PvP Boot Camp Companion Guide v1.0

PVP BOOT CAMP L A U N C H

E D I T I O N

:

M A R C H

2 0 1 3

BRANFlakes

03 checks-in

HEADLINE NEWS

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intro2 BOOT camp

SARGON

companionguide

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that.

Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

– Howard Thurman, Author and Philosopher

03 07

SARGON

13

BRANFLAKES

PUG01 & GURIPHU

09

DEVORAS

BOOT Camp companion guide

BOOT Camp building a better pvp experience

PROJECT LEADER

GRADSTUDENT - SARGON EDITOR & VA

Digital Media

of

DRKFRONTIERS VA

of

Communications

and

Administration

REGULUS - AQUITAINE VA

of

Public Relations

and

Recruitment

JEDINIKON Contributors Writers

BRANFLAKES

Message from the Editor Many of us have been around for a while. I know I have. I can still vividly recall that moment of excitement when as a mere ensign I beamed across to the U.S.S. Khitomer to help defend her crew!

How thrilled I was to find myself in an epic story line I had been following since my early childhood in the ‘70s. It was a dream come true for me.

I had heard hushed rumors of PvP in the corridors of Earth Spacedock, and though I was still immersed the experience that is STO, I soon had a yearning to take my ship into true combat. The Arena. The rest is all in the details.

Upon discovering the Klingon Empire, my heart filled with a childlike abandon I have cherished to this day.

PvP is so much more than just playing against someone. It’s about playing for someone, and playing with someone.

I am very honored to be part of the PvP Boot Camp initiative.

Whether you are a seasoned player, or someone new about to embark on an adventure of a lifetime, I invite you to enrol in PvP Boot Camp today!

KOLLN DEVORAS ARWIN MARCTRAIDER MAVAIRO PUG01 GURIPHU

drkfrontiers

CONTENT CONTENT

Foreward ............................................................. 03

by BranFlakes

Boot Camp! .......................................................... 07

by Sargon (gradstudent)

Setting our Course ............................................... 09

by Devorus

Ground PvP .......................................................... 13

by Pug01 & Guriphu

Lessons Learnt ................................................... 09

by Jedinikon

Spotlight, the Patrol Escort .............................. 16

by Marctraider

Spotlight, the Negh’Var .................................... 22

by Arwin

Important Dates .................................................. 29 Keep an eye out for upcoming events!

http://pvp-boot.camp.shivtr.com/

3 TIPS to survival ................................................. 29

by Mavairo

building a better pvp experience BOOT Camp companion guide BOOT Camp

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branflakes

foreward “Space, the final frontier…”

Hello Captains!

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randon (A.K.A. BranFlakes) here! I am honored to be able to write the forward for this incredible PvP Boot Camp companion guide, and truly think it’s going to be an invaluable asset for all things PvP. Hats off to drkfrontiers for pouring his heart, soul and free time into it, and to all those who contributed to it in one form or another. You all should be very proud of yourselves.

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s our first class is nearing graduation, it’s an exciting time for the PvP Boot Camp program. What started as a single forum post has blossomed into an awe-inspiring journey for hundreds of Star Trek Online players. Not only has the entire STO Dev team been

“

You may wear the PvP Boot Camp Graduate title in the very near future ....

excited to hear about players’ experiences and successes in the camp, but I have been personally amazed at the passion I’ve seen week-in and week-out amongst the PvP community, both veterans and newcomers. We’ve come a long way in such a short time, so the future really does seem limitless.

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he great thing about Boot Camp is that it doesn’t really end after graduation. While you may not be attending classes monthly (or maybe you will if you choose to participate in the advanced seminars), the friendships you’ve built with your coaches and peers will carry on. You’ve

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built some great relationships, so hold onto those and utilize the wealth of knowledge available to you. While you may wear the “PvP Boot Camp Graduate” title in the very near future, don’t hesitate to continue asking questions and seeking out advice – the best PvPers out there amassed their knowledge by getting advice and learning from others.

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nd now, as a piece of parting advice: practice makes perfect.

It’s classic, but it’s never been closer to the truth. Put your skills to the test often and challenge (to a match) those you look up to – each time you do, you’ll learn, or be prepared for, something new. Also, when you blow up, and you will, a lot, keep your head up, your nacelles powered, and hit that respawn button. Space is vast, and so is your potential.

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’d like to end by saying “thank you” to all of the organizers, coaches and participants for making Boot Camp such a success. The future of PvP in STO has never looked brighter and, again, I am honored to have been a part of this entire experience. It’s truly been epic, and we’ve only just begun.

Now, “boldly go where no one has gone before…”

Cheers, and I’ll see you in the queues, ~ Brandon =/\=

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bOOT CAMP !

I am honored to contribute to this first volume of PvP Boot Camp Magazine. The chief editor, drkfrontiers, has been working hard on this idea for some time, and I am delighted to see it finally come to fruition. It is his hope that this publication will be a regular part of your Boot Camp experience - providing you with insights, feature articles, and information from trusted resources in the game.

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his publication, in addition to its high publication quality, breathes the ethos of Boot Camp, which is that greatness in PvP results from education, experience, and humility. No great PvP player ever fell from the heavens! Greatness in the arena is learned and acquired; it is not innate.

ground component to PvP Boot Camp. Pug01, & Guriphu, and the other ground coaches have done an incredible job of putting together an effective curriculum and gathering a skilled group of coaches.

PvP Boot Camp Magazine intersects with a number of other changes and expansions within the larger Boot Camp organization.

