Star Trek Online Impressions Day Three: The Search for Spocktimus?

�Spocktimus Prime�. That is a name in STO. That alone made my day.

On the thirdish day of STO I found myself getting more into group battles. However the server issues present before were still in full force today. Disconnects during battles were becoming common. So were glitches. One such glitch was a mission where I and three others were supposed to fight off a bunch of Orions and scan some objects in space and the two other players could not get into the map to help us fight off the multiple ships during the mission making it extremely difficult for us to finish it. Though they did eventually get in it was only after we had died and respawned a few times. Even though this was the case we didn't get too frustrated as we had come to expect it. And since there was no penalty for dying and respawning we took our time to finish it. The only real way to fail the missions is to simply quit it mid fight. Even if you are disconnected due to server drops you come right back in the middle of the mission you started with.

The navigation around the sectors is becoming more familiar. The map system lets you auto travel to the star system you need for the mission in question. The galaxy map is broken up into sectors and you start out in the one closest to Earth or the Sol system. You can also access the system near the neutral zone that the Klingon Empire control. The galaxy map is a big 3D representation of the system with planets and stars as well as asteroid belts that you can explore. As you approach these systems you can enter them as a dialog pops up to give you access. It makes figuring out where you need to go next fairly simple as the dialogue box of your current missions gives you the name of the system it is located in.

However I found out through personal experience that if an enemy ship that is on the galaxy map approaches you then you automatically get pulled into a battle. It feels very similar to random encounters in a typical JRPG though you can avoid them if you pay enough attention to give them a wide berth. The battles are fairly short and similar to the ones at Starbase 24 with a respawn timer for the enemies once they are all destroyed. They are usually short and involve others that have been pulled into the fight as well so you aren't by yourself.

Various missions seem to still be suffering from major glitches such as crashing during certain segments or not loading at all. One such mission was Bomaria mission where in the third part I had to beam down to a station. The first time I tried I was by myself as I beamed down, my NPC bridge officers were no where to be found which made finished the mission impossible. There was nothing I could do but abort the mission and try it again. However it seems doing that starts it over from the very beginning even though my mission log showed the first two parts as completed. Not sure if this was another bug or simply how the mission works if you abort it but it was annoying for sure.

Again I have reiterate how pretty the space scenery is though. The beginning of the Bomaria mission takes place in a gaseous nebula space full of asteroids. The gases moved lazily around your ship as you passed through them. Greens and purples that were very nice eye candy. The dynamic lighting and shading of the asteroid belts is really something that needs to be seen. Space never looked so pretty.

One point I'd like to make is that there seems to be few ground missions compared to the space battles. At least as far as I have encountered. Which is a shame as I was hoping to have more missions based on diplomacy and figuring out puzzles and such like from the old tv series. Perhaps there will be more later but as of now I've done only a handful of ground missions compared to the dozens of space battles so far.

Some people have been griping a bit about the lack of PVE for the Klingon Empire faction. This is not the only faction available to you in the game as a whole. There will be others available too later on. Most likely the Klingon side is to give players that PVP experience that they want. Let's not forget that you can't as of yet play as Romulans and no doubt they will make up a faction themselves being the more antagonistic of the factions. Such missions of a darker nature as assassinations or attacks on colonies and such. Ferengi are still absent as well and they are a big part of the Trekverse as merchants. No doubt they will either be part of a different faction or be the head of one themselves as a sort of class for those who want to be pirates or merchants. Ferengi were well known for being pirates in the TNG series as well as slave markets.

There is still a lot of sectors of space that is closed off and more than enough content that is yet to be revealed so don't be too hasty on thinking you got the game pegged from the start. I'll fill you with more details as the journey continues. Also I will be making a Klingon Empire character to try that side out as well so expect some info about that later on.