Should I try out Star Trek Online?

[EnterpriseSovereign]

There isn't a direct desktop link you can make for STO, is there? Kind of tired of having to go through Arc every time I want to logon to the game...
EDIT: Also, smeg, 5444 MB patch. On top of that ~6K MB patch I had the other day.

Man.

Yes, there is. I have a desktop shortcut to the install folder: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Star Trek Online_en\Star Trek Online.exe". No Arc needed!

9756MB for the expansion (downloading now), which goes live later today. Strange that they decided to launch on a Tuesday instead of after the weekly maintenance on a Thursday. I guess someone watched Generations one too many times!

[Lord Revan]

Gotten my main to level 65 now, the story was decent enough with some stand-out missions (that's about as much as I can say without going into spoilers).

Also made a Jem'hadar character. So I am dead, I go to battle to reclaim my life, because Victory is Life

[Elheru Aran]

Man. Wow. A LOT of options vanished from my screens. Weapons were the biggest nuisance. I was missing 4 out of the total 8 on my Sovereign. And of course I didn't notice this until DURING my first space encounter... which explained why I was getting blown up quickly. At least I had a bucket of Mk XII phaser banks in my inventory to fill up on quickly.

Just beamed down and most of my buttons are gone, too. Sigh.

[mr friendly guy]

Hur'q ships only seem to win through sheer weight of numbers. One on one they aren't that great. Its pretty much stated they are beating the Dominion through attrition. Given the speed at which the Dominion can build ships.... either the Hur'q build faster, or they had millenia building up ships and aren't running out soon.

Generally I find torpedo spread with kemocite enhanced weapons deal with their swarmers well. Spatial anomalies do as well.

****************************************************************************
In regards to mark 15 items. I generally find them well worth upgrading aside from impulse engines (where I never do anyway as I find the bonuses aren't worth it) and so far the warp engines or singularity haven't tempted me, as the extra bonus doesn't seem worth it.

A mark 15 ultra rare vulnerability locator (these things start as mark 12, UR) is as good as a mark 14 epic vulnerability locator, and its easier to upgrade mark, rather that rarity. However I think if you're interested in that extra 1.9% damage and 0.1% critical chance, and you got a few of these, you may as well upgrade to mark 15 epic.

Secondary deflectors seem worth it, depending on the ability. A deteriorating deflector certainly does a good amount more damage from mark 14 epic when upgraded to mark 15 epic.

Kits seem to have only have a small benefit, but may be worth it if you have dilithium to spare. Kit modules I think are worth it, where they do damage. Where they summon stuff, its harder to gauge from the description. I mean what is the difference between a level 75 drone and a level 70 drone. Without numbers I am holding off upgrading at the moment.

Currently a lot of my stuff which I am currently using is upgraded to mark 15 epic. I am going to have build up dilithium again before I can do further upgrades. I pretty much used all my phoenix tech upgrades.

[Lord Revan]

Hur'q ships only seem to win through sheer weight of numbers. One on one they aren't that great. Its pretty much stated they are beating the Dominion through attrition. Given the speed at which the Dominion can build ships.... either the Hur'q build faster, or they had millenia building up ships and aren't running out soon.

Generally I find torpedo spread with kemocite enhanced weapons deal with their swarmers well. Spatial anomalies do as well.

Based on what I've fought them in-game swarm tactics seem to be the Hur'q's MO that and going invunerble at times for the bigger ships, also I suspect that previously the Dominion destroyed just enough of the swarm to "point the hur'q elsewhere" but not enough to put a signifigant dent in their numbers. Thus the Hur'q would have a sizeble portion of their pre-existing fleet plus anything new they built beyond replenishing their losses.