[ 03 ] Beginning April, PvP Boot

Let me highlight a few of these..

[ 01 ] We recently added a

[ 02 ] Our first graduating class

will graduate in just under a month.

We have a number of rewards and celebratory events planned.

Camp will begin to offer advanced seminars.

[ 04 ] Boot Camp also sponsors

a weekly Open PvP session on Saturdays, beginning at 5pm/1700 CET and 5pm /1700 EST, except on the Saturdays on which Space Boot Camp occurs (normally the

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last Saturday of every month). Join us on the Boot Camp TeamSpeak server for a fun time of learning and pew pewing.

I sincerely hope you enjoy this first edition of PvP Boot Camp Magazine. For more information on Boot Camp, upcoming events, and other helpful resources, check out the official website and the STO subforum. If you have specific questions, please contact me: sargon.priorityone@gmail.com

~ Sargon

PvP Boot Camp Project Leader @gradstudent1

PvP Boot Camp grows

HUNGARIAN BOOT Camp

A

A Magyar PvP Edzőtábor.

Hussar Guardian Forces és Balls of Steel jóvoltából, a magyar STO közösség számára a PvP Boot Camp mására egy magyar változatot is megszervezünk. Célunk, hogy a magyar közösségen belül a PvP kedvelőit összefogjuk, hogy bármikor ki tudjanak állítani egy csapatot. Ezen felül szeretnénk felruházni őket magasabb tudással és tapasztalattal.

Bárki, aki magyar vagy érti a magyar nyelvet jelentkezhet erre az Edzőtáborra.

Jelentkezni a játékon belül lehet levélben @Kolln -nál.

The Hungarian PvP Boot Camp The Hussar Guardian Forces and the Balls of Steel fleets have been organizing a hungarian PvP Boot Camp for the hungarian PvP community, similar of the original PvP Boot Camp. Our purpose is to assemble the PvP players within the hungarian community, so they can play in teams at any time.

Also We would like to give them a greater knowledge and experience of PvP. Anyone, who is hungarian OR understands the hungarian language, can sign up for this Boot Camp.

If you want to join, send an in-game mail to ~ @Kolln

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Devoras curriculum

Captain’s log 24 FEBRUARY 2013, SUPPLEMENTAL. Dear reading player,

My name is Devoras - coach, representing PvP Boot Camp and co-founder of The Spanish Inquisition.

R

ecently I was approached and asked to compile a curriculum for the boot camp, and at first I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to write about! After much deliberation and some thought, I believe that I have now managed to narrow it down‌

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T

he first question you may be asking yourself is, why PvP Boot Camp?

T

his player initiative came to fruition because of the player passion and interest in PvP. As players we want to prove to the developers of STO that we want this game to improve and continue to be so successful. Many of the experienced PvP players yearn for more of a challenge, and thought why not empower other players to not only contribute to their own enjoyment of the game, but also in the same process help players develop skill.

teach, focus upon, and the direction onward.

D

uring the first lecture some of us began wondering if the TeamSpeak server would cope with the huge attendance showing up. Some of the coaches were even nervous as they weren’t sure how to teach so many at the same time, or what they would say would make sense at all to the students.

his was discussed at length, and in the end Sargon formulated the idea, after which it was given its blessing by both players and developers alike.

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T

ot long after Sargon’s ideas had become a reality, we started to recruit the crème-de-la-crème among the PvP player base to serve as coaches, to ensure that all the students received the best instruction at hand.

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n assembly of almost 30 players offered of their time, willing to share their respective expertise.

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his proved to be a boon for the boot camp as we received well over 600 applications. Some of us were wondering just how we were going to manage such a daunting undertaking! Nevertheless we pushed through, met on TeamSpeak to discuss what we wanted to

our course

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guess the students were feeling something of the same apprehension. Still we proceeded, dividing the players by language, class and interest, offering courses in English, Spanish and German.

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setting

he first lecture turned out to be a resounding success making Sargon’s campaign to turn PvP into something great that heralds the success of Wellington at Waterloo, and Napoleon at Austerlitz. The students and coaches alike gave positive feedback, and the developers, among them Branflakes and Borticus were duly impressed with the turnout. Improvements are always being discussed, and there was even a PvP match arranged between players and developers to commemorate the event.

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course 001 Once the intention was set it was just a matter of sourcing the right talent...

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sharing expertise “The first lecture turned out to be a resounding success making Sargon’s campaign to turn PvP into something great that heralds the success of Wellington at Waterloo, and Napoleon at Austerlitz...”

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ven while the first Boot Camp was drawing to a close, preparations for the second lecture were underway, focusing upon builds and the different BOFF/Captain powers.

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ow we are almost ready to evolve this to its third stage, and onto the future for more fun. To every player I wish to emphasize that the only way to ensure that PvP in STO becomes something remarkable, it is each of our collective responsibility to speak up and show that we care and want more for PvP! Only in this way will we, the players, get the developers attention.

S

o to my fellow players, I wish you luck, fun, to live long and prosper but most of all to pew where no man has pewd before!

“

~ Devoras

If you would like to watch the match between the Students and the Devs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hQu3Hy9hxM

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GROUND PVP G

round PvP is a very exciting environment in which to compete. The stakes are high whenever you engage the enemy. Your shields and hit points are much lower compared to incoming damage than in space PvP. This creates a fast-paced game that requires advance planning, not just quick reactions. Your preparation for attack and defense has to start before the first shot is fired.

T

he activation time of abilities adds an interesting dynamic. The latency of your connection plays less of a roll in Star Trek Online Ground PvP because of this activation time.

