STO....

I've been enjoying a lot more time in Star Trek Online. My three Starfleet Officers have been enjoying the new admiralty campaign, the Phoenix Prize Pack event and the new Endeavour system.

The event is just over now but a good video about it was done by Parallel Universe Gaming
 

Parallel Universe Gaming

 
 I never got to any reward beyond Very Rare. I ended up having to downgrade a lot.

What happens at the vendor stay by the vendor. Usually party balloons and disco balls etc etc etc....
Thankfully for me the late night crowd wasn't that rowdy.

Getting the end rewards from admiralty campaigns on several characters is fortunate timing for me. I've been swimming in dilithium. The event prize packs are bought with dilithium and I've been buying them with no real limit. Also the dilithium to zen exchange rate has been the lowest it's been in years and I've been taking advantage of it as well. I'm not sure I can sit on the zen for much longer, it's burning a hole in my pocket.....

I really should wait for a multi faction ship set....

So in all I've generally been doing character maintenance and tuning. Showing them all some love, be it for ground or space, fit's and ships or just bank/inventory space management.


Most of my time has still been with my Klingon character. A lot more of the mission episodes are familiar. It seems that the higher you level the further away from specific Klingon content you get.
Indeed there is a lot of the later missions I've done (Daniels/temporal missions) that make no sense for a KDF Captain to be in.
She has been levelling up fast. Just when I thought I got a new cool ship....

...A few levels later I was able to unpack all the event prize ships. A further departure from the Klingon aesthetic/game immersion. Getting T6 ships is worth it so there is that.
With my KDF Officer being a tactical one, the same class as my Starfleet main, setting up the T6 Vorgon Xyfius Heavy Escort was like putting on a comfortable pair of shoes.

While the character is just past 55 she still has a long way to go ship fit wise. I've refit and swapped out a lot but I've left the main mix of weapons alone for now. It's working fine and I'll see how things are once she's maxxed out at level 60.

Eve Online....

Eve Online game time is the same as usual. Alt skill training, asset micromanagement and general faffing about. The rest of the universe goes on regardless.

My PvP Alpha is still on the back burner with a "hauler alt" using the skill training time.
My PvE Alpha's corp is plagued with war dec's. While they do have an out of game system to group up and allow missioning, there are still really silly loss mails. Those losses attract more war dec's and the cycle goes on. That Alpha's main activity is to do material and time research on his BPO's in an NPC station. Hardly anything exciting.
His isk is running low after the last market splurge on high end skill books so I may have an incentive to make game time and see how corp missioning works out.

The old Amarr trial alt is still skilling up, his assets and isk have now been finalised. His last skill books were also purchased so all he has to do is train skills. Those should take about 6 weeks, I doubt I'll mention him after this post.
Over the last two weeks or so while I was gaining standings with my Amarr alt, I took a sidestep or two to see what I could get done to reach the first reward.

After reaching it I still agree with what I thought;  Too little reward for too much time and effort. Time and effort that could earn you more isk by doing level 3 missions. That may be an Alpha's perspective talking but as an Omega I think I'd be ignoring The Agency's busy work altogether. I just hope that CCP alter the rewards for the next 'Agency' event.

Darkest Dungeon....

The Darkest Dungeon has been proving a lot more cooperative of late. The rounds of harsh RNG have given way to a return of my luck.

Deeds were collected and in doing so trinkets acquired and hero's improved. The teams were back on track.

With the dry spell ended I had amassed 6 deed's for reentry to the final Countess map. Four of those deeds allowed me to take my time and explore the map not to mention push the hero's, but not too hard. 

I also took my time between courtyard runs, mainly to heal up the last team that had just been through.

As before all of the secret rooms for me were prison cells that allowed me to free a level 5 hero. A nice boost just in case you needed to do some recruitment. The Crimson court gives as well as takes.

The final team through was not what I had intended for the Countess fight. They were there to mop up loose ends when I got an urge to see what the Countess was made of, so I took them in for a spin against her.

The final fight was a push but it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Thankfully the RNG and luck were on my side as three of my group gained positive resolve checks against her. These positive resolve checks made her stress damage useless and with a group of hero's that can self heal I was able to stay above her dps for the most part. I still had to play the last few rounds a lot more cautiously and do more healing than damage but it worked out really well for my team. I was glad as there was still a lot of dungeon to do after her fight.

Clearing the third and final stage is not the end for the Courtyard as there is a persistent mission after the Countess is destroyed. This quest allows you to take on a boss and claim Crimson Court trinkets. Its a perfect setting, boss and fight for a repeatable quest. A nice addition to help completionist's in case you missed any trinkets on the initial run through. Not that the fight is easy, but it can be done quickly once you know how to do it well.

What a well fought journey, a great experience, a fantastic expansion.

While I can see myself doing the new content on both my hard and easy campaigns. I think I'll be taking a break for my own stress relief before heading back into the Darkest Dungeon.

Kingdoms and Castles....

While my time with K&C is limited to 30 minutes here and there that time is proving that it isn't as cutsie in playthrough as it looks. Those Viking raiders and the dragon have their elements of randomness. If they hit you at a bad time in "normal" gameplay they can set you back a lot. As you strive to make your town viable and self sufficient I've found that outside of the attacks, keeping your people happy is a chore in itself. Town planning is the key to that and knowing what you will need in the future needed as well.

