Star Trek Online did not always treat me kindly when first we met. That did not stop me from devoting a quite ridiculous number of posts to play-by-play coverage of my beta experience. My final thoughts as the game launched were not particularly complementary, and you can see them here.
My greatest annoyance though was how, when I cancelled my subscription, it was re-activated and they carried on charging me for a couple of months. I am not a rich man, and I can’t afford to be having my credit card details misused. Just reading that old post is doing bad things to my temper. In case you’re wondering, no, I never got the money back.
Once you have their money, you never give it back.
– The 1st Rule of Acquisition
They say that time heals all wounds. As usual, “they” are spouting platitudinal nonsense, and have obviously never been shot by a disruptor rifle on full power. You do not recover from being disintegrated. Be that as it may, my annoyance had faded somewhat, and I had been hearing some positive things about how Star Trek Online has changed post-launch. Perhaps it was time to take another look.
So it was that, a couple of days ago, Arkturos Reh stepped forth to defend the Federation once again! I have a Captain-ranked Scientist from my original free month of play, but I had largely forgotten how to play him well, while the live version of Arkturos Reh was still only a Lieutenant. You may remember Beta-Arkturos as the main protagonist in my Beta liveblog, after Beta-Arkenor got trapped forever in the Wrong Tutorial.
The all-new Reh is more alien than ever, and every bit as annoyingly tiny.
Jiro Sugihara, and Arkturos Reh. Together, they fight crime.
Arkturos Reh hails from a high-gravity world. I’ve gone for as insectoid a look as I could manage, and he has inadvertently ended up looking like he’ll be played by Samuel L Jackson in the movie of his life. (I think it’s the eyes.) He probably weighs more than the Ambassador there, and is certainly stronger, but then again, Ambassador Jiro Sugihara is a non-combatant. He is, in fact, my liaison for the Federation Diplomatic Corp!
One of my major complaints with STO at launch was that it was that it was far more focused on violence as a solution than any of the series were:
Combat was always going to be a big part of any Star Trek MMO. I can live with (and enjoy!) having more fights in an hour of gameplay than would normally happen in a season of TNG. I did expect to be able to limit casualties, through diplomacy, trickery, or disabling ships. On the ground I expected to be able to set phasers to stun, and be able to leave my enemies unconscious but alive, ready to be beamed to the brig. Instead, I leave corpses and burning hulks in my wake.
Some people, especially on the forums, say that it is WAR!!! That we can’t act like Federation officers in the TV shows because we’re at war and the rules all change:
Firstly, us being at war was brought in after the fact as an excuse for the game being all about killing.
Secondly, the rules don’t change in war. Not for the Federation. We’re still supposed to abhor violence except when strictly necessary, and supposed to try to limit casualties on BOTH sides. In STO you have a mission where your job is to kill the witnesses to deeds Starfleet don’t want reported. Picard would resign his commission if he was ordered to do something so obviously against everything the Federation stands for. “The first duty of every Starfleet Officer is to the truth.â€.
The Diplomatic Corp is Cryptic’s first stab at rectifying this imbalance. While it is entirely optional, members of the corps can get special First Contact and Diplomatic missions. I’ll have to get back to you on how great those are, because Arkturos hasn’t quite gathered up enough Diplomatic xp to join yet. You get Diplomatic xp from most missions that don’t involve killing, most notably those old “Aid the planet” missions I complained about in Beta, where you basically just fly up to a planet, they ask for some stuff, and you give it to them.
Aid missions, as well as now granting diplomatic xp, also now give you a random item on completion. Previously they had been a rather expensive business, as the Federation has you buying the supplies out of your own energy credits, but the reward now makes it a more worthwhile proposition.
While, as I said, the Diplomatic Corps missions are technically optional, gaining ranks with them gives you the ability to Transwarp to several useful locations, saving a lot of travel time, so even if I was playing a viciously bloodthirsty character, I think I’d probably still do them! I’ll write more fully on diplomacy when I’ve had a chance to do some of the missions.
