brandon felczer
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Captain's Log: Gearing up for Star Trek Online's fourth anniversary
We're only a few days away from the release of Star Trek Online's fourth anniversary celebration, and a lot of information about upcoming events is rolling out. As the team prepares for the launch, several new blogs have popped up teasing players with information about upcoming content and changes including news that actor Tim Russ, who played Tuvok in Star Trek: Voyager, will reprise his role in Star Trek Online's Fourth Anniversary Featured Episode! It's only logical Last week's announcement that Tim Russ would be providing his voice for upcoming content certainly made a lot of Trekkies happy. Community Manager Brandon Felczer interviewed Russ for the game's video blog and asked a lot of great questions. It was also revealed during the interview that recordings of Russ' voice won't just be used in the upcoming Featured Episode (called A Step Between Stars); it will also be heard in "upcoming content" including "Season Nine and beyond."
Captain's Log: Star Trek Online Las Vegas recap
It's been a couple of weeks since my last entry, and to be honest, I'm still recovering. The Official Star Trek Convention was an absolute blast. Thousands of Trek fans descended upon the Rio Suites and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, for four solid days to celebrate all things Star Trek. One of those things, of course, was Star Trek Online. Contrary to its showing in 2012, Star Trek Online was the focus of not just one but two complete formal panels this year. The first featured two of the STO devs in a discussion with actress Denise Crosby, who voiced the characters of Empress Sela as well as Lt. Tasha Yar. The second panel was co-hosted by Massively and Trek Radio and featured a panel of STO devs who talked about the game and gave us some great sneak-peeks at Season Eight works in progress!%Gallery-196194%
Captain's Log: A new Star Trek Online potpourri
One thing is certain: Many players have returned to Star Trek Online since the Legacy of Romulus expansion was released. Many new players have also given Star Trek Online their first try and are suitably impressed with the game's improvement. Bug patches are forthcoming, and server crashes have been reduced over the past couple of weeks. Many players who have started new Romulan Republic characters and have reached level cap (50) are now turning their attention to the endgame material. Still others have decided to start their very first Klingon character. But what about stuff that isn't about Legacy of Romulus? It just so happens there are lots of "little" items to cover, so join me while I go over some of the news and tidbits that have popped up recently.
Captain's Log: More Romulan ships coming in Star Trek Online
Late last week, Star Trek Online community manager Brandon Felczer posted an enormous dev blog delving into the details surrounding the influx of new ships heading into the game the moment the Legacy of Romulus expansion goes live. So today I'd like to touch on these new ships and the new Legacy Pack and Starter Packs that were announced as being available for Star Trek Online!
Captain's Log: Star Trek Online year in review, part two
As 2013 gets underway and before Cryptic Studios and Perfect World Entertainment begin hinting at upcoming material due out for Star Trek Online's third anniversary next month, I'm taking the opportunity to go over the past year in the game. It's a great time to sit down and be reminded of just how much transpired in the last 12 months. Last week, I barely scratched the surface of what happened in Star Trek Online during 2012, but I was able to touch briefly on some of the minor changes that occurred with user-generated content tool, The Foundry. Join me while I continue my look back on what 2012 brought to STO!
Captain's Log: Star Trek Online's PvP community steps up
Three weeks away from home and any legitimate connection to the internet can certainly make one feel a bit disjointed. However, I've discovered it can actually be a bit more disconcerting trying to reintegrate into the previous patterns that existed before the break was taken. When I left on my vacation, I seriously anticipated that very little news about Star Trek Online would occur. I expected the news about the 2012 Winter Event to come out, sure, but what I didn't expect was all of the other little bits of news that seemed to blindside me when I got back last week. Join me while I go over a few of the more interesting tidbits -- from the grassroots effort to reinvigorate PvP in Star Trek Online to the changes made to Foundry rewards.
