Agents of Yesterday-First Impressions

[Z. Barrett]

While my initial gripe is in another thread, I decided to make a TOS era toon to see what the new expansion was like. If nothing else, I can definitely say that the expansion has captured the feel of the Original Series...so far. I could not help but giggle as one of the first missions involves fighting the Gorn. I played the old Star Trek fight music on another computer to help set the mood as the Gorn were throwing rocks at me. What I find really satisfying is not the fact that there is new content, which is welcome, it is the fact that my toon's backstory can finally be fleshed out. Since we are technically an RP fleet, my toon is a transplant from the TOS era. I made the character for the old Star Trek Role Playing game back in 1990. I am kind of revisiting my childhood knowing I can actually play the toon in his original form, to some extent.

 

Most importantly, I get to run around in this thing...

 

 

I should be fine as long as I do not run into any Evil Space Cannolis.

One of these days, I will post some stuff about my character in the RP section.

[VADM Kor]

That's funny, I'm flying the USS Constellation also, with the same NCC.  Named my new AoY toon Matt Decker.  The backstory is right when the Doomsday Machine first blasts the Constellation, there's a temporal event and they get involved with all the temporal tomfoolery and hijinks.

[VADM pRett]

I was going to "re-roll" my Rigelian Engineer, who was originally created for the Fleet "TOS Tuesday" events for this new expansion. Imagine my surprise when I went to make the character, and no Rigelians are allowed. Bummer.

[davisjm0311]

They listed the 4 playable races in the announcements and the patch notes.

[VADM Wulfric Richter CoS]

I have been loving the TOS era stuff. It has been fun going back in time to experience a piece of that lore. It has also been a kick seeing everyone in TOS era uniforms. I pray that they never allow people to to wear some of the bizarre costumes that they do in the 2410 era. I think that by doing so, you would greatly decrease the immersion in that aspect of the game.

[Z. Barrett]

VADM Kor wrote:

That's funny, I'm flying the USS Constellation also, with the same NCC.  Named my new AoY toon Matt Decker.  The backstory is right when the Doomsday Machine first blasts the Constellation, there's a temporal event and they get involved with all the temporal tomfoolery and hijinks.

 That IS funny.

That makes sense and, if you think about it. The timey-wimey balls that Star Trek regularly engages in make Matt Decker a prime candidate for either a silent actor in the Temporal Cold War, a member of Section 31 or both. It would easily explain why everyone in STO is running around with Anti-Proton weapons and Neutronium Hull Plating; he led the team that reverse engineered the Planet Killer. Hell, in the original draft of "The Doomsday Machine" screenplay, he was supposed to survive. Go figure. My character, "Barrett", comes from the Prime Universe and was on the Constellation with Decker. Barrett went TDY for Command School, which is why he survived. He was not on board when Decker and the "Connie" met their fate. It hit Barrett hard. You know, that whole second father thing. Barrett came to the current STO universe through a freak warp core accident on one of his pet projects. (yes, Prime Barret was Section 31)

 

I really should get off my ass write this up and put it in RP. I think you guys would enjoy it.

[Nimmoth]

just finished the 1st tutorial (ppl complain first 3 missions are tutorials and whine whine whine) where it leaves you on ESD. just claimed all my stuffz from my aoy pack and others...my point defense console and chronodynamic armor from original sto preorder are actually useful again! 

so far, it seems pretty cool. im digging the new look of weapons, and icons for consumables.

ALL the ships are t1 connies right now, so thats kinda funny to see fleets of 30+ in orbit 23c esd.

In regards to race, human probably the best for space trait, andorian for ground.

Very dissapointed with kelvin lockbox. not much for secondary prizes except the space weapon pack. no good traits, kits. i saved up 50 keys and have 10 left..nothing..but thats the box game (i know the deal- i could sell keys, but i need lobi for vengenance)

Had to create a "bank" character to open the weapon packs (so they will be mk ii) and did the fed tutorial again too (wouldnt let me skip) - better than what i remember (havent rolled a new toon since original launch)

Finished the new missions on main toon. those were pretty cool. Havent done the new ques yet, as i have 2k temporal marks from turning in risa birds and monkeys. Still trying to finish trait in presidio class, after that i will switch to new paladin class..may be my new main ship..or may stick with fleet arbiter (i got an influx of new ships all at once about a month ago - delta rising pack+fleet arbiter - so havent tried many yet. and now  aoy pack- too many ships!) 

I rolled a tac temporal cadet...figured that would synergize well with a sci ship for all the new temporal abilities/set/boff abils..most are +exotic damage based.

Anyhow, ive only spent about 3 hours in aoy so far..but we will see! after the allure of new content is finished, it may fizzle out. 

 

[davisjm0311]

50 keys on the exchange and you could have bought a vengeance with EC to spare. 