The other new feature which has drawn me back to STO are the featured episodes. Basically it’s a series of episodes, which are released on a weekly basis, just as if you were watching a series on TV. My friends have been speaking extremely highly of these, and have been gathering up to do them each week as they are released. We’re currently in a lull, after the end of the second series, but they’ll pick up again in the new year. I’m told they have high production values, and are a lot of fun. I should be sticking my antennae into them soon.
If you complete a featured arc before the next one begins, you get a special reward. The reward for the first featured episode arc was a Breen Tactical Bridge Officer. Alas, I was too late to acquire one through standard means, but my friend Longasc kindly lent me the considerable fortune required to buy one from the auctionhouse. After all, a captain like Arkturos Reh should surround himself with the strangest crew possible! We’re doing it TAS-style!
Breen Bridge Officer Bek during his probationary period.
The big deal which has really enticed me back on to my ship, however, is not yet live. It is the player-generated content tool known as The Foundry. This is due to arrive as part of the big Season 3 update on the 2nd of December.
Will it be frustratingly limited, especially to begin with? Almost certainly, but I’ll do my best to work within those limitations to make some fun episodes of my own. Once we have the tools to make content we can do more than just give feedback about how the official episodes are written. We can do something to fix it.
Tune in next time for the Further Adventures of the USS Gypsy Moth and its tiny Captain, Arkturos Reh, when I’ll be checking out some more of the changes since last I sailed this sea of stars.
Do not let him speak. He will put a spell on us! Ahhh, too late!!!
WARNER BROS. INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT, TURBINE AND CODEMASTERS ONLINE UNVEIL THE LORD OF THE RINGS ONLINEâ„¢: RISE OF ISENGARDâ„¢
New Digital Expansion to The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢ Launching Fall 2011
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment unveiled today The Lord of the Rings Onlineâ„¢: Rise of Isengardâ„¢, the latest expansion to the award-winning free-to-play massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) developed by Turbine. Rise of Isengard will expand the online world of Middle-earth where players will join forces to press further eastward into the legendary region of Isengard. Rise of Isengard will be available for purchase in the LOTRO Store in the Fall of 2011 with an increased level cap, the new region of Isengard including the legendary tower of Orthanc, enhancements to monster play and much more!
“2010 has been a year of unprecedented growth for The Lord of the Rings Online with our successful introduction of a free-to-play option for our players,†said Kate Paiz, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online. “This is going to be another outstanding year for the game as we progress on our journey toward Mordor and it all begins with our upcoming November update. The journey will carry through 2011 ending with our arrival in the epic region of Isengard where players will confront the raging war and shadow that has spread across Middle-earth.â€
NEW FEATURES:
* Experience the Rise of Isengard – The Epic Story continues as the Grey Company makes its way south into Dunland, but troubles arise as their road takes them into lands where Dunlending forces, marshaled by the Wizard Saruman, prepare for war. The Rangers must seek new allies and face dangerous new foes, chief among them the traitor Saruman, whose web of intrigue threatens to endanger your quest, your friends, and your life.
* Increased Level Cap — Players will be able advance their characters up to level 70, gaining access to new traits, virtues, skills and class quests.
* Expanded Monster Play – LOTRO’s monster play system will get a major revamp including opening up the feature to all players, changes to monster player skills and advancement and a brand new region for players to battle for or against the forces of evil.
Autumn 2011 feels like an age away. I’m a little surprised, as I thought the F2P system would encourage the release of smaller chunks of content as often as possible, rather than a large expansion in a year’s time. Perhaps we’ll see other new content appear in the meantime. In any case, after spending so long battling Sharkey’s boys, I shall be looking forward to bearding the lion in his own den!
Hooom…. and then mayhap to Fangorn? But let us not be hasty.
Keeping up the rapid updating that we’ve seen since Dungeons went Free To Play, Update 8 has just hit the Lamannia test server. Lets take a looksee!
