I played a little tiny bit of STO when the game was in open beta and wrote about my impressions over on NomadicGamer. My point of view comes from someone who has never even seen the TV show before let alone been a fan of the IP. A huge thank you to Petter who helped me get started when I had a few worries about picking up the game; once more I’m reminded of what a fantastic community I’ve become involved with.
I deleted my old character who had never even made it out of the tutorial and decided it would be best if I started from scratch. I had to relearn everything – lets not even call it relearning because I’m not confident that I ever really learned it to begin with. I had to learn the game. Starting with the basics of movement, how to spend skill points, and building up my bridge officers. I created a Zhen, Shen Andorian and decided to go down the science path as it fits my ‘typical’ game style quite well (healing, buffing and debuffing). I have some engineer bridge officers as well as science, a mixture of Andorian and Borg. I took a lot of really neat screen shots last night only to discover that since my STO client is launched from steam and not a stand alone, the print screen button doesn’t actually take screen shots. Fixing that as we speak and reminding myself to keep Fraps open so I don’t forget to capture those neat moments next time.
How did I spend my first evening? I managed to hit Lieutenant 4 (almost, I am just a smidgen away at the time that I write this) which I hear is equal to level 4 in basic terms. I did space and ground missions, finding myself enthralled with both types. I’ve just been following the quest chains that I pick up and hopefully that’s what I should be doing. I’m still a little lost when it comes to things like how to fit my ship but I don’t have to worry about things getting too complicated until I hit the next Rank. For now I only have one option of ship, and it’s pretty easy to tell if something I’ve looted or won from a quest is an upgrade or not. I’ve been training myself down the science lines to make my science skills work better.
I have really surprised myself with how much fun I’m having. I enjoy the challenge the game presents to me because it may as well be a completely different language than one I am used to. I find myself encouraged to learn more, to try to figure things out, and explore. I want to know about the different races and how they interact, and the politics behind everything. I know there are so many key points that I’m missing because I just don’t know anything about Star Trek. Like who is Q, and why does he float and is Club 47 a place in the TV show as well? I did his quest this morning and had to ask friends for help because I didn’t know a single answer. I’m not big enough to do the Saturday uhm.. I don’t know what they’re technically called. I’ll call it a mission for now *sheepish* give me time here my brain is on overload! I need level 6 for that, but I’ve been having so much fun playing I expect I’ll keep with it for some time to come. Don’t be afraid to have your MMOs challenge you, and to break out of your ‘usual’ game to try something new! Even if you don’t enjoy it or keep with it, at least you’ve tried.
Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!
I started playing STO while it was still in beta, and I hadn’t watched any of the shows before that either! Would you believe it though, now I’m a Trek fan and it’s all because of this game. I watched all the series in order to better understand the game (and it IS so much better once you get all the references!) and became obsessed with the IP as a result. Before STO I’d never given the shows much thought at all, and now I know some of the shows like DS9 and Voyager better than my husband who was THE big Trekker to start. I now have a new geek vice and it’s all thanks to STO :D