[Lord Revan]

Spoiler

Also I suspect the female changeling was still harboring plans to turn the Hur'q into slave soldiers, until the very end of the story (though I strongly suspect we will seeing more of her) and thus didn't want to diminish their numbers too much, besides previously the Jem'hadar seemed to be able to contain them. And that's before we get into the thing how she turn by all account peaceful species into essentially a horde of alien locusts and tried to wipe out her failure by killing them regardless who got caught in the crossfire

TL:DR the Hur'q crisis is pretty of much the Dominion's own making

[mr friendly guy]

Cryptic should realise what Garack said, small dark passages suck. That last episode took me longer than usual because of the maze, before I found the final storage crystal. Unfortunately as the Founder was giving her spiel the shard went into maintenance. Well, my other toons are already as max level and max specialisation, so they won't be playing this episode as they don't need the experience.

[montypython]

In regards to mark 15 items. I generally find them well worth upgrading aside from impulse engines (where I never do anyway as I find the bonuses aren't worth it) and so far the warp engines or singularity haven't tempted me, as the extra bonus doesn't seem worth it.

A mark 15 ultra rare vulnerability locator (these things start as mark 12, UR) is as good as a mark 14 epic vulnerability locator, and its easier to upgrade mark, rather that rarity. However I think if you're interested in that extra 1.9% damage and 0.1% critical chance, and you got a few of these, you may as well upgrade to mark 15 epic.

Secondary deflectors seem worth it, depending on the ability. A deteriorating deflector certainly does a good amount more damage from mark 14 epic when upgraded to mark 15 epic.

Kits seem to have only have a small benefit, but may be worth it if you have dilithium to spare. Kit modules I think are worth it, where they do damage. Where they summon stuff, its harder to gauge from the description. I mean what is the difference between a level 75 drone and a level 70 drone. Without numbers I am holding off upgrading at the moment.

Currently a lot of my stuff which I am currently using is upgraded to mark 15 epic. I am going to have build up dilithium again before I can do further upgrades. I pretty much used all my phoenix tech upgrades.

Been running the Romulan Republic Admiralty missions repeatedly to get the extra tech upgrades without using dilithium, and it does help especially with upgrade boosters.

[FaxModem1]

My laptop finally got fixed, so I'm back on STO. I'm only a few missions into this Hurq/Dominion plotline. Odo's actions are making me wonder if it's really Odo, or another Founder in disguise.

[FaxModem1]

Just finished "Quark's Lucky Seven". That was a pretty awesome heist mission. Leck, as always whenever he appears, steals the show:

[Lord Revan]

My laptop finally got fixed, so I'm back on STO. I'm only a few missions into this Hurq/Dominion plotline. Odo's actions are making me wonder if it's really Odo, or another Founder in disguise.

Having played the whole thing to the end I can say that to me it seems like it's Odo, but Odo who is heavily influenced by having spent the last 30 years within the Dominion, he does things no other Founder would even dream of doing. That's all I can say without going into spoilers.

[mr friendly guy]

In regards to mark 15 items. I generally find them well worth upgrading aside from impulse engines (where I never do anyway as I find the bonuses aren't worth it) and so far the warp engines or singularity haven't tempted me, as the extra bonus doesn't seem worth it.

A mark 15 ultra rare vulnerability locator (these things start as mark 12, UR) is as good as a mark 14 epic vulnerability locator, and its easier to upgrade mark, rather that rarity. However I think if you're interested in that extra 1.9% damage and 0.1% critical chance, and you got a few of these, you may as well upgrade to mark 15 epic.

Secondary deflectors seem worth it, depending on the ability. A deteriorating deflector certainly does a good amount more damage from mark 14 epic when upgraded to mark 15 epic.

Kits seem to have only have a small benefit, but may be worth it if you have dilithium to spare. Kit modules I think are worth it, where they do damage. Where they summon stuff, its harder to gauge from the description. I mean what is the difference between a level 75 drone and a level 70 drone. Without numbers I am holding off upgrading at the moment.

Currently a lot of my stuff which I am currently using is upgraded to mark 15 epic. I am going to have build up dilithium again before I can do further upgrades. I pretty much used all my phoenix tech upgrades.