New Adventure Pack: Siege of Stormreach
The continuing saga of the siege on Lordsmarch Palace in Stormreach continues as the plot expands to include the powerful green Hag, a primary leader from Droaam, the kingdom of monsters. Four adventures launching from the Lordsmarch plaza will send players to over, under and around Stormreach eventually leading to an ancient giants ruin where monstrous deeds are underway.
Defend against waves of attackers to help protect a city ward!
Go on a covert mission to stop a Droaam navy blockade!
Beat back a surprise attack beneath the city!
Infiltrate abandoned Giant ruins to confront the powerful and deadly leader of the Droaam invasion
This level 13 adventure pack includes 4 hand crafted adventures! Available to VIPs for preview on Lamannia! Visit the Lords March Plaza to begin your adventures!
As an Adventure Pack this is going to be bought with Turbine Points, unlike the three level 12 ones released as free content last month that lead into them. I enjoyed those (and the loot was pretty great too!), so I’m looking forward to continuing the defense against the Droaam horde. I hope there’s not too many Medusa in it though. I’m still stiff after the last one! Green Hags are pretty unpleasant though. At least it’s just the one hag, as when combined in a covey with an Annis Hag and a Night Hag, their power can be truly off the scale. I imagine this one will give us a run for our money though!
This is about a week and a half too late, but still.
Dungeons and Dragons Online in Europe never went F2P. When the Codemasters-run servers finally went dark in August, a process began to transfer the players there to Turbine’s DDO server, Ghallanda. After two months trapped alongside General Zod in the Phantom Zone, last week European adventurers finally began to emerge blinkingly into a world at once familiar, but mysteriously altered. A Stormreach where the Silver Flame, once so welcoming, would slam the doors of the Catacombs in the faces of those who had repeatedly saved it from the antics of Archbishop Dryden.
Had everybody been replaced with Pod People? Sadly not, though that would make a pretty great adventure. It was F2P. This article will attempt to help new arrivals to make sense of the new laws of nature with which they must contend.
Armonica the Warforged and his Welcome Wagon
Everybody who has gone through the convoluted process of getting a transferral code from Codemasters, and using it with Turbine to set their characters on their journey will have received 5250 Turbine Points.
Folks who have received this will fall into one of three categories.
1. People who were current subscribers to Codemasters DDO.
2. People who were past subscribers to Codemasters DDO, but who stopped playing at some point. The move to the US F2P servers has reignited their interest for whatever reason.
3. People who were past subscribers to Codemasters DDO, but who have already moved to the US servers, perhaps when F2P first launched.
The third group, amongst whom I numbered, need little advice from the likes of me, and we can simply rejoice in our windfall of points. The first two groups, however, may be looking at the new system, and feeling a little lost or confused. I’m going to do my best to help!
First of all, lets take a look at the different sorts of DDO account. The rule of three applies once more!
1. VIPs, otherwise known as Subscribers. Similar to how things worked in Europe, with some exceptions. They have access to all adventure packs, and all classes and races apart from Drow and Favoured Souls, which you can either buy, or earn with favour.
2. Free to play. These are people who have never spent any money on DDO. In spite of having been given a bunch of points and subscribing in Europe, all new European arrivals start in this category.
3. Premium. Standing between the darkness and the light, these are people who have either let their subscription lapse, or ever bought points.
