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

• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/features/the_traveler_episode4">The
  Traveler's Guide - Episode 4
  
  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/fleetactions">Putting
  The "Fleet" Back In Fleet Action
  
  Sometimes
  developers excuse missing features at launch with the old
  standby, "There just wasn't enough time to get everything in." But in
  the case of Fleet Actions in Star Trek Online, the omission of a tool
  that allows you to jump in as a fleet is simply inexcusable. Join Eric
  “Dalmarus” Campbell as he dives into the issue.
  

• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/state_of_the_game_02-2010">State
  Of The Game 2/25/2010
  
  Cryptic
  has heard the wailing and gnashing of teeth. They are not blind
  to your protest signs. They also know that the renewal period (aka
  witching hour) is upon us. If you've been thinking about quitting Star
  Trek Online because of (insert issue X, Y or Z here) then make sure to
  peruse this week's State of the Game before you hit that cancel
  subscription button.

• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/features/reviews/fullreview">Star
  Trek Online Review
  style="font-style: italic;">
  The
  time has come. Star Trek Online will have been officially live for
  one month come tomorrow. In celebration of this historic event, we've
  decided to post our official review of the game. Get your shields up
  and your phasers set to stun, because although it has been enjoyable to
  play, there are more things than just NPCs that need killing.

• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/features/editorials/one_month_in">One
  Month In, Still Waiting
  
  Star
  Trek Online style="font-style: italic;"> is one
  month into its lifespan and the development team has made great strides
  to improve the game. Even so, there are many pre-launch questions that
  need some answers. Where do we stand on the pre-launch promises? Today
  we highlight a few key issues that we're looking very forward to for
  fixes and/or updates.




• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/federation/maps">Ten
  Ton Hammer's Galactic Map Archives
  
  While
  the process of warping between local systems in Star Trek Online
  has been made relatively easy, sometimes traversing the vastness of
  space can still be a difficult endeavor. To help get you pointed in the
  right direction, Ten Ton Hammer is pleased to bring you detailed maps
  for each sector in Federation space and beyond.
  
  

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

Last week's mantra was " href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/captains_blog_4">the
honeymoon is over" but I had no
idea the divorce rate would skyrocket - if style="font-style: italic;">the forums are to be
believed (whoa, how did I
said that with a straight face). I haven't seen venom sprayed like that
since Jonny Quest took on that gaggle of cobras. Luckily for Jonny,
Hajji was there to sooth the beasts, but I'm not sure Atari and Cryptic
were able to do the same. Instead of soapboxing all up front, let's
roll right into the news.

style="">The
Week That Was

style="margin-left: 0.5in;"> style="">

style="font-weight: bold;">Whoa, href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/81508">did
they do that, and then href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/news/atari_removes_60_day_offer">did
they say that? Discountgate
continues to rule the realm as the reports of misdeeds,
miscalculations, misscommunications, mistakes and missteps take center
stage. This too shall pass, but the damage has been done. Every game
goes through a period where the players feel betrayed by the developer
or the publisher (even the WoW and EQ juggernauts have enjoyed this
hell). As we used to say in construction, it's not how you react to
something being screwed up, it's how you fix it. I think Atari and
Cryptic would both like a mulligan and re-think how the whole situation
played out. 

style="margin-left: 0.5in;">I've never understood the
real desire for publishers and developers to work together, but I think
I finally figured it out. Having two separate entities handling the
sales of the game, there is always someone to point a finger at when
trouble brews. If it was just Atari, or just Cryptic, it would be a lot
harder for them to deflect the anger. Now they can point at each other
and cry foul. Good system.

style="margin-left: 0.5in;">For the record, here is
Medeor's stance: I cry "meh." As I stated on the forums, this news in
no way effects my enjoyment of the game. I feel bad for people who have
had their feelings hurt or feel that they have been ripped off. In
reality though, does that change the actual game? My theory is that
people who were on the fence about renewing their subscription see this
as way to go out in a blaze of glory, "I'm quitting because Atari and
Cryptic have wronged me and all those around me, and I'm not going to
stand for it." If you feel that strongly, then have at it.

style="margin-left: 0.5in;">As for the lifetime subs
wanting their money back, I say "You bought it, live with it." Even if
someone from Cryptic said people would have the option of a refund
within the first 30 days, I don't feel that refunds should be given
out. I am a strong proponent of contracts, and those that signed that
contract, need to live up to their end of the bargain. People should
really evaluate those lifetime subs before buying, they are not for the
faint of wallet.

style="">Hey, let's look at the game.

style="margin-left: 0.5in;">This week, Cryptic
released their href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/state_of_the_game_02-2010">State
of the Game and  they
hit on all the right notes as far as  I'm concerned. They
plead guilty to some of their early issues with customer service (only
to jump right into Discountgate later in the week, ouch), and
highlighted some of the fun we can look forward to with "Raidisodes."
Most of the To Do items on their list jive with my wish list, so it's
nice to see we're all on the same page there. If I haven't mentioned it
enough, I'm really looking forward to being able to respec my character
and bridge officers.

style="">Endgame Rush

style="margin-left: 0.5in;">The rush to max rank has
never been my forte. I'm a lolligagger and stroller who gets way to
sidetracked to just plow through everything so I can say I'm the king.
MMOGs by design cater to people motivated by progress. It's all about
levels and ranks and higher tier items. The conundrum is formed when
the motivated hit the wall of the last rank. What do they do now? I
think we're seeing that in larger numbers and sooner than expected in
STO. Since I'm not at endgame, the dearth of content there doesn't
effect me, but for those sitting around wondering what to do, it could
be a rougher ride. Idle hands are the devil's playthings. In other
games I've noticed that bored max-level players start inventing their
own quests like "grief all you can," and "find the exploits." I think
we're seeing a bit of that from href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/loading/2010/mar/1">Starfleet
Dental in some of their shenanigans.
The goons are part funny, part silly, and think pretty highly of
themselves. It's cute in a way similar to watching a first grader learn
to pick on a pre-schooler.

style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">In
closing...

style="margin-left: 0.5in;"> style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">This
week I realized that I really like the ranking system as opposed to
numbered levels. Going from level 30 to level 31 in any other game
isn't as cool as going from Captain to Admiral. I'm not a big fan of
changing ranks on the 11th level,
but that is nitpicking. Ranks truly reflect progress in profession and
I believe we'll start seeing this more in games over time. The titles
in WoW's  original battleground system was a true statement of
one's achievements (or patience), if you saw a Warlord you knew that
person lived in PvP. It's taken me a while to warm up to Commander, and
Captain, but it's growing on me. 

style="margin-left: 0.5in;">Have a great week, and
thanks for reading.

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

• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/81633">February
  26th, 2010 Maintenance Patch Notes
• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/news/atari_removes_60_day_offer">Atari
  Removes Additional 60 Days of Playtime
  - caution, no smoking near this puddle of gas
• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/81508">Discount
  Price + 60 Extra Days of Free Play
  - aqui no se fumar  href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/81504"> style="text-decoration: underline;">
• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/81504"> style="text-decoration: underline;">X-Play's Star
  Trek Online Discussion href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/81352">
• href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/81220">Customer
  Survey Comes With A Bonus

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="Kirk on the beach."
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/81724">

style="margin-left: 0.5in;"> style="">  style="">Vulcan Death Grip

style="margin-left: 0.5in;">1 oz. Rum

style="margin-left: 0.5in;">1 oz. Galliano

style="margin-left: 0.5in;">Mix and serve in a shot
glass. After a few of these, you are able to apply the death grip on
others, but also become very susceptible to applying it to yourself in
the process. Use at your own risk.

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