54 Months

[Sorripto]

I was recently awarded my 54 month ribbon and I could not help but laugh thinking about it.  It does not seem like that long ago we were doing RP waiting for launch and debating which stream site had the best beta videos.  I remember being in beta and laughing when I beamed to the planet as my ship and doing City on the Edge of Never for the first time.  Four and a half years is a long time to be attached to anything, I mean that is like 75 in MMO years.

Lotus Fleet has been the most fun I have ever had, not just with an MMO but with an MMO family.  I know things have slowed down as the real world and life outside of the fleet has caught up to most of us, but I look forward to many more good times together.

[Evshell]

Sorripto and I had some good times as newly minted RP participants together. The Borg War really brought us into RP with a bang, and we both contributed some interesting ideas and a lot of story involving the friendship between a half-Bajoran and a Cardassian that purely represented the ideals of Gene Roddenberry in seeing past the surface of an individual and into their inner self.

Thank you Sorripto for reminding us all of those times. I hope to see them again, but I think we will need another real good modernized Star Trek MMO to bring in fresh new faces that are ready to bring uniqueness, new characters, and new ideas into our RP. Let us all hope that it will also be the type of MMO that integrates the ideals of Gene more than the pew pew and silliness of Jar-Jar Abrams.

[Kheren]

Indeed! Well said Sorripto!

Any of you also remember the "Candelabra" before ESD took it's current adequate Star Trek shape? The half-finished look of the astrometric grid which was then the only way to look at Sector Space? The slow, boring, no transwarp/no improved engine to travel there? The dreadful cloth-iron-shaped Jupiter class dreadnought? The Borg-attack tutorial? Leveling to Admiral in mere days? Forced and random grouping? The go-in/killstuff/collect reward rinse and repeat storyless play? The PvP-only Klingon play that started only after Fed level 20 or something?

STO has come a long way since it's rushed launch... And I'm proud to say that, although Lotus Fleet for it's part started already as a well-built and mature gaming guild even back then, it already then showed that it was to become much more and better as well over those years.

All thanks to you Sorripto, and you Evshell... and to all of you guys who are still here!

As for those who more recently joined in and enjoy the game as it has grown today or the rest of what we are and offer; the promise of our future as a community is in your hands. Look at all that has been accomplished and see how far you now can take us!

Warpspeed!

[Niomo]

How do you guys think *I* feel? I am one of the original 8-10 members of Lotus Fleet. I've seen every version of the fleet, every fleet admiral and I know most of the active members. But as Scorripto says, it has been the best time of my MMO career!

To Infinity and beyond!

[Arma]

Man, I remember the early days when I was a rising Lieutenant and Lieutenant Commander in the 9th Fleet, being the ambassador the bridged the gaps. That was quite a while ago...

[Jeff T]

Hopefully, there will still be plenty of good times ahead in RP and other aspects of the fleet.

Congratulations and thanks to all of these and other members who are still participating and keeping the fleet alive.