This table breaks things down:
VIP
Premium
Free
Monthly Fee
Yes
No
No
Turbine Points
500/month Store Purchase Favor Reward
Store Purchase Favor Reward
Store Purchase Favor Reward
Classes & Races
Basic & Premium Free Favor Unlocked per Server Buyable for All Servers
Basic Free Favor Unlocked per Server Buyable for All Servers
Basic Free Favor Unlocked per Server Buyable for All Servers
Geography
All Included Free
Stormreach & Vicinity
Stormreach & Vicinity
Adventure Packs
All Included Free
Some Free Can Purchase Others
Some Free Can Purchase Others
Base Character Slots
10
4
2
Shared Bank Slot
Included Free
Can Purchase
Can Purchase
Login Queue
Priority
High
Standard
Chat
Unlimited
Unlimited
Limited
Auctions
Unlimited
Unlimited
Limited
Mail
Unlimited
Unlimited
Limited
Gold Storage
Unlimited
Unlimited
Limited Based on Level Until Level 12
Buyback History
40 Items
10 Items
10 Items
Auto Log Off Time
60 minutes
20 minutes
10 minutes
Leveling
Unrestricted
Unrestricted
Unrestricted
Customer Service
Full Self-Service Online
Full For 45 Days Self-Service Online
Self-Service Online
Compendium
Read Create/Edit
Read Create/Edit
Read
Official Forums
Read Post
Read Post
Read Limited Posting
Beta Priority
High
Normal
Normal
If you were happy to subscribe in Europe, you may want to consider continuing to do that again here. That will give you access to all adventure packs, and many other perks.
One major flaw in how we have been transferred is that you will have lost anything you unlocked via favour, so you will not currently have access to Drow, Favoured Souls, 32-point builds, or Veteran characters. You can unlock them going forward, of course, but it’ll have to be with a character reaching the particular favour level for the first time. Even subscribers won’t have access to these.
If you don’t want to subscribe then I would strongly suggest getting yourself up to Premium level. You can do this by buying the smallest point pack, $6.50 for 420 points, or you could consider just subscribing for a single month if you prefer. Either will get you to Premium, which will make the Auction House and mail properly usable, and bring you up to 4 character slots.
So, what should you spend your points on?
Unless you subscribe you’re very likely to not have anywhere near enough character slots right now, meaning you can’t get at all your existing characters. You can buy more with points. 595 points will get you an additional character slot on each server.
Even once you have enough character slots for your entire menagerie, you will only be able to play those who belong to races and classes that you have access to.
One other perk that I consider a must-have is the shared bank. Not only does it make transferring potions and the like between your characters much simpler, many items bind to account rather than to character, and the shared bank is the only way to transfer them between your characters. The mail system won’t work for them. The 20 slot shared bank costs 1495 points. Subscribers get it automatically.
On To The Adventure!
Right, you should now have access to all your characters. I hope you have some points left.
One of the most jarring things about becoming a Premium or F2P player is that an awful lot of the adventures that you will be used to having around will no longer be available to you. Don’t worry, there is actually a fairly generous selection of adventures which are totally free, and you can see a list of those here.
Even so, you are going to find launch-day staples such as Shan-To-Kor and the Catacombs are going to rudely refuse you access until you buy them. I consider the two I just mentioned to be must-haves, and they’re pretty cheap at 250 points each, but which adventure packs you want to prioritise will depend on your level and personal tastes.
The prices I’ve given above are the unmodified prices. However, there are almost always special deals going on with 20% discounts on a selection of adventures, and sometimes more on special occasions. In the shop you can access via the Turbine button in-game, you’ll see a “Today’s Deals” tab. I would suggest only buying the adventure packs that you absolutely need right now, and keep your eyes open on the deals for anything you think you’ll want in the future.
Biding your time has another benefit. As you play you will be acquiring additional Turbine points. Over time you’ll likely gain enough points for another adventure pack or two. I explained exactly how this works in my guide on how to play DDO for free. If you don’t want to, you need never spend another coin to play, and still have a great time.
Finally, I’d just like to welcome you all. I think F2P has, surprisingly, been very good for DDO. New content is coming out at least twice as fast as it used to. They even just added three new completely free adventures. I hope you have as much fun here as I do!
If you have any questions or aspects of the change you’d like me to add to this, please let me know in the comment section!
In which I investigate a few more of the recent changes to Minecraft that came in with the Halloween patch. Compass and watch in hand, I venture forth in search of strange new biomes!
