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Star Trek Online unpacks Cardassian mystery boxes
While last December's red gift boxes proved controversial in the Star Trek Online community, Cryptic has stated that they were incredibly profitable and that it will continue to produce similar "treasure chest" items that require real-world money to acquire. True to its word, the studio will release a new batch of Cardassian Lock Boxes this Thursday as standard, free drops -- but opening them is going to cost you. The lock boxes contain one random reward inside that ranges from insanely rare (in this case, a Cardassian Galor-class starship) to trivially common (such as consumables) and everything in-between. While the boxes will be attained and traded like any other in-game loot, they can only be opened with a special Master Key purchased in the C-Store. Master Keys will go on sale for 100 CP apiece or 10 for 900 CP. Other potential prizes in the Cardassian Lock Boxes include Tribbles, Hortas, shuttles, Deep Space Nine costumes, and duty officer packs.
Captain's Log: Hailing frequencies were, are, and will be open
Captain's Log, Stardate 65018.1... Hello, computer (and players)! While we have all been out and about gallivanting across the galaxy, the development team for Star Trek Online has been busy working on getting Season Four: Crossfire from Tribble test server to the Holodeck live sever, and it looks like the mission was a success as it was finally patched into the game this morning. In between all the bug-squashing, feedback-gathering, and sleepless nights, Executive Producer Dan Stahl found time to sit down and answer some of his players' burning questions about the future of STO. Toward the end of every month, a Cryptic Community Manager creates a new thread in the forums where players can submit questions. While it seems that the policy is "no question is too out there," only a select few are chosen and personally responded to. Whether you are interested in the future of Klingons, wondering when Starfleet Academy will make its debut, or curious to learn if the Romulans will become a playable faction, this month's Ask Cryptic is sure to leave you wanting more. While Dan seems to jump from topic to topic, I thought it would be handy if I put it all together for you in this week's Captain's Log entry. Ensign, warp 11! Yeah, that's right! This is for all the readers who thought we couldn't even go warp 10...
Video shows DS9 Under Siege in Star Trek Online
While DS9 may well be one of many people's favorite spots in Star Trek Online, things have heated up since the release of Season One, the recent free addition to the game. Part of this new batch of things to do, DS9 Under Siege, lands players in the middle of an attack on DS9 from an interesting quadrant, and is relatively certain to hook you up if you're in the mood for one hell of a battle. For those of you who may not have checked out this new content as yet, we've snagged a shiny HD video of this new fleet action for you from our sister site, Joystiq. With more Cardassians and what appear to be Jem'Hadar ships than you can shake a tricorder at, this seems like an addition to Star Trek Online that players are enjoying. So set your phasers on "cool" and check beyond the break for the shiny DS9 Under Siege trailer -- or let us know how you're liking this particular bit of Season One content in the comments below.
Star Trek Online talks about the Cardassians
In the Star Trek universe, the Cardassians generally aren't listed in the same breath as the Klingons or the Romulans as adversaries. That is, unless you've seen Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Then you likely won't stop going on about the rigid and hidebound social structure and the backstabbing government plots, or even just about Elim Garak. The Cardassian faction was hinted at some time ago in Star Trek Online, but while the official page hasn't yet filled out the page, we do have a fair amount of information on the faction. And while it may or may not satisfy everyone looking forward to the faction, there's plenty for fans of the game to get excited about. At this point, the once-grand empire has been reduced to a difficult existence trying to rebuild the government and society after the events of the Dominion War, recounted on the game's official timeline. The socially-minded Detapa Council, however, is facing opposition from the True Way, an organization seeking a return to Cardassia Prime's more militaristic society. There are also rumors that the Obsidian Order might be still running around, something that almost any fan of the series would have expected. Star Trek Online looks to have plans for the Cardassians, and while it probably won't involve a tailor on the bridge crew, we can only hope. Click past the break for a short official video giving a peek of the Cardassians in action, as well as the in-universe dossiers by Starfleet and the Klingon Empire. %Gallery-83750%
STO website adds faction page, hints at future factions
Open beta is here and launch isn't far behind, which is of course why we're starting to see stuff like the recently revealed faction page for Star Trek Online. While you can't look (or click) on them now, it's quite telling that Cardassian and Romulan faction symbols are there for the looking. Cryptic has been pretty open with the fact that they plan to add new factions in the future, but the upfront listing of them causes us to wonder what the schedule is for the launch of faction number three. We really love the approach to this faction page, too. Why? Selecting a faction gives you the perspective of said faction, but from each side. That is to say, you get a Klingon's point of view of their own Empire, as well as the Federation. It's a nice touch of Trek that shows the men and women at Cryptic are keen to stick to the spirit of the series, even when outside of their own game.