The different activation times of abilities result in an almost turn based style of game play.

If your ability takes 3 seconds to activate, it needs to be worth postponing six abilities that take 0.5 seconds to activate.

This creates a unique style of gameplay that is fast-paced but also very strategic. Studying your opponents and learning from them becomes a big portion of the game.

E

ven though it looks like a third person shooter, Star Trek Online Ground PvP is not a shooter at all. Using RPG mode to target enemies and allies frees you up to focus on the strategy of the battle. Some techniques from shooters still apply. For instance, using cover to get a shield heal is quite often the technique that can tip the balance in your favor. But other shooter techniques, like circle strafing and bunny hopping, will get you killed.

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n Ground PvP Bootcamp, the material that is covered will provide players with the fundamentals of Ground Combat.

In the first session we covered some of the mechanics of ground combat and how to manage your basic survival.

This involved learning about Animation Lock, Dodge, and using cover to your advantage.

Specific Class features were also covered, such as the Tactical Officer’s Super Buff, the Engineer’s Shield Tanking, and the Science Officer’s Healing.

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n the second session players started to learn about team tactics. Managing Focus Fire is an important feature in Ground PvP. The game play is often very fast and calling targets during the encounter can become cumbersome. Using one teammate to generate targets for the team is the faster method. Students were given some insight in how they can participate in the team game play and use their class to multiply the effectiveness of the other two classes.

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In the next session on April 6th, students will learn how to increase their synergy in a team. We will cover concepts such as breaking through an opponent’s stronghold or how to defend against opponents rushing your position.

The last session, on May 4th, will cover special cases that can be quite problematic in Ground PvP, such as dealing with a cloaked enemy and surviving the damage from the Compressed Cryo Launcher (Cold Pulsewave).

Do you feel lucky?

If you do, join us in Ground PvP!

~ Pug01 & Guriphu

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BOOT CAMP Ground PvP can be exciting and fun!

Just recently the Evil Mirror FES fleet hosted an enjoyable Ground PvP week where brave captains donned their finest armor and took to the Arena!

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Vice Admiral - Public Relations & Recruitment, the man and not the legend!

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first got involved with Boot Camp when it was still just an idea being thrown around. ’ve always enjoyed helping new players in terms of build, ship, skills, and questions around piloting.

ince beta I have been helping players get the best out of their game and have always enjoyed teaching, so I thought Boot Camp was the perfect place for me.

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have always felt sorry for the random PvE folks that trickle into PvP just to do their dailies and never come back, because of the experienced PvP players they faced gave them no hope of being competitive!

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oot Camp is a home to change that - the more people we educate and up-skill them, the more fun PvP is for everyone involved.

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lessons learnt In the immortal words of Forest Gump, “that’s all I have to say about that…”

If you are ever looking for assistance, I am always available

B

efore Boot Camp started PvP it was no fun for people new to PvP because they got rolled in matches, and equally it was no fun for PvP veterans because rolling pugs 15-0 is very boring.

S S

in game to answer questions.

ince Boot Camp has started we have seen great success with our students, and their skill and knowledge has grown 10 fold.

o now we look to the future of Boot Camp - where can we improve, and what direction are we heading? We have built a solid foundation that is constantly evolving.

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e have a great roster of knowledgeable coaches, and great leadership in place.

~ jedinikon

VA - Public Relations and Recruiting

1.

TACTICAL TEAM IS YOUR BEST FRIEND, no matter what kind of ship you should always have a copy on hand

2.

DO UNTO OTHERS, the more you cross heal in a match the more like it is for others to heal you

3.

SHIELD DISTROBUTION DUTY OFFICERS ARE A LIFE SAVER, they turn brace for impact into one of your best shield heals

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Spotlight So you’ve just started your Tactical Career into the PvP World, or you are already on your way to becoming an excellent Escort player and trying to find new possibilities to become even more viable in PvP.

T

his article will introduce you to one of the most mainstream and commonly used Escort (Builds) around. And this particular escort has been set-

ting the example in PvP for its reputation as the most robust and balanced Damage/Survivability escorts around. Of course we are talking about the (Fleet) Patrol Escort, formerly known as simply the ‘Fleet Escort’.

T

oday I will be discussing this awesome ship that has been proving itself for as long as it has been around both in PvP Team-

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the Patrol Escort is superior in long term survivability in a sustained fire fight.

PATROL ESCORT PATROL ESCORT ABILITY TO CHAIN EMERGENCY POWER TO SHIELDS. DERVISH

C

omparing the Patrol Escort to other equivalent ships like the Defiant Retrofit or the Advanced Escort, the Patrol Escort is known for its higher survivability around the board because of two major aspects that has not been around in the other aforementioned ships.

F GRPYHON

irst of all the primary power of the Patrol Escort lies in its capability to run two of the most appreciated resistance buffing abilities in PvP in a chained fashion, Emergency Power to Shields, and still reserving the Lieutenant Engineer station spot for a secondary Shield heal buffer.

HERMES

federation PATROL ESCORT play and Solo-play.

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will summarize how you can setup a decent and widely accepted Escort build which can both deal a significant amount of damage, yet retaining alot of survivability to actually fulfil its role admirably!

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his can either be RSP (More Solo-oriented) or for instance an Extend Shields (More Team-oriented). However overall RSP seems to be most appreciated because it is pretty much the only Shield buff that gives you approximately 10 seconds of invulnerability and a total Shield recovery in most circumstances. Also this ability is not power-level based and can basically be activated at any time.