As promised I’ve uploaded a fresh map rendering. It’s rather large, so might take a little while for you to download. (The little green arrow will blow it up to full size if you’re looking at it from this page.) My original map area is the squarish area that makes up the top right side. You can just about make out my portals, and torches. The new area fits somewhat clunkily on to that, often with wildly discordant borders. I guess that’s what you get when the world generating code changes. As you can see, I’m snowless so far, but I’ll keep on looking. I am surprised though. Videos I’ve seen made snowy biomes seem far more common.
Update: Cartographer also tells us how many of each sort of block are within my generated world:
Oho! According to that, there’s 99 snow blocks. I think I can see them on the map (I had originally thought it was more sand, but looking closer I see it’s a slightly different colour), not terribly far from where I finished, so I’ll head that way next time! I see there is also pumpkin, but I don’t think we’ll be able to spot them from the map, but perhaps I’ll run into some eventually.
Take me on a trip, on your magic swirling ship, EA!
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning proudly introduces an all new service for our players; Account Entitlements! These services are available now for purchase from the EA store and include the following features offered at special introductory prices:
* Server Transfer – $19.99 USD, this will grant you a code that can be redeemed for one server transfer for a single character.
* Starter Mount Pack – $8.99 USD, all characters on an account will receive a deed to obtain a mount usable at level 2 giving players a 25% speed boost and have a 100% chance to dismount upon damage.
* Trusty Mount Pack – $9.99 USD, all characters on an account will receive a deed to obtain your choice of a new mount usable at level 20 giving players mounts of up to 60% speed boost and have a 55% chance to dismount upon damage
* Trinkets of the World Pack – $4.99 USD, all characters on an account will receive two tokens to spend at the new Trophy Vendor in the capital cities. Each token can be used to purchase one of 14 different trophies.
* Specialized Training Pack – $9.99 USD, all characters on an account will recieve one War Tract that will allow them to immediately advance one full level when used
* Herald Pet Pack – $9.99 USD, all characters on an account will be granted adoption papers to the Snotling Herald vanity pet. This pet will follow you around and give you a boost!
We have, sadly, mostly become desensitised to paying for mounts, and Warhammer Online’s $9.99 for your entire account is actually a bargain compared with other games. However, the ability to just flat-out buy levels is a new one to me in a big-brand subscription MMO.
It perhaps matters more in WAR, because it is a game centered around competition with other players. When you create a perception that people can buy their way to power, you reduce how much people care about the result, and so you end up reducing the hunger for victory that keeps people playing games such as this.
Implicit in the decision to offer levels for sale is an admission: that the journey to max level is an odious chore to be avoided, not something you might do simply because it is fun. If that’s true, I can think of another way to avoid the odious chore, and it is MUCH cheaper. More seriously, if the developers really feel that being able to skip levelling is something that players need to be able to enjoy the game, then it should not be something they have to pay extra for, and should be a system that people can access through normal gameplay, similar to how Age of Conan allows you to skip levels.
For it to be acceptable to sell someone a subscription to a game with large unenjoyable portions, and then sell the ability to skip those parts for additional money, is not a business model that would lead to better games. Instead it would encourage the deliberate insertion of tedium in order to then charge to remove it.
Join me next time, as we travel further down the RMT slippery slope! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
Update:
Our next stop down the slippery slope has arrived sooner than I expected!
Update to the update. The seed of doubt as to exactly what the progression pack is has entered my mind, and I’m uncomfortable being too forceful when I don’t have all the facts, so I’ve taken the original update down. The progression pack may be some sort of mini-expansion, rather than an account entitlement. I’ll see if I can get a better idea of it’s exact nature. The description here certainly sounds like it boosts renown gain, and so far as I can tell from the patch notes, this is all the progression pack does.
RvRâ„¢ Packs
Timed to coincide with the release of 1.4.0 are two new booster packs that are available for digital download from the EA Store.
These packs are broken down into the Progression Pack and the Personality Pack.
The Progression Pack gives players an opportunity to advance through the Renown Ranks faster and advance their character up to Renown Rank 100! This includes access to all bonuses, items, and rewards that are gated by the expanded Renown Ranks.
