STO....

That ship had the cannon build

So today after a quick patch I was able to play the two new missions under the Discovery series backstory banner. Lorca(Dorca) and Landry(Sad-ry Tears-a-lot). So yea, if you can't guess I absolutely dislike Discovery. While I was open to new missions and content in the game, I did say I'd be holding my nose and accepting the rewards. But these new missions are a visual high and a story-line low.

If you do like Discovery you'll be well in your element. I'll try and do this post with a more 'fair' balance.

Excuse my officers they can't abide the stench of ST:D

So for the most part I did hold my nose. But the rewards aren't worth it and the story had me wanting to click past conversations faster than I'd ever done before in any game. There is so much meaningless talk.........

Ah, hello security officer I've never seen before who has speaking lines which means your not long for this world. One moment while I ignore all story elements that try and make you have meaning.

It's not all bad. I like the new planet based selection screen with your ship in the background and your crew in a better group pose around you.

One thing that is really cool about these episodes is that there is true effort in the look and feel as well as bending of the game mechanics.

There in is the main problem with the overall game. The developers doing the best they can. It's an old game that hasn't had funding to maintain itself let alone upgrade. For what they have done the devs deserve great praise. Still it's a foundation of sand and the waves are constantly sweeping in. The recent console versions have breathed new life and funding but again it's a foundation of sand. It won't last forever.  This game deserves more than accepting it's game mechanic quirkiness. It could be so much more.

The new missions contain the usual space and ground battle efforts as with 99.999% of all Trek Online missions. Reach destination, space fight, beam to surface, ground fight, progress storyline, ground fight, beam up, space fight. etc.etc.etc.

So anyway like I said there's the usual ground fighting. But this first mission did something I've not recalled in another mission. Bursting into an area, eliminating all the enemy npc's and then to have them all stand up as if we were all shooting blanks. It was a w.t.f. moment that the story couldn't hide for me. I definitely didn't have my weapons on stun. There was no mention of stun. So it was a jarring story-line moment to have them all pop back up and march to a shuttle!
That jarring moment was reinforced by a main story character just after that battle(before they stood up) saying that the Klingons have been secured. SECURED! They are all face down dead! "secured".
This is now an A-Team episode reenactment society!

The cut-scenes are as usual the best part of the missions. If only to see my own character in a 'real' story.

The second mission takes place on the surface of a frozen planet. It makes me wish that Andoria's surface looked like this. I hope they redo the planet for the main game.

I found that while I liked the look and feel of the area's; Areas that looked like I couldn't walk on yet could. I disliked the way it worked in practice regarding mission marker pathing and combat.

Frustration levels were high on this map.

Like reaching an overlook point with the marker over an area that was not intuitive to get to. It took a while to find the path up to it. There was a lot of searching and backtracking in a dangerous environmental area. So when I did find the spot, both my NPC crew were unconscious and far away. I just went on without them. Thankfully that's where Trek Online's quirkiness comes into play. Mission checkpoints allow your downed crew to rejoin you, even it they are miles away. Some mission restart points are not so good. One restart saw me at the very start of the map having to endure an ambush again. Just a painful wave after wave experience that was unnecessary.

It looks cool but it was a real héll.

I was surprised that the missions didn't give any of the new reputation marks as rewards. It seems only the Discovery TFO's give them. Disappointing. I doubt I'll ever be back to these missions on other characters. Maybe on my main if there's group content and mark rewards.

So Dorca was suffering from Snow blindness, a backstory cover ripe for a low light(dark) mirror universe version of yourself. Dark in both brightness and in character attitude inversion. I see what you did there STD. ***EYEROLL SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HARD***