T

he most use I personally found out of this ability is the instant you receive a Subnuke,

“A Patrol escort

is capable of having increased shield resistance for basically 100% uptime and still having an additional Shield buff as a backup...�

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all your resistance is gone. Activating your RSP gives you a quick buffer to plan your next move.

(Keep going, or Retreat)

H

aving two Emergency power to Shields chained together will basically give you at least 18% resistance to your shields, but practically it boosts that up even more because of the innate Shield Power level of your ship being increased. This also means that your regeneration will be quite a bit higher throughout the whole match.

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o to summarize, a Patrol escort is capable of having increased shield resistance for basically 100% uptime and still having an additional Shield buff as a backup. This total combination of two EptS’s and an RSP gives you a significant survivability boost compared to a Defiant which is even more tactically-oriented together with a Decloaking Ambush. It is a matter of choice, but overall I can say that the Patrol Escort is superior in long term survivability, in a sustained fire fight.

Science Powers Matter of choice

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ext question is up, what would be wise to put into your only Lieutenant Science station? With only one real Shield heal (RSP) on a 2 minute cooldown the first Lieutenant Science ability on any escort should definitely be an additional Shield heal for in between.

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f course Transfer Shield Strength II is a very good choice for a secondary shield heal, and it is basically the only additional shield heal you can really pick from in the Science department. It gives both an Instant heal to all your shield facings, a 15 second Heal over time with a small Shield resistance as well for the whole duration of the ability.

No escort can live long enough without it.

The ability is auxiliary dependant, meaning the higher auxiliary setting you have at the time of activation, them more effective the instant, HoT and Resistance will be for the full duration. It has a relatively short cooldown so you can basically beef up your shield with this ability every 45 seconds.

K RSP1

nowing now that you have basically covered your Shield tanking with both TSS2 and , we should decide what ability would be useful for the Ensign Science station. The choice for this ensign spot ability is more of a personal preference rather than a ‘must have’ spot. The choices are however quite obvious. The two abilities you should probably focus on should either be a Hull heal (Hazard Emitters) or a Tractor Beam depending whether you want to go more offensive or defensive. In addition, a Tractor beam will mean a more offensive build.

Where timed right this ability drops down your targets Bonus defense significantly, effectively increase the amount of damage that arrives at your target because you miss your target less.

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bilities that should probably be avoided (Unless you have something special in mind or you know what you are doing) are

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as follows:

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sing a Science Team can be useful for when you are Subnuced, but it can interfere with your other team abilities which we will cover in the next section.

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t may seem that Polarize Hull is a worthwhile ability. It buffs your hull resistance, and most importantly makes you immune for tractor beams. However we will already be using two other Movement Debuff Immune abilities in the next section and those will basically make Polarize Hull much less valuable.

Tactical Powers TT/ Attack Patterns

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he most important abilities come from your Tactical bridge officer stations, and these stations should not just be with the sole thought of dealing outright the most damage. (Although the effect of having the right abilities going for your Tactical stations will practically improve your overall Damage done, this will get clear to you in a minute)

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irst of all, lets start off with the Ensign spots. No escort (Or any team even) can live without the most important Ensign station abilities around. Tactical Team is one of the most valuable abilities that you can get, and frankly there are no real alternatives to use which are even close to being equally valuable at the ensign level.

Tactical Team has a very tiny buff that boosts your weapon power, but the most important factor of Tactical Team is that this ability upon activation pumps all your available shield hitpoints to the side where you are being shot at a much faster rate then just doing it manually.

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ext up is Attack Pattern Omega. From all the attack patterns around this one is by far the most valued in an average escort, and I believe in pretty much every build. This attack pattern boosts your Raw damage of your energy and/or torpedo weapons, immunity to basically all movement impairing debuffs, and last but not least gives you a significant turn rate boost and hull resistance boost and all that for 15 seconds. The cooldown on this ability is 60 seconds.

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herefore, on all escort builds it is suggested to use two APO abilities chained. (The second will go on a 30 second global cooldown). This means you basically have Attack pattern Omega up for 50% uptime.

You can decide to time this ability to suit your needs, and only use it whenever your movement is impaired.

With the right Doffs, you can even use a single copy of Attack Pattern Omega 3 and basically have it up as much as possible.

OAttack Pattern Delta

ther Attack patterns like Attack Pattern Beta and can be used in between, where Beta is more offensive and delta more defensive.

WHAT WEAPONS TO USE?

T

his is perhaps the most asked question around from many escort players, and it really depends what kind of build you play, and whether you have problems penetrating peoples shield/hull. I will summarize a few situations where adjustments are possibly needed. h t t p : // w w w . s t o a c a d e m y. c o m /

Y

ou can use this ability on a rotation when you use two copies, both for yourself but also for your team mates.

Timing on these is essential.

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INSUFFICIENT SHIELD DAMAGE/ PENETRATION.

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ry out a full energy build with either 4 Dual Heavy Cannons, 3 Turrets in conjunction with two copies of Rapid Fire. Or additionally, you can use a build with 3 DHC’s and a Dual Beam Bank in combination with Rapid Fire and Beam Overload.

INSUFFICIENT HULL DAMAGE/ PENETRATION.

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ry out a build with a torpedo launcher. Quantums can do massive amounts of damage.