Star Trek Online is streamlining elite gear acquisition in Season 7
If you've been frustrated with the difficulty and randomness of obtaining the best gear in Star Trek Online, know this: Cryptic has heard you. The studio admits that both internal metrics and player testimonies have proven that the current system of endgame gear acquisition is too stingy and obtuse. As a result, the team is preparing to vastly streamline it in Season 7. There are many elements to this streamlining, however. Among them is the reduction of 42 items needed for certain gear sets to a mere two, shared drops across all special task forces, and a progress bar that shows when your drop will materialize. CM Brandon Felczer sums it up as thus: "By removing the random drop nature of the STFs, players will be able to use the reputation system to visualize their progress towards obtaining these awesome gear sets. It is clearer, easier to understand, and by reducing the number of STF runs needed, the rewards are flat-out more realistic to obtain for the average player."
Captain's Log: Star Trek Online in Las Vegas
This weekend, Massively, along with Trek Radio, hosted the formal Star Trek Online Discussion with the Devs panel at the official Star Trek convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. And if I judge by the personal feedback received and the unanticipated (yet much appreciated) turn-out from players who attended the panel, all seems to have been very well received. Join me past the jump to learn more about what the STO developers said in response to questions posed by Massively and those in attendance at the convention and on the game's forums.
Captain's Log: Star Trek Online potpourri
This week, Cryptic Studios continued its preparations for Star Trek Online's Season Six release. Many of the anticipated features have been made available on the game's test server, and lucky for you, I've had the chance to jump in and try out a little bit of the new fleet advancement system and the affiliated starbases. After the initial phases of Season Six were pushed to the test server, Cryptic announced the 900-day veteran rewards as well as information on the impending implementation of the new Account Guard system. Even better, more information about the starbase features, especially the ships players will soon be crafting, has been revealed by Star Trek Online's Lead Designer, Al Rivera. It's all after the cut!
Captain's Log: STO's loaded for bear
In continued preparation for the coming release of Season Six, this week Star Trek Online players saw the reemergence of the State of Game letters from STO Executive Producer Daniel Stahl as well as the launch of the new tier five ship, the Armitage class. We still await the official release date for Season Six; it hasn't been released to the Tribble test server, but Stahl's letter gives additional insight into what players can expect from the new season and gives a few hints at what can be anticipated in Season Seven, due out later this year. So join me as I go over both the letter and the specs for the new ship!
Captain's Log: Focus on the Foundry
The Foundry is Star Trek Online's user-generated content tool, one that allows players to create their very own playable missions in the game. Those missions also become available as content to the rest of the playerbase. It's a tool that differentiates STO from most other MMOs and encourages fans to expand on the universe of STO and Star Trek in general. Join me as in this Captain's Log, I focus on the Foundry, some of its missions, and the community that keeps it going.
Captain's Log: A new era begins
As you probably know by now, Star Trek Online is converting to the free-to-play format this coming Tuesday, January 17th. If you've held off subscribing to STO for the past two years, you might be wondering what you can expect should you decide to give STO a try. If you've never played an MMORPG and are thinking that this might be a perfect time to try one, I think you might be right. STO is not like most other MMOs. That can be a good thing but also a detriment. This column is here to help you, Trekkie or not, gamer or not. And I'm going to try to help you decide whether STO is the F2P game for you.
Massively hosts Star Trek Online free-to-play launch event
On Tuesday, January 17th, Star Trek Online will be officially free-to-play! In celebration of the launch, Massively will be joining Cryptic Studios in welcoming all new and veteran captains. The team is hosting several fun events ranging from costume and trivia events to livestreamed character creation tutorials and dance parties! Please join me, Massively's humble STO columnist, as I pair up with STO's Community Manager Brandon Felczer to stream our way through all the fun. You could win up to 5000 STO Promotional Points! All livestreamed events can be viewed during and after the event on Massively's Twitch channel, and all other communications can be monitored on the "F2PLaunchParty" chat channel in-game. The fun begins at 1:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, so check out the official schedule of events after the break.