A quick Star Trek Online PvP interview with Jack Emmert
We recently had the opportunity to ask Cryptic's Jack Emmert a few questions regarding Star Trek Online and its PvP elements. With the looming open beta (tomorrow!) and similarly imminent February 2nd launch, we consider ourselves lucky to get some fairly definitive answers on topics like the game's Cryptic Store and the Klingon faction's future -- including if deeper customization is in the wings or not. It's a quick read, but with less than 24 hours until open beta kick starts, that's probably a good thing. We wouldn't want to take away from anyone's Star Trek movie marathon, which is obviously what everyone is doing the day before, right? Khan!
Star Trek Online lore: 2379 to 2384
It's rare for an MMO to bring with it a history as rich and generational as Star Trek. The Trek universe is as deep and rich with lore as Lord of the Rings or Star Wars, and just like both those titles the lore has been passed down from parent to child over generations now. This leaves any game which attempts to encapsulate that lore in a precarious situation of both having to remain close to the canon, yet leaving enough creative room for the player to feel like they're making a true difference in the universe. And while we have yet to see if Star Trek Online lives up to the second part of that criteria, we can take a look at how they are moving the lore forward and dealing with the canocial events of past Trek incarnations. The main conduit for this lesson in lore has been through the sporadic postings of The Path to 2409 on the official STO website. However, there's a lot of information there and it's quite easy to get lost in it all. So, let's take a look at the Star Trek Online timeline Cryptic has released thus far. To begin with, we'll go over the years 2379 through 2384.
12 new Star Trek Online screens to warm your Klingon heart
Sometimes you get a phaser blast to the face, and other times you get 12 new Star Trek Online screenshots courtesy of Cryptic Studios. Guess which one is today? Oh, we left our phasers at home so you'll have to make due with these 12 new screens. Good thing we had those on standby for just this occasion. Violent threats involving energy weapons capable of vaporizing you in mere seconds aside, these are some substantially great screens. Whether it's some Cardassian love seen here (SFW, it's not literally alien love making) or various gratuitous space shots elsewhere, there's a whole heck of a lot to soak in visually. And with beta now just beginning, we're sure to have plenty more where this came as the weeks slip on by at sub-space speeds.%Gallery-28615%
The hidden art of Star Trek Online
There is much buzz in the MMOG universe this morning about the upcoming title Star Trek Online. Being absolute fanboys and fangirls of Star Trek ourselves (much like our friends at STO Zone who had the same idea) we wanted to show you a couple of nuggets of interesting art that we've extracted. These two images were taken from the backgrounds of the Cryptic Star Trek Online site that was unveiled last night. The top image shows an Andorian female in the foreground of what appears to be an away team. Some of the staff think that may be either a Bolian, Benzite or an Orion male to her left, but it's very hard to make out. (Not that many people remember the Orion males anyway.) Below that is a Klingon at the helm of what appears to be a Bird of Prey with a Human, Ferengi, Cardassian and Vulcan manning the controls, dressed in Federation uniform, or wearing Federation insignia. Speculation from some blog sites suggest that Cryptic is likely looking at a period of time post-DS9, tied to the Officer Exchange Program that started in the episode "A Matter of Honor" during the TNG series. It seems like an excellent spot in the continuity to place an MMO, we think.
The Daily Grind: Which Star Trek races do you most want in the MMO?
There are many races within the Star Trek universe to choose from when it comes to your favorites -- and we say that in plural form because lets be honest, you can't pick just one -- so of course we're curious about your personal choices. If you had the power to choose four or five races for Star Trek Online, what would they be? Vulcan? Cardassian, Bajoran, Ferengi, Klingon, or Romulan? Or maybe something less expected like the Voth? We'd totally roll some bipedal hyper-dinosaur characters. Obviously we're assuming that Humans are included in this list, but hey if you want to exclude them feel free.There's certainly a lot of room for discussion on this topic, seeing as there have been six Star Trek series (if you count the animated series) and ten -- but soon to be eleven -- movies. One thing we personally thing is that all Game Masters should be forced to be the Q race, because come on... that just makes too much sense!