There is a drawback to using torpedo’s on an escort though. No matter how you put it, you will always lose out in effectiveness because either your energy weapons or your torpedos will not be buffed at full potential. This is because of how Tactical Consoles work at the moment. You will always get the maximum potential out of your weapons by going with a full energy or full torpedo build. A full torpedo boat however, will never have enough shield penetration to inflict any serious damage (A few exceptions with Transphasics there, but they mostly lack the spike)

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nother drawback of using a Hybrid Energy/Torpedo build is the fact that it requires double the skillpoints on the skill tree to make both weapons fully effective. The cost of this is so high that it will significantly impair your survivability because you do not have enough points to put into Hull resistance, Shield Power, et cetera.

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ainly speaking, a full energy build is both most efficient in terms of damage, and have the highest possible shield penetration possible (And still retaining enough damage to actually take someone’s hull down)

Patrol Escort Gear example

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ere we will show you a basic and effective Patrol Escort build. In this example we use a M.A.C.O. Shield, it is basically a Covariant Shield in terms of capacity, with the statistics of a Resilient shield.

This shield has been proving itself to withstand the biggest Alpha strikes and sustained fire because its capacity is high, and has a fixed shield resistance

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of at least 15% (10% Resistance to all, 5% Absorb) but practically it even goes up slightly because of the increased Power levels. Also this shield has a 5% bleedthrough which basically means that only 5% of incoming damage is converted to hull damage.

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n combination with this shield, we use the Borg Engines and Deflector to obtain the passive Hull proc which is always useful in any fight.

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he Science and Engineer consoles can be used to fill up the Borg Console for increased Damage, Armor Plating (Preferably Neutronium) which can beef up your hull resistance by a significant amount. For the rest you can mount a Field Generator which buffs your Shield capacity up and one or two RCS consoles depending on if you are satisfied with your turnrate. Remember though, more turn rate often means more DPS because especially Dual Heavy Cannons have quite a narrow Firing Arc.

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ast but not least, make sure to fill up your device slots with some equipment and/ or batteries, because on a escort you want to use all of the possible assets available, and you really want nothing untouched. If you are one of the lucky ones that managed to obtain a Red Matter Capacitor, don’t hesitate to put it in there. Alternative devices (Which are freely obtainable in the game) are the Subspace Modulator from one of the Devidian Missions or a Rechargeable Shield Battery (These are quite expensive these days though)

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or the second spot, I will suggest the following battery in order of useful to pretty much useless.

- Auxiliary Battery, very useful to buff up your Auxiliary Power level right before using a Transfer Shield Strength or Hazard Emitters.

This saves tons of time rather than having to manually transfer all power to your auxiliary.

(Which also drops your DPS obviously) - Shield Battery, somewhat useful but the effects are not always that much noticeable. It does give you a buff to your Shield power level, effectively increasing your Shield Resistance and passive regeneration by the duration of the battery. It also gives a tiny instant

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federation FLEET PATROL ESCORT

shield heal to all facings but not too significant. also fire on full weapon power.

Also, this battery can be very effective when f you can get your hands onto a Fleet version one, or your full shield facings are totally disaof the Patrol Escort, do not hesitate to obtain it. bled by a phaser proc. If you are fast enough, a The Fleet variant receives an additional Engineer shield battery can be a life saver.

Console, Increased Hull hitpoints, a higher Shield Modifier (Increases Shield Capacity and Regen - Engine battery, in my opinion kind of useless because of the power level increase versus the statistics), and most noticable it turns the Ensign Engineer Station into a universal one. Meaning amount of speed/turn rate you gain is rather you can possibly change that station over to a insignificant. I could only see this battery being useful when trying to get out of a fight with science ability whenever needed in a specific situEvasive Manoeuvres and pop the engine battery ation right before that. ell there we have it folks, if you did not already gear up your Patrol Escort now is the - Weapon battery, unless in a highly specific time.

Feel free to tweak the ship to whatever you situation or a specialized build this battery is think is best and show everyone what you are probably the least valued of them all. Definitely does not do much on a full cannon/turret made of! escort with their weapon power level already capped at 125. I will not do any in-depth analy~ Marctraider sis about the possible overcap on some weapons, but just trust me if I say it is not worth it on an escort. The only way I could think where this battery can actually be useful is when you prebuff two Beam overloads (Different ranks) and use the battery in between the two fire cycles to actually let the second beam overload

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n Star Trek Online, the Negh’Var is designated as a battlecruiser, a class of warship as quintessential Klingon, as the Enterprise is to the Federation. Klingon culture and military doctrine has always revolved around the tenets of brute strength and force of will, and therefore the Negh’Var was eagerly adopted with great pride by Leaders of the Great Houses.

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negh’var he Negh’Var was the legendary Klingon battlecruiser designed during the 2360s, and was equipped with state of the art defenses and firepower.

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he notable distinction between a Klingon battlecruiser in Star Trek Online and the Federation cruiser is that their primary emphasis is on improved maneuverability (turn rate), and firepower, at the sacrifice of durability (shield & hull).

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The mere sight of this mighty battlecruiser struck an even greater blow to the moral of enemies that dared face her.

Because of her sheer size, the Negh’Var was capable of carrying significant armaments powerful enough to overwhelm any target.

At almost six-hundred and ninety meters, she is one of the largest warships ever produced by the Klingon Imperial Navy.

The Negh’Var made its first appearance during the KlingonCardassian war, where Klingon captains (“HoD”) revelled in her performance.

Later the Negh’Var was also involved in the siege against Deep Space Nine, and gained a fearsome reputation during the Dominion Wars.

on’t get me wrong - Klingon battlecruisers can still take a beating, Federation cruisers just do it better.