[Z. Barrett]

Well, I just finished what appears to be all of the TOS missions that Cryptic has included and, despite my initial pleasure with the TOS era, it ended about as shitty as I could imagine it. I won't spoil it for anyone, but suffice it to say that the entirety of the TOS missions is to serve as a stupid extended tutorial to dump the player into the main, regular game. Needless to say, I am pissed. Why in the name of hell would I want to take yet another toon through the same shitty missions in the regular storyline again?!! I already have a Romulan and Klink alt that I stopped caring about because I was tired of going through the same worn-out, buggy unbalanced shit...ESPECIALLY the Delta Rising missions. I am happy I did not pay a penny for this pseudo-expansion.

[Nimmoth]

i agree...way too little content for TOS..but they are going to be releasing more as confirmed by dev blogs. for what we got - it should have been half the price. 

for what it is - i wish they would let us stay in the 23c or atleast go back...and give us VR 23c boffs and abils past lt. level. i was very dissapointed to know that if i wanted to stay 23c to lvl60 i would have to keep subpar boffs (2 green, rest white) and only a handfull of boff abils - that will seriously gimp end game play - no sro or pirates - just leadership and efficient, but you can find a few with decent ground traits.

on a positive note - the leveless single/twin phaser bank and photon torpedo do level with you, but after mkxii you will have to upgrade the store bought or loot dropped ones to get mkxiv - i bought multiple everythings from the 23c vendors for later just for this purpose..plus starting upgrade at mk1 white isnt as good as mkii vr  - but it is possible for a mkii vr loot drop  - i havent gotten one yet tho. imagine the exchange prices on those.

anyhow - i plan on using the kelvin phaser

having new ships every 10 levels is a plus tho. makes it more interesting. i havent done missions on my main past cardassian (gotta do breen arc before 14th for featured reward) - so i do have some new stuff to look forward to. but for people that have played every mission---i dont see why you would do missions again - besides the temporal rewards and the probes - they give good stuff and a cool trait..but thats alot to do just for that. 

they need to make it more worth a players time to level another alt through the same content besides what they have done. i asked myself the same question. what is the point of doing this again??? arghhh...why should i get to lvl 60??? nothing past lt.cmdr level themed TOS. but the rewards are account wide - so any existing or future toons get it.

for me, its a chance to play a different carrer and play style, and there is content i have never done as i have never had an alt besides my doffing kdf. but for most players..i agree and i dont know what they can do to make it better???

 

 

 

[Z. Barrett]

Nimmoth wrote:

they need to make it more worth a players time to level another alt through the same content besides what they have done. i asked myself the same question. what is the point of doing this again??? arghhh...why should i get to lvl 60??? nothing past lt.cmdr level themed TOS. but the rewards are account wide - so any existing or future toons get it. for me, its a chance to play a different carrer and play style, and there is content i have never done as i have never had an alt besides my doffing kdf. but for most players..i agree and i dont know what they can do to make it better???

 What they should have done was create a full-fledged TOS campaign and, around Level 50, allow the player to go into the regular game for end-game content. As it stands, I see the expansion as entirely too much hype and not enough content.

[VADM Wulfric Richter CoS]

Admiral Barrett wrote:

Nimmoth wrote: they need to make it more worth a players time to level another alt through the same content besides what they have done. i asked myself the same question. what is the point of doing this again??? arghhh...why should i get to lvl 60??? nothing past lt.cmdr level themed TOS. but the rewards are account wide - so any existing or future toons get it. for me, its a chance to play a different carrer and play style, and there is content i have never done as i have never had an alt besides my doffing kdf. but for most players..i agree and i dont know what they can do to make it better???        What they should have done was create a full-fledged TOS campaign and, around Level 50, allow the player to go into the regular game for end-game content. As it stands, I see the expansion as entirely too much hype and not enough content.

 I am going to have to disagree. Compared to the anemic release back in February, the TOS expansion was way more than I was looking for. I thought that they would do the one episode a month routine rather than handle it like they did in the past.

Granted, it wasn't as expansive as the release of the Delta quadrant material, but it was far better than what they have done recently. It may be that they will make additions over time and delay the progression into the 2410 world or they may just call it done and move on.

But I, for one, loved it. I would sneak out of my bed in the 1960's and creep into the living room to watch the show. Whether I was a good sneak or my parents were too absorbed in the show to notice, I don't know, but I never got caught. So playing even a small part of that show brought back a lot of good memories for me.

Perhaps it is nostalgia, but I am very glad that they did this.

[Nimmoth]

Knightnblu wrote:

Admiral Barrett wrote:     Perhaps it is nostalgia, but I am very glad that they did this.

 

it is totally nostalgia..not for me tho(dont really dig TOS)..but 95% of players love it and are willing to overlook all this shortfall just to have a moment of that feeling. that is why aoy is a success overall.