Beware, there might be spoilers ahead.
I guess it was just time for a change. Dayn, Lexi, and I all left World of Warcraft for Cryptic's new MMO, Star Trek Online. And it seems that all three of us really like it. I liked it so much, that I bought the game, a lifetime membership, and canceled my WoW account all on the same day. Pretty crazy, huh?
Above is a picture of the dynamic duo, (at the time) Ensigns Xirelle and Elexin in the mess hall before the Borg Assault on the Vega colony that starts the game off with a kick.
My character became the acting Captain of the U.S.S. Carthage, and later received a promotion to Lieutenant for her valiant efforts. Something you'll notice about some of these screenshots are the varying differences in quality. Cryptic had a few... performance issues to work out through open beta and some of the first few days of release. So I was toying with the sliders with each patch, trying to make my game look a little less like ass while still being able to play.
The Carthage, for anybody who saw Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, is a Miranda variant light cruiser.
Following a promotion, Lieutenant Xirelle was put into the Captain's seat of the U.S.S. Aurania. This ship was about the size of the original Constitution class starship used in the original Star Trek.
Now would be a good time to let everyone know that there is an awesome in-game bridge that you can visit. It's more of a social/afk area, for now, but hopefully there will be some more options added at a later date.
Next on the table is the newly commissioned U.S.S. Carthage-A. This unusual ship had a peculiar design. Based one the Constellation class featured in an episode of "The Next Generation," the Heavy Cruisers have four nacelles instead of two. I never did quite figure out what they were for...
You'll probably notice the increased detail here. The developers fixed some of the performance problems (although, there's still some work to be done), and I was allowed to turn on high level lighting, which, in my opinion, makes the game look absolutely stunning.
The detail put into the ships amazes me. You'll see the ship's designation numbers in many places (depending on design), the ship's name, as well as different colors and patterns that can be added at the shipwright menu.
When I was promoted to Captain, a strange thing happened with the next ship, the U.S.S. Salvation. There were several problems with her warp core, which delayed her maiden voyage for several days (read: Cryptic screwed the pooch and kept me from purchasing my tier 4 cruiser for a whole 4 days... I was not a happy camper). In all seriousness, I should work for Cryptic for the amount of bullshit I can shovel in a single sitting...
Besides serving as my desktop (The screenshot was captured at just the right time/angle), the Salvation doesn't hold a very special place in my heart. I used it for a total of five levels, since I had made it to Captain grade 5 by the time Cryptic fixed the bug, which required a patch. It's almost fitting that, during my last mission, Chief Engineer Meelok told me the warp core was failing, and that we would have to gather materials in the surrounding meteors to repair it. It was so bad, they were pumping radiation out of through the nacelles, and it took everything we had to remain on impulse power. What a way to go, huh?
Enter the Carthage-B. Sleeker than her previous incarnations, and armed to the teeth with phaser banks and quantum torpedoes, she represents the finest of Federation technology.
Her model is based off of the Sovereign class that was featured in the last few Next Generation films. And she is absolutely stunning in and out of combat. Her maiden voyage saw her flying to Cardassia Prime to procure a Bajoran Artifact that the Cardassians were willing to give up as a peace offering. The True Way stood to gain by seizing this treasure, and the Carthage-B ripped them to shreds. Diplomacy at it's finest.
I've still got a lot to do in-game, even though I'm in the last ship I'll ever use. Still have a lot of sights to see, and I have a lot of time to spend with my two good friends, who I'm sure have their own tales to tell.