D B

alance in the game is maintained by the standard that all Starfleet cruisers come with enhanced shielding and hull by comparison.

http://priorityonepodcast.com/

From the beginning, Priority One has always worked to be a positive, informative, and forward looking podcast that covers the Star Trek Online and larger Trek Universe. Our goal is to serve our listeners with revealing developer interviews and entertaining commentary. We love Star Trek and Star Trek Online, and we want to share that with anyone who will listen!

22 BOOT Camp companion guide

Spotlight H

ello fellow PvPers,

Before I start talking about the Negh’Var there a few things I want to make clear. In no way am I saying this is the only build that will work on it and that this is what you HAVE to do...

I was asked to talk about the Negh’Var and what kind of role I think it plays and to share some builds with you so I figured the best way to do that is to show you

my personal build in detail and hopefully you can learn something from it. ~ Arwin

The negh’var in my opinion really is an offensive tank...

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klingon FLEET Negh’Var

J

ust so that you know, my build is based on a fleet Negh’Var but you can easily adapt it into the non-fleet variant. The Negh’Var in my opinion really is an offensive tank - it has one of the highest turn rates for a cruiser, it comes with a cloaking device and can equip dual heavy cannons although I really do not recommend it and I’ll get into why later on in the weapons section.

elite fleet shield Resilient [resA] this is a fantastic tool to have on your ship.

L

et’s start with equipment - I run the omega engine and deflector for the two piece bonus Tetryon Glider (Adds -1.2 Shield Drain to all energy weapon attacks, Affected by: Starship Flow Capacitors) and when you get to the weapons section below you will understand why. I also use an

OMEGA FORCE DEFLECTOR MK X, XI, XII

OMEGA FORCE ENGINES MK X, XI, XII

ELITE FLEET SHIELD RESILIENT [RESA] MK XII

* special thanks to http://www.stoacademy.com for source of STO icons

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Fleet Negh’Var W

ith the elite shields there are a few tricks I have learned to boost your resistances to about 40 - 50% less damage (DMG) to shields. As every PvP player knows, once your tactical team (TT) is done and you’re waiting for that 15 seconds till the next one, during those 15 seconds I start feeling rather vulnerable and having that Fleet shields does give me a little more confidence in my ability to hold my shields.

nons I wouldn’t recommend it. Even though it is one of the fastest turning cruisers you can get it’s still not fast enough to be able to keep up with a target and keep them within that small 45 degree arc. Some people run with all beam arrays or beam arrays and dual beam banks up front. I have found that it works very well with a sustained damage type of layout.

Offensive Loadout

T

his is what I run and would recommend:

H

owever it still wasn’t enough so I did some experiments and realized the elite shields resistances stack with the shield damage reductions that Transfer Shield Strength (TSS) and Emergency Power to Shields (EptS) offer. So I started rotating them... Using my TT, once that ended used my EMPTS for an addition 20% DMG reduction for a total of 49% DMG to shields reduction and 57% for the ResA energy types. If you are being focused on by multiple targets you can use TSS for an additional 20% making it 60% reduction and 65% for resA (“taking into account the extra

5% reduction from shield being ‘resilient’ and 17% from shield power level. Bareel (sic.)”)- now this

resistance boost will only last a few seconds but it’s usually enough to hold you own till the next TT arrives without having to waste a Reverse Shield Polarity (RSP). Also most people don’t know this or realize it but if you are being hit by multiple targets chug a shield battery - it boosts your regeneration (REGEN) by a sizeable amount and the higher you’re shield power levels the less DMG your shields take so having that large REGEN and power boost can be a life saver.

N

ow onto the weapons! Even though it does have the ability to mount dual can-

Fore: 4x Disruptor single cannons Mk XI [ACC]x3 or [ACC]x2 [CRTD] Aft: 4x Disruptor Turrets Mk XI [ACC]x3 or [ACC]x2 [CRTD] run them with Tetryon Glider (two pieces Omega set bonus) - Tetryon Glider with maxed flow capacitors is like -40 per hit to shield. Using a fast firing weapon like single cannons and turrets boosted by cannon rapid fire gives the Negh’Var the ability to rip the shields right off the other ship and can do equally impressive DMG to the hull if you drop a fire on my mark and/or alpha as soon as their hull is exposed.

I

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ow some of you are probably wondering why I have [ACC]x2 [CRTD] as my alternative layout, when you are using single cannons and turrets you will notice you will “crit” more often than you did with beams or dual cannons. The reason for this is that if you look at your stats it will say something about “critical chance 8%” which means there is an 8% chance that with each shot you fire will be a chance to inflict a critical hit. If you are firing weapons that shoot very fast like single cannons and turrets, you still have an 8% chance to “crit”, but you are firing out so many more shots that now that you will see many more “crit” hits on the target. To ensure that your “crits” have the most effect, [ACC] modifiers add to your “crit” chance and severity but that is only if your accuracy is higher than their defense, the [CRTD] will boost your severity all the time.

N

fter reading that some of you are thinking then why not [CRTD]x3? Well the answer is simple, that severity bonus is no good to you if you can’t hit your target without [ACC]. Maybe if you are lucky, you can get away fighting a cruiser or something slow but vs. escorts you would be screwed. That’s why I always recommend you have at least a [ACC]x2 . There are a few people out there who will disagree with me on that but honestly in PvP if you are running a fleet weapon they have nice damage but with only one [ACC] they do miss quite a bit vs. escorts and most cruisers! It doesn’t matter what damage the weapon does - if you cannot hit the target - it’s useless. Some ships you can get away with the fleet weapons in but a slow moving cruiser is not one of them.

