Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Star Trek: Online, Star Trek: Online - PvP, STO, STO PVP
Our last set of orders from Admiral Quinn sent us to Deep Space Station K7. K7 is located in the neutral zone between Federation and Klingon space. As such, it is an excellent staging ground for Starfleet to engage Klingon forces before they cross the border into Federation space. Our orders were to deliver supplies for the war effort and assist in an offensive action.
Deep Space Station K7
There were several ships in orbit of K7 when we arrived. Some had been assigned here as a defense fleet for the station itself. Most were using the station as a rendezvous point before going out on assignment.
Commander Makza
As we off loaded supplies, I had a chance to meet with the individuals in charge of the Federations presence on the station. Commander Wildman ran operations on the station, while a Saurian by the name of Commander Makza was the person in charge of organizing our efforts. It would be Commander Makza that the Tirpitz would be assigned to for the duration of the assignment.
The assignment in question was to go to the Ker’rat system. Long range probes had reported the presence of a Borg facility in system. We were going to be escorting a few science vessels that had been sent by Starfleet Intelligence to study the facility in the hopes of gaining some insight into the Borg’s system and technology. The Tirpitz would not be directly involved in data and sample collection. Our assignment was to protect the science ships from any possible Borg resistance. We were also to keep watch for any Klingon ships that may try to interrupt our operation.
The Ker'rat Borg facility
I’m happy to report that our mission was a complete success. We were fortunate in that the Borg probes we encountered still seemed to be under the effects of whatever was preventing them from adapting to our weapons when we encountered them in the Vega system. And we didn’t encounter any hostile Klingon forces.
With our supplies delivered and the operation a success, we set a course back to Federation space.
Out of Character
The reason why there weren’t any hostile Klingon forces around to fight was because somehow I found myself as a Federation Captain, onboard a Federation ship, on the Klingon’s team.
Neutral Zone Diplomacy is another mission like Scientific Mandate. You get instructions from Admiral Quinn to go talk to people who will introduce you to Star Trek: Online’s PVP content, and by just talking to them, you’ll finish the mission without having to engage in any combat. Because the mission is so short, I decided to include the first PVP mission the player gets sent on. And after my experience with the PVP system, I’m doubt I’ll be spending much more time with it any time soon.
I consider myself to be a PVP player. In the past, I’ve found myself drawn to the pvp content that I’ve found in most of the MMOs I’ve tried. I’m not reading websites to figure out ways to maximize my damage output against specific enemy types, but I can look at the objectives provided for the battle and prove to be useful by trying to complete those objectives while many people waste time just trying to get enemy kills.
Brother against Brother
What’s good about Star Trek: Online’s PVP system? It’s balanced. If you’ve been following along with my previous posts, you’ve probably seen me complain about Admirals running around in Lieutenant content and causing problems. From what I saw in the PVP mission, it was equal level ships on both sides going at it. Level differences that I saw were two to three levels above and below me, but all were still in the same ship class. So we see that Cryptic knows how to restrict some content to specific levels. We just need to see them do it to other areas that need it.
What’s bad about Star Trek: Online’s PVP system? I almost want to say everything else. The first thing that comes to mind is that I’m on the wrong team. I don’t know if this is a bug or if this is their intended design. It seems to match what I saw in Cryptic’s other MMO, Champions Online. When you enter the queue for low-level pvp in Champions, you’ll end up getting assigned to a random group of other players that were already in the queue. And that works with the storyline for Champions Online, where low-level pvp is presented as an underground fight club for superpowered individuals. After fighting against the Klingons for so long, to suddenly and unexpectedly become their ally is a bit jarring. Maybe this is a choice the developers made to balance PVP teams and or speed up the queue system. But I just find it rubbing me the wrong way. Sacrificing the game’s story so you can wedge in a pvp system that works the way you want it to work usually ends up hurting the pvp game in the long run, in my opinion.
What’s funny about Star Trek: Online’s PVP? It’s hilarious when Dr. Franklin sends me a message describing what I need to do in the mission, and talks about how all the Federation dogs will die for the glory of the Empire.
Naomi Wildman, all grown up.
For Star Trek fans playing the game, this mission offers not one, but two references to what’s come before. The obvious one is K7 itself. The space station that serves as the hub for Federation pvp was the location for the classic Star Trek episode “The Trouble with Tribbles” and later on the DS9 follow-up, “Trials and Tribble-ations”. The other one is the commanding officer of K7 itself. Commander Wildman is Naomi Wildman, the little girl who was born on Voyager that developed friendships with Neelix and Seven of Nine.
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Star Trek: Tirpitz 
I’m guessing you got put in the wrong team because of the imbalance between Fed players and Klingon players. I started a Klingon character to see what all the fuss was about the other day, and while I saw a lot of people running around the base, I doubt many of them actually carry through with the pvp and leveling.
About balanced pvp…I agree with you that the levels seem to be balanced, at least from what I saw. But on the other hand, I also found it more challenging as a Klingon escort (which is all we had) to go against the tougher, sturdier Starfleet cruisers (all they had). I can’t help but think there’s a class imbalance there, but I don’t know…maybe I’m just a really bad PvPer.
Comment by mmogamerchick March 17, 2010 @ 3:03 pmMaybe they’re thinking that the ability to cloak is supposed to make up for the lack of durability. What I would think would hurt the most is the forward focus of most of the Klingons basic weapons. If a Klingon’s target isn’t in their forward firing arc, all they have is a tiny little turret to work with until they can get back into position for their next assault.
Comment by captainruz March 17, 2010 @ 7:29 pmYou’re right about that…I just didn’t think of it because my main currently flies a tactical escort with all forward facing weapons to maximize frontal assault damage LOL. Yeah, it can be a pain when you’re out of position, but if you can maximize your time in front of an enemy ship, oh boy is it ever worth it.
Comment by mmogamerchick March 18, 2010 @ 2:30 amI’m likely to head down the tactical escort path myself. And while I plan to load up on heavy cannons, I can’t see why I wouldn’t want to have at least one forward and back ship weapon slot as a beam array of some sort. Guess I’ll find out.
Comment by captainruz March 18, 2010 @ 9:09 am