style="width: 630px; height: 60px;" alt="Exclusives"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/80735">

• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/bridge_officer_guide">Bridge
  Officer Training
  
  
  
  Star
  Trek Online throws you right into middle management with little to
  no preparation (or bad Office Space sound bites). Very early on in the
  game, players get their first bridge officer and then they start
  accumulating points and merits to help bolster the abilities. It can be
  a little daunting to have so many people reporting, so this week we
  look at how to manage the responsibility.

• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/features/first_impressions">Star
  Trek Online - First Impressions
  
  
  
  The Star
  Trek intellectual property is a
  game maker's dream.
  The geeks of this beloved franchise number in the millions and pleasing
  them all will be no easy task. Can Cryptic Studios succeed where so
  many others have failed before with Star
  Trek Online?

• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/features/the_traveler_episode2">The
  Traveler's Guide -Episode 2
  
  
  
  The
  universe is an awfully big place and it would take more than a
  human lifetime to see it all. Realizations like that make the idea of a
  personal tour guide sound pretty good, don't they? Today's your lucky
  day then, because we (allegedly) smuggled none other than The Traveler
  onto a Federation ship to bring us weekly images from every quadrant of
  the galaxy and beyond just for you!




• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/features/editorials/klingonfirstdays">Your
  First Days in the Klingon Empire
  
  
  

  Just the word, “Klingon”, sends a shiver down the
  spine of the most
  battle-hardened veteran. Respected and feared throughout the galaxy,
  the Klingons and their allies are not to be trifled with lightly.
  Here’s what you can expect in Star Trek Online when you add
  your name
  to the list of warriors wishing to be worthy of an afterlife within
  Sto’Vo’Kor.

  "If
  you want to really test yourself though, go ahead and
  challenge the absolute beast of a Gorn standing at the edge of the
  ring. Trust me, you'll know exactly who I'm talking about once you see
  him. Let's just say I eventually admitted I was a coward after my third
  death and left him alone after that."

style="width: 630px; height: 60px;" alt="Captain's Log"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/80732">

Another
week in the books and Medeor has traversed a few
more star systems and even got into a scrape aka Pee Vee Pee. Knuckles
bloody
and ego bruised, the crew and I limped back to base to grab some blue
beer, we’re
not ready for prime time PvP just yet. It might help to be a little
higher rank
as well. Seeing all those plus signs gave me math nightmares. And now
on with
the show.

style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"> style="font-weight: bold;">

style="">The
Week That Was

style="margin-left: 0.5in;">The first official patch
was
launched and so far the new is better than the old. I like the
character select
screen much better and it’s great to see the dev team making
so many “player
facing” changes. The gripes I’m seeing continue are
all centered on PvP, see
below.

style="">Sea Sickness or Lack of Balance?

style="margin-left: 0.5in;">The lack of balance in
PvP is
definitely rising on the list of issues for the game. My guess is that
the real
issue is lack of people at the same level for the developers to really
get a
sense of how to balance it. If they balance for the current population,
it will
be totally out of balance again as people get to end game.
It’s a no win
situation for the development team right now, but they should use this
time to
handle any of the known (and glaring) issues.

style="">Swordmasters, how I hate thee.

style="margin-left: 0.5in;">So Swordmasters should
run up and
hit me with swords right? Well then why do they insist on running and
gunning
with two pistols? They really tear me up unless I can get them stunned.
I snuck
up on a group that consisted of a Swordmaster, Torg Handler and some
other bad
guys That got a little rough, but I stuck with last week’s
mantra of “take out
the Handler first,” and we all survived. By
“we” I mean me, other crew members
may have been resuscitated in the making of this story.

style="">Briar Patch Bonus Footage

style="margin-left: 0.5in;">So far I’d have
to say that the
Briar Patch episode was the longest one I’ve run. The story
is fun and the
battles in space and base are cool, but towards the end I was looking
for the
credits to roll. I think my restlessness may have started when it took
me a
while to navigate the gas clouds and dealing with the cannons. Next
time, knock
that out more quickly (it would be like using my DVR fast forward
button).

style="">Pack Rat or Cash Cow redux.

style="margin-left: 0.5in;">Last week I said I was
selling
everything not nailed down. I’m changing my tune as the loot
drops get better and
I start my never ending alt-creation. I thought I’d be safe
in STO and not feel
the need to create an alt every week, but it’s getting
tougher to fight the
urge. I now have a tiered approach to handling inventory.

style="margin-left: 0.5in;">It goes like this
– if any answer
is yes, then it stops there and gets equipped. If the answer is no,
then go
onto the next question.

style="margin-left: 0.5in;">Can my character use it?
Me Me Me,
as in Me
First and the Gimme Gimmes
(awesome band).

style="margin-left: 0.5in;">Can my ship benefit from
it? Pimping
the ride is a primary objective.

style="margin-left: 0.5in;">Can my bridge officers
use it? Go
ahead and give it to the little ingrates. If my bridge officer can use
it, do I
really want to give to them? I mean, did they send me a bottle of wine
on Boss’
Day?

style="margin-left: 0.5in;">Can my future alts use
it? Not
knowing what that character’s career will be or when
I’ll actually create said
alt makes this option a “green or better only”
quality gear.

style="margin-left: 0.5in;">If the answer is no to
all of the
above, I’m selling it. And since I’m not a huge fan
of warping back to Earth
only to slog all the way back out to where my missions are,
I’m going to use
the Replicator. Is anyone having good success on the auction house, or
market
exchange, or whatever it’s called? Maybe I should start
looking into selling some of this better gear on the open
market.

style="width: 630px; height: 60px;" alt="Weekly News"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/80733">

• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/80890">Borg
  Update Preview Video




• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/80887">Borg
  Update Preview Images

style="width: 630px; text-align: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"
border="1" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="2">

style="width: 610px; height: 55px;"
alt="Star Trek Drink of the Week"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/80734">

style="margin: 2px; width: 160px; float: right;">

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/80326"> style="border: 0px solid ; float: right; width: 150px; height: 184px;"
alt="STO - USS Hammer"
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/81100/">

style="margin-left: 0.5in;"> style="">Phasers on Stun Punch

style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Mix
with ice in a tall pitcher. The party saying
after a few of these is “Don’t phase me
bro!” style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">