A

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Bridge Officers Negh’Var Tank Ens. Universal (TAC):

Tactical Team I (TT)

LT. TAC.:

Tactical

team

I (TT),

Cannons Rapid Fire I (CRF) LT. CMDR. ENG.:

Emergency

emergency power to auxillary

aux to inertal damp

power to shields

I (EptS I), (EptA),

I (Aux2ID)

CMDR. ENG.:

Emergency

Reverse Shield Polarity I (RSP I),

aux to batteries

aux to sif

power to shields

I (EptS I),

II (AuxtBAT),

3 (AuxtSIF III)

LT. SCI.:

Transfer

hazard emitters

shield strength

1 (TSS I),

2 (HE II)

26

ow, some of you may be thinking wait you are running single cannons and turrets why no direct energy modulation well the reason is it’s a waste of a slot with its 2 minute cool down. I could put something else in there like aux to damp which only has a 45 cool down which is like the love child of a polarize hull and attack pattern omega and you can use it quite quickly. It gives you a nice hull resistance bonus with a speed and turn bonus and it will get you out of holds. So not does it only increase your defense rating but it also throws in a hull resistance bonus into the mix.

N

do carry a aux2bat just to speed things up because I can only carry one cannon rapid fire so it helps speed things up a bit, once I use the aux2bat I immediately use the emergency to aux for a few reasons the first the aux2bat kills your aux which limits your healing and the second the biggest weakness to aux2bat is once someone uses it hit them with a subsystem target aux and it’ll shut it down and they will be screwed so I carry that and a aux battery to keep myself protected and to boost my heals. You can try and pop a direct energy modulation in there but you will be hurting the Negh’Var ability to tank. I have tried it before and it really did make a difference in my ability to heal and survive losing just one of those skills I have laid out.

for crit chance and severity are very important to make this build successful.

offs, I run one of these two layouts depends on my mood really

D

2 blue technician doffs, Reduces bridge officer abilities when you use aux2bat

2 purple energy weapons doff, 1% chance to strip 3 random buffs from the other ship.

1 purple warp core engineer doff,

I

should also add that one of my bridge officers is Borg for the efficient trait.

I have green and blue Romulan bridge officers for Critical boosts and decloak bonus.

I

he Tachyokinetic Converter adds a nice turn rate bonus and boosts crit chance and severity, while the Zero Point also boosts the crit chance and adds to power insulators. The Assimilated adds a hull regen bonus with a crit chance and severity bonus. All these bonuses I have

T

Increases power levels when you use emergency power to shields or auxiliary or

2 blue technician doffs, Reduces bridge officer abilities when you use aux2bat 1 purple energy weapons doff, 1% chance to strip 3 random buffs from the other ship.

2 blue brace for impact doffs, Chance to recharge shields when you use Brace for impact think this really explains itself, the buff stripping doff with single cannons and turrets boosted by cannon rapid fire actually happens quite often even with a 1% chance. The brace for impact doffs are great they act like a 2nd RSP so to speak. With the warp core engineer having higher power levels is always a beautiful thing.

I

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BOOT CAMP Boot Camp is always running some or other event!

If you would like to participate, but are not sure how to go about it then keep an eye on the Star Trek Online Forums, particularly the PvP Boot Camp Subforum.

Also, be sure to check on the TeamSpeak server to see if you can join in the fun!

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Important dates There is nothing more frustrating that missing something you were looking forward to! In the hopes of ensuring that does not happen to you, we have compiled a brief synopsis of important events.

Upcoming Events Month of March/ April

open pvp

Adv. Seminars

Graduation

PvP Boot Camp hosts an open PvP day from 17:00 pm CET & EST every Saturday.

This coming April proves to be an exciting time for the Boot Camp with the introduction of Advanced Seminars.

Now that the students have graduated from their first Boot Camp, it’s time to target specialization and focused teaching across a wide range of topics to truly make them shine!

The first Graduating class is almost upon us! Cryptic Studios have been keeping a close eye in the progression of the students, and graduates may soon find themselves sporting a new in game title in the not too distant future! ‘PvP Boot Camp Graduate’ – and dare I say you have earned it. It is something to feel pride about.

Also on April 6th, Ground students will learn how to increase their synergy in a team!

Keep an eye on the STO website for more information closer to the event!

If you have trouble with converting this time to your local zone, then check out this friendly site: http://www. timeanddate.com/ The TeamSpeak Details are: pvpbootcamp.com:1406 All are welcome and there is no password. * excl. sessions SATs.

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3 TIPS for survival THERE ARE THREE KEYS TO SURVIVING PVP IN STAR TREK ONLINE

BALANCE YOUR SHIELDS!

T

actical Team (TT) and balancing shields. Always have at least one copy on your ship. Tactical team enables shield distribution that can keep up with incoming Dual Heavy Cannon fire.

With 5DHC ships out there now, it’s not so much the case anymore, which is why #1 on this list is so critical to be combined with this one.

T

his is however the baseline for all ship survival in STO.

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Balance your shields, and keep shield distribution somewhere easy to hit frequently, nigh constantly.

SHIELD POWER & SHIELD DAMAGE RESISTANCE

01

T

hese are by far the most important aspect of survival in all eras of STO. Keeping a high shield power, hugely impacts on shield regeneration, and more importantly to your shield damage reduction. Using powers like Emergency power to shields (EptS) to maintain shield power is mission critical to survive.

E

mergency power to shields also provides an resistance bonus to your shields as well, starting at 18 percent for mark 1, and 24 percent for EPTS2.

MAVAIRO written by

O EptS EMERGENCY POWER TO SHIELDS

ne of the tenets of shield tanking, is maintaining powers like Transfer Shield Strength (TSS) 1 and 2.

