels like the entire game was created by scenario designers on the forum I don't know. But by level 3 I was bored and moving on to Torchlight.

Best Console Game I played: I shut my XBOX360 down due to lack of fun, but I did have a blast in Red Faction: Guerilla

Best Console Game I played on the PC instead of a shitty console: Red Faction: Guerilla and good old Mass Effect 1

Biggest MMO Surprises: Fallen Earth, Runes of Magic expansions and the suprisingly good Allods Online gameplay. Would I play any free to play MMO as my main. Nah. But still they were worthy of hard drive space for at least a week. Fallen Earth is not F2P but as a niche title it is doing well and dispenses with the usual cliches.

Favorite First Person Shooter: Borderlands. I hate the multi player, it sucks ass and Gamespy can die in a fire. However the single player game is addictive as hell and environment is cool and unique with awesome characters and emotes.

Grindiest EMO MMO I tried: Aion. Holy shit the goth teenagers prayers were answered with this one. I lasted until...level 10.

Biggest First Person Shooter Let Down: Deadspace. Got it cheap, but hate the controls and the gameplay. Not a big fan so glad I did not pay full price. Not better than Doom 3.

Best Wargame I Played: Birth of America 2 and Napoleons Campaigns (TIE, same creator). Also a nod out to Field of Glory by Slitherine which I picked up near the VERY END of the year. AGEOD keeps making awesome games but now they have been bought by Paradox so that is probably the end of that.

Worst Wargame I played: Europa Universalis 3. No thanks. Paradox keeps releasing buggy over inflated games that last about 1 hour on my hard drive. Blech. This is really a strategy game, but I simply cannot stand the combat, the real time crap they try to force on it and the overall interface.

Biggest Wargame Letdown: Empire Total War. I don't know what it is but past the oooh and ahhh factor the game has no staying power with me. This was my last attempt in the series. I am done. The ship combat was cool though.

Best MMO: Do I need to type this. It continues to be World of Warcraft and their LFG Dungeon Finder system was a better release than many so called "Triple A" MMO titles.

Biggest Gaming Letdown: My entire XBOX360 console, from the rip off that is XBOX Live to the lack of titles I find even remotely interesting to play on my 52" HD TV. Back to the PC I go. I wish I had gotten a PS3.

Best game I keep reinstalling on Steam: TIE. Call of Duty World at War and any Left 4 Dead title. Nothing beats the total destruction, violence and gritty realism of these titles.

Award for dumbest trend that people fall for: Pre ordering shitty MMO's that people don't even try out before they drop 60-70 dollars on them. When will you people learn to stop supporting this garbage.

Coolest Movie I Saw that was not a huge blockbuster: The Road with Viggo Mortensen

Worst movie I saw in the theater: The Stepfather. And yes I even saw Obsessed with Beyonce. Stepfather was THAT bad.

Best WoW Podcast: Blue Plz with Total Biscuit. Preach the truth and do not stop.

Worst WoW Podcast: I don't really have a worst one, except for WoW podcasts that do not TALK ABOUT WOW. Look I realize it gets slow, but don't tease us with crappy show notes. Some shows are annoying and I guess the one that I unsubscribed to was Casually Hardcore. I just didn't click with that one. I need to go back and see if it has changed.

Predictions? I don't really have any this year. Not much to say that isn't obvious.  I will enjoy seeing the majority of bloggers getting ripped off again by another Cryptic title as they post about it for around 3 weeks then forget about Star Trek Online. I look forward to more expansions for shooters and RTS games coming out and probably a bunch of really shitty MMO's taking a dirt nap and going away for good.