The Personality Pack offers a variety of items to personalize a character. Included in this pack are several vanity pets (in a choice of 4 colors), new heavy mounts (in a choice of 3 colors), access to barber surgeon tokens to allow characters to change their look, and access to new and unique dyes on the dyemasters.
They certainly *sound* just like the other account entitlements. The cosmetic one doesn’t much bother me at this point down the slope, but the progression pack is messing with renown. The very substance which shows how much, and how well, you have fought for your Realm.
Update, 5th of November:
We now know, thanks to this release, that the progression pack is like the account entitlements. I had been unsure as to whether there was any content in it that might allow it to be considered an expansion, but it appears not, unless you count the equipment that the extra 20 renown ranks will allow you to access. It will cost $10, or $15 if bought with the “Personality Pack”.
Progression Pack
Characters with the progression pack will advance through the Renown Ranks at an accelerated rate, allowing them to get up to the new Renown Ranks quicker than ever! Note: This passive bonus applies to Renown Ranks 1-80.
Purchasing the RvR pack will allow all characters on your account to progress all the way to Renown Rank 100 and be able to enjoy all the rewards that come with those added levels.
Characters will have access to all new Renown gear and Item Sets as they progress through Renown Ranks 81-100. This includes two new Split sets of Armor with unique looks and bonuses available at Renown Rank 90 and 100.
Characters will have access to three new sets of Scenario Weapons as they progress through Renown Ranks 81-100. These weapons are available at Renown Ranks 81, 90, and 100.
Personality Pack
Want to change up your look? The new Barber Surgeon in game requires tokens that are available to owners of the Personality pack only. You will get four tokens to completely change your facial customization options.
With the purchase of the personality pack, all characters on the account will receive four new vanity pets in their choice of four different colors. Order characters on the account will receive the Two-Headed Hound, the Drake, the Ugly Hound, and the Hawk. Destruction characters on the account will receive the Two-Headed Hound, the Drake, the Iron Hawk, and the Jester.
With the purchase of the personality pack, all characters on the account will receive a high end heavy mount in their choice of three colors. These mounts are useable at Renown Rank 60 and provide a 70% speed bonus with a 45% chance of dismount.
Want to dye your armor to be different? The personality pack also provides all characters on the account access to use new dyes on the dye-masters that are new and unique. Stand out from the crowd!
Someone who wants to be competitive in RvR is pretty much going to need to buy the Progression pack, or see his friends and foes outpace him.
It has been rather a wait, as I noted in a previous post, but for the last week, anyone who ever had a Codemasters DDO account has been able to log into that account system to get a Transition Key. The full FAQ for the transfer process is here.
A little while ago, around 8 pm GMT, the transfer utility went live at http://transfer.ddo.com/. We can now enter our Transition Key and apply for our characters to be transferred to Ghallanda, a US DDO server. Unfortunately, for many users, including myself, it is coming up with a Soap Exception when we try to use it, and changing browser is not helping. It may just be a result of a great rush of people overwhelming the site. I’ll update this post when we know more!
Update, 10:07 pm GMT: This is just in from Tolero on the forum:
We’re still investigating what is causing the “Soap Error ()” message. Will bring more info as soon as it is available, the tech team is on the case!
Update: 10:34 pm GMT:
It appears that we have broken Turbine.
Update, Midnight GMT: The server has come back up, but is still giving the SOAP error. It’s a shame that the transition tool was launched so late in the European day. I suspect most folks have given up for the day and gone to bed. Having waited for two months to get access to their characters again, this is really the last thing anybody wanted.
Update, 5 pm GMT, 2nd of November: The transfer tool is still down, and frustration is growing. I don’t really understand how this can happen. Europeans have had their characters trapped in the Phantom zone since August 19th. There has been ample time to make sure that the tool worked properly.
Update, 6:47 pm GMT: Success! The transfer tool has finally let me through. It’ll take a while for the characters to start turning up, but you get the 5250 Turbine points immediately. Spend them wisely.