You will also need at least one of these to have a surviving ship in STO. To ensure optimal results for the heal, and damage resistance gained you should ideally have a high auxiliary power. Either through battery consumption, or switching to a power setting preset with a high aux bias. Without these two abilities, the mighty Tactical Team (TT) cannot sustain your shields at all. Enemy fire can and will burn through all of your shields without EptS and TSS.

TSS TRANSFER SHIELD STRENGTH

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SPEED ENSURES A HIGH DEFENSE BONUS.

S

peed is what allows your Defense score to be maintained at high percentages. Defense causes enemy fire to miss your ship. The more misses you have against you the less chance of you taking damage. Keeping your speed as high as you can make it therefore is critical providing it does not come at the expense of Firepower, or shield damage reduction or that the cost to those is absolutely minimal.

02

S

peed is also critical for lower firing arc weapons. You can’t damage an enemy you can’t even get DHCs, Torps or DBBs on after all if that’s your ship’s weapon systems of choice!

T

he last factor is Hull Damage Reduction. Without HDR, bleed through builds can and will melt your ship into pieces with ease. Mandatory HDR boff abilities, are ASIF for healers, Polarize hull (which at times is a staple for -everyone-.) and Hazard Emitters.

waiting for someone to shoot you!

ASIF AUXILIARY POWER TO THE STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY FIELD

H

ealers and Escorts also benefit tremendously from having Attack Pattern Delta as it is a substantial damage reduction boost, while also being a debuff that debuffs enemy HDR anytime the Delta-ed target is fired upon.

Escorts that have APD can and should be willing to throw APD at all times to their allies if they are in danger. It does no good just sitting there inactive in your tray

HE HAZARD EMITTERS

PH POLARIZE HULL

APD ATTACK PATTERN DELTA

HULL DAMAGE REDUCTION.

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Now: Key 4 I know! I said 3 keys... but really this one deserves a spot all on its own.

W

e’ll call this the keys to Victory, period.

Don’t be afraid Heal your team!

Y

our team mates are taking the hate for you.

If everyone only threw one heal to an ally, chances are that ally would never die. Healing is that strong in STO. That with Extend shields, even just 1 more heal is often enough to maintain someone’s native durability cycling. (Speed, shield power, TT, etc.)

C

ruisers this is especially important to you. Your heals need to be active at almost all times if you’re any good. Remember idle powers, are bad powers. Throw your TTs to allies if theirs is down (either by SNB or between cool downs). Transfer shield strength your buddies when their shields are down to 60 percent or 2/3s up. APD them before the shield collapses entirely. Hazard them to fix their hull as they start losing hp. ASIF in a big bad burst heal to save their lives.

Focus Fire!

A

nother key aspect to survival is mudering the living daylights out of the enemy. If they are all dead, they can’t murder you. Pure and simple. Focus fire is when everyone on a team is wailing on the same target, and not just this, but also timing their ability use to work in concert with each other.

It’s not enough for just everyone to be wailing on someone and then pushing the magic buttons at random times. If your enemy is cross healing (or healing) at all, timing your offensives becomes mandatory. The team that does this the best will win every time. It’s often the difference between a 0 and 15 and a 15 and 0.

If you work as a team combinging these skills, you will improve dramatically at this game. It’s hard at first, if you’ve not done alot of pvp in other games before coming to this one, but if you work at it, stay patient and stay frosty you’ll begin to notice improvements in your game. And likely your frustration with pugs will also increase dramatically as time goes on as well. Because they do not do these things well or at all in most cases.

~Mavairo

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the

future is now

“EVERY TOMORROW HAS TWO HANDLES. WE CAN TAKE HOLD OF IT WITH THE HANDLE OF ANXIETY

”

OR THE HANDLE OF FAITH...

HENRY WARD BEECHER

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When I first started PvPing I knew very little about what it meant let alone playing as part of a team. I was very fortunate to be a Beta player so the experience was not all that bad as I was lumped together with a whole group of newbies who similarly didn’t have a clue of what they were doing!

O

ver that first year a lot happened to us, and we became more observant of the mechanics and dynamics entrenched in the game engine.

Pathfinders link Mavairo, dontdrunkimshoot, Hilbert, Naz and a host of others started to examine the pure mathematics of PvP and a new culture of analysis and breakdown of skills and abilities evolved on the forum. These exercises proved to be invaluable for the community as a whole, as it allowed new players to find help in an environment that thrived on questions. It wasn’t long before even some of the developers realized that they could themselves harness the community as a means of effectively addressing longstanding balance issues.

I

believe that the best is yet to come, that we have only just begun to scratch the surface of what’s to come.

~ drkfrontiers

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our hope 4monkeys Admiral Zenso’ji Ares arwin Asian8640 Bieber bmr1580 BrokenMirror Bubblygumsworth Buffy Anne Summers Captain Shift Cerritouru Deadpool Devoras Goshia guriphu havam Hei Qin Horizon hurleybird Jam0 KBLS Kedric Keisyea LaBarge

Livin loganwilliams Mai mancom matteo716 Mimey Mr.Tallok, mrkollins Naldoran naz1911 Pheo Polie Pug01 Regulus Sagikus shimmerless Shran spacepenguin121 starcommando101 superphat Teapower Trinity Wolfpack12c Xaben Zorena

WHAT is YOUr destination captain? “ We a l l h a v e o u r b e g i n n i n g s . W h y n o t m a k e t h i s y o u r s . . . ” http://pvp-boot.camp.shivtr.com/