I actually intended to follow Neverwinter with Star Wars The Old Republic, but the double xp event that dissuaded me from that game a few weeks ago still has another week to run, and I'll have enough things to say about the levelling speed in SWTOR as it is without running at an even faster pace. So instead I'm following on from Neverwinter with another Cryptic MMO – Star Trek Online.
(Champions Online is a lot further down my to-play list, so it'll be a while before I complete the Cryptic treble.)
As with Dungeons & Dragons I have a long history with Star Trek – all the way back to watching reruns of the original series before it was actually referred to as the original series, since The Next Generation wasn't a thing yet. I wouldn't call myself a Trekkie as such – I've watched a lot of Star Trek over the years, but I haven't watched all of it.
For the record though, Kirk is the best.
I mention this because, again like Dungeons & Dragons Online (and to a lesser extent, Neverwinter), my thoughts on Star Trek Online are undoubtedly influenced in all sorts of ways by my previous knowledge of the setting and its many many stories. This will come up again when I finally get around to SWTOR.
(It does occur to me that I don't look at Lord of the Rings Online through the same kind of lens. At least I don't now. LOTRO won me over entirely by the time I'd finished with the Shire and the Old Forest.)
My history with Star Trek Online goes back to not long after it launched back in 2010. My first impressions of it were not good, and I didn't stay long. I've been back since, but like several other games I've talked about in this blog, never for that long.
Long enough though to influence my choice of faction. STO has a dizzying number of possible character origins and while I was re-installing I figured I'd go with what's effectively the default option – Starfleet in the current timeline. It's like starting City of Heroes with a hero rather than a villain. It's just what you do.
Except I didn't, and one reason why I didn't is that The Klingon opening is – by far – my all-time favourite tutorial sequence in any MMO. That's not to say that the Federation, or for that matter the Romulan, tutorials aren't good – they are – but they're not as good.
The KDF intro is fast paced and it's funny, well written and well voice acted, and provides a crash course in the way that Klingon society functions. Incidentally it also justifies the rapid promotion to the captain's chair rather better than the Starfleet tutorial does, although I suppose the Federation don't offer the same opportunities to fast-track your career as the Empire...
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