Star Trek Online Beta - A Klingon in a Federation World

I normally keep this site dedicated to work related posts, but I needed *somewhere* to post the result of the beta ending event.

It has become something of a tradition for MMOs that are ending beta to have a special event. It serves two purposes. First, the testers get something special to experience, something that probably won't be repeated again in the normal operation of the game. Second, it attracts a huge number of the testers at once, a great way to ensure that your scaling can handle a real world load.

Star Trek Online's Beta event allowed the Klingon players to fly into Federation territory. At first everyone was confused as to if there was an event and how it would work, but once the assault fleet was found the Klingons swarmed Federation space. The point where they were dumped off was outside Starbase 24, so a lot of us jumped into that battle, which caused a problem for the Federation players trying to use the starbase... the Federation players were totally outnumbered and suffered "spawn camping".

Eventually some decided that we were actually supposed to attack the Starport at Earth. I went along and we found the reverse happening: lots of spawn camping. The problem was, unlike a mission space there was no way to exit the space when you were killed, causing much discontent as there were 20-30 Federation ships and 1-2 Klingons in each instance. A direct assault wasn't going to work. It *especially* wasn't going to work in my noob frigate.

I eventually was able to warp away when the Federation tired of the endless deaths. Looking for something more interesting to do until someone pointed out what was supposed to be going on I went and did some PvP (and was surprisingly successful... the good players were probably all off in the beta event).

After a few rounds of that I tired of PvP and found Federation space clogged with Borg ships. I joined some of the battles, but the Federation players were not interested in a cross empires alliance against the Borg, so I finally swapped to my Federation ship. It was higher level anyway and I was getting creamed by the Borg.

It turned out they were harder than that even, so I got bored being blown up by Borg Spheres and moved on. I looked at Sol and thought, "what the heck, one more try".

I warped in on five surprised Federation ships. I went to full impulse and got the docking dialog. A very *long* dialog when you are being fired up. "Congratulations, bla bla bla"... just let me dock you stupid diplomat!

And then I was on board the Starfleet Spaceport at Earth. (Hovertext available.)

Clearly the first course of action was to greet Federation Admiral Quinn. Except I'm clearly going to need to clean up first... (the glow is a Borg weapon I was hit with on the way in.)

Unfortunately, Quinn's guards gunned me down each time, even when I was looking my best.

So instead I decided to tour the facilities. Here is the hub of the station, where you would normally meet several scientists. Instead we find a nasty Borg invasion.

Some of the hallways were just crazy full of Borg. This is the problem with the Collective: long lines to get anywhere because everyone has the same thoughts at the same time.

A bit of running about brought me to the starship requisition area. Starfleet's secrets were mine!

Another hallway, except the infestation had gotten so bad that the Borg had resorted to standing on one another. See, being assimilated *would* suck, despite their protestations to the contrary.

I decided to make another attempt to get an audience with Admiral Quinn. Hey, he will talk to me!

Unfortunately, I was killed again. Hey, but on the plus side I earned my "Today is a good day to die" mission.

Eventually I decided to look for a safe place. With both the Borg AI *and* the Federation players trying to kill me, I found a good view of Sol.

Meanwhile below, the battle raged...

...and raged...

Strangely, the Borg seemed to want an audience with the Admiral as well! (His door is to the right.)

Staying up high kept me out of trouble for a long time, allowing me to observe the station in peace. I have omitted images 30-40 just to keep from boring the reader to death with images of the carnage. I also found a great hiding spot on the ground, at least until this guy came over.

After more hiding, fighting, running and mostly dying I decided to try once more for Admiral Quinn.

Success! I had my chat with the Admiral. It didn't end well.

You can confirm it is him on the group by looking at the sidebar where it says "Talk to Admiral Quinn." Not that he will be doing much more talking now. Having achieved my primary mission, I went about sabotaging the computers. The guy next to me was very polite.

My work complete, I went to the club. I had no idea the Borg liked to party so much. (I'm also surprised by the hospitality of the bartender. "I can get just about anything you want..." he says. I'm not sure if Borg like theirs shaken or stirred.)

I went to the observation deck as well. Nice folk up there.

I missed the final signoff message from the Devs, but I'm looking forward to the final game.

Qapla'.