New Town already doomed to failure.

Pack in your buildings from the start and you'll be in a world of pain later. I've restarted the game more than I would have liked. I think I'll be returning to a peaceful game mode without the attacks for more enjoyment and better learning of the game. I found a farming guide very useful Efficiant Farming Guide.

No Man's Sky....

A trickle of information is being ongoing but little real substance. Portals and a new ship (race?).

When the patch notes are released and with a little luck it will list a lot of content, updates and changes. Redemption is a long term slog.

I've noticed a change in the community, there are a lot of players still in the game and taking it for what it is, and enjoying it for that. I'm still interested in the game. I may not have played it since testing the last patch but if it continues to be updated/patched and improved, I'll have to take a fresh playthrough. That's a long way off at this stage.

GRW....

Season 3 has started and looks interesting, I'll be trying the solo challenge on my "main", but I'm in no rush with it.

I've also made a small amount of progress to clear up the first area of the Fallen Ghosts DLC. It's a DLC that really appeals to me. The enemies have a black and yellow theme that made them look like the baddies from a 007 film. They are also really reminiscent of G.I. Joe Cobra baddies.
Narco road is still on the fringe, when all else is done then I might think about going back to that side of the game.

Like many other games of late Ubi are doing a time limited trial of Ghost Recon Wildlands on PS4 and Xbox One. For five hours you can go to and try any part of the game. A lot of people have been talking about holding onto those precious 5 hours until the PvP update is released, if your into that side of things it would be worth doing. It's a pity there isn't any word of the free hours on PC yet.

STO...

With the coming of season 14 it looks to be an interesting one. The new trailer is a lot more cinematic than previous videos.

Between Star Trek Vegas happenings, the Phoenix Prize Pack and the joining of LeVar Burton, there is a lot happening and going to happen in and out of the game (PC and console).

In playing a lot of STO I was again tempted but did not avail of the lifetime subscription sale. Having been subscribed at the very start of the game I am still availing of some of the benefits of a gold membership. Being able to change Dilithium for Zen allows for buying "cash shop" items without the cash. I've amassed just over 3000 Zen but not decided on what I will buy. I think I'll be aiming at gaining more Zen and getting a multi ship cross faction pack. The offer comes around every 6 month (ish) or so... It's still a better deal than paying just to have access to play a game (like my two accounts on Eve Online for a year) fully.
Time will tell how much hemming and hawing I do again...... And again.....

I've taken advantage of the new Endeavour system, but also ignored it on a few occasions. Picking and choosing and allowing it to be ignored makes it feel like a well balanced system.
On the ignoring front such as the space materials gathering Endeavour. I ignored that.

Or the R&D Project endeavour. I ignored that faster than anything else.

Having free to play characters I don't even mind getting the "bad r.n.g." all EC rewards.

 Brent Justice did his review of the Endeavour system, worth a watch:

Conversations with the Lootcritter has a good post well worth a read that asks among other things "What can you accomplish in Star Trek Online in ten minutes?".

I've been running my other characters through the new episode and upgrading gear as I went.

My main tactical character has been doing the brunt of the Endeavours and seeing some sights that he wouldn't have seen otherwise.

My science character is pretty much on par with my main so I've not been doing much there.

My engineer is in a different state, mainly due to a lack of effort, such as with the admiralty system. It's hardly been touched until now.

Working on the admiralty campaigns is going to take time but at least with the character being a temporal agent he will be doubly rewarded for those efforts.

The only issue I've had with the new episode was an A.I. pathing problem while taking my engineer through. The A.I. General Rodek is supposed to walk along the corridor between the red lines leading the way but he decided this time to take a detour and walk down another corridor..... interesting yet annoying bug.

Relogging didn't solve the issue but with logging off, exiting and allowing the mission to reset itself was what was really needed. STO can be quirky that way.

All my other efforts with the game have been in levelling up my Klingon character. It's a new look at some of the same content but there isn't as much crossover as I had thought there would be. That's a good thing. It's a change to be roughing it in the KDF. Like going from Alliance to horde in WoW. 
As always a picture says a thousand words:

Kingdoms and Castles....

I've always found it interesting to view how others approach the games I also play. One Youtuber who's content I like is now doing a fun playthrough of Kingdoms and castles, a fun bit of viewing for a fun game:

BaerTaffy

Darkest Dungeon.... Fanatic fancy footwork needed....

Bananas!!?

My dungeon running to get invites has become a bit of a grind. Bad RNG has not made the proper groups appear. So much so that my rare encounter with the Fanatic has had a second need for a team with some fancy footwork... Thankfully he was eliminated with relatively little hassle.

The search for invites goes on....

Eve online....

All talk and no substance? People are complaining about the Q&A but CCP I suspect wouldn't have it any other way.
Will the new focus from CCP on community "chats" like that recent Q&A really deliver meaningful information or will it just be a smokescreen of blather so they can say they are talking to the community. My bet is on bla bla blathering, they have a weekly newsletter and the o7 show to talk to and inform the community already, what are they really playing at?