Been running the Romulan Republic Admiralty missions repeatedly to get the extra tech upgrades without using dilithium, and it does help especially with upgrade boosters.

I got quite a few. But I think mathematically it makes more sense to focus on the Klingon and Ferengi admiralty system and get the dilithium. I would still have more dilithium leftover, using superior tech upgrades (since my primary and secondary toons can synthesise them easily enough), compared to the dilithium I would save using the Romulan tech upgrades. Any leftover spots in the admiralty system, I use on the Romulan one to eventually get more tech upgrades.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

In regards to mark 15 items. I generally find them well worth upgrading aside from impulse engines (where I never do anyway as I find the bonuses aren't worth it) and so far the warp engines or singularity haven't tempted me, as the extra bonus doesn't seem worth it.

A mark 15 ultra rare vulnerability locator (these things start as mark 12, UR) is as good as a mark 14 epic vulnerability locator, and its easier to upgrade mark, rather that rarity. However I think if you're interested in that extra 1.9% damage and 0.1% critical chance, and you got a few of these, you may as well upgrade to mark 15 epic.

Secondary deflectors seem worth it, depending on the ability. A deteriorating deflector certainly does a good amount more damage from mark 14 epic when upgraded to mark 15 epic.

Kits seem to have only have a small benefit, but may be worth it if you have dilithium to spare. Kit modules I think are worth it, where they do damage. Where they summon stuff, its harder to gauge from the description. I mean what is the difference between a level 75 drone and a level 70 drone. Without numbers I am holding off upgrading at the moment.

Currently a lot of my stuff which I am currently using is upgraded to mark 15 epic. I am going to have build up dilithium again before I can do further upgrades. I pretty much used all my phoenix tech upgrades.

Been running the Romulan Republic Admiralty missions repeatedly to get the extra tech upgrades without using dilithium, and it does help especially with upgrade boosters.

I got quite a few. But I think mathematically it makes more sense to focus on the Klingon and Ferengi admiralty system and get the dilithium. I would still have more dilithium leftover, using superior tech upgrades (since my primary and secondary toons can synthesise them easily enough), compared to the dilithium I would save using the Romulan tech upgrades. Any leftover spots in the admiralty system, I use on the Romulan one to eventually get more tech upgrades.

That's pretty much what I do, the goal being to get as much dil ore as I can. The admiralty missions meant all my toons made the climb from level 60 to 65 in the space of two days using that system alone. In fact, my main character did it in one, thanks in part to the double xp event immediately prior. The new toon will see a slight bias towards the Federation owing to the reward being much-needed spec points.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Upgrade weekend has arrived, so now's the time to spend those Phoenix upgrades I'd saved the tokens for, from the last event. Luckily the transition from XIV epic to XV only costs one or two so I shouldn't run out, at least for space stuff. The new toon may need more since there's rep gear that I haven't yet reached the requisite level to buy.

[Elheru Aran]

Okay, so has anybody else had this problem?

I started up a Jem recruit (starting at level 60? Yes please), and that went fine for the first few missions. The hitch? When I finally get through the tutorial and get assigned my first mission starting at DS9... it's absurdly dark, and playing with the graphics settings doesn't change anything. The game is also chugging badly, it's like watching stop motion animated at 4 fps. Had to ctrl-alt-del and manually turn it off that way. It's done that to me a few times now.

[Lord Revan]

Okay, so has anybody else had this problem?

I started up a Jem recruit (starting at level 60? Yes please), and that went fine for the first few missions. The hitch? When I finally get through the tutorial and get assigned my first mission starting at DS9... it's absurdly dark, and playing with the graphics settings doesn't change anything. The game is also chugging badly, it's like watching stop motion animated at 4 fps. Had to ctrl-alt-del and manually turn it off that way. It's done that to me a few times now.

You using lighting 1.0 as that might be the cause of DS9 being too dark as for performance I dunno what to do there.

[Elheru Aran]

I'll try to boot it up again soon and see what happens. Dunno about the lighting. I'm pretty sure it wasn't downloading any updates at the time. I'll also try a different toon. If it's exclusive to the Gamma recruit, I'm gonna be annoyed. Space is working fine if a little slow, it's the ground stage on DS9 that's screwed.

[Elheru Aran]

Well, Sargatanas worked okay. I have a lot of side missions hanging around. Deferi, Nukara, something or other. Maybe I should pick up the Breen set from Defera while I'm at it.

Didn't get around to picking up my Jem'hadar again. I'll try next week when I get back to playing.

[montypython]

I'll try to boot it up again soon and see what happens. Dunno about the lighting. I'm pretty sure it wasn't downloading any updates at the time. I'll also try a different toon. If it's exclusive to the Gamma recruit, I'm gonna be annoyed. Space is working fine if a little slow, it's the ground stage on DS9 that's screwed.

For lighting 1.0, the settings to get the lighting/shadows right on DS9 is to have post-processing on and turn on bloom quality, that's what worked for me.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

20% ships, services and costume sale on right now. As I'd been waiting for the Elite Starter Pack to be discounted for a while, I picked it up immediately!

[Elheru Aran]

I'll try to boot it up again soon and see what happens. Dunno about the lighting. I'm pretty sure it wasn't downloading any updates at the time. I'll also try a different toon. If it's exclusive to the Gamma recruit, I'm gonna be annoyed. Space is working fine if a little slow, it's the ground stage on DS9 that's screwed.

For lighting 1.0, the settings to get the lighting/shadows right on DS9 is to have post-processing on and turn on bloom quality, that's what worked for me.

Okay, that fixed the graphics (mostly), but the game still chugs horribly on DS9. I think it just can't handle all the traffic on the station or something. I might have to wait and play this toon at a slower time.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

I'll try to boot it up again soon and see what happens. Dunno about the lighting. I'm pretty sure it wasn't downloading any updates at the time. I'll also try a different toon. If it's exclusive to the Gamma recruit, I'm gonna be annoyed. Space is working fine if a little slow, it's the ground stage on DS9 that's screwed.

For lighting 1.0, the settings to get the lighting/shadows right on DS9 is to have post-processing on and turn on bloom quality, that's what worked for me.

Okay, that fixed the graphics (mostly), but the game still chugs horribly on DS9. I think it just can't handle all the traffic on the station or something. I might have to wait and play this toon at a slower time.

Only two of my toons have been to DS9 since the revamp, neither of them have had any problems. The layout is deinitely better now, gone is the bank/exchange being on the opposite side of the station to the shipyard. Thinking about it, I should find out how these changes affect missions set in DS9.

[Lord Revan]

For lighting 1.0, the settings to get the lighting/shadows right on DS9 is to have post-processing on and turn on bloom quality, that's what worked for me.

Okay, that fixed the graphics (mostly), but the game still chugs horribly on DS9. I think it just can't handle all the traffic on the station or something. I might have to wait and play this toon at a slower time.

Only two of my toons have been to DS9 since the revamp, neither of them have had any problems. The layout is deinitely better now, gone is the bank/exchange being on the opposite side of the station to the shipyard. Thinking about it, I should find out how these changes affect missions set in DS9.

While as a whole I didn't have major performance issues on the new DS9, there was some spots where I had noticeble slowdown.

[houser2112]

I'm on an STO hiatus to clear out my Steam backlog, but I created an expansion character just to get him a transponder. The changes to DS9 were jarring. While it's definitely closer to what I remember it looking like in the show, it's too claustrophobic, especially for an MMO social hub. I didn't notice any performance issues, though.

[Lord Revan]

A lot of people crying for "screen accurate" don't seem to get how tiny the sets (and by extension the locations) actually were. I mean the new DS9 is still not screen accurate scale (it's 50% bigger